Member: Garp83
CollectionsYour library (1,846), Currently reading (3), Read (93), All collections (1,846)
Reviews45 reviews
Tagsancient history (1), Ancient History (1) — see all tags
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About me"The greatest university of all is a collection of books." -- Thomas Carlyle
I have always loved to read, but only in the past several years have I returned to reading on an almost daily basis. I often read five books at a time, bouncing from one to the other as my interest rises and falls in the work at hand.
I read a lot of nonfiction, especially history and biography. Traditionally, my interest has been primarily in American history, colonial period through the Civil War, plus Presidential biographies from all the various eras. Over the past few years, however, I became seduced by ancient Greece and the classical education I never had, so I read The Iliad & the Odyssey, Hesiod, Herodotus, Thucydides, and some great treatments of the various periods by current historians. I continue to pursue a study of the ancient world, as well as the so-called "big history" that reaches back to anthropology and even beyond human origins.
I used to read a lot of fiction. My favorite authors are William Faulkner, Ernest Hemingway, Andre Brink, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, and John Irving. Of late, I began reading contemporary literary fiction fairly regularly, including great recent stuff by Cormac McCarthy, Richard Powers, Junot Diaz, Khaled Hosseini, Dennis Lehane, and Andrea Barrett. I joined a first edition book club at the Odyssey Bookshop, a local independent bookseller, that has been feeding me a steady diet in this vein. At the same time, I have attempted to re-visit classic fiction such as Dickens, Crane, Stowe and Melville.
I also belong to a local books-and-beer reading club, B.C. Musical Glass, and we pick out an unusual book each month that strays beyond usual interests. Beer is mandatory, of course.
It is not unusual for me to have four or five or even six books in progress at the same time, often a mix of fiction, non-fiction and classical. That way I never get bored!
I am very meticulous about handling and caring for my books. I loan anything to friends except books, because that is the one item few value on the same level as I do.
I have a B.A. in History with a minor in Politics from Fairfield University. I still dream of perhaps getting a grad degree one day, although more for the intellectual gratification than any career opportunity, and now I am actually taking courses towards that Masters Degree in Ancient and Classical History at APUS!
I am the owner and president of GoGeeks Computer Rescue, a company specializing in computer repair and custom computer manufacturing, which has absolutely nothing to do with books or reading ...
On April 14th 2009 I was elected to a three year term as Library trustee for the town of East Longmeadow MA. In 2011, I was elected as Vice-Chairman for the board of Library Trustees. I recently retired from the board.
I have completed a year of an online course in reading and writing Classical Greek through the Lukeion Group. I am also taking classes towards a fully accredited online Master's program aimed at an M.A. in Public History through(APU)American Public University.
About my libraryI have over 2150 books in my collection (most on shelves but resorting to boxing up as I run out of physical space), primarily hardcover, which I cataloged using the awesome Book Collector software from collectorz.com. I batch uploaded my collection from Book Collector to LibraryThing and I still have to sort thru and figure out what didn't stick.
Here's what I've read over the last several years:
1. The Eternal Frontier – Flannery
2. Facing East From Indian Country – Richter
3. Benjamin Franklin – Isaacson
4. Uncle Tom’s Cabin – Stowe
5. The Dahlgren Affair – Schultz
6. Lincoln’s Last Night – Axelrod (5/16/05)
7. His Excellency: George Washington – Fleming
8. American Colonies – Taylor
9. A Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies – Las Casas
10. Moby Dick – Melville
11. Memories of my Melancholy Whores – Garcia Marquez
READ 2006
12. The Iliad – Homer (2-2-06)
13. 1491 – Mann (2-3-06)
14. Troy – McCarty (2-9-06)
15. President Nixon – Reeves (2-21-06)
16. The Last Voyage of Columbus – Dugard (4-2-06)
17. The Red Badge of Courage – Crane (4-10-06)
18. The Odyssey – Homer (4-20-06)
19. Empires at War – Fowler (5-31-06 ?)
20. Troy and Homer – Joachim Latacz (6-12-06)
21. Agamemnon – Aeschylus (7-7-06)
22. 1776 – McCullough (7-9-06)
23. The War at Troy – Quintus of Smyrna (7-16-06)
24. Guns, Germs, and Steel – Diamond (8-20-06)
25. Gulliver’s Travels – Swift (8-29-06)
26. The King Must Die – Renault (10-13-06)
27. State of Denial – Woodward (10-29-06)
28. Before the Dawn – Wade (11-23-06)
29. Nisa: The Life and Words of a !Kung Woman – Shostak (12-9-06)
30. The Trojan War: A New History – Strauss (12-17-06)
READ 2007
31. The Kill Bill Diary – David Carradine (1-11-07)
32. Freethinkers – Susan Jacoby (2-19-07)
33. Frankenstein – Mary Shelley (3-23-07)
34. Persian Fire – Tom Holland (3-25-07)
35. Histories – Herodotus (6-2-07)
36. The Classical World: An Epic History From Homer to Hadrian – Robin Lane Fox (6-5-07)
37. Thomas Paine – Craig Nelson (6-14-07)
38. The Other Side of Silence – Andre Brink (8-6-07)
39. Cities of the Plain – Cormac McCarthy (8-9-07)
40. A Dangerous Friend – Ward Just (8-12-07)
41. Mayflower – Nathaniel Philbrick (8-12-07)
42. The Peloponnesian War –Donald Kagan (8-23-07)
43. The Kite Runner -- Khaled Hosseini (9-8-07)
44. The Inheritance of Loss – Kiran Desai (9-22-07)
45. The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao – Junot Diaz (9-25-07)
46. The Echo Maker – Richard Powers (10-14-07)
47. The History of the Peloponnesian War – Thucydides (10-25-07)
48. Bridge of Sighs – Richard Russo (11-17-07)
49. Theogony – Hesiod (11-29-07)
50. Roanoke Island: The Beginnings of English America – David Stick (12-1-07)
51. Coronado – Dennis Lehane (12-6-07)
52. The Air We Breathe – Andrea Barrett (12-13-07)
53. A Christmas Carol – Charles Dickens (12-23-07)
READ 2008
54. The Case of Abraham Lincoln – Julie M. Fenster (1-2-08)
55. The Pirate’s Daughter – Margaret Cezair-Thompson (1-31-08)
56. American Shaolin – Matthew Polly (2-8-08)
