Books: What are you reading tonight? - Page 691 - The Lounge Discussion and Review on Literature, Arts, Culture

Lucky Jim was a riot. I'm very glad I finally got around to reading it.

I've been rereading tidbits of Minority Report and A Mencken Chrestomathy , by you know who. Again, a real riot to reread. Those two books will have to be included in my book burning list for the Fall Equinox. You can't be caught with such subversive literature in your private possession and still be deemed a noble and honorable human being.

Up next; rereading some Ambrose Bierce. Comment above also applies, obviously. By the way, Bierce's reminisces of his time in the civil war are top notch and, IMO, very underappreciated, and also important historically as real life war narrative.

Quote

08-16-2018 , 12:39 PM

#17252

Mulezen

grinder

Join Date: Oct 2013 Posts: 604

Bitter Bierce, The Old Gringo (Fuentes)
In the 80’s I had a girl visiting from Dublin, very literate, her grandfather had been Mayor and knew Yeats. While here she pulled my complete works of Bierce from the shelf “How have I, we, never heard of him?” She took the book back across the pond.
‘Incident at Owl Creek Bridge’ is how many here know him. His ‘Devil’s Dictionary’ has a place on my toilet.

Last edited by Mulezen; 08-16-2018 at 12:44 PM.

Quote

08-16-2018 , 02:40 PM

#17253

Phat Mack

Twat-Waffle

Join Date: Sep 2002 Posts: 12,271

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mulezen

His ‘Devil’s Dictionary’ has a place on my toilet.

What? Why?

Quote

08-16-2018 , 03:20 PM

#17254

kokiri

ffermwr moch

Join Date: Feb 2006 Posts: 52,228

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mulezen

There’s a very long running very British tea time game show that used to feature definitions from the Devils Dictionary semi regularly when I was a youth.

Quote

08-17-2018 , 12:29 PM

#17255

Zeno

Le Misanthrope

Join Date: Sep 2002 Posts: 22,561

Originally Posted by Mulezen:

His ‘Devil’s Dictionary’ has a place on my toilet.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Phat Mack

What? Why?

As an aid to bowel movements*.

*I think Bierce would laugh at the above.

Quote

08-17-2018 , 12:33 PM

#17256

Zeno

Le Misanthrope

Join Date: Sep 2002 Posts: 22,561

Quote:

Originally Posted by kokiri

There’s a very long running very British tea time game show that used to feature definitions from the Devils Dictionary semi regularly when I was a youth.

Just for information, stole from wiki:

Bierce lived and wrote in England [in or near London I think] from 1872 to 1875, contributing to Fun magazine. His first book, The Fiend's Delight, a compilation of his articles, was published in London in 1873 by John Camden Hotten under the pseudonym "Dod Grile"

Quote

08-17-2018 , 09:28 PM

#17257

Mulezen

grinder

Join Date: Oct 2013 Posts: 604

Concerning Mencken...Last year I had shirts printed up quoting the sage of Baltimore
“On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart’s desire at last, and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron.” Mencken
I apologize in advance to anyone offended by these words.
I recall my first encounter in HS of his writings when he covered the Scopes/monkey trial and wrote of the hugely obese Wm. Jennings Bryant who keeled over dead three days after the trial at a picnic. “He died of a busted belly.”

Quote

08-18-2018 , 01:00 PM

#17258

Phat Mack

Twat-Waffle

Join Date: Sep 2002 Posts: 12,271

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zeno

Originally Posted by Mulezen:

His ‘Devil’s Dictionary’ has a place on my toilet.

As an aid to bowel movements*.

*I think Bierce would laugh at the above.

Ah. On the toilet, not in the toilet.

Quote

08-18-2018 , 02:23 PM

#17259

Zeno

Le Misanthrope

Join Date: Sep 2002 Posts: 22,561

Someone recommended to me; the James Rollins Sigma series, as a good read. Anyone here read any of these? Comments?

Quote

08-18-2018 , 04:39 PM

#17260

Pauwl

grinder

Join Date: Sep 2005 Posts: 629

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zeno

Someone recommended to me; the James Rollins Sigma series, as a good read. Anyone here read any of these? Comments?

A special forces team equipped with the latest experimental DARPA tech go around the world solving crises that stem from random horrible disasters from the past usually involving some underground genetics lab or a secret society.

They follow the Dan Brown plot system, except instead of a University professor it's an elite team of block ops commandos. Techno thrillers with an exciting story. I read them for years until I started reading good books.

Quote

08-27-2018 , 07:12 AM

#17261

RichGangi

Laughable false & highly douchey

Join Date: Aug 2005 Posts: 9,567

Quote:

Originally Posted by RichGangi

Just started Mary's Mosaic: The CIA Conspiracy to Murder John F. Kennedy, Mary Pinchot Meyer, and Their Vision for World Peace. The CIA was, is, and always will be headed by some truly abhorrent individuals.

