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Thread: Books We Read/Listen To

  1. #361
    Quote Originally Posted by LA Ute View Post
    I really enjoyed "The Mayor of Casterbridge." The main character (Michael Henchard, the Mayor) is a fascinating and well-developed character. To avoid spoilers I'll say no more about him.

    That novel is much less melodramatic than "Tess of the D'Urbervilles" (which I did not like) and grittier than "Far from the Madding Crowd" (which I did like). So far I've read only those three Thomas Hardy novels and I will read more. Maybe Jude the Obscure next? Which one do you all recommend?

    I gave up on Trollope, by the way.
    I don't think I ever made it thru Barchester Towers either. Read Jude the Obscure for Dr. Scanlan. Why you continue with Thomas Hardy is beyond me. I have never read Jane Eyre or Vanity Fair. My goal is to get to them this year or next.

    Last night finished Lincoln in the Bardo. It has gotten rave reviews, but I cant decide if I agree. The premise is intriguing, but hard to sustain thru the entire novel, I thought.

    P.s. I dont think you have to worry about spoilers re Mayor of Casterbridge.

  2. #362
    Quote Originally Posted by OrangeUte View Post
    Here is a neat and tidy list of all the books we have read in my men's book society here in Northern California...


    18. Underground Airlines, Ben Winters, https://www.amazon.com/Underground-A...round+airlines
    Did you like Ungderground Airlines? I read it for a book club too and didnt like it at all. We picked between that book and Underground Railroad. We all decided we picked the wrong one.

  3. #363
    Quote Originally Posted by OrangeUte View Post
    Here is a neat and tidy list of all the books we have read in my men's book society here in Northern California...

    1. Gilead by Marilyn Robinson http://www.amazon.com/Gilead-Novel-M...eywords=gilead
    2. The River of Doubt by Candace Millard http://www.amazon.com/River-Doubt-Th...river+of+doubt
    3. East of Eden by John Steinbeck http://www.amazon.com/East-Penguin-T...s=east+of+eden
    4. The Power of One by Bryce Courtenay http://www.amazon.com/Power-One-Nove...s=power+of+one
    5. The Razor's Edge by M. Somerset Maugham http://www.amazon.com/Razors-Edge-W-...razor%27s+edge
    6. Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl http://www.amazon.com/Mans-Search-Me...ch+for+meaning
    7. Tenth of December by George Saunders http://www.amazon.com/Tenth-December...th+of+December
    8. Angle of Repose by Wallace Stegner http://www.amazon.com/Angle-Repose-W...ngle+of+repose
    9. A River Runs Through It And Other Stories by Norman MacLean for the 9th book. http://www.amazon.com/River-Through-...uns+through+it
    10. Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, http://www.amazon.com/Fahrenheit-451...fahrenheit+451
    11. The Complete Stories by Flannery O'Connor, https://www.amazon.com/Complete-Stor...ery+o%27connor
    12. Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk, Ben Fountain. https://www.amazon.com/Billy-Lynns-L...+halftime+walk
    13. Station Eleven, Emily St. John Mandel, Station Eleven https://www.amazon.com/dp/0804172447..._zelaybTRXWZ18
    14. All The Kings Men, Robert Warren Penn. After this election I am really looking forward to reading this book. https://www.amazon.com/dp/0156012952..._siviybXMSDYAK
    15. The Old Man And The Sea. Ernest Hemingway. https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/06848...vdL&ref=plSrch
    16. A Gentleman in Moscow, Amor Towles, https://www.amazon.com/Gentleman-Mos...eman+in+Moscow
    17. The Brothers Karmamazov, Fyodor Dostoevsky, https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/03..._st_dp_summary The Richard Peaver/ Larissa Volokhonsky translation. Looking very much forward to this one.
    18. Underground Airlines, Ben Winters, https://www.amazon.com/Underground-A...round+airlines
    19. Miss Jane, Brad Watson, https://www.amazon.com/Miss-Jane-Nov...ords=miss+jane

    And the next book is

    20. The Frontiersmen, Allan Eckert, https://www.amazon.com/Frontiersmen-...e+frontiersmen
    I just finished A River Runs Through It. The title story was the most lyrical of the 3 stories, and had the most compelling themes. The other two stories were not as interesting for me. They felt like reading someone's journal about their summer experiences. I felt like the subject matter had promise to be interesting (the lumberjack/pimp character, and the forest service poker con), but the author was more interested in reporting the events than making the story interesting.
    “To me there is no dishonor in being wrong and learning. There is dishonor in willful ignorance and there is dishonor in disrespect.” James Hatch, former Navy Seal and current Yale student.

