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  1. #1
    Shostakovich fan Feanor's Avatar
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    "Recent Reading"

    Basically I'm suggesting an Off-Topic subforum or sticky thread; other members might want to suggest more on other off-topic topics.

    For my part, I'd like to see a "Recent Reading" forum, that is a place were people could mention books or other print materials they have recently read or highly recommend, regardless of topic.

    I've noticed on other forums that topics like sports and 'What are You Eating/Drinking" are pretty popular -- and sometimes there's a political topics thread/subforum.

    {edit} I'll be following up with some of my all-time favorite reads {/edit}
    Last edited by Feanor; 02-23-2011 at 09:12 AM.

  2. #2
    Man of the People Forums Moderator bobsticks's Avatar
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    I think that's a great idea Bill. I too have noticed that this group seems to be a rather literate lot...and I would imagine the topic matter to be quite diverse as well. I can see that being a hi-traffic thread.
    So, I broke into the palace
    With a sponge and a rusty spanner
    She said : "Eh, I know you, and you cannot sing"
    I said : "That's nothing - you should hear me play piano"

  3. #3
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    Good idea.

    I am currently reading for the second time, Fractal Time, written by Gregg Braden.

  4. #4
    Big science. Hallelujah. noddin0ff's Avatar
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    Always scouring for good reads myself...

    Just finished "The Windup Girl" by Paolo Bacigalupi (wiki link). It got lots of recent awards from those that track Sci-Fi (Best Book by Hugo and Nebula). It's similar in some respects to classic cyberpunk like Neuromancer except that rather than computers electronic enhancements, the story takes place after the world has run out of fossil fuels and cheap power. In this future all is biologically driven and genetically engineered. Calorie companies have replaced the power States. Everything is lowtech-hightech. Anyway, it's a good yarn and an cool re-imagining of the future.

    Currently half way through "Super Sad True Love Story by Gary Shteyngart. (wiki link)
    I read his previous "Absurdistan' and it was hilarious and touching at the same time. That one was a hyper traji-comedy of a overweight son of an oliogarch trying to get back to his true love in the Bronx by escaping the Soviet Union via a an ex-Soviet, (imaginary) oil rich state of Absurdistan. "Super Sad..." is so far equally touching and hyper language humorous. The US is turning into a corporate run police state, the hero works for a company selling eternal life and is in love with a younger child of the digital age. So far so good.
    TCA ATT GGA

  5. #5
    _ Luvin Da Blues's Avatar
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    Currently, I'm reading "Life" by Keith Richards. Great X-mas gift.

  6. #6
    Shostakovich fan Feanor's Avatar
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    Twelve all-time favorites of mine:

    History / Economics:
    • John Kenneth Galbraith: The Affluent Society
    • William H. McNeill: The Rise of the West: A History of the Human Community
    • Jared Diamond: Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies
    • Jared Diamond: Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed
    Politics / Religion:
    • Seymour Martin Lipset: Political Man
    • Richard Dawkins: The God Delusion
    • Norman G. Finkelstein: Beyond Chutzpah: On the Misuse of Anti-Semitism and the Abuse of History
    • Chris Hedges: American Fascists: The Christian Right and the War On America
    Sci-Fi / Fantasy:
    • J.R.R. Tolkien: The Lord of the Rings
    • Gene Wolfe: The Book of the New Sun
    • Frank Herbert: Dune
    • E.R. Eddison: The Worm Ouroboros

  7. #7
    Do What? jrhymeammo's Avatar
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    I have a tedency to pickup Bukowski when I'm bored. It never disappoints.

  8. #8
    Suspended atomicAdam's Avatar
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    How about I just move this one to Off Topic - and maybe similar to what's spinning - it will just have a life of it's own.

  9. #9
    Man of the People Forums Moderator bobsticks's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by jrhymeammo
    I have a tedency to pickup Bukowski when I'm bored. It never disappoints.
    How could it disappoint? I read South of No North: Stories of the Buried Life last year...the last of a dying bread with the exception of yourself, Jayrha...
    So, I broke into the palace
    With a sponge and a rusty spanner
    She said : "Eh, I know you, and you cannot sing"
    I said : "That's nothing - you should hear me play piano"

  10. #10
    Do What? jrhymeammo's Avatar
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    Hey there brother Mousy,

    Maybe I wasn't clear enough, I wanted to say Bukowski entertains me.

  11. #11
    Man of the People Forums Moderator bobsticks's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by jrhymeammo
    Hey there brother Mousy,

    Maybe I wasn't clear enough, I wanted to say Bukowski entertains me.

    You were quite clea,r my friend...I simply suspect it of being a case of art informing life...
    So, I broke into the palace
    With a sponge and a rusty spanner
    She said : "Eh, I know you, and you cannot sing"
    I said : "That's nothing - you should hear me play piano"

  12. #12
    Do What? jrhymeammo's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by bobsticks
    You were quite clea,r my friend...I simply suspect it of being a case of art informing life...
    Ahhh... so kinda like this.


  13. #13
    Shostakovich fan Feanor's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by atomicAdam
    How about I just move this one to Off Topic - and maybe similar to what's spinning - it will just have a life of it's own.
    Going to Off-Topic sounds right, aA. But consider that this, and What's Spinning, perhaps ought to be "sticky" -- they're easier to find that way.
    Last edited by Feanor; 02-23-2011 at 07:59 PM.

