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#71
06-08-2007, 02:08 PM
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Re: What Books Have You Read Recently?
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ] In regular books I've also been poking through a cool collection of military strategy classics collected in one volume, including The Art of War, Frederick the Great's guide to his generals, Napoleon's writings on war, and some ancient manual of arms the Romans used which is supposedly one of the most influential books of its type ever written, and was used by all Europe. [/ QUOTE ] You should check out Robert Greene's 33 Strategies of War: http://www.amazon.com/33-Strategies-...dp/0670034576/ Kind of like Art of War and The Prince but with way more research and historical examples, plus a lot more time to draw examples from. It's also not strictly about war, taking examples from politics and sports and other places, so its more fun to read. Awesome book. [/ QUOTE ] Interesting. I liked the reviewer noting the example of Hitchcock, whose level of organization and understanding of the filmmaking process and how to get what he wanted was absolutely astounding to me. I'll read more reviews, but it's very hard to justify getting another book now when I have so many others. 
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#72
06-09-2007, 10:40 PM
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Re: What Books Have You Read Recently?
Blarg:
I know you like Lovecraft so you might really appreciate this book. Its Jack Kerouac vs the Monsters of Lovecraft. Seriously.  Its written like a sequel to On The Road, but Jack, Neal Cassady and William Burroughs headed off to save the world from Lovecraft's Great Old Ones. Book description:[ QUOTE ] "The year is nineteen-sixty-something, and after endless millennia of watery sleep, the stars are finally right. Old R'lyeh rises out of the Pacific, ready to cast its damned shadow over the primitive human world. The first to see its peaks: an alcoholic, paranoid, and frightened Jack Kerouac, who had been drinking off a nervous breakdown up in Big Sur. Now Jack must get back on the road to find Neal Cassady, the holy fool whose rambling letters hint of a world brought to its knees in worship of the Elder God Cthulhu. Together with pistol-packin' junkie William S. Burroughs, Jack and Neal make their way across the continent to face down the murderous Lovecraftian cult that has spread its darkness to the heart of the American Dream. But is Neal along for the ride to help save the world, or does he want to destroy it just so that he'll have an ending for his book? " [/ QUOTE ] Publishers Weekly: [ QUOTE ] The American dream reveals itself to be a Lovecraftian nightmare in Mamatas's audacious first novel, set in the early 1960s, which goes on the road with Kerouac, Cassaday and Cthulhu. Jack Kerouac is in California when he receives cryptic letters from soulmate and muse Neal Cassaday, whose hallucinatory ramblings evoke "the Dark Dreamer" (aka Cthulhu), the Lovecraftian deity of cosmic entropy whom Jack blames for the era's stultifying forces of conformity, commercialism and complacency. After Jack rescues Neal from his new life as a gas station owner in Nevada, the two reverse the steps of their earlier westward trek, fighting skirmishes with "the Cult of Utter Normalcy" that serves the god, en route to a climactic showdown in New York City. The book has no more plot than Kerouac's On the Road, but the author makes Jack and Neal's surreal adventures in middle America seem the perfect expression of Lovecraft's mind-blasting horrors. He gives quaint cameos to Allen Ginsburg as a sewer-trolling prophet and William S. Burroughs as a god-swatting exterminator extraordinaire. He also manages a credible pastiche of Kerouac's visionary prose, as in this description of Manhattan: "The heart of the world, concrete and fleshy, green money pouring in and out from every corner of earth through arteries of commerce and culture, all choked up and poisoned with the madness of dead gods' dreams." Though Lovecraft reduxes are common in horror, few show the wit and energy of this original effort. [/ QUOTE ] Hey, I liked it.
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#73
06-10-2007, 12:51 PM
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Re: What Books Have You Read Recently?
How about some tripe: 'Whiteout' by Ken Follett.
This was probably in the remainder pile for a reason. But, Follett is always good fun. He sure has sunk from the 'Pillars of the Earth' or 'Eye of the Needle' days though. Anyhoo, this yarn about a Scottish biotech lab and the robbery thereof moves along well, with the standard Follett thriller formula intact. I'm currently reading Paddy Whacked: the Untold Story of the Irish-American Gangster by T.J. English. Well researched and blood-drenched. Ah, my Mick ancestors, they had it going until the Dagos muscled them out.
