|
|
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,819
Pooh-Bah
|
OP
Pooh-Bah
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,819 |
Just curious. I picked up "The Club Dumas" recently. After reading the first chapter I realized that it is the novel on which the film "The Ninth Gate" was based.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jan 2002
Posts: 1,526
veteran
|
|
veteran
Joined: Jan 2002
Posts: 1,526 |
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 7,210
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 7,210 |
Sabriel and Lirael by Garth Nix; the Skies of Pern by Anne McCaffrey.
formerly known as etaoin...
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,819
Pooh-Bah
|
|
OP
Pooh-Bah
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,819 |
Oh I love Dubliners, especially "The Dead." One of the few works that has made me cry.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858 |
An oldie:"The Seekers" by Daniel Boorstein. In it I encountered the word "schism"
which an erudite clergyman taught me a long time ago is pronounced "sizzm".
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Aug 2002
Posts: 1
stranger
|
|
stranger
Joined: Aug 2002
Posts: 1 |
I am in the middle of "Word Freak" by Stefan Fatsis, about the competitive world of Scrabble...lots of anagrams, alphagrams, obsession and humor.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jan 2002
Posts: 1,526
veteran
|
|
veteran
Joined: Jan 2002
Posts: 1,526 |
"Oh I love Dubliners, especially "The Dead." One of the few works that has made me cry."
Finished last night. It didn't make me cry. Fine set of stories, though.
Few stories make me cry. Bicentennial Man and Man without a Country are the only ones I can think of off the top.
I think I'm going to take a few weeks of no reading and then start on volume I of Feynman's Lectures on Physics.
k
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858 |
Dear FF: If your "Man Without a Country" was the one about the guy condemned to life imprisonment aboard a US warship because the said he hated the US, I would not have expected a lachrymose reaction. I love my country, but that story is too much. http://www.bartleby.com/310/6/1.html
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jun 2001
Posts: 2,636
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jun 2001
Posts: 2,636 |
I'm just starting Sombrero Fallout by Richard Brautigan. I haven't read it in several years and wanted to taste it again.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Apr 2002
Posts: 475
addict
|
|
addict
Joined: Apr 2002
Posts: 475 |
physics textbook (my dip in and out book)
persuasion ( my comfortable, it's late and i'm tired book)
true history of the kelly gang ( my, i'd better read this quickly before i have to give it back book)
the amber spyglass ( my long bath book)
the womans handbook (my slightly self consciously listening to jazz and drinking red wine book)
small gods ( my, i drank too much red wine and i can't be bothered with/ can't comprehend any more book)
heart of darkness (my bus book)
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jan 2002
Posts: 320
enthusiast
|
|
enthusiast
Joined: Jan 2002
Posts: 320 |
Dubliners is a favorite of mine,"The Dead" in particular. I mentioned in a post a few months back that I gretly admire John Huston's film adaptation of "The Dead" Huston did something rare in movie-making. He took the work of a great author and added his own artistic touch. If it's out on video, get it. You won't be sorry.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 771
old hand
|
|
old hand
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 771 |
Just started Lost by Gregory Maguire. It's already *very* different in style from his other works, Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister and Wicked - but I imagine I'm going to like this one too!
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 2,204
Pooh-Bah
|
|
Pooh-Bah
Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 2,204 |
The Way We Live Now Trollope. Seems quite a good insoight into the social scene of the aristocratic but not affluent world of 1880s England. So far, it does not strike me as one of his better novels, although it is very useful background info. for me. I prefer Phineas Finn and most of the Barchester novels, especially The Warden.
I am also slowly reading Hell's Angels,Hi, Musick! which is a very interesting insight into the motor-cycle cult of California in the 60s and 70s. Fascinating reading, although a bit repetitivie at times.
Just starting Dennis Judd's Empire which charts the later rise of British Colonial power. This is definitely work, not pleasure, although it's a well written and well researched book. Sometime next summer, it will be regurgitated, synthesised with other books and presented to an unsuspecting public as a twenty-hour course on The British Empire (or some such title.)
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 5,400
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 5,400 |
Oh dear Commando, i loved The Way We Live Now -- i read it two summers ago, and found it riviting.
That the dot coms were all going bust at the same time helped.. and goodness knows the corruptions, fraud and deceit Trollope writes about are all current events!
i haven't read the Barchester novels, i read The way we live now, because it was available on the shelf!
