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Jack Aubrey
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The Trump White House: Changing the Rules of the Game, by Ronald Kessler.

 

A look into the side of Trump and his minions the public rarely, if ever sees. Lots of juicy tidbits.

 

Especially amusing chapter on his fight to make part of Mar-A-Lago an all inclusive private club, to the shock and horror of the West Palm Beach blue blood scene (where club membership by Jews and people of color is non-existent).

 

This is the fourth book of Kessler's I've read, all good. Lots of inside D. C. dirt.

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S-21 (aka Tuol Sleng) was a school in Phnom Penh that was converted into a Khmer Rouge processing/detention center. Of the estimated 20 000 people that went through its doors, only 7 made it out alive. Vann Nath was one of them. This is a brutal and depressing read, but a compelling and important story.

 

Vann Nath also took part in this documentary, if anyone is interested:

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An enjoyable romp, filled with quirky characters.

 

 

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Reading "The Wild Boys," which is sort of like a cross between "Naked Lunch" and the "Tibetan Book of the Dead." :huh:

The first chapter is excellent, and then things get progressively more fractured and bizarre. The writing style is mostly traditional, although it veers off into impressionistic/impenetrable territory at times.

 

What I enjoy about Burroughs' fiction is his imagery. Whether nostalgic or grotesque, WSB is aware of the power of words, and can conjure up some amazing images, although I can do without the pornographic stuff. :blink:

There are parts of this that remind me of Ray Bradbury, weirdly enough (due to their Midwestern roots?). And some of it is quite funny. :o

 

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"Darkness falls on the ruined suburbs. Dim jerky stars are blowing away across an empty sky."

 

 

I f*ckin love reading.

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Just got this today.

 

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Feherty is a riot! He's a former pro golfer and an announcer for the PGA tour. If you like golf you will also want to check out his other books 'Somewhere In Ireland A Village Is Missing An Idiot', which is a collection of his columns in Golf magazine, and 'A Nasty Bit Of Rough', an hilarious fiction novel about a golf rivalry between an Irish family and a Scottish one. Read it, or I will confiscate your Bungley back-up wedge!

"Oh, Billy Billy Billy Billy..."
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On a bit of a Burroughs binge. Just plowed thru this:

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It definitely could've used a better editor. Cool 3-D cover, but very cheaply printed. Wtf Penguin?

I also bought the collected interviews of WSB, but will save that for another day. It's massive (800+ pages), so I'll probably pick at it while reading other things.

 

 

Next up:

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Looking forward to this one. Should be mighty interesting. :yes:

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Gsckqjpl.jpg Geez, I didn't think a more depressing book existed than Dear Boy: The Life Of Keith Moon, but I found one. I'll Sleep When I'm Dead: The Dirty Life and Times of Warren Zevon was on a Best Rock Books list somewhere, but I'm not sure why. I can't really recommend it. The Keith Moon book did a good job of talking about his musical uniqueness and you felt bad for him because he couldn't control his drinking. I'll Sleep When I'm Dead tries to do the same thing, but Zevon had such a serious alcohol and drug problem for so long that he comes off as obnoxious, and there are more stories about that than his place in the music world so it's just annoying. Or something. He did have 17 years of sobriety in the 80's and 90's but the tone of the writing made it hard to feel sympathy for him. Maybe it just hit me wrong and your mileage might vary.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Always Look on the Bright Side of Life - A Sortabiograpy, by Eric Idle.

Bwahaha, this was a riot, from Eric ragging on Hitler for trying to kill him as a child to his wife's perfect behind, which was the subject of a Playboy magazine cover. I highly recommend.
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Geez, I didn't think a more depressing book existed than Dear Boy: The Life Of Keith Moon, but I found one.

 

A whole world of depressing literature is out there for you to discover! :LOL:

 

 

That could be an interesting topic: "the most depressing book you've read."

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Gsckqjpl.jpg Geez, I didn't think a more depressing book existed than Dear Boy: The Life Of Keith Moon, but I found one. I'll Sleep When I'm Dead: The Dirty Life and Times of Warren Zevon was on a Best Rock Books list somewhere, but I'm not sure why. I can't really recommend it. The Keith Moon book did a good job of talking about his musical uniqueness and you felt bad for him because he couldn't control his drinking. I'll Sleep When I'm Dead tries to do the same thing, but Zevon had such a serious alcohol and drug problem for so long that he comes off as obnoxious, and there are more stories about that than his place in the music world so it's just annoying. Or something. He did have 17 years of sobriety in the 80's and 90's but the tone of the writing made it hard to feel sympathy for him. Maybe it just hit me wrong and your mileage might vary.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Good review; thanks!

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That could be an interesting topic: "the most depressing book you've read."

 

The Good Soldier, by Ford Madox Ford, begins this way "This is the saddest story I have ever heard . . ." and he wasn't wrong.

 

Two candidates I can think of for that- one fiction and one non-fiction- respectively:

 

The Mountain Lion, by Jean Stafford

 

and

 

Shot in the Heart, by Mikal Gilmore

 

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That could be an interesting topic: "the most depressing book you've read."

 

The Good Soldier, by Ford Madox Ford, begins this way "This is the saddest story I have ever heard . . ." and he wasn't wrong.

 

Two candidates I can think of for that- one fiction and one non-fiction- respectively:

 

The Mountain Lion, by Jean Stafford

 

and

 

Shot in the Heart, by Mikal Gilmore

 

Non-fiction: 4 Hours in My Lai, or anything about the Khmer Rouge.

Fiction: Clockwork Angels :P

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I've been catching up on all the fantasy classics I never had time to read, so now that's I've finished Gormenghast it's time for LeGuin's Earthsea trilogy. Edited by Hunted Witch
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The Titantic Secret, by Clive Cussler and Jack DeBrul.

 

This one's a bit intersting. It's the latest in the Isaac Bell series, but ties into a previously written adventure involving Cussler's original adventurer, Dirk Pitt.

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