What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part V

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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part V

Post by gkaplan »

I am about a third of way through Lady at the O.K. Corral: The True Story of Josephine Marcus Earp by Ann Kirschner. About fifteen years ago I read a great biography on Wyatt Earp, Wyatt Earp: The Life behind the Legend, by Casey Terfertiller. That's when I first learned about Josephine Marcus, the common-in-law wife of Wyatt Earp for fifty years. She was a first generation Jewish American. Born in 1860, she lived into the nineteen forties. Wyatt Earp, himself, sort of the epitome of the Old West, lived into the nineteen thirties and is buried in a Jewish cemetery in San Francisco.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part V

Post by Blues »

gkaplan wrote:I am about a third of way through Lady at the O.K. Corral: The True Story of Josephine Marcus Earp by Ann Kirschner. About fifteen years ago I read a great biography on Wyatt Earp, Wyatt Earp: The Life behind the Legend, by Casey Terfertiller. That's when I first learned about Josephine Marcus, the common-in-law wife of Wyatt Earp for fifty years. She was a first generation Jewish American. Born in 1860, she lived into the nineteen forties. Wyatt Earp, himself, sort of the epitome of the Old West, lived into the nineteen thirties and is buried in a Jewish cemetery in San Francisco.
I've never read any books specifically about her, but I've read some books and source material over the years on Earp, Tombstone, the Clanton - McLaury gang, et al.

Tombstone is worth a visit if you've never been.

Image

BTW, about Boot Hill from Wikipedia:
Located on the northwest corner of the town, the graveyard is believed to hold over 300 persons, 205 of which are recorded. This was due to some people (especially Chinese and Jewish immigrants) being buried without record. There is a separate Jewish cemetery nearby with some markers restored, and there are also marked graves of Chinese. However, most of the loss was due to neglect of grave markers and theft of these wooden relics as souvenirs.[3] For example, when former Tombstone Mayor John Clum visited Tombstone for the first Helldorado celebration in 1929, he was unable to locate the grave of his wife Mary, who had been buried in Boothill.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part V

Post by gkaplan »

Blues wrote:
gkaplan wrote:I am about a third of way through Lady at the O.K. Corral: The True Story of Josephine Marcus Earp by Ann Kirschner. About fifteen years ago I read a great biography on Wyatt Earp, Wyatt Earp: The Life behind the Legend, by Casey Terfertiller. That's when I first learned about Josephine Marcus, the common-in-law wife of Wyatt Earp for fifty years. She was a first generation Jewish American. Born in 1860, she lived into the nineteen forties. Wyatt Earp, himself, sort of the epitome of the Old West, lived into the nineteen thirties and is buried in a Jewish cemetery in San Francisco.
I've never read any books specifically about her, but I've read some books and source material over the years on Earp, Tombstone, the Clanton - McLaury gang, et al.

Tombstone is worth a visit if you've never been.

Image

BTW, about Boot Hill from Wikipedia:
Located on the northwest corner of the town, the graveyard is believed to hold over 300 persons, 205 of which are recorded. This was due to some people (especially Chinese and Jewish immigrants) being buried without record. There is a separate Jewish cemetery nearby with some markers restored, and there are also marked graves of Chinese. However, most of the loss was due to neglect of grave markers and theft of these wooden relics as souvenirs.[3] For example, when former Tombstone Mayor John Clum visited Tombstone for the first Helldorado celebration in 1929, he was unable to locate the grave of his wife Mary, who had been buried in Boothill.
Thanks for the comments.

I erred in Wyatt Earp's longevity. He actually died in 1929. Still a long life, considering his lifestyle.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part V

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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part V

Post by nisiprius »

Just finished Death of a Citizen (the first Matt Helm thriller) by Donald Hamilton. Really good. Just finished Drink to Yesterday, by Manning Coles, really good. I'm not sure if I ever read it before. Both funny and surprisingly dark. About halfway through A Toast to Tomorrow, by Manning Coles, really good. This is one I read maybe twenty years ago but I find I remember it almost too well, still, re-reading it is a huge pleasure, really good, and many pages that are laugh-out-loud funny. I have another Manning Coles lined up, and have decided to read a few more of them.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part V

Post by wilpat »

These are what I have read this month.

