Read any good books lately?
12-24-13, 02:48 PM
#301
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12-24-13, 02:57 PM
#302
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When I am feeling cerebral (not too often) I read portions of 'A History of Western Philosophy' by Bertrand Russell. I have owned this book for 40 years. Every year or so I pick it up and read a few chapters.
12-24-13, 03:29 PM
#303
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This is a good thread for me to go through and find new books to read.
12-24-13, 03:38 PM
#304
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OK. One last entry this morning. I could never say it with anywhere near the eloquence of Italuminium, but Vonnegut may be my favorite author. Easily in the top three, anyway. So much so that I invested in leather-bound copies of Slaughterhouse Five and and another favorite, The Sirens of Titan. Still looking for a copy of my all time fave, though. Cat's Cradle. What Slaughterhouse Five is to the author's subtle reflections on his experiences during WW II, Cat's Cradle is to the dystopian nightmare of the Cold War, ensconced, as it was, within the fuzzy post-war American Dream like a rabid badger held in a soft blanket. When I first read it, I too wanted to have Boku-maru with the lovely Mona A. Monzano.
If any of his books will have you laughing and crying, it is that one. To this day, if I consider myself anything, I consider myself a Bokonist.
Speaking of eloquence, an attribute that frequently eludes me, a brief anecdote, if you'll indulge me, about my "brush" with greatness. I may have shared this here before. If so, forgive me. A good memory also eludes me….
One day a few years ago a colleague of my wife's and I were going to the dump together. This was before he got his own dump vehicle. We call it the dump but here they refer to it, with the afore-mentioned eloquence, as a "Transfer Station". We all "transfer" our leavings to somewhere else, don't we? But I digress.
Patrick needed to stop by and drop off some papers to Edie, Kurt Vonnegut's talented daughter, who still lives in the old, colonial Vonnegut house just down the road from here. We pulled into her driveway and I pulled my truck nose in. Thinking he was only going to be a minute, I stayed in the truck listening to a CD we had decided on as appropriate dump run music. As I remember, it was Zevon's Excitable Boy.
A minute later a big SUV pulls in behind me and stops quite close to my tailgate. In my rear view mirror I see an old woman with a big shock of curly silver hair slowly getting out of the passenger side rear door. "I hope she can get out." I muttered to myself. And then, with strains of Roland the Headless Thompson Gunner bouncing through the cab, I remembered where I was. "That's no old woman!" I admonished myself. "That's Kurt Vonnegut!"
There was no way I was going to miss this chance, so I got out and joined the group standing in the gravel drive. What does one say to a man whose work has become a large part of one's intellectual development as a young man? Well, something goofy, of course.
As I stood next to him, shaking hands as Edie introduced us, I blurted out " Your work helped me become the man I am today." With a wry twinkle in his eye and without missing a beat, he shot back, " I certainly hope your wife doesn't hold that against me!"
Less than a year later he fell off a ladder and bumped his head…and he was gone.
If any of his books will have you laughing and crying, it is that one. To this day, if I consider myself anything, I consider myself a Bokonist.
Speaking of eloquence, an attribute that frequently eludes me, a brief anecdote, if you'll indulge me, about my "brush" with greatness. I may have shared this here before. If so, forgive me. A good memory also eludes me….
One day a few years ago a colleague of my wife's and I were going to the dump together. This was before he got his own dump vehicle. We call it the dump but here they refer to it, with the afore-mentioned eloquence, as a "Transfer Station". We all "transfer" our leavings to somewhere else, don't we? But I digress.
Patrick needed to stop by and drop off some papers to Edie, Kurt Vonnegut's talented daughter, who still lives in the old, colonial Vonnegut house just down the road from here. We pulled into her driveway and I pulled my truck nose in. Thinking he was only going to be a minute, I stayed in the truck listening to a CD we had decided on as appropriate dump run music. As I remember, it was Zevon's Excitable Boy.
A minute later a big SUV pulls in behind me and stops quite close to my tailgate. In my rear view mirror I see an old woman with a big shock of curly silver hair slowly getting out of the passenger side rear door. "I hope she can get out." I muttered to myself. And then, with strains of Roland the Headless Thompson Gunner bouncing through the cab, I remembered where I was. "That's no old woman!" I admonished myself. "That's Kurt Vonnegut!"
