Fire and Fury. Not too interested but want to be informed first hand as it’ll surely be a topic in the news and in PRSI over the next few days.
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Spoilers What Book Are You Reading?
- Thread starter Huntn
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Reading the book that started it all, (movies and TV show). MASH: The Story Of Three Army Doctors.
I'll probably take a look at it when I am next home.
Reading the book that started it all, (movies and TV show). MASH: The Story Of Three Army Doctors.
That sounds interesting.
Picked it up on Apple. Agree with you on talking about it. I just want to know what it actually says when it’s discussed.
Do you like Krahrthammer? I enjoyed Things That Matter.
It was rather odd, for me. It's a great book, so far. I read the many sequels in the MASH series years ago, but had never read the first book in the series. I'm remedying that now. The other books, "MASH Goes To...." were great and a laugh riot. Hooker had a lot of fun with the characters he created and that came through in his writing. Guess I'll have to reread them now. Thankfully I still have them in my library.
I did wonder if having an e-book of it is such a good idea (although here in the UK the availability and price difference of this one swung it). As I wouldn't be surprised if when everyone involved has lawyered up, it doesn't just disappear off my device in a digital puff of multiple legal injunctions.
Haven't really encountered Krahrthammer - he looks quite an interesting columnist / author though.
Haven't started mine yet. Didn't Corey Lewandwhatever write a book too a few months ago or am I thinking of someone else?
I had to google it, yeah. Let Trump Be Trump must be the one. I think I’ll pass on that.
Yeah, definitely not the one I'm thinking of. I'm probably thinking of something else.
No. I still haven't read that either.
I'm probably thinking of Spicer's upcoming book for Summer 2018. Initially, I thought the Mooch was writing one, but I don't think it would be lawful for the publisher to lace each copy with coke.
I've heard Fire and Fury is poorly written. I'd hate to waste my time on such a book. I have so many other things I want to read...
Right now finally reading The Book of Dust, Book 1: La Belle Sauvage by Philip Pullman. I've heard mixed reviews, but I'm just glad to be back in this universe. I first read HDM when I was 12.
Right now finally reading The Book of Dust, Book 1: La Belle Sauvage by Philip Pullman. I've heard mixed reviews, but I'm just glad to be back in this universe. I first read HDM when I was 12.
But, @ThisBougieLife, any political book that is released in a rush is poorly written, especially in the United States which has gone in a century from being an extremely literate culture to one that isn't; most political books are poorly written because the primary aim is to ensure that they are published (and preferably published first on the subject in question), rather than take time to ensure it is written properly and in an engaging manner.
I read Bill Clinton's autobiography (and have met the man); it is extremely poorly written - and could have done with the close attentions of a decent sub-editor - but, interesting in places, especially the earlier sections.
And, to be frank, most political books from the US are dreadfully poorly written. The days when American writers re-defined how English was used in contemporary written prose (classy writers such as William Shirer) are long gone.
Indeed, this is why Barack Obama's book (Dreams of My Father) came as such a surprise; the book was thoughtful, intelligent, reflective, and well written.
Meanwhile, enjoy Philip Pullman.
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I wouldn't say its particularly badly written but its not literary fiction. My kindle edition has obvious errors but I doubt there was any time to to a proper edit. It's bit like that old joke you see hung up in restaurants - you can have good food and you can have fast food but good fast food ...
I'm enjoying it - if you read it carefully inbetween the gossipy water-cooler bits there's some interesting insights as to why things are playing out the way they are. (Particularly for a non-US resident and for someone who's knowledge of the people around Trump is limited).
Incidentally I was a bit meh about The Book of Dust. Felt like half an initial book rather than the satisfactory start of a new trilogy.
Obama’s book was a very good read. I have read HRC’s Hard Choices and I found it ... boring. Probably she decided to be careful on what to say since she still had political ambitions.