  14. #14
    Shostakovich fan Feanor's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by jrhymeammo
    Hey there brother Mousy,

    Maybe I wasn't clear enough, I wanted to say Bukowski entertains me.
    Bukowski ... hmmm. Haven't read anything by him but he does sound like an old sleaze -- just the sort to appeal to you and 'Sticks.

  15. #15
    Man of the People Forums Moderator bobsticks's Avatar
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    Frankly, I prefer my sleaze younger...and female...

    ...but he does provide an interesting perspective on the underbelly of America.
    So, I broke into the palace
    With a sponge and a rusty spanner
    She said : "Eh, I know you, and you cannot sing"
    I said : "That's nothing - you should hear me play piano"

  16. #16
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    Good Idea Feanor, like the list of you 12 all timers. This one got my interest..

    Richard Dawkins: The God Delusion

    One of my favorite reads is The Basic Writings of John Stuart Mill, On Liberty, The Subjection of Women, & Utilitarianism.

    Hey, based on the interest of quality of the quality of literature, art, and science which can be shared off this kind of sub-topic, would you also consider links to websites that would offer brain floss for the reader too?

  17. #17
    Shostakovich fan Feanor's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by LeRoy
    Good Idea Feanor, like the list of you 12 all timers. This one got my interest..

    Richard Dawkins: The God Delusion

    ...
    I strongly recommend this Dawkins book to eveybody except the rigidly pious, (whom it will p!ss off extremely).

    Funny thing is there wasn't a major thought from Dawkin's that I hadn't thought of decades ago -- but it was great to hear another person speak them.

    ... Amazon.com

    Another book in a similar vein but with a bit of a different emphasis is ...

    Christopher Hitchens: God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything

    ... Amazon.com
    Last edited by Feanor; 02-25-2011 at 06:25 AM.

  18. #18
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    Thanks Feanor. I will drop by my 1/2 price book store later today and see if they have either one in stock. Thanks for starting this thread and for the recommendation!

    Have a nice day.

    LeRoy

  19. #19
    Shostakovich fan Feanor's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by LeRoy
    Thanks Feanor. I will drop by my 1/2 price book store later today and see if they have either one in stock. Thanks for starting this thread and for the recommendation!

    Have a nice day.

    LeRoy
    Nowadays I get most of my reading from the public library. Years ago I bought everything but today in my retirement, free is good.

  20. #20
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    I picked up the Dawkins book but could not find the Hitchens book on the shelf. I will start reading the Dawkins book tomorrow.

  21. #21
    Shostakovich fan Feanor's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by LeRoy
    I picked up the Dawkins book but could not find the Hitchens book on the shelf. I will start reading the Dawkins book tomorrow.
    Let us know how you get on with it.

    Dawkins and Hitchens no doubt agree with each other. However Dawkins' God Delusion deals with the religious faith as a philosophical/logical issue. Hitchens' God is Not Great tends much more to criticize institutional religion.

  22. #22
    Shostakovich fan Feanor's Avatar
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    I'm just getting to the end of this semi-classic. It was first published back in 1995 ...

    James W. Loewen: Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong




    Wherein the author examines twelve popular US high school history textbooks and debunks the flagrant mythology pandering and total lack of insighful analysis of real American history.

    After 15+ years it ought to be old news, but judging by the wild ingnorance of the likes of Tea Party and Christian Right, the message has not sunk in.
    Last edited by Feanor; 03-02-2011 at 06:37 AM.

  23. #23
    Man of the People Forums Moderator bobsticks's Avatar
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    Before the good Doktor took his leave of us he penned this memoir of sorts. Nothing new but a rollicking good time with brief moments of intospection, particularly in passages when coming to grips with historical revisionist perspectives of his arch nemisis Richard Nixon against a backdrop of 9/11 and the horror that was Bush2....
    So, I broke into the palace
    With a sponge and a rusty spanner
    She said : "Eh, I know you, and you cannot sing"
    I said : "That's nothing - you should hear me play piano"

  24. #24
    Can a crooner get a gig? dean_martin's Avatar
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    good idea for a thread topic! I don't read as much for pleasure compared to my college days. Used to read John Irving, Robertson Davies, Elmore Leonard, Peter Straub, Carson McCullers, Erskin Caldwell, William Faulkner, Ernest Hemingway, Eudora Welty, Flannery O'Connor, and an assortment of books re: Russian history, UFOs, horror movies, music, bands, pop icons like Edie Sedgwick, Nico, Andy Warhol, Andy Kaufman, pin-up girls/sex symbols from the 50s and 60s, etc.

    These days the most intellectually stimulating thing I read is Oxford American - a quarterly mag with well-written articles and short stories. I'm just barely holding onto my luv of lit.

  25. #25
    Man of the People Forums Moderator bobsticks's Avatar
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    Flannery O'Connor kils me...I remember his work as being like Hemmingway on thorazine in search of a therapist at a hoorenanny...

    It was a cold, cold day on Erskine Bol's farm as he limped through the pain of his wooden appendage. "T'aint but a thing" he growled to no one in particular as he approached the vine encrusted hubble where inside he would find the remembrances of a life long ago lost. Chastity Purehart would never understand the great endeavor, one meaningless year after the next dragging through this impentrable Applachian winter existing the only way he knew, a nameless construct, the details on his mannequin exterior changing with the auburn leaves...

    I loll'd...
    So, I broke into the palace
    With a sponge and a rusty spanner
    She said : "Eh, I know you, and you cannot sing"
    I said : "That's nothing - you should hear me play piano"

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