The Beast In Berlin (Crowley and Weimar Republic stuff) by Churton
Incidents of Travel in Yucatan by Stephens
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The Beast In Berlin (Crowley and Weimar Republic stuff) by Churton
Incidents of Travel in Yucatan by Stephens
Just finished 1984 George Orwell
currently 11/22/63 Steven King
before 1984 George Pelacanos Martini Shot
I've noticed no matter what site I see this thread on a LOT of people seem to be into really deep thinking type of literature. Not that I would ever question anyone's honesty. I'm more of a read for fun type guy.
Presently about to finish Star Island by Carl Hiaasen and read Make Me a recent Jack Reacher novel by Lee Child. Any other crime fiction fans here?
Currently reading Leading by Sir Alex
US viewers when asked how much PBS they watch claim far more hours than any of the actual monitoring methods reveal. Same phenomenon. We all want to be seen as more intellectual than we actually are.Quote:
Originally Posted by biggdawg
Personally, I just stick with the Ladybird series ... ;)
http://www.primaryopinion.com/sites/...le_4830_4.jpeg
Cocaine Train by Stephen Smith. "Tracing my bloodline through Colombia".
Railways,
Everyday life in Colombia during the 1990's.
Just finished So You Don't Get Lost in the Neighborhood by Patrick Modiano
A short novella set in Paris and the in the tangled and confused memories of a lonely and paranoid old Steppenwolf. It's an post-modern, existential mystery. Not everyone's cup of tea (I would presume). It was my first experience with Nobelist writer. I'll probably give him another try or two.
Currently reading Falling in Love with Hominids by Nalo Hopkinson, a Jamaican writer of "speculative fiction." This is a collection of some of her fantastical short stories, full of magic and wonder. Also my first experience with Nalo's Caribbean flavored fiction. If I saw her on the shelf, I wouldn't hesitate picking her up.
Millennium trilogy
Yup. Read all the Reacher series , Hiaasen is good too. All the way back to Lawrence Block.Quote:
Originally Posted by biggdawg
You may enjoy Orwell's "Burmese Days" a great read , based upon his experience in the Colonial British Foreign Service. He was born in British India and his father and he both served. Biting reportage about the social injustice of colonialism in Burma .Quote:
Originally Posted by donaghey30
Devine adoratrice and vengeful spirit even though I've read the latter twice...great thread
The books sound Interesting, the film didn't get good reviews but I liked it. I love dystopian sci fi themes and these children are pushed into war... I forgot to order these gonna check the local oxfam which always has a good range of books if not than ordering the series. Thanks for the reminder .Quote:
Originally Posted by BellaBellucci
James Ellroy is probably my favorite crime writer. The guy is brilliant in a twisted way. Of course I'm a big Elmore Leonard fan as well. RIP. I've tried a lot of the most popular and or acclaimed people in the genre. I love stuff that's either hard boiled or quirky. Currently reading House of Thieves by Charles Belfour. It's set in 1886 New York and I'm enjoying it so far.Quote:
Originally Posted by sukumvit boy
Have you ever read any of the Serge Storms series by Tim Dorsey? I know it sounds trite but he's like Carl Hiaasen on acid.
You ever read any Jim Thompson? The Killer Inside Me, Population 1280, The Grifters, The Getaway. If you like hard boiled, the guy is excellent. Even darker and more twisted than Ellroy...but very difficult to like one but not the other.Quote:
Originally Posted by biggdawg
Thompson also helped Kubrick write screenplays of Paths of Glory and The Killings...but Kubrick only gave him credit for writing "dialogue" for the Killings which was surely unfair but that's a longer story.