I suggest Condoleeza Rice’s book on her time as Secretary. Albright’s books is fascinating in many parts. I don’t remember Powell’s book but I am sure I’ve read it! Now, if you really want a challenge go for the three Kissinger’s tomes. They’re very insightful, almost day to day diaries with political and philosophical musings. However, the warning comes from Kissinger’s favorite review of his three tomes that was published I think in the New York Times review of books: “We’re not sure if Kissinger is a great writer, but if you finish the books you’re certainly a great reader.”
Another book I suggest is Robert Gate’s “Duty” which is one of the best memoirs I’ve read. However I think that his “A passion of leadership” is the book that pissed me off because it used “she” as a general pronoun. The problem is not the “she” in itself but how awkward the use was.
A note on illiteracy, avoiding PRSI’s topics. Many bad things are said about millennial and hipsters, but they brought glasses, analog devices, vynil, and reading back as cool. I think that we’re headed for more literacy than we ever imagined.
I think when Obama wrote his book, he had no idea where he would end up, in other words, he had no idea that he would end up President of the US; I suspect that if he had been able to see into the future he might have been a bit more guarded in some of what he wrote; still, an excellent, thoughtful, reflective, self-searching, questioning book, very interesting to read - and very well written.
Actually, I have Albright's book, and have read it, and thought it excellent; years ago, when I was still teaching, one of my students somehow met - and spoke at length with - Albright in the US and got her to autograph a copy of her autobiography with a dedication to me, (none of which I knew or suspected until some time later). This was what he gave me as a gift when he graduated, which I thought a lovely gesture.
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What a beautiful present the student gave you! Wow!
Nice string of posts in here lately...
I'm trying to treat Fire and Fury as watercooler material, which in any case makes it legit to flip pages faster than if I were playing at fact-checking. Other comments I may make or have already ventured to make are over in PRSI...
Meanwhile for more serious reading I'm enjoying two books that are differently related to Camus and his doubtless immortal novel The Stranger.
One is by by Alice Kaplan and is part biography, part appreciation -- Looking for the Stranger: Albert Camus and the Life of a Literary Classic.
The other is a novel by Kamel Daoud , translated from the French by John Cullen -- The Mersault Investigation.
And of course for the merry hell of it I'm re-reading L'Etranger itself in both languages and using the American Matthew Ward's translation to English, although back in my high school years I believe the translation I read had been done by a Briton. imo Ward's take better suits the spare style of the original.
How I got off on this tear was through enjoying the epigraph of Daoud's novel, a quote from the often nihilistic, sometimes romantic and occasionally merely observant Emil Cioran:
How I got to Daoud's novel was by wanting to read something touching Algeria that was anchored in the heart space of those forever bound to both North Africa and France... and I saw Camus as moored in an era predating, if also presaging, the rather more defined and so bleaker outlook of Andrew Hussey's take on the enduring consequence of France's Algerian experience in France itself, in The French Intifada.
I'm trying to treat Fire and Fury as watercooler material, which in any case makes it legit to flip pages faster than if I were playing at fact-checking. Other comments I may make or have already ventured to make are over in PRSI...
Meanwhile for more serious reading I'm enjoying two books that are differently related to Camus and his doubtless immortal novel The Stranger.
One is by by Alice Kaplan and is part biography, part appreciation -- Looking for the Stranger: Albert Camus and the Life of a Literary Classic.
The other is a novel by Kamel Daoud , translated from the French by John Cullen -- The Mersault Investigation.
And of course for the merry hell of it I'm re-reading L'Etranger itself in both languages and using the American Matthew Ward's translation to English, although back in my high school years I believe the translation I read had been done by a Briton. imo Ward's take better suits the spare style of the original.
How I got off on this tear was through enjoying the epigraph of Daoud's novel, a quote from the often nihilistic, sometimes romantic and occasionally merely observant Emil Cioran:
“The hour of crime does not strike at the same time
for every people. This explains the permanence of history."