This was fantastic. Great/scary story, highly recommended.

Halfway through The Devils Chessboard: Allen Dulles, the CIA, and the Rise of America's Secret Government. Just wow. What a vile human being AD was. Also, the more I read about the CIA the more disgusted I become.

Quote

08-28-2018 , 09:18 PM

#17262

RussellinToronto

veteran

Join Date: Oct 2007 Posts: 2,224

Quote:

Originally Posted by RichGangi

... the more I read about the CIA the more disgusted I become.

Yes, and yet it is one of the agencies we are looking to with hope that they may save us all from DT.

Quote

08-29-2018 , 09:57 AM

#17263

revots33

Carpal \'Tunnel

Join Date: Aug 2004 Posts: 13,475

Reading A Man in Full by Tom Wolfe. Must admit it's a slog. Book is almost 800 pages, I'm about 500 pages in and still not sure where it's headed. Writing is excellent but so many (so far) unrelated characters, I keep waiting for it all to tie together somehow.

I had just finished Bonfire of the Vanities previously, which was fantastic. This isn't as good.

Quote

08-29-2018 , 10:03 AM

#17264

RichGangi

Laughable false & highly douchey

Join Date: Aug 2005 Posts: 9,567

Quote:

Originally Posted by RussellinToronto

Yes, and yet it is one of the agencies we are looking to with hope that they may save us all from DT.

How so? He's their puppet iyam....

Quote

08-29-2018 , 03:20 PM

#17265

kioshk

Nixonian

Join Date: Oct 2006 Posts: 92,966

Quote:

Originally Posted by revots33

A Man in Full ended up growing on me toward the last but I agree it's not nearly as good as Bonfire. Wolfe was just a lot better at nonfiction, he was unequaled there, his turf.

Quote

08-29-2018 , 05:06 PM

#17266

karamazonk

Pooh-Bah

Join Date: Apr 2009 Posts: 4,626

Reading Shantaram, the first fiction I've read in forever. I'm ~270 pages through, enjoying it, but not sure I can keep up the momentum to read all 900+ pages. Drawing pretty thin to finish it before vol. 6 (the final volume) of the Knausgaard My Struggle series is finally published in English in a few weeks, which like the previous couple volumes I plan on reading as soon as it's available.

Quote

08-29-2018 , 07:13 PM

#17267

Cranberry Tea

Carpal \'Tunnel

Join Date: Jan 2009 Posts: 6,241

Quote

08-29-2018 , 07:58 PM

#17268

John Cole

Lounge Nighthawk

Join Date: Sep 2002 Posts: 18,670

Reading Robert Haas's A Little Book on Form. It's not exactly a little book, nor is it a how to manual for poets; instead Haas traces how the poetic imagination works within the line and pays attention to various poetic forms.

Sent from my Moto G (5) Plus using Tapatalk

Quote

08-29-2018 , 08:13 PM

#17269

NajdorfDefense

Carpal \'Tunnel

Join Date: Feb 2003 Posts: 17,619

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mulezen

Not offended at all. In fact, would happily have sent you the ones I had made in 2008.

Quote

08-29-2018 , 08:13 PM

#17270

NajdorfDefense

Carpal \'Tunnel

Join Date: Feb 2003 Posts: 17,619

Never enjoyed Kingsley as much as Martin.

Quote

08-29-2018 , 08:15 PM

#17271

NajdorfDefense

Carpal \'Tunnel

Join Date: Feb 2003 Posts: 17,619

For those looking for a different sort of detective story - the Qiu Xialolong series about a Shanghai poet-detective who has to worry about pleasing the party while solving murders and other crimes are well done. Lots of takes on modern & ancient Chinese culture, definitely incorporates the scandals in modern day China like the dead pigs in the river, Princelings, mistresses, crowd-sourcing via the internet, et al.

Quote

08-29-2018 , 08:18 PM

#17272

NajdorfDefense

Carpal \'Tunnel

Join Date: Feb 2003 Posts: 17,619

For another different sort of Chinese detective story, the ones set a couple hundred years ago involving a scholar in exile by Elsa Hart are very, very good. Murders, spies, Tibet, her 3rd novel just came out when he returns to the Forbidden City.

Would rec these over the above, although have read all of both authors. Elsa went something like Russia-Czech-Swarthmore-China and is a very skillful descriptor.

Quote

08-29-2018 , 08:21 PM

#17273

NajdorfDefense

Carpal \'Tunnel

Join Date: Feb 2003 Posts: 17,619

Also read The Last Good Kiss by James Crumley, who evidently was a huge influence on mystery/thriller authors from the 60/70s. The story is definitely a product of its time - central mystery is a girl who disappears in San Fran in the late 60s - but highly readable with 2 great characters and a finish I didn't see coming.

If you hate hard-boiled PIs who like to drink, skip it.