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Have you read any good books lately?
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runner
Posts: 357
Joined: Dec. 5 2008
From: New Jersey USA
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 RE: Have you read any good books lately? (in reply to MikeC)
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A few recent good reads:
The Secret History of Wonder Woman, by Jill Lepore. Fantastic account of the creation of Wonder Woman comics.
The Strange Case of the Rickety Cossack, by Ian Tattersall. Excellent review of the hominid fossil record.
The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat, by Oliver Sacks. Sympathetic tales of strangely afflicted people Sacks treated. Older book, but Sacks' recent death triggered my reading it.
Recent autobiographies of Richard Dawkins and Stephen Hawking; also Oliver Sacks (don't remember the titles).
After one reads Master and Commander by Patrick O'Brian, you will be sorely tempted to read at least the next dozen books in the series. Yield to that temptation.
West With the Night, by Beryl Markham. An amazing woman.
Some books to take to the desert island:
Moby Dick
Boswell's Life of Samuel Johnson
The Joys of Yiddish, by Leo Rosten
The Lord of the Rings, and The Silmarillion
The Civilization of Rome, by Donald R. Dudley
The Journals of Lewis and Clark, edited by Bernard DeVoto
So many good books........
_____________________________
The fox knows many things, but the hedgehog knows one big thing.
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Date Oct. 2 2015 19:15:05
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BarkellWH
Posts: 3458
Joined: Jul. 12 2009
From: Washington, DC
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RE: Have you read any good books lately? (in reply to MikeC)
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Whether on the road or sitting at home by the fireplace, I highly recommend the "Flashman" series by George McDonald Fraser. It is a series of 12 books that follow the career of Harry Flashman, a fictional character who takes part in various 19th century British imperial adventures, as well as a couple in America. Flashman is a cad, a bounder, and a poltroon, who in his attempts to avoid battle and conflict always ends up appearing to be a hero. It is a riot to read these books, and what is best is that Fraser has his history dead on right.
The series begins with the novel entitled "Flashman," and it superimposes flashman on the British debacle in Afghanistan in 1842, when they retreated from Kabul and all but one were killed as they made their way through the passes in winter and were picked off by the Afghans. The one lone survivor who made his way to the British fort at Jalalabad was an army surgeon named William Brydon. All of the historical events are accurately portrayed, but Flashman, of course, is the one element that is added, and he ends up surviving along with Brydon. The series continues with Flashman appearing in the Sikh War; alongside James Brooke, the "White Rajah" of Sarawak; and even in America at "Custer's Last Stand" in 1876, where he, naturally, survives the massacre of Custer's 7th Cavalry at the Little Big Horn.
There are so many good histories and biographies out there that it is hard to pick one. Nevertheless, I recommend William Manchester's magisterial three-volume biography of Winston Churchill entitled "The Last Lion." Manchester had a stroke and passed away before finishing the final volume, but he picked Paul Reid to complete it using his notes. In my opinion, Churchill should have been Time Magazine's "Man of the Century" in 2000, although I have no problem with Einstein as the pick. Manchester's is the finest of the many Churchill biographies.
Another interesting biography is "Cicero: The Life and Times of Rome's Greatest Politician," by Anthony Everitt. Cicero was not only Rome's greatest politician, he was it's greatest orator as well.
If you want to learn a lot of good history while having a rollicking good read following Flashman's adventures, the Flashman series is for you. If you have an interest in Churchill, Manchester's biography tops the list. And the Everitt biography of Cicero is first-rate.
Bill
_____________________________
And the end of the fight is a tombstone white,
With the name of the late deceased,
And the epitaph drear, "A fool lies here,
Who tried to hustle the East."
--Rudyard Kipling
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Date Oct. 3 2015 0:32:25
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runner
Posts: 357
Joined: Dec. 5 2008
From: New Jersey USA
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RE: Have you read any good books lately? (in reply to MikeC)
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Estebanana and I find ourselves in complete agreement in our assessment of Leonard Meyer's difficult book on 20th century trends in music and the arts, Music, the Arts, and Ideas-- it is definitely not a book to read in airports, etc. The book requires three things (at least) often in short supply in many readers: a degree of pre-existing familiarity with the book's topics, an ability to follow the author's detailed arguments, and an open and receptive mind. Lacking any of these qualities, some readers fall into somnolence, or, worse yet, lash out at the book or its author or its enthusiasts with spasms of resentful bombast rather than respectful, civil expressions of disagreement; Stephen and I find that sort of behavior inexcusable. 
_____________________________
The fox knows many things, but the hedgehog knows one big thing.
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REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE |
Date Oct. 3 2015 14:31:25
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estebanana
Posts: 9351
Joined: Oct. 16 2009
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RE: Have you read any good books lately? (in reply to runner)
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quote:
Estebanana and I find ourselves in complete agreement in our assessment of Leonard Meyer's difficult book on 20th century trends in music and the arts, Music, the Arts, and Ideas-- it is definitely not a book to read in airports, etc. The book requires three things (at least) often in short supply in many readers: a degree of pre-existing familiarity with the book's topics, an ability to follow the author's detailed arguments, and an open and receptive mind. Lacking any of these qualities, some readers fall into somnolence, or, worse yet, lash out at the book or its author or its enthusiasts with spasms of resentful bombast rather than respectful, civil expressions of disagreement; Stephen and I find that sort of behavior inexcusable.