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 1,346
veteran
|
|
veteran
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 1,346 |
a twenty-hour course on The British Empire (or some such title.)How about the title being "Where the Sun never set"?  - http://www.friesian.com/british.htmLearned quite a lot from this page; not least that "the Sun never sets where [the Union Jack] waves" was a literal truth.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 2,204
Pooh-Bah
|
|
Pooh-Bah
Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 2,204 |
At the grave risk of yarting (not that that ever stopped me!) I should point out that the reason why the sun never set on the BE was because god wouldn't trust the Brits in the dark!
But it would- or something very like that - indeed, make a good title. My thanks to you Sir - you may claim a pint of good Lancashire ale at an appropriate time and place.
We could have it with fish cooked in herby batter at an appropriate plaice and thyme, as well.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 1,346
veteran
|
|
veteran
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 1,346 |
fish cooked in herby batter
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 872
old hand
|
|
old hand
Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 872 |
100 BIRDS : and How They Got Their Names
Great! Diana Wells writes with well selected detail.****
Visionares: interviews with fashion designers
Twenty-three of the world's most notable fashion designers are interviewed in depth in this picture sized book. The photographs are exotic, as are the designers whose eccentric nature is behooven to their job. ***1/2
Gods, Heros, & Kings: the Battle for Mythic Britain
Mostly one page snatches of the Pantheona, Deity types, Heros and Heroines, Sacred places and Objects, and the Sagas of the island of Britain. Never boring, never boggled down by unnecessary footnotes. *****
HOT DAMN!: alligators in the casino, nude women in the grass, how seashells changed the course of history, and other dispatches from paradise.
Paradise is Florida. James W Hall is a poet turned mystery writer. These light essays are interesting reading while you eat a snack or a sandwich. ***
NEAREST STAR: The Surprising Science of Our Sun
Of immense size, of immense importance, we rarely wrap our minds around the great star that shines in our own backyard. This book provides flesh for our favorite abstraction. *****
READING Between the NUMBERS: statistical thinking in everyday life
Joseph Tal's book will cause the interested reader to re-think his approach to, and interpretation of, statistics and numbers in today's world. Good book. ****
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Apr 2002
Posts: 475
addict
|
|
addict
Joined: Apr 2002
Posts: 475 |
How about the title being "Where the Sun never set"? -
interesting page fishsticks, i never realised we were such bastards
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 1,346
veteran
|
|
veteran
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 1,346 |
i never realised we were such bastardsRhuby did! But he's the expert. [bow] Dunno, dode, I wouldn't say matters were that clear-cut. A lot of countries went right downhill after the British upped sticks. Although that was probably just because the British took everything of value with them when they left. 
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542 |
[cross-thread alert]
I'm now reading Peter Mattheissen's stirring and frightful chronicle of the struggle for survival of our world's crane populations. I'm going along, minding my own (and the cranes') business, when suddenly, out of nowhere, I encounter this:
Northwest of Beijing, the teeming plain is left behind, the soft farm greens cut off abruptly by dark forest jades on the evergreen slopes of sudden mountains. Here the Great Wall--begun in the third centruy B.C., and the one evidence of man said to be visible from the moon--winds like a stone serpent along wooded ridges. Soon the mountains descend to the drier, less fertile landscapes of Inner Mongolia, which subside in turn into the harsh grays and yellows of the Gobi Desert.
I hope I can forget that one unfortunate throwaway aside and continue to appreciate this book.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 1,346
veteran
|
|
veteran
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 1,346 |
[cross-thread alert] Condolences. I'm surprised it wasn't nunc dimittis straight off.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jul 2002
Posts: 742
old hand
|
|
old hand
Joined: Jul 2002
Posts: 742 |
>A lot of countries went right downhill after the British upped sticks. Although that was probably just because the British took everything of value with them when they left.
And sometimes that was nascent nationalism at work. At partition in 1947, My grandfather had worked his way up from being a guard to deputy traffic controller for what today would be the entire Pakistan Railway network. He was invited to stay on as a ticket collector. Similar stories abound, instances where the newly-minted nations felt the need to cut the umbilical too quickly and throw the baby out with the mixed metaphors.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 3,467
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 3,467 |
I saw an article about trying to take some endangeredcranes to the Barcelona zoo the other day to start a new breeding program. The flew them in on a 747 but the cage wouldn't go out through the door it went in at. Yep. The cranes in Spain stay mainly on the plane.
TEd
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 1,346
veteran
|
|
veteran
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 1,346 |
the newly-minted nations felt the need to cut the umbilical too quickly and throw the baby out with the mixed metaphors.Yup. And once you've lost a supposed source of all ills, you only have yourself to blame when things go wrong. This often leads to in-fighting. Reminds me a wee bit of "What have the Romans done for us?".
