What Are You Reading?

[Megan]

[Beesauce]

Currently reading "Body of Secrets" by James Bamford

NSA official let Bamford in a hair and I'm reading the book backwards. Thankfully ran across it at the Library of Alexandria, but I've got to say it's a must purchase, my new dog-eared bible

[Leila]

The Stepford Wives by Ira Levin. Really just a re-hash of Rosemary's Baby but quite funny.

[Mohican]

I have been reading the Quinn Colson series of mysteries by Ace Atkins.

Overall pretty good.

[DoggedDavid]

I used to love to read, but now everything upsets me too much.

When I read something, I think, "Damn, he's published and I'm not."

However, I do read a lot, but not as much as I did in my youth when I would consume three hundred pages a day on top of reading matter that came my way in school or at work.

Lately, I have been re-reading old classics: Freud's "Leonardo Da Vinci and a Memory of His Childhood," (Yes, I know he is considered old hat and too much of a Dead White Man but his prose is exquisite English, he makes his points with supreme and relentless logic and every page sparkles with erudition and knowledge about a million and one things, such as languages, history and anthropology), Karl Marx's "The Communist Manifesto," and Paul Goodman's "Growing up Absurd."

My biggest impediment, with to regard to reading, is the Freaking New York Times. Sometimes, after reading their invariably verboise and predictable tomes of supposed sagacity, I am spent of intellecutal energy and watch reruns of the Beverly Hillbillies.

[brianpatrick]

Originally Posted by DoggedDavid

I used to love to read, but now everything upsets me too much.



When I read something, I think, "Damn, he's published and I'm not."



However, I do read a lot, but not as much as I did in my youth when I would consume three hundred pages a day on top of reading matter that came my way in school or at work.



Lately, I have been re-reading old classics: Freud's "Leonardo Da Vinci and a Memory of His Childhood," (Yes, I know he is considered old hat and too much of a Dead White Man but his prose is exquisite English, he makes his points with supreme and relentless logic and every page sparkles with erudition and knowledge about a million and one things, such as languages, history and anthropology), Karl Marx's "The Communist Manifesto," and Paul Goodman's "Growing up Absurd."



My biggest impediment, with to regard to reading, is the Freaking New York Times. Sometimes, after reading their invariably verboise and predictable tomes of supposed sagacity, I am spent of intellecutal energy and watch reruns of the Beverly Hillbillies.

I relentlessly read James Joyce’s Ulysses. It can be read as poetry without regard for the story (which isn’t much). The language is just so beautiful.


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[Luciaphile]

I bought an illustrated set of my namesake book Make Way for Lucia. Rereading the first book, I see it may be hard to get into for a couple of chapters, but if you love English village life, gossip, and sharp satire, you will gobble up the set of six books. The first one is called Queen Lucia, and the favorite one is called Mapp and Lucia - what a war!

[Beesauce]

Finally got around to American Gods by Neil Gaiman, it's about as hilarious as Douglas Adams, to me at least.

[brianpatrick]

Originally Posted by Beesauce

Finally got around to American Gods by Neil Gaiman, it's about as hilarious as Douglas Adams, to me at least.

I started it a couple years ago and put it down for some reason. I don’t think it was the book, but me. I found it a while ago and finished it. Yeah, it’s funny. Darker than Adams, but funny. I like the way he does irony with a straight face.


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[Myers]

I'm still not sure why I read it -- but I just finshed Robbie Robertson's autobiography. Pretty self-serving, as I expected.

Something that was unintentionally hilarious -- detailed dialog from conversations that happened decades ago -- all written in one ridiculously stilted voice.

Jimi Hendrix: Oh, hello there Robbie! Say, I sure dig the way you play! Well, I have to be going now so I can go over to England and become famous. Have a nice day!

[brianpatrick]

Originally Posted by Myers

I'm still not sure why I read it -- but I just finshed Robbie Robertson's autobiography. Pretty self-serving, as I expected.

Something that was unintentionally hilarious -- detailed dialog from conversations that happened decades ago -- all written in one ridiculously stilted voice.

Jimi Hendrix: Oh, hello there Robbie! Say, I sure dig the way you play! Well, I have to be going now so I can go over to England and become famous. Have a nice day!

Did Robbie write his own book?


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[Myers]

It appears that way. No one else is credited anyway.

It ends at The Last Waltz -- so he doesn't get into his feud over royalties etc. with the other guys -- but he sneaks stuff in.

Like when he's going to the Brill Building to meet songwriters when they were backing Ronnie Hawkins.

Robbie says to Ronnie, "Isn't Levon going?"

Ronnie says, "Why no! Levon doesn't care about songwriting!"