There was no way I was going to miss this chance, so I got out and joined the group standing in the gravel drive. What does one say to a man whose work has become a large part of one's intellectual development as a young man? Well, something goofy, of course.
As I stood next to him, shaking hands as Edie introduced us, I blurted out " Your work helped me become the man I am today." With a wry twinkle in his eye and without missing a beat, he shot back, " I certainly hope your wife doesn't hold that against me!"
Less than a year later he fell off a ladder and bumped his head…and he was gone.
Thanks for the anectdote. He was my literary muse in the 70's.
12-24-13, 04:43 PM
#305
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just finished the Sea Wolf..very good, couldn't put it down
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12-24-13, 04:56 PM
#306
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Fantastic book, I have read it twice, who knew an odd topic like this could be such great book?
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Last edited by bykemike; 12-24-13 at 07:50 PM.
12-24-13, 06:19 PM
#307
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Herbert McBride's The Emma Gees and A Rifleman Went to War. Also Shots Fired In Anger by John George.
12-24-13, 06:51 PM
#308
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Oh don't you guys agree that there's a nice c&v angle to the cat's cradle book, when the narrator meets "H. Lowe Crosby", bike manufacturer from Chicago?
12-24-13, 09:06 PM
#309
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Nice one!
12-24-13, 09:09 PM
#310
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Rick Atkinson's stunning Liberation Trilogy, An Army at Dawn, The Day of Battle, and Guns at Last Light, detailing the campaigns in North Africa, Sicily, and finally the D-Day invasion and the drive to Berlin. Terrific reading and incredible details.
12-25-13, 09:04 AM
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Donald Culross Peattie's "A Natural History of Western Trees". It is out of print now (along withe its companion volume "A Natural History of Eastern Trees"). I found this one in a used book shop, but an abridged version including parts of both volumes is available at Amazon.
12-25-13, 09:22 AM
#312
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Just received this one as a gift. Just started, looks to be a good read.
12-25-13, 09:37 AM
#313
What??? Only 2 wheels?
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12-25-13, 10:37 AM
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Half Man, Half Bike: The Life of Eddy Merckx, Cycling's Greatest Champion by William Fotheringham. A good read if you want to get a detailed look at Merckx's racing career.
12-25-13, 03:43 PM
#317
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reading Lunch with Buddha by ROland Merullo, it's a sequel to his Breakfast With Buddha, it's not what you think and they're wonderful books.
12-25-13, 03:49 PM
#318
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I received Bike Tribes from Santa. Just getting started. It seems a great observation of the various parts of bike culture.
Let's see, I read Slaughterhouse 5 ages ago, when I was an undergraduate IIRC though it may have been when I was in grad school. Not even sure I finished it, maybe I did, maybe I didn't. I confess I had little patience for it back then. Not sure why but that sort of literature didn't do much for me. Still doesn't. During that time I also got part way through Catch-22, another book people made much ado over at the time and thought was funny. I found it depressing. Saw the movie with friends, did not enjoy it at all, at all.
Let's see, I read Slaughterhouse 5 ages ago, when I was an undergraduate IIRC though it may have been when I was in grad school. Not even sure I finished it, maybe I did, maybe I didn't. I confess I had little patience for it back then. Not sure why but that sort of literature didn't do much for me. Still doesn't. During that time I also got part way through Catch-22, another book people made much ado over at the time and thought was funny. I found it depressing. Saw the movie with friends, did not enjoy it at all, at all.
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Last edited by jimmuller; 12-25-13 at 03:56 PM.
12-25-13, 04:11 PM
#319
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I just finished "Obsessive Compulsive Cycling Disorder" on the Kindle. The author asked for email feedback so I complied. I threw it down in disgust halfway through; essentially I instantiate everything he disdains in cycling. Yet I picked it up and finished, because his style is self deprecating enough that I can't take his position too seriously, and because he captures something fundamental to those of us obsessed with bicycles.
Then I read "Two Old Women: An Alaska Legend of Betrayal, Courage, and Survival", and enjoyed it quite a bit. A short story telling a simple tale, passed down for generations in the oral tradition of Alaska natives.