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jan 2002
Posts: 1,526
veteran
|
|
veteran
Joined: Jan 2002
Posts: 1,526 |
Kinda busy right now. Response in September, if the thread is still going and I haven't forgotten.
k
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jan 2002
Posts: 1,526
veteran
|
|
veteran
Joined: Jan 2002
Posts: 1,526 |
that story is too much
... In the midst of a project ... coming up for air ...
As a former Army brat, I confess to getting a little teary-eyed when I hear a particularly well-sung rendition of The Star Spangled Banner. It's possible -even probable, in retrospect - unconscious patriotism underlay some part of my lachrymosity, but considering that such a word as patriotism is commonly conjoined with modifiers like "blind" and "foolish" and "bigoted" (and, unfortunately, far too commonly correctly so), I doubt I would have mentioned it.
If I were aware that patriotism were the sole or even a major cause, I would probably have teared up anyway, but I would almost certainly have kept it to myself.
However, that's not what I thought the story was about. I thought the story was about taking rash actions in youth and facing the consequences of them for years beyond anything sensible.
I reflected on some the incidents of my own youth - pulling a knife on the kid in the second grade (and a few things much worse than this that I don't have the stomach to rehash). How might my life have been different had I plunged it into my attacker as I had threatened? With someone younger than yourself, maybe it would seem condescending to compare the actions of a 10 year old with those of a young man (early twenties late teens?), but in the glory of my pompous arrogance, I classify them both as "kids."
I also thought it was a story about the occasional lack of justice in extreme retributive justice.
When I was very young - about 2 - my biological father was sitting on his friend's front porch swing. He saw two men coming towards him and recognizing their intent, jumped up and ran around the house. They pegged him - twice in the head and three times in the heart - as he was bounding the fence into an alley. They each got a paltry five years for it. One of them died in prison and the other got out - to be promptly killed by my uncle, who then spent 20 years of his life behind bars. I suppose his lawyers weren't as good. I saw him very briefly about 10 years ago. He was such a shattered man it seemed to me. He took one look at me and - weird as it seemed at the time - this scraggly, bikergang-lookin' redneck started to tear up hisself. "You look just like your daddy," he said. Ah, well. Another story.
He made the same mistake as Camus' stranger -- failing to recognize and acknowledge the ultimate authority of those who make the decisions. But they taught him. When they said justice had been served, he ought to have accepted it and just gone on to live his life. (Completely irrelevant, but I have a cousin who spent 7 years in jail and 13 years probation for alledgedly selling marijuana. So murder is 5 years if you suck up to the judge and 20 years if you fail to recognize The People as the ultimate arbiter, and selling MJ is worth 7 years.)
On the other hand, when I read literature, I always wonder - am I understanding what this guy is really trying to getting at? Most of the time I'm pretty sure I'm not. Even when I think I'm on to something, I suspect I took a wrong track and am wondering aimlessly.
I guess it *was* a story about patriotism, after all. These other things I thought I saw were phantasms. But, heck, I've made worse mistakes than that in my life.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 3,439
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 3,439 |
That BBC Classic "The Pallisers" is re-,made and will be on Public TV this autumn Yaaaa-Hoooo!
Reading "Secret Soldiers" the camoflage men of WWII including, Douglas Fairbanks Jr, designer Bill Blass, the heir to the Ringling circus fortune and many more artists, sound men, engineers.
Better than any mystery I ever got into.
Highly recommend.
Opps - thinder storm. I'm gone.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 872
old hand
|
|
old hand
Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 872 |
Gee, you finks don't read much these days do you? Since the question was last asked, "What are you kats reading these days?" I've read five more books! My heavens, simple people, have you all forgotten how to read? Or, considering how busy you all are in today's axiomatic world, have you all forgot how to think? Below I list books that you all apparently find tiresome. Great Goobly-Woobly!, it is time that you all begin to think... thoughts!PAINTING AMERICAM : The rise of american artists:
Paris 1867 - New York 1948
The Traveler's Calendar new poems - Daniel mark Epstein
CORN 40 recipies: roasted, creamed, simmered, + more
Beyond The Deep: The Deadly Descent Into The World's Most Treacherous Cave.
And...
THE FUTURE OF SPACETIME: by folks that professes to know.
and, oh yeah, I almost forgot...
A MATTER OF DEGREES: What tempreture revels about the past and future of our species, planet, and universe.Pretty Impressive, huh! milum. Thank you for your understanding, milum.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jul 2002
Posts: 742
old hand
|
|
old hand
Joined: Jul 2002
Posts: 742 |
In reply to:
Below I list books that you all apparently find tiresome.. . . it is time that you all begin to think...thoughts!
