I enjoyed it. Funny and interesting - worth a read. It's a different way to look at the world, but also a lot of things I already do.
Just picked up The Splendid and the Vile about Churchill. Probably the 3rd or 4th Churchill book I've read but Erik Larson is a particularly wicked writer. Dead Wake was one of the better history books I've read. Even if you don't think you'd be much interested in the sinking of the Lusitania, it'll have you completely enthralled. Will report back on The Splendid and the Vile but I have high hopes.
Just finished re-reading the Demon Accord series by John Conroe.
In the middle of this....
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I'm reading a bunch of books on writing.
I've got a bunch of crazy ideas that have been bouncing around in my brain for years. I started writing them down recently and I figured, while they might be slightly derivative, they're not actually that crazy compared to some of the junk I've read. And since I've been writing down these old ideas, new ones have been popping up in my head. Right now, I've got between 20 to 30 ideas that I could flesh out into short stories or novellas, and about 8 to 10 ideas that could be fleshed out into long form novels. They're a bunch of science fiction, horror, and fantasy stuff, a few crime, and some may have mystery and suspense elements to them. One or two are erotic in nature. I could easily put a few of the scifi stuff in the Star Wars universe, but creating my own universe would open up a lot more ideas, and probably save me the headache from a lawsuit or two backed by a certain mouse.
That's super cool dude! I love short stories, hopefully you'll share some with us at some point!
I finally finished Full Dark, No Stars by Stephen King.
I started reading it a while back but never finished it. I saw it laying around a few days ago with the bookmark sticking out of it where I put it down and decided to finish it. It's a short story/novella collection. 5 stories: 1922, Big Driver, Fair Extension, A Good Marriage, and Under the Weather. I won't spoil them, but I will say they are all, in their own way, nasty pieces of work. He even said he found them a bit harsh and a little hard for him to write in the afterword to the book.
1922 was made into a Netflix special. I haven't watched it yet. Big Driver could really happen. Those kind of stories kind of stick with me, the ones that could really happen, that human beings are capable of doing shit like that. I found Fair Extension to be a bit humorous, but still mean. My sense of humor's like that, so I could see myself doing something like what happened in the story, if the circumstances were dire enough. I thought A Good Marriage was vicious and fucked up and I couldn't stop reading it after I started it. I had to take a break after it was over. I can't get it out of my head that it could actually happen, and learning from the afterword that he based it on something that probably did happen makes it even more fucked up in my mind. To me, A Good Marriage was way more vicious than Big Driver. I took Under the Weather to be like a little "fuck you" kind of story that he writes from time to time. Kinda like Here There Be Tygers from the Night Shift collection. Short, sweet, and "oh, by the way... dear reader, fuck you". Here There Be Tygers has to be my favorite short story by him. It's like less than 10 pages and it makes me chuckle. The audiobook is on youtube. Listening to it cracked me up too. Under the Weather didn't make me laugh, I saw what was coming from a mile away, but I could see other people laughing at it. People way more fucked up than me.
Oddly enough, Under the Weather's also in Bazaar of Bad Dreams, which I'm starting next.
Been on a reading tear since I bought myself a new Kindle
Someone bought me Greenlights by Matthew McConaughey. I hated it :lol: Guy is completely full of shit, there are almost no good stories about any of the films he's made. Mostly it's just his own bullshit about spiritual journeys and cheap, vapid quotes. I didn't like the guy before (his acting is fine, just his interviews bugged me), but now I think I hate him.
Also read:
- With the Old Breed: At Peleliu and Okinawa by Eugene Sledge (one of the books The Pacific is based on). Excellent, horrific, sad, gruesome, humbling, and exceptionally well written.
- Marcus Aurelius' Meditations: A New Translation by Gregory Hays. Amazing how writing from almost 2000 years ago is still so impaction. This is difficult in parts to get through, I had to bite off small chunks at a time. I felt dumb reading the prologues but Gregory Hays does a magnificent job setting the background to the history, politics, philosophy and language you need to at least partially grasp.
- How I Invest My Money: Finance experts reveal how they save, spend, and invest - great book on how brilliant financial experts, CFO's, hedge fund managers etc. manage their own money. I'll save you the $20. They buy low cost ETF's and Mutual Funds, rarely buy their own hedge funds, pay off their mortgages faster than they recommend others do despite how cheap money is, and maximize all the usual tax savings mechanisms :lol:
- Perfect Puppy in 7 Days: How to Start Your Puppy Off Right by Dr. Sophia A. Yin - Great little book on dog training. A bit basic if you're already through the first few months and have done some classes but I like her approach and it's an enjoyable read.
This came out years ago but Shoe Dog by Phil Knight is a very enjoyable read. Very grassroots story about building Nike.
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Very much eye opening to events from the past...
"MOSSAD" was very enlightening as many of the events covered I remember from news at the time.
Now for a bit of fiction:
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