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Post by sperrytops on Feb 11, 2022 15:09:12 GMT -5
If we live long enough we have a “life event,” an event or series of events that become, whether we want it or not, the single most moving nexus of our lives. I learned about the Holocaust in a movie theater in Gainesville, Florida in April of 1945. I don’t remember the main feature, or the cartoon, but the newsreel is seared on my brain. It showed the Allied troops liberating the concentration camps. I was a couple of weeks from six and my mother reached over and clamped her hand over my eyes. I slapped her hand away and saw true horror for the first time. It has never left me. I was probably about that age in the barber shop. My mom was next to me and never said a word. They taught us about the Holocaust in high school. Didn't see any photos till I checked a book out of the library. My high school French teacher was a camp survivor. She had the tattoo and always wore a heavy overcoat as she was perpetually cold. This was in Southern California where it was never cold. |
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Post by Ronv69 on Feb 11, 2022 17:00:47 GMT -5
I was probably about that age in the barber shop. My mom was next to me and never said a word. They taught us about the Holocaust in high school. Didn't see any photos till I checked a book out of the library. My high school French teacher was a camp survivor. She had the tattoo and always wore a heavy overcoat as she was perpetually cold. This was in Southern California where it was never cold. Yet people talk about it so offhandedly these days. Depth of thought is not a common thing these days. What's the least number of words we can use to get the biggest reaction? |
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Post by Gandalf on Feb 11, 2022 21:48:43 GMT -5
Finished Stephen Hunter's "G-Man". Started the next Bpb Lee Swagger novel: "Game of Snipers".
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Post by darktater on Feb 11, 2022 21:59:29 GMT -5
started 'The Big Short' this evening. After watching 'Margin Call' I found I still have more interest in the mortgage crisis. Good book so far
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Post by Professor S. on Feb 12, 2022 9:57:23 GMT -5
I read "My Lady Nicotine" for free on the Kindle and enjoyed it so much I bought a hardcover copy. I'm currently flipping between the Iliad, a book on Elizabethan Demonology, & "Recovering the Lost Tools of Learning."
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Post by sperrytops on Feb 12, 2022 12:47:17 GMT -5
I read "My Lady Nicotine" for free on the Kindle and enjoyed it so much I bought a hardcover copy. I'm currently flipping between the Iliad, a book on Elizabethan Demonology, & "Recovering the Lost Tools of Learning." Too bad John Dee's library was torched. I'll bet he had some books on demonology. |
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Post by urbino on Feb 12, 2022 14:40:18 GMT -5
I read "My Lady Nicotine" for free on the Kindle and enjoyed it so much I bought a hardcover copy. I'm currently flipping between the Iliad, a book on Elizabethan Demonology, & "Recovering the Lost Tools of Learning." That's where you study demons that use a lot of thee's and thou's when they speak? |
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Post by sperrytops on Feb 12, 2022 15:34:22 GMT -5
I read "My Lady Nicotine" for free on the Kindle and enjoyed it so much I bought a hardcover copy. I'm currently flipping between the Iliad, a book on Elizabethan Demonology, & "Recovering the Lost Tools of Learning." That's where you study demons that use a lot of thee's and thou's when they speak? Isn't that a book? The Grammatically Correct Demon'. |
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Post by darktater on Feb 17, 2022 20:35:18 GMT -5
Just finished up the 'The Big Short'. Very interesting book
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Post by mgtarheel on Feb 17, 2022 22:43:12 GMT -5
"Pappyland" the story of Pappy Van Winkle bourbon.
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Post by Ronv69 on Feb 18, 2022 0:12:54 GMT -5
"Pappyland" the story of Pappy Van Winkle bourbon. I'm guessing that the book was 2 grand? |
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Post by mgtarheel on Feb 18, 2022 19:28:22 GMT -5
No Ron, but it was signed by Julian Van Winkle III.
