August 11th, 2019 at 6:06:10 PM
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Quote: EvenBobAnybody ever read any Louis L'Amour? I've
never been able to. 90 novels, sold 200
million copies. They just don't seem very
well written.
Yes, I married a woman who owned some Louis L'Amour novels (and almost no novels by other authors) and so I read two of them. "Cowboy Saves Woman." They were very readable but not well-written, like an early form of gothic romance novels.. Ultimately, I decided to keep my wife and toss out the Louis L'Amour books.
So many better men, a few of them friends, are dead. And a thousand thousand slimy things live on, and so do I.
August 11th, 2019 at 8:29:53 PM
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Quote: gordonm888They were very readable but not well-written, like an early form of gothic romance novels..
They were formulaic. Good guy, bad guy, damsel
in distress/widow/virgin school teacher. Good
guy destroys bad guy, wins damsel. They were
all the same with lots of action to fill in the story.
L'Amour churned them out like a factory and
he had a dedicated following. If he only made
10 cents a book that's still $20 mil over a lifetime.
My dad/granddad/great granddad read them
as fast as they came out.
They always had great covers of the lone cowboy
hero:



"It's not enough to succeed, your friends must fail."
Gore Vidal
August 12th, 2019 at 8:48:18 AM
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Very curious thread.
Just like holidays photos. We love to show ours, we don’t give a dime for others’.
So, for nobody’ iInterest but mine, here is my current readings:
Present-day literature: M. Houellebecq, « Sérotonine »
Modern literature: P. Drieu La Rochelle, « Le feu follet »
Classics: N. Machiavelli, « Il Principe »
Thriller: J. Abbott, « Cut and Run »
Fantasy / SF: N. Stephenson, « Anathem »
Poetry: P. Neruda, « Los versos del capitán »
Language: J. Cohen, « Structure du langage poétique »
and J. Haudry, « L’indo-européen »
Science: F. De Waal, « Are we smart enough to know how smart animals are? »
Math: J. Nahin, « Dr. Euler’s Fabulous Formula »
Economics: Th. Piketty, « Le Capital au XXIème siècle »
Philosophy: R. Scruton, « Beauty » and F. Lebrun, « La Beauté »
History: J. Op de Beeck, « Het Verlies van België 1830 »
Romanced history: C. McCullough, « Fortune’s Favourites »
I recommend strongly the De Waal book, you learn lots of things about animal intelligence and emotion.
For leisure, I love everything by Jeff Abbott (pure action thriller) and Neal Stephenson (parallel universe).
Older but worth a read for History buffs: Bernard Cornwell and his Sharpe series, set in Napoleonic times. I liked it better than O’Brian or the Capt. Hornblower séries by C.S. Forester.
Just like holidays photos. We love to show ours, we don’t give a dime for others’.
So, for nobody’ iInterest but mine, here is my current readings:
Present-day literature: M. Houellebecq, « Sérotonine »
Modern literature: P. Drieu La Rochelle, « Le feu follet »
Classics: N. Machiavelli, « Il Principe »
Thriller: J. Abbott, « Cut and Run »
Fantasy / SF: N. Stephenson, « Anathem »
Poetry: P. Neruda, « Los versos del capitán »
Language: J. Cohen, « Structure du langage poétique »
and J. Haudry, « L’indo-européen »
Science: F. De Waal, « Are we smart enough to know how smart animals are? »
Math: J. Nahin, « Dr. Euler’s Fabulous Formula »
Economics: Th. Piketty, « Le Capital au XXIème siècle »
Philosophy: R. Scruton, « Beauty » and F. Lebrun, « La Beauté »
History: J. Op de Beeck, « Het Verlies van België 1830 »
Romanced history: C. McCullough, « Fortune’s Favourites »
I recommend strongly the De Waal book, you learn lots of things about animal intelligence and emotion.
For leisure, I love everything by Jeff Abbott (pure action thriller) and Neal Stephenson (parallel universe).
Older but worth a read for History buffs: Bernard Cornwell and his Sharpe series, set in Napoleonic times. I liked it better than O’Brian or the Capt. Hornblower séries by C.S. Forester.
Last edited by: kubikulann on Aug 12, 2019
Reperiet qui quaesiverit
August 12th, 2019 at 9:36:16 AM
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The Passage by Justin Cronin
Up to page 212, pretty good
Up to page 212, pretty good
"Everybody's bragging and drinking that wine,
I can tell the Queen of Diamonds by the way she shines,
Come to Daddy on an inside straight,
I got no chance of losing this time"
-Grateful Dead- "Loser"
August 12th, 2019 at 10:11:07 AM
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Quote: kubikulannVery curious thread.
Just like holidays photos. We love to show ours, we don’t give a dime for others’.
Why would you ever post for 'others..
I post for my own edification, why
else would I bother. If someone reads
it, goody. If they don't, why would I
possibly care. Posting for others is
a vast waste of time.
"It's not enough to succeed, your friends must fail."
Gore Vidal
August 13th, 2019 at 10:34:31 AM
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Is this only for gambling books now?
I don't read those anymore, I write
them.
I don't read those anymore, I write
them.
"It's not enough to succeed, your friends must fail."
Gore Vidal
August 13th, 2019 at 12:27:52 PM
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Enjoying Bourdain's book Medium Raw.
He was a writer before he wrote Kitchen
Confidential. He had published a novel.
He's a pretty good writer. Too bad he
didn't start his TV career till his mid 40's.
He was a writer before he wrote Kitchen
Confidential. He had published a novel.
He's a pretty good writer. Too bad he
didn't start his TV career till his mid 40's.
"It's not enough to succeed, your friends must fail."
Gore Vidal
August 15th, 2019 at 2:13:56 PM
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Like most, I started reading with comic
books. I devoured them, and reread
and reread them. What I didn't know
was, I just missed the golden era of
comic books.
From 1940 till 1955, they were huge.
10's of millions a month huge. There
were 650 titles, which, because of TV,
went down to 250 by the mid 50's.
Even adults read them because until
1955, they were loaded with big boobed
women wearing almost nothing. That
all changed when congress passed a
law that cleaned them up. You still
had some of the women, but not like
before. This in when the wholesome
comics took over. Archie, Little Lulu,
Nancy, all the Disney characters had
their own comics. And many of the
superheroes were born in the late
50's and early 60's.
These are 1946, never heard of any
of them.


