What are you reading?

[ranger]

Just finished John Wesley Hardin; Dark Angel of Texas, nice biography on the old gunslinger. Next up 11/22/63 A Novel by Stephen King.

[shack]

A book written by a couple of local guys.

[cnh]

Deep China: The Moral Life of the Person

An edited scholarly work that examines the moral and emotional life of the Chinese people as they respond to all the 'changes' that their society is experiencing as they rocket into 'modernity'. There are some very readable essays in this collection that one can learn a lot from. I'll be using a few for my undergrads! And recommend them!

cnh

[tonyb]

I have a pretty extensive list built up, but some visits to the library it just pays to roam the stacks for a while... like when you forget your password and can't access your list.

The other day I roamed across...

Dangerously Funny : The Uncensored Story of the Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour by David Bianculli

I had, and still have, three of their LP's. I'm old enough to remember the series, but was young enough to not fully understand what they were up to.

The book started kinda slow (early-life, bio stuff), but has gotten really good through Season 1.

Man I loved those guys. Something sinister behind the comedy ?? C'mon Bruce, spill it.

[Tour2ma]

Man I loved those guys. Something sinister behind the comedy ?? C'mon Bruce, spill it.

What? You never played "The Foxes" backwards?
The lyric, "Foxy went to his own den. There were the little ones 8,9,10...",
becomes, "Kill your teachers. Trust no one over 30."

Those of us that found that little tidbit and more (Oh yes! There was plenty more.) during our anachronistic
search for the truth about Paul (Was he really dead?) realize the show was just more of the same old, run-of-the-mill, liberal, pinko-commie, Hollyweird elite stuff...

You know...
Anti-war sentiments...
Thinnly veiled drug references ("Share a Little Tea with Goldie")...
Godless rock'n'roll (The Who, Cream)...
Godless rock'n'roll with anti-war sentiments (Buffalo Springfield, The Beatles - albeit on tape)...
Godless rock'n'roll with drug references (Jefferson Airplane, Donovan)...
Godless folk music with anti-war sentiments and/ or drug references (Peter, Paul and Mary, Joan Baez, Pete Seger)...

And to boot the show knocked Bonanza off of its #1 Nielsen's perch... a couple times anyway... with new Smo-Bros vs. Cartwright summer reruns...

How much more anti-American could one show get?

[Tour2ma]

#126 reported....

Very topical post, but spam link in sig...

[decal]

Just finished Grishams new book "The Litagators". Same old same old from him, you can see the ending about halfway through the book.

[Tour2ma]

Finished the SMO Bro's read... As reported earlier the book started slow (first 100 pages), but really picked up steam and became a decent read. One sizable quibble with the editor if not the author, it felt "padded".

Once a fact is mentioned it doesn't have to be repeated ad naseum every single time it comes into play in the subsequent story. I swear by the book could have been 50 pages shorter if these repeats were eliminated.

Anyway, up next Michael Lewis' very short, Coach - Lessons on the Game of Life and Sheila Weller's - Girls Like Us... listed in post #40 by SCompRacer.

[Tour2ma]

Finished Michael Lewis' very short, Coach - Lessons on the Game of Life. Only took about an hour (and I savored it) and it's one of the best hours I have spent reading in a long, long time.

Bittersweet and heartwarming are not adjectives I would normally associate with good reads (or at least admit to in public), but they apply here to this beautiful little book.

[Rivrrat]

"Cross Fire" by James Patterson

[Strong Bad]

Just had Stephen King's "11/22/63" come in. Gonna crack it open this weekend.

[Hockeylifer]

Hey all:
I'm new here and this is only my 2nd post. Besides a ton of posts here, I recently finished reading, "After the Prophet" by Lesley Hazleton and moved onto Alex Bellos' "Here's Looking at Euclid: A Surprising Excursion Through the Astonishing World of Math." I look forward to reading more posts here, especially in the context of helping me decide what receiver and speakers to upgrade to. That will be a topic for another moment though. Have a great day!

[obieone]

Just finished Brian Haig's 'The Capitol Game'. Friggin unbelievably good book. Right up there with Vince Flynn, and James Huston.

[Shizelbs]

Lone Survivor - Marcus Luttrell

[drumminman]

A Dance With Dragons, by George R. R. Martin.

The fifth, and latest, book in the "Song of Ice and Fire" series. HBO made the first book into a miniseries, Game of Thrones. The second season starts in April.

Brilliant series, fun books. They complement each other incredibly well.

[Tour2ma]

Just finished Brian Haig's 'The Capitol Game'. Friggin unbelievably good book.

Hockey book?

Hey all:
I'm new here and this is only my 2nd post. Besides a ton of posts here, I recently finished reading, "After the Prophet" by Lesley Hazleton and moved onto Alex Bellos' "Here's Looking at Euclid: A Surprising Excursion Through the Astonishing World of Math." I look forward to reading more posts here, especially in the context of helping me decide what receiver and speakers to upgrade to. That will be a topic for another moment though. Have a great day!

