Just finished Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania, by Erik Larson. Great writing and fascinating history but one of the most tragic tales I've ever read.
Really enjoyed this book. Erik Larson has quickly become one of my favorites. The HH Holmes Chicago World's Fair book is one of my favorites.
I'm liking his stuff a lot too! I went right from this one to this: which was excellent though I liked Dead Wake better.
Now am reading this fine book:
^^Another great book from Patti Smith. Brian, have you read Just Kids?
Presently reading: Sleeping Beauties, by Stephen and Owen King.
Did Sleeping Beauties end well? I put it down and the big break in the middle and never picked it back up.
This was a good trilogy, vampires are usually a big NOPE for me, but these beasts were fun. And I really like the sound of the phrase, "take one/it on the blade"
I just read 5 of Jeff Shaara's war books. Two on the Civil War, two on WW2, and 1 on WW1. Fascinating and morbid. I've always been strangely drawn to the morbid, which is a bit weird because I'm not morose or introverted at all, I'm a happy go lucky extrovert.
Springfield Confidential: Jokes, Secrets, and Outright Lies from a Lifetime Writing for The Simpsons
Reading 2004
Albany 2006 Camden 2006 E. Rutherford 2, 2006 Inglewood 2006,
Chicago 2007
Camden 2008 MSG 2008 MSG 2008 Hartford 2008.
Seattle 2009 Seattle 2009 Philadelphia 2009,Philadelphia 2009 Philadelphia 2009
Hartford 2010 MSG 2010 MSG 2010
Toronto 2011,Toronto 2011
Wrigley Field 2013 Brooklyn 2013 Brooklyn 2013 Philadelphia 2, 2013
Philadelphia 1, 2016 Philadelphia 2 2016 New York 2016 New York 2016 Fenway 1, 2016 Fenway 2, 2018 MSG 2022 St. Paul, 1, St. Paul 2 2023 MSG 2024, MSG 2024 Philadelphia 2024
"I play good, hard-nosed basketball.
Things happen in the game. Nothing you
can do. I don't go and say,
"I'm gonna beat this guy up."
This book is so damn good. You can learn a lot about the world, things that were never available, through what people type intonhe search bar and internet behavior in general
The Victory Season: The End of World War II and the Birth of Baseball's Golden Age
Reading 2004
Albany 2006 Camden 2006 E. Rutherford 2, 2006 Inglewood 2006,
Chicago 2007
Camden 2008 MSG 2008 MSG 2008 Hartford 2008.
Seattle 2009 Seattle 2009 Philadelphia 2009,Philadelphia 2009 Philadelphia 2009
Hartford 2010 MSG 2010 MSG 2010
Toronto 2011,Toronto 2011
Wrigley Field 2013 Brooklyn 2013 Brooklyn 2013 Philadelphia 2, 2013
Philadelphia 1, 2016 Philadelphia 2 2016 New York 2016 New York 2016 Fenway 1, 2016 Fenway 2, 2018 MSG 2022 St. Paul, 1, St. Paul 2 2023 MSG 2024, MSG 2024 Philadelphia 2024
"I play good, hard-nosed basketball.
Things happen in the game. Nothing you
can do. I don't go and say,
"I'm gonna beat this guy up."
"The Lives of Tao" was pretty good, though I thought the pacing was a little rushed towards the end. I'll probably move on to the rest of the series eventually, but I'm in no rush.
Current reads:
"The Calculating Stars" by Mary Robinette Kowal
An alternate history of the space program. I'm only a few chapters in, but I'm enjoying it. I love that she let's you know right off the bat that it's an alternate history by starting the first chapter with a news clipping from 1952 that starts with the words, "President Dewey".
and "Afrofuturism: The World of Black Sci-Fi and Fantasy Culture" by Ytasha Womack
An interesting and enlightening read that has definitely added some music to my playlists and some books to my TBR pile.
"I'm a lucky man, to count on both hands the [shows I've done]. Some folks just have one, others they got none..."
There is no such thing as leftover pizza. There is now pizza and later pizza. - anonymous The risk I took was calculated, but man, am I bad at math - The Mincing Mockingbird
Everybody Loves Our Town by Mark Yarm I spent a few hours hanging out with him in Ireland some years back, and he signed my copy. I figured I had better read the whole thing, since he urged me to read it properly in his inscription.