57. A Tale of Two Cities – Charles Dickens (2-11-08)
58. Frogs – Aristophanes (2-12-08)
59. Hellenica: Books 1-4 -- Xenophon (2-16-08)
60. Charlatan – Pope Brock (3-3-08)
61. A Golden Age – Tahmima Anam (3-16-08)
62. Arslan – Engh (3-25-08)
63. The Commoner -- John Burnham Schwartz (4-2-08)
64. Anabasis – Xenophon (4-6-08)
65. Scapegoats of the Empire – George Witton (4-13-08)
66. Killing Custer – James Welch, Paul Stekler (4-20-08)
67. The Persians – Aeschylus (4-24-08)
68. The Choephori(The Libation Bearers)- Aeschylus(4-27-08)
69. The Eumenides - Aeschylus (4-30-08)
70. Ajax – Sophocles (4-30-08)
71. Philoctetes – Sophocles (4-30-08)
72. Oedipus Rex – Sophocles (5-3-08)
73. American Creation – Joseph Ellis (5-11-08)
74. Antigone – Sophocles (5-18-08)
75. The River of Doubt – Candice Millard (5-22-08)
76. All the Pretty Horses – Cormac McCarthy (5-31-08)
77. Mudbound – Hilary Jordan (6-5-08)
78. The Crossing -- Cormac McCarthy (6-24-08)
79. Four Hats in the Ring – Lewis Gould (6-24-08)
80. Me of Little Faith – Lewis Black (7-3-08)
81. Zeus:A Journey Through Greece in the Footsteps of a God – Tom Stone (7-14-08)
82. How to Survive a Robot Uprising – Daniel H. Wilson (7-25-08)
83. Blood Meridian – Cormac McCarthy (8-2-08
84. The Cruelest Miles – Gay Salisbury & Laney Salisbury (8-15-08)
85. Inverted World – Christopher Priest (8-23-08)
86. Whale Hunt – Nelson Cole Haley (8-24-08)
87. A Thousand Splendid Suns -- Khaled Hosseini (9-15-08)
88. A Crack in the Edge of the World – Simon Winchester (10-17-08)
89. In Patagonia – Bruce Chatwin (11-29-08)
90. Just After Sunset – Stephen King (12-17-08)
91. Pyramids – Terry Pratchett (12-18-08)
92. The Road – Cormac McCarthy (12-26-08)
READ 2009
93. Noah's Flood – William Ryan & Walter Pitman (1-31-09)
94. The Bizarro Starter Kit – D. Harlan Wilson, et al (2-7-09)
95. Courtesans & Fishcakes – James Davidson (2-10-09)
96. Mr. Wilson’s Cabinet of Wonder – Lawrence Weschler (2-28-09)
97. Under the Banner of Heaven – Jon Krakauer (3-17-09)
98. Hellenica PT II – Xenophon (3-23-09)
99. Book Finds – Ian Ellis (3-28-09)
100. The Story of Edgar Sawtelle – David Wroblewski (4-12-09)
101. The Honey and the Hemlock: Democracy and Paranoia in Ancient Athens and Modern America – Eli Sagan (4-14-09)
102. Maps of Time: An Introduction to Big History – David Christian (4-17-09)
103. Child of God – Cormac McCarthy (4-23-09)
104. Snow Crash – Neil Stephenson (4-26-09)
105. Suttree – Cormac McCarthy (5-09-09)
106. Eleven Minutes – Paulo Coelho (5-12-09)
107. No Country for Old Men -- Cormac McCarthy (5-24-09)
108. My Name is Red – Orhan Pamuk (6-1-09)
109. The Illustrated A Brief History of Time – Stephen Hawking (6-3-09)
110. The Fuck-Up – Arthur Nersesian (6-24-09)
111. Outer Dark – Cormac McCarthy (6-26-09)
112. The Devil in Dover – Lauri Lebo (6-27-09)
113. The Garden of Last Days – Andre Dubus III (6-28-09)
114. America in 1857: A Nation on the Brink – Kenneth Stampp (7-16-09)
115. The Orchard Keeper – Cormac McCarthy (7-24-09)
116. Dead Until Dark – Charlaine Harris (8-9-09)
117. Too Loud a Solitude – Bohumil Hrabal (8-15-09)
118. Acharnians – Aristophanes (8-24-09)
119. The Beautiful Cigar Girl –Daniel Stashower (9-2-09)
120. Wildebeest in a Rainstorm – Jon Bowermaster (9-3-09)
121. The Long Fuse – Dan Cook (9-6-09
122. The Secret History – Donna Tartt (9-26-09)
123. Helen of Troy: Goddess, Princess, Whore -- Bettany Hughes (10-17-09)
124. Black Elk Speaks – John G. Neihardt & Black Elk (11-5-09)
125. Europe Between the Oceans – Barry Cunliffe (12-6-09)
126. Invisible Cities – Italo Calvino (12-10-09)
127. Perfecting Sound Forever – Greg Milner (12-12-09)
READ 2010
128. 1960: LBJ vs. JFK vs. Nixon – David Pietrusza (1-2-10)
129. The Year of the Flood – Margaret Atwood (1-22-10)
130. Phaedo – Plato (1-28-10)
131. The Athenian Constitution – Aristotle (2-10-10)
132. Folk Photography – Luc Sante (2-11-10)
133. The Great Comeback – Gary Ecelbarger (2-13-10)
134. The Lost City of Z – David Grann (2-16-10)
135. Going Native – Stephen Wright (2-28-10)
136. Strange Days Indeed: The Golden Age of Paranoia – Francis Wheen (3-25-10)
137. The War That Killed Achilles – Caroline Alexander (3-27-10)
138. The Ancestor’s Tale – Richard Dawkins (3-29-10)
139. The Iliad – Homer, Lattimore verse translation [re-read, alt. translation] (4-2-10)
140. A Companion to the Iliad – Malcolm Willcock (4-2-10)
141. Tutankhamun: His Tomb And Its Treasures – Edwards (4-12-10)
142. The Penelopiad – Margaret Atwood (4-18-10)
143. War With The Newts – Karel Capek (5-8-10)
144. The Lost World of Old Europe: The Danube Valley 5000-3500 BC – edited by David W. Anthony, Jennifer Y. Chi (5-13-10)
145. The Code Book: The Science of Secrecy from Ancient Egypt to Quantum Cryptography – Simon Singh (5-14-10)
146. From Egypt to Babylon: The International Age 1550-500BC -- Paul Collins (5-27-10)
147. 1492: The Year the World Began – Felipe Fernandez-Armesto (5-28-10)
148. Presidential Confidential – John Boertlein (6-19-10)
149. Cleopatra: A Biography – Duane W. Roller (7-13-10)
150. Tours of the Black Clock – Steve Erickson (7-15-10)
152. Duma Key – Stephen King (8-4-10)
153. People of the Book – Geraldine Brooks (8-6-10)
154. The Outbreak of the Peloponnesian War – Donald Kagan (8-9-10)
155. Ancient Greece: From Prehistoric to Hellenistic Times – Thomas R. Martin (8-28-10)
156. The Best American Nonrequired Reading 2009 – Dave Eggers, ed. (9-18-10)
157. The Plot to Seize the White House – Jules Archer (9-19-10)
158. The Six Wives of Henry the VIII – Alison Weir (10-19-10)
159. Manhunt: The 12-Day Chase for Lincoln’s Killer – James L. Swanson (10-22-10)
160. Dracula's Guest: A Connoisseur's Collection of Victorian Vampire Stories – Michael Sims, ed. (10-23-10)
161. A Deeper Blue: The Life and Music of Townes Van Zandt – Robert Earl Hardy (11-7-10)
162. The Third Policeman – Flann O’Brien (11-14-10)
163. Lords of the Sea:The Epic Story of the Athenian Navy and the Birth of Democracy – John R. Hale (12-12-10)
164. Camp Concentration -- Thomas M. Disch (12-17-10)
165. Searoad: Chronicles of Klatsand – Ursula K. LeGuin (12-31-10)
READ 2011
166. Thucydides: The Reinvention of History – Donald Kagan (1-12-11)
167. The Tarim Mummies – J.P. Mallory & Victor H. Mair (2-10-11)
168. The Greeks – H.D.F. Kitto (2-19-11)
169. 169. The Reserve – Russell Banks (?)
