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Jack Aubrey
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Since reading a biography of him, I've been in a Seussian mood:

 

You're Only Old Once, by Dr. Seuss.

Oh, The Places You'll Go, by Dr. Seuss.

Dr. Seuss Goes To War: The World War Two Editorial Cartoons of Theodore Seuss Geisel, by Richard H. Minear.

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Just about to start this:

 

51-Q-zHP8fL._SX329_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg

 

He's an award-winning Canadian novelist from New Brunswick. I really like his older novels from the 80s, especially "Lives of Short Duration." Unfortunately, his style has changed since he's found god, and it's not my cup of tea.

 

I honestly don't give a f*ck about hunting or guns, but I am looking forward to reading what he has to say about them. He writes quite well about the outdoors, so I'm hoping for some good descriptive imagery at least.

 

darmain.jpg?itok=4aaaDA8e

"I don't give a frig what you think. Frig off, frigger."

 

Let us know how it is! My dad grew up in a rural area in a single parent family and hunting helped put food on the table. If it's well written, he might enjoy reading it.

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The Chandler book kind of crapped out at the end. Dunno if I'll re-read.

 

Now working on:

 

13068._UY500_SS500_.jpg

 

and:

 

s-l600.jpg

 

 

The Hiaasen book is off to a reasonable start. Good characters.

 

The King book starts off with a long autobiographical section that I'm almost through. I haven't read anything of his in years, and this should be interesting.

It's nice to see how frank he is about his substance issues.

 

It's been a while since I listened to On Writing...I tried the book but it was slow going. I had just started checking out audio books on cassette (yeah the old days) from the library so I tried it. Listening to King was very enjoyable. I believe he does talk frankly about his issues in this but I loved listening to his voice, it was a good one.

 

I'm almost finished! One chapter to go.

Very breezily written once I got into it, but still packs a pretty good punch for a book about writing.

Did you ever search out anything from his book list at the end? I'm surprised there's no Bradbury on it.

I've only read a dozen of the authors mentioned, and didn't like 3 of them! :LOL:

 

I didn't see that, will have to check the book out to see it, wasn't included in the audio

 

I was wondering about that. I can't imagine him reading his list out loud, but you never know!

 

I found it on Goodreads, if you're interested:

https://www.goodread...rom_On_Writing_

 

Wow, was the list 90 books? I think this may be an ongoing compilation of his recommends for reading. Will have to compare with the book. Yes very interesting no Bradbury in the list, I would have thought King would have liked his style. I read Bradbury's works one summer and enjoyed them a lot.

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Since reading a biography of him, I've been in a Seussian mood:

 

You're Only Old Once, by Dr. Seuss.

Oh, The Places You'll Go, by Dr. Seuss.

Dr. Seuss Goes To War: The World War Two Editorial Cartoons of Theodore Seuss Geisel, by Richard H. Minear.

 

Oh the Places You'll Go, I got a copy of that when I graduated college. Yes it is more juvenile but it fits.

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Since reading a biography of him, I've been in a Seussian mood:

 

You're Only Old Once, by Dr. Seuss.

Oh, The Places You'll Go, by Dr. Seuss.

Dr. Seuss Goes To War: The World War Two Editorial Cartoons of Theodore Seuss Geisel, by Richard H. Minear.

 

Is the biography the new one, the Becoming Dr. Seuss one? Would you recommend that?

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Since reading a biography of him, I've been in a Seussian mood:

 

You're Only Old Once, by Dr. Seuss.

Oh, The Places You'll Go, by Dr. Seuss.

Dr. Seuss Goes To War: The World War Two Editorial Cartoons of Theodore Seuss Geisel, by Richard H. Minear.

 

Is the biography the new one, the Becoming Dr. Seuss one? Would you recommend that?

Yes, May 2019. I had no idea of his work on the editorial cartoons prior and during World War Two before reading the biography, which prompted my picking up the book on the cartoons. Seuss held the isolationists and America First contingent in contempt over their soft attitude against the Axis. American "hero" Charles Lindbergh and Rev. Charles Coughlin were prime targets. Of course it was all moot after Pearl Harbor.