Post edited by ConorKavanagh on
Dublin 2006 Dublin 2010 Madrid 2018 Werchter 2022 London 1 2022 London 2 2022 Krakow 2022
First book of the Guido Brunetti series by Donna Leon - Death at La Fenice
There is no such thing as leftover pizza. There is now pizza and later pizza. - anonymous The risk I took was calculated, but man, am I bad at math - The Mincing Mockingbird
Harry Potter #7! Almost done with the series, yay! Great series.
There is no such thing as leftover pizza. There is now pizza and later pizza. - anonymous The risk I took was calculated, but man, am I bad at math - The Mincing Mockingbird
Harry Potter #7! Almost done with the series, yay! Great series.
A friend of mine keep pushing HP books on me. I politely said I would try to get to them but to myself thought, "I never read that kind on nonsense." I also thought about Henry Rollins' bit about meeting and dating a woman. They were driving to a coffee shop when she mentioned that she like to read and, being a book fan himself, said, "Great! What are your reading?" She replied, "Harry Potter". He said, "WHAT? You read children's literature? GET OUT OF THE CAR!" LOL
Well, finally I gave in anyway and read the first one. OK, that was easy and quick so I went on to number two. And three. And all the way to the end. Love them!
Sorry Henry!
“The fear of death follows from the fear of life. A man [or woman] who lives fully is prepared to die at any time.”
Just finished the Frank Miller Dark Knight series: The Last Crusade, The Dark Knight Returns, The Dark Knight Strikes Again and The Master Race. The rest are enjoyable, but the original (Returns) is still a classic. For comics, lol.
"The world is full of idiots and I am but one of them."
10-30-1991 Toronto, Toronto 1 & 2 2016, Toronto 2022
Harry Potter #7! Almost done with the series, yay! Great series.
A friend of mine keep pushing HP books on me. I politely said I would try to get to them but to myself thought, "I never read that kind on nonsense." I also thought about Henry Rollins' bit about meeting and dating a woman. They were driving to a coffee shop when she mentioned that she like to read and, being a book fan himself, said, "Great! What are your reading?" She replied, "Harry Potter". He said, "WHAT? You read children's literature? GET OUT OF THE CAR!" LOL
Well, finally I gave in anyway and read the first one. OK, that was easy and quick so I went on to number two. And three. And all the way to the end. Love them!
Sorry Henry!
I was living in Madrid in 2004, and I had an English roommate who had a copy of 'The Philosopher's Stone'. I think they named it 'Sorcerer's Stone' in America. He kept telling me how great it was. Like you, Brian, I was like, I'm not reading children's lit. He eventually moved out and left it for me. So one night I picked it up and stayed awake reading the whole thing. I ran to the English bookshop in the morning and picked up the second book. J.K. Rowling is an amazing storyteller. It's unbelievable she was rejected twelve times before somebody picked her up.
Harry Potter #7! Almost done with the series, yay! Great series.
A friend of mine keep pushing HP books on me. I politely said I would try to get to them but to myself thought, "I never read that kind on nonsense." I also thought about Henry Rollins' bit about meeting and dating a woman. They were driving to a coffee shop when she mentioned that she like to read and, being a book fan himself, said, "Great! What are your reading?" She replied, "Harry Potter". He said, "WHAT? You read children's literature? GET OUT OF THE CAR!" LOL
Well, finally I gave in anyway and read the first one. OK, that was easy and quick so I went on to number two. And three. And all the way to the end. Love them!
Sorry Henry!
I was living in Madrid in 2004, and I had an English roommate who had a copy of 'The Philosopher's Stone'. I think they named it 'Sorcerer's Stone' in America. He kept telling me how great it was. Like you, Brian, I was like, I'm not reading children's lit. He eventually moved out and left it for me. So one night I picked it up and stayed awake reading the whole thing. I ran to the English bookshop in the morning and picked up the second book. J.K. Rowling is an amazing storyteller. It's unbelievable she was rejected twelve times before somebody picked her up.
Definitely! Very imaginative and a big draw is her characters- great character development and they are interesting!
“The fear of death follows from the fear of life. A man [or woman] who lives fully is prepared to die at any time.”
Having been born here in the U.S. west, as a kid I was a typical Cowboys and Indians fan. But as I grew up I distanced myself from all that to the point of really not caring about or being interested in western American history which I still think is basically about a bunch of restless white people- mostly men- who would run over, push away, assimilate, or if need be kill, anything and anyone that got in the way of their greedy expansion.
But, being a fan of adventure, I started reading Ethan Rarick's Desperate Passage; The Donner Party's Perilous Journey West. The true-story telling in this is great and I'm even finding myself interested in the history and maybe even able to feel a little bit why people might have that urge to seek out something new. I've started my life over a number of times, so there you go. Great reading so far.