Mortal Faults By Michael Prescott
Jackrabbit Junction By Ann Charles
Pointy Teeth By Flynn, Joseph
The Old Man's Back In Town By Ann Charles
Huntress Moon By Alexandra Sokolof
Deployed By Mel Odom
City Of Beads By Tony Dunbar
Dance Of The Winnebagos (jackrabbit Junction Humorous Mystery Series #1) By Charles, Ann
Part 2: The Last Ballot Cast (the Fourth Jim Mcgill Novel, Part 2 By Flynn, Joseph
Battle Axe By Cokas, Bill
Bold Counsel (the Trials Of Sarah Newby) By Vicary, Tim
Summit By Richard Bowker
Ketchum And Cobb By James Mullen
Number Seventy-five By Ashley Fontaine
Deadly Blessings By Julie Hyzy
Cades Cove By Aiden James
Pursued By C S Miller
Red Green, Or Murder By Steven Havill
A Shot Of Tequla By Konrath, J.a.
Code By Carolyn Macray
Laundry Man By Jake Needham
Stilletoes & Scoundrels By Laina Turner
Death By Honeybee By Abigail Keam
Imposter By Karen French
Riversong By Tess Thompson
The Gate By Bob Mayer
A False Dawn By Tom Lowe
Back On Murder By J. Mark Bertrand
America Rising By Tom Paine
Blood Orchids By Toby Neal
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part V

Post by Blues »

wilpat, you're never going to keep up with your investments if you keep this up! :twisted:

(And I thought I was a pretty voracious reader. Congrats! :beer )
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part V

Post by wilpat »

Before I retired I read 4 books a week (for about 60 years). Now I read about 1 book a day. I have never watched TV much. Now I watch Jeopardy about 3 time a week and nothing else.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part V

Post by Blues »

wilpat wrote:Before I retired I read 4 books a week (for about 60 years). Now I read about 1 book a day. I have never watched TV much. Now I watch Jeopardy about 3 time a week and nothing else.
wwwr...what would wilpat read? nope, won't work...pretty much anything and everything.

whwr...what hasn't wilpat read? ah, now we're getting closer to the crux of the matter...

My wife submitted my name as a contestant (unbeknownst to me) for Jeopardy years ago. Fortunately, for my ego, we were in the midst of getting married, my switching agencies and moving to a new state at the time and had to decline the offer to come in and be interviewed. Phew!!!
(Fearful visions of Ralph Kramden dancing around in my head..."hummina, hummina, hummina")

8-) :sharebeer
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part V

Post by Fallible »

Blues wrote:...
My wife submitted my name as a contestant (unbeknownst to me) for Jeopardy years ago. Fortunately, for my ego, we were in the midst of getting married, my switching agencies and moving to a new state at the time and had to decline the offer to come in and be interviewed. Phew!!!
(Fearful visions of Ralph Kramden dancing around in my head... :shock: hummina, hummina, hummina")

8-) :sharebeer
Speaking of Ralph K., do you remember what happened when he appeared on a game show in the music category? :shock: (or is that what you were referring to?)
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part V

Post by VictoriaF »

wilpat wrote:Before I retired I read 4 books a week (for about 60 years). Now I read about 1 book a day. I have never watched TV much. Now I watch Jeopardy about 3 time a week and nothing else.
I once talked with a Guatemalan customs agent on the border with the Mexican state Tabasco. He said that he has read about 4,000 books. The number initially did not impress me ... until I estimated that for 40 years he was reading 100 books/year, or 2 books/week.

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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part V

Post by Blues »

Fallible wrote:Speaking of Ralph K., do you remember what happened when he appeared on a game show in the music category? :shock: (or is that what you were referring to?)
That's the episode. :sharebeer
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part V

Post by Igglesman »

Blues wrote:
Fallible wrote:Speaking of Ralph K., do you remember what happened when he appeared on a game show in the music category? :shock: (or is that what you were referring to?)
That's the episode. :sharebeer
Let's just say Ed Norton did not write Swanee River....one of the best episodes.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part V

Post by Fallible »