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#74
06-10-2007, 06:08 PM
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Re: What Books Have You Read Recently?
Brooklyn Follies by Paul Auster. This was really good. It was the second book i read from him the first was Oracle night, this one is alot better i think. The first 30 pages or so are alittle tuff to get thru, but once your thru them the chacters open up like flowers and eventually bloom...i would highly recomend this book
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#75
06-10-2007, 06:17 PM
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Re: What Books Have You Read Recently?
[ QUOTE ]
I'm currently reading Paddy Whacked: the Untold Story of the Irish-American Gangster by T.J. English. Well researched and blood-drenched. Ah, my Mick ancestors, they had it going until the Dagos muscled them out. [/ QUOTE ] That sounds interesting. I had a history of Irish stick fighting that was revelatory to me. The Irish used to be absolutely huge into that, and it made for great stories and history. Mob history in general is great reading.
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#76
06-10-2007, 07:35 PM
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Re: What Books Have You Read Recently?
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ] PS: I vote to revive the book club! I'm in! [/ QUOTE ] I second that. [/ QUOTE ] Why was it even wound up in the first place? This sounds a great idea - I third it.
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#78
06-24-2007, 11:34 PM
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Re: What Books Have You Read Recently?
The Invisible Man by H.G. Wells.
I love science fiction, but I have never read H.G. Wells. I read a summary for young readers of The Time Machine once, but I later found out it was a summary and not the whole book. The Invisible Man was not bad. I liked how it shows the disadvantages of being invisible. It seems like most stories involving invisible people focus on the advantages, but in this book you really feel the desperation that being invisible causes. Nobody sees you, people bump into you all the time (sometimes very painfully), you are cold because you're naked (at least in this story), you can't get into houses because they are locked. That side of it was really interesting. I liked how the character gradually goes crazy and very evil. I am planning on reading War of the Worlds next.
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#79
06-25-2007, 04:39 PM
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Re: What Books Have You Read Recently?
Lurker here, but I'd like to contribute, and I love to read. After a recent slump, I've read some good ones (I love long flights):
Team of Rivals by Doris Kearns Goodwin It's a biography of Abraham Lincoln, as well as his three main rivals for the Republican nomination in 1860, who all joined his cabinet. A beautiful and stirring account of their lives, and and interesting look into all the political drama that Lincoln had to deal with. Mao, the Unknown Story by Jung Chang and Jon Halliday A real eye-opener, and a MASSIVE contrast to the previous. Where Lincoln always aired on the side of compassion, even with people who had committed treason, Mao Tse-Tung would have found Hobbes' view of life overly tame and cushy. I knew Mao Tse-Tung was a brutal dictator, but I didn't understand the extent. He was much more callous to his own people than Hitler, and even more hostile to culture than Stalin, and managed to probably live a more lavish life. Not even most people in China know the whole story. Jennifer Government by Max Barry A humorous caper set in a world of libertarian paradise. Carry Me Down by M.J. Hyland An Irish novel nominated for the Man Booker in 2006, about an adolescent boy who is obsessed with truth and lying, with the family trauma that this exacerbates. For those of you who were interested in Islam/the Middle East, this is a must-read. It's not about mainstream Islam, but it's about America and radicals in the Middle East: Through Our Enemies' Eyes by Michael Scheuer (formerly Anonymous) A high-ranking CIA man, originally afraid to use his own name, gives a well-researched account of the motivations and the goals of al-Qaeda, going far beyond "They hate us for our freedom." I wish somebody in charge would read this. I also recommend the follow-up, Imperial Hubris.
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#80
06-25-2007, 05:52 PM
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Re: What Books Have You Read Recently?
 The Case Against Adolescence Roger Epstein, the editor of Psychology Today, writes one of the most revolutionary books I've ever read. I got into this one after Guids started an OOT thread on how children are growing up 'emo' and not being 'men.' Somehow, I got inspired to research what is going on with American teens. This book is a scientific inquiry into adolescence....a time period the author believes is made-up and should not exist. Epstein argues that the current world infantilizes teens and is creating lots of blowback. The results to our society are very bad.
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