On what do you base your assertion that others find the books you listed tiresome? To imply that one is not thinking simply because one has not read books that you feel one ought to have read is, at best, condescending and patronising, and at worst, openly insulting.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Apr 2002
Posts: 475
addict
|
|
addict
Joined: Apr 2002
Posts: 475 |
hey brainiac, not everyone has unlimited funds or access to books, keep your high horsing to yerself 
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 5,400
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 5,400 |
I reading a book about Corn too, it is history and social commentary... really facinating.. (don't remember the author, it just caught my eye as being interesting)
i envy you your reading time.. NY is having yet an other heat wave, 7 more days in a row of 90+ (average over 95-- for the rest of the world, close to 37C.) with high humidity, 79 to 85%, and ozone alerts.. the idea of carrying a book to read is too much. i make do with a paper that i can throw away and not have to carry both ways to and from work.
at home, i am attempting to pack for a move.. piles of my own stuff to sort through and pack and bigger piles of my kids stuff, abandon at the family homestead.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jan 2002
Posts: 1,526
veteran
|
|
veteran
Joined: Jan 2002
Posts: 1,526 |
"Gee, you finks don't read much these days do you?"
Like of_troy, I envy you your reading time. I do read a lot, but it's mostly technical stuff which I don't include. A big chunk of that is OPC - other people's code. Also reading a bunch of specifications for stuff I barely understand so I can design a new system. On the relevant stuff, though, I accidently got started on Les Miserables and I think I'm going to read a Turing (personal hero) biography next. Feynman will have to wait. These will keep me busy at least through November and possibly into next year.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542 |
just finished: Longitude, by Dava Sobel (crossthread to books by women)
now reading:
Child of the River: The First Book of Confluence, by Paul J. McAuley (crossthread to equitably vs. equably)
The Birds of Heaven: Travels With Cranes, by Peter Matthiessen (crossthread to... here, actually)
Slant, by Greg Bear (crossthread to the Book Swap (hi Faldo))
coming up next:
The Circus Fire: A True Story, by Stewart O'Nan (this space for rent)
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 872
old hand
|
|
old hand
Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 872 |
[Book Review]
CCO ORRNN
40 recipes: roasted, creamed, simmered + more
________________________by olwen woodier
the red fox's cornmeal oysters
with salsa and r`emoulade
the Red fox restaurant is located on the 4,800-foot-high spruse-lined ridges of Snowshoe mountain in Pocahontas county, west Virginia. Owned and operated by Brian and Margaret Ann Ball, this alpine hideaway houses a trio of restaurants offering fine cuisine and a wine list that has won awards from Wine Spectator magazine. Try this recipe and you'll understand why Foder's Travel Guide lists The Red Fox as one of its 25 favorite restaurants in the United States.
1 cup cornmeal______________ 30 select oysters
1 cup all- purpose flour______ 1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon salt_____________ 1/2 teaspoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon onion powder___ 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
1/2 teaspoon white pepper___ 1/2 teaspoon paprika
1 cup vegetable oil
six 8-inch corn tortillas, crisped in a warm oven
(The red Fox uses tortilla "bowls")
9 cups spring green mix with Ancho Buttermilk Dressing
(see recipe below)
3 cups Corn and Black Bean Salsa
(see recipe below)
6 teaspoons Poblano R`emoulade
(see recipe below)
1. In a medium-sized bowl, combine the cornmeal, flour, cumin, salt, chili powder, garlic powder, onion powder, paprika, and peppers. Pour onto a plate or a sheet of waxed paper.
2. Heat the oil in a deep saute pan over very high heat. dredge the oysters in the cornmeal mixture. when the oil is spitting hot, deep-fry the oysters for about 1 minute, until golden brown. Remove immediately and drain on two thicknesses of paper towels.
3. Place a tortilla on each plate, pile each with 1 1/2 cups of the spring greens, and top with 1/2 cup of the salsa.
4. Arrange 5 oysters around the salsa on each serving and top each one with 1 teaspoon of the r`moulade.
Yield: 6 servings
___________*************___________
poblano remoulade
1/2 cup mayonnaise________ 1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt__ 1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
1/2 teaspoon black pepper_ 1 small poblano chile, minced
1/4 cup finely chopped fresh cilantro
In a small bowl, thoroughly combine all ingredients. Cover; refrigerate until ready to use.
Yield: 3/4 cup
_______________***********______________
corn and black bean salsa
1 cup black beans, rinsed, drained, and cooked
1 cup fresh corn kernels, lightly steamed and removed from the cob
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
1/2 cup chopped plum tomatoes
1/4 cup chopped poblano chiles (wear gloves when handling chiles)
1/4 cup chopped red bell pepper
1/4 sup chopped scallions
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 teaspoon ground corlander
1 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 clove of garlic, minced
In a small bowl, thoroughly combine all ingredients. cover; refrigerate or leave at room temperature until ready to use.
