What Are You Reading?

number6horse

okyoutwopixiesoutyougo
My wife is reading that one. I'll probably read it when she's done.

Yes - don't let my "YA novel" tag deter you or anyone else from reading it. If I could re-write my post above I would leave that comparison out. Something I also should have mentioned was the structure of the novel itself - 13 Parts which contain Chapters of only 2 to 5 pages each. It's great for picking up 10 minutes at a time and then returning to real life. Which Sam would appreciate his folks doing ;)
 

Skygazer

And in the end...
Read this recently for work related stuff, not saying it was a knee trembler or anything; just interesting.
Getting to the point... it's all about human communication and development, with emphasis on; pointing the finger, apparently a very important marker in what defines us, as uniquely human and fabulous.

upload_2015-4-27_12-22-47.jpeg


Alternatively, you could just read this and save a bit of time:
http://www.slate.com/blogs/how_babi...pointing_reveals_the_action_s_importance.html
Although it does inflate the work done at Max Planck in Germany, there was already a lot of evidence based published research in this field, but it moves it along more.
 

PhillyDave

“The essential doesn't change.” Beckett
I read Pulp 15+ years ago. It was a girlfriend's copy. I have, like most of us here I assume, many of Buks books. I now own Pulp. Started re-reading it immediately. I forgot the dedication. Hi-larious.
 
Been reading Last Exit to Brooklyn. It took me a while to adjust to Selby's writing style, but it's very satisfying, and has a natural flow.
 
Started reading Mr. Majestyk by Elmore Leonard last night at around six pm. Plan was to read a chapter or two and then watch some television but I ended up finishing the whole novel in one sitting. Absolutely riveting book. Drops you right into the action and never lets up. I love how sparse Leonard is with words. He gets right to the point.
 

Johannes

Founding member
Am reading the first biography of Bonnie and Clyde in German at the moment. Very interesting.

I was surprised to learn that far from any glamorous image those were mere scrawny teenagers, driven to crime by the Great Depression.

Especially Clyde Barrows story is a tragic one. Imprisoned into one of Texas toughest jail farms for petty theft he was tortured and raped by guards and inmates and mutilated himself to escape the murderous field-work. When he got out he was stamped with a mortal fear of ever having to go back to prison. That's why, whenever he got trapped by the police, he shot his way out.

If the facts in this biography are true, he never robbed or shot without reason, he simply tried to survive and stay out of jail while being a superb driver, a control freak and a fair talent with handguns.
 

Erik

If u don't know the poetry u don't know Bukowski
Founding member
Reading this.
I know, I know.
A lot of wasted words, but still: Some interesting and important ideas in there:

51f0VimWj9L._SY344_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg(klikk)
 

Johannes

Founding member
Bonnie Parker wrote this poem while being on the run from the police together with Clyde

The Story of Bonnie and Clyde

You've read the story of Jesse James
Of how he lived and died;
If you're still in need
Of something to read,
Here's the story of Bonnie and Clyde.

Now Bonnie and Clyde are the Barrow gang,
I'm sure you all have read
How they rob and steal
And those who squeal
Are usually found dying or dead.

There's lots of untruths to these write-ups;
They're not so ruthless as that;
Their nature is raw;
They hate all the law
The stool pigeons, spotters, and rats.

They call them cold-blooded killers;
They say they are heartless and mean;
But I say this with pride,
That I once knew Clyde
When he was honest and upright and clean.

But the laws fooled around,
Kept taking him down
And locking him up in a cell,
Till he said to me,
"I'll never be free,
So I'll meet a few of them in hell."

The road was so dimly lighted;
There were no highway signs to guide;
But they made up their minds
If all roads were blind,
They wouldn't give up till they died.

The road gets dimmer and dimmer;
Sometimes you can hardly see;
But it's fight, man to man,
And do all you can,
For they know they can never be free.

From heart-break some people have suffered;
From weariness some people have died;
But take it all in all,
Our troubles are small
Till we get like Bonnie and Clyde.

If a policeman is killed in Dallas,
And they have no clue or guide;
If they can't find a fiend,
They just wipe their slate clean
And hand it on Bonnie and Clyde.

There's two crimes committed in America
Not accredited to the Barrow mob;
They had no hand
In the kidnap demand,
Nor the Kansas City depot job.

A newsboy once said to his buddy;
"I wish old Clyde would get jumped;
In these awful hard times
We'd make a few dimes
If five or six cops would get bumped."

The police haven't got the report yet,
But Clyde called me up today;
He said, "Don't start any fights
We aren't working nights
We're joining the NRA."

From Irving to West Dallas viaduct
Is known as the Great Divide,
Where the women are kin,
And the men are men,
And they won't "stool" on Bonnie and Clyde.

If they try to act like citizens
And rent them a nice little flat,
About the third night
They're invited to fight
By a sub-gun's rat-tat-tat.

They don't think they're too tough or desperate,
They know that the law always wins;
They've been shot at before,
But they do not ignore
That death is the wages of sin.

