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Author Topic: Reading anything?  (Read 743021 times)
BoyScoutKevin
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« Reply #2100 on: December 11, 2018, 01:19:09 PM »

Another historical and literary character who submitted to a woman and was so submissive to her, that he has almost no identity of his own. Yet, unlike the men around Colette, we know why.
Lord Guildford Dudley

1. While, in the past, it was thought he was older than his wife, which was typical for that age and place, there is growing evidence, that he was actually younger than her, which would for that age and place, make him subordinate to her. Which gives him the dubious distinction of being the youngest prisoner in the Tower of London to be executed in the area, Tower Hill, of the Tower.

2. As a 4th son, so worth as much as what the cat leaves in the litter box, he married above himself to advance both himself and his family, which most children did in that age and place.

3. We know that for girls in that age and place, they had little or no say who they married. What we forget is that males, at that time and place, had as little say as to who they married. If the parents or some other authority figure said to marry this girl, one married that girl, whether one wanted to or not.

If that answers that question, one question is yet to be answered, and which is why a lot of historical fiction should be taken with a large grain of salt. How did we go from yesterday's reality of someone who was regarded by his peers as being "comely, virtuous, godly" to today's unreality of "spoilt, conceited, disagreeable."

Next time: it's not the profanity nor the sex nor the sexual orientation nor the violence, it's . . .!
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BoyScoutKevin
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« Reply #2101 on: December 15, 2018, 03:30:14 PM »

Ye-es!
Andrew Shvarts
City of Bastards
2nd in the Bastards series

It's not that blacks are the dominant race in the book.
Though, even with books becoming more racially diverse and just more realistic, whites still make up most of the characters in books. Thus, unless a character is described as being non-white, one thinks of them as being white. Not here. One has to think of characters as being black unless described as being non-black.

It's not that women are dominant.
Even in bed.

Nor the profanity.
Though, there are almost 30 profanities, from the American "damn" and "hell" to the Ziotchi "titan's breath," used 12 dozen times or almost 2 profanities every 5 pages.

Nor the sex.
Though, there is more sex in this one than the last one.

Nor the sexual orientation.
Not every character is heterosexual. Though, now days, you can hardly shake a book without shaking out someone who is non-heterosexual.

Nor the violence.
Though, like the previous one, it is brutal, and thus more realistic than what is found in a lot of teen books.

So, what is it? That makes it worth reading.

On a personal level . . .
Kill me once. Kill me twice. Kill me thrice?
He takes a licking and keeps on ticking.
Pretty Boy
"Third tier? Oh, now that hurts. When he was alive, I rode with Razz and his mercenaries. And do you think they'd take anybody that was 3rd tier? 2nd tier, maybe? But, 3rd tier?"
One of the few literary characters for whom I feel some empathy.

Next time: on a less personal level? What is odd? What is good? What is bad?
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frank
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"I'm a big boy now, Johnny."


« Reply #2102 on: December 18, 2018, 04:08:48 AM »


I'm on a run with exceptionally good books:

1) Matt Ruff "Lovecraft Country": Mixing the civil rights topic very well with the Lovecraftian supernatural.

2) Michael Palin "Erebus": A detailled, fascinating and entertaining account of the ship Erebus from it's launching in 1826 to it's demise in the ill-fated Franklin expedition for the North-West passage.

3) Neil Gaiman "Anansi boys": I like Gaiman.
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Alex
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« Reply #2103 on: December 18, 2018, 04:14:04 AM »

Various campaign books for 2300AD, an old hard science roleplaying game.
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ER
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The sleep of reasoner breeds monsters. (sic)


« Reply #2104 on: December 18, 2018, 06:55:46 PM »

The Virtue of Nationalism by Yoram Hazony, President of the Herzl Institute in Jerusalem, is one heck of a thoughtful book. It’s probably not the work you think it is judging by its title, and its premise might just challenge you to evaluate not only the way you presently think, but just perhaps the way you’ve been told to think.

Sound controversial? Why?

When I was a child I grew up watching Star Trek the Next Generation on Friday nights and thinking how in its depiction of a 24th century Earth I was seeing a variation on our future. I translated that ideal into an expectation that the one-world order of the United Nations was the great ideal, the first small step toward a time in which all people would come together as one and peacefully co-exist amid guarantees of personal rights and equality and shared humanity. All races, creeds, religions, we’d be part of the same human family, and it’d be great. Later I questioned, universal guarantees of liberty and certain rights for all aside, will we ever reach the all-inclusive central government of Star Trek? Eventually I began to wonder, should we?

So why do we have countries? Ever really thought about it? Why is one person Swedish, another Nigerian? Why do one set of people mostly go to worship on Fridays and another on Saturday or Sunday? Why does one nation cherish a set of heroes, another nation mark entirely different people with greatness? Why do you wear slacks and another wear a robe? Or drive on the right side fo the highway instead of the left?  Why are women in one region given equality under law and women elsewhere denied it? Given these differences, can you truly take one group and place it within another and expect both populations to benefit as a result?

