Bred Any Good Rooks Lately?

Kurben

Have read some Christie. Murder In Mesopotamia and Death On The Nile. Both excellent. you very seldom go wrong with Christie. Considering how many novels she wrote it is amazing how few clunkers there is.

Kurben

Reading Who On Earth Was Jesus. It is a very good summary of the Historical Jesus research up  to date. What is some times called Pre-Easter jesus in opposition to the Post-Easter Jesus. This strand of research is not so interested in the early church if there are not things that tells us something about Jesus the man, not Jesus Christ. It does not take a stand and tries to be objective. It goes through the early sources (among them the Gospels) and what different experts has made of them and then goes on to interpretations. From the extreme Conservatists that basically believes most of the things said and done in the bible is true (James Dunn and N.T. Wright) to the extreme skeptics that argues that most is made up to suit the authors belief many decades later and has very little to do with a real Jesus (Alvar Ellegard and Burton Mack). I, for myself, think the truth of the matter is probably somewhere in between. There is authors like Geza Vermes, John Dominic Crossan, Marcus Borg, E.P. Sanders and John T. Meier whose conclusions on the matter, to me, is more convincing and better argued. Even if their conclusions also vary widely each are, to me, more convincing than the extremist view of believe all or believe nothing. 

Kurben

Have started to read Hazards Of Timetravel by Joyce Carol Oates. A very good author that i have read many books of. I think, although i'm far from sure, that this may be the first time she wandered off into SF territory. It starts in a future USA when, as a punishment for peaceful protests against the government , she is sent back in time to live in the 50,s until her time is up. Always an interesting author to read. Looking forward to it.

Hedda Gabler

Kurben said:

Have started to read Hazards Of Timetravel by Joyce Carol Oates. A very good author that i have read many books of. I think, although i'm far from sure, that this may be the first time she wandered off into SF territory. It starts in a future USA when, as a punishment for peaceful protests against the government , she is sent back in time to live in the 50,s until her time is up. Always an interesting author to read. Looking forward to it.

Joyce’s Masterclass was fascinating. I would love to have her as my teacher. 

I almost always love to hear an author read their own work. Stephen King reads it and i know how he meant every word to sound. Bev does a good job. David Sedaris is a terrific reader. Joyce is an exception to that. She does not read her own work well. 

Kurben

Hedda Gabler said:

Kurben said:

Have started to read Hazards Of Timetravel by Joyce Carol Oates. A very good author that i have read many books of. I think, although i'm far from sure, that this may be the first time she wandered off into SF territory. It starts in a future USA when, as a punishment for peaceful protests against the government , she is sent back in time to live in the 50,s until her time is up. Always an interesting author to read. Looking forward to it.

Joyce’s Masterclass was fascinating. I would love to have her as my teacher. 

I almost always love to hear an author read their own work. Stephen King reads it and i know how he meant every word to sound. Bev does a good job. David Sedaris is a terrific reader. Joyce is an exception to that. She does not read her own work well. 

I imagine this things varies. Myself i prefer to read a book. She is one of these "serious" authors that write a lot. At least one book a year. That sometimes makes it difficult to know where to start with her. Blonde, Them, The Falls, Carthage, Sacrifice, is some of my faves of her.

Hedda Gabler

Kurben said:

Hedda Gabler said:

Kurben said:

Have started to read Hazards Of Timetravel by Joyce Carol Oates. A very good author that i have read many books of. I think, although i'm far from sure, that this may be the first time she wandered off into SF territory. It starts in a future USA when, as a punishment for peaceful protests against the government , she is sent back in time to live in the 50,s until her time is up. Always an interesting author to read. Looking forward to it.

Joyce’s Masterclass was fascinating. I would love to have her as my teacher. 

I almost always love to hear an author read their own work. Stephen King reads it and i know how he meant every word to sound. Bev does a good job. David Sedaris is a terrific reader. Joyce is an exception to that. She does not read her own work well. 

I imagine this things varies. Myself i prefer to read a book. She is one of these "serious" authors that write a lot. At least one book a year. That sometimes makes it difficult to know where to start with her. Blonde, Them, The Falls, Carthage, Sacrifice, is some of my faves of her.