Yield: 3 cups
_______________************________________
the red fox's ancho buttermilk dressing
1 cup buttermilk_________________ 1/4 cup sour cream
1/4 cup minced fresh cilantro____ 1 ancho chile, minced
1 small clove of garlic, minced__ 1/4 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons minced fresh chives 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
Combine all ingredients in a small deep bowl and whisk to blend. Refrigerate until ready to use.
Yield: 1 1/2 cups
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 5,400
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 5,400 |
let me be the first to congratulate you!
i don't think we have ever had a guy turn a thread into an out right food thread before!
i too am reading a book about corn.. but it is The Story of Corn; The myths and history, the culture and agriculture, the art and science of America's quintessntial crop.
the arent't any proper recipes, just some generic ones so far.. it has some word origins for pone and other corn words, (Pone-- for the Algonquin appone.. and Samp from the Narragansett suppawn)
i call my corn bread pone, too.
1 cup yellow corn flour
1 cup wheat flour
(i like whole grain, stone ground for both)
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup yogurt (plain)
3 to 4 tablespoons melted butter
2 tablespoons honey (warm it in the same cup you melt the butter in or at the same time)
1 egg
(milk as needed)
preheat oven, 500º (High) lightly grease cast iron pan, and put in oven to preheat too.
mix together dry ingredients. then mix together wet..
Mix wet into dry, (add up to 1/4 cup of milk, if needed) to make stiff batter.
Do not over mix.
pour into preheated cast iron pan, reduce heat in oven to 350º, bake for 15 to 20 minutes till done.
I have a cast iron pan in the shape of ears of corn.. but a plain round frypan might take longer.
the yogurt/honey combo are acidic enough to both temper the corn and to work with the soda for a nice light result. the hot pan creates a crunchy crust. for a super rich corn bread, use sour cream instead of yogurt. (i think its to cake like then.)
serve warm.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 3,439
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 3,439 |
Below I list books that you all apparently find tiresome. Great Goobly-Woobly!, it is time that you all begin to think...thoughts!
Ok, I did not want to appear to be one of the Cognoscente so often admonished hereabouts. BUT. "'nufs enuf!"
What I have read since June:
The Oxford Companion to World War II ( well, honestly, still at it) General Editor I.C.B. Dear and Consultant Editor M. R.D. Foot
Books by Evelyn Waugh "Men At Arms" & "Officers and Gentlemen" with "End of the Battle" just in and awaiting pickup at the Water Street Bookstore.
The Terrible Hours" by Peter Mass sub title "The Greatest Submarine Rescue in History" The true story of the rescue of the men aboard the sunken "Squalus" (off the N.H. coast) by Swede Momsen who also invented the Momsen Lung.
Ghost Soldiers"- by Hampton Sides - the account of the 1945 WWII rescue mission for survivors of the Bataan Death March in the Philippines.
Two novels by Willianm E. Butterwork aka W.E.B. Griffin :
Under Fire (Marines in North Korea) and Special Ops set during Che Rivera days.
I am also often dipping into The War 1939-1945 by Desmond Flower and James Reeves as time allows. Actually it's my bedtime reading. The authors tell the chronological story of WWII - on both fronts - through meticulously documented diaries, letters, journals, reports,official communications and other documents by the men who fought the war including (but not limited to) Eisenhower, Regular GIs, German and Japanese soldiers, Patton, Goring, Hitler, Churchill, DeGaul et.al.
This weekend, to let my brain rest I read two light and charming books by Lillian Jackson Braun from her latest "The Cat Who ..." series.
Since The Oxford WWII is 1,342 pages of tight, concise, in-depth, densely factual writing, I'd say that, all things considered, although it may diverge from the areas of interest others have, it does require some thinking!
And believe it or not I have still made time to enjoy life, lunch with friends, write a few real letters and work on my own writing. But it does help that I am retired and haven't the pressures of a job or children at home as many of you have. And Thank Heaven for book sale tables and a decent Library.