  4. #364
    Quote Originally Posted by chrisrenrut View Post
    I just finished A River Runs Through It. The title story was the most lyrical of the 3 stories, and had the most compelling themes. The other two stories were not as interesting for me. They felt like reading someone's journal about their summer experiences. I felt like the subject matter had promise to be interesting (the lumberjack/pimp character, and the forest service poker con), but the author was more interested in reporting the events than making the story interesting.
    It's been more than 15 years since I read it, but since I too liked the title story from A River Runs Through it, I was motivated to read his book Young Men and Fire. I remember enjoying it very much.

  5. #365
    Sam the Sheepdog LA Ute's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by concerned View Post
    I don't think I ever made it thru Barchester Towers either. Read Jude the Obscure for Dr. Scanlan. Why you continue with Thomas Hardy is beyond me. I have never read Jane Eyre or Vanity Fair. My goal is to get to them this year or next.
    I like Hardy's feel for the common rural folk. I understand many (most?) of his novels tend to be pretty dark and tragic. ("Tess" was like that, and the heroine there was also a fool.) If so, that will get old. But I will read Jude in Dr. Scanlan's honor.

    "It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye."
    --Antoine de Saint-Exupery

    "Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold."
    --Yeats

    “True, we [lawyers] build no bridges. We raise no towers. We construct no engines. We paint no pictures - unless as amateurs for our own principal amusement. There is little of all that we do which the eye of man can see. But we smooth out difficulties; we relieve stress; we correct mistakes; we take up other men's burdens and by our efforts we make possible the peaceful life of men in a peaceful state.”

    --John W. Davis, founder of Davis Polk & Wardwell

  6. #366
    Quote Originally Posted by Dwight Schr-Ute View Post
    It's been more than 15 years since I read it, but since I too liked the title story from A River Runs Through it, I was motivated to read his book Young Men and Fire. I remember enjoying it very much.
    Thanks, I'll check it out.
    “To me there is no dishonor in being wrong and learning. There is dishonor in willful ignorance and there is dishonor in disrespect.” James Hatch, former Navy Seal and current Yale student.

  7. #367
    A river runs through it is one of my all time favorites. The language is poetic and beautiful and the story is powerful.

  8. #368
    Roar of the Tiger by James H. Howard

    Howard became a Naval Aviator in the second half of the 1930s, but in the summer of 1941 he left the Navy to join the American Volunteer Group in China. Leaving the Flying Tigers before they were reconstituted as the U.S Army Air Forces China Air Task Force, the author soon chose the Army over the Navy and went to Europe with the first P-51 fighter group to reach England. On one mission, Howard found himself alone against at least thirty enemy fighters who were attempting to attack a formation of B-17 bombers, earning him the appellation of "One Man Air Force".

    This is a very good memoir of a fighter pilot.

    --

    Thunder Run: The Armored Strike to Capture Baghdad by David Zucchino

    The original plan for capturing Baghdad was to lay siege to the city with armored units while infantry from the 82nd and 101st Airborne Divisions conducted raids into the city. A few officers in the Third Infantry Division had a different idea, which they tested on April 5, 2003 by a Thunder Run of tanks and armored personnel carriers up Highway 8, through the city, and out to the airport. The second Thunder Run would be different when, on April 7, the armored thrust went into Baghdad to stay, capturing the government district, including two of Sadam's palaces and his parade grounds. As it happened, the heaviest action on April 7 occurred on Highway 8 as Special Republican Guard, Fedayeen, militia, and foreign mercenaries attacked the forces holding three major interchanges to keep the road open for supply convoys. The major counterattack on the forces in the city came on August 8. The fall of Baghdad would be portrayed as a cakewalk, but those who fought in the city knew better.

