Bibliophile Thread

dodint
Posts: 59154
Joined: Wed Mar 25, 2015 1:39 pm
Location: Cheer up, bіtch!
Contact:

Bibliophile Thread

Postby dodint » Wed Jan 20, 2021 4:25 pm

I've been reading The Fifth Risk: Undoing Democracy by Michael Lewis this week. It's about the 2016 Trump Transition Team. Man, it's a good comedy now that this is all over. *whew*

shafnutz05
Posts: 50377
Joined: Tue Mar 24, 2015 7:27 pm
Location: A moron or a fascist...but not both.

Bibliophile Thread

Postby shafnutz05 » Sat Jan 23, 2021 5:35 pm

Starting this tonight

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Life_an ... n_Shanghai
Life and Death in Shanghai is an autobiography published in November 1987 by Yao Nien-Yuan under the pen name Nien Cheng. Written in exile in the United States, it tells the story of Cheng's arrest during the first days of the Cultural Revolution, her more than six years' confinement, release, persecution, efforts to leave China, and early life in exile.

Troy Loney
Posts: 27510
Joined: Wed Mar 25, 2015 3:03 pm

Bibliophile Thread

Postby Troy Loney » Sat Jan 23, 2021 5:50 pm

I've been reading The Fifth Risk: Undoing Democracy by Michael Lewis this week. It's about the 2016 Trump Transition Team. Man, it's a good comedy now that this is all over. *whew*
I thought the stuff about the NWS was fascinating. The Energy Dept stuff was boring though and was likely alarmist.

dodint
Posts: 59154
Joined: Wed Mar 25, 2015 1:39 pm
Location: Cheer up, bіtch!
Contact:

Bibliophile Thread

Postby dodint » Sat Jan 23, 2021 6:14 pm

Yeah, same. I always wondered why there wasn't a proper NWS app for my phone. Now I know (Trump appointed the owner of Accuweather to make that decision).

I actually teared up a little at the end, when he did the piece on the Coast Guard oceanographer. While not to that extreme, I see it at work all the time. Good people walk out the door without passing on institutional knowledge, and it's a leadership/culture failure every time.

LeopardLetang
Posts: 2563
Joined: Sat Mar 28, 2015 1:27 pm

Bibliophile Thread

Postby LeopardLetang » Sun Jan 24, 2021 12:57 pm

Starting this tonight

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Life_an ... n_Shanghai
Life and Death in Shanghai is an autobiography published in November 1987 by Yao Nien-Yuan under the pen name Nien Cheng. Written in exile in the United States, it tells the story of Cheng's arrest during the first days of the Cultural Revolution, her more than six years' confinement, release, persecution, efforts to leave China, and early life in exile.


I have copies of that but haven't read it yet. I always recommend Son of the Revolution by Heng and Shapiro:


Liang Heng was born in Changsha, Hunan Province. He was the sole son born to a reporter and a police bureaucrat. At first he and his two elder sisters were assured a place in China's communist system - their parents were well placed, and all were fervent believers in Mao Zedong, also known as Mao Tse-tung. The Liangs' fortunes turned during the Hundred Flowers Campaign. At the outset of the campaign, loyal communists were encouraged to find faults in the existing regime, in an effort to purify communism. Unfortunately for those involved, the campaign was quickly replaced with an "anti-rightist" campaign leading in an opposite direction of the Hundred Flowers Campaign. This new campaign targeted as enemies many who had criticized the party in compliance with the Hundred Flowers Campaign - a group that included Liang Heng's mother, who was banished from her lofty position and sent to a re-education camp. Liang Heng's father reluctantly separated from his now disgraced wife in order to spare his family the "black mark" of having a "rightist" mother. The effort proved wasted, as the family bore the brunt of the nation's growing revolutionary fervor. Liang Heng's father was labeled a counter-revolutionary intellectual, and he himself a "stinking intellectual's son".

Despite the family's hope to stay together, the Cultural Revolution saw them banished to distant corners of China. Heng stayed with his father, who remained a stalwart believer in Mao, even as they (and many like them) were forced to leave their privileged lives as city dwellers to become country peasants. In Son of the Revolution, Liang chronicled his participation in a Changsha street gang when his parents were sent to cadre schools.[3] Eventually, the fervor of the cultural revolution lead to outright warfare between competing cadres using weapons they didn't understand.

Eventually, the fighting came to an end, leaving the Chinese in an uneasy peace. Rather than revolutionary zeal, an older Liang Heng found a new danger in China's bribery economy. He became a factory worker and then a star basketball player. When China signaled that it would reopen schools, Liang Heng jumped at the chance for a university education.

shafnutz05
Posts: 50377
Joined: Tue Mar 24, 2015 7:27 pm
Location: A moron or a fascist...but not both.

Bibliophile Thread

Postby shafnutz05 » Sun Jan 24, 2021 1:01 pm

That sounds great, thanks for the rec! :thumb:

Gaucho
Posts: 49563
Joined: Wed Mar 25, 2015 5:31 pm
Location: shootzepucklefraude

Bibliophile Thread

Postby Gaucho » Mon Jan 25, 2021 7:17 pm


dodint
Posts: 59154
Joined: Wed Mar 25, 2015 1:39 pm
Location: Cheer up, bіtch!
Contact:

Bibliophile Thread

Postby dodint » Mon Jan 25, 2021 7:25 pm

Moby **** Dick, or the **** Whale.

