What book are you currently reading?

Up Country by Nelson Demille...another Vietnam experience.

Good for putting current problems into perspective?

Quote from: riffraff on April 16, 2020, 05:57:49 PM

Up Country by Nelson Demille...another Vietnam experience.

Good for putting current problems into perspective?

Not really, no. It's about a veteran's return to the Nam 30 years later...and includes a lot of memories from his 2 tours. It's an excellent overview of the war, the effects on the men. I was married to a Nam vet, so it helps me get some perspective, too.

I am starting at the beginning of my Stephen King collection and reading them all!

Horrible and misguided war, that. They all came back fucked up.

Horrible and misguided war, that. They all came back fucked up.

Well, maybe not all, but many. And, it never leaves them. Or those around them.

Horrible and misguided war, that. They all came back fucked up.

Soldiers come back from all wars fucked up, in way or another, and it never leaves them.

Vietnam put an end to Americans tolerance of conscription.  While the country now has a voluntary and motivated military, unfortunately it's also given America's politicians more leeway in waging further misguided wars.

Rereading John Le Carre's A Perfect Spy.  I love his fictional spy world.  Next, I'm going to reread Le Carre's The Honourable Schoolboy, which I've not read for more than twenty years.

Books from the last two months:
Training the Mind by Thrungpa- about Tibetan Buddhist meditation practice.  Pretty in-depth with a lot of Tibetan Buddhist history included.

The Garden of Eden by Hemingway- one of the 'lost' Hemingway novels heavily edited and published decades after his death.  I enjoyed it much more than I thought I would.

Zen for Beginners- a re-read to help me to try to follow the above listed Buddhist book.

A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by Joyce- found this slow and a struggle to get through.  Wanted to read Joyce's shorter novels as a lead-up to tackling his Ulysses, now not sure I want to.

Windblown World: The Journals of Jack Kerouac 1947-1954- Loving this.  Kerouac is my favorite author and it's been a while since i've been able to read anything from him i haven't read before.  These are the journals covering his time when he's writing his first book and then the road trips that make up the stories covered in On the Road.

Joyce is close to unreadable, honestly.

He wrote Ulysees while living in my grandmothers house in Ireland so I guess I should be a fan, but i'm not. Portrait of an artist is probably his best book though.

Joyce is close to unreadable, honestly.

He wrote Ulysees while living in my grandmothers house in Ireland so I guess I should be a fan, but i'm not. Portrait of an artist is probably his best book though.

Really?  Your grandmother's house has quite the historical significance!  I read Dubliners last year and liked it.  I hear Finnegan's Wake is practically a language of gibberish of its own.

Books from the last two months:
Training the Mind by Thrungpa- about Tibetan Buddhist meditation practice.  Pretty in-depth with a lot of Tibetan Buddhist history included.

The Garden of Eden by Hemingway- one of the 'lost' Hemingway novels heavily edited and published decades after his death.  I enjoyed it much more than I thought I would.

Zen for Beginners- a re-read to help me to try to follow the above listed Buddhist book.

A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by Joyce- found this slow and a struggle to get through.  Wanted to read Joyce's shorter novels as a lead-up to tackling his Ulysses, now not sure I want to.

Windblown World: The Journals of Jack Kerouac 1947-1954- Loving this.  Kerouac is my favorite author and it's been a while since i've been able to read anything from him i haven't read before.  These are the journals covering his time when he's writing his first book and then the road trips that make up the stories covered in On the Road.

Nice to see you back mate. 

Quote from: Codeguy on July 01, 2020, 03:49:17 PM

Joyce is close to unreadable, honestly.

He wrote Ulysees while living in my grandmothers house in Ireland so I guess I should be a fan, but i'm not. Portrait of an artist is probably his best book though.

Really?  Your grandmother's house has quite the historical significance!  I read Dubliners last year and liked it.  I hear Finnegan's Wake is practically a language of gibberish of its own.

I couldn't get through Finnegan's Wake. Yeah my grandmothers house was a landmark for 100 years.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/An_Stad

Quote from: Shank Asu on July 01, 2020, 03:47:19 PM

Books from the last two months:
Training the Mind by Thrungpa- about Tibetan Buddhist meditation practice.  Pretty in-depth with a lot of Tibetan Buddhist history included.

The Garden of Eden by Hemingway- one of the 'lost' Hemingway novels heavily edited and published decades after his death.  I enjoyed it much more than I thought I would.

Zen for Beginners- a re-read to help me to try to follow the above listed Buddhist book.

A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by Joyce- found this slow and a struggle to get through.  Wanted to read Joyce's shorter novels as a lead-up to tackling his Ulysses, now not sure I want to.

Windblown World: The Journals of Jack Kerouac 1947-1954- Loving this.  Kerouac is my favorite author and it's been a while since i've been able to read anything from him i haven't read before.  These are the journals covering his time when he's writing his first book and then the road trips that make up the stories covered in On the Road.

Nice to see you back mate. 

Thanks.  I saw the kind post you wrote referring to me while I was out.  I'm done trying to play with a specific member, but otherwise i've missed this place.

Quote from: Shank Asu on July 01, 2020, 03:54:28 PM

Quote from: Codeguy on July 01, 2020, 03:49:17 PM

Joyce is close to unreadable, honestly.

He wrote Ulysees while living in my grandmothers house in Ireland so I guess I should be a fan, but i'm not. Portrait of an artist is probably his best book though.

Really?  Your grandmother's house has quite the historical significance!  I read Dubliners last year and liked it.  I hear Finnegan's Wake is practically a language of gibberish of its own.

I couldn't get through Finnegan's Wake. Yeah my grandmothers house was a landmark for 100 years.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/An_Stad

That's very cool.

Quote from: MPare1966 on July 01, 2020, 04:05:33 PM

Quote from: Shank Asu on July 01, 2020, 03:47:19 PM

Books from the last two months:
Training the Mind by Thrungpa- about Tibetan Buddhist meditation practice.  Pretty in-depth with a lot of Tibetan Buddhist history included.

The Garden of Eden by Hemingway- one of the 'lost' Hemingway novels heavily edited and published decades after his death.  I enjoyed it much more than I thought I would.

Zen for Beginners- a re-read to help me to try to follow the above listed Buddhist book.

A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by Joyce- found this slow and a struggle to get through.  Wanted to read Joyce's shorter novels as a lead-up to tackling his Ulysses, now not sure I want to.

Windblown World: The Journals of Jack Kerouac 1947-1954- Loving this.  Kerouac is my favorite author and it's been a while since i've been able to read anything from him i haven't read before.  These are the journals covering his time when he's writing his first book and then the road trips that make up the stories covered in On the Road.

Nice to see you back mate. 

Thanks.  I saw the kind post you wrote referring to me while I was out.  I'm done trying to play with a specific member, but otherwise i've missed this place.

Don’t want to take credit for that, even if I do consider you a great member in this community.

I think the comment you’re referencing was made by strudelwithcream.

But he seems to be on holidays now. Has not been seen since Liverpool won the EPL.