I am a short story girl. Always have been. I’m pretty sure I’ve read a longer piece or two over the years, but it’s really the short work of any author that lights me up. 

Kurben

Read American Appetites by Joyce Carol Oates. this is written in 1990 but it is very good. About a small town university society whose ordinary life is interrupted by death. Is it Murder?, Manslaughter?, or just an Accident? The gossip starts to go and it can ruin an academic career, a family, a town. Oates is masterly in painting her characters and describing their life. Her characters are seldom entirely bad or entirely good (although she has written a book from inside the mind of a serialkiller and rapist that was a real horrorshow, how she can put herself in such a mind and stay convincing is beyond me! I felt dirty after reading that one but it was very good.) 

Hedda Gabler

Corrections in Ink.  Very interesting book and my first for 2023.

Hedda Gabler

@FlakeNoir — Have you seen the book All The Songs about David Bowie’s songs? Released in 2022, it talks the stories about his songs. I know this would be meaningful to you. See if your library has it. 

GNTLGNT

Hedda Gabler said:

Corrections in Ink.  Very interesting book and my first for 2023.

....on my list.....and no, it's not about prison tattoo artists -though that would be fascinating as well.....

Hedda Gabler

GNTLGNT said:

Hedda Gabler said:

Corrections in Ink.  Very interesting book and my first for 2023.

....on my list.....and no, it's not about prison tattoo artists -though that would be fascinating as well.....

Yes, that would be fascinating.

BevVincent

I finished Don Winslow's City on Fire and am now well into City of Dreams.

FlakeNoir

Hedda Gabler said:

@FlakeNoir — Have you seen the book All The Songs about David Bowie’s songs? Released in 2022, it talks the stories about his songs. I know this would be meaningful to you. See if your library has it. 

I hadn't seen it but looked it up tonight.  Oh wow, that would be fantastic to read. I'll see what I can find, thanks for the heads up. 

Kurben

This is one i'll be starting soon. Looking forward to it. Since the recent finds that changed how to look at neanderthals this is the first updated book about them. Including their art, graves and way of living. in fact very similar to us, Homo Sapiens. The Finds of Neanderthal Cave paintings that is without any reasonable doubt made by them (and much older than the Sapiens cave paintings) has changed many scientists view of them.

Hedda Gabler

I am losing my damn mind reading these excerpts from Harry’s book.  I’m in line with my library to read the drivel because yes, I must read this drivel. 

They are working it hard to be victims, every tiny thing they are trying to attach some horrid racial meaning to. 

Example: Kate visibly cringed supposedly when Meg borrowed her lip gloss. She’s black is what Harry is insinuating. 

No you brain dead numbnutz — it’s called HERPES. Look it up. You don’t share shit because of germs and bacteria.  And this is waaaay before Covid, although now with covid, your lips can dry up like the sahara desert before I share my lip gloss which I wouldn’t have anyway. 

Can’t wait to read this so I can rage and laugh and smack someone else’s head at the growing and growing ignorance.  So much popcorn lately!

Kurben

The few excerpts i have read as reported in newspapers actually make me feel less sympathy for Harry and Meghan! Wonder if that was the intention......

Hedda Gabler

Kurben said:

The few excerpts i have read as reported in newspapers actually make me feel less sympathy for Harry and Meghan! Wonder if that was the intention......

It’s nuts, isn’t it? Obviously Harry is angry and hurt. And as we know — hurt people… get vindictive as shit. 

And he left the Royals to lead a private life. Okay. He might have had that chance but he put himself and his beloved family in deep doo doo by discussing the people he’s killed, and saying they weren’t people to him but chess pieces. 

Counting coup (only in this case, he didn’t necessarily touch them, he killed them)  isn’t wise.  Now, Even military leaders are telling him to shut up. 

Dangerous thing to discuss. He has a bunch of interviews coming up for the book. My recommendation is to not speak on this topic.