170. Pattern Recognition – William Gibson (3-07-11)
171. City of Thieves – David Benioff (3-18-11
172. The Kennedy Legacy: Jack, Bobby and Ted and a Family Dream Fulfilled -- Vincent Bzdek (4-16-11)
173. From Reliable Sources: An Introduction to Historical Methods – Martha Howell & Walter Prevenier (4-22-11)
174. Life – Keith Richards (4-29-11)
175. Sitting Bull: Prisoner of War – Dennis C. Pope (4-30-11)
176. Alexander the Great -- Paul Cartledge (5-18-11)
177. Lapham’s Quarterly: Spring 2011 – Lewis Lapham (5-21-11, book club selection)
178. The Horse, The Wheel, and Language – David Anthony (5-25-11)
179. Return to Nisa – Marjorie Shostak (5-28-11)
180. Nightmare Alley – William Lindsay Gresham (7-25-11)
181. The Snakebite Survivors Club: Travels Among Serpents – Jeremy Seal (7-28-11)
182. 1861: The Civil War Awakening - Adam Goodheart (9-10-11)
183. Lincoln: President-Elect – Harold Holzer (9-14-11)
184. The Sisters Brothers—Patrick DeWitt (9-17-11)
185. Jacqueline Kennedy: Historic Conversations on Life with John F. Kennedy – Caroline Kennedy & Michael Beschloss (10-3-11)[audio]
186. An Unfinished Life: John F. Kennedy 1917-1963 – Robert Dallek (10-5-11)
187. House Arrest – Ellen Meeropol (10-19-11)
188. Matterhorn: A Novel of the Vietnam War – Karl Marlantes (10-31-11)
189. A War Like No Other – Victor Davis Hanson (11-1-11)
190. The Slynx – Tatyana Tostaya (12-10-11)
191. The Greco-Persian Wars – Peter Green (12-18-11)
192. Great Harry: The Extravagant Life of Henry VIII – Carrolly Erickson (12-31-11)
READ 2012
193. The End of Manners – Francesca Marciano (1-27-12)
194. Life in Year One – Scott Korb (1-28-12)
195. A Canticle For Leibowitz – Walter M. Miller, Jr. (2-10-12)
196. Scorpions – Noah Feldman (2-13-12)
197. The Disappearing Spoon – Sam Kean (3-3-12)
198. Catapult – Jim Paul (3-30-12)
199. Rubicon – Tom Holland (3-21-12)
200. The Limits of Power – Andrew J. Bacevich (4-7-12)
201. Swords Against the Senate – Erik Hildinger (4-19-12)
202. Shiloh: And the Western Campaign of 1862 – O. Edward Cunningham (5-3-12)
203. War Fever – J.G. Ballard (5-17-12)
204. The Passage of Power – Robert A. Caro (6-11-12)
205. The Three Christs of Ypsilanti – Milton Rokeach (6-24-12)
206. Lennon: The Man, the Myth, the Music – The Definitive Life – Tim Riley (7-15-12)
207. Crossroads of Freedom: Antietam – The Battle That Changed the Course of the Civil War – James M. McPherson (8-3-12)
208. Prisoner’s Dilemma – William Poundstone (8-10-12)
209. Kafka on the Shore – Haruki Murakami (8-27-12)
210. 1948: Harry Truman’s Improbable Victory and the Year That Transformed America – David Pietrusza (9-2-12)
211. Public Enemies – Bryan Burrough (9-9-12)
212. To End All Wars – Adam Hochschild (9-25-12)
213. The Given Day -- Dennis Lehane (10-8-12)
214. Indigo – Catherine McKinley (10-9-12)
215. Their Heads Are Green and Their Hands Are Blue – Paul Bowles (10-26-12)
216. Norwegian Wood -- Haruki Murakami (11-3-12)
217. Europe's Last Summer – David Fromkin (11-10-12)
218. Plows, Plagues & Petroleum – William F. Ruddiman (11-11-12)
219. Red Sorghum – Mo Yan (11-15-12)
220. The Picture of Dorian Gray – Oscar Wilde (11-16-12)
221. This is How You Lose Her – Junot Diaz (11-20-12)
222. Flight Behavior – Barbara Kingsolver (12-4-12)
223. Reservation Blues – Sherman Alexie (1-4-13)
224. 1Q84 – Haruki Murakami (1-25-13)
225. Why Does the World Exist – Jim Holt (2-23-13)
226. Sex and Rockets: The Occult World of Jack Parsons – John Carter (3-1-13)
227. Cold Skin – Albert Sanchez Pinol (3-14-13)
228. Listening In: The Secret White House Recordings of John F. Kennedy – Ted Widmer, ed. (3-19-13)
229. Casino: Love and Honor in Las Vegas -- Nicholas Pileggi (4-5-13)
230. Gettysburg -- Stephen W. Sears (4-7-13)
231. The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle – Haruki Murakami (4-13-13)
232. The Housekeeper and the Professor – Yoko Ogawa (4-19-13)
233. Thomas Jefferson: The Art of Power – Jon Meacham (4-20-13)
234. Revenge – Yoko Ogawa (4-22-13)
The Most Glorious Fourth: Vicksburg and Gettysburg, July 4, 1863 -- Duane Schultz (5-15-13)
236. To Have and Have Not -- Ernest Hemingway (5-15-13)
GroupsAmateur Historians, Ancient History, Archaeology, B.C. Musical Glass Discussion, History at 30,000 feet: The Big Picture, Homer, the Trojan war, and pre-classical Greece, Learning Ancient Greek, LibraryThing Gatherings and Meetups, Maps and Atlases, The Teaching Company —show all groups, US Presidents Challenge (USPC)
Favorite authorsAndré Brink, William Faulkner, Ernest Hemingway, John Irving, Gabriel García Márquez, Cormac McCarthy, William Styron (Shared favorites)
VenuesFavorites
Favorite bookstoresAmherst Books, Bookends, Brattle Book Shop, Grey Matter Books, Raven Used Book Shop, The Book Bear, The Odyssey Bookshop
Homepagehttp://connect.collectorz.com/users/garp83/books/view
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Membership
LibraryThing Early Reviewers/Member Giveaway
Real nameStan
Location01028
Emailgarp83
verizon.net
Account typepublic, lifetime
URLs
http://www.librarything.com/profile/Garp83 (profile)
http://www.librarything.com/catalog/Garp83 (library)
Member sinceDec 2, 2007
Currently readingAlexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow
1493: Uncovering the New World Columbus Created by Charles C. Mann
Independence: The Struggle to Set America Free by John Ferling
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I noticed you just added a book by Bruce Catton, my favorite Civil War author. It used to be a tie between him and Shelby Foote but Catton has won out. I listen to audio books and have several of his titles, including the Centennial History of the Civil War on audio. I just finished listening to The Coming Fury for at least the third time. I think his description of the Charleston convention when the Democratic party split is fascinating. Catton started writing as a journalist and I think that was a big aid to his ability to write such wonderful thumbnail descriptions of people and events. Herman Hattaway in his book How the North Won: A Military History of the Civil War cites Catton fifteen times for those types of little blurbs.
