“Civilized men are more discourteous than savages because they know they can be impolite without having their skulls split, as a general thing.” - Robert E. Howard
"Only a rank degenerate would drive 1,500 miles across Texas and not eat a chicken fried steak." - Larry McMurtry
I'm currently reading Mindhunter: Inside the FBI's Elite Serial Crime Unit.
It's written by the man who headed up the FBI's psychological profiling unit that helped hunt down some of the country's most notorious serial killers.
Obviously, it's also the basis for the Netflix series Mindhunter.
Once I'm finished with this, I'm going to try reading The Stranger Beside Me, which is about Ted Bundy.
And each time I sit down on the toilet, I read a couple of pages of A Distant Mirror: The Calamitous 14th Century by Barbara Tuchman.
Power always thinks it has a great soul, and vast views, beyond the comprehension of the weak. And that it is doing God service when it is violating all His laws.
--John Adams
Green Arrow (10-22-2018)
The Briar King by Greg Keyes, book one of his “The Kingdoms of Thorn and Bone” series
"Those who produce should have, but we know that those who produce the most — that is, those who work hardest, and at the most difficult and most menial tasks, have the least."
- Eugene V. Debs (1855-1926), five-time Socialist Party candidate for U.S. President
countryboy (11-12-2018),Ethereal (10-22-2018)
That book's author, Ann Rule, who died in 2015, was a truly gifted true crime writer. She wrote for many years for those trashy true crime magazines under various male pen names, but eventually found her true calling in book-length narratives, and she wrote a bunch of them. 'The Stranger Beside Me' is well worth a read.
Currently reading the first in the 'Lady Sherlock' series by Sherry Thomas - 'A Study in Scarlet Women' - in which it's 1880s England, but there is no Sherlock Holmes...just a highly intelligent, perceptive and independent young lady named Charlotte Holmes, who clandestinely aids the police in solving crimes under the name 'Sherlock'. A bit more of a "cozy" than I generally prefer, but I met the author a couple of weeks ago and she charmed me into promising to give the series a go.
“Civilized men are more discourteous than savages because they know they can be impolite without having their skulls split, as a general thing.” - Robert E. Howard
"Only a rank degenerate would drive 1,500 miles across Texas and not eat a chicken fried steak." - Larry McMurtry
Ethereal (10-22-2018)
The book I'm reading now is the antithesis of a "cozy" - Mickey Spillane's 1947 classic, 'I, The Jury'. I'd been meaning to read it for years. Tame by today's standards, in terms of sex and violence, it was a big seller when originally published. (As Spillane himself said, "You can sell more salted peanuts than caviar".) Spillane, a comic book writer and recently discharged Army Air Corps flight instructor, reportedly wrote it in nineteen days so he and his wife could buy a house. 'I, The Jury' introduced his most famous character, Mike Hammer.
Next week a writer I honestly never thought I'd get to meet is signing his latest book in Scottsdale - Jonathan Lethem. I remember reading a review of his first novel in 1994 - 'Gun, With Occasional Music' - and immediately finding and reading it. 'Gun' is a hardboiled detective novel set in an alternative universe where anthropomorphic animals live and work alongside humans. (I recently unearthed my first edition copy while sorting through all the boxed books in the basement.) His next book, 'Amnesia Moon' takes place in a world where a strange mist has descended over the landscape, making the laws of time and physics somewhat...flexible. Lethem's two most well known books to date, 'The Fortress of Solitude' and 'Motherless Brooklyn', I haven't yet had time to delve into; they're both huge. At any rate, I'm pretty excited about finally getting to meet the man.
“Civilized men are more discourteous than savages because they know they can be impolite without having their skulls split, as a general thing.” - Robert E. Howard
"Only a rank degenerate would drive 1,500 miles across Texas and not eat a chicken fried steak." - Larry McMurtry
Landscape Turned Red. Stephen Sears.
American Caesar - William Manchester
When Baseball Went To War - Todd Anton & Bill Nowlin
The Charnel Prince by Greg Keyes, book 2 of his "The Kingdoms of Thorn and Bone" series.
"Those who produce should have, but we know that those who produce the most — that is, those who work hardest, and at the most difficult and most menial tasks, have the least."
- Eugene V. Debs (1855-1926), five-time Socialist Party candidate for U.S. President
Finished Mindhunter and The Stranger Beside Me. Both very good reads. That should fill my serial killer reading quota for a while.
I also just finished Ghost On the Throne: The Death of Alexander the Great and the Bloody Fight for His Empire by James Romm. Really enjoyed it, although I feel the book ended too abruptly. There was still a lot more fighting and intrigue that he left unexplored. I was frequently amazed by the cleverness, ingenuity, and bravery of the people who fought over Alexander's empire after he died. I was also frequently appalled by their ruthlessness and cruelty. Probably the most fascinating character to me was Eumenes, a Greek outsider who became one of the central figures in the Macedonian civil war between Alexander's generals and relatives. Despite being constantly and unfairly (in my opinion) disadvantaged because of his Greek origin, he somehow managed to claw his way nearly the top the of the pyramid through sheer mad genius, audacity, and ingenuity.
Not sure what I'll start reading next. I'm looking at previews of The Crusades: The Authoritative History of the War for the Holy Land by Thomas Asbridge and Cicero: The Life and Times of Rome's Greatest Politician by Anthony Everitt.
But before I buy one of those, I will probably finish reading The Rise and Fall of Ancient Egypt by Toby Wilkinson.
Power always thinks it has a great soul, and vast views, beyond the comprehension of the weak. And that it is doing God service when it is violating all His laws.
--John Adams
Orion Rules (11-13-2018)
I took a long hiatus. I just recently picked up Thinkers Against Modernity which is a short survey of writers, such as Ernst Junger, Nietzsche, and GK Chesterton who, while very different men, all shared anti-modern themes.
Next up may me the Metaphysics of War by Julius Evola or Quest for Community by Robert Nisbet. @Chris i finally picked that up.
Whoever criticizes capitalism, while approving immigration, whose working class is its first victim, had better shut up. Whoever criticizes immigration, while remaining silent about capitalism, should do the same.
~Alain de Benoist
Chris (11-14-2018)