Author Topic: book recommendations (Read 234300 times)

pissclams · « **Reply #2025 on:** February 17, 2021, 10:45:27 AM »

Quote from: Sandstone Outcropping on February 17, 2021, 09:20:45 AM

Quote from: pissclams on February 17, 2021, 09:06:31 AM
Quote from: Sandstone Outcropping on February 17, 2021, 08:04:20 AM
Quote from: Cire on February 16, 2021, 05:54:46 PM
Frederick Douglass biography is outstanding if you like works about incredible people doing incredible things

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Which biography?

I'm almost finished with Truman by David McCullough. Pretty fascinating life (for a person from Missouri).
not sure which one cire is talking about but prophet of freedom is a good one
Okay. Thanks. Looks like it won a Pulitzer Prize so it should be pretty good. I will have to put in on my list.

I was in the Dusty Bookshelf last week and they have this giant edition of The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin illustrated with huge photos of the civil rights movement. I read No Name in the Street last year. Baldwin is a genius, embarrassed to admit that I knew nothing about him until last year.

the joco library has 3 audio versions of prophet of freedom if you're into that kind of thing, obvs they have the print version too

i was watching the pbs special on reconstruction recently and decided i needed to know more about freddy d, so your question was timely

Cire · « **Reply #2026 on:** February 17, 2021, 01:39:21 PM »

Quote from: pissclams on February 17, 2021, 10:45:27 AM

Quote from: Sandstone Outcropping on February 17, 2021, 09:20:45 AM
Quote from: pissclams on February 17, 2021, 09:06:31 AM
Quote from: Sandstone Outcropping on February 17, 2021, 08:04:20 AM
Quote from: Cire on February 16, 2021, 05:54:46 PM
Frederick Douglass biography is outstanding if you like works about incredible people doing incredible things

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Which biography?

I'm almost finished with Truman by David McCullough. Pretty fascinating life (for a person from Missouri).
not sure which one cire is talking about but prophet of freedom is a good one
Okay. Thanks. Looks like it won a Pulitzer Prize so it should be pretty good. I will have to put in on my list.

I was in the Dusty Bookshelf last week and they have this giant edition of The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin illustrated with huge photos of the civil rights movement. I read No Name in the Street last year. Baldwin is a genius, embarrassed to admit that I knew nothing about him until last year.

the joco library has 3 audio versions of prophet of freedom if you're into that kind of thing, obvs they have the print version too

i was watching the pbs special on reconstruction recently and decided i needed to know more about freddy d, so your question was timely

Yes, that’s the one. I’ve been doing the audio.

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Cire · « **Reply #2027 on:** February 17, 2021, 01:42:53 PM »

Cool anecdote was that he was working as a laborer in the town that Herman Melville was in when he went on his wailing boat. They almost certainly would have come across each other but neither wrote about such meeting.

All the stuff about he wove Shakespeare and the Bible into his speeches is really cool too.

And he was a radical among radicals. Nearly went to Harper’s ferry with John brown

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Brock Landers · « **Reply #2028 on:** February 25, 2021, 04:07:00 PM »

Weapons of Math Destruction.

A delightful romp about how Big Data and algorithms screw people and reinforce stereotypes and inequalities in many facets of life. There's probably nothing ground breaking or even surprising in there but it was still kinda infuriating to read an entire book about it.

Sandstone Outcropping · « **Reply #2029 on:** March 25, 2021, 08:25:27 AM »

Just finished Jesus and John Wayne - How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation by Kristin DuMez.

Just got started on Prophet of Freedom as well as The Great Mortality - about the 14th century Plague in Europe.

Do other posters read more than one book at a time? I usually have a nonfiction on the nightstand that I read while I help the kids get ready for bed as well as two or three other books in other parts of the house.

steve dave · « **Reply #2030 on:** March 25, 2021, 08:29:00 AM »

I’m going to mainly focus on the “read while I help the kids get ready for bed” part. To which I will ask: how the eff?

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steve dave · « **Reply #2031 on:** March 25, 2021, 08:30:32 AM »

But also I have non fiction on my desk that I’ll read during the day if CNBC is pissing me off. Fiction on the nightstand before bed. Sometimes I will crash before getting a page read and then I start over on that same page for like a week.

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Sandstone Outcropping · « **Reply #2032 on:** March 25, 2021, 08:34:00 AM »

Quote from: steve dave on March 25, 2021, 08:29:00 AM

I’m going to mainly focus on the “read while I help the kids get ready for bed” part. To which I will ask: how the eff?

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They are all big enough that they can brush their own teeth, get in and out of the shower by themselves, put on their PJs. I just need to be present to make sure that no monsters are in the upstairs, that the smallest one got all the shampoo rinsed out of her hair and break up fights that arise about who gets to go in the bathroom first and who is using too much hot water, stuff like that. Usually gives me a good 30 - 45 minutes of time to read.

steve dave · « **Reply #2033 on:** March 25, 2021, 08:43:26 AM »

Makes sense. Sounds incredibly luxurious.