So what exactly is nationality? That’s something this book asks over and over. Is it about living within lines drawn on maps, or is it about who people are in their outlooks and values? And what by its purest definition is nationalism? Is it being content to dwell within a particular nation, and respecting the rights of others to do the same, or is that, as it’s too often been portrayed in this century, the outlook of the xenophobe?

This is a book for those who like good questions, questions like, do good borders make good neighbors? Does multi-culturalism in action boost the happiness of those residing in its midst? Were people such as Theodore Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson, Margaret Thatcher, George Washington, Ronald Reagan, J.R.R . Tolkien, Martin Luther, Winston Churchill, Alexander Hamilton, G.K. Chesterton, Golda Meir, and Mohandas K. Gandhi bigots for being outspoken nationalists?

Is a single world government truly possible, or even desirable? Why do we have national borders, and when did they begin?

Who are the most virulently resistant to the idea of multi-culturalism, westerners living within democracies, or those who come from theocracies that teach a message that is the exact opposite of inclusiveness?

What does it mean to be part of a country, be that country in Africa, North America, Asia, or Europe?

Here in the late 2010s, what does the BREXIT vote in Britain, the election of Donald Trump in America, and the calls for new nations in Canada, Ethiopia, Israel, Spain, Belgium and elsewhere say about what the average person really wants in life? Do they hint that people truly want one global neighborhood, or do they want to hang onto who they are, culturally, and who their forebears were within that culture?

Is it right to hold that certain cherished traits and ideals that compose a national identity are worth preserving? Is one necessarily guilty of retrogressive thinking if one wishes to hold onto his or her country’s values?

In a time in which people worldwide are expressing a revived interest in resisting the pervasive argument that to be a patriot of one’s nation is to be a small-minded bigot on the wrong side of the stirring tide of history, this book explodes many persistent myths of the modern age, such as nationalism being the cause of world wars. (Hitler, for example, was an imperialist with pan-Germanic ideals, not a nationalist. Communism was the ultimate movement against nations, seeking a single imprisoned mass of humankind to dwell as one under an economic political system.)

I don’t like being told what to do or think or how to act, and I do like books that challenge me to step outside my comfort zone and think. This is definitely one of those.  Four stars out of five.

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What does not kill me makes me stranger.
ER
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The sleep of reasoner breeds monsters. (sic)


« Reply #2105 on: December 20, 2018, 10:16:01 AM »

The Boat of a Million Years, by Poul Anderson. I recently re-read this great book, which I first read in high school, and found it possibly even better this time around, combining as it does two of my interests, science fiction and history. An absolute classic, this novel is one all lovers of sci-fi should read. (And maybe re-read.)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Boat_of_a_Million_Years
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What does not kill me makes me stranger.
BoyScoutKevin
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« Reply #2106 on: December 26, 2018, 03:37:31 PM »

Ye-es!
Andrew Shvarts'
City of Bastards

The Odd
--action is visual. not verbal. So why are there so many good action scenes in this book, and to make it odder, the best action scenes, I have found are written by ex-military. Yet he does not have a military background.
--an interesting mixture of the factual and fantastical.
--a male writer writing as a female protagonist.

The Good
--his words have a force that is not found in most fiction.
--which may be why the images generated are so powerful.

The Bad
--confusing characters
--despite his effort to be different, he still falls back to stereotypes.

Next time: mark this date on your calendar.
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BoyScoutKevin
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« Reply #2107 on: December 31, 2018, 01:39:49 PM »

Ye-es!
So mark this date on your calendar.

Andrew Shvarts
The Bastards series has sold well enough that we are getting a 3rd v. in the series, The Bastards War, in June, 2019.
With the 1st v. The Royal Bastards out in 2017
and the 2nd v. The Bastards City out in 2018.

Hopefully, the 3rd v. will sell well enough, the series will continue after the 3rd v.
And hopefully, the series will sell well enough, we get a TV miniseries or a film series from the books.
As there is a lot to be said for the series to be put on film.

sympathetic heroes
realistic and thus brutal violence
powerful images which would look good on film
great villains
and arousing action, especially the bar brawl in the 1st v.

Of course, they'd have to do something about the title, which is acceptable in print, but not for TV and/or film. Maybe something like . . .
The Royals -- The City -- The War, etc.

Next time: 6 of 1 or 6 mysteries + 1 graphic novel.
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Rev. Powell
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« Reply #2108 on: January 06, 2019, 09:27:41 AM »

Just started

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indianasmith
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A good bad movie is like popcorn for the soul!


« Reply #2109 on: January 06, 2019, 08:06:45 PM »

THE SIX WIVES OF HENRY VIII by Alison Weir.

