Spoilers What Book Are You Reading?

[Strider64]

I'm rereading "The Stand" by Stephen King and all I'm saying is I get freaked out every once in awhile. Yesterday as I was reading I started to sneeze and had a little bit of the running nose. I like rereading some of my favorite books for I find that I miss a few things the first time around and the story makes a little more sense. I also identify with the characters a little more for I basically know what happens and hope it doesn't to certain characters. However, that never happens...LOL

 

[MBAir2010]

Please let me know how you find it, as this is a work that I am interested in reading myself.

The start is typical Ondaatje novel, as if the reader was in that house back in the late 40’s.

 

[0388631]

For some reason I've spent the last decade thinking Anne Rice was an award winning literary novelist. Imagine my confusion when I finally got around to looking up her works. Add another 20 minutes because I was then dead-convinced the short-lived (thankfully) Vampire Diaries were based on her novels despite Wikipedia and Goodreads telling me I was wrong. Really happy society has moved on from the vampire and goblin craze.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

For some reason I've spent the last decade thinking Anne Rice was an award winning literary novelist. Imagine my confusion when I finally got around to looking up her works. Add another 20 minutes because I was then dead-convinced the short-lived (thankfully) Vampire Diaries were based on her novels despite Wikipedia and Goodreads telling me I was wrong. Really happy society has moved on from the vampire and goblin craze.

These things go in cycles.

As long as youngsters are reading, let them devour vampires if that is what interests them.

 

[whooleytoo]

Don't know if it's been mentioned, but I'm on the 2nd book of the Three Body Problem.

I find it.. a bit bizarre to be honest. Lots of it reads like cheesy sci-fi (the sophons for example, would make for a silly episode on Star Trek.. but are at least vaguely theoretically possible) but are actually regarded as quite hard sci-fi. The dialogue is a bit odd too, at least from my perspective. Most conversations seem to be sweeping discussions on philosophy or the role of science or psychology. They don't exactly read like 'real' people to me.

But I guess that could just be a cultural thing - the books are translated from Chinese. I don't know if it's the original or the translation, but the writing style is very basic (I'd call it poor).

They do feature some nice imagery - e.g. early on a character is publicly executed, and the drumming of his last drops of blood off the platform sounds like a person walking off into the distance.

 

[pachyderm]

For some reason I've spent the last decade thinking Anne Rice was an award winning literary novelist. Imagine my confusion when I finally got around to looking up her works. Add another 20 minutes because I was then dead-convinced the short-lived (thankfully) Vampire Diaries were based on her novels despite Wikipedia and Goodreads telling me I was wrong. Really happy society has moved on from the vampire and goblin craze.

That's how I feel about Harry Potter...
[doublepost=1530270300][/doublepost]

These things go in cycles.

As long as youngsters are reading, let them devour vampires if that is what interests them.

This is how I also feel...

 

[Scepticalscribe]

That's how I feel about Harry Potter...
[doublepost=1530270300][/doublepost]
This is how I also feel...

Indeed, let them devour Harry Potter, too, if that is what interests them.

 

[yaxomoxay]

let them devour vampires if that is what interests them.

Yeah, but no more sparklin’ high schoolers please!!

 

[lowendlinux]

Yeah, but no more sparklin’ high schoolers please!!

How’s it going...I’ve not seen you around in ages

 

[AustinIllini]

"The Art of Racing in the Rain" by Garth Stein

As a dog person, I love this book

 

[pachyderm]

"The Art of Racing in the Rain" by Garth Stein

As a dog person, I love this book

Me too!

 

[ThisBougieLife]

I just finished Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami.

I guess I expected it to be like his other more "surreal" works, but it was not, and it was quite a disappointment. It had the usual Murakami trademarks: cats, wells, classical music, sex...but the bland main character and his "kooky" girlfriends did not an interesting novel make. Oh well, it was an early work of his and it shows. 1Q84 seems like it will be much more interesting (if baffling).

 

[pachyderm]

I just finished Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami.

I guess I expected it to be like his other more "surreal" works, but it was not, and it was quite a disappointment. It had the usual Murakami trademarks: cats, wells, classical music, sex...but the bland main character and his "kooky" girlfriends did not an interesting novel make. Oh well, it was an early work of his and it shows. 1Q84 seems like it will be much more interesting (if baffling).