I read Independence by John Ferling last year. I found it well written and very informative. There are not many books that focus on that topic. Most of the time it is just written about along with the other events of the American Revolution. I have A Leap in the Dark and two other books by Ferling. I really enjoyed his book on the election of 1800. I think that Thomas Jefferson played some genuine dirty tricks to win that election. I read somewhere that Jefferson would not have won without the number of electors added to the Southern states by the 3/5 compromise.
I hope I don't bore you with my little stories. Do good and be well.
Bill
posted by wildbill at 6:51 pm (EST) on May 5, 2013
posted by stellarexplorer at 4:04 pm (EST) on Dec 25, 2012
posted by HectorSwell at 6:08 pm (EST) on Nov 14, 2012
Thanks for the heads up on "To End All Wars". I have it on audio and had trouble getting into it. I listened to the whole book in about three days and really enjoyed it. Not exactly the official version of the history of the war. The author did a very good job of showing a different point of view on the war.
Bill
posted by wildbill at 8:45 pm (EST) on Oct 26, 2012
Knock, Knock it's me again. You have had an interesting haul of books lately. An interesting blend of fiction and non-fiction. I recently got a nice two volume set that has nine science fiction novels from the 50's and 60's. The Bornerman book on the French and Indian war looks interesting. I have his book on the War of 1812, still waiting to be read. I recently got Crucible of War by Fred Anderson which is a rather thick treatment of the French and Indian War. I hope it lives up to what I read about it. I was interested by Europe's Last Summer. The more I read about WWI the more I want to read. In England they still call it The Great War. I am reading a three volume work titled Origins of the War of 1914 by Luigi Albertini. It took me about one year to read the first volume. Right now I am at mid-July 1914 on page 235 in the second volume. The book has a wonderful three page step by step telling of what happened on the streets of Sarajevo when the Archduke was murdered. Got to go. Keep buying, keep reading.
Bill
posted by wildbill at 9:10 pm (EST) on Oct 17, 2012
Yes that is quite a deal. I hate to buy books at retail. I buy a lot of my books used or wait for some type of sale on a website. Right now I need to concentrate on reading more than buying. Next year I am going to post my books on Club Read and not keep track of how many books I read. I am always looking for posts of history reviews, hint, hint. They are few and far between. I looked at the video, you've changed a bit.
Bill
posted by wildbill at 8:42 pm (EST) on Sep 9, 2012
I noticed you picked up Alexander to Actium. I have had the book for several years but haven't finished it yet. I have started it several times, it is a pretty imposing book to tackle. I love the way Peter Green writes and the book is full of photos of fascinating artifacts. I read the Rubicon by Tom Holland this year and enjoyed it very much. It is a terrific story and Holland tells a lot about the underside of Roman life. I read Persian Fire earlier in the year and enjoyed that also. Shiloh by O. Edward Cunningham is one of my favorite Civil War battle books. The author does a great job of weaving a narrative out of primary sources until you feel like you were there.
I use the 50 book challenge to keep a reading journal but it's not easy to find people who read history and post what they read. What I don't like is feeling like I have to read 50 books in a year. That's hard to do if you read books like Alexander to Actium.
Have a great day.
Bill
posted by wildbill at 1:57 pm (EST) on Sep 9, 2012
posted by stellarexplorer at 9:51 pm (EST) on May 3, 2012
posted by stellarexplorer at 11:37 am (EST) on May 3, 2012
posted by stellarexplorer at 11:03 am (EST) on Feb 17, 2012
posted by stellarexplorer at 10:07 pm (EST) on Feb 16, 2012
As for sharing some advisable reads on Greece, of course, recommend away!
posted by joririchardson at 10:47 am (EST) on Feb 4, 2012
posted by cutiger80 at 9:09 am (EST) on Feb 3, 2012
I have not yet read "Courtesans and Fishcakes," but I am certain that once I do, I will love it. I love Classical Greece more than any other time period (except Ancient Egypt) and do not know nearly as much as I should about it. It's one of those books that I know I'll break down and order on Amazon one of these days, but I just haven't gotten around to it yet.
posted by joririchardson at 7:33 am (EST) on Feb 1, 2012
posted by stellarexplorer at 12:42 pm (EST) on Dec 26, 2011
posted by stellarexplorer at 10:24 pm (EST) on Dec 25, 2011
As far as a recommendation for steampunk - I'm new to the genre myself, but I've really enjoyed novels by Cherie Priest, Gordon Dahlquist and Harry Harrison.
Merry Christmas!
-Matthew
posted by IndyLibrarian at 1:25 pm (EST) on Dec 25, 2011
Looks like you scored some neat books. I love the Penguin Historical Atlases. They are not major league scholarship but they have a good amount of information. I love most atlases. I have a two volume Penguin Atlas of World History. It was written by two Germans. One side of the page is a chronology and the other side is maps. They are two of my favorite books. I hope I am not repeating myself.
I read a review of the Loren Samons book on Amazon. The reviewer said that Samons was a genius and could be President if he wanted to. If it weren't beneath his ability.
Hope I am not clogging your comment list.
Take care.
Bill
posted by wildbill at 8:02 pm (EST) on Nov 8, 2011
I saw the books you got recently on my home page. They look very interesting. You should check out the posted review for Arthur Waley's book. It's very weird. I took a look at the Fontana series. It looks very good. Very informative and very compact. Are those for a class? I have started reading some Ancient Greece and Rome. Your two books make me want to read Alexander to Actium. I have had it a long time and have read bits of it. Peter Green is a good author.I have been looking at finishing up Edward Gibbon. It really is a good book. I just finished Persian Fire. I read your review.
I like your reviews. I do a thread of reviews of the books I have read. I have used 50 book challenge, Club Read and Off the Shelf. You might find that interesting. It's nice to have a little journal of what you have read.
Yak, yak, yak time to go.
Bill
posted by wildbill at 8:37 pm (EST) on Sep 27, 2011
posted by wildbill at 8:12 pm (EST) on Sep 27, 2011
posted by Feicht at 9:35 am (EST) on Jul 22, 2011
posted by Garp83 at 6:42 am (EST) on Jul 22, 2011
posted by Feicht at 2:10 am (EST) on Jul 22, 2011
Robert
posted by Mr.Durick at 4:39 pm (EST) on Jun 2, 2011
Robert
posted by Mr.Durick at 3:08 pm (EST) on Jun 2, 2011
http://www.librarything.com/groups/nonfictionchallenge#forums
posted by wildbill at 9:12 pm (EST) on May 24, 2011
Michael Finley is an excellent writer. He can get more material in one essay than some authors do in a book. I have bought every book of his I could find. Unfortunately I have not read them all yet.
