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Post by urbino on Jan 6, 2023 22:29:49 GMT -5
Haha. Gonna be a hard pass for me on Les Miserables. The Jane Austen novels are very dry and boring, and Last of the Mohicans is super piss poor writing. We're all bound to pick and choose what we like and read. I thought that was funny what you said though. I though the Hobbit was alright but it's one of those things where you have to like it and get into it. Some of the really old comments and the way that people used to be able to upvote books onto the lists before they were locked are funny. "Twilight should not be on the list. If you voted for it, you're an idiot."  I don't begrudge anybody their own tastes. It's just that "I really enjoyed this" does not equal must-read. I enjoyed The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time, for example. But I can't think of anything that would make it a must-read. It has had no major cultural influence. It broke no new ground on any front, that I know of. It isn't particularly humanizing (in the sense that "the humanities" should be) or socially, psychologically, or otherwisely insightful. The Jane Austen novels belong, in my view, because they do/have some of those things. |
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Post by Ronv69 on Jan 6, 2023 23:17:28 GMT -5
I like Jane Austen novels. I've read 4 and really enjoyed them. Of course, I really like women. I also liked Pride and Predudice and Zombies. Same book with fun extras. Sue me. I also liked Abraham Lincoln Zombie Hunter. The books, not the movies. Fun stuff. Totally off of the zombie kick so no suggestions, please.
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Post by Plainsman on Jan 7, 2023 0:23:04 GMT -5
I wasn’t criticizing you, Zach, or your recommendation. Just expressing a great personal frustration from many years ago.
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Zach
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Post by Zach on Jan 7, 2023 1:54:34 GMT -5
Oh I completely understand, that's how I understood it. I also did not care for being forced to read books in school unless I actually enjoyed them and got something from them.
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Post by Plainsman on Jan 7, 2023 9:39:30 GMT -5
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Post by toshtego on Jan 7, 2023 11:40:17 GMT -5
What?!? Naked Mallrats cure cancer? Who knew? Finally, those useless Teenagers are good for something!
(OK. I will stay in my room the rest of the morning,)
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Post by Plainsman on Jan 7, 2023 11:44:00 GMT -5
Cancer is only ONE part of the interest in this article. A mammal with a queen? A single breeding female in a large colony of differentiated workers? A rodent living for 30 years? It just goes on and on…
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Post by Ronv69 on Jan 7, 2023 15:17:46 GMT -5
I certainly believe that the moles in my yard live 30 years.
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Post by trailboss on Jan 7, 2023 16:28:57 GMT -5
I once worked with a mole rat, he was fortunate to live 30 years.  Interesting story, thanks! |
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Post by toshtego on Jan 7, 2023 18:39:28 GMT -5
I certainly believe that the moles in my yard live 30 years. That is the land of the Confederacy for you. Warm and inviting. |
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Post by urbino on Jan 7, 2023 19:43:13 GMT -5
Read a thing earlier today that they think they finally figured out what made Roman concrete so durable. It's not the volcanic ash. It's chunks of lime in the mix. When cracks form and water gets in, the chunks dissolve and seal the cracks. They also used quicklime, which raised the temperature during mixing and setting.
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Zach
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If you can't send money, send tobacco.
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Post by Zach on Jan 7, 2023 22:44:29 GMT -5
Read a thing earlier today that they think they finally figured out what made Roman concrete so durable. It's not the volcanic ash. It's chunks of lime in the mix. When cracks form and water gets in, the chunks dissolve and seal the cracks. They also used quicklime, which raised the temperature during mixing and setting. Read that yesterday on MIT News. |
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Post by Ronv69 on Jan 8, 2023 11:03:30 GMT -5
Night Watch, by Sergei Lukyanenko. Excellent so far.
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exbenedict
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Post by exbenedict on Jan 9, 2023 18:18:55 GMT -5
The Fishermen and the Dragon: Fear, Greed, and a Fight for Justice on the Gulf Coast;
KW Johnson
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Post by trailboss on Jan 9, 2023 21:12:23 GMT -5
The Prince: Andrew Cuomo, Coronavirus, and the Fall of New York.
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Post by Ronv69 on Jan 9, 2023 22:55:11 GMT -5
The Prince: Andrew Cuomo, Coronavirus, and the Fall of New York. 😁👍 |
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exbenedict
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Post by exbenedict on Jan 11, 2023 10:15:52 GMT -5
Finnegans Wake
J. Joyce
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Post by toshtego on Jan 11, 2023 12:57:23 GMT -5
Read a thing earlier today that they think they finally figured out what made Roman concrete so durable. It's not the volcanic ash. It's chunks of lime in the mix. When cracks form and water gets in, the chunks dissolve and seal the cracks. They also used quicklime, which raised the temperature during mixing and setting. I found that fascinating. Having just read the book Pompei by Robert Harris, especially. A story of a water engineer and the aqueducts. Roman concrete. |
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Post by Ronv69 on Jan 11, 2023 13:35:58 GMT -5
I can't believe that the knowledge of Roman waterproof concrete is news again. I thought everyone knew this for years. Too bad we didn't have volcanic ash everywhere to make concrete with. On the other hand, maybe that's a good thing. 😁
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Post by Plainsman on Jan 11, 2023 14:00:26 GMT -5
Re-read LOLITA, after some 35 or so years. His language struck me harder this time than I remember it doing the last time through. Brilliant as well as sometimes frustrating.
