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Thread: What have you read lately?

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    Standing Wolf's Avatar Senior Member
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    What have you read lately?

    Right now reading 'Going the Other Way' by Billy Bean - the autobiography of the first openly gay former Major League ballplayer.

    Just finished 'The Girl in the Spider's Web' by David Lagercrantz. If you read and enjoyed the late Stieg Larsson's Millenium Trilogy - 'The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo', etc. - have no fear...Lagercrantz has done an absolutely masterful job of continuing the story. Not all continuation novels are anywhere near as successful as this one in capturing the intricate plotting, the slow buildup of suspense, and all the other elements that make the original so entertaining. Lagercrantz has done it in a masterful way.

    Before that, I tried to read David Labrava's 'Becoming a Son'. I'm a big Sons of Anarchy fan, and particularly liked Labrava's 'Happy' character on the show. I'd read that he had led an interesting life and was looking forward to reading his book, but... If ever a book needed a professional editor or co-writer and very obviously did not get one, this is it. From the simplest thing like not indenting paragraphs, to narrative flaws like changing ages in the middle of a story and jumping around from one time period to another with apparent randomness, this book is a hard, hard read. From reading some reviews, as well as flipping through the unread 3/4 of the book myself, I discovered that Labrava does not even mention his motorcycle club affiliation, which is actually one of the things I mostly wanted to read about. Doing and smuggling drugs, getting laid and surfing are all fine in their place, I suppose, but it's tough to make a big, dense, very badly written book fascinating with only those things to work with.

    Before that attempt, I read one of the finest Sherlock Holmes stories I've ever encountered - Molly MacBird's 'Art of the Blood'. I've been reading Holmes since I was about twelve, and have been searching out and reading continuation novels and pastiches by authors other than Conan Doyle for almost as long, and 'Art of the Blood' is up there near the top of my personal favorites list.

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    The last of the Remaining series.
    ΜOΛΩΝ ΛΑΒΕ


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    The Bully Pulpit: Theodore Roosevelt, William Howard Taft, and the Golden Age of Journalism by Doris Kearns Goodwin

    In the Garden of Beasts by Erik Larson

    Operation Paperclip by Annie Jacobsen
    "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

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    Chris's Avatar Senior Member
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    Recently finished:
    • Holcombe's Advanced Introduction to Austrian Economics
    • Ellickson's Order without Law: How Neighbors Settle Disputes
    • Stringham's Private Governance: Creating Order in Economic and Social Life--highly recommended!
    • Smith and Moore's (eds) Individualism: A Reader--not that good except for chapter 24 from Henry Wilson's A Catechism of Individualism, a rebuttal to Belfort Bax's A New Catechism of Socialism
    • Munger's The Thing Itself: Essays on Academics and the State--the title is taken from Burke's A Vindication of Natural Society: "In vain you tell me that Artificial Government is good, but that I fall out only with the Abuse. The Thing! the Thing itself is the Abuse!Observe, my Lord, I pray you, that grand Error upon which all artificial legislative Power is founded. It was observed, that Men had ungovernable Passions, which made it necessary to guard against the Violence they might offer to each other. They appointed Governors over them for this Reason; but a worse and more perplexing Difficulty arises, how to be defended against the Governors? Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?"


    I used to read fiction and try but just can't any more.
    Tradition is not the worship of ashes, but the preservation of fire. ― Gustav Mahler

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    Wow. Sorry, Chris, but I almost dozed off while reading your post! Economics, just about anything having to do with money, puts me right to sleep - Business Law classes almost killed me in school, just in terms of being able to stay awake. That's why I rarely if ever participate to any serious degree in threads on the topic. On the other hand, I can read case law all day and find it fascinating, which some find odd.

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    Chris (04-24-2016)

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    "The Son" by Phillip Meyer. It's a fiction about a Texan who is kidnapped by Comanches and is eventually integrated into their tribe.

    "Forgotten Founder, Drunken Prophet: The Life of Luther Martin" by Bill Kauffman. It's a compelling historical analysis of the life and career of Luther Martin, a founding father and strident anti-federalist.

    "The Rights of Man" by Thomas Paine. It's about these silly things called "rights" that transcend political authority. It was written by a traitorous criminal terrorist who rebelled against the government.

    I'll let you know if I think of other stuff.
    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

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    I may begin Structures of the Life-World by Alfred Schutz and Thomas Luckmann. They're sociologists. There is a section on transcendence that I'd like to get a better understanding of particularly with regard to religious experience.
    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


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    I'm out of my depth with Life Structures. This will take a little more care. I don't have an adequate background in sociology so much of the terminology is unfamiliar. I will digest this a piece at a time. It's important to em though. I want to have a better understanding of some of these concepts.

    I picked up Francis Parker Yockey's Imperium. I decided to reread it. He's a truly interesting figure. He has been mentioned by a couple of our conspiracy enthusiasts but they have no idea who he is or what he wrote. He's a bit of a kook at times but some of his insights are fascinating.
    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


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    I've just finished the second in David Baldacci's new series "The Last Mile". The main character in the series is Amos Decker, a detective who remembers everything (due to an accident while playing pro football). This starts out as Decker working on a project to release people who have been convicted unfairly (kinda like the Innocence Project). The plot winds around recent crimes, a crime from 20 years prior & finishes up solving a 50 year old church bombing. Baldacci writes a great conspiracy. His prior series (The Camel Club) was great for wandering through multiple conspiracies in one book.

    I also finished up 'Six Wives, The Queens of Henry VIII' by David Starkey. This was the first book I've seen that discusses all the wives of Henry VIII. Each wife is discussed but the sections vary in size....based on how long the wife lasted. It was interesting but provided no new insights or information on Henry or the ladies.
    Through all of our running and all of our cunning, if we couldn't laugh we just would go insane. - Jimmy Buffett

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    Common's Avatar Senior Member
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    I have a routine after dinner I go in the puter and do some news reading, I watch one hour of tv with my wife then go do whatever. After I shut the puter off for the night, I go park in my recliner and read, I have a samsung galaxy full of books.

    At the moment im on book 7 of the Nero Wolfe series written by rex stout. It wouldnt be for everyone because the setting starts in the 1930s and goes up into the early 50s I believe. There are constantly words that send me to google for definition. They were well used in the 30s but rarely or never used today.

    Tablets are great for reading, I refused to do it for along time with the old fashioned notion I needed to hold the book. With the tablet, I can set the size of the font, put day or night lighting, so I can read in dim light, I can bookmark with one touch and if I run into a word I dont know, I tap hit google write in the word and get the definition. These kids have it made, I used to have to read with a pen light when I was a kid

    If anyone cares that has a tablet they use to read books and its not a kindle, theres an app you can download called "COOL READER" thats what gives me all the features I outlined above plus much more.
    Last edited by Common; 05-06-2016 at 07:41 AM.
    LETS GO BRANDON
    F Joe Biden

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