I hope you write reviews of some of those. I would love to read what you have to say about them. We have started a group titled non-fiction challenge. It is a place for people to write about the non-fiction books they read. You might take a look at it. Non-fiction covers a lot of territory so there are posts about a wide variety of interesting books.
posted by wildbill at 4:43 pm (EST) on May 22, 2011
posted by stellarexplorer at 9:04 pm (EST) on Mar 12, 2011
posted by stellarexplorer at 10:10 pm (EST) on Feb 27, 2011
posted by stellarexplorer at 4:31 pm (EST) on Feb 27, 2011
Well, first let me just assure you that I did not read Drews expecting the answer; given my limited knowledge base, any book -- polemic though it may be -- has a lot in it for me to learn from as long as the scholarship underlying the point of view is solid. In the case of Drews, he may be useful in the way that drug representatives are useful to doctors (I do not talk to them, for the record, seeing pharmaceutical companies' efforts to influence my prescribing practices as a conflict of interest): They are wonderful at telling you what is wrong with the other companies' drug; Drew is persuasive in his attacks on competing explanations of the Collapse. He seems knowledgeable, whether or not you accept his conclusions.
Hard to say whether he is worth reading given what you already know, but another of his strengths is in something I see as very important in considering the collapse. I cringe whenever I read about the collapse of Mycenaean society as if it can be separated from the contemporaneous collapse of the entire eastern Mediterranean world. Relatively enduring and stable for two millennia, and then over a few decades all gone, from the Aegean to Anatolia to the Levant. And as you say, it is really the end of the powerful and prominent role Egypt has played throughout the period. Drews puts the Collapse in the perspective in which I believe it belongs: the collapse of not just a local region -- though local factors may have played specific roles in particular places -- but the sudden end of an era, widely, definitively and catastrophically.
I too am intrigued by the Philistine case. Drews, BTW, disbelieves it. He presents evidence for a Philistine population existing in Canaan for a long time, most of them of Palestinian origin. He argues that while there may have been some new immigrants arriving c. 1200, they would have been small in number. He cites the parallel between the flight of the Hebrew slaves from Egypt and the plight of the refugees from Greece/Crete, and suggests the idea of a wider Exodus was appropriated by the population of the region and mythologized into an ancient myth of Philistine external origins. He is more emphatic and prolix about the modern "myth", describing it as without evidence be it literary, archeological or documentary. Trust me that he has all kinds of very bad things to say about the idea that the Philistines were Mycenaeans.
But he could well be wrong.
I must tell you that my Bronze Age exploits are starting to pull me away from Greece and toward the wider Mesopotamian Bronze Age. What really characterizes this period? Do we do our understanding a service by using the shorthand "Bronze Age" and "Iron Age" What else do we mean by these terms? So I've started to move backward, toward 3000 BCE, in search of a more complete comprehension of what the changes from the Neolithic really mean.
I've had a thought: What if the ancient Sumerians were informed that we -- godlike and from the incomprehensible future that we are -- were studying their culture, looking for understanding of our own origins? Perhaps they would be honored. Flattered. Proud that they are remembered and that they accomplished something still recalled. But I imagine they might also shake their heads, thinking we have far more interesting things to occupy us in our complex world than will be found in theirs. Just a thought. Certainly I am not suggesting all this isn't fascinating and well worth studying. Just another perspective. And my mind always runs toward the question of the best allocation of the limited time I have here on Earth.
Of course, I am enjoying this immensely, filling in the blanks, expanding my mind and my conception of the past...
Thanks for your thoughts. Always most interesting. To be continued ---
posted by stellarexplorer at 9:56 pm (EST) on Feb 26, 2011
I know I'm digressing here but I read this thought today: "Attempts at reconstructing a ‘Bronze Age world view’ can only ever be speculative in a Europe where the absence of literacy prevents mind-to-mind contact across the ages. Understanding is necessarily determined by familiarity with a variety of models relating to both past and present societies, derived from history and ethnography. Such models can provide several alternative views of the same society, though there may be others which are more appropriate though less well known" from European Societies in the Bronze Age By A. F. Harding, Cambridge Univ. Press, 2000.
As I am new to really studying this period more deeply -- but am currently obsessed with it -- I have been puzzling over this. How true is this? What are the limits in trying to understand the Bronze versus Iron Age people? If there is a deep chasm of understanding that cannot be bridged, are there implications personally for allocating study time/energy? Or, as I am inclined to believe, do we take the limits for what the are, and try to wring out what understanding can be had of these pivotal places of early organized societies?
I did come across an explanation to one of my questions today:
I wondered at the incredibly well preserved objets d'art from the Bronze Age world. How is it they were not plundered? How did they survive? According to Robert Drews "The End of the Bronze Age: Changes in Warfare and the Catastrophe CA. 1200 B.C.", as he critiques the theory that earthquakes could have been involved in destroying many of the eastern Mediterranean cities, one would expect palaces destroyed by earthquake to be a bonanza for archeologists. As opposed to ones destroyed by pillaging and burning. But the only items of gold, silver and bronze found in these palaces were in hidden wall caches or buried in pits.
Anyway, the book you linked to starts with the Hellenistic world, where of course writing is very different and spread far beyond a class of scribes, clerics and bureaucrats/functionaries. It looks like fascinating reading, especially if you are interested -- as I am -- in ancient writing.
posted by stellarexplorer at 2:57 am (EST) on Feb 26, 2011
posted by eraserhead at 7:51 pm (EST) on Feb 17, 2011
posted by LisaMorr at 3:05 pm (EST) on Feb 3, 2011
-Lisa
posted by LisaMorr at 6:43 pm (EST) on Feb 1, 2011
Thanks again!
posted by Dogberryjr at 3:55 pm (EST) on Feb 1, 2011
-W
posted by Dogberryjr at 8:57 am (EST) on Feb 1, 2011
posted by BarkingMatt at 9:38 am (EST) on Jan 23, 2011
posted by BarkingMatt at 5:11 am (EST) on Jan 23, 2011
I'm just over half-way through the Alexander Hamilton. I have stalled in recent weeks because I'm actually listening to it on an MP3 download. I have really enjoyed it thus far, but it is a very long book and I'm not finding the time to listen. Got to get back to it.
posted by Poquette at 3:49 am (EST) on Jan 9, 2011
I, too, am a Teaching Company afficionado and didn't realize there is a group on LT. I have to go check that out. One of my favorite all time courses is the one taught by Kenneth Harl on the World of Byzantium. I dare say you've heard or seen it what with your interest in ancient Greece. Byzantium may be outside your interest on the historical time line, but I learned so much that I hadn't known before about just where the Eastern Empire fit into the European scheme of things. It is like discovering long lost pieces to a puzzle. Can't recommend it enough.
Thanks for your comment and the links. I'll follow up.
posted by Poquette at 3:18 pm (EST) on Jan 8, 2011
posted by Makifat at 7:09 pm (EST) on Dec 23, 2010
posted by southernbooklady at 6:42 pm (EST) on Dec 14, 2010
posted by BarkingMatt at 6:38 am (EST) on Oct 6, 2010
posted by BarkingMatt at 4:01 am (EST) on Oct 6, 2010
posted by wildbill at 9:27 pm (EST) on Jul 17, 2010
posted by Makifat at 5:23 pm (EST) on Jun 30, 2010
I thought I'd reply to you here and not hijack the thread any more. I wonder if Grant (who had a long career) wasn't better in the beginning, and just got lazy when his rehashed histories turned into cash cows. (An internet search shows that he wrote a lot of books.) I seem to remember my younger self enjoying his book on gladiators, and I know he translated several volumes of Cicero for Penguin. He was also apparently quite an authority on Roman coins. But most of the stuff from at least the mid-70's on is boring as hell.
