You mean Harry Dean Stanton? The Repo Man?

I was thinking of Justin Verlander:



Especially around the eyes, all dark and squinty, and that serious facial expression that makes it look as if he's two seconds away from erupting after being told at the baggage check-in that his suitcase is over the weight limit and there's going to be an additional fee.

The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire( Abridged Edition)------Edward Gibbon

Tough read, but worth it

Kershaw maybe........

Just finished 'Being Mortal' by Atul Gawande. Pieces of it were resonant with things I've seen in my family, other parts seemed overly simplistic.

Now on 'The Undoing Project: A friendship that changed our minds' by Michael Lewis only about 3 chapters in on this one liking it so far though.

Posted by bronxcheer on 2/21/2018 2:02:00 PM (view original):
The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire( Abridged Edition)------Edward Gibbon

Tough read, but worth it

Both true.

Posted by truemen on 10/27/2009 10:13:00 AM (view original):
The Count of Monte Crisco - by some french dude. Excellant book (for a frog)

Love that story.

Walter M. Miller Jr.'s A Canticle for Leibowitz (1959), a post-apocalyptic novel set in the 26^th to 38^th centuries, with humanity going through another Dark Age following nuclear war, only to progress enough technologically to be in a position to make the same mistakes, with even more dire consequences, all over again. I'm not normally a fan of sci-fi, but this is a well-written book, thought-provoking and moving, and with plenty of humor, too.

wapshot scandal john cheever

a 1915 mind grapples with 1955

a lot can happen in forty yar

Been a long time Crazystengel (prolly 35 years at least) since I read A Canticle for Leibowitz your note makes me think I ought to go back read it again.

Currently I'm finishing up Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance by Angela Duckworth and while it makes some interesting points I find it to be annoying in many ways. I think it can best be summed up by this xkcd

bagchucker: I've had that Cheever book on my shelf for 15 years. I've read all his short stories, even read the biography Blake Bailey wrote, enjoyed all of it. I'll crack open that novel one day.

combalt: A Canticle for Leibowitz is worth re-reading. Aside from the quality of the writing and the interesting story, the issues touched on are as relevant today as they were 60 years ago. A very prescient novel.

Nice cartoon, by the way.

Posted by combalt on 3/16/2018 1:01:00 PM (view original):
Been a long time Crazystengel (prolly 35 years at least) since I read A Canticle for Leibowitz your note makes me think I ought to go back read it again.

Currently I'm finishing up Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance by Angela Duckworth and while it makes some interesting points I find it to be annoying in many ways. I think it can best be summed up by this xkcd

That's pretty funny.

Posted by crazystengel on 3/16/2018 2:10:00 PM (view original):
bagchucker: I've had that Cheever book on my shelf for 15 years. I've read all his short stories, even read the biography Blake Bailey wrote, enjoyed all of it. I'll crack open that novel one day.

combalt: A Canticle for Leibowitz is worth re-reading. Aside from the quality of the writing and the interesting story, the issues touched on are as relevant today as they were 60 years ago. A very prescient novel.

Nice cartoon, by the way.

i'd say don't waste your time, you read one you read em both

except

he's a great writer, there's pleasure or delight in reading some of his constructions

and

the first is a young man's optimist view of the St Botolphs way, the second is an old man's pessimist

so did he just get old, or did the future fail

I think Cheever just got old, drunk, bitter. I remember his pal Updike was surprised at the venom in Cheever's posthumously published journals directed at him, the younger, more successful of the pair. Being in the closet for all 70 years of his life didn't help. But yes, he could put a shapely sentence together.

I just finished Martin Short's I Must Say: My Life as a Humble Comedy Legend (2014). If the names Ed Grimley, Jackie Rogers Jr. and Jiminy Glick mean anything to you, you'll be amused by some of the anecdotes here. Could have used more laughs, though. Like a lot of celebrity bios, this one goes heavy on the uplifting platitudes intended to help you navigate life's obstacles and heartbreaks. (Norm MacDonald's Based on a True Story was a rare exception in the genre.)

I have to Hugely Recommend the "Hilarious" series The Iron Druid Chronicles by Kevin Hearne .
Guys, these are Absolutely Laugh Out Loud Funny !

"Bottom of the Ninth"---Branch Rickey, Casey Stengel and the Daring Scheme to Save Baseball From Itself. by Michael Shapiro

The Continental League, expansion, revenue sharing, 59, 60, 61