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Post by Ronv69 on Feb 18, 2022 21:55:58 GMT -5
No Ron, but it was signed by Julian Van Winkle III. So, 5 grand then? 😉🤠 |
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Post by Professor S. on Feb 18, 2022 22:11:55 GMT -5
I read "My Lady Nicotine" for free on the Kindle and enjoyed it so much I bought a hardcover copy. I'm currently flipping between the Iliad, a book on Elizabethan Demonology, & "Recovering the Lost Tools of Learning." That's where you study demons that use a lot of thee's and thou's when they speak? Yes, I believe so. They're very proper and impeccably dressed |
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Post by terrapinflyer on Feb 21, 2022 8:53:35 GMT -5
Educated, a memoir by Tara Westover, 2018. Girl grows up with survivalist, fundie-LDS-adjacent family and has no formal education. Enters BYU at 17, eventually earns a doctorate from Cambridge.
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JimK
Junior Member
"Happiness can be found, even in the darkest of times, if one only remembers to turn on the light".
Posts: 181 
First Name: Jim
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Post by JimK on Feb 21, 2022 11:13:12 GMT -5
I'm working on "The Bourne Ultimatum" by Robert Ludlum, and "The Emotion Code" by Dr. Bradley Nelson. The first book is a good spy thriller, and the second is psychology, I guess.
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Post by urbino on Feb 21, 2022 11:19:07 GMT -5
Nearly finished with American Buffalo. Can't recommend it, unfortunately.
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Post by Plainsman on Feb 21, 2022 12:11:59 GMT -5
The House of Rain, by Craig Childs. An archeologist in pursuit of the Anasazi. Fascinating stuff.
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Post by sperrytops on Feb 21, 2022 13:22:07 GMT -5
The House of Rain, by Craig Childs. An archeologist in pursuit of the Anasazi. Fascinating stuff. Did he find them? |
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Zach
Pro Member
If you can't send money, send tobacco.
Posts: 4,358
First Name: Zach
Favorite Pipe: Too many currently, bound to change
Favorite Tobacco: Haunted Bookshop, Big 'N' Burley, Pegasus, Habana Daydream, OJK, Rum Twist, FVF, Escudo, Orlik Golden Sliced, Kendal Flake, Ennerdale
Location:
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Post by Zach on Feb 21, 2022 13:40:28 GMT -5
Stopped in at a Half-Priced bookstore and spent a bit over an hour mostly combing through history books. Took a peek for numerous fiction and sci-fi books on my list which were all absent.
Starting on an old 1960 Dutton Paperback print of Notes From Underground & The Grand Inquisitor by Fyodor Dostoevsky this evening.
After getting through this (fairly short) I've got Balkan Ghosts: A Travel Through History by Robert D. Kaplan, a historical look through the Balkans' past and present, illustrating irreconcilable differences among the Serbs, Croatians, Bosnians, Albanians, former Yugoslavia, and cultural, ethnic, and religious tensions tearing at a much larger region.
and... The Story of Civilization: Rousseau and Revolution by Will & Ariel Durant.
Volumes on myriad periods including; Our Oriental Heritage, The Life of Greece, Caesar and Christ, The Age of Faith, The Renaissance, The Reformation, The Age of Reason Begins, The Age of Louis XIV, The Age of Voltaire, Rousseau and Revolution, and the Age of Napoleon.
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Post by Ronv69 on Feb 21, 2022 13:55:26 GMT -5
Nearly finished with American Buffalo. Can't recommend it, unfortunately. Which one? Rinella or Mamet? |
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Post by Ronv69 on Feb 21, 2022 13:56:32 GMT -5
Stopped in at a Half-Priced bookstore and spent a bit over an hour mostly combing through history books. Took a peek for numerous fiction and sci-fi books on my list which were all absent. Starting on an old 1960 Dutton Paperback print of Notes From Underground & The Grand Inquisitor by Fyodor Dostoevsky this evening. After getting through this (fairly short) I've got Balkan Ghosts: A Travel Through History by Robert D. Kaplan, a historical look through the Balkans' past and present, illustrating irreconcilable differences among the Serbs, Croatians, Bosnians, Albanians, former Yugoslavia, and cultural, ethnic, and religious tensions tearing at a much larger region. and... The Story of Civilization: Rousseau and Revolution by Will & Ariel Durant. Volumes on myriad periods including; Our Oriental Heritage, The Life of Greece, Caesar and Christ, The Age of Faith, The Renaissance, The Reformation, The Age of Reason Begins, The Age of Louis XIV, The Age of Voltaire, Rousseau and Revolution, and the Age of Napoleon. I've read enough history to be chronically depressed. We'll f'up again and again. |
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Post by sperrytops on Feb 21, 2022 14:38:50 GMT -5
It's amazing how we make the same mistakes over and over again. But we do live such short lives, and each generation doesn't pay much attention to the last generation, preferring to make their own mistakes. Their own mistakes, of course being the same mistakes their parents made.