Shyster
Posts: 13091
Joined: Wed Mar 25, 2015 6:08 pm
Location: Nullius in verba

Bibliophile Thread

Postby Shyster » Mon Jan 25, 2021 8:07 pm

The Old Man and the ****ing Sea

eddy
Posts: 22309
Joined: Thu Mar 26, 2015 9:49 am
Location: Emmet's barn loft

Bibliophile Thread

Postby eddy » Mon Jan 25, 2021 8:46 pm

To kill a **** mockingbird

Gaucho
Posts: 49563
Joined: Wed Mar 25, 2015 5:31 pm
Location: shootzepucklefraude

Bibliophile Thread

Postby Gaucho » Mon Jan 25, 2021 8:51 pm

The **** idiot.

Beveridge
Posts: 5354
Joined: Wed Mar 25, 2015 6:17 pm
Location: 8-8-1

Bibliophile Thread

Postby Beveridge » Mon Jan 25, 2021 8:51 pm

Tale of Two ****ing Cities

eddy
Posts: 22309
Joined: Thu Mar 26, 2015 9:49 am
Location: Emmet's barn loft

Bibliophile Thread

Postby eddy » Mon Jan 25, 2021 8:57 pm

The **** bible

Willie Kool
Posts: 9328
Joined: Wed Mar 25, 2015 7:28 pm
Location: undisclosed

Bibliophile Thread

Postby Willie Kool » Mon Jan 25, 2021 9:01 pm

**** Little Women

Willie Kool
Posts: 9328
Joined: Wed Mar 25, 2015 7:28 pm
Location: undisclosed

Bibliophile Thread

Postby Willie Kool » Mon Jan 25, 2021 9:03 pm

Gone with the **** Wind

dodint
Posts: 59154
Joined: Wed Mar 25, 2015 1:39 pm
Location: Cheer up, bіtch!
Contact:

Bibliophile Thread

Postby dodint » Mon Jan 25, 2021 9:03 pm

Tuesdays **** With Morrie.

shafnutz05
Posts: 50377
Joined: Tue Mar 24, 2015 7:27 pm
Location: A moron or a fascist...but not both.

Bibliophile Thread

Postby shafnutz05 » Mon Jan 25, 2021 11:22 pm

I am starting this today...looking forward to it.

Image
Finally finished this. Wow. One of the finest pieces of literature I've read. Fascinating, detailed read of Oppenheimer's life, the Manhattan Project, the Red Scare, etc. It was tough to read what he went through at the AEC security hearing. I can't recommend this book enough for anyone that is interested in this area of history.

Gaucho
Posts: 49563
Joined: Wed Mar 25, 2015 5:31 pm
Location: shootzepucklefraude

Bibliophile Thread

Postby Gaucho » Tue Jan 26, 2021 4:39 am

American **** Prometheus

shafnutz05
Posts: 50377
Joined: Tue Mar 24, 2015 7:27 pm
Location: A moron or a fascist...but not both.

Bibliophile Thread

Postby shafnutz05 » Tue Jan 26, 2021 7:20 am

American **** Prometheus
When I was laying in bed last night trying to fall asleep, I kept thinking to myself that someone was going to respond with this :lol: Thank you.

eddy
Posts: 22309
Joined: Thu Mar 26, 2015 9:49 am
Location: Emmet's barn loft

Bibliophile Thread

Postby eddy » Tue Jan 26, 2021 11:21 am

Ten thousand doors of January was fantastic, will seek out her other books.

Nomadland surprised the hell out of me. Very interesting stuff. I really loved this book.

Currently reading the adventures of buckaroo banzai across the eighth dimension in preparation for the sequel coming out this year. It's been a while since I've seen the movie, but the book is awesome and like the movie, very weird.

DigitalGypsy66
Posts: 19673
Joined: Wed Mar 25, 2015 7:33 pm
Location: Iodine State

Bibliophile Thread

Postby DigitalGypsy66 » Tue Feb 02, 2021 2:23 pm

Not sure why I hadn't read it earlier, but finished Le Carre's A Perfect Spy. It was really excellent, and evidently takes a lot from his upbringing (son of a con man). It took a while to get into it, as it's told in flashbacks as the main character is writing a book and he refers to himself in the third person. But it clicks about halfway through, and it really sticks with you. Maybe because he just had passed away? I don't know.

I enjoyed it enough to get the DVDs of the BBC miniseries shipped over from the UK - it's not available on streaming services. It's good, but dated - and it's only from the late 80s. But it's told mostly linearly, and almost directly from the book - which is nice compared to other adaptations.

Gaucho
Posts: 49563
Joined: Wed Mar 25, 2015 5:31 pm
Location: shootzepucklefraude

Bibliophile Thread

Postby Gaucho » Sat Feb 13, 2021 6:41 am

no suicides permitted here, and no smoking in the parlor

shafnutz05
Posts: 50377
Joined: Tue Mar 24, 2015 7:27 pm
Location: A moron or a fascist...but not both.

Bibliophile Thread

Postby shafnutz05 » Sat Feb 13, 2021 7:03 am

I finally got around to starting Imajica. I might finish this book in two weeks.

LeopardLetang
Posts: 2563
Joined: Sat Mar 28, 2015 1:27 pm

Bibliophile Thread

Postby LeopardLetang » Sat Feb 13, 2021 10:42 am

Can barely remember that monster. I preferred Great and Secret Show and Everville more

obhave
Posts: 3072
Joined: Wed Mar 25, 2015 3:18 pm

Bibliophile Thread

Postby obhave » Sat Feb 13, 2021 9:02 pm

Ten thousand doors of January was fantastic, will seek out her other books.

Nomadland surprised the hell out of me. Very interesting stuff. I really loved this book.

Currently reading the adventures of buckaroo banzai across the eighth dimension in preparation for the sequel coming out this year. It's been a while since I've seen the movie, but the book is awesome and like the movie, very weird.
Ten thousand doors of January was great! Have you read the Black Sun yet? Its awesome.

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 67 guests