 

"Oh the Places You'll Go", Dr. Seuss' last book, was said to actually be about easing the journey away from life, and in the right context it is. "You're Only Old Once" is subtitled "a book for obsolete children" and chronicles a hapless individual's trip to the Golden Years Clinic and his evaluation by "experts".

 

I recommend all three, the last two especially if you're up in age as I am. :codger:

Edited by pjbear05
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As it's a picture-laden coffee table book, let's make an exception for:

 

y648.jpg

 

 

 

For real reading, I think I'll be picking up Kitchen Confidential soon. :)

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Just about to start this:

 

51-Q-zHP8fL._SX329_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg

 

He's an award-winning Canadian novelist from New Brunswick. I really like his older novels from the 80s, especially "Lives of Short Duration." Unfortunately, his style has changed since he's found god, and it's not my cup of tea.

 

I honestly don't give a f*ck about hunting or guns, but I am looking forward to reading what he has to say about them. He writes quite well about the outdoors, so I'm hoping for some good descriptive imagery at least.

 

darmain.jpg?itok=4aaaDA8e

"I don't give a frig what you think. Frig off, frigger."

 

Let us know how it is! My dad grew up in a rural area in a single parent family and hunting helped put food on the table. If it's well written, he might enjoy reading it.

 

I finished this last week. It was mostly well-written, but didn't really do anything for me. There was no thread that went through the whole thing, and he seemed weirdly bitter about the Canadian literary scene and city-people in general. There's a well-written 2 star review on Goodreads that sums it up nicely.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13069048-facing-the-hunter

 

If you were curious about this author, I'd recommend "For Those Who Hunt the Wounded Down" or "Lives of Short Duration" (which he seems to have dropped from his "list of works" :huh:) for their observations and characters. This one was unfocused and po-faced.

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The Chandler book kind of crapped out at the end. Dunno if I'll re-read.

 

Now working on:

 

13068._UY500_SS500_.jpg

 

and:

 

s-l600.jpg

 

 

The Hiaasen book is off to a reasonable start. Good characters.

 

The King book starts off with a long autobiographical section that I'm almost through. I haven't read anything of his in years, and this should be interesting.

It's nice to see how frank he is about his substance issues.

 

It's been a while since I listened to On Writing...I tried the book but it was slow going. I had just started checking out audio books on cassette (yeah the old days) from the library so I tried it. Listening to King was very enjoyable. I believe he does talk frankly about his issues in this but I loved listening to his voice, it was a good one.

 

I'm almost finished! One chapter to go.

Very breezily written once I got into it, but still packs a pretty good punch for a book about writing.

Did you ever search out anything from his book list at the end? I'm surprised there's no Bradbury on it.

I've only read a dozen of the authors mentioned, and didn't like 3 of them! :LOL:

 

I didn't see that, will have to check the book out to see it, wasn't included in the audio

 

I was wondering about that. I can't imagine him reading his list out loud, but you never know!

 

I found it on Goodreads, if you're interested:

https://www.goodread...rom_On_Writing_

 

Wow, was the list 90 books? I think this may be an ongoing compilation of his recommends for reading. Will have to compare with the book. Yes very interesting no Bradbury in the list, I would have thought King would have liked his style. I read Bradbury's works one summer and enjoyed them a lot.

 

Yep, the list in "On Writing" is around 90 books, believe it or not! Have fun going through them. :D

 

I read some Bradbury a little while ago, and could easily imagine his influence on King, especially parts of "Something Wicked This Way Comes."

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Halfway through:

 

513ao4D83sL._SX373_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg

 

Two men who have no business going into a jungle go into the jungle in search of a rare rhinoceros.

Very engaging and well-written. And pretty funny too!

 

 

Next up:

17259130.jpg

 

Focuses on the events leading up to the annexation of Phnom Penh by the Khmer Rouge in April 1975.