Kurben

Deep into Kindred, The book about Neanderthals, and its amazing what the last two-three decades of advance has done. Better dating, Better DNA, CT scan of skulls and close investigation of tools and more finds has given us a much better picture of them. 
Also reading The World Before Us by Tom Higham that deals with human evolution on the last say 300.000 years. We learn a lot about not only Neanderthals and Sapiens but the books focus is almost the Denisovans and then of course the two human species found in isolated islands, Homo Floresiensis (The Hobbit) and Homo Luzonensis, plus some odd finds that does not fit into a pattern like Homo Naledi (found in a cave in South Africa dated to ca 250.000 years ago but looks like humans looked like ca 2 million years ago. He often gives his own opinion but he discusses pros ans cons of many possible interpretations. Good interesting read.

Kurben

Hedda Gabler said:

Kurben said:

The few excerpts i have read as reported in newspapers actually make me feel less sympathy for Harry and Meghan! Wonder if that was the intention......

It’s nuts, isn’t it? Obviously Harry is angry and hurt. And as we know — hurt people… get vindictive as shit. 

And he left the Royals to lead a private life. Okay. He might have had that chance but he put himself and his beloved family in deep doo doo by discussing the people he’s killed, and saying they weren’t people to him but chess pieces. 

Counting coup (only in this case, he didn’t necessarily touch them, he killed them)  isn’t wise.  Now, Even military leaders are telling him to shut up. 

Dangerous thing to discuss. He has a bunch of interviews coming up for the book. My recommendation is to not speak on this topic.

About that... reading some summaries of interviews hes given. It strikes me as slightly hypocritic, i mean hes saying in one that he want to make peace with his brother and father and at the same time keep throwing accusations at them. Doesn't really go together, do they? 

Hedda Gabler

Kurben said:

Hedda Gabler said:

Kurben said:

The few excerpts i have read as reported in newspapers actually make me feel less sympathy for Harry and Meghan! Wonder if that was the intention......

It’s nuts, isn’t it? Obviously Harry is angry and hurt. And as we know — hurt people… get vindictive as shit. 

And he left the Royals to lead a private life. Okay. He might have had that chance but he put himself and his beloved family in deep doo doo by discussing the people he’s killed, and saying they weren’t people to him but chess pieces. 

Counting coup (only in this case, he didn’t necessarily touch them, he killed them)  isn’t wise.  Now, Even military leaders are telling him to shut up. 

Dangerous thing to discuss. He has a bunch of interviews coming up for the book. My recommendation is to not speak on this topic.

About that... reading some summaries of interviews hes given. It strikes me as slightly hypocritic, i mean hes saying in one that he want to make peace with his brother and father and at the same time keep throwing accusations at them. Doesn't really go together, do they? 

No. 

Hedda Gabler

@BevVincent — have you read the Owen King’s book coming soon?  Any thoughts?

Kurben

Taking a break from evolution by reading parts of Solved And Unsolved as edited by Richard Glyn Jones. A very fair account of the Wallace case by none other than Dorothy Sayers. She isn't out to make a point but gives the reader both sides and points out how practically every evidence in this case can point both ways. Did the husband murder his wife or was he innocent (he was accused in court but aqquitted)? Also the very good putting the facts to paper in the Borden case written by Edmund Pearson. Lizzie Borden was also aqquitted from the crime even if every movie, song, and book i've read seems to assume she was guilty. Also not out to prove a point which is nice when the writer of true crime allows the reader to have an opinion not too heavily influenced by the writer. This is the facts, my opinion is this is all very clear. 

FlakeNoir

Months ago I started Fairy Tale on audio book then life got in the way. I'd also bought the physical book a few months ago. 
I'm on annual leave from work and have recently started the story again back from the beginning.
I'm 100 pages in and am hooked. This feels more like a classic Stephen to me than anything else I've read from him in many, many years. Very solid characters. 
(but if anything happens to this dog... sigh 🥺)

Hedda Gabler

FlakeNoir said:

Months ago I started Fairy Tale on audio book then life got in the way. I'd also bought the physical book a few months ago. 
I'm on annual leave from work and have recently started the story again back from the beginning.
I'm 100 pages in and am hooked. This feels more like a classic Stephen to me than anything else I've read from him in many, many years. Very solid characters. 
(but if anything happens to this dog... sigh 🥺)

I’m on page… let me check…. Hmmm… 382.

Hedda Gabler

The Pallbearers Club — Paul Tremblay

I connected with this one better than head Full of Ghosts. Enjoyed both but this one more so.