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Sandstone Outcropping · « **Reply #2034 on:** March 25, 2021, 08:49:43 AM »

Quote from: steve dave on March 25, 2021, 08:43:26 AM

Makes sense. Sounds incredibly luxurious.

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I don't want to gloat or anything but bedtime is a lot easier than it was five years ago.

Pete · « **Reply #2035 on:** March 25, 2021, 04:24:30 PM »

Quote from: Sandstone Outcropping on March 25, 2021, 08:49:43 AM

Quote from: steve dave on March 25, 2021, 08:43:26 AM
Makes sense. Sounds incredibly luxurious.

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I don't want to gloat or anything but bedtime is a lot easier than it was five years ago.

I have a similar fiction approach as SD...I keep it on the night stand and read it every night before bed. On the reading multiple books, no way Jose. One at a time for me.

michigancat · « **Reply #2036 on:** March 25, 2021, 04:35:51 PM »

I like to read two books when I go on vacation and can read for multiple hours a day. Good to change up the vibes every now and then

Pete · « **Reply #2037 on:** March 25, 2021, 04:49:58 PM »

Quote from: michigancat on March 25, 2021, 04:35:51 PM

I like to read two books when I go on vacation and can read for multiple hours a day. Good to change up the vibes every now and then

I am very jealous of this.

nicname · « **Reply #2038 on:** March 25, 2021, 05:03:58 PM »

You guys’ reading is inspiring. I’ve gotten back into it more lately, though on the audiobook side. This works well for non-fiction, which to me seem easier to digest with a goo narrator (usually in the car).

The opposite tends to be true with fiction, which seems much more enjoyable the old fashioned way.

steve dave · « **Reply #2039 on:** March 25, 2021, 05:05:30 PM »

Yeah, I read non fiction audio books. I call them podcasts. Lmao, owned.

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Pete · « **Reply #2040 on:** March 25, 2021, 05:06:56 PM »

Quote from: steve dave on March 25, 2021, 05:05:30 PM

Yeah, I read non fiction audio books. I call them podcasts. Lmao, owned.

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OK, I change my vote. I read non fiction audio books too.

nicname · « **Reply #2041 on:** March 25, 2021, 05:18:00 PM »

I’d prob never buy an audiobook. We get a credit or two a month w/ amazon prime or something like that.

Sandstone Outcropping · « **Reply #2042 on:** March 25, 2021, 05:23:25 PM »

I enjoy audiobooks if have extended time to spend in the car listening. I cannot concentrate on them while I'm at work. They are a lot of fun -almost like going to the theater - if you get one with a good narrator / voice actor.

ben ji · « **Reply #2043 on:** March 25, 2021, 07:11:01 PM »

Starting reading this collection of short stories and dig it

ben ji · « **Reply #2044 on:** March 30, 2021, 10:48:19 PM »

Quote from: ben ji on March 25, 2021, 07:11:01 PM

Starting reading this collection of short stories and dig it

So this was pretty gritty, aka someone dies in every story/sexual assaults/alcoholism but I enjoyed it.

Started reading Barkskins by the same author and have knocked out 200 pages in a couple days.

"Barkskins is a 2016 novel by American writer Annie Proulx. It tells the story of two immigrants to New France, René Sel and Charles Duquet, and of their descendants.[1] It spans over 300 years and witnesses the deforestation of the New World from the arrival of Europeans into the contemporary era of global warming.[2][3]"

Sandstone Outcropping · « **Reply #2045 on:** March 31, 2021, 08:22:29 AM »

Have we discussed Cormac McCarthy's novels ITT? I think The Crossing is still my favorite with Blood Meridian andNo Country for Old Men close behind.

Cire · « **Reply #2046 on:** March 31, 2021, 08:38:37 AM »

I read blood meridian, pretty good, kind of got bored with it 3/4 of the way.

I've heard No Country is great but I've seen the movie a billion times and just have no desire to read it.

Sandstone Outcropping · « **Reply #2047 on:** March 31, 2021, 08:43:41 AM »

Quote from: Cire on March 31, 2021, 08:38:37 AM

I read blood meridian, pretty good, kind of got bored with it 3/4 of the way.

I've heard No Country is great but I've seen the movie a billion times and just have no desire to read it.

I've the Cohen brothers joke that the hardest part of writing the screenplay for No Country was holding the book open. Movie follows the book very closely. The audiobook for No Country was almost as suspenseful as the movie, imho.

Cire · « **Reply #2048 on:** March 31, 2021, 08:46:47 AM »

Quote from: Cire on April 21, 2010, 08:18:53 AM

Newt Gingrich wrote a book about Gettysburg and framed it as the South Won the battle.

Cire · « **Reply #2049 on:** March 31, 2021, 08:49:48 AM »

RE reading TJ Stiles Jesse James: Last Rebel of the Civil War. Sooooo Good if you are into Jesse James/Post civil war stuff.