Igglesman wrote:
Blues wrote:
Fallible wrote:Speaking of Ralph K., do you remember what happened when he appeared on a game show in the music category? :shock: (or is that what you were referring to?)
That's the episode. :sharebeer
Let's just say Ed Norton did not write Swanee River....one of the best episodes.
I know this is a book thread, but maybe I can just slip this one in...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bzxWIL6HElI
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part V

Post by Blues »

Igglesman wrote:
Blues wrote:
Fallible wrote:Speaking of Ralph K., do you remember what happened when he appeared on a game show in the music category? :shock: (or is that what you were referring to?)
That's the episode. :sharebeer
Let's just say Ed Norton did not write Swanee River....one of the best episodes.
You and Fallible bring to mind the following encounter between "Doc" Holliday and Billy Clanton in "Tombstone":

Billy Clanton: Is that "Old Dog Tray?" It sounds to me like "Old Dog Tray." You know, Stephen Foster. "Oh, Susannah," "Camptown Races." Stephen stinking Foster!
Doc: Ah, yes. Well, this happens to be a nocturne.
Billy Clanton: A which?
Doc: You know, Frederic "freakin'" Chopin.

(I had to substitute "freakin'" for Doc's more colorful original language from the film.)
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part V

Post by Default User BR »

I just finished "The Grave Gourmet" by Alexander Campion. He's an American ex-pat living in Paris, where the book is set. It involves a young and attractive female detective on the police force, Capucine LeTellier. She's from a privileged family, which doesn't approve of much of what she's done with her life. That includes joining the police force rather than pursuing the usual "hateful life of affluent insouciance" and marrying the much older Alexandre, the food critic for Le Monde.

Capucine's desire is to get out of the financial crimes department (where her family connections have been a help) into real police work. She gets her chance when a shortage of detectives has her temporarily assigned to the criminal branch, where she is in charge of investigating the mysterious death of the president of Renault, whose body turned up in the walk-in of a 3-star restaurant.

This book was a bit uneven. It had some interesting characters, including Capucine. It seemed to had some problems figuring out what it wanted to be. Initially it seemed like it was to be a mystery focused on the restaurant, the cast of characters working there, and her husband. But then it violently shifted gears and became a international spy thriller of sorts.

For an American reading it, there is a look into the French judicial system. However, some better explanation might have been in order, although with the internet that's somewhat less problematic. For us, when the case is assigned to a Juge D'instruction, you're wondering why the judge is giving police orders and directing the investigation, although the name does sort of imply that. Seems that it's sort of a much-refined holdover from The Inquisition (really!), and not really used that much in France anymore, although complicated and serious cases will still get assigned to one.

It's the first of series, and I liked it well enough to give the second a shot. We'll see.


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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part V

Post by Valuethinker »

nisiprius wrote:
Valuethinker wrote:In the big 3 network days, it was really only soap operas that could do that.
Not always. There were a fair number of significant network miniseries-es in the 70s and 80s. "The Winds of War" for one. The really really excellent "Studs Lonigan" for another. (And of course PBS; series like "A Town Like Alice" were, in my opinion, so much pure entertainment and so little uplift that they should "count." "I, Claudius" as well; yes, it's set in classical Rome but so is Ben-Hur.)
Ahhh... and of course the first Miniseries (AFAIK) was Roots.

There was also Shogun. Most of the miniseries were based on existing written fiction-- Sopranos, The Wire etc. were totally new stories.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part V

Post by Default User BR »

Valuethinker wrote:Ahhh... and of course the first Miniseries (AFAIK) was Roots.
According to Wikipedia:
In North America the format began in 1974 with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation's The National Dream, featuring Pierre Berton (which aired from 3 March 1974 to 28 April 1974) and the American Broadcasting Company's QB VII, which starred Anthony Hopkins (and which began on 29 April 1974). Following these initial forays, broadcasters used miniseries to bring other books to the screen. Rich Man, Poor Man, based on the novel by Irwin Shaw, was broadcast in 12 one-hour episodes in 1976 by ABC. Alex Haley's Roots in 1977 can fairly be called the first blockbuster success of the format. Its success in the USA was partly due to its schedule: the 12-hour duration was split into eight episodes broadcast on consecutive nights, resulting in a finale with a 71 percent share of the audience and 130 million viewers, which at the time was the highest rated TV program of all time.
I was unfamiliar with the first two.