Thanks for the kind words on the shelves. This is the "visible" library, with the "invisible" collection residing in those white boxes in the garage. Thank God for LT! Now I can actually go to the right box and find what I'm looking for immediately, rather than scrounging around all afternoon for an elusive volume.
As a matter of fact, I have at least started doing some culling. The castaways are tagged "removed", but of course, they aren't really gone until I get them out of the garage. ;)
posted by Makifat at 11:19 am (EST) on Jun 30, 2010
posted by shikari at 10:17 pm (EST) on May 25, 2010
posted by ianea at 4:31 pm (EST) on Feb 23, 2010
c.q. is that you on that foto?
(Curious Question)
posted by ianea at 4:12 pm (EST) on Feb 22, 2010
posted by ianea at 7:30 am (EST) on Feb 22, 2010
posted by ianea at 2:52 pm (EST) on Feb 21, 2010
Anywho, I'd recommend it if you haven't already read it; it needn't clutter your TBR pile, since as I say, it's an easy read and you can knock it out in a couple days' time. For better or worse, in the end I kind of wanted more; but I guess that's part of a writer's job, isn't it?
posted by Feicht at 11:56 pm (EST) on Feb 9, 2010
I think you will like "The Empire of Liberty". I just finished it and I thought it was very good. I wrote a review if you are interested. I was glad to see that Wood cited from several volumes I have published by Library of America. One of them is the Jefferson Writings that you have in your library. Between those volumes and the two volume set on the Debates on the Constitution I have eight volumes from LoA that are legitimate primary source materials. I am going to make an effort to read some of the books this year.
One book you might be interested in is "The American Revolution" from Library of America. It has writings by everyone from the privates to the generals who fought in the revolution. I learned a lot reading it.
Well I will write on and on. From what I read you had a good Christmas. Best wishes for the year.
Bill
posted by wildbill at 6:05 pm (EST) on Jan 5, 2010
posted by oldman at 10:06 am (EST) on Dec 23, 2009
posted by oldman at 12:39 pm (EST) on Dec 22, 2009
posted by bnavta at 10:09 pm (EST) on Dec 13, 2009
I've basically taken the last month or so off from reading my obligatory review-reads and have been reading all the things I want to read. Lots of scifi/fantasy and apparently mountaineering books...lol.
posted by ThePam at 3:59 pm (EST) on Dec 5, 2009
Btw, I recently read two books about mountain climbing: "Into Thin Air" and "K2". Howse that for a different read ;]
posted by ThePam at 9:18 am (EST) on Dec 5, 2009
posted by ThePam at 3:20 pm (EST) on Nov 28, 2009
I agree re Atwood. I love everything by her I've ever read, including Oryx and Crake. I haven't read Penelopiad, but sounds interesting. I also liked Blind Assassin, though.
posted by kokipy at 5:21 pm (EST) on Nov 4, 2009
Peggy
posted by LizzieD at 10:04 am (EST) on Nov 3, 2009
Peggy
(Yeah.....snooping around your comments here, I'd say that you should read some Atwood - just not Blind Assassin.)
posted by LizzieD at 3:11 pm (EST) on Nov 2, 2009
posted by shellibrary at 3:48 pm (EST) on Oct 20, 2009
posted by clamairy at 7:19 pm (EST) on Oct 19, 2009
posted by clamairy at 7:15 pm (EST) on Oct 19, 2009
I just finished reading your review of [Helen of Troy:Goddess, Princess, Whore] and enjoyed it very much. I gave you a thumbs up in appreciation. It sounds like a book I would enjoy. I have a copy of [Island at the Center of the World] which is on your currently reading list. I look forward to what you have to say about it. I also have a copy of [Suttree] which is on your list of books read in 2009. I have actually slowed down a little on buying books so I can concentrate on reading the ones I have. I went through my catalog and figured out that I have only read about 25% of the books in my library. That is a little embarrassing and shows that I have plenty of books to read. I have about 100 volumes from Library of America and they are either one book that is 800 to 1600 pages long or a volume of an author's work with 3 to 5 separate novels in it. The bottom line is that I have plenty to read so I have cut down my buying, although I just got 5 books in from Amazon.
I haven't been posting much on History at 30,000 feet. I go there all of the time and read through the threads. A lot of times I just don't feel I have anything to add. I was doing the 50 book challenge and keeping up with that takes some time. I have moved to Club Read which has a more informal structure. I do enjoy keeping a reading journal. I printed my 50 book challenge thread from last year and have it in a binder. I usually read history on a topical basis and the journal keeps me on track. The best book I have read this year is [Mind of the Master Class]. It is an intellectual history of the ante-bellum South and is quite a work of scholarship. Now I am getting interested in the American Revolution.
I do ramble on. Come say hello when you have the time and let me know how you liked [Suttree].
Bill
posted by wildbill at 7:20 pm (EST) on Oct 18, 2009
And the best part is our local library actually owns a copy. W00T!!!
Thanks,
Pam
posted by ThePam at 9:09 am (EST) on Oct 18, 2009
T
posted by timspalding at 10:27 pm (EST) on Oct 9, 2009
posted by stellarexplorer at 9:22 pm (EST) on Sep 23, 2009
How is the Loom of History?
posted by stellarexplorer at 10:58 pm (EST) on Sep 21, 2009
Also, on the ticker thread, if you create a message for tracking and just add to that list. I try to check there frequently, but I admit I have been bad this past month because I was trying to finish my 999 Challenge. Smack my hand, I will go check there immediately.
Glad you are with us, you have spiced things up a bit with new ideas!
Cheli
posted by cyderry at 6:21 pm (EST) on Sep 1, 2009
In any case, from the few works I've looked this week, I think anything of Atwood's is worth looking at. At times she just brilliant.
What are you reading now?
posted by ThePam at 9:14 pm (EST) on Aug 22, 2009
Found a book and have to share. It's Margaret Atwood's "The Penelopiad". I think you'd either like it alot or else loath it alot. I thought it was pretty darn brilliant fiction, but what also rocked was the myth analysis at the end.
posted by ThePam at 3:32 pm (EST) on Aug 22, 2009
posted by dchaikin at 12:16 pm (EST) on Aug 4, 2009
No worries about any delays. Thanks for your thoughts.
A few thoughts on the books. I think that by the ending of "Snow Crash" the main points had already been made - and I love that church of Elvis. As for "My Name is Red" - it just stuck around with me for awhile.
I liked Noah's flood for the geological aspects and I think they were fully convincing that the Black Sea filled in roughly 7500 years ago. I thought the archeological aspects were not so well done, which is too bad. Knowing for certain that sea filled in at that time really should open some eyes and alter the overall archeological thoughts... or maybe that idea long considered and accepted? It would have been nice to get the view point of an archeologist who really understood that implications.
