d_nicolas

(any/all) - European 🇪🇺 ⛵I read a lot of books because I don't get up to much else! ⛵Tend to read Lit fic, horror, & translations, but open to anything that sounds interesting!

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My Taste

Violent Phenomena: 21 Essays on Translation

Reading...

72%

d_nicolas finished a book

The Northern Question: A Political History of the North-South Divide

Tom Hazeldine

Britain has scarcely begun to come to terms with its recent upheavals, from the crisis over Brexit to the collapse of Labour’s “red wall.” What can explain such momentous shifts? In this essential work, Tom Hazeldine excavates the history of a divided country: North and South, industry versus finance, Whitehall and the left-behind. Only by fully registering these deep-seated tensions, he argues, can we make sense of the present moment. Hazeldine tracks the North-South divide over the longue durée, from the formation of an English state rooted in London and the south-east; the Industrial Revolution and the rise of provincial trade unions and the Labour party; the dashed hopes for regional economic renewal in the post-war years; the sharply contrasting fates of northern manufacturing and the City of London under Thatcher and New Labour; to the continuing repercussions of financial crisis and austerity. The Northern Question is set to transform our understanding of the politics of Westminster—its purpose, according to Hazeldine, to stand English history on its head.

d_nicolas finished a book

The Persecution and Assassination of Jean-Paul Marat as Performed by the Inmates of the Asylum of Charenton Under the Direction of the Marquis de Sade

Peter Weiss

This extraordinary play, which swept across Europe before coming to America, is based on two historical truths: the infamous Marquis de Sade was confined in the lunatic asylum of Charenton, where he staged plays; and the revolutionary Jean-Paul Marat was stabbed in a bathtub by Charlotte Corday at the height of the Terror during the French Revolution. But this play-within-a-play is not historical drama. Its thought is as modern as today's police states and The Bomb; its theatrical impact has everywhere been called a major innovation. It is total theatre: philosophically problematic, visually terrifying. It engages the eye, the ear, and the mind with every imaginable dramatic device, technique, and stage picture, even including song and dance. All the forces and elements possible to the stage are fused in one overwhelming experience. This is theatre such as has rarely been seen before. The play is basically concerned with the problem of revolution. Are the same things true for the masses and for their leaders? And where, in modern times, lie the borderlines of sanity?

d_nicolas commented on fantasyandfibre's update

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The City We Became (Great Cities, #1)

N.K. Jemisin

Five New Yorkers must come together in order to defend their city. Every city has a soul. Some are as ancient as myths, and others are as new and destructive as children. New York City? She's got five. But every city also has a dark side. A roiling, ancient evil stirs beneath the earth, threatening to destroy the city and her five protectors unless they can come together and stop it once and for all.

d_nicolas commented on tony_w_a_b's update

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Summer 2026 Readalong

Read all books in the Summer 2026 Readalong.

d_nicolas started reading...

The Northern Question: A Political History of the North-South Divide

Tom Hazeldine

d_nicolas started reading...

The Persecution and Assassination of Jean-Paul Marat as Performed by the Inmates of the Asylum of Charenton Under the Direction of the Marquis de Sade

Peter Weiss

d_nicolas commented on a post from the Pagebound Club forum

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d_nicolas

Read the World Challenge – Specific Countries

Hello PB's,

The past couple of years I've been working on reading (at least!) one book from each country in the world. Honestly, it's been a great & very rewarding experience so far & I would definitely recommend if it's something you think you might like. I've learned so much I never would have otherwise, about history, cultures, and literary traditions. And I've also got to read some amazing books & authors I'd never before heard of!

There's about 30 countries I've not found/chosen a book from yet. I wanted to consult the PB community, as there's so much knowledge & variety in what people read here. For my attempt at the challenge, I don't want to be policing other's identities, so second generation migrants with X heritage, dual nationals, etc. all count. What I'm trying to avoid is like travelogues from a white Brit/American, etc. visiting a country, which is unfortunately what comes up on some lists when looking online.

The countries I'm looking for more rec's from are: Bahrain, Chad, the Cook Islands, Costa Rica, Eswatini, Gabon, Grenada, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Kiribati, Lesotho, Liechtenstein, Madagascar, the Maldives, Mauritania, Monaco, Namibia, Nauru, Niger, Niue, North Macedonia, Panama, Papua New Guinea, Qatar, Samoa, San Marino, Seychelles, Slovenia, the Solomon Islands, Somalia, Tajikistan, Tuvalu, Vanuatu, & the UAE.

If anyone else is doing this challenge (I've seen a couple of people about who are) I'd love to hear your experiences too.

Of course, there are some great sites out there (readaroundtheworldchallenge.com, ayearofreadingtheworld.com), and several great lists on here that've helped me so far (shout outs to micro.hobbit's Pasifika list, hypjoon's Oceania list, vumaisbooked's African lit list, dineke's Central Asia list, and user Brunel's lists).

Much love & happy reading