The Wind Up Bird Chronicle was pretty good.

I've read NW I agree with you.

I stopped reading 1Q84 about 100 pages in.
[doublepost=1530324197][/doublepost]

"The Art of Racing in the Rain" by Garth Stein

As a dog person, I love this book

"Enzo says hello..." man that line tore me up!

 

[ThisBougieLife]

The Wind Up Bird Chronicle was pretty good.

I've read NW I agree with you.

I stopped reading 1Q84 about 100 pages in.

Kafka on the Shore and Wind-Up Bird Chronicle were excellent. I figure I have to at least try 1Q84, although I know it's bit of a tome.

 

[yaxomoxay]

How’s it going...I’ve not seen you around in ages

Hey! All is good, I am just a little less active with social media and forums in general; I am trying to enjoy “real life” a little bit more. I am more on reddit now, but I am severely limiting my time on forums and on social media. I even removed all the social media apps from my phone so that it becomes more difficult to access them.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

Hey! All is good, I am just a little less active with social media and forums in general; I am trying to enjoy “real life” a little bit more. I am more on reddit now, but I am severely limiting my time on forums and on social media. I even removed all the social media apps from my phone so that it becomes more difficult to access them.

Well, good to see you back here, especially in this section of the forum.

Had you read anything of interest in recent times?

 

[yaxomoxay]

Well, good to see you back here, especially in this section of the forum.

Had you read anything of interest in recent times?

Good to see ya!

I am finishing up Manchester’s first volume on Churchill (The Last Lion), quite an incredible read if you ask me! I already bought the second volume, and I think I am going to read Randolph’s biography of his father (8 volumes). The more I learn about Churchill the more I fall in love with studying the subject. Quite a much more complex character than most people believe (especially after watching “The Darkest Hour”...)

I recently finished Bob Roth’s book on Transcendental Meditation, “Strength in Stillness”. A decent book on the subject, but clearly a sales pitch for the TM movement (I began meditating a few months ago).

A couple of interesting books are,
“Unmasking Administrative Evil” by Guy Adams. A short book on how administrations/bureacuracies might end up doing evil, interesting although the book is awfully biased and does not offer counterpoints (on example, is Operation Paperclip. It’s true that it allowed some evil men to land in the US, but the book does not offer any credible counterpoint on the reasons for it).
“Hero of the Empire: The Boer War, a Daring Escape, and the Making of Winston Churchill”. Fascinating read on the specific event that basically allowed Churchill to end up in the spotlight and leave his father’s shadow behind. I also admit my ignorance on the Boer War, so this was a good introduction to the subject.

The last novel I’ve read is a nice pulp hard-boiled by Evan Hunter (aka Ed McBain) in the Hard Case Crime collection. “So Nude, so Dead” is actually a pretty nice read as the hero is just a heroin addict trying to solve a murder he thinks he did not commit. First half is quite impressive, then it fades a little bit (McBain probably diluted it a bit to get more money).

 

[Scepticalscribe]

Good to see ya!

I am finishing up Manchester’s first volume on Churchill (The Last Lion), quite an incredible read if you ask me! I already bought the second volume, and I think I am going to read Randolph’s biography of his father (8 volumes). The more I learn about Churchill the more I fall in love with studying the subject. Quite a much more complex character than most people believe (especially after watching “The Darkest Hour”...)

I recently finished Bob Roth’s book on Transcendental Meditation, “Strength in Stillness”. A decent book on the subject, but clearly a sales pitch for the TM movement (I began meditating a few months ago).

A couple of interesting books are,
“Unmasking Administrative Evil” by Guy Adams. A short book on how administrations/bureacuracies might end up doing evil, interesting although the book is awfully biased and does not offer counterpoints (on example, is Operation Paperclip. It’s true that it allowed some evil men to land in the US, but the book does not offer any credible counterpoint on the reasons for it).
“Hero of the Empire: The Boer War, a Daring Escape, and the Making of Winston Churchill”. Fascinating read on the specific event that basically allowed Churchill to end up in the spotlight and leave his father’s shadow behind. I also admit my ignorance on the Boer War, so this was a good introduction to the subject.