I could use a RL book club like yours!
cheers,
d
posted by dchaikin at 10:32 am (EST) on Aug 4, 2009
I take it the '83 isn't your birth year. They do grow up fast. We got a bunch of those Little Critter books from the library a while back and they were a hit. I keep telling myself I need to update those books with the ones were actually reading now...some day.
I'm looking at your book list above and you've read several of my favorite books this year..."Under the Banner of Heaven", "Snow Crash", "My Name is Red"...Any favorites? Also, I'm curious what your thoughts were on "Noah's Flood"?
Thanks for the comment.
Cheers,
d
posted by dchaikin at 10:11 am (EST) on Jul 28, 2009
If you've only read the first book, The Gunslinger, I would love to suggest either reading it again and continuing on to the third book, or just going straight to books two and three as they are two of the most interesting fiction books I've ever read. He has an interesting concept that isn't really fantasy at all, rather a blend of westerns and horror. If you've seen either Seven Samurai or The Magnificent Seven, the fifth book in the volume takes a spin on that same theme in an interesting book. And since you're familiar with many of his works, you'll understand some things a bit better as he incorporates various ideas and characters from his other works (for example, Don Callahan from 'Salem's Lot plays a very large role, as does Randall Flagg from a few of his other books).
Ah, well, I'm not sure why I'm trying to sell these books on you! I'm sure as it is you have quite the TBR pile and wouldn't even be able to get around to them for some time anyway.
posted by deslni01 at 11:04 am (EST) on Jul 20, 2009
One does indeed have to wonder about Cormac.
In any case, it was interesting to observe the seeds of his later works. The beginning sentence, for example, was long ;} And though it was well written, it was not as profoundly good as his more recent works.
posted by ThePam at 6:27 pm (EST) on Jul 17, 2009
Just finished McCormac's "Child of God". Same happy-go-lucky tone as in his later works ;-]
posted by ThePam at 8:16 pm (EST) on Jul 12, 2009
http://www.progarchives.com/album.asp?id=12423
posted by LamSon at 2:15 pm (EST) on Jun 29, 2009
Where in North Carolina were you? (And why? although that's not any of my business.) You do know to get in touch with me if you come down I-95, don't you?????
Peggy
posted by LizzieD at 11:19 pm (EST) on Jun 26, 2009
I'm honored that you selected my library for your interesting libraries. This community sets a very high standard in its discussions, and I hope the challenge and inspiration from LT contributors like you will drive improvement in my own reading and study.
My library on LT actually just went over 1000 this week. And so far I am just working the boxed up garage books. I know that is counter to your "meticulous handling and caring for books," but I have no more room on the shelves.
BTW, I sympathize with your managing 4 or 5 books at once. My brain get overloaded with one subject, and needs a break, I move to another subject for a while. Then back.
Anyway thanks, always enjoy your comments.
posted by richardbsmith at 5:34 pm (EST) on Jun 26, 2009
I did read the Lomask biographies of Burr and agree that they were quite good. Burr had lacked a good biography up to that time.
If you're looking for a history of WWI that doesn't deal so much with the battles, you may want to look at "The Great War and the Search for a Modern Order" by Ellis W. Hawley. I read it long ago but if memory serves me correctly, it might have the perspective you want. It did emphasis American history (and not so much European).
Take care,
- Noel
posted by NLytle at 8:58 am (EST) on Jun 14, 2009
posted by rcss67 at 5:33 pm (EST) on Jun 5, 2009
posted by rcss67 at 5:28 pm (EST) on Jun 5, 2009
posted by rcss67 at 3:26 am (EST) on Jun 5, 2009
posted by stellarexplorer at 10:22 pm (EST) on Jun 4, 2009
posted by rcss67 at 5:29 am (EST) on Jun 4, 2009
I have the Cunliffe book too, though I was just picking it apart by sections at bedtime, rather than reading it straight through :-)
posted by Feicht at 7:32 pm (EST) on Jun 3, 2009
posted by walf6 at 12:22 pm (EST) on May 29, 2009
btw, dragged out "Child of God" last night and put it on top of Mt. TBR.
posted by ThePam at 10:34 am (EST) on May 24, 2009
posted by ThePam at 8:29 am (EST) on May 24, 2009
O.K. It's not like it's never happened before, but now I really know what it is to be damned by faint praise.
(And I do agree that Tid's fantasies are the best thing written on that thread yet!)
My name is Peggy
posted by LizzieD at 11:04 pm (EST) on May 16, 2009
posted by LizzieD at 10:33 am (EST) on May 14, 2009
Peggy
posted by LizzieD at 10:31 am (EST) on May 14, 2009
posted by Makifat at 2:54 pm (EST) on May 13, 2009
posted by Cynara at 9:24 am (EST) on May 8, 2009
posted by Cynara at 12:10 pm (EST) on May 7, 2009
posted by Makifat at 11:27 am (EST) on May 7, 2009
posted by ThePam at 6:37 am (EST) on May 6, 2009
dm your address and I'll try my darndest to get the book out to you on Monday. Tuesday at the latest.
posted by ThePam at 10:14 am (EST) on May 2, 2009
posted by grahamhk at 12:01 am (EST) on May 1, 2009
LamSon
posted by LamSon at 9:26 am (EST) on Apr 30, 2009
LibraryThing contacted me and indicated you were one of the winners of the Early Reviewer Giveaway (for my novel, Dirty Little Angels). Please send me your e-mail address (mine is mail@christophertusa.com), and I'll send you a copy of the e-book.
Thanks for entering the giveaway,
Chris
posted by cmtusa at 10:20 pm (EST) on Apr 24, 2009
posted by oregonobsessionz at 7:56 pm (EST) on Apr 21, 2009
(And as for books, I may have half entered here, but I'm not even sure of that. When it's a benign addiction - we don't have books stacked so high that we can't move freely in the house - relax and enjoy!)
Peggy
posted by LizzieD at 3:37 pm (EST) on Apr 19, 2009
Of your current list I've read only Snow Crash: what fun! I have yet to finish Anathem, but it gets better and better, and I sort of hate to have it end. I'm looking at your message from ginnyday...are you learning ancient Greek? I always think that I'll give it a try one day. I had the "baby" course of Koine Greek taught in seminaries when I was in high school and loved it. I wonder what text you're using, so I will go to gd's place to see if I can eavesdrop on that end of the conversation.
Anyhow, you're in my prayers whether you care to be or not. Oh! And quit saying that you're unworthy because you haven't bought huge piles of books. By the time you're my age, your library will be monumental.
Peggy
posted by LizzieD at 11:05 pm (EST) on Apr 18, 2009
posted by ginnyday at 2:33 pm (EST) on Apr 17, 2009
Thanks for your recommendation of The Honey and the Hemlock. I look forward to reading it. Also, I appreciate you adding me to your interesting libraries list, especially since I enjoy reading your posts.