Should be as ghastly as it is fascinating -- a city forcibly emptied of its entire population.

 

From Wikipedia:

 

"The idea behind Year Zero is that all culture and traditions within a society must be completely destroyed or discarded and a new revolutionary culture must replace it, starting from scratch. All history of a nation or people before Year Zero is deemed largely irrelevant, as it will ideally be purged and replaced from the ground up.

In Democratic Kampuchea, so-called New People—teachers, artists, and intellectuals—were especially singled out and executed during the purges accompanying Year Zero."

 

Brutal insanity.

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Halfway through:

 

513ao4D83sL._SX373_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg

 

Two men who have no business going into a jungle go into the jungle in search of a rare rhinoceros.

Very engaging and well-written. And pretty funny too!

 

 

Next up:

17259130.jpg

 

Focuses on the events leading up to the annexation of Phnom Penh by the Khmer Rouge in April 1975.

Should be as ghastly as it is fascinating -- a city forcibly emptied of its entire population.

 

From Wikipedia:

 

"The idea behind Year Zero is that all culture and traditions within a society must be completely destroyed or discarded and a new revolutionary culture must replace it, starting from scratch. All history of a nation or people before Year Zero is deemed largely irrelevant, as it will ideally be purged and replaced from the ground up.

In Democratic Kampuchea, so-called New People—teachers, artists, and intellectuals—were especially singled out and executed during the purges accompanying Year Zero."

 

Brutal insanity.

 

Both of those sound fascinating.

 

I wish I had more time and discipline for reading lately. After several weeks, I’m still less than 200 pages into my Pynchon book. (And I have another even longer Pynchon book lined up after it- both were birthday gifts from my sons).

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Halfway through:

 

513ao4D83sL._SX373_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg

 

Two men who have no business going into a jungle go into the jungle in search of a rare rhinoceros.

Very engaging and well-written. And pretty funny too!

 

 

Next up:

17259130.jpg

 

Focuses on the events leading up to the annexation of Phnom Penh by the Khmer Rouge in April 1975.

Should be as ghastly as it is fascinating -- a city forcibly emptied of its entire population.

 

From Wikipedia:

 

"The idea behind Year Zero is that all culture and traditions within a society must be completely destroyed or discarded and a new revolutionary culture must replace it, starting from scratch. All history of a nation or people before Year Zero is deemed largely irrelevant, as it will ideally be purged and replaced from the ground up.

In Democratic Kampuchea, so-called New People—teachers, artists, and intellectuals—were especially singled out and executed during the purges accompanying Year Zero."

 

Brutal insanity.

 

Both of those sound fascinating.

 

I wish I had more time and discipline for reading lately. After several weeks, I’m still less than 200 pages into my Pynchon book. (And I have another even longer Pynchon book lined up after it- both were birthday gifts from my sons).

 

I enjoyed the Borneo book very much. The author was self-deprecating and had a terrific eye for detail. Win-win! It didn't overstay its welcome either, at around 200 pages.

 

Year-Zero is rather clunky and dry, but has important information. The author was one of the last Westerners to flee Phnom Penh a few weeks after its fall, and I'm interested to know a bit more about the control and evacuation of the city, horrible as it was. The book is a translation from French, which might account for some of its tone.

 

Yeah, finding time to read can be tricky, especially when there's outdoor stuff to be done (and in your case, kids!).

I try to get some reading in first thing in the morning, and again before bed. Weirdly enough, I tend to read non-fiction in the morning. :huh:

Rise and shine! Time to read about the horrors of war! :P

 

I've never read Pynchon. Is there one in particular that I should start with or avoid?

 

:cheers:

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Yay! Library books!

 

October_country_first.jpg

america-the-farewell-tour-9781501152672.jpg

200px-Inherent_vice_cover.jpg

53f91b93-how-to-be-human-cover-final-hr_08g0b108f0az000000.jpg

 

About a third of the way into the Bradbury book. It's a collection of short stories from the '50s that are rather creepy. Very much like "Something Wicked This Way Comes." His writing style is offbeat and rather poetic, and works very well here. Stephen King fans should have a look. There's a sense of small town eeriness they both convey so well.