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Post by urbino on Feb 21, 2022 16:49:13 GMT -5
The House of Rain, by Craig Childs. An archeologist in pursuit of the Anasazi. Fascinating stuff. Did he find them? No spoilers! |
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Post by urbino on Feb 21, 2022 16:52:00 GMT -5
Stopped in at a Half-Priced bookstore and spent a bit over an hour mostly combing through history books. Took a peek for numerous fiction and sci-fi books on my list which were all absent. Starting on an old 1960 Dutton Paperback print of Notes From Underground & The Grand Inquisitor by Fyodor Dostoevsky this evening. After getting through this (fairly short) I've got Balkan Ghosts: A Travel Through History by Robert D. Kaplan, a historical look through the Balkans' past and present, illustrating irreconcilable differences among the Serbs, Croatians, Bosnians, Albanians, former Yugoslavia, and cultural, ethnic, and religious tensions tearing at a much larger region. and... The Story of Civilization: Rousseau and Revolution by Will & Ariel Durant. Volumes on myriad periods including; Our Oriental Heritage, The Life of Greece, Caesar and Christ, The Age of Faith, The Renaissance, The Reformation, The Age of Reason Begins, The Age of Louis XIV, The Age of Voltaire, Rousseau and Revolution, and the Age of Napoleon. The Balkans are pretty fascinating (in a remorselessly tragic sort of way). If you haven't read it, Rebecca West's Black Lamb and Grey Falcon is a classic. |
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Post by urbino on Feb 21, 2022 16:53:10 GMT -5
Nearly finished with American Buffalo. Can't recommend it, unfortunately. Which one? Rinella or Mamet? Ha. Rinella. Author identified farther upthread. |
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Post by Ronv69 on Feb 21, 2022 19:32:04 GMT -5
Which one? Rinella or Mamet? Ha. Rinella. Author identified farther upthread. What don't you like about it? I was thinking about reading it. |
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Post by urbino on Feb 21, 2022 19:54:34 GMT -5
Ha. Rinella. Author identified farther upthread. What don't you like about it? I was thinking about reading it. It's just not very well written. Early on, I described it as being like reading a Wikipedia article with personal interjections added. That's pretty much how it stayed. And the personal interjections aren't particularly interesting or enlightening or entertaining. It reads like this guy won the drawing to get one of the very few bison permits in Alaska, went on his hunt, decided he should write a book and make some bank off his good fortune, ran into trouble when he discovered he didn't actually have much to say about it, so just shoveled in a lot of random filler about bison and the Buffalo nickel and bison ranching. There's some moderately interesting stuff about how the bison population was restored over the years, but not much. There's some mildly interesting stuff about his hunt, but Jack O'Connor he is not. The rest is, well, filler. With the help of a very good editor, he might have enough material for an okay magazine article. |
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Post by toshtego on Feb 21, 2022 20:05:37 GMT -5
Just finished C.J. Sansom's Dominion.
An alternate history set in 1952. The Fascists prevailed in Britain in 1940 and the Germans occupied the UK. Churchill is the leader of The Resistance movement.
Sansom was a Historian before turning to the Law. He was a practicing Solicitor for many years. He also produced the "Shardlake" series of Tudor Detective novels featuring the great hunchback, detective, and lawyer, Matthew Shardlake.
Dominion turns into quite a page burner for a 700 page, or so, book. Once the plot really takes off, it is hard to put the book down.
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Post by toshtego on Feb 21, 2022 20:09:50 GMT -5
Finished Stephen Hunter's "G-Man". Started the next Bpb Lee Swagger novel: "Game of Snipers". I enjoyed Hunter's novels from years back. Particularly his story of Ed McGivern, Audy Murphy and Elmer Keith "liberating" Angola Farm or was it Parchmen Farm? |
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