[Mohican]

Originally Posted by Lockette
"There are two prices for this card, Brian. Half... and half. One half is cash. The other is a deed. Do you understand?"


Have you read The Dark Tower series he wrote? It's an interesting read, and all 1,295,000 words are worth it. an eight book epic. Best series I've ever read.

Originally Posted by Grace Gabriel

Not yet,,,but that sounds like a recommendation.

Having read all of the I'd recommend the first three and the last, with the in between books just filler/gluck.

[Beesauce]

I started it a couple years ago and put it down for some reason. I don’t think it was the book, but me. I found it a while ago and finished it. Yeah, it’s funny. Darker than Adams, but funny. I like the way he does irony with a straight face.

@ Brianpatrick Funny as i'm experiencing a moment in which i've read halfway and stopped, but will go back to it.

someone placed another book on my stack with a date, so now i've got to read that one.. heavy non-fic, not sure if i can handle writing and reading non-fic, but the title is: An Indigenous Peoples' History of The United States by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz

gotta go..andget'on that.

[Beesauce]

Ahem...

Started and almost finished A Brave New World.
I'm glad I waited until I was an adult, and I am horrified by the roses and books and can't help but be reminded of football helmets replaying the same phrases for months on end and while they slept --

One person's nightmare is another's playhouse.. makes me not want to write all the sci-fi prompts I have on the back burner. It's a psychotics manual. Great idea, bless our Ford, pops a soma, You don't say!

[EricRomm]

MaddAddam by Margaret Atwood.

[brianpatrick]

I read the 20+ pages of sample from iBooks of Sean Penn’s Bob Honey Who Just Do Stuff, and haven’t decided to pay the $11.99 for the whole book. His writing is mechanically a little obvious (trendy these days), but I suspect he can tell a story eventually. Hmmm... what to do.


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[brianpatrick]

Read it again and decided nope... Sean Penn as a sentencer is not worth $12. He makes sentences like a good university writer. Lots of slick style and no guts.


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[Myers]

I just finished The Cake and the Rain, by Jimmy Webb, the guy who wrote Galveston and Wichita Lineman for Glenn Campbell and several other hits in the late 60's. Pretty funny and interesting guy and a decent writer and story teller -- and he's got a bunch of them that feature Elvis, Sinatra, Harry Nilsson, Joni Mitchel etc. Feels authentic to me, probably because he's so self-depreciating. Overall, pretty entertaining, especially if you're interested in the history of popular music.

[Myers]

Originally Posted by brianpatrick

Read it again and decided nope... Sean Penn as a sentencer is not worth $12. He makes sentences like a good university writer. Lots of slick style and no guts.


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He needs to write a shitty children's book -- that's what all the celebrities do.

[pralina]

I’m about to start The Sailor Who Fell from Grace with the Sea by Yukio Mishima, has any of you read it and can pitch in?

[Leila]

Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner. by James Hogg

[Beesauce]

For hells sake, I've got to scrape the confinements of

Legacy of Ashes: The History of the CIA by Tim Weiner

Damn, and when I finally get a copy, well you guys will probably be rid of me for, if not a while... just a book:


https://www.cia.gov/news-information...-of-ashes.html

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/leg...ner/1102811429

[Mohican]

Just finished the latest in Sandford's PREY series - Twisted Prey

Also Kurt Schlichter's "PEOPLE"S REPUBLIC" and "INDIAN COUNTRY".

Ready to read - as time permits - Alinsky's Rules for Radicals

[chat bot]

@mohican, how'd u like it? prey series.. it's really good. just finished it myself. very sturdy for a hard cover. lol. i use hello kitty as a book mark and i never bend the pages. borrowed it from a friend and there's PEN MARKS. so annoying

[brianpatrick]

The Lucifer Principle-Howard Bloom.

“A hen is just an eggs way of making more eggs.” 😀😀😀😀

[spshane]

Returning to Tradition: the Contemporary Revival of Orthodox Judaism- M. Herbert Danzig.

[Mohican]

Originally Posted by chat bot

@mohican, how'd u like it? prey series.. it's really good. just finished it myself. very sturdy for a hard cover. lol. i use hello kitty as a book mark and i never bend the pages. borrowed it from a friend and there's PEN MARKS. so annoying

Another solid book by Sandford. I think I liked the previous installation in the Prey series better.



Sandford and James Lee Burke are two of my favorite contemporary action/fiction/mystery writers, and both know how to write a series without being derivative or trite. I'd add CJ Box to that, too.

[Beesauce]

The Internet by Writersbeat.com villagers

[Leila]

Turgenev, Fathers and Sons