The Birth of Loud - Ian S Port. About Leo Fender and Les Paul. The rivalry that shaped rock and roll. Wasn't sure what to expect but I'm finding it very interesting.

Without a Stitch in Time (1972) by Peter De Vries. Humorous short stories and essays, clever, punny, two parts Thurber, one part Updike. A little dated at times (that happens with comic writing) but highly recommended.

The Blood of the Lamb (1961) by Peter De Vries. Very different from the above. The author's darkest work, a semi-autobiographical novel he wrote after the death of his young daughter. “We live this life by a kind of conspiracy of grace: the common assumption, or pretense, that human existence is 'good' or 'matters' or has 'meaning,' a glaze of charm or humor by which we conceal from one another and perhaps even ourselves the suspicion that it does not, and our conviction in times of trouble that it is overpriced - something to be endured rather than enjoyed.”

A Very English Scandal (2016) by John Preston. Very entertaining, fast-paced account of a crazy real life scandal in 1960s/70s England involving the leader of a national political party, his gay ex-lover, and the assorted henchmen sent out to silence and then finally kill the ex-lover (they never do kill him, but they kill his dog, because that particular henchman hated dogs so much he got sidetracked). The whole thing reads like a British version of the Coen brothers' Fargo. I can’t recall the last time I enjoyed a non-fiction book this much. There’s also a TV movie or mini series based on this book, starring Hugh Grant as the politician. I’ll be looking for it.

D day thru the Germans eyes. Very interesting easy and quick read. The Americans just blew everything up as the moved forward.

Japan's (backhanded!) analysis of the American fighting man: "They fight very well with superior firepower."

we're not big on bushido. we're big on getting there the fastest with the mostest and wrecking all their stuff

On the topic of WW II and the battle in the Pacific a favorite from years ago was The Reluctant Admiral: Yamamoto and the Imperial Navy (1979) by Hiroyuki Agawa. My interest in the subject generally began when I was (much) younger and my dad gave me Incredible Victory: The Battle of Midway (1967) by Walter Lord.

Right now I'm reading After Henry (1992) by Joan Didion. To my knowledge I've read everything else she's published except the new one last year. A couple of favorite quotes of hers are from Slouching Towards Bethlehem (1968):

"A writer is always selling someone out."
"The city burning is Los Angeles's deepest image of itself[.]"

Another favorite from that book is the essay "Goodbye to All That." It's literally about leaving New York City but really about the end of youth.

She has spent much of her career sniffing out BS (her own and others') and then calling it out in the most lacerating terms. But when she experienced the loss of her mother, husband, and daughter within a few years and wrote about it the literary results were quite different, in the last essay of Where I Was From (2003); The Year of Magical Thinking (2005); and Blue Nights (2011). Those will rip your heart out. In fact The Year of Magical Thinking was the first book of hers I read and led me to the rest.

Posted by crazystengel on 1/24/2019 10:34:00 AM (view original):
You ever read a work of fiction that references the title of a book, and you look up the title to see if it's real or made up? I tend to guess wrong in these situations. A few years ago I came across a character in a novel who was obsessed with a book of erotic photography called Midnight at the Nursing Academy (the novel was set in Weimar Germany). I figured, incorrectly, there probably was such a book. Just now I'm reading short stories by Peter De Vries, and one of his characters suggests the best way to ward off unwanted conversations on train rides is to immerse yourself in a big book like Four Hundred Centuries of Cave Art.

Says I, "Surely that's made up!"

Nope. The book's currently available at Amazon for $735.73 (or $275.00 used, if you want to be a cheapskate about your cave art).

That happens to me all the time. For example I learned who William Cowper was from an obscure reference in a Ross Macdonald novel which I felt compelled to look up. Macdonald was an English lit PhD (from U of Michigan) who thrived as a detective novelist and is probably my favorite author. But I'll leave that for now.

point_piper, on the topic of Joan Didion, have you ever read the essay on her by John Lahr (New Yorker critic and son of the Cowardly Lion)? It's in a collection of his titled "Automatic Vaudeville." It's rather vicious but I think even a Didion fan might enjoy it.

I haven’t, I’ll look for it.

walter lord, why does that name ring a bell

did he write the titanic maybe

he wrote something i read a long time ago

Posted by bagchucker on 2/20/2019 5:07:00 AM (view original):
walter lord, why does that name ring a bell

did he write the titanic maybe

he wrote something i read a long time ago

You got it, A Night to Remember (1955). A better movie was made from it than the James Cameron version.

FEAR THE REAPER by JOSH BAZELL

called a breakneck cross between a hospital drama, the godfather and a quentin tarantino film by bloomberg.com
about an intern at a bad hospital with out of the box talent and a past life as a superstar hit man for the mafia...now in witness protection program.
he gets made by a patient and gets caught in a thicket trying to save patients and staving off the mob.

next book after the one i am currently reading is CAMP OF NIGHT DAVID by FLETCHER KNEBEL.
what would happen if the president of the usa went stark - raving mad ?
man the torpedos. and batten down the hatches.

dino, that sounds like current events to me

i recently bought a rare book from 1953 from a used book store...the book is called lincoln and greeley. it has one of those personalized sticker/seals that people used to put inside the cover...it says al smith.....there is a very good chance it was the al smith.
i have several books from the collection of george keenen some with the seal and at least one signed by the author to him.

The last used bookstore in my local area just closed down, they has thousands of books crammed in every nook and cranny of the ground floor of a 110 year old house.

Some great finds there over of the years