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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part V

Post by randomwalk »

I just finished Eating Animals by Jonathan Safran Foer.

Now reading Revolutionary Summer by Joseph Ellis.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part V

Post by Blues »

randomwalk wrote:Now reading Revolutionary Summer by Joseph Ellis.
^^^^That's next on my list...^^^^

...Right now it's the final book of the "Martin Beck" series by Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö, "The Terrorists".
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part V

Post by nisiprius »

Green Hazard, 1946, by Manning Coles. The third in a row, I will probably take a break after this one, too much dessert. But it is awfully funny AND like so many mysteries it is an interesting picture of a time and place. Full of funny wisecracks, or at least I think they're funny:
"Is that really cheese, Heinrich? It much more strongly resembles my soap ration."

"It is, nevertheless, cheese, Herr Professor. It will not lather," said the waiter cheerfully, for this guest always tipped well.

"Nor does my soap, my good Heinrich, so there is not even that difference."
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part V

Post by gkaplan »

I just started A Past in Hiding: Memory and Survival in Nazi Germany by Mark Roseman. Mark Roseman is a modern history professor at the University of Southampton in England. Here he tells the story of Marianne Ellenbogen née Strauss, who escaped from the Gestapo as they were arresting her, her younger brother, and her parents in 1943. (How she and her family evaded the Gestapo eye until 1943 is a story in itself.) Her brother and her parents perished at Aushwitz-Birkenau, probably in July 1944. Marianne managed to survive the war, traveling throughout Germany with false papers, aided by partisans, and emigrated to England after the war. In the process, she buried many of her war memories, thus the subtitle, as well as the difficulty that the author had in telling Marianne's full story..
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part V

Post by ruralavalon »

The Wrecker, by Robert Louis Stevenson. I'd never heard of this novel before, it came as a part of a collection of RLS' novels.

Its the story of a young American who fails in business school, attempts and fails to become a sculptor in late 19th century Paris, and winds up doing some marine salvage at Midway Island. That's only part of the story, if I told the rest it would spoil the mystery for anyone else.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part V

Post by ruralavalon »

wilpat wrote:These are what I have read this month.

(lists 30 books)
And I thought I was going overboard since retirement at about 2 - 3 books per week.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part V

Post by chaz »

ruralavalon wrote:
wilpat wrote:These are what I have read this month.

(lists 30 books)
And I thought I was going overboard since retirement at about 2 - 3 books per week.
Me too.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part V

Post by chaz »

"Hour Game" by David Baldacci.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part V

Post by VictoriaF »

chaz wrote:
ruralavalon wrote:
wilpat wrote:These are what I have read this month.

(lists 30 books)
And I thought I was going overboard since retirement at about 2 - 3 books per week.
Me too.
You, retired folks, a sooo fortunate {envious smile},

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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part V

Post by Valuethinker »

Fallible wrote:
Valuethinker wrote:
Fallible wrote:Thanks to Valuethinker for his Topic tribute last month to Douglas Adams (and admiring posters VictoriaF, bpp, Default User BR, Live Free or Diehard, etc.), I’m finally reading Adams, starting with The Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Am in love with the imaginings and with very character so far, but in particular, Ford Prefect. And I'm only on page 24. Don't know why (I guess this is what Adams does to you), but after reading that Ford ordered six pints of bitter, then told the barman, "And quickly please, the world's about to end," I feel like trying out that line on an unsuspecting waiter. Just to see...
The Dirk Gently novels never quite reached the heights, but I thought they were funny... (there's been a recent TV series, one issue is Dirk is not a sympathetic character).

Adams had a constant problem with writers block. Like a lot of clever Brits (see Terry Nation, author of classic Dr. Who scripts like 'Day of the Daleks', 'Genesis of the Daleks', 'the Deadly Assassin' and the masterful TV series 'Blakes 7') he got swallowed up and spat out by Hollywood.

'Last Chance to See' was his favourite work, the one he was most proud of.

Some of HGTTG is quite local-- in jokes. Hotblack Desiato is an Islington chain of estate agents |(they still get complaints of having stolen their name from Douglas Adams-- reverse causation). Ford Prefect was the name of a popular car. The stuff about planning in the first book is right out of his wife's struggles with Islington Council (she was a planning barrister)-- keeping plans in locked filing cabinets etc and that line 'if you can't take an interest in local affairs'.

