What are you reading now?
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I always have several books 'on the go' at once. At the moment I'm enjoying Barack Obama's published works including 'A promised land'. Also the works of our greatest modern poet Sir John Betjeman, the great 18th century author Samuel Johnson, and musical biographies of 10cc, Sir Cliff Richard and Mark Lewisohn's never-ending Beatles biography (his answer to War and Peace).
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dirkmcquickly wrote:
I always have several books 'on the go' at once. At the moment I'm enjoying Barack Obama's published works including 'A promised land'. Also the works of our greatest modern poet Sir John Betjeman, the great 18th century author Samuel Johnson, and musical biographies of 10cc, Sir Cliff Richard and Mark Lewisohn's never-ending Beatles biography (his answer to War and Peace).
Are you reading Lewisohn's unabridged edition? It is fantastic!
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The Gnostic Gospels -Elaine Pagels and the Future of the Mind- Michio Kaku, Vermeer the Complete Works- Renzo Villa, Amsterdam- DK
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Missing Suzy Luvs Paul, her last post was January 11
Praying she’s OKAY!
Reading Code Breaker by Jennifer Doudna. She won a Nobel Peace Prize in 2020. She won it for the development of a method for genome editing.” That method, formally known as CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing but often called simply CRISPR, allows scientists to precisely cut any strand of DNA they wish. A new Medical tool of the future. It’s expected that we can eventually use it to heal many illnesses such as Sickle Cell anemia and eventually Cancer.
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The God Equation ~ Michio Kaku
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I'm enjoying The Thursday Murder Club, by Richard Osman. It's a huge seller here in the UK, and in fact the book has come to the attention of Steven Spielberg, who has acquired the film rights.
For those who don't know, Richard is a very popular TV quizmaster and creator of successful TV quizzes. The book is about a group of residents at a retirement home, who get together to investigate old murder cases, to pass the time. Then a murder happens close to home, and they are drawn into the police investigation. It's a bit like a comedy version of Agatha Christie.
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I'm reading "SERVING VICTORIA--Life In The Royal Household" by Kate Hubbard. It's about several of her servants' life while working for Queen Victoria. It's a really in-depth peek at behind -the-scenes at the Palace. The author based her book on her research of the royal archives.and letters by and to the servants. Fascinating. There's more to Victoria, than most people have assumed.
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LITTLE LAURA wrote:
I'm reading "SERVING VICTORIA--Life In The Royal Household" by Kate Hubbard. It's about several of her servants' life while working for Queen Victoria. It's a really in-depth peek at behind -the-scenes at the Palace. The author based her book on her research of the royal archives.and letters by and to the servants. Fascinating. There's more to Victoria, than most people have assumed.
That sounds fascinating Little Laura. I know Victoria had a lot of facets to her interesting life. I remember the movie about her Indian servant Abdul Karim, whom she was very close to.
Right now I’m reading National Geographic about the Titanic. Lots of great photos of things that have been found and very useful illustrations. May they all rest In Peace.
also the Tattooist of Auschwitz by Heather Morris
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Lawrence of Arabia; The Authorized biography of T. E. Lawrence by Jeremy Wilson.
It is a huge book and very detailed. I am early on in the book. Lawrence is 21 years old , at Oxford and returning from his first trip to Syria, where he walked most all of three months alone looking at castles for his thesis. He feet are naturally trashed, so he is taking a cruise home to England to rest his feet.
I have read other biographies about Lawrence, this one looks the best. It is my opinion that Lawrence was mad. I mean his trip to the Middle East that I mentioned seems typical of Lawrence. He was an extremist. His Brough Superior SS100 was a 1000cc Motorcycle (his seventh of same) and reached speeds of over 100+ miles per hour. This was what he was riding the day he was killed. I have a Scooter which does 32 mph and that would be plenty to kill me on a highway.
Well, enough about Lawrence. I love to read biographies mostly. No fiction here.
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strbfields4ever wrote:
Lawrence of Arabia; The Authorized biography of T. E. Lawrence by Jeremy Wilson.
It is a huge book and very detailed. I am early on in the book. Lawrence is 21 years old , at Oxford and returning from his first trip to Syria, where he walked most all of three months alone looking at castles for his thesis. He feet are naturally trashed, so he is taking a cruise home to England to rest his feet.
I have read other biographies about Lawrence, this one looks the best. It is my opinion that Lawrence was mad. I mean his trip to the Middle East that I mentioned seems typical of Lawrence. He was an extremist. His Brough Superior SS100 was a 1000cc Motorcycle (his seventh of same) and reached speeds of over 100+ miles per hour. This was what he was riding the day he was killed. I have a Scooter which does 32 mph and that would be plenty to kill me on a highway.
Well, enough about Lawrence. I love to read biographies mostly. No fiction here.
He was only 47!
Have you read the unabridged version of Tune In by Mark Lewisohn? Fascinating stuff!
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I just finished "Kindred" by Octavia Butler. Wow. Just wow.