Not into classics of literature but this comment reminds me of when people respond to a sentence with a multi-syllable word by accusing the speaker of trying to confuse or impress them. I'm sure some people like good literature because they get enjoyment out of reading it. There are probably people who read Melville, Dickens, or Orwell because they have a different temperament and can delay gratification.Quote:
Originally Posted by biggdawg
The 'classics' are appreciated for both form and content, that is, the way the writer writes, and what he or she writes about. Taste then tends to determine whether a reader prefers, say in the 19th century, Balzac to Dickens or Cooper to Eliot, or in the 20th century the intensely stylish modernists like Conrad, Woolf and Joyce to the plain narrative/content driven books by writers such as Kurt Vonnegut and Cormac McCarthy. There is room for all, just as some readers prioritise a genre in their reading -say, 'science fiction' or 'crime' and there may be a distinction between literary fiction and popular fiction, but that is not for me to judge.Quote:
Originally Posted by broncofan
One small point, I don't now if people are intimidated by Melville, perhaps because Moby-Dick is such a large book -but Melville's literary genius is on show in some short stories, notably Bartleby, which I imagine is a classic for law students as well as the general reader. I also recommend Billy Budd, as the execution of the 'Handsome sailor' is surely one of the most beautiful examples of English prose that we have to read, again and again and again.
http://xroads.virginia.edu/~HYPER/bb/Chapter26.html
I just checked out "Scarlett Hawthorne"......not the book, the new Grooby chick!
But it started me to thinking about a short story by Hawthorne that I read years ago and want to re-read, The Birthmark.
It's about a guy that marries a perfect woman except for one flaw, a small red hand shaped blemish on her left cheek.
While he sees past the blemish at first and they are happy, the longer they stay married the more and more he becomes obsessed with that little imperfection, and everybody knows that can't end well.
http://www.amazon.com/Mutants-Geneti.../dp/0142004820
Given that the current estimate is that 1 in 200 live births carry chromosomal abnormalities and that most abnormalities involve the sex chromosomes I think that this is a book many here would find interesting.
Well written and accessible to the non scientist and includes some fascinating photos and illustrations.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sex_chromosome_disorders
http://www.who.int/genomics/gender/en/index1.html
:Bowdown: Shout out to broncofan , rereading Jim Thompson's "The Grifters" great stuff! I loved the movie too.Quote:
Originally Posted by broncofan
Any film fan interested in the careers of legendary directors Werner Hertzog and Roman Polanski , actors Klaus and Natassja Kinski and even their connection to Sharon Tate and the Charles Manson Murders will find this to be an important addition to their reading.
Basically , Klaus Kinski , Natassja's father ,was a text book Sadistic Sociopath
https://www.amazon.com/Beauty-Beast-...=1&*entries*=0
Attachment 943248Attachment 943249Attachment 943250Attachment 943251
There is an account of Kinski's early years in Berlin in a special feature on one of Herzog's DVD's, I can't recall which one right now. Herzog revisits the apartment they shared, and gives an account of the crazy things that used to happen -bearing in mind that Herzog is a bit of a nutter too. I have often wondered what it means to be a 'hell raiser' when that term is used of film stars, and it seems to me to mean they shout when they could speak, get drunk as often as they can, and assault women, or for that matter anyone who gets in their way. You might have heard the claim made by the actor Errol Flynn (or made by someone else about him) that when erect, his cock was so big he could put it through the handles of three beer mugs and hold them up with room to spare...why anyone would want to see it I don't know. A short book that might be worth tracking down, thanks for the reference.Quote:
Originally Posted by sukumvit boy
I hate followers of Islam, and oddly, I would be considered "left wing" in context of American politics.
Alas, my hatred of Islam only continues to grow.
Perhaps I could recommend The Cambridge Companion to Muhammad (edited by Jonathan E. Brockopp, Cambridge University Press, 2010). 14 chapters that explore various aspects of Muhammad's life and the way in which his recitations and other aspects of his life and work have shaped Islam, for better or worse.Quote:
Originally Posted by dc_guy_75
:cheers: Thanks , Stavros , for your insightful and interesting comments .Quote:
Originally Posted by Stavros
Funny story about Errol Flynn , I hadn't heard that one before . I remember a few stories about legendary Hollywood members ,like Milton Berle's , from Kenneth Anger's "Hollywood Babylon".Attachment 943881
But I now see that Flynn is in most Hollywood 'Top Ten' lists.
http://forum.rottentomatoes.com/topic/show/549804
https://www.lpsg.com/threads/errol-flynn.108653/
With regard to the clip about Hertzog reminiscing about his relationship with Kinski it sounds like a reference to Hertzog's 1999 film "My Best Fiend". Kinski died in 1991 . You may have seen one of the excellent "Criterion Collection" dvd's which are loaded with such Extras. The earlier Hertzog / Kinski collaboration surrounding the making of "Fritzcarraldo" 1982 , which almost killed them both , is covered in the excellent 1982
film directed by Les Blank "Burden of Dreams".