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Post by Ronv69 on Jan 11, 2023 17:06:34 GMT -5
Re-read LOLITA, after some 35 or so years. His language struck me harder this time than I remember it doing the last time through. Brilliant as well as sometimes frustrating. I read that so long ago. I really can't imagine reading it again. It was interesting and the writing was very good but different. I really don't think I would do it again. |
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Post by Plainsman on Jan 11, 2023 17:41:29 GMT -5
Re-read LOLITA, after some 35 or so years. His language struck me harder this time than I remember it doing the last time through. Brilliant as well as sometimes frustrating. I read that so long ago. I really can't imagine reading it again. It was interesting and the writing was very good but different. I really don't think I would do it again. I very rarely do re-reads either. But I came across it on my BookBub list and realized I remembered so little about it that I took a flyer, and am glad I did. |
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Post by urbino on Jan 11, 2023 21:49:02 GMT -5
I read that so long ago. I really can't imagine reading it again. It was interesting and the writing was very good but different. I really don't think I would do it again. I very rarely do re-reads either. But I came across it on my BookBub list and realized I remembered so little about it that I took a flyer, and am glad I did. Lo-lee-ta. A trip of the tongue in three steps… |
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Post by Ronv69 on Jan 11, 2023 21:53:52 GMT -5
Having been properly chastised by Ronv69...
just started Shelby Foote's The Civil War - A Narrative. Enjoying it so far.
I never! |
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Post by Ronv69 on Jan 12, 2023 1:12:42 GMT -5
Anyone going to read "Spare" by the Duke and Duchess of Sussex? Come on, admit it!
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Post by urbino on Jan 12, 2023 2:19:11 GMT -5
Just finished up another pass through The Yiddish Policeman's Union. Not sure how many times I've read it now. At least ten.
Figuring out what to start next.
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Post by trailboss on Jan 12, 2023 6:23:16 GMT -5
Anyone going to read "Spare" by the Duke and Duchess of Sussex? Come on, admit it! You can be born into royalty and have no class, you can be dirt poor and be high class. Amazing given the opportunities this guy has to make the world a better place, and what he focuses on thinking he is doing the Lord’s work. I bet Meghan is a real “peach” behind the scenes. |
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Post by Plainsman on Jan 12, 2023 9:03:47 GMT -5
Being a royal is a kind of curse. Harry couldn’t hack it, plus had someone to make bank on that. Apropos of Charlie’s “paupers as kings” comment, I knew several such men in western Eire and the islands. They carried themselves and conducted themselves like royalty despite their raggedy clothes and their hard life. Harry just didn’t get the memo.
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Post by toshtego on Jan 12, 2023 10:58:31 GMT -5
I read that so long ago. I really can't imagine reading it again. It was interesting and the writing was very good but different. I really don't think I would do it again. I very rarely do re-reads either. But I came across it on my BookBub list and realized I remembered so little about it that I took a flyer, and am glad I did. Rereads are important to me with some books. Lolita is one. Ditto Moby Dick. I enjoyed the movie version of Lolita. A faithful adaptation. |
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Post by Ronv69 on Jan 12, 2023 11:56:37 GMT -5
I very rarely do re-reads either. But I came across it on my BookBub list and realized I remembered so little about it that I took a flyer, and am glad I did. Rereads are important to me with some books. Lolita is one. Ditto Moby Dick. I enjoyed the movie version of Lolita. A faithful adaptation. At first I wanted to adopt the girl, Sue Lyon, and get her away from that situation, but as I read more, she was as much of the problem as her mother and Humbert. Not anyone who you would want to bring into your home. Hard to tell, but I think her issues were inherited from her mother as much as the abuse. I do like that the abuse isn't explicitly expressed. The first time I read it was before I realized that this stuff actually happened in the real world. It dawned on me a couple of years later, when a girl on the school bus told me that she was being raped by her entire family and it took me a while to get my head around all that. By the time I got the idea to help her they had moved away. Note that this was around 1961-62. These things just weren't talked about. It's a good, well written story that needed to be written, but I hate any abuse of women and children that I can't stand that kind of story anymore. There was a movie a few years ago about a vigilante that captured abusers, strapped them to a table and dissected them slowly while keeping them awake. I can see that. |
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