In the background I'm reading "The Power of Now". Light reading it is not.
Then I read "Two Old Women: An Alaska Legend of Betrayal, Courage, and Survival", and enjoyed it quite a bit. A short story telling a simple tale, passed down for generations in the oral tradition of Alaska natives.
In the background I'm reading "The Power of Now". Light reading it is not.
12-25-13, 05:09 PM
#320
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The "Playboy" of the Luftwaffe. I'll definitely be reading that.
I enjoy reading about these guys. And many of them were fairly vehemently anti Nazi. As much as they could get away with, anyway. I recently acquired a copy of Luftwaffe Eagle, by Walter Schuck, while doing research on the Me 262. Another well written book.
I enjoy reading about these guys. And many of them were fairly vehemently anti Nazi. As much as they could get away with, anyway. I recently acquired a copy of Luftwaffe Eagle, by Walter Schuck, while doing research on the Me 262. Another well written book.
Samurai by Martin Caidin from Saburo Sakai's own memoirs and journalist Fred Saito's interviews with the fighter pilot
I really haven't read much from the German side in that yet.....Well except for Vichy Celine's novels, lol. I probably don't even need to read his politics and his political ruminations probably aren't printed in English anyway.
What I find interesting is reading the influence for guys like Vonnegut, Heller, Anthony Burgess and Miller though and that's also who Celine is like him or not.
It's like going back to Joe Gans to find out what contemporary fighters are about and who used their tactics first. I mean how could so many people read those guys without reading Celine? But I guess you could ask how could I read him without reading that much of the more contemporary authors.....maybe I'll get around to it when I retire.
Btw.....Celine is who came up with that ". . ." thing with periods first. It ain't correct punctuation and might drive an English teacher nuts but it's another first by Celine along with his style of dark humor.
Speaking of dark humor Joseph Heller's Catch 22 was my dad's favorite movie (don't know that he read the book). Probably because he was a gunner on A20s & A26s during the war and took part in smuggling American cigarettes into postwar Japan.
12-25-13, 05:49 PM
#321
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I suppose it is like asking why not read Aristophanes if one is seeking the roots of comedy. I guess writers more contemporary to the era I have lived in, or more closely related to my time and all that infers is what draws me to the more contemporary practitioners. Maybe they are easier to relate to. More relevant? Not sure. Probably not. More readily assimilatable maybe. I enjoy Mozart. But other music speaks with more immediacy to my era. Either is good and they may be enjoyed within the scope of their evolutionary influences or standing alone on their own merits.
12-25-13, 06:06 PM
#322
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If you can relate to the 19th century realists then there's no reason not to relate to 20th century dark humor by the guy who brought the style. I'm just saying you might be missing something 
12-26-13, 06:46 AM
#323
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Oh yeah. I have no doubt I'm missing a LOT. Who was it who said "read the great books first…you may not get the chance later."
I'm checking to see if any Celine volumes are available on my …gasp… Ipad. I finally started reading on it, despite my reservations.
Not ideal, but not too bad.
I'm checking to see if any Celine volumes are available on my …gasp… Ipad. I finally started reading on it, despite my reservations.
Not ideal, but not too bad.
12-26-13, 07:04 AM
#324
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Darn near killed me.
But, philosophy was one of our topics at dinner last night and I found myself under prepared for the conversation.
Jee, that's never happened before.
At any rate, thanks for the tip, as I think I'll see if I can rustle up a copy this afternoon.
12-26-13, 03:18 PM
#325
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Oh yeah. I have no doubt I'm missing a LOT. Who was it who said "read the great books first…you may not get the chance later."
I'm checking to see if any Celine volumes are available on my …gasp… Ipad. I finally started reading on it, despite my reservations.
Not ideal, but not too bad.
I'm checking to see if any Celine volumes are available on my …gasp… Ipad. I finally started reading on it, despite my reservations.
Not ideal, but not too bad.
His antiwar sentiment comes from being a medic in the trenches of WW1, btw, and he actually won France's highest combat medal in that carnage. That's going to come out in the 1st novel. I liked the characters in his second.
Last edited by Zinger; 12-26-13 at 03:22 PM.