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/My_Best_Fiend
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A couple of supplementary notes -
-I have My Best Friend in one of the two box sets of Herzog films (with the Kinski films) and a quick viewing just now means I must correct my earlier comment, as after the intro it starts in the place in Munich, not Berlin, where Herzog first met Kinski. At one time I even thought I saw it on a Michael Haneke video which is how the memory plays tricks with reality.
-The box sets of Herzog were marketed in the UK by Anchor Bay, and I bought them at a fairly cheap price whereas the British Film Institute has a set which is three times as expensive, but I don't know if it has substantial extras.
-Criterion did not market DVDs in Region 2 where I live until April this year when they began releasing the 'Criterion Collection' on Blu-Ray the first films being Speedy, It Happened One Night, Grey Gardens, Macbeth, and Tootsie. Criterion have a high reputation in the UK amongst nerds, particularly in the case of Tarkovsky as their editions of his films are considered superior to Artificial Eye who market them in the UK. Artificial Eye dominate the UK market on (mostly European) 'Art films' and are resistant to customer service. I emailed them with several queries about the running times of the films of Greek director Theodor Angelopoulos after buying all three box sets of his films, and was told someone else would reply to my queries -that was three years ago and I am still waiting...
-I would caution against Kenneth Anger on all fronts, both as a shameless gossip queen about Hollywood -just can't be relied on to tell the truth- but mostly because of his desperately awful films. In the 1970s when films were censored here or just refused a licence, you had to join a 'private film club' (in fact anyone could join for a fee, in effect a quarter or 25 pence) to see them. Anger's films were denied licences, and joining a club to see Invocation of my Demon Brother, Scorpio Rising and Kustom Kar Kommandos, all in terrible prints (like the originals!) turned out to be worth less than the experience. Sometimes using the term 'underground film' is a way of elevating self-indulgent nonsense to the status of 'art', but that is a whole other story.
-Lastly you might be aware that Clark Gable was famous for having bad breath, and long before Warren Beatty was said to have the biggest cock in Hollywood, that accolade (if that is what it is) belonged to Gary Cooper, who certainly used it to thread his way through as many willing women as he could find -other than his wife- of which there were rather a lot in Hollywood. There was even a web-site in the early days of the internet that had photos of male stars without their boxers, including two hilarious shots of Arnold Schwarzenegger and Bruce Willis. One wonders if the smaller it is, the greater the need to be an 'action hero'...?
LOL , good stuff , thanks.
Very interesting about the differences in film marketing and availability over the decades in the UK vs the US , as well as the censorship and region code differences which I was not aware of. I've never seen Artificial Eye over here , but Anchor Bay and Criterion have been around forever.
Yes , Anger is the worse kind of hack.
I must look into the work of Theodor Angelopoulos , "The Beekeeper " and "Landscape in the Mist" sound familiar but I can't recall them at this moment . Thanks .
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theo_Angelopoulos
And back to books...
Recently finished reading the excellent and authoritative Alan Turing biography by Andrew Hedges. This is ,without a doubt, the definitive Turing biography.
A pleasure to read , full of fascinating details not only about Turing's life and career but also life in pre and post war Britain ,the public school system and the history of mathematics.
http://www.amazon.com/Alan-Turing-En.../dp/069116472X
I hadn't read Joseph Conrad's "Heart of Darkness" since school days but in adult life I kept on running into references to it's influence on so many fronts , such as the character Kurtz in "Apocalypse Now ", British Colonialism and the history of the Congo .
