Bibliophile Thread

Postby **Willie Kool** » Thu Jun 04, 2015 9:32 pm

Then again, so did Trotsky.

Indeed. And considering the thread, I'll highly recommend The Prophet: Trotsky: 1879-1940 (Vol. 1-3) by Isaac Deutscher and Trotsky: The Eternal Revolutionary by Dmitri Volkogonov.

Postby **columbia** » Thu Jun 04, 2015 9:36 pm

Amazon sent me this weekend's book: "Punk Rock: An Oral History" by John Robb.

Postby **Freddy Rumsen** » Fri Jun 05, 2015 12:17 am

Finished "Loon: A Marine Story" by Jack McLean

Good read...he is a Marine who served in Vietnam and went to the same privileged boarding school as George W. Bush, basically he almost flunked out of high school and joined the Marines rather than get drafted. Goes through his life before, during, and after his combat experience in Vietnam. Talked some about the surreal experience of starting college at Harvard less than 90 days after his worst combat time at LZ Loon near the DMZ. He described the filthy things students would say and do to him when they found out about his service.

Good read.

Postby **Reveutopique** » Fri Jun 05, 2015 2:27 am

Then again, so did Trotsky.
Indeed. And considering the thread, I'll highly recommend The Prophet: Trotsky: 1879-1940 (Vol. 1-3) by Isaac Deutscher and Trotsky: The Eternal Revolutionary by Dmitri Volkogonov.

I'd definitely like to read more on Russia. I took a semester of Russian in college and really enjoyed the class.

I will check them both out.
I did know that Animal Farm is about the Cult of Personality. I didn't read it in school but I did do a lot of googling while I was reading.

So I was aware of it but Idk if the book is mutually exclusive to either Communism or Stalin's CoP. I think the book is broad and left for interpretation.

Postby **eddy** » Mon Jun 08, 2015 8:35 am

Finished Robopocalypse by Daniel Hilson (Carnegie Mellon Robotics student). I'm not the biggest fan of reading journal entries and first hand accounts put together to tell a story. It gets a little tiresome by the end, but this was a cool book. I liked the start (when they focused on the robots taking over the world) more than the finish (the human resistance). I can definitely see why Spielberg wants to make this a movie, I can see it playing out better on the big screen.

Postby **LITT** » Mon Jun 08, 2015 8:40 am

re: kindle store -- it appears there are some free books if you have amazon prime? if so, how do you filter these out? and any recommendations?

Postby **dodint** » Mon Jun 08, 2015 8:42 am

Read Cell by Stephen King over the weekend. It wasn't what I thought it would be but I ended up liking it. The writing in the first act was unusually bad, lots of repetitive phrases that didn't feel like they were for effect, just lazily written. The rest of the book was pretty solid and probably his most technology heavy book except for maybe Under The Dome. It reads more like a novella than a novel, but at 480 pages for the paperback that makes sense. It's weird that when you read on a Kindle you can't automatically judge how long the book is when you buy it if you don't pay attention to the page count.

Postby **dodint** » Mon Jun 08, 2015 8:55 am

re: kindle store -- it appears there are some free books if you have amazon prime? if so, how do you filter these out? and any recommendations?

Kindle Unlimited is $9.99 a month and gets you a bunch of free books. You can sort for this on the Kindle eBooks page.

Kindle Owners Lending Library comes with Prime, but I have no idea how to filter for that. I used it once to borrow a certification manual for Server+ and it was pretty great. It's basically hit or miss from what I can tell.

Postby **DigitalGypsy66** » Mon Jun 08, 2015 9:23 am

So reading the Clemente biography, I learned that the Associated Press and New York Times - among others - used to quote Clemente and other non-native English speakers phonetically. So a quote from the Pittsburgh Post Gazette went like this: "I jus' try to sacrifice myself, so I get runner to third if I do, I feel good. When I come to plate in lass eening, with Mays on second and nobody out...'I ope that Weelhelm peetch me inside and I meet it and hit it in right field.'"

He's talking about an All Star game, but there are tons of racist quotes like that early in his career.

Oh yeah: one winter league season, he played with Willie Mays...now THAT is an outfield.

Postby **eddy** » Wed Jun 10, 2015 8:45 am

read The Mount by Carol Emshwiller yesterday.