The Radio Series is well worth listening to if you can. The TV series was pretty good-- good acting. The movie-- the less said the better.

Valuethinker,

Thanks for the leads to further Adams reading, which I’ll pursue when I’m done with HGTTG (I’m in no hurry and already sorry it will end). Although I didn’t know about his wife’s planning work, I could understand that part from my early news reporting days covering city planning councils and appreciate how far Adams’s imagination and satire took it. From the sheer energy in what I’ve read so far, it’s hard to believe Adams could ever have writer’s block. Almost every sentence has me laughing when what begins with the extraordinary ends with the hilarious ordinary, such as during the terrifying destruction of Earth. “The ships hung in the sky in much the same way that bricks don’t.” Then there is this line, “The news was always heavily edited to fit the rhythms of the music,” which should remind us Bogleheads of the CNBC format - heavily tailored to fit the short-term rhythms of speculating. Character after character has a distinct personality and, so far, an unexpected trait (the most recent I've come across is the goofy philosopher Vroomfondel seeing "demands" where there are none). What fun and thanks again for your Topic on Adams. :beer

Fallible
It began as a radio serial and *then* was a series of books. And *then* a TV show (not bad) and then a movie (the less said, the better).

So it had an unusual history, and Adams laboured long and hard over every bit of narration and dialogue, to meet the BBC's weekly radio schedule.

Marvin the Android is of course the real hero of the series ;-).
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part V

Post by Valuethinker »

nisiprius wrote:Green Hazard, 1946, by Manning Coles. The third in a row, I will probably take a break after this one, too much dessert. But it is awfully funny AND like so many mysteries it is an interesting picture of a time and place. Full of funny wisecracks, or at least I think they're funny:
"Is that really cheese, Heinrich? It much more strongly resembles my soap ration."

"It is, nevertheless, cheese, Herr Professor. It will not lather," said the waiter cheerfully, for this guest always tipped well.

"Nor does my soap, my good Heinrich, so there is not even that difference."
Nobody who lived in Britain 1939-1952 forgets the rationing. One of the few times in history a democratic society inflicted that degree of control on its citizens. The book 1984 by George Orwell is partly based on that.

In Helen Dunsmore's 'The Siege' about the battle for Leningrad, there is an entirely memorable scene (based on real documents) where the Soviet bureaucrat works out that he gives civilians another 10% more calories (from something like 750 to 820 per day) the increase in war production from the falling death rate will offset the additional calorific cost. People were boiling and eating their leather belts. Rats and cockroaches were the only meat available. But that was a totalitarian regime. When the Germans invaded USSR they quite deliberately figured out they could only afford to feed c. 60% of the population in the occupied territories-- the rest would have to die.

The movie 'A Very Private Function' with Michael Palin sends up the period in English history perfectly.

The TV mystery series 'Foyle's War' is often about spivs (black marketeers) and the cockney wide-boy character of Private Walker in Dad's Army (about a local Home Guard unit in 'Warrington Upon Sea' mobilized to defend against German invasion) is a well recognized figure of an East End black marketeer of the time.

For Britain under siege, classic films of the time include 'Fires Were Started' (a 'drama documentary' about London's fire brigade during the Blitz) and 'Danger UXB' (1980s show set in a bomb disposal unit).

And also the wartime movie 'Went the Day Well?' which although made during the war (and, badly, remade as 'The Eagle has Landed') manages to be quite subversive-- German paratroopers take over an English village.

On novels 'The Ministry of Fear' by Graham Greene is a thriller beginning during the London Blitz. And 'SS GB' is a memorable thriller by Len Deighton about Britain under Nazi occupation.

There was a recent movie and book about a Welsh Valley under Nazi occupation in winter, name escapes me, when all the men have disappeared-- gone underground to join a preplanned resistance, the 'stay behind force' Churchill organized (during the war, many wives thought their husbands were having affairs, due to their nightly disappearances on exercises, such was the level of secrecy maintained).
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part V

Post by Default User BR »

Valuethinker wrote:Marvin the Android is of course the real hero of the series ;-).
Not that anyone would appreciate it.