— E. M. Cioran, in Syllogismes de l’amertume
for every people. This explains the permanence of history."
— E. M. Cioran, in Syllogismes de l’amertume
I’m trying this audiobook thing for the first time.
Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/93426.Genghis_Khan_and_the_Making_of_the_Modern_World
It’s sometimes a bit hard to get used to the audio format, but I’ll persevere to give it a chance.
Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/93426.Genghis_Khan_and_the_Making_of_the_Modern_World
It’s sometimes a bit hard to get used to the audio format, but I’ll persevere to give it a chance.
I have enjoyed certain audio books, generally nonfiction, as I can listen to them while doing hand sewing or even machine stitching. But... the narrators are sometimes unbearable and that can really spoil it even if the content is something I'm interested in. Before I buy I have to ask myself if I can listen to this person "talking at me" for a half hour at a time.
For fiction I've found that I'd far rather imagine the voices of the characters for myself. And I'm not sure which I loathe more, fiction with several narrators, or one narrator trying to be three distinctively speaking characters as well as narrator of the plot. And then there's the question of what do they do while reading sentences that include dialogue as well as descriptors, like
"That's enough!" she said sharply.
"Okay, okay", he retorted, rolling his eyes, rattling the newspaper.
"Okay, okay", he retorted, rolling his eyes, rattling the newspaper.
And yet once in awhile I've really enjoyed a book that has several speaking characters, male and female, but just one narrator. So for me it must come down to the ability of that narrator to take care in the reading and to also make me suspend disbelief, the same way a writer does, but more along the lines of aural expectations than the twists and turns of a plot.
When I say I prefer nonfiction in audiobook format, I definitely include works that are memoirs, autobiographies, biographies, not just things like someone's account of particular events or histories.
At Audible they have pretty long samples you can listen to before you buy (or apply one of your prepaid credits). I suppose most other audiobook sellers offer that option as well.
It's annoying when I do want to listen to a book but can't abide the narration. I used to give it a shot and buy it anyway, but not any more. I can even end up cruising around using the "more books by this narrator" when I have finally found some narrator whose range and style I do like. But... what a weird way to consider purchasing a book. In a regular bookstore that would be like going up to the bookseller and saying "Excuse me, do you have any more books set in such and such a font?"
The authors must have some say in who narrates their book (and some --generally unwisely-- elect to narrate the thing personally). I always wonder why some authors have chosen the person who does end up doing the narration. Then again, narrative style and voice range are matters of taste for each listener.
An embarrassment of riches for me after Christmas.
Currently reading…
I've always (well since a teenager) been an A E Housman fan. He just spoke to my young gay self. To this day I can turn to him and find a smile, a remembrance or comfort.
This looks at his life and poetry. Nicely done.
Next up will be one of these:
Though I am also dipping in and out of this wicked collection.
Some really cruel. Some just very funny. And a few that "I really wish I had thought of that!"
Currently reading…
I've always (well since a teenager) been an A E Housman fan. He just spoke to my young gay self. To this day I can turn to him and find a smile, a remembrance or comfort.
This looks at his life and poetry. Nicely done.
Next up will be one of these:
Though I am also dipping in and out of this wicked collection.
Some really cruel. Some just very funny. And a few that "I really wish I had thought of that!"
An embarrassment of riches for me after Christmas.
Currently reading…
I've always (well since a teenager) been an A E Housman fan. He just spoke to my young gay self. To this day I can turn to him and find a smile, a remembrance or comfort.
This looks at his life and poetry. Nicely done.
Next up will be one of these:
Though I am also dipping in and out of this wicked collection.
Some really cruel. Some just very funny. And a few that "I really wish I had thought of that!"
Fantastic selection: I have Mary Beard, Philip Pullman, Haggard Hawks and other wonderful tomes awaiting me when I am next home on leave.
Not to mention sundry CDs, some from friends, others ordered from various sources..
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