AS the old saying goes - Men of good will may disagree and still remain friends. Or at least respect each other.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 5,400
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 5,400 |
Wow, isn't The Terrible Hours an incredible book? i read it just before the russian submarine accident last year, and cries when all those submariners died..
there are some good links on the web, and better pictures
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 3,439
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 3,439 |
Did you know they made a TV movie around the event? It was highly publicized around here and was on one of the regular -not cable - stations as I recall. Not bad if a bit shallow (no pun too serious a subject.) Forget title.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 872
old hand
|
|
old hand
Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 872 |
AS the old saying goes - Men of good will may disagree and still remain friends. Or at least respect each other.Dear wow your old saying is an old wives tale. It was not for agreeing to disagree that the Second World War was fought. This board becomes mere chat if the exchange of ideas are not offered for the purpose of resolution. Men of goodwill without a life in search of truths are self-righteous buffoons who disgrace the human species. What's more, they rarely have a sense of humor. I do, see ----------> .
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 137
member
|
|
member
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 137 |
Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury (Because I haven't)
Light on Yoga by BKS Iyengar (more reading than I expected)
Goose Music by Richard Horan (recommended by a friend)
Dealing with Dragons by Patricia Wrede (also recommended, reading with my children)
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613 |
Nice to see you, ladymoon! I finally finished Snow Crash. The basic premise was interesting enough: that, milennia ago, a part of all humans' brains was "hard-wired" to share a common language; then the Sumerians discovered a secret speech that caused a new "branch" to form, and from there on, languages diverged. Mr. Stephenson's Protagonist described this secret speech as a virus. I was rather put off by the style. The stereotypes were so overdone that I suspected he must be spoofing someone (possibly himself?) or some genre; and that seldom goes down well, with me. Give me a nice, straight, believable story any time. I intend to get back to Grendl, if I can steal it back from my daughter.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jan 2002
Posts: 1,526
veteran
|
|
veteran
Joined: Jan 2002
Posts: 1,526 |
"Dear wow your old saying is an old wives tale. It was not for agreeing to disagree that the Second World War was fought. This board becomes mere chat if the exchange of ideas are not offered for the purpose of resolution. Men of goodwill without a life in search of truths are self-righteous buffoons who disgrace the human species. What's more, they rarely have a sense of humor."
Mil,
The saying referred to "people of good will." I don't think the germans of world war ii were acting with good will. England and France both failed to live up to their treaty obligations (insteading of squashing Hitler at the start) and the behavior of neither the US nor the USSR was noble - although they may have been legitimate political reasons all around. (I'm referring to the governments of these countries and not to the individuals who fought.) I've only read one book on this subject and I can't claim to be an expert on it. Even if I remember the details fully and correctly, a single book wouldn't make my opinion worth a hill of beans. Still, even if you disagree with my last few lines, I think you will agree with the first -- that the German leadership was a nasty lot, none of whom could remotely be included in the set of people comprised of "men of good will."
k
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,819
Pooh-Bah
|
|
OP
Pooh-Bah
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,819 |
Back to books, I have abandoned The Club Dumas for now and have begun The Big Sleep. The Club Dumas was getting a little too self-referential, and reminded me of those films that spoof horror movies. The Big Sleep has been fun so far; I am definitely enjoying the dialogue more than the plot at this point though.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jun 2001
Posts: 2,636
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jun 2001
Posts: 2,636 |
I am about halfway through A Man by Oriana Fallaci. Anyone here read it?
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 771
old hand
|
|
old hand
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 771 |
No, but I've finally been shamed into reading The Lord of the Rings. I'm almost done with Fellowship, and I'm told that I have to finish The Two Towers before the movie comes out... I'll probably break it up a little, I got Elephantoms: Tracking the Elephant at the library, and I'll need some non-fiction for balance!
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Aug 2002
Posts: 5
stranger
|
|
stranger
Joined: Aug 2002
Posts: 5 |
Ahh...Lord of the Rings. A favorite of mine. I generally dislike fantasy, but the complexity and depth of the series captured my attention, and I found the appendices interesting. The 'Sherlock Holmes' series by Sir Conan Doyle was engaging, but it took very little time to zip through it. Now am on the look out for 'The Lost World'. Too bad our library is so poorly suppeditated.
For non-fiction, "The Piltdown Man: Unraveling the Scientific Fraud of the Century" was well done ( I would not trust my memory of the exact title, though).
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jun 2001
Posts: 2,636
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jun 2001
Posts: 2,636 |
Welcome, Verbarian. Thanks for the warning!  Here's what you were trying to remember: Unraveling Piltdown: The Science Fraud of the Century and Its Solution by John Evangelist Walsh (Random House, 1996) While I was looking for that, I ran across this: http://www.artistdirect.com/music/artist/card/0,,479623,00.htmlYet another fraud!
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jan 2002
Posts: 1,526
veteran
|
|
veteran
Joined: Jan 2002
Posts: 1,526 |
Finished Les Miserables this morning.
