372 replies to this topic

[artcinco]

Just finished Stephen King's NEEDFUL THINGS. Way too long. Not one of his best.

 

Up next - Bruce Dickinson autobiography.

[Its Cousin]

Went to the thrift store with my daughter, and while checking out their books, I found McPherson's The Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era, and David Kennedy's Freedom From Fear: The American People In Depression And War, 1929-1945. Both were brand new, and only $1.00 a piece.

 

Got them home and realized they are two of the volumes of Oxford's History of the US series, and both won a Pulitzer. Going to head back, tomorrow and see if they have any more of the series.

[Its Cousin]

Digging through my library I found "Ambassador Morganthau's Story". Henry Morganthau was the ambassador to the Ottomans, and was probably the first to alert the world to the Armenian Genocide.

 

Should be good.

[freedom78]

I'm reading Sinclair Lewis's It Can't Happen Here.  Because it seemed pertinent.  Philip Roth's The Plot Against America is up next...because it seems pertinent.

 

Been reading a lot lately, which has been nice...kids must be getting less needy. 

 

Lately:

 

Devil in the White City

Destiny of the Republic

The Garden of Beasts

 

I haven't read books like those before, but I find I'm enjoying this narrative history genre, much more than I used to enjoy history, which can be so dry ..."this happened, then this happened, then this guy told this slightly amusing joke you might have gotten if you had an advanced degree 100 years ago, then this happened, blah blah blah."

[artcinco]

Bruce Dickinson's autobiography "What Does This Button Do?" was good but for a Maiden / Bruce fan not a whole lot of new and interesting. Bruce does explain piloting and airplane stuff like Melville though so there's that. Would have liked more on the music and musicians he has played with.
 

[freedom78]

lol @ "like Melville".  Does he describe a scene in which he and the copilot both reach for the stick at the same time and touch hands and then just keep steering the plane with their hands touching and squeezing one another, in the most homoerotic display of the 19th century?

 

FYI, strongly inclined to name my next dog "Queequeg".  Those fuckers in Seattle already took "Starbuck".

[artcinco]

^ Bruce actually makes a point near the end that he had another 100 pages or so about his personal life – family, wives and whatnot – that he pulled out of the book. So no.

[Its Cousin]

I finished Mcphearson's "Battle Cry of Freedom" and was disappointed. How it won a Pulitzer I'll never know. It was a great read to understands the beginnings of the conflict and the politics of the era, but it was revisionist to the point of absurdity.

The Roosevelt read was fantastic.

About halfway thruogh John Dean's "Blind Ambition". It was his memoirs that he wrote when he got out of prison. Interesting reading.

[Its Cousin]

Picked up a copy of Haldeman's "The End Of Power" for when I finish Dean's... fair and balanced, ya know.

[Its Cousin]

Going through my bookshelves, yesterday, I found a copy of Woodward and Bernstien's "The Final Days". I have said for years, and I still think, that those missing 18 minutes of tape were of Nixon discussing/plotting a coup d'etat.

[Its Cousin]

Also a 1st ed Anthony Trollope "The Way We Live Now", Dicken's "A Child's History of England", RL Stevenson(poems) and Hawthorne "Tanglewood Tales", and "Chateau D'Or", Holmes, and tons of others. I bought'em years ago when they were cheap.

[Its Cousin]

Finally got around to reading the Woodward/Bernstein book. It's a good one! Covers the Nixon presidency from Haldeman and Ehrlichman's ouster to his resignation. Damn fine read... it actually had me feeling sympathy for Nixon, The shit going through that man's mind when he was trying to come up with ways to keep the tapes out of Jaworski and the judiciary committee's hands... damn! He was fighting for his legacy, the presidency, and his ass.

 

He could've been a great president, but his need to seek revenge against those that he perceived as his enemies destroyed him, and his friends allowed it to destroy them, too.

[freedom78]

Nixon and his campaign always blew my mind.  They orchestrated a break in of their opposition prior to an election that he won 60% and 49 states...that's an enormous win.  I never understood why you would cheat when you were the best and not at risk...same mentality as the fucking Patriots.

[Its Cousin]

It never was about the election, per se, it was a convoluted mess that no one has ever truly unraveled that centered around Howard Hughes and Larry Obrien(who had worked for Hughes and was the Dem. National Committee chair). And, somehow the ITT anti-trust shit figured into it, too. I've tended to gloss over the details when I've read about it because of how twisted the story has become... guess I'll go back over it again, sometime, and commit to memory.

[TAP]

Trying to force myself to read more books and less social media this year. So far

 

Inventing Ourselves: The Secret Life of the Teenage Brain - Sarah Jayne Blakemore (somewhat related to my daughter turning 15 this weekend)

 

Weapons of Math Destruction - Cathy O'Neill (about the dangers and bias in big data, will integrate a little of this into classes this semester)

 

Currently reading:

 

How to Build a Universe - Brian Cox and Robin Ince (going to see their Science/Comedy show in April)