Axe Posted August 11, 2020 Report Share Posted August 11, 2020 Whatcha reading? Thank god for the kindle.. I have a ton of books in storage above the garage but my eyes aren't what they used to be so,,, thank god for my kindle.. I read every night as I go to bed.. At present? Ghost Rider--Neil Peart.. The man endured the loss of his daughter AND wife within a year. He hopped on his BMW motorcycle and hit the road. The book is essentially a diary of those travels. I've endured the sudden loss of a daughter as well, so I completely understand his thought process and involuntary acts in the immediate aftermath. I can't imagine losing my wife that soon after.. Neil Peart was the drummer and lyricist for RUSH.. RIP😢 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Gipper Posted August 11, 2020 Report Share Posted August 11, 2020 Journey of the Phaorohs, Clive Cussler book. Just finished. (book on disc). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Westside Steve Posted August 11, 2020 Report Share Posted August 11, 2020 Excellent idea for a topic. WSS Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DieHardBrownsFan Posted August 11, 2020 Report Share Posted August 11, 2020 Well, no new movies, no new TV shows, no sports almost. Reading books is about the only thing you can do. Maybe its actually a good thing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Gipper Posted August 11, 2020 Report Share Posted August 11, 2020 2 hours ago, DieHardBrownsFan said: Well, no new movies, no new TV shows, no sports almost. Reading books is about the only thing you can do. Maybe its actually a good thing. Well, with Netflix and prime I can see all kinds of movies that I had never seen before even if they are not "new". And those services, along with HBO have put out some new series. See the thread on Perry Mason from HBO. They have some others as well that I did not watch. As for sports...well, both baseball and basketball are ongoing now, and hockey. This time of year usually basketball and hockey would have been over for some time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DieHardBrownsFan Posted August 11, 2020 Report Share Posted August 11, 2020 watered down baseball and basketball (which no one watches). All the series on now were made before the pandemic started, including Perry Mason. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Gipper Posted August 11, 2020 Report Share Posted August 11, 2020 3 hours ago, DieHardBrownsFan said: watered down baseball and basketball (which no one watches). All the series on now were made before the pandemic started, including Perry Mason. I do not think for a moment that the actual games in baseball are watered down at all. Not at all. In fact, they are more intensified because of this short....60 game season. Somewhat true with the basketball...in that some of these games do not count for anything for some teams who have their playoff positioning set. But for those fighting for a spot....not at all. Soon the playoffs will start, and that will not be watered down. And certainly not the hockey. They always go full tilt boogie. And while maybe some of these new series were made before the start of the pandemic....they are still being aired for the first time....right now!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DieHardBrownsFan Posted August 11, 2020 Report Share Posted August 11, 2020 Watching such an exciting season, with cardboard fake fans, and fake fan noise. How exciting........ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Gipper Posted August 11, 2020 Report Share Posted August 11, 2020 Gonna start listening to Cajun Justice.....by James Patterson and Jason Axum. OK...here is a question: What is the deal with James Patterson "co-authoring" books with all these people and then putting out like a book every month or two? Is it just Bullshit that he has much if any input into the writing of these? Or, does he just slap his name on these and get a paycheck (kind of like Trump and most building bearing his name)? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Gipper Posted August 11, 2020 Report Share Posted August 11, 2020 1 minute ago, DieHardBrownsFan said: Watching such an exciting season, with cardboard fake fans, and fake fan noise. How exciting........ Well, maybe you should watch the play on the field and not worry so much about that other stuff. (though I basically agree with you....the fake noise more than the fake fans. I have seen some teams get pretty creative with what they do with their fake fans) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Westside Steve Posted August 12, 2020 Report Share Posted August 12, 2020 13 hours ago, The Gipper said: Gonna start listening to Cajun Justice.....by James Patterson and Jason Axum. OK...here is a question: What is the deal with James Patterson "co-authoring" books with all these people and then putting out like a book every month or two? Is it just Bullshit that he has much if any input into the writing of these? Or, does he just slap his name on these and get a paycheck (kind of like Trump and most building bearing his name)? Patterson is an amazingly productive writer. He has an uncanny ability to take any structure, idea, outline of a good story and flesh it out. A lot of writers might have a great idea for a story but not the talent to take that idea from a synopsis to a novel and they wind up teaming up with Patterson who can do that. Kind of like a great arranger, producer can take a simple song from an artist and turn it into a masterpiece. Also I can imagine that somebody like Patterson might run out of story ideas and this would be the perfect match up. I'll give you an example, Franz Liszt used to travel the countryside picking up Snippets of folk tunes which he would embellish and turn into full-blown orchestral works. WSS 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Westside Steve Posted August 12, 2020 Report Share Posted August 12, 2020 But back to the topic at hand I'm currently about two-thirds of the way through exodus by Leon Uris. It's the story of the Jewish people through trials and tribulations leading up to the creation of the nation of Israel. The horror how the Holocaust is shocking even by today's standards and this book was written in the sixties. I do a lot of audio books because my eyesight sucks. This one is much longer than most weighing and it about 30 hours. I'm a member of audible.com. the membership includes 24 unabridged audiobooks a year and I always run short purchase talk to you more before it rolls over. The only other Leon Uris book I've read was Trinity about Ireland to. Like Ken Follett Uris writes in-depth historical novels based around fictitious characters. Even though those characters didn't exist the stories and situations that frame them are amazingly accurate. Gipper and I are both big fans of the Saxon Stories painstakingly detailed historically but based on characters who may or may not have actually existed, as well but that will be for another thread. (a bit like my songs the Battle of Lake Erie and Sandy and beaver canal the history of the songs is valid but they're told from the perspective hope one of my ancestors Levi Simmons who may or may not have had anything to do with those stories) WSS Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Gipper Posted August 12, 2020 Report Share Posted August 12, 2020 I read Trinity back about the same time that Shogun had come out. In my mind I always equated the two as being epic novels (I also read the Shogun novel) about the history and culture of particular lands...(Ireland and Japan). I thought it would have been a good move by the producers of Shogun to do a mini-series of Trinity......but, of course, that has never happened. In my opinion the TV people were very shortsighted, believing that the appeal of Shogun was merely that it was about Japan, and they started promoting all thing Japan. But I felt the real appeal of Shogun, and Trinity was, as I said, the novels study of history/culture....which could have been translated to another nation's history/culture. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Westside Steve Posted August 12, 2020 Report Share Posted August 12, 2020 Yes I read Trinity and Shogun decades ago when my eyes were better. Edge of Eternity fall of Giants at Winter of the world was it great and huge Trilogy by Ken Follett. Same kind of attention to Historic detail. Like the Saxon stories but recent world history. WSS Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Westside Steve Posted August 12, 2020 Report Share Posted August 12, 2020 PS if anybody wants to do the audio book of Exodus the narrator is absolutely great. Some are not. WSS Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Gipper Posted August 12, 2020 Report Share Posted August 12, 2020 2 hours ago, Westside Steve said: Yes I read Trinity and Shogun decades ago when my eyes were better. Edge of Eternity fall of Giants at Winter of the world was it great and huge Trilogy by Ken Follett. Same kind of attention to Historic detail. Like the Saxon stories but recent world history. WSS Do not think I have read those.....may have to pick them up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Gipper Posted August 12, 2020 Report Share Posted August 12, 2020 2 hours ago, Westside Steve said: PS if anybody wants to do the audio book of Exodus the narrator is absolutely great. Some are not. WSS Yep. Most narrators of books I have had on disc have been good. But, yes, for a very few it has been: I cannot listen to this it was so poorly done. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Westside Steve Posted August 12, 2020 Report Share Posted August 12, 2020 22 minutes ago, The Gipper said: Do not think I have read those.....may have to pick them up. It's a Trilogy each book around 30 hours long. Historical thing is that if his character goes to a particular place and listens to a speech by a particular historical figure it's an event that actually happened in the transcript as reported in his book is factual. WSS 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Axe Posted September 5, 2020 Author Report Share Posted September 5, 2020 For anyone that loves travel.. I highly recommend "Ghost Rider" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Gipper Posted September 5, 2020 Report Share Posted September 5, 2020 New Season of The Boys started today. Right now, they only had 3 episodes available. Not sure what the plan is beyond that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Westside Steve Posted September 5, 2020 Report Share Posted September 5, 2020 One of my favorite books of all time is TuneIn The Beatles biography by Mark lewisohn. I think the guy is seriously dragging his feet on volume to put in his own words... Not particularly great news but here it is. https://www.marklewisohn.net/volume-2/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TexasAg1969 Posted September 17, 2020 Report Share Posted September 17, 2020 Now listening to A River Runs Through It by Norman Maclean. There is a reason this is my favorite all time scene in a movie. Like Norman as an old man I love being alone in the wilderness, though just like in this scene many who love me are concerned that I still do so at my age. But to me it's still a spiritual journey every time I go. And as I have told my wife each time she worriers as I go, I will be fine whether I ever come back or not because..............................a river runs through it. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Westside Steve Posted September 17, 2020 Report Share Posted September 17, 2020 just a couple days ago I finished up Harlan coben's latest the boy from the woods. I'm a huge Harlan Coben fan and I didn't love this one UNTIL I did. Cool thing about this guy is you have to back up and listen to the ending a couple times meeting at least the last hour or so. I hate Mysteries that just pull some ridiculous ending out of their ass that he never does. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Westside Steve Posted September 17, 2020 Report Share Posted September 17, 2020 Also began and finished the Hunter by Richard Stark. Interesting piece of early 60s hard boiled crime fiction. the the audio version only ran 5 hours unabridged. Looks like it's an ongoing series featuring a mug named Parker who gets double-crossed and sets out to get vengeance. The book was made into a film starring Mel Gibson called Payback. I looked back over there movie notes and don't exactly remember it but I was struck that they changed some names for what seems to be absolutely no reason. Don't remember the movie plot. WSS Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TexasAg1969 Posted September 19, 2020 Report Share Posted September 19, 2020 Well I'm reading some sources within the Bible recommended to my by a friend of over 50 years who is a Bible scholar. He's going to have to have open heart surgery and for the first time facing head-on his own mortality. I've been sharing with him about that as a true friend who spent nearly a year facing that same thing very early in life and in return he's been sharing with me his expertise on the Bible. It started with my question to him based on prior discussions here about whether a person could lose their soul if they did not guard it from evil even though they had been saved. Since he is an ordained minister with a degree from the Dallas Theological Seminary I'm finding it very enlightening/instructive and since I have an advanced degree in facing personal mortality (😁), he's finding that very enlightening/instructive. Nothing like a lifelong friendship for sure. No holds barred straightforward talk with love and understanding the basis for all discussions on many levels going two ways. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Westside Steve Posted October 9, 2020 Report Share Posted October 9, 2020 So like I said before my fucked up eyesight makes it hard for me to read a printed page so I do a lot of audiobooks. I think I've mentioned the Parker series by Richard Stark before. I'm on the 9th one already out of like 24. If you do audio books at all these came free with my audible.com subscription and I rolled the dice on the first one and just got hooked. The guy is an excellent fluid writer and so far the narration of each one has been top-notch. Parker is a criminal and not a particularly nice guy at all. Each of these books centers on a particular crime he's involved with , every one it's fascinating so far they are hard to put down. The series began in the early sixties so there's not nearly as much graphic violence or sex as we might find it today oh, it's just hinted at. None of them have gone over four and a half hours so far so you can mow through the series pretty quickly. https://www.donaldwestlake.com/parker WSS Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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