    Excellent.

    --

    The First Team and the Guadalcanal Campaign: Naval Fighter Combat from August to November 1942
    by John B. Lundstrom


    Lundstrom's book The First Team covered naval air combat, with a primary focus on fighters, during the first six months of the Pacific War. Following the Battle of Midway, U.S. Navy fighter squadrons had to regroup and prepared for the first American offensive of the war. Fighting Five, Six and Seventy-One supported the amphibious assault on Guadalcanal, opening a new phase of fighter combat. For the next three and a half months, Navy and Marine fighters would duel Japanese land based air power based at Rabaul. Twice during those months, the American and Japanese carriers would face off in battle, and five U.S. Navy flattops would be sunk or damaged during the campaign. Due to the damage inflicted by the Japanese, Navy squadrons would be based ashore at Guadalcanal's Henderson Field, principally VF-5, who contribution to victory was decisive. Going ashore with Fighting Five allows for a recounting of the fighter combat involving Marine pilots. Two more fighter squadrons deserve mention, VF-72, which went south with carrier USS Hornet after two sister carriers were damaged, and VF-10, the first of the replacement fighter squadrons, which went south on the repaired USS Enterprise.


    A secondary focus of this volume is the land and carrier based groups of the Japanese Navy which faced off with the Navy and Marine fighter combat team. Before Coral Sea, Midway and Guadalcanal, the Japanese Naval Air Force was an elite force, but it would never recover from the losses inflicted by those battles.


    Excellent.

    --

    The General vs the President: MacArthur and Truman at the Brink of Nuclear War by H. W. Brands


    An unexpected war in Korea led to a showdown between an unpopular president and a popular general, a pivotal moment in the history of post-World War II America, yet one now largely forgotten, just like the war that spawned it. As recounted by Brands, the episode is riveting. The war would damage the reputations of both men, yet as the conflict faded from memory, they would recover; the general would be remembered largely for his success in an earlier war while the president's plain speaking would appeal to Americans as their country experienced the disillusionment of Vietnam and Watergate. Brands takes us to the White House, the chambers of Congress, Wake Island and Tokyo as well as to the battlefields of Korea, providing a study of leadership and civil-military relations.


    Fantastic.
    "It'd be nice to please everyone but I thought it would be more interesting to have a point of view." -- Oscar Levant

  9. #369
    When you "highly recommended" Middlemarch, you should have said how damn long it is.

  10. #370
    Sam the Sheepdog LA Ute's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Irving Washington View Post
    When you "highly recommended" Middlemarch, you should have said how damn long it is.
    I’ve started it but it hasn’t grabbed me yet.

    "It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye."
    --Antoine de Saint-Exupery

    "Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold."
    --Yeats

    “True, we [lawyers] build no bridges. We raise no towers. We construct no engines. We paint no pictures - unless as amateurs for our own principal amusement. There is little of all that we do which the eye of man can see. But we smooth out difficulties; we relieve stress; we correct mistakes; we take up other men's burdens and by our efforts we make possible the peaceful life of men in a peaceful state.”

    --John W. Davis, founder of Davis Polk & Wardwell

  11. #371
    If you get all the way through, I will.

  12. #372
    Sam the Sheepdog LA Ute's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Irving Washington View Post
    If you get all the way through, I will.
    I will give it another try tomorrow. Stay tuned.

    "It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye."
    --Antoine de Saint-Exupery

    "Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold."
    --Yeats

    “True, we [lawyers] build no bridges. We raise no towers. We construct no engines. We paint no pictures - unless as amateurs for our own principal amusement. There is little of all that we do which the eye of man can see. But we smooth out difficulties; we relieve stress; we correct mistakes; we take up other men's burdens and by our efforts we make possible the peaceful life of men in a peaceful state.”

    --John W. Davis, founder of Davis Polk & Wardwell

  13. #373
    Quote Originally Posted by Irving Washington View Post
    If you get all the way through, I will.
    Suck it up you slackers. You could have it worse. My daughter is making me read Infinite Jest. At least Middlemarch doesnt have footnotes. It is a wonderful.novel imho.
    Last edited by concerned; 10-28-2017 at 12:21 PM.