 

Skim-reading the Hedges book. Grim stuff. Reminds me of some of Louis Theroux's documentaries in spots, but offering less hope. Never knew about Camden NJ, other than they used to have a swell record label back in the day. Probably not the best place for a vacation.

 

http://travel.jetindir.net/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/1555355026_maxresdefault-720x405.jpg

At least the tires aren't on fire.

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I've never read Pynchon. Is there one in particular that I should start with or avoid?

 

:cheers:

 

Inherent Vice (mentioned above) is great; Mason & Dixon is great but long; his essays and short stories are fun; V is great but weird; The Crying of Lot 49 is weird but short. Despite it being "the" Pynchon novel, I'd advise giving Gravity's Rainbow a wide berth. Vineland is forgettable.

 

I finished the Jimmy Page biography. I'd give it a 7/10. If you like library books, check it out; if you want to buy it, I'd wait 'till it's available in paperback. Lots of oddly repetitious word choices: the author used the word "sneer" or "sneering" five times in two pages, and wrote the sentence "The world's greatest guitarist in the world . . ." Maybe it needed better editing. Or some. The author also used the occasion to reprint in their entirety two articles/interviews with Page from the '70s and '90s he'd done, which feels a bit like cheating. I know all authors recycle some material, but that was just padding.

 

As a last complaint, the author kept using astrological signs as legitimate explanations for people's actions or motivations (as in, "As a Scorpio rising, Page would think . . ."). That shit just seems crazy to me, and the author's reliance on it, rather than psychology or other evidence, was a lazy way to yadda yadda reasons why people did what they did.

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I just finished this book today. It's the best novel I've read in years.

I can imagine it being turned into a film starring George Clooney.

http://assets.crownpublishing.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/littleparis_sm.jpg

Edited by Krystal
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Sea Stories: My Life In Special Operations, by Admiral William H. McRaven, U.S. Navy (Retired).

 

Nice! I'm gonna check that out. Thank you!

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Since I loved the video games, I decided to read Andrzej Sapkowski's The Witcher series. I am currently on book seven, The Lady Of The Lake. I have liked them a great deal and I definitely recommend them. Edited by Jack Aubrey
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Since I loved the video games, I decided to read Andrzej Sapkowski's The Witcher series. I am currently on book seven, The Lady Of The Lake. I have liked them a great deal and I definitely recommend them.

 

They are on my to read list. I devour fantasy books for breakfast!

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I've never read Pynchon. Is there one in particular that I should start with or avoid?

 

:cheers:

 

Inherent Vice (mentioned above) is great; Mason & Dixon is great but long; his essays and short stories are fun; V is great but weird; The Crying of Lot 49 is weird but short. Despite it being "the" Pynchon novel, I'd advise giving Gravity's Rainbow a wide berth. Vineland is forgettable.

 

I finished the Jimmy Page biography. I'd give it a 7/10. If you like library books, check it out; if you want to buy it, I'd wait 'till it's available in paperback. Lots of oddly repetitious word choices: the author used the word "sneer" or "sneering" five times in two pages, and wrote the sentence "The world's greatest guitarist in the world . . ." Maybe it needed better editing. Or some. The author also used the occasion to reprint in their entirety two articles/interviews with Page from the '70s and '90s he'd done, which feels a bit like cheating. I know all authors recycle some material, but that was just padding.

 

As a last complaint, the author kept using astrological signs as legitimate explanations for people's actions or motivations (as in, "As a Scorpio rising, Page would think . . ."). That shit just seems crazy to me, and the author's reliance on it, rather than psychology or other evidence, was a lazy way to yadda yadda reasons why people did what they did.

 

Thanks for the Pynchon info, and welcome to the forum! :cheers:

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