I spend a fair amount of my time reading books (as long as my eyes will allow) and watching movies. I hoped that perhaps that is a subject (these are subjects?) that we can discuss with minimum rancor. My choice of material is dictated in part by what DVDs I find at estate and garage sales and at thrift stores and is augmented by the library. So last night I watched a very interesting Brazilian flic, "The House of Sand" that I recommend to all who enjoy sort of arty movies with subtitles. The idea for this thread came from another editor here who suggested a film, "7 Kings Must Die" . I found it at the library and it turned out to be a movie that ended a TV show that I'd been following for perhaps 5 years called "The Last Kingdom." I heartedly recommend all of it to folks who enjoy Viking stuff. Well let's see if anyone wants to continue in this direction.
I have only been to R Bookmark once or twice over the years. I will have to check them out again, thanks for the tip. I find that the library bookstore and the thrift stores have enough $1 and $2 books to keep me backed up quite a bit,
I used to try and read at least one book a week. When the pandemic hit, i increased my time online with subscriptions i normally would not have bought. It must have been a thing for lots of folks because yearly subscription fees dropped to manageable levels. Once that was over, they spiked back up and i dropped them. I also noted my book reading level dropped off to nearly nothing. It was at that point i came across an article written by someone claiming the pandemic had changed people's reading habits. His/her argument was readers attention spans were not what they once were. It seemed like a blanket statement, but in my case was true. This past couple of months, i've forced myself to pick up a book and read some of it every day. My preference is fiction, better yet is when an author weaves history into their story. There was none better than Nelson DeMille with Daniel Silva a very close second. I am currently finishing DeMille's The Maze with his old crony John Corey. Used to be i couldn't put his books down, this one feels like it was ghosted by someone other than him. The real question for me is: What will AI do to the book business and the authors who made their living as writers?
CT, I have a few recommendations for the group. I just finished watching on Netflix, American Primeval. It covers the Mountain Meadows Massacre and ensuing cover up. While there is a back story, I found the portrayal very accurate as to the Native Americans, Mormons, Jim Bridger and the whole scene. It is graphic but those were the times. For books, the first one is The Guns of August by Barbara Tuchman. It covers the first month of WWI, but the real story is how quickly events can get out of hand. I think it’s a good read for the times considering what’s happening in the Middle East. The war that changed war. The next two cover periods that you probably wouldn’t consider. The first book, Ravenna by Judith Herrin, which CT and myself discussed a couple of years ago. It’s the story of the early church (Catholic) in the 300 & 400’s in Italy when the church moved from Rome to first Milan and then Ravenna. You will meet one bad ass woman, Galla Plaicidia and her story. Ravenna was the center of religion, culture, art (mosaics which are stunning), law. It is definitely on my visit list next time I am in Europe. The second book is The Dark Queens by Shelley Puhak. It is the story of two queens in France in the 500 & 600’s. One was from a noble family and the other was a former slave who slept her way to the top. I had limited knowledge of this time period and purchased the book on a lark, but glad I did. If you enjoyed Games of Thrones, these two put them to shame.
I have always been a slow reader, but never more than now when I have just one reading eye and it gets tired fairly quickly. I'm reading three books now, one for each of the three places I read, but now I'm going to talk about "Drums & Demons", the Jim Gordon story. Not fiction. He was, he died about a year ago, a session drummer who played on a bunch of music. So far I have collected over 80 songs that he played on, all from my CD collection except George Harrison's, "All Things Must Pass" which I checked out of the library. Oh yes, and "The Notorious Byrd Brothers' which I borrowed from my brother and will pluck 3 or 5 songs of it shortly. Anyway, if you are interested in the LA and London music scene during the late 60s and early 70s that book is a great peek behind the curtain. Not always a pretty picture.
Thanks for the recommendations as I am familiar with Jim Gordon and his session work. When expanding my vinyl album collection from 1966 onward, I always read the liner notes and musicians, if applicable for each song and even where it was recorded. I am familiar with the Byrd Brothers but not have read. I will get to it somehow. Last music book I read was Bruce Springsteen’s autobiography Born To Run. Enjoyed it a lot and he even discusses the infamous incident with Rolling Stone writer where Bruce vomited on his car. “I have seen the future of rock and roll and he is throwing up on my car.” True or false?
I read one or two books a week; on about my fifth since arriving five weeks ago. Currently reading The Women. I encourage anyone who was alive during the Vietnam War to read this book, a novel based on real life experiences. It shows the sacrifices our soldiers gave. I can't imagine the horror of the Civil War.
Not sure I want to go back there mentally. It was too hard watching all my friends come home, and what they went through for so many years after.
Civil WAR. Well (opinion) the Viet Nam war was a civil war, we just decided to jump in on one side. I think history has decided that it was the wrong side.
I don't think it was the "wrong side" as I wouldn't have wanted us to take the side of the communist North Vietnamese. We just should not have entered that war at all.
I am currently working on a file or collrction of songs that have "love" in the title. There are quite a few, but I'm adding some Kenny Rogers right now. Do you (plural) have any suggestions?