Welcome to the Clubs... both Club Polk and our little book club. Are you a Cap's fan? Flyers here...

Finished the Joni Mitchell chapters in Sheila Weller's - Girls Like Us. More interested in her story vs. Carol King's and Carly Simon's. Good read... Will check it back out again someday and read the rest.

Now halfway through Niall Ferguson's The Ascent of Money: A Financial History of the World. While I thought I might like it, I did not expect it to be this good. Traces "money" through seven innovations from Coin thru Bonds then Bond Trading/ Markets and on... It's an absolutely fascinating read.

Have a couple other library books on deck, including Moneyball, which I am really looking forward to reading, but will likely take them back in favor of some Christmas gifts...
Howard Finneman's The Thirteen American Arguments: Enduring Debates That Define and Inspire Our Country
Asa Razlan's No god but God (Updated Edition): The Origins, Evolution, and Future of Islam

Plus I can spend some more time perusing my great, new "throne" book....

[outlander]

Final Journeys (Maggie Callanan), it covers the subject of dying. It’s funny everyone dies yet it is almost impossible for people to talk or even think about it honestly.
O

[Tony M]

Jules Verne's Journey to the center of the earth.

Read it this week and it wasn't very much like the movie from 59. Hans has red hair... no duck and the wife of the deceased scientist wasn't even mentioned. Neither was the grandson of the late Saccnussen coming into the picture later in the journey to claim to finding the riches. Again, there were no gems, only bones. And some live cave man type giants that I don't think were in the movie.

What an adaptation to a book. They took a journey downward and kind of made their own story line instead of sticking to the book closer. The real story from the book wouldn't have made a very good movie I know but at least keep the guides hair color the same... weird.

I'm going to read 20 thousand leagues under the sea next. I faintly remember the movie but I have an idea of what it was.

I do love Vernes' use of some strange words I've never heard of before. These reads might broaden my vocabulary a little more than expected.

[shack]

Jules Verne and H.G. Wells...the fathers of science fiction. Great classics...if you enjoy the sci-fi genre you should try to read all of their books.

[Tony M]

I think I'm going to try that.

My wife before we knew each other subscribed to Readers digest and amassed a great collection of classics. I find reading is relaxing me again. It also has taken my mind off other BS matters.

[PreCd]

The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien

[George Grand]

The Quotable Einstein/Phase II

[PerfectCreature]

Winch: The idea of a social science and its relation to philosophy.

[shack]

On August 5, 1949, a crew of fifteen of the United States Forest Service's elite airborne firefighters, the Smokejumpers, stepped into the sky above a remote forest fire in the Montana wilderness. Two hours after their jump, all but three of these men were dead or mortally burned. Haunted by these deaths for forty years, Norman Maclean puts back together the scattered pieces of the Mann Gulch tragedy.

Only 3 books by Norman McLean have been published...2 after his death. "A River Runs Through It and Other Stories", "Young Men and Fire" and "The Norman McLean Reader". I can recommend them all.

[Tour2ma]

^ Looks interesting, shack... also reminded me of the storyline of an old movie starring Richard Widmark, Red Skies of Montana.

Sure enough the movie was based upon Young Men and Fire...
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0045074/reviews

[obieone]

Finished "Marine One" by James W. Huston last week, GREAT book. It's an espionage novel, with a lot of military-legal, and DOD contracts backgorund.
Friggin page turner! I was up all night, reading the last 200+ pages.

Right now I'm reading "The Threat" by David Poyer. It's a Dan Lenson novel. The 1st half of the book jumps around too much, but it's finally getting interesting. I'm curious to see where it leads.

[shack]

^ Looks interesting, shack... also reminded me of the storyline of an old movie starring Richard Widmark, Red Skies of Montana.

Sure enough the movie was based upon Young Men and Fire...
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0045074/reviews

It may be the other way around. "Red Skies of Montana" was filmed in 1952 and "Young Men and Fire" was published in 1993. Of course trhey both are based on the same event. When I read your post I was thinking Richard Widmark would have been too old to play a fire jumper post 1993. However he was only 33 in 1952.

[Tony M]

The Quotable Einstein/Phase II

That should be some great reading with humor throughout.

I have a calendar with a quote a day from him. He was a genius with a sense of humor for sure!!!

"I have never obtained any ethical values from my scientific work" ..Einstein



PS. I'm half way through "20k leagues ...." already. I've sailed or been around the world on and under the water the past few days now. Pretty funny at times also. I just escaped savages and attended an underwater funeral with the prof. and his aid and the harpoonist .

I've learned that my library in my man cave resembles that of the Nautilus. Science, art and alot of other topics and NO POLITICAL BS.
If I was only as beyond wealthy and inteligent as the Capt. Nemo was.

[jflail2]

American Sniper. Very good read.

[chumlie]

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