This was a powerful tale of one of the most fascinating rules in English history, recounted with great attention to primary sources, yet eminently readable and fascinating.  I had read her other histories of the Tudor era, but I think this one eclipses them all.
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BoyScoutKevin
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« Reply #2110 on: January 07, 2019, 05:13:06 PM »

Ye-es!
6 of 1 or 6 mysteries + 1 graphic novel


The mysteries
Priscilla Masters
Brit
Crooked Street
13th in the Joanna Ramsey series
Heroine: Brit
Place: U.K.
Time: Present


Peter Turnbull
Brit
A Cold Case
1st in the Maurice Mundy series
13 more fiction in 2 more series
Hero: Brit
Place: U.K.
Time: Present


James Runcie
Brit
Sidney Chambers and the Dangers of Temptation
5th in the Grant chester series
Hero: Brit
Place: U.K.
Time: 1960s

Sidney Chambers and the Persistence of Love
6th in the Grant chester series
Hero: Brit
Place: U.K.
Time: 1970s

If the name is familiar, his father was Archbishop of Canterbury
If one would rather see it, then read it. There is a TV series. One would wish for one more faithful to the books, but the series lasted 3 seasons + a Christmas special.


Anthony Rolls
(i.e. C. E. Vulliamy)
Family Matters
part of the British Library Crime classics
Martin Edwards, editor
Originally published in 1933.

Continental Crimes
part of the British Library Crime classics
Martin Edwards, editor
14 short stories by 14 British mystery writers and published between 1898 and 1959, but, set not in the U.K., but on the European continent.


1 graphic novel
Star Wars : Poe Dameron
v.2. The Gathering Storm
collecting issues #8-13.


Next time: a half dozen more graphic novels
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BoyScoutKevin
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« Reply #2111 on: January 14, 2019, 03:20:57 PM »

Ye-es!
a half dozen more graphic novels

The Astonishing Ant-man
v.1. everybody loves team ups
collecting issues #1-4 and the annual


Tim Burton's the Nightmare Before Christmas


Future Quest v.1
from the Hanna-Barbera universe, featuring . . .
Birdman -- Dino Boy -- Frankenstein, Jr. -- Herculoids -- The Impossibles -- Jonny Quest -- Mighty Mightor -- and Space Ghost


Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur
v.3. the smartest there is
collecting issues #13-18


Rocket Raccoon
v.1. grounded
collecting issues #1-5 of Rocket Raccoon (2016)


The Incredibles
v.1. secrets and lies


Next time: 6 of 1 or a half dozen non-fiction + 1 more mystery
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BoyScoutKevin
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« Reply #2112 on: January 19, 2019, 01:47:15 PM »

6 of 1 or 6 non-fiction and 1 mystery
The subtitle says it all.

Nicola Tallis
Brit
Crown of Blood :
the Deadly Inheritance of Lady Jane Grey
1 more non-fiction


James Neibaur
American
The Monster Movies of Universal Studio
11 more non-fiction

29 films made between 1931 and 1956 featuring . . .
Creature from the Black Lagoon -- Dracula -- Frankenstein's Monster -- The Invisible Man -- The Mummy -- and The Wolfman.
Seen 72% of the films listed. Liked 91% of the films seen.


Leandra de Lisle
Brit
Tudor Passion, Manipulation, Murder :
the Story of England's Most Notorious Royal Family
2 more non-fiction


David Conn
Brit
The Fall of the House of FIFA :
the Multimillion Dollar Corruption at the Heart of Global Soccer
1 more non-fiction


Tristan Donovan
Brit
It's All a Game
3 more non-fiction

5000 years of gaming in a baker's dozen of board games, from the ancient Egyptian senet to the modern German Catan. Also including . . .
chess -- backgammon -- Life -- Monopoly -- Risk -- Clue -- Scrabble -- Mouse Trap -- Operation -- Twister -- and Trivial Pursuit.


Adrian Miller
Afro-American
award winner
The President's Kitchen Cabinet :
the Story of the African Americans who Have Fed Our First Families from Washington to the Obamas
including 20 recipes
1 more non-fiction


And the mystery
Lindsay Davis
Brit
The 3rd Nero
5th in the Flavia Albia series + 20 more fiction in 1 more series + 5 more stand-alones + 1 non-fiction.
Heroine: ex-pat Romanized Brit
Place: Rome (Italy)
Time: 1st century A.D.


Next time: a half dozen more--unread--from the world of MCU.
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BoyScoutKevin
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« Reply #2113 on: January 26, 2019, 02:33:00 PM »

Ye-es! Just not these.

17 graphic audio books from MCU, including all 5 of these.

Dan Abnett's
Rocket Racoon and Groot : Steal the Galaxy

Corinne Duyvo's
Guardians of the Galaxy : Collect Them All

Devin Grayson's
Doctor Strange : the Fate of Dreams

Stuart Moore
Thanos : Death Sentence

Stephen Petrucha's
Captain America : Dark Design

Though, MCU is not the only one taking its comic book characters into the world of printed books. So is DCEU, as at the time I came across this list, DCEU had books featuring . . .
Wonder Woman -- Batman. And upcoming books featuring Catwoman -- Superman.

Next time: 6 of 1 or 6 graphic novels + 1 more graphic novel

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Alex
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« Reply #2114 on: January 26, 2019, 03:02:55 PM »

Jumping between the Liber Mortis and the Book of Vile Darkness just now.
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But do you understand That none of this will matter Nothing can take your pain away
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