Nobody teaches this book because it's marginal. In six years of college course work in the arts I've never seen this book on a syllabus. None of my professor friends are or ever have been teaching this book, I've never seen this book in an anthology. I don't currently know nor have I ever met a professor who even mentioned this book. This book is not taught, because it's a mess.
And I find it funny as hell you flaunt such a lemon. If you really want to read something good about music, Stravinsky's and or Copland's Harvard lectures are far better. Copland talks about how to listen to music and Stravinsky talks about interpretation. I would take those on a trip if I wanted to read something "theoretical".
One of my friends heads the Spanish dept. a major university, she teaches some of the philosophy classes that use Iberian texts. It's funny how she refers to Ortega Y Gasset. She says 'Ortega Und Gasset', then clicks her heels like an SS officer. Then she laughs and teaches the class. Ortega y Gasset is kind of narrow, comes off as dictatorial, so she takes the piss out. She knows the material cold; A pro does not have to have breathless reverence for a text they find problematic.
It's far better to find problems and question a text, than to just read and accept everything. It's not an essential book, in my book. It's about three times as long as it needs to be and it reads like a telephone book.
One of the things I dislike about this book in particular is the constant reference-name dropping that is only clever, but becomes a cloying waste of my time. I don't need to read a book like this to make me feel smart because get the references. I get the feeling he is showing off the breadth of this knowledge at the expense of making the book much, much longer than it needs to be to make his point. It's fine to be smart and be able to drop references, but there a difference between making a book work and flattering the reader for getting though a mine field g gratuitous reference making name dropping. This kind of academic game is boring, even perhaps 15% of what he talks about resonates, they rest is filler I don't need.
Do I care what anyone thinks of how and why I read? How I judge a book, how determine what reading I need to do? Hell no. Not one bit.
_____________________________
https://www.stephenfaulkguitars.com
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Date Oct. 3 2015 16:13:00
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BarkellWH
Posts: 3458
Joined: Jul. 12 2009
From: Washington, DC
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RE: Have you read any good books lately? (in reply to estebanana)
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quote:
How does the bio by Boris Johnson stack up to the three by Manchester and Reid? Are you familiar with that one?
Yes, and it does not come close to Manchester's magisterial biography. Johnson is a British politician who is both Mayor of London and a Member of Parliament, and his biography of Churchill, entitled "The Churchill Factor: How One Man Made History," frankly, is glib and lacks a historian's depth. What's worse, it is apparent that Johnson compares himself favorably to Churchill, and that he wrote the book as more a political tract than a biography.
What makes Manchester's triple-decker such a magnificent work is not only the research that went into it, but the quality of his writing. Manchester's writing is exquisitely beautiful and a joy to read.
One of the best books about Churchill is John Lukac's, "Five Days in London: May 1940." It is not a biography; rather, it focuses on how Churchill prevailed in the debate within his War Cabinet over the question of whether to negotiate with Hitler or to continue the war. Churchill had been Prime Minister only since May 10, and the debate at 10 Downing that took place May 24-28, was one of those events that can legitimately be described as a "hinge of history."
Things were going badly on the Continent, and thousands of British soldiers were bottled up at Dunkirk. There were those like Lord Halifax who wanted to reach out to Mussolini to try and strike a deal with Hitler. Churchill was having none of it, and that crucial debate, in which Churchill prevailed, set the course of the war and probably saved Western Civilization. I highly recommend Lukacs' book. It is one of those works that reminds one of just how crucial Churchill's leadership was for the conduct of the war, both for the UK and for the Allies.
Bill
_____________________________
And the end of the fight is a tombstone white,
With the name of the late deceased,
And the epitaph drear, "A fool lies here,
Who tried to hustle the East."
--Rudyard Kipling
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Date Oct. 4 2015 1:30:52
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estebanana
Posts: 9351
Joined: Oct. 16 2009
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RE: Have you read any good books lately? (in reply to BarkellWH)
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quote:
Yes, and it does not come close to Manchester's magisterial biography. Johnson is a British politician who is both Mayor of London and a Member of Parliament, and his biography of Churchill, entitled "The Churchill Factor: How One Man Made History," frankly, is glib and lacks a historian's depth. What's worse, it is apparent that Johnson compares himself favorably to Churchill, and that he wrote the book as more a political tract than a biography.
I heard him, Boris Johnson, speak on the radio in an interview, he was amusing to say the least. And I did pick up on his self comparison to Churchhill.
_____________________________
https://www.stephenfaulkguitars.com
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Date Oct. 4 2015 1:44:24
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BarkellWH
Posts: 3458
Joined: Jul. 12 2009
From: Washington, DC
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RE: Have you read any good books lately? (in reply to edguerin)
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quote:
I recently re-discovered Saki (H.H. Munro). Wonderfully ironic/sarcastic short stories.
"The Open Window," by Saki, is a classic. Another fine author of short stories is Somerset Maugham. Maugham wrote some very entertaining short stories, with British Malaya, the Pacific Islands, and other exotic locales as backdrops, from the 1920s through the 1940s, and they still hold up very well today. They usually, but not always, concern British expatriates and often have a surprising twist at the end. Three that are especially good are "Rain," "The Letter," and "The Outstation." But, frankly, they are all good.
Bill
_____________________________
And the end of the fight is a tombstone white,
With the name of the late deceased,
And the epitaph drear, "A fool lies here,
Who tried to hustle the East."
--Rudyard Kipling
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REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE |
Date Oct. 4 2015 9:02:58
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