The last novel I’ve read is a nice pulp hard-boiled by Evan Hunter (aka Ed McBain) in the Hard Case Crime collection. “So Nude, so Dead” is actually a pretty nice read as the hero is just a heroin addict trying to solve a murder he thinks he did not commit. First half is quite impressive, then it fades a little bit (McBain probably diluted it a bit to get more money).

What a wonderfully detailed reply.

I'm not sure that Randolph is the source I'd consult - his youngest sister - Mary Soames, by far the most grounded, and, paradoxically, the most artistically gifted of the family - she was the only family member deemed to have inherited Churchill's own literary ability - remarked that Randolph was so contrary that he "would pick a fight with a chair in an empty room."

Now, the book that might be worth reading - I haven't read it, but want to, as it received excellent (and astonished) reviews - is that penned by Mary Soames (whose marriage to Christopher Soames, again, unlike those of all of her siblings, was extremely happy and rock solid) and who only started to write when her family were reared - wrote an extremely well received biography of her mother (and family).

 

[yaxomoxay]

What a wonderfully detailed reply.

I'm not sure that Randolph is the source I'd consult - his youngest sister - Mary Soames, by far the most grounded, and, paradoxically, the most artistically gifted of the family - she was the only family member deemed to have inherited Churchill's own literary ability - remarked that Randolph was so contrary that he "would pick a fight with a chair in an empty room."

Now, the book that might be worth reading - I haven't read it, but want to, as it received excellent (and astonished) reviews - is that penned by Mary Soames (whose marriage to Christopher Soames, again, unlike those of all of her siblings, was extremely happy and rock solid) and who only started to write when her family were reared - wrote an extremely well received biography of her mother (and family).

Thank you for the suggestion! I will definitely read Mary Soames’ books!
A curious book on the same subject I bought for a couple of dollars is Violet Bonahm-Carter’s memories of Churchill. Probably not a masterpiece but I am sure that it will provide some interest insight on the man.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

Thank you for the suggestion! I will definitely read Mary Soames’ books!
A curious book on the same subject I bought for a couple of dollars is Violet Bonahm-Carter’s memories of Churchill. Probably not a masterpiece but I am sure that it will provide some interest insight on the man.

Read some of the interviews she gave; she was a fascinating interviewee, (she died in 2014, lucid to the end), funny, objective, articulate and firm - she loved her parents but wasn't blind to their flaws, and very aware that she had the privilege of a ring side seat to history.

For a variety of reasons, (one of which was the close bond she had with her governess, who remained the same all though her childhood and teens, giving her a stability and security her siblings lacked), she had a different childhood to that of her siblings. Another may have been that she was never considered to be quite as 'glamorous' as some of her siblings, physically, as she said herself, she was stocky and dumpy, resembling her father, whose literary skills she also inherited.

When the war came, and her father became PM, she insisted on enlisting (unheard of from her background) in the armed forces - Churchill had made a speech about the need for women to become involved in the war effort, and she apparently threw it at him.

She always said that enlisting - she was later commissioned and later still, Churchill used her as an ADC at the some of the famous conferences that closed the war, where, as a young woman in her early twenties, she saw history unfold in front of her eyes - was the very best thing that ever happened to her, as she learned, first-hand, what the lives of people who were not from the upper-class were like, and it knocked some off some of her edges.

 

[Gutwrench]

Good to see ya!

I am finishing up Manchester’s first volume on Churchill (The Last Lion), quite an incredible read if you ask me! I already bought the second volume, and I think I am going to read Randolph’s biography of his father (8 volumes). The more I learn about Churchill the more I fall in love with studying the subject. Quite a much more complex character than most people believe (especially after watching “The Darkest Hour”...)

...

I’m still making my way through The Last Lion. If you’re interested, The Power of Words by Sir Martin Gilbert is good I feel.

 

[ThisBougieLife]

My dad's reading The Last Lion. He told me he'd give me the books after he's done. Churchill is a fascinating topic

 

[0388631]

You continue to surprise me, Gutty.

 

[Gutwrench]

You continue to surprise me, Gutty.

You spotted the O’Reilly and Levin books, eh? Haha.

 

[0388631]

You spotted the O’Reilly and Levin books, eh? Haha.

No, not that. You know that lesson you were taught as a young child? Never judge a book by its cover, which is easily extrapolated to everything in life? Yeah, lesson learned for the trillionth time.