~Take a look, It's in a BOOK, Back She Goes~

by **drsmooth** » Fri May 19, 2017 07:32:11

TenuredVulture wrote:I've just been assigned a review of condi rice's democracy. Ugh.

upside: should be brief

by **drsmooth** » Fri May 19, 2017 07:48:03

Blitzed: Drugs in Nazi Germany purports to be an account of the Nazis' systematic use of meth and other psychoactive drugs in service of Hitler's fever dreams of conquest.

Unfortunately, its construction and execution is anything but systematic. Large portions read as if composed in the waning hours of an amphetamine high: ragged, strident, straining to be clever. Author Norman Ohler has accumulated intriguing facts, but has not marshaled them in service of his "drugs supported and shaped Nazi strategy & tactics" theme. In the end, about all Ohler convinces you of - inadvertently - is that there was both more and less to it than that.

by **TenuredVulture** » Fri May 19, 2017 08:14:15

drsmooth wrote:
TenuredVulture wrote:I've just been assigned a review of condi rice's democracy. Ugh.

upside: should be brief

Nope--450 pages. It actually wasn't terrible dealing with the collapse of the Soviet union.

by **jamiethekiller** » Fri May 19, 2017 08:34:26

finished the first two books of The Dagger and The Coin series by Daniel Abraham. Similiar in style to GoT but not executed nearly as well. its a different take on high fantasy which is nice though.

not a hard rec, but if you're looking to burn the fantasy candle then its a good pick up

by **drsmooth** » Fri May 19, 2017 08:42:04

TenuredVulture wrote:
drsmooth wrote:
TenuredVulture wrote:I've just been assigned a review of condi rice's democracy. Ugh.

upside: should be brief

Nope--450 pages. It actually wasn't terrible dealing with the collapse of the Soviet union.

Good to know. I would have imagined an academic occupying a professorship labeled Global Business and the Economy would have a fairly thin, opportunistic conception of the subject

by **Houshphandzadeh** » Sat Jun 10, 2017 20:01:39

C.V. Wedgwood's Thirty Years War from 1938 (revised 1957) was one of the better books I've read. she made such a complicated event interesting and understandable without much of the gloss that you sometimes see, but her short passages about the prolonged suffering of the civilians were so piercing. they ended up really coloring my interpretation of any violence I would see on the screen over the last month

by **Youseff** » Sun Jun 11, 2017 21:18:44

Finished In Cold Blood. Never read Capote before and now I don't think he wrote To Kill A Mocking Bird like the conspiracy says. Very good, obviously. I kinda liked Perry. Thought it was great, but didn't get why Capote described the crimes of the other folks on death row. They were all pretty fascinating but didn't seem relevant to the tale.

by **Grotewold** » Mon Jun 12, 2017 07:32:52

Youseff wrote:I don't think he wrote To Kill A Mocking Bird like the conspiracy says.

The original mansplain

by **Grotewold** » Thu Jun 29, 2017 13:00:10

Will the original version of The Stand suffice or should I pop for the full size

by **RichmondPhilsFan** » Thu Jun 29, 2017 13:04:01

Grotewold wrote:Will the original version of The Stand suffice or should I pop for the full size

Never read the original. I've read the expanded version twice though. It drags at times (what 1000-page book doesn't?), but I'd definitely recommend it.

by **Bucky** » Thu Jun 29, 2017 13:06:13

complete & uncut, including updated (to 1990!) pop culture references!

by **Bill McNeal** » Thu Jun 29, 2017 13:14:38

Been on a reading kick lately. Read the Man in the High Castle, Winter of the World, Edge of Eternity, The Hunger Games, and I'm halfway through Catching Fire, then I'll finish the series with Mocking Jay. I've got The Hike (Drew Magary) up after that and then Salvage the Bones by Jesmyn Ward although I might put the Handmaiden's Tale in front, my wife is reading it and wants to talk about it with me.

by **jamiethekiller** » Thu Jun 29, 2017 13:16:12

jamiethekiller wrote:finished the first two books of The Dagger and The Coin series by Daniel Abraham. Similiar in style to GoT but not executed nearly as well. its a different take on high fantasy which is nice though.

not a hard rec, but if you're looking to burn the fantasy candle then its a good pick up

gone through two more. just want it to end at this point. nothing really to engaging.

by **JUburton** » Thu Jun 29, 2017 13:23:19

I'm reading On The Road and it is...not good?

by **Grotewold** » Thu Jun 29, 2017 13:39:16

Bill McNeal wrote:I might put the Handmaiden's Tale in front, my wife is reading it and wants to talk about it with me.

by **Bucky** » Thu Jun 29, 2017 14:01:15

what's so bad ab- oh, wait, it doesn't say hand angel does it

by **Barry Jive** » Thu Jun 29, 2017 14:14:38

JUburton wrote:I'm reading On The Road and it is...not good?

Surprise!

by **JUburton** » Thu Jun 29, 2017 14:25:45

Barry Jive wrote:
JUburton wrote:I'm reading On The Road and it is...not good?

Surprise!

I really knew nothing about it other than it's the 'Beat' generation and some consider it an American classic. The Beat generation seems like a bunch of assholes. My brother liked it a lot and we generally align but man, nothing happens and Dean and Sal are irredeemable.

by **RichmondPhilsFan** » Thu Jun 29, 2017 15:15:31

JUburton wrote:
Barry Jive wrote:
JUburton wrote:I'm reading On The Road and it is...not good?

Surprise!
I really knew nothing about it other than it's the 'Beat' generation and some consider it an American classic. The Beat generation seems like a bunch of asshat. My brother liked it a lot and we generally align but man, nothing happens and Dean and Sal are irredeemable.

Along those lines, I never really got into The Electric Kool Aid Acid Test when I read it back in law school, even though I typically enjoy Wolfe.

by **swishnicholson** » Thu Jun 29, 2017 15:27:20

JUburton wrote:
Barry Jive wrote:
JUburton wrote:I'm reading On The Road and it is...not good?

Surprise!
I really knew nothing about it other than it's the 'Beat' generation and some consider it an American classic. The Beat generation seems like a bunch of assholes. My brother liked it a lot and we generally align but man, nothing happens and Dean and Sal are irredeemable.

I don't disagree with your take, but the reason it's considered an "American Classic" by some is because of its difference, and because of its influence, not because of its quality. The first two are pretty hard to deny. It may have emerged as part of the Beat generation, but was written way back in 1950, so it's more a catalyst than representative. Certainly Kerouac, Ginsberg and Burroughs could all be considered assholes, if how you treat the bulk of people that cross your path determines whether you're an asshole. Burroughs and Ginsberg had the opportunity to grow out of this a bit.

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