I am reading a book on WW1 and the background stuff about the Ottoman empire is fascinating (those sultans were crazy). I am woefully ignorant of this part of world history. Anyone have a recommendation for a good book?
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"There is no creature more arrogant than a self-righteous libertarian on the web, am I right? Those folks are just intolerable."
"It's no secret that the great American pastime is no longer baseball. Now it's sanctimony." -- Guy Periwinkle, The Nix.
"Juilliardk N I ibuprofen Hyu I U unhurt u" - creekster
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Originally posted by Jeff Lebowski View PostI am reading a book on WW1 and the background stuff about the Ottoman empire is fascinating (those sultans were crazy). I am woefully ignorant of this part of world history. Anyone have a recommendation for a good book?
This is the condensed book of a three volume series covering one thousand years. I've read about a third of it - imagine I'll never really finish it, but it really is an interesting book. Lot's and lot's of details as recorded over hundreds of year by Byzantine scholars.
https://www.amazon.com/Short-History.../dp/0679772693
When poet puts pen to paper imagination breathes life, finding hearth and home.
-Mid Summer's Night Dream
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Originally posted by Jeff Lebowski View PostI am reading a book on WW1 and the background stuff about the Ottoman empire is fascinating (those sultans were crazy). I am woefully ignorant of this part of world history. Anyone have a recommendation for a good book?
I second the Norwich book on Byzantium, though I would recommend the trilogy and not the abridgement. The Trilogy was my introduction to Norwich. I read most everything he has written.
I may be small, but I'm slow.
A veteran - whether active duty, retired, or national guard or reserve is someone who, at one point in his life, wrote a blank check made payable to, "The United States of America ", for an amount of "up to and including my life - it's an honor."
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Originally posted by happyone View PostWhat kind of recommendations are you looking for - WWI or the Ottoman empire?
I second the Norwich book on Byzantium, though I would recommend the trilogy and not the abridgement. The Trilogy was my introduction to Norwich. I read most everything he has written.
Thanks."There is no creature more arrogant than a self-righteous libertarian on the web, am I right? Those folks are just intolerable."
"It's no secret that the great American pastime is no longer baseball. Now it's sanctimony." -- Guy Periwinkle, The Nix.
"Juilliardk N I ibuprofen Hyu I U unhurt u" - creekster
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Originally posted by clackamascoug View PostA listened to a couple of hours of Ronan Farrow - he reads his own book Catch and Kill. He's so bad, that I had to quit listening. He was bugging me more than the story was worth.
Crazy book. NBC news and Oppenhiem are POS, oh yeah, Weinstein too. So amazing all that crap went on for so long.
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Originally posted by BigPiney View PostI just finished this yesterday. But I read it, so it was in my own voice in my head, much more soothing and not grating at all.
Crazy book. NBC news and Oppenhiem are POS, oh yeah, Weinstein too. So amazing all that crap went on for so long."There is no creature more arrogant than a self-righteous libertarian on the web, am I right? Those folks are just intolerable."
"It's no secret that the great American pastime is no longer baseball. Now it's sanctimony." -- Guy Periwinkle, The Nix.
"Juilliardk N I ibuprofen Hyu I U unhurt u" - creekster
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Originally posted by SeattleUte View PostOh my god. (While moving in and out of Evans's trilogy on Nazi Germany and Moby Dick), I've fallen upon the most amazing novel, Vernon Subutex 1. I'm so grateful it's the opening of a trilogy. It's like being very young again and not being able to put down the book. Here is the WSJ's review.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/fiction...es-11572619245
Reading this hugely entertaining and funny French novel, it's reaffirming how much I dislike just about all contemporary American novels with their didacticism, resentments, and stupid first-world preoccupations. Like fantasies about trees.
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Originally posted by BigPiney View PostI read this. The writing was very good. It was funny at parts, pretty vulgar and kind of far-right but overall the book was pretty good. Didn't really get anywhere fast. Was good enough that I will probably read the others when they are released in English.Last edited by SeattleUte; 01-23-2020, 10:04 AM.When a true genius appears, you can know him by this sign: that all the dunces are in a confederacy against him.
--Jonathan Swift
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Originally posted by SeattleUte View PostUh, I don't know where you get the notion that it's far right. And I've never read that. It's definitely a realistic, unsentimental view of Paris bohemians and the toll that life takes over the years. But there are preceptive and sympathetic portraits of homelessness and the road there, transgenders, lesbians and gays, and women's issues, and a scathingly negative depiction of neo-Nazis. The author, a woman, is bisexual and a former sex worker. It's funny how people who actually have lived the hard life are less soft headed about social problems than white elites. Not saying this about you necessarily, but it's a myopia that's everywhere. There is no harsher critic of woke nonsense than Andrew Sullivan, ironically.
I think the translator did a great job on this.
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Originally posted by BigPiney View PostYou are correct I should not have characterized it that way. Those characters that were far-right in the book were very accurate depictions of those in France that I have met and interacted with. It just spoke very true to the nationalism that I have seen there. Not that she was promoting that point of view.
I think the translator did a great job on this.
Of course this remarkable novel didn't make it on the NY Times ten best or even the Notable Books. That's not unusual for books I like. I don't think the NYT has even reviewed Sapiens. But I didn't read many of those NY Times honored books either. Every year I punish myself listening to that narcissistic echo chamber year's best podcast they do, and read the articles. Sometimes I find something interesting. That's how a found Asymmetry, which I quite liked. But usually I just think, "nope, nope nope...."When a true genius appears, you can know him by this sign: that all the dunces are in a confederacy against him.
--Jonathan Swift
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Originally posted by SeattleUte View PostThere's a tragic character who is somewhat likeable though he says and thinks a lot of indecorous stuff about the left, homeless, etc. He winds up being quite wonderful and tragic. But redemption is one of my favorite themes.
Of course this remarkable novel didn't make it on the NY Times ten best or even the Notable Books. That's not unusual for books I like. I don't think the NYT has even reviewed Sapiens. But I didn't read many of those NY Times honored books either. Every year I punish myself listening to that narcissistic echo chamber year's best podcast they do, and read the articles. Sometimes I find something interesting. That's how a found Asymmetry, which I quite liked. But usually I just think, "nope, nope nope...."
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Discovered Warlock by Oakley Hall. It is jaw droppingly good and I’m only a quarter of the way in. I don’t know how I’ve gone my whole life without anyone telling me about either Mr. Hall or Warlock but I’m happy to have remedied the situation. It’s a literary Western that I’d wager most if not all who post in this thread would enjoy.
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I started the first book of Stephen King's the Dark Towers series (The Gunslinger) and it bored me to tears. I would start it, get bored and try again a couple months later. I finally slogged all the way through it because everyone I talk to says the rest of the series is fantastic. I had no real hope for the next book after finishing The Gunslinger.
With that said, I devoured books 2 and 3 and I am now hooked!
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Confession: never read a Steven king book."There is no creature more arrogant than a self-righteous libertarian on the web, am I right? Those folks are just intolerable."
"It's no secret that the great American pastime is no longer baseball. Now it's sanctimony." -- Guy Periwinkle, The Nix.
"Juilliardk N I ibuprofen Hyu I U unhurt u" - creekster
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