So I decided I should read it again. I than I discovered this outstanding Norton Critical Edition loaded with backgrounds and contexts such as : "Imperialism and the Congo" and "Nineteenth Century Attitudes Toward Race" .
Funny thing is the story itself is only 75 pages long . A fine piece of writing . It was the 'mega blockbuster " bestseller of it's day .
http://www.amazon.com/Heart-Darkness..._d_product_top
Heart of Darkness is Conrad's most misunderstood novel, but lends itself to various interpretations because of the elliptical narratives that operate on so many levels -with the implication that the heart of darkness is in London, the hub of the Empire, rather than -or as well as being in (?) -Africa. I never understood the connection between Conrad's study of personal ambition, and that second rate film by Coppola, Apocalypse Now. And in the meantime, Michael Herr, the author of Despatches (who also worked on the screenplay for Apocalypse Now) has died. I was impressed by Despatches which (like Heart of Darkness) is a short but visceral account of the Vietnam War, however accurate it is. And am I right in thinking that in some places he refers to Thai ladyboys when describing 'grunts' on R&R in Thailand?
Lionel Trilling once said he realised how deep the impact of film and tv coverage of the Vietnam (and other wars) had been when his students read Heart of Darkness but the hair did not stand up on the back of their necks, whereas these days I guess the lecturer would have to issue a 'trigger warning' to his or her students asked to read the book...and grandiloquent though it sounds, I would rank Conrad's Nostromo as one of the best novels ever written in English, but these days modernism is too complex for many readers.
I just finished reading Peter Viertel's White Hunter, Black Heart. It's a fictionalized account of his experiences in Africa when working with director John Huston on the script for The African Queen. Clint Eastwood made a decent movie of the book, wherein he played "John Wilson." It's a bit odd seeing him imitate Huston, and the movie is very different from typical Eastwood fare.
Anyway, the book is excellent! It provides great insight into Huston (whose own autobiography An Open Book is also a great read), human nature, racism among European colonial powers, and how someone magnificently talented can also be a magnificent bastard.
The Great Arabic Conquests by Hugh Kennedy.
:iagree: Yes , some interesting stories surrounding that whole project . The apocryphal story of the local tribes that provided the crew with fresh meat "long pig" which were feared to be the butchered bodies of tribal enemies.:whoaQuote:
Originally Posted by Fitzcarraldo
http://www.amazon.com/Pirate-Exquisi.../dp/042520037X
The amazing life of late 17th century British explorer , naturalist and buccaneer William Dampier .
The Map That Changed the World:
http://www.amazon.com/Map-That-Chang...nged+the+world
William Smith and the birth of modern geology.
just finished stefan zweig's the world of yesterday... his memoir of his life living through the fall of the austro-hungarian empire and anschluss... some of it kind of reminded me of today. which made me depressed.
Nice analogy... I was trying to articulate an appropriate response but yours is so much better!
(This in response to Broncofan's response)
That Dampier biography is a great read. Amazing how the man's life intersected with so many other well known events and persons from English history. I think I read somewhere he inspired R.L. Stevenson's writings as well.Quote:
Originally Posted by sukumvit boy
Just read through this entire thread. It's been a few years since I contributed and it was nice to read all the great comments and reviews by Prospero, Stavros, RobertLouis, Trish and others. Sad that we lost Prospero but at least we still have his thoughts.
Haven't read much since 2012 for various reasons. Started 'A Distant Mirror' by Barbara Tuchman around then and got about half-way through. Entertaining and insightful read about the 14th century in Europe with a major focus on French and English affairs. Bought The Travels of Ibn Batutta a few months back but haven't even cracked the spine yet.
Nice to see you back ,RDTD .
That "The Adventures of Ibn Battuta ..." looks like a really good read, thanks.
http://www.amazon.com/Adventures-Ibn.../dp/0520243854
It should be although I stupidly picked up the abridged version!Quote:
Originally Posted by sukumvit boy
https://www.amazon.com/Travels-Ibn-B.../dp/033049113X