Charley is an athlete. He wants to grow up to be the fastest runner in the world, like his father. He wants to be painted crossing the finishing line, in his racing silks, with a medal around his neck. Charley lives in a stable. He isn't a runner, he's a mount. He belongs to a Hoot: The Hoots are alien invaders. Charley hasn't seen his mother for years, and his father is hiding out in the mountains somewhere, with the other Free Humans. The Hoots own the world, but the humans want it back. Charley knows how to be a good mount, but now he's going to have to learn how to be a human being.

Based on the cover and the synopsis, I expected this to be pretty weird. I was very surprised by how thought provoking it was. It is a very simple read, but has some pretty heavy themes for how light it all feels. The obvious theme is slavery, but more of being born into a certain way of life and growing up through both sides experiencing the freedom and oppression from different view points. I also thought a lot about how we treat our own pets. You can breeze through this in a few hours, check it out. I very much enjoyed it.

Postby **dodint** » Thu Jun 11, 2015 8:29 am

Started Ready Player One last night. I've only read the first chapter but it's already leaning towards nerd/geek rather than dork, which is great. I had some apprehension about it thinking it was going to be all D&D and WoW but so far it's pretty great. I can't remember it now but there was one kind of obscure reference that I picked up on that gave me a warm and fuzzy so I'm hoping the rest of the book offers that same opportunity.

Postby **eddy** » Thu Jun 11, 2015 8:33 am

Started Ready Player One last night. I've only read the first chapter but it's already leaning towards nerd/geek rather than dork, which is great. I had some apprehension about it thinking it was going to be all D&D and WoW but so far it's pretty great. I can't remember it now but there was one kind of obscure reference that I picked up on that gave me a warm and fuzzy so I'm hoping the rest of the book offers that same opportunity.

part of the fun for me was looking up a lot of the nerdy stuff he was talking about which immediately flashed childhood memories. Apparently his new book comes out in July and it's sounding a lot like The Last Starfighter. As much as I liked that book, I'm not sure if I'm ready to read something similar again so soon.

Postby **dodint** » Thu Jun 11, 2015 8:40 am

When I heard a loose premise of RPO I quickly jumped to "Oh, another Enders Game" but I'm happy to see that isn't really the case. It helped that it's only $3.99 on Kindle, too.

Postby **DigitalGypsy66** » Thu Jun 11, 2015 10:15 pm

Yeah, it was nearly 300 pages of warm, fuzzy nostalgia for me. Now where did I put that 20 sided die?

Postby **DigitalGypsy66** » Fri Jun 12, 2015 9:22 am

OK, the Clemente book was really good. It had some gaps during a few seasons, but that's forgivable, given that Maraniss wanted to look at the complete person and not the minutiae of Clemente's 18 seasons.

His death was completely avoidable, and that section is probably some of the best writing in the entire book. I'll spoil it, just in case:

Next up is a double header: Supreme City by Donald Miller, about NYC in the Jazz Age and John Le Carre's A Delicate Truth.

Postby **dodint** » Tue Jun 23, 2015 1:49 pm

this gentleman is reading the johnstown flood book by david mccullough. very interesting read thus far.

Just picked this up on a whim. What a beautiful book. I loved John Adams but haven't read much else of his. I couldn't figure out how he was getting oral histories, then realized he published The Johnstown Flood in 1968. Way to hit it out of the park on his first at bat.

Every night this week I've fallen asleep with it in my hands.

Postby **eddy** » Tue Jun 30, 2015 6:14 pm

Picked up a couple books from the library today

Killing floor by Lee child (jack reacher)

The man in the high castle by Philip k dick

Looking forward to getting to them after I finish southern gods by John Horner Jacobs

Postby **dodint** » Tue Jun 30, 2015 6:29 pm

I liked the book The Hatchet when I was a kid. Something about it just stuck with me all this time. I had read The River back then as well but the impact wasn't nearly as significant. Gary Paulsen decided to write three more, including Brian's Winter which is goes back to the end of The Hatchet and picks up as if he had not been rescued, which is very fulfilling. I know they're young adult books but I've been really enjoying working through them this week.