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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part V

Post by Fallible »

Valuethinker wrote:
Fallible wrote:[...
Valuethinker,

Thanks for the leads to further Adams reading, which I’ll pursue when I’m done with HGTTG (I’m in no hurry and already sorry it will end). Although I didn’t know about his wife’s planning work, I could understand that part from my early news reporting days covering city planning councils and appreciate how far Adams’s imagination and satire took it. From the sheer energy in what I’ve read so far, it’s hard to believe Adams could ever have writer’s block. Almost every sentence has me laughing when what begins with the extraordinary ends with the hilarious ordinary, such as during the terrifying destruction of Earth. “The ships hung in the sky in much the same way that bricks don’t.” Then there is this line, “The news was always heavily edited to fit the rhythms of the music,” which should remind us Bogleheads of the CNBC format - heavily tailored to fit the short-term rhythms of speculating. Character after character has a distinct personality and, so far, an unexpected trait (the most recent I've come across is the goofy philosopher Vroomfondel seeing "demands" where there are none). What fun and thanks again for your Topic on Adams. :beer

Fallible
It began as a radio serial and *then* was a series of books. And *then* a TV show (not bad) and then a movie (the less said, the better).

So it had an unusual history, and Adams laboured long and hard over every bit of narration and dialogue, to meet the BBC's weekly radio schedule.

Marvin the Android is of course the real hero of the series ;-).
Ah, yes, Marvin. I'm still reading "Hitchhiker" (savoring it slowly), but already Marvin is becoming my hero. He grows slowly on you and next thing you know, you miss him when he's not around, worry he might never come back, feel relieved when he's back, worry next time he might not come back, and wonder whether Adams might err and let that happen. I also marvel at how well Adams has Marvin pegged, but I can't quite buy the "paranoid" android since much of the time he's absolutely right: nobody does care. Is the "metal man" more human than whatever else it is that everybody else is?

Especially liked the face-off between Marvin and the battle machine that shows off its superior strength by blasting out a floor of a 15-story building - the same 15th floor it's sitting on - and ending up smashed to bits below and Marvin again victorious.

I wonder if Adams's special labors over narration might explain why almost every sentence seems to be unusually and beautifully detailed. I find myself going back to read them many times to be sure I got it all and I often get more each time.

Fallible
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part V

Post by LaraZP »

I read all of Adams' books in my early twenties and although they were the funniest books I have ever read, they also left me with a very sad aftertaste.
It was after reading them that I was left pondering the futility of life.
A couple of decades later these books still have a special place in my heart.

When I visited the Highgate Cemetery in London I came across his tombstone:

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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part V

Post by chaz »

LaraZP wrote:I read all of Adams' books in my early twenties and although they were the funniest books I have ever read, they also left me with a very sad aftertaste.
It was after reading them that I was left pondering the futility of life.
A couple of decades later these books still have a special place in my heart.

When I visited the Highgate Cemetery in London I came across his tombstone:

Image
By "the futility of life", do you mean that we are going to die?
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part V

Post by VictoriaF »

chaz wrote:By "the futility of life", do you mean that we are going to die?
Not only we'll die, but few will care. And then they'll die.

Victoria
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part V

Post by nisiprius »

Someday I would like to visit George Bernard Shaw's tombstone, but not enough to make a special trip:

"I knew if I stayed around long enough, something like this would happen."

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As for the futility of life, "For the living know that they shall die: but the dead know not any thing, neither have they any more a reward; for the memory of them is forgotten. Also their love, and their hatred, and their envy, is now perished; neither have they any more a portion for ever in any thing that is done under the sun... Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might; for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, whither thou goest." (King Solomon, traditional attribution).
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part V

Post by Fallible »

VictoriaF wrote:
chaz wrote:By "the futility of life", do you mean that we are going to die?
Not only we'll die, but few will care. And then they'll die.

Victoria
A line from Marvin!
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part V

Post by Blues »

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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part V

Post by VictoriaF »

For my tombstone I will use my current Bogleheads signature.

Victoria
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part V

Post by Blues »

VictoriaF wrote:
chaz wrote:By "the futility of life", do you mean that we are going to die?
Not only we'll die, but few will care. And then they'll die.