I don't recall having seen the word 'assize' previously. It was the word of the day a week or two or maybe three ago. I then noticed it two or three times in the book.
I saw the musical years ago (14, perhaps more) and it seems to hold quite true to the book up till the end. Turns out Jean Val Jean really hates Marius at first, but saves him anyway (carts his unconscious body through the Paris Sewer). Also, Monsieur Jean lives for four or more months after the battle at the barricade, sees Marius and Cossette married, gives them a large inheritance, and confesses to Marius that he is 'an old convict.' Marius, not understanding the situation fully, comes to detest Jean, and schemes to make him very uncomfortable when visiting Cossette. Jean quits coming to visit the house and dies not of wounds, but of a broken heart. Just before Jean keels over, the inn-keeper, Thenardier comes to Marius to try to extort money from him, and this is when Marius realizes how noble Jean really is. He rushes immediately with Cossette to see Jean - just in time to witness JVJ's last moments.
I'm a little pissed off right now thinking what a waste it was and what an ass Jean was attempting to extricate himself from their lives and in the process killing himself.
k
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 3,467
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 3,467 |
My sister-in-law is a librarian in a small town in western NC, and reports that some years ago a woman returned a stack of books and said, "I just loved this one, but I couldn't figure out who Les was." Liz looked down at the top of the stack. Yep, a copy of Les Miserables.
True story. (Would I make up something like that??)
TEd
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: May 2000
Posts: 679
addict
|
|
addict
Joined: May 2000
Posts: 679 |
I'm reading several books at the moment....
Berlin - the downfall by Anthony Beevor. If you've read Stalingrad then this is more of the same.
9/11 by Noam Chomsky. A selection of interviews with Chomsky on the subject of 9/11 and its implications and background.
The Queen of Whale Cay by some one who's name escapes me. It both amazed me and freaked me.
The sorcerer's apprentice by John Richardson. One should always read a book written by a namesake! It's about Picasso's one-time companion, the author, and his relationship with the master.
My name escapes me by Sir Alec Guinness. A wildly witty diary by the octogenarian actor.
I have several other books I'd like to read but I have far more pressing reading in the form of technical manuals. Mmmmmm.....
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,819
Pooh-Bah
|
|
OP
Pooh-Bah
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,819 |
re: Western NC...
TEd Remington: anywhere near Mars Hill?
Bookwise, I continue to be fruitless in my search for Elliot Chaze's out-of-print mystery "Black Wings Has My Angel."
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Apr 2002
Posts: 475
addict
|
|
addict
Joined: Apr 2002
Posts: 475 |
that the German leadership was a nasty lot, none of whom could remotely be included in the set of people comprised of "men of good will.What about Rommel? I don't think any one could say he was a nasty lot, and I'm a pacifist! This website gives a reasonably comprehensive overview in just one page, check it out http://www.achtungpanzer.com/gen1.htm
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jan 2002
Posts: 1,526
veteran
|
|
veteran
Joined: Jan 2002
Posts: 1,526 |
Indeed. However, the phrase "German leadership" is ambiguous.
I did not mean "all high-ranking, government functionaries." I was referring to the primary policy-makers and enforcers Hitler, Goebbels, Ribbentrop, and Goering.
I'm sure there were many noble "people of good will" in positions which lacked decisive influence at the level of foreign policy.
k
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Apr 2002
Posts: 475
addict
|
|
addict
Joined: Apr 2002
Posts: 475 |
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 771
old hand
|
|
old hand
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 771 |
Check your PMs, Alex ~ and call me Santa's Little Helper! BTW, I'm about a third of the way into Elephantoms by Lyall Watson, and it's totally rocking my world... *fascinating* stories of an unusual boyhood in South Africa, among other things. It's difficult to describe without giving too much away, but it spans many disciplines, and it ain't just about elephants.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 872
old hand
|
|
old hand
Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 872 |
What am I reading? Gee! I'm so glad you asked.
People rarely ask me questions. In school I was always the first one to raise my hand, but the teachers always looked past me and always let some goofball in the back row answer the question. Thank You. Thank You. Thank You. I want the world to know that I read much more than others, and therefore I am a much better person than others and their families.
THE ART OF SPELLING the madness and the method
~ Marilyn Vos Savant
You remember Vos Savant, the Guiness Book record holder for the highest measured I.Q. on the planet (228). That is until we learned that, Politically Correctly speaking, everyone's I.Q. on this planet was exactly the same. Well Marilyn's book is well done. Her Madness part is better than her Methods, but they help and I'm going to write this entire review without a spell check.