  14. #374
    Sam the Sheepdog LA Ute's Avatar
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    I read some more Middlemarch today. It’s starting to take hold of me.

    "It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye."
    --Antoine de Saint-Exupery

    "Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold."
    --Yeats

    “True, we [lawyers] build no bridges. We raise no towers. We construct no engines. We paint no pictures - unless as amateurs for our own principal amusement. There is little of all that we do which the eye of man can see. But we smooth out difficulties; we relieve stress; we correct mistakes; we take up other men's burdens and by our efforts we make possible the peaceful life of men in a peaceful state.”

    --John W. Davis, founder of Davis Polk & Wardwell

  15. #375
    You're obviously farther along than I am. By the way, Concerned, it does have footnotes, which I'm ignoring.

  16. #376
    Quote Originally Posted by Irving Washington View Post
    You're obviously farther along than I am. By the way, Concerned, it does have footnotes, which I'm ignoring.

    those are editor footnotes, not author footnotes, correct? IJ has 100 pages of author footnotes, and half the plot (so far) takes place in the footnotes. I have to keep flipping back and forth to try to figure it out.

  17. #377
    Quote Originally Posted by concerned View Post
    those are editor footnotes, not author footnotes, correct? IJ has 100 pages of author footnotes, and half the plot (so far) takes place in the footnotes. I have to keep flipping back and forth to try to figure it out.
    I stand corrected. You can't expect an average student in Dr. Scanlon's regular English class to pick up on such a distinction.

  18. #378
    Quote Originally Posted by Irving Washington View Post
    I stand corrected. You can't expect an average student in Dr. Scanlon's regular English class to pick up on such a distinction.
    You just have to read more contemporary fiction to know that authors like D F Wallace and Oscar Junot Diaz use footnotes as a literary device. it is a fad and annoying.

  19. #379
    Finished a couple recently:

    David Copperfield. Climbs past Oliver Twist into 3rd place on Dickens list. Uriah Heap sleeping in Copperfield's living room is an unforgettable scene.

    Moonglow. First Chabon novel for me. Really liked it. Guy can write, and I'll probably read more now. One night, I couldn't sleep, so I turned on my Kindle to read. I happened to hit on the most powerful moment in the novel and didn't fall asleep for hours.

  20. #380
    Sam the Sheepdog LA Ute's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by sancho View Post
    Finished a couple recently:

    David Copperfield. Climbs past Oliver Twist into 3rd place on Dickens list. Uriah Heap sleeping in Copperfield's living room is an unforgettable scene.

    Moonglow. First Chabon novel for me. Really liked it. Guy can write, and I'll probably read more now. One night, I couldn't sleep, so I turned on my Kindle to read. I happened to hit on the most powerful moment in the novel and didn't fall asleep for hours.
    Copperfield is second on my list. Bleak House is first. (So far Dombey & Son is dead last.)

    "It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye."
    --Antoine de Saint-Exupery

    "Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold."
    --Yeats

    “True, we [lawyers] build no bridges. We raise no towers. We construct no engines. We paint no pictures - unless as amateurs for our own principal amusement. There is little of all that we do which the eye of man can see. But we smooth out difficulties; we relieve stress; we correct mistakes; we take up other men's burdens and by our efforts we make possible the peaceful life of men in a peaceful state.”

    --John W. Davis, founder of Davis Polk & Wardwell

  21. #381
    LA and all,
    I'm intrigued by your Dicken's list - you list Bleak House and Copperfield before A Tale of Two Cities? You may just persuade me to read them. Tell me why. I've been in a nonfiction path for several months and I need something to rekindle my reading spirit. I love nonfiction but I've gotten into a little funk.

  22. #382
    Quote Originally Posted by Utebiquitous View Post
    LA and all,
    I'm intrigued by your Dicken's list - you list Bleak House and Copperfield before A Tale of Two Cities? You may just persuade me to read them. Tell me why. I've been in a nonfiction path for several months and I need something to rekindle my reading spirit. I love nonfiction but I've gotten into a little funk.
    My list: Christmas Carol, Tale of Two Cities, David Copperfield, Oliver Twist, Hard Times. That's it. I need to read Great Expectations, Nickelby, and Bleak House.