Some day they'll go down together;
And they'll bury them side by side;
To few it'll be grief
To the law a relief
But it's death for Bonnie and Clyde.
 

Johannes

Founding member
BonnieParkerCigar1933.jpg


This pictures made nationwide headlines and imprinted the image of Bonnie and Clyde forever in the heads of the people, so the biography tells me.

Bonnie and Clyde had to leave their camera when the police raided their home. Among many weapons, these pictures were found by the officers.

Up until then the public had not known what "those robbing outlaws" looked like, didn't even know that a woman was among them, I believe. And they could not believe their eyes when they saw this :D ... but Bonnie Parker hated the photo. It was meant as a joke and went viral, a kind of proto-meme.

Once when they kept a hostage and let him out on the road somewhere (they never harmed any hostages) he asked them, if they had a message for the public and Bonnie said: "Tell them I don't smoke cigars. It was a joke."
 
I just finished Rebel Yell, a biography of Stonewell Jackson..Great biographies lead you down path you didn't think you cared about. This is an amazingly well written book. Every victory was for the glory of God. The ISIS parallel wasn't lost on me. I'm not religious but I have to admit there is something invincible about a guy who is convinced god is on his side and I don't know, from a purely strategic perspective, how atheists combat that effectively without killing them all.
 

mjp

Founding member
Well since there's never been an atheist country or army I guess we'll never know.
 

Bukfan

"The law is wrong; I am right"
Well, I guess you could say the Soviet Union was an atheist country, at least officially. That probably goes for other (former) commie countries too.
 

mjp

Founding member
Officially, yeah, but officially doesn't change the people. Atheism, or non-affiliation, in Russia is low (this says 18%). As that graph clearly shows, the people were just waiting to get back to their religion(s).

The Russians I've known - which is not a statistical sample, I understand - have all been religious, and maybe not coincidentally, extremely superstitious and prone to believe in the supernatural (ghosts, psychics and everything paranormal).
 
The Russians I've known - which is not a statistical sample, I understand - have all been religious, and maybe not coincidentally, extremely superstitious and prone to believe in the supernatural (ghosts, psychics and everything paranormal).
Confirmed. My wife and her family are from the former Soviet republics and ALL of their friends and relatives are religious and extremely superstitious. No matter if they come from Kazakhstan, Russia or Armenia. As if somebody punched a hole into their brains. And there's nothing you can do about it. It's a kind of lifetime infection, I guess.
 
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Bukfan

"The law is wrong; I am right"
True, Russians are in general very religious. The Soviet Union did´nt manage to stamp out religion although they sure did try by tearing down churches or using them for other purposes. Funny, when the Germans invaded the Soviet Union in 1941 Stalin revived religion so that it could help boosting patriotism in the fight against the invaders.
 

Johannes

Founding member
Am trying to read short stories by F. Scott Fitzgerald right now. But I can't read them, F. Scott Fitzgerald bores me to death. Always has. Even Gatsby.

Any F. Scott Fitzgerald fans around here? Recommendations?
 

Black Swan

Abord the Yorikke!
Just read Living with Picasso
by Françoise Gilot, also a painter and one of his wives.
Now, just started Picasso, Creator and Destroyer
by Arianna Stassinopoulos Huffington.

A genius, for sure and a totally self centered pr...

The first one is in French and very well written. Many observations by Picasso that were right on about art and also discussing other painter's style and writers of the time. His sense of observation was truly outstanding. I don't know if he was ever a friend to anyone around him. :(

Worth reading!
 

Johannes

Founding member
I finally got hold of the legend that is ...

atlas_shrugged.jpg


Read the first 25 pages or so today at my lunch break at work. It's a fat novel, I can tell you that much already.

Anybody read it around here? Opinions?
 

hoochmonkey9

Art should be its own hammer.
Moderator
Founding member
I use it to stand on to reach the top shelf in my kitchen. I'm short. In my opinion, that's all it's good for. ;)
 
I just finished Philip K Dick's "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep". Beyond Ballard I don't usually read science fiction, but I quite enjoyed this in the same way I've enjoyed Huxley when I've read him. It was also a bit of an easier read after Martin Amis's "Money" (which for me was brilliantly original, but required a greater level of concentration).

I'm just starting "The Ginger Man" by J.P. Don Leavy, which I'm looking forward to. Apparently it was banned in Ireland for obscentiy; mind you, it didn't used to take much to get banned in Ireland.
 

Johannes

Founding member
I thought "The Ginger Man" would kick ass in a sort of Henry-Miller-way, but was bored by it. Couldn't read it through.

"Atlas Shrugged" I'm not sure of, yet. About 120 pages in.
 

Digney in Burnaby

donkeys live a long time
Finished Snakes! Guillotines! Electric Chairs! by Dennis Dunaway on his years with The Alice Cooper Band. Quite enjoyable.

Now working on Night Train by Nick Tosches, the biography of boxer Sonny Liston.
 
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