Good Books.... Well, there are a few.

[gsganzer]

I always liked the African professional hunter books. My all time favorites were written by Peter Hathaway Capstick.

I've read all of his. Also, Pondoro Taylor and Robert Ruark. Great books!

 

[Jstpssng]

Zombie thread, nobody has posted here in a year.

Last weekend I was in a bookstore looking for something to read and came across a book I've heard of for years; "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy". Talk about a bizarre book, and definitely not worth what I paid for it. I guess it appeals to a different group of people than me.

 

[Chilliwack Murray]

They were good in their day, at least for teenage me. The original BBC tv series was better than the movie by far but it’s genuinely silly like the books.

The Dirk Gently books he wrote after are a lot better in my opinion. I think I’ll have to read those again.

 

[Panik]

It may be a zombie thread... but looking through it has brought back a lot of memories. My parent's - Dad in particular was a big reader and we had an office/library growing up with one wall dedicated to concrete block and cherry plank bookshelves.

It was great for me because I could just go up and browse and find stuff to read, as an example a 1970's era copy of the Joy of ***.

I do remember reading most all of Peter Capstick's African Hunter novels. There was something special about how those books were written.... from a kid's perspective they wove hunting/conversation/cultural observations together in a pretty neat way.

.... It's probably why, as cheesy as it was, Ghost in the Darkness was such an awesome movie to watch when it came out.

 

[Chilliwack Murray]

It’s a good topic so to help revive it… The Silo trilogy by Hugh Howie I found quite good. Wool, Shift and Dust. Google it for the details.

They’ve made a tv show out of it and it looks like they’ve really spent some time and money on it. The first season was good and really captured the book well. Been a while since I read it but it seems like they embellished a little.

 

[nbking]

I'm reading the reacher books now, started after the TV series came on. Dad was into the dirk Pitt books and Mom was into Steven King. Dad likes to read from the actual book, Mom has a kindle. I buy my books used off ebay, and donate to the library, but mostly donate to those little book drop-off spots, can't remember the name now. They are in random spots to give/take a book. The Reacher books are good and bad as I find myself staying up late reading and can't put it down, lol.

 

[dodge man]

I’ve read all the Reacher books except the last couple. I don’t know if I’m getting tired of them but I suspect they aren’t as good now that Lincoln Child’s brother is writing them.

 

[gsganzer]

Anyone that likes hunting adventures should try the Peter Hathaway Capstick novels. Death in the Long Grass, Death in Silent Places, The Last Ivory Hunter are just a few.

 

[BackRoad]

"Ender's Game" was a great read, the movie not so much.

Also recently read "1984"...once again after 50 years. Back then the technology didn't exist. Scary, scary how accurate it is now. It should have been titled "2024".

One of the underlying themes in 1984 was the continuous work to rewrite history, by going back and "correcting" the history books and newspapers, repeatedly, depending on the current propaganda need.

This is one of the reasons I like having actual hardcopy for more controversial books...like old history books, dictionaries and the classics. Revising history and changing the traditional meanings of words is a constant pressure.

I can envision a time when e-Book content could be 'corrected' without notice or discretion by history revisionists, making it so the holocaust or even the US Civil War never really happened.

 

[Chilliwack Murray]

I re-read 1984 recently too… The last time was around 1984, I think for English class in high school.

Many of the warnings are more likely than ever with advances in technology and indeed happening today in some measure.

I was pretty disappointed in the actual story though. It really felt thin, like philosophy for dummies.

 

[Panik]

I re-read 1984 recently too… The last time was around 1984, I think for English class in high school.

Many of the warnings are more likely than ever with advances in technology and indeed happening today in some measure.

I was pretty disappointed in the actual story though. It really felt thin, like philosophy for dummies.

I suspect you're correct about 1984, but then the last time I read it was in high school as part of English class for critical analysis. I went to an all boys Jesuit Catholic High School and ethics and education were interesting... I much preferred reading Romeo & Juliet for class than 1984. The English teacher we had was very much into looking at Shakespeare less as "high" literature and more as it was intended in the time period.... which meant for class we hunted down every single double-entendre and dirty word play and looked at it much as you would soap opera's for the masses.

Anyone read any of the personal accounts of the Vietnam War written in the late 70's and 80's? Dad was both an avid reader & was in the military for a period during the late portion of that war.... but his involvement was special forces and by his DD214 Central/South America focus. He, and because they were in our library I, spent a lot of time reading about helicopter pilots in Vietnam. Always wanted to ask him why they were of interest, but never got the chance.

I was born in 77, so the Vietnam War happened well before my time, but I was always fascinated by the humanistic side of war presented in the books he read.

 

[BackRoad]

The 5000 Year Leap - W. Cleon Skousen. Just finished it.

It's sobering what the prescient Constitution creators were trying to prevent...

 

[fiddlearound]

Have you read "The Naked Commuist " by Skouson? I got to meet him and get an autographed copy at a Texas Farm Bureau citizenship seminar in the summer of 1966.

He gave a very interesting lecture that opened my young naive eyes.

 

[dodge man]

I just read Hornet Flight by Ken Follett, good book, not great. It’s a WW2 spy novel.

 

[BackRoad]

Have you read "The Naked Commuist " by Skouson? I got to meet him and get an autographed copy at a Texas Farm Bureau citizenship seminar in the summer of 1966.

He gave a very interesting lecture that opened my young naive eyes.

Adding it to my list...Thanks Mr. Fiddlearound!

 

[BackRoad]

40 pages into The Naked Communist. It's a free read online.

Marx was an amazing absolute loser throughout his whole life. I can now understand (but not comprehend) the appeal of communism to people with a total lack of initiative or personal responsibility.

They just want to steal what others have earned or own.

 

[RobertN]

"Love & Whiskey" by Fawn Weaver was an interesting read. The early history of Jack Daniels first Master Distiller, and making a distillery based on Nearest Green.

 

[Chilliwack Murray]

It's winter and no one is reading?

Abandon by Blake Crouch was a good read recently. Keeps you guessing until the very end.

 

[gsganzer]

I'm reading "Killers of a Flower Moon".

Really interesting to learn that the Osage people of OK were once the richest people in the world, per capita.