I know I mentioned I was reading it earlier, but Ready Player One is magnificent. I wish I had thought to write it.

Postby **Willie Kool** » Tue Jun 30, 2015 6:38 pm

I know I mentioned I was reading it earlier, but Ready Player One is magnificent.

Can't wait to start it. I ordered it last week from amazon, along with Mr Mercedes. They were on the porch when I got home today.

Postby **shafnutz05** » Tue Jun 30, 2015 10:13 pm

I just started reading Confederacy of Dunces, about 1/4 of the way through. This book is fascinating and hilarious. Ignatius is such a ridiculous character, and you are reading wondering where the hell the book is going with it, but this is definitely one of the funniest books I've ever read. The characters are such caricatures.

I appreciate great writing technique, and wow does this book have it so far. Every paragraph is perfectly written.

Postby **Troy Loney** » Wed Jul 01, 2015 8:30 am

Ignatius' voice is amazing.

Started Freedom by Franzen this morning, a whole ton of **** happens in the first 25 chapter. I am definitely going to be wrapped up in this one.

Recently read.

Housekeeping by Marilynn Robinson - First I've read from her, great prose and loved the ending. I think the esthete's would appreciate it.
Goldfinch - Definitely more of a marathon read than I had anticipated. It was rewarding, but the story just became more and more forced as it went along. I can't really say if I'd suggest it, I think if you'd find the story of a strong protagonist that continually struggles with his own nature and behavior interesting. You should read. The character struggles and developments are great, and the take on the antiques trade is also amusing. But the /art heist plot is a little too theatrical for me.

Postby **eddy** » Wed Jul 01, 2015 11:47 am

I'm not quite finished, but I'm recommending it anyway.

Southern Gods by John Hornor Jacobs

I got it used for $3 and have since ordered more of his.

this synopsis sold me

Recent World War II veteran Bull Ingram is working as muscle when a Memphis DJ hires him to find Ramblin' John Hastur. The mysterious blues man's dark, driving music - broadcast at ever-shifting frequencies by a phantom radio station - is said to make living men insane and dead men rise. Disturbed and enraged by the bootleg recording the DJ plays for him, Ingram follows Hastur's trail into the strange, uncivilized backwoods of Arkansas, where he hears rumors the musician has sold his soul to the Devil. But as Ingram closes in on Hastur and those who have crossed his path, he'll learn there are forces much more malevolent than the Devil and reckonings more painful than Hell...

It's definitely Southern Gothic meets Lovecraftian Horror as I've seen put by many readers. Very cool.

Postby **AuthorTony** » Wed Jul 01, 2015 12:37 pm

I'm not quite finished, but I'm recommending it anyway.

Southern Gods by John Hornor Jacobs

I got it used for $3 and have since ordered more of his.

this synopsis sold me
Recent World War II veteran Bull Ingram is working as muscle when a Memphis DJ hires him to find Ramblin' John Hastur. The mysterious blues man's dark, driving music - broadcast at ever-shifting frequencies by a phantom radio station - is said to make living men insane and dead men rise. Disturbed and enraged by the bootleg recording the DJ plays for him, Ingram follows Hastur's trail into the strange, uncivilized backwoods of Arkansas, where he hears rumors the musician has sold his soul to the Devil. But as Ingram closes in on Hastur and those who have crossed his path, he'll learn there are forces much more malevolent than the Devil and reckonings more painful than Hell...
It's definitely Southern Gothic meets Lovecraftian Horror as I've seen put by many readers. Very cool.

That sounds really good. Thanks for the recommendation!

Postby **eddy** » Wed Jul 01, 2015 8:39 pm

Canaan, you're a Philip k dick fan right? You ever read man in the high castle?

Postby **DigitalGypsy66** » Thu Jul 02, 2015 12:06 pm

I am in the middle of Supreme City by Donald Miller. It is a fantastic look at the people behind the explosive growth of New York City in the 1920s and 1930s. Gangsters, business moguls, starlets, politicians...all were involved with developing the framework of what we consider "modern" New York City. It sounds like a dry read, but it is very well written and told as a series of vignettes for each person.

Miller talks about the beginnings of national radio networks - NBC and CBS. How NBC was pioneered by RCA to sell radios and CBS to sell advertising.