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love2travel wrote:
LITTLE LAURA wrote:
I'm reading "SERVING VICTORIA--Life In The Royal Household" by Kate Hubbard. It's about several of her servants' life while working for Queen Victoria. It's a really in-depth peek at behind -the-scenes at the Palace. The author based her book on her research of the royal archives.and letters by and to the servants. Fascinating. There's more to Victoria, than most people have assumed.
That sounds fascinating Little Laura. I know Victoria had a lot of facets to her interesting life. I remember the movie about her Indian servant Abdul Karim, whom she was very close to.
Right now I’m reading National Geographic about the Titanic. Lots of great photos of things that have been found and very useful illustrations. May they all rest In Peace.
also the Tattooist of Auschwitz by Heather Morris
I've always had a personal interest in the Titanic as my maternal Great-Grandfather was scheduled to work on the liner, when a message came aboard stating his wife, (my Great-Grandmother), had suddenly fallen critically ill and probably wouldn't survve. He left the Titanic (still in port), and went home, giving up what he thought was a lucrative job.. My G. Grandmother recovered--the night the ship went down. Great-Grandma was never seriously ill again. As Willaim Shatner said, weird or what?
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I just started "An Indigenous People's History of the United States." Pretty sure I'll learn a lot, and that much of it will depress the hell out of me.
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LITTLE LAURA wrote:
love2travel wrote:
LITTLE LAURA wrote:
I'm reading "SERVING VICTORIA--Life In The Royal Household" by Kate Hubbard. It's about several of her servants' life while working for Queen Victoria. It's a really in-depth peek at behind -the-scenes at the Palace. The author based her book on her research of the royal archives.and letters by and to the servants. Fascinating. There's more to Victoria, than most people have assumed.
That sounds fascinating Little Laura. I know Victoria had a lot of facets to her interesting life. I remember the movie about her Indian servant Abdul Karim, whom she was very close to.
Right now I’m reading National Geographic about the Titanic. Lots of great photos of things that have been found and very useful illustrations. May they all rest In Peace.
also the Tattooist of Auschwitz by Heather Morris
I've always had a personal interest in the Titanic as my maternal Great-Grandfather was scheduled to work on the liner, when a message came aboard stating his wife, (my Great-Grandmother), had suddenly fallen critically ill and probably wouldn't survve. He left the Titanic (still in port), and went home, giving up what he thought was a lucrative job.. My G. Grandmother recovered--the night the ship went down. Great-Grandma was never seriously ill again. As Willaim Shatner said, weird or what?
Wow Little Laura...that gave me chills! And you would not have been born!
My Dad had something similar happen, he missed getting on an air craft carrier that left the port in the war, and was never seen again. It seems like a direct providence doesn’t it?
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Yeah. It giives me chills too sometimes, even though I've known the family story for decades. Makes you wonder about the randomness of life. What has to, or not have to, happen for you to be born. I've longed to tell Dr. Robert Ballard (the one who found the Titanic) this story, but I haven't been able to track down a reliable address. Email or otherwise. Sigh.
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LITTLE LAURA wrote:
Yeah. It giives me chills too sometimes, even though I've known the family story for decades. Makes you wonder about the randomness of life. What has to, or not have to, happen for you to be born. I've longed to tell Dr. Robert Ballard (the one who found the Titanic) this story, but I haven't been able to track down a reliable address. Email or otherwise. Sigh.
Did you try contacting him through the Woods Hole Institution?
Also, he is employed by the University of Rhode Island.
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I'm reading the 1964 biografy of Brian Epstein-A sellarful of noise. Has someone read it? I personally think that it is wonderfull! I know, that some people hate Brian, some like him, but I relate to those, who loves him. I do not want to open a discussion about him now (but maybe sometimeee.... *laughs*), just want to say, that the book is really good. It's interesting to look on some historically important things (for example, beatlomania) from his point of view. And he has exellent sence of humor!!
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ensuring1294 wrote:
I'm reading the 1964 biografy of Brian Epstein-A sellarful of noise. Has someone read it? I personally think that it is wonderfull! I know, that some people hate Brian, some like him, but I relate to those, who loves him. I do not want to open a discussion about him now (but maybe sometimeee.... *laughs*), just want to say, that the book is really good. It's interesting to look on some historically important things (for example, beatlomania) from his point of view. And he has exellent sence of humor!!
Yes, I have the book "A Cellarful Of Noise" (1967 copy) Has been MANY years since I read it though.
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* This is something that I did more than a few years back:
I re-read some of the books that I read in school. Back then I read the book with class discussion, dissection, reports, quizzes, tests etc.
Because of this, I didn't read it the same as I am able to now. I probably did not appreciate it like I did on the re-read. There was no pressure to know the motives of the third minor character's development and retrospective intent.
I enjoyed many of these reads as a casual read - my own pace - my own way of reading and interpretation.
I haven't done this in some time, but wanted to mention this - if anyone wants to try something different or have done this too.