Rating______________***
HOW I GOT THIS WAY
~ Patrick F. McManus
As always a happy time awaits the reader of McManus.
O Henry without the pathos.
Rating___________****
DAVE BARRY IS FROM MARS AND VENUS
~ Dave Barry
Usual Dave Barry fare. Some dumb. Some Good.
Some brilliant.
Rating___________***
PET PEEVES-or- whatever happened to doctor rawff?
~ George Plimpton
A series of letters written by pet owners to an advice columnist veterinarian who has, so to speak, flown the coop.
Mildly amusing but bordering on mildly silly.
Rating___________**
A MATTER OF DEGREES what temperature reveals about the past and future of our species, planet and universe
~ Gino Segre`
Great. New stuff about temperature is generously sprinkled with the old. Why do we run high temperatures when sick? Oh yeah? Then why do cold blooded creatures seek out warmth when they are sick? What about bugs?
Rating___________****
THE BEST OF THE BEST AMERICAN POETRY 1988 - 1997
~ Editor--> Harold Bloom
Maybe I chose bad times to read these poems. With that in mind I give this collection a...
Rating___________*
BEYOND THE DEEP the deadly descent into the world's most treacherous cave
~ William Stone and Barbara amEnde with Monte Paulsen
(Review upon request)
_________________***1/2
BUDDHA'S CHILD my fight to save vietnam
~ Nguyen CaoKy, former Prime Minister of South Vietnam
Interesting and revealing. Once Nguyen's nephew asked John Wayne for a autographed picture to give to his uncle who was then prime minister. The duke refused, saying, " Your Uncle Nguyen don't need no picture, all he has to do is ask, and he gets me."
Rating___________***
PAINTING AMERICAN the rise of american artists
paris 1867 - new york 1948
~ Annie Cohen-Solal
A well though-out, well-executed, selected history of the transition of american painting from the 19th century of largely french influences to the mostly american forms that took shape in the 20th.
Rating__________****
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 618
addict
|
|
addict
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 618 |
Vos Savant, the Guiness Book record holder for the highest measured I.Q. on the planet (228)
Will have to let my IQ=232 friend that he's not as smart as he thought he was...
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 3,467
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 3,467 |
I just picked up a copy of Empire, by Michael Hardt and Antonio Negri.
Here's a sample paragraph:
We should point out here that we accord special attention to the juridical figures of the constitution of Empire at the beginning of our study not out of any specialized disciplinary interest--as if right or law in itself, as an agency of regulations, were capable of representing the social world in its totality--but rather because they provide a good index of the processes of imperial construction. New juridical figures reveal a first view of the tendency toward the centralized and unitary regulation of both the world market and global power relations, with all the difficulties presented by such a project. Juridical transformations effectively point toward changes in the material constitution of world power and order. The transition we are witnessing today from traditional international law, which was defined by contracts and treaties, to the definition and constitution of a new soveriegn, supranational world power (and thus to an imperial notion of right), however incomplete, gives us a framework in which to read the totalizing social processes of Empire. In effect, the juridical transformation functions as a sumptom of the modifications of the material biopolitical consistution of our societies. These changes regard not only international law and international relations but also the internal power relations of each country. While studying and critquing the new forms of international and supranational law, then, we will at the same time be pushed to the heart of the political theory of Empire, where the problem of supranational sovereignty, its source of legitimacy, and its exercise bring into focus political, cultural, and finally ontological problems.
The rest of this book is filled with similar bullshit. It turns out that Hardt is an associate professor of Italian literature at Duke University, and Negri "is an independent researcher and writer and an inmate of Rebibbia Prison, Rome. He has been a Lecturer in Political Science at the University of Paris and a Professor of Political Science at the University of Padua."
What the blurb does not state is that Negri is in prison as a result of being convicted of involvement in the assassination of Aldo Moro, a former prime minister of Italy, back 1977.
So, if any of you are thinking of buying this book, please don't. Send me an IM or email with our address and I will ship this pile of crap off to you.
TEd, who is really pissed that some of his money ended up in an inmate's hands this way
TEd
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613 |
Good grief, Ted. Personal lives of the authors notwithstanding, how can anybody READ something like that? My attention was gone before I got to the end of the first line. Sheesh--reminds me of some of my university textbooks. I had to put out the concentration it took to wade through them then, but I'm sure not about to now. Yuck. [flicking something unsavory off fingertips e]
|
|
|
|
Forums16
Topics13,913
Posts229,318
Members9,182
| |
Most Online3,341
Dec 9th, 2011
|
|
|
0 members (),
775
guests, and
1
robot. |
|
Key:
Admin,
Global Mod,
Mod
|
|
|
|