Victoria
When my father passed away a couple of years ago, (the day he was moved from the hospital into the hospice), one of the last things he said was:

"This is the worst vacation ever."
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part V

Post by Fallible »

VictoriaF wrote:For my tombstone I will use my current Bogleheads signature.

Victoria
For mine, I'm thinking about this from a Matt Groening comic: "Nice Try."
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part V

Post by VictoriaF »

Fallible wrote:
VictoriaF wrote:For my tombstone I will use my current Bogleheads signature.

Victoria
For mine, I'm thinking about this from a Matt Groening comic: "Nice Try."
Yours is better!

Cheers,
Victoria
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part V

Post by chaz »

VictoriaF wrote:
chaz wrote:By "the futility of life", do you mean that we are going to die?
Not only we'll die, but few will care. And then they'll die.

Victoria
The last chapter in the story of life.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part V

Post by VictoriaF »

chaz wrote:
VictoriaF wrote:
chaz wrote:By "the futility of life", do you mean that we are going to die?
Not only we'll die, but few will care. And then they'll die.

Victoria
The last chapter in the story of life.
Even a kindle will be extinguished.

Victoria
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part V

Post by LadyGeek »

Back to books...
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part V

Post by nisiprius »

William Lashner, The Accounting. Off to a good start. (He wrote a great series of, I want to say detective novels, but we some other name--legal thrillers? about Victor Carl, who is a lawyer in Philadelphia but not a Philadelpia lawyer. He decided to end that series).

I finished Green Hazard by Manning Coles and liked it a lot and plan to dip into this series some more in future, but I'm giving it a rest for now. This is a series of comic spy thrillers that, originally and in this one anyway, concern a wisecracking British secret agent in wartime Germany. Some of it is distinctly black comedy. It's not intended to be taken seriously; amnesia and mistaken identity and all the rest of it. What I found a little hard to take in this one is that whereas in previous ones I am uncoupled from thinking too much of the reality--setting fire to a Zeppelin factory, for example. But in this one, he does things like sending out gift boxes of exploding cigars--very very serious exploding cigars that not only have a lethal blast but also spew incendiaries around the room--while all but snickering about the funny pranks they are pulling on Goering and Goebbels' people. That sort of thing, and tales of "resistance" movements, used to seem exhilarating when you only imagined these tactics being used by good guys against bad guys. Ha-ha guess what extra stuff we packed into this explosive device, what a joke it will be when the curtains and carpets catch fire, seem less amusing in these days of letter bombs, IEDs, and the Boston Marathon bombings.

Goebbels finally figures out that Hambledon's Professor Ulreth is a fraud. Hambledon's final escape from Germany is clever. He's been impersonating a brilliant chemist developing a remarkable new explosive, having switched allegiance to Germany after taking money from some Swedish businessmen and promising to give them the explosive. Naturally, the Swedish businessmen attempt to reach him at his secret laboratory in order to get either the formula for the explosive or their money back. Hambledon complains to the German higher-ups, who declare the Swedes persona non grata, escort them out of Germany, and send out an APB to the effect that any Swedes trying to contact Professor Ulreth are to be arrested and deported on sight. Hambledon and his co-worker then make their mistake by impersonating Swedes and telling cops they are businessmen trying to get their money back from Ulreth, and despite their indignant protest, escape from under Goebbels nose by having cops bump two high-priority passengers off an airline flight and forcing Hambledon into the plane.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part V

Post by randomwalk »

I just finished Revolutionary Summer by Joseph Ellis.

Now reading Transatlantic by Colum McCann.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part V

Post by ruralavalon »

Murder on the Orient Express, by Agatha Christie.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part V

Post by gerrym51 »

Red Star Falling.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part V

Post by nisiprius »

ruralavalon wrote:Murder on the Orient Express, by Agatha Christie.
??? Isn't the book entitled Murder on the Calais Coach?
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part V

Post by gerrym51 »

nisiprius wrote:
ruralavalon wrote:Murder on the Orient Express, by Agatha Christie.
??? Isn't the book entitled Murder on the Calais Coach?
different countries different titles. some times Agatha Christie books can have 5-6 titles depending on what part of the world your in
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