  23. #383
    Quote Originally Posted by LA Ute View Post
    Copperfield is second on my list. Bleak House is first. (So far Dombey & Son is dead last.)
    I agree--Bleak House and Little Dorritt tied for no. 1. I have never read David Copperfield or Hard Times. My daughter read Hard Times this year and said it it was the worst thing she has ever read, FWIW.

  24. #384
    Sam the Sheepdog LA Ute's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by concerned View Post
    I agree--Bleak House and Little Dorritt tied for no. 1. I have never read David Copperfield or Hard Times. My daughter read Hard Times this year and said it it was the worst thing she has ever read, FWIW.
    I tried Hard Times but couldn't move forward, so I put it down and resolved to try again. There is, however, a character in that one with one of the best Dickensian names ever: Mr. Gradgrind.

    There's a BBC/PBS production of Little Dorrit I liked a lot. A young Claire Foy plays Dorrit.

    "It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye."
    --Antoine de Saint-Exupery

    "Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold."
    --Yeats

    “True, we [lawyers] build no bridges. We raise no towers. We construct no engines. We paint no pictures - unless as amateurs for our own principal amusement. There is little of all that we do which the eye of man can see. But we smooth out difficulties; we relieve stress; we correct mistakes; we take up other men's burdens and by our efforts we make possible the peaceful life of men in a peaceful state.”

    --John W. Davis, founder of Davis Polk & Wardwell

  25. #385
    Quote Originally Posted by concerned View Post
    My daughter read Hard Times this year and said it it was the worst thing she has ever read, FWIW.
    I liked it fine, but it wasn't as good as the others on the list.

  26. #386
    Quote Originally Posted by LA Ute View Post
    I tried Hard Times but couldn't move forward, so I put it down and resolved to try again. There is, however, a character in that one with one of the best Dickensian names ever: Mr. Gradgrind.
    Isn't McChokemchild in Hard Times?

  27. #387
    Sam the Sheepdog LA Ute's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by sancho View Post
    My list: Christmas Carol, Tale of Two Cities, David Copperfield, Oliver Twist, Hard Times. That's it. I need to read Great Expectations, Nickelby, and Bleak House.
    I don't consider A Christmas Carol a novel. It is simply Dickens' masterpiece and a true work of genius, IMHO.

    I'll be going to see this over Thanksgiving:


    "It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye."
    --Antoine de Saint-Exupery

    "Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold."
    --Yeats

    “True, we [lawyers] build no bridges. We raise no towers. We construct no engines. We paint no pictures - unless as amateurs for our own principal amusement. There is little of all that we do which the eye of man can see. But we smooth out difficulties; we relieve stress; we correct mistakes; we take up other men's burdens and by our efforts we make possible the peaceful life of men in a peaceful state.”

    --John W. Davis, founder of Davis Polk & Wardwell

  28. #388
    Quote Originally Posted by sancho View Post
    Isn't McChokemchild in Hard Times?

    nah, that is a Key and Peele football character.

  29. #389
    Sam the Sheepdog LA Ute's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by sancho View Post
    Isn't McChokemchild in Hard Times?
    LOL. I didn't get that far. Wackford Squeers, from Nickleby, is a pretty good one too.

    "It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye."
    --Antoine de Saint-Exupery

    "Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold."
    --Yeats

    “True, we [lawyers] build no bridges. We raise no towers. We construct no engines. We paint no pictures - unless as amateurs for our own principal amusement. There is little of all that we do which the eye of man can see. But we smooth out difficulties; we relieve stress; we correct mistakes; we take up other men's burdens and by our efforts we make possible the peaceful life of men in a peaceful state.”

    --John W. Davis, founder of Davis Polk & Wardwell

  30. #390
    Quote Originally Posted by LA Ute View Post
    I tried Hard Times but couldn't move forward, so I put it down and resolved to try again. There is, however, a character in that one with one of the best Dickensian names ever: Mr. Gradgrind.

    There's a BBC/PBS production of Little Dorrit I liked a lot. A young Claire Foy plays Dorrit.
    I will have to watch that on the treadmill. I love Claire Foy; she was terrific as Anne Boylen and QEII

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