Originally posted by happyone
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How old is DM? Can't believe he is still cranking out books."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 -
according to wikipedia - he's 82. It is amazing
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."Comment
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Finally finished Seabiscuit and am now onto Seveneves.
I'm into part 3 of Seveneves and so far, not as good as the first 2 parts.Comment
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"The Secret Chord" by Geraldine Brooks. Historical Fiction about the life of King David. SU, I think you'd really like this.
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/25/bo...ooks.html?_r=0Comment
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SU still hasnt finished reading the Work and The Glory historical fiction series.Originally posted by SteelBlue View PostFitter. Happier. More Productive.
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I saw one of those on a recent Goodwill book sweep. SU, if you want it I'll pick it up for you, $2.Originally posted by TripletDaddy View PostComment
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so i've read maybe a half dozen chefs memoirs in the last month or so. weird, but they're interesting and easy reads. life on the line by grant achatz is good. most of the bourdain stuff other than kitchen confidential (and even kind of that) is self congratulatory crap. white heat by marco pierre white is ok. the guy is obviously a sociopath but was the og of what he did. crazy how many of these guys write three or four memoirs.Te Occidere Possunt Sed Te Edere Non Possunt Nefas Est.Comment
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Fables. I'm on the 12th book in the collection.
Braces for the comic book jokes.As I lead this army, make room for mistakes and depression
--Kendrick LamarComment
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guess it is time for my semi regular update of what some non fiction that I’ve been reading
Snow and Steel
http://www.amazon.com/Snow-Steel-Bat...der_0199335141
This is perhaps the best book I’ve read on the Battle of the Bulge, definitely the best WW II book I’ve read this year.
My thoughts if anyone is interested
Khyber, British India's North West Frontier: The Story Of An Imperial Migraine
http://www.amazon.com/Khyber-British...=khyber+miller
An older book, copywrited in 1977
It covers Britain’s experience on the Northwest Frontier (Afghanistan/Pakistan)from the early 1800s through post WW II when they pulled out of the sub-continent
The author has a slightly irreverent/breezy style that makes this a fun read in spite of horrific incidents including the British retreat from Kabul in which there was only one survivor of more than 16,000 people
I didn’t write up my thoughts for goodreads
One Square Mile of Hell
http://www.amazon.com/One-Square-Mil...+john+wukovits
A marines eye look at the Invasion of Tarawa
Probably the second best WW II book I’ve read this year
My thoughts
Capital Dames
http://www.amazon.com/Capital-Dames-...+cokie+roberts
I saw Cokie Roberts talking about it on Good Reads and it sounded interesting – I thought her presentation on BookTv was better than the book. I was disappointed
My Thoughts
The History of Venice
http://www.amazon.com/History-Venice...venice+norwich
I can’t believe it took me this long to read this one. Norwich is an excellent historian and writes very readable history
My thoughts
The Wright Brothers
http://www.amazon.com/Wright-Brother...vid+mccullough
Excellent, but too short!
my thoughts
A Hobbit, A Wardrobe, and a Great War
http://www.amazon.com/Hobbit-Wardrob...nd+a+great+war
A look at C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien, their friendship and how the Great War affected them, their writing and the society in which they lived
my thoughts
On a personal note – I found out I have something in common with Prof Tolkien – We were both signal officers in infantry bns. Of course what he probably wouldn’t have recognized anything I worked with expect the Telephones and commo wire
Colorful Characters in Mormon History
http://www.amazon.com/Colorful-Chara...Mormon+History
A series of biographical sketches of people from the 1830s to 1930s – about half Mormon, half non Mormon/apostate
Includes sketches of Mark Twain, Gov Lilburn Boggs, Sam Brannan, J. Golden Kimball(of course), the man who killed Baby Face Nelson (Matthew Cowley's brother) about everyone who had anything to do with the Martin/Willie Handcart companies among others
Not great and there are quite a few typo, but an interesting read, It thought Her sketch of Gov Boggs is surprisingly even handed.Last edited by happyone; 12-09-2015, 10:42 AM.
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."Comment
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Station Eleven - Like others, I really enjoyed it. Definitely stands out in the post-apocalyptic genre.
Look Who's Back - Very funny and very strange book about the return of Adolf Hitler, who inexplicably wakes to find himself lying on the ground in modern Berlin. People assume he's some kind of method comedian and he winds up with his own talk/comedy show where he spouts the same hateful rhetoric he did in the 30s and 40s and people treat him like a comic genius. The book was a huge hit in Germany, where it was also made into a movie, also a hit (though "Suk Me Shakespeer 2" -- the first Suk Me Shakespeer apparently having also been quite popular -- remains the biggest comedy of the German year: http://www.theguardian.com/film/2015...vie-box-office). The book is very funny but also discomfiting. I would recommend it.Last edited by Armenag; 11-10-2015, 10:19 PM.Comment
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National Book Award winners:
http://nytimes.com/2015/11/19/us/ta-...p=cur&referer=
Adam Johnson wins for fiction. Many here read his 2012 Pulitzer winner The Orphan Master's Son. I haven't read Fortune Smiles yet; looking forward to it. Coates wins Non-Fiction for Between the World and Me, written as a letter to his son.Last edited by SteelBlue; 11-19-2015, 09:05 AM.Comment
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The Boys in the Boat.
http://www.amazon.com/Boys-Boat-Amer...ys+in+the+boat
I put off reading it because I assumed it would be about a bunch of spoiled rich kids from Harvard or Yale or something. Wow, was I ever wrong. One of the best books I have read in a while. Highly recommended."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" - creeksterComment
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Totally agree. I enjoyed it so much that I rented Leni Riefenstahl's documentary of the Olympics so I could see some of the stuff that was written about (Weirdly interesting, but I wouldn't recommend it to others). Truly an amazing story. It included some poignant examples of really awful parenting, and how at least one kid was able to overcome it magnificently--gives me hope for my kids.Originally posted by Jeff Lebowski View PostComment
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Yeah, that blew me away. I can't wrap my brain around abandoning a kid.Originally posted by PaloAltoCougar View Post
Sadly, the same thing happened to my FIL as a child around the same time."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" - creeksterComment
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I'm now on the downhill part of this novel. It is very long but readable. I lot of flat out expository backstory. The recurring theme is wretched mothers and what they do to their children. It becomes a pattern.Originally posted by SteelBlue View PostWhen a true genius appears, you can know him by this sign: that all the dunces are in a confederacy against him.
--Jonathan SwiftComment
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