{img=https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/a10AAOSwgdtcVjYh/s-l300.jpg]


sheena__queen_of_the_jungle__11___page_1_super.jpg]
books. I devoured them, and reread
and reread them. What I didn't know
was, I just missed the golden era of
comic books.
From 1940 till 1955, they were huge.
10's of millions a month huge. There
were 650 titles, which, because of TV,
went down to 250 by the mid 50's.
Even adults read them because until
1955, they were loaded with big boobed
women wearing almost nothing. That
all changed when congress passed a
law that cleaned them up. You still
had some of the women, but not like
before. This in when the wholesome
comics took over. Archie, Little Lulu,
Nancy, all the Disney characters had
their own comics. And many of the
superheroes were born in the late
50's and early 60's.
These are 1946, never heard of any
of them.


{img=https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/a10AAOSwgdtcVjYh/s-l300.jpg]


"It's not enough to succeed, your friends must fail."
Gore Vidal
August 15th, 2019 at 2:50:09 PM
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Quote: terapinedThe Passage by Justin Cronin
Up to page 212, pretty good
I’ve read the entire trilogy.
The Passage is the best. It completely changes tracts early on into a post-apocalyptic story. That abrupt change in characters and storytelling takes some getting used to. But once it gets going again, it’s great.
As a bonus, they visit a post-apocalyptic Las Vegas at one point.
Ding Dong the Witch is Dead