Post edited by brianlux on
“The fear of death follows from the fear of life. A man [or woman] who lives fully is prepared to die at any time.”
Read this on the plane yesterday. Tried a few previous times to start buy finally got into it. Overrated based on reviews but not bad absent those expectations.
Comments
And I really like the sound of the phrase, "take one/it on the blade"
Fascinating and morbid.
I've always been strangely drawn to the morbid, which is a bit weird because I'm not morose or introverted at all, I'm a happy go lucky extrovert.
Albany 2006 Camden 2006 E. Rutherford 2, 2006 Inglewood 2006,
Chicago 2007
Camden 2008 MSG 2008 MSG 2008 Hartford 2008.
Seattle 2009 Seattle 2009 Philadelphia 2009,Philadelphia 2009 Philadelphia 2009
Hartford 2010 MSG 2010 MSG 2010
Toronto 2011,Toronto 2011
Wrigley Field 2013 Brooklyn 2013 Brooklyn 2013 Philadelphia 2, 2013
Philadelphia 1, 2016 Philadelphia 2 2016 New York 2016 New York 2016 Fenway 1, 2016
Fenway 2, 2018
MSG 2022
St. Paul, 1, St. Paul 2 2023
MSG 2024, MSG 2024
Philadelphia 2024
"I play good, hard-nosed basketball.
Things happen in the game. Nothing you
can do. I don't go and say,
"I'm gonna beat this guy up."
This book is so damn good. You can learn a lot about the world, things that were never available, through what people type intonhe search bar and internet behavior in general
The Victory Season: The End of World War II and the Birth of Baseball's Golden Age
Albany 2006 Camden 2006 E. Rutherford 2, 2006 Inglewood 2006,
Chicago 2007
Camden 2008 MSG 2008 MSG 2008 Hartford 2008.
Seattle 2009 Seattle 2009 Philadelphia 2009,Philadelphia 2009 Philadelphia 2009
Hartford 2010 MSG 2010 MSG 2010
Toronto 2011,Toronto 2011
Wrigley Field 2013 Brooklyn 2013 Brooklyn 2013 Philadelphia 2, 2013
Philadelphia 1, 2016 Philadelphia 2 2016 New York 2016 New York 2016 Fenway 1, 2016
Fenway 2, 2018
MSG 2022
St. Paul, 1, St. Paul 2 2023
MSG 2024, MSG 2024
Philadelphia 2024
"I play good, hard-nosed basketball.
Things happen in the game. Nothing you
can do. I don't go and say,
"I'm gonna beat this guy up."
Hartford 10.02.96 | Mansfield 2 09.16.98 | Mansfield 1 08.29.00 | Mansfield 1 07.02.03 | Mansfield 3 07.11.03 | Boston 2 05.25.06 | Tampa 04.11.16 | Fenway 1 08.05.16 | Fenway 2 08.07.16 | Fenway 1 09.02.18 | Fenway 2 09.04.18 | Baltimore 03.28.20 | Hamilton 09.06.22 | Toronto 09.08.22 | Nashville 09.16.22 | St Louis 09.18.22 | Baltimore 09.12.24 | Fenway 1 09.15.24 | Fenway 2 09.17.24
"He made the deal with the devil, we get to play with him.
He goes to hell, of course. We're going to heaven."
Seems my preconceptions are what should have been burned...
I AM MINE
The risk I took was calculated, but man, am I bad at math - The Mincing Mockingbird
Now on to reading the graphic novel Marvel 1602 by Neil Gaiman.
Not as good as the others, but still good
I spent a few hours hanging out with him in Ireland some years back, and he signed my copy. I figured I had better read the whole thing, since he urged me to read it properly in his inscription.
Dublin 2010
Madrid 2018
Werchter 2022
London 1 2022
London 2 2022
Krakow 2022
The risk I took was calculated, but man, am I bad at math - The Mincing Mockingbird
even if I look and act really crazy.
The risk I took was calculated, but man, am I bad at math - The Mincing Mockingbird
10-30-1991 Toronto, Toronto 1 & 2 2016, Toronto 2022
He eventually moved out and left it for me. So one night I picked it up and stayed awake reading the whole thing. I ran to the English bookshop in the morning and picked up the second book.
J.K. Rowling is an amazing storyteller. It's unbelievable she was rejected twelve times before somebody picked her up.
Seems my preconceptions are what should have been burned...
I AM MINE
by Will Aitken
Not for people who can resist being shattered...Laurie Anderson
Overrated based on reviews but not bad absent those expectations.