Roberta
posted by robertajl at 3:32 pm (EST) on Apr 14, 2009
posted by scribblegirl at 11:16 am (EST) on Apr 13, 2009
posted by cbellia at 7:28 pm (EST) on Apr 11, 2009
posted by cemanuel at 8:34 am (EST) on Apr 11, 2009
posted by gothamgrrl at 6:58 pm (EST) on Apr 10, 2009
posted by stellarexplorer at 10:40 am (EST) on Apr 10, 2009
I won't pretend that S.E. N.C. is completely devoid of people who read, but they are few and far between. My friend who reads history wouldn't touch scifi; the one who reads scifi won't look at anything really hard; then there's the mystery-reader and the gentle women's fiction reader. Finding omnivors like me is rare and wonderful. The only bad thing about the place is that everything is so fascinating that I'm reading fewer books: not good. I expect it will pass though, and I hope to find a better balance. Meanwhile, it's a big world out there, and I'm thrilled to have it open to me through you guys.
posted by LizzieD at 9:21 pm (EST) on Apr 6, 2009
At any rate, I'm enjoying your posts at 30,000 feet. I need to shut up and read some!
I look forward to hearing more from you.
Peggy
posted by LizzieD at 9:09 pm (EST) on Apr 6, 2009
Regards,
Carnophile
posted by Carnophile at 7:40 pm (EST) on Apr 6, 2009
posted by makaiju at 7:37 pm (EST) on Apr 1, 2009
Elizabeth
posted by ejj1955 at 7:04 pm (EST) on Apr 1, 2009
posted by stellarexplorer at 10:30 pm (EST) on Mar 31, 2009
Since you like History so much, and you have read a few biographies of the US Presidents, perhaps you might join us in the US Presidents Challenge
http://www.librarything.com/groups/uspresidentschalleng
Cheli
posted by cyderry at 4:39 pm (EST) on Mar 29, 2009
posted by stellarexplorer at 4:51 pm (EST) on Mar 28, 2009
Also, while I read (and liked) Into the Wild and Into Thin Air, I haven't read UtBoH. I'll have to give it a shot!
posted by stellarexplorer at 12:45 am (EST) on Mar 26, 2009
FM I think the reaction that followed was not very well thought out .OR. tolerant which is too bad as I suspect matters would have settled down and everybody could have gotten on to discussion history.
Oh well. Nothing like taking your ball and going home :o)
posted by ThePam at 6:52 am (EST) on Mar 25, 2009
Same here. He seems to think football and extensive reading are somehow mutually exclusive. I probably knew more about football when I was in high school than he could begin to believe. Of course, that was probably several decades before he was born.
posted by erilarlo at 10:00 am (EST) on Mar 24, 2009
posted by a_radical_abacus at 2:47 am (EST) on Mar 23, 2009
posted by dlweeks at 1:13 pm (EST) on Mar 22, 2009
Or perhaps I failed to see the point in basically telling a bunch of people who clearly love books and reading that their pastime automatically makes them socially inept. Especially since this is clearly a website dedicated to books. Hmmm...
I also can fully admit that I spend a great deal of time in libraries--between working at one, living in one, and studying in one I fear there's no hope for me.
Cheers!
posted by a_radical_abacus at 10:49 pm (EST) on Mar 21, 2009
I hope that's an OK handle. I was just going to write you about that post. I hadn't noticed some of his others but this one was pretty obnoxious. I put some some thought into slipping the knife in real clean and cold. What a jerk.
Bill
posted by wildbill at 3:15 pm (EST) on Mar 21, 2009
posted by jenknox at 12:40 pm (EST) on Mar 21, 2009
I noticed you have the first book in the Abraham Lincoln biography, have you read it? I have the whole set, but haven't had time to start.
posted by ArmyAngel1986 at 9:16 am (EST) on Mar 10, 2009
It just never came up, really. But the longer I'm at university the more people I see with one (of course they are all playing World of Warcraft in the student lounge instead of typing papers... but who's counting haha).
As for what kind to get... I'm not really settled on that yet. At first I thought of just picking up one of those little notebook dealies that are small and light and only a few hundred bucks. Then I noticed I might be able to get something fairly decent for not too much more... and THEN I started thinking that maybe I should just go ahead and get something nice to replace my current computer, which I've had since at least 2005, but I think it was 2004. It was fairly nice back then and it's served me well, but I'm starting to get those problems that happen before it's about ready to shit itself: blue screen of death, trouble restarting, random crashes, etc. It's also getting a little buggy too, which bothers me... for instance, ever since I got high speed internet, I haven't been able to listen to music on this computer because it like... I don't know really how to describe it... sort of "skips" but not like it does when you have a scratch on your cd. Someone told me it was that I had too many programs running at once, but essentially if I'm not on the net I don't have much of a reason to be on the computer to begin with. Coincidentally, when I turn off my modem or whatever, the problem goes away... but I rarely do this because for some reason it's really finicky about turning back on again.
So yeah. I guess I could use a new computer altogether, and it may as well be something portable. Do people even buy desktops anymore? :-)
posted by Feicht at 1:01 pm (EST) on Mar 7, 2009
And I have not completed 1491. I start it, and then find that I have to go off and follow his leads. Love that book.
posted by ThePam at 7:21 am (EST) on Feb 23, 2009
posted by ThePam at 9:26 am (EST) on Feb 14, 2009
I suppose weight has something to do with it. You can push more than you can easily carry. But when the cart broke down, backpacks didn't seem to enter into the solution.
Myself, I keep going back to that one underground bunker that they found with supplies. I think I would have stayed until the goods were used up. He seemed more driven to keep moving.
posted by ThePam at 9:25 am (EST) on Feb 14, 2009
btw, were you able to read BM straight through? I found I had to take breaks and read lighter material because the 'weight' of the evil-ness was suffocating.
posted by PamFamilyLibrary at 12:17 pm (EST) on Feb 13, 2009
I've read the Border trilogy. Like you, I especially liked The Crossing. Besides them I read The Road (actually my least favorite) and BM (perhaps my second fave). The next on my list is an older book, "Child of God." I had started reading NCFOM but my husband snatched it away and I haven't returned to it and I am not quite sure.
I like your comparisons -- Hemingway, etc.-- but where I think Cormac deviates from the others is in his descriptions of place. I can't rightly think of an author who I think compares. He is sparse, but dense.
Thoughts?
posted by PamFamilyLibrary at 12:03 pm (EST) on Feb 11, 2009
{I remember a dumb but true thing I used to do as a 7 year old, which was whenever I wrote my return address on a letter, after my street and town, I would add "Solar System, Milky Way, Universe." The book looks to be in that spirit!}
posted by stellarexplorer at 11:16 am (EST) on Feb 10, 2009
Australia has conflagrations, in fact, some Australian plants need bushfires for regeneration purposes!
posted by Stevia at 9:20 pm (EST) on Feb 8, 2009
Try: IMG alt="" src="yourJPGlocationhere" />
except with a beginning 'pointy bracket' which I couldn't put here and have the code show up
That's what's in my can't remember.. um, stuff file.
========
and I didn't know you liked Cormac M. I love his writing. I even liked Blood Meridian. Don't understand it. But like it.
posted by ThePam at 1:29 pm (EST) on Feb 8, 2009
posted by Feicht at 8:48 pm (EST) on Feb 7, 2009
Many thanks for the blog info. At the risk of boring you utterly, I must say I really do agree with your comments.
Also when you mention:
"I remain puzzled by the 22% of Americans who retain support for George W. Bush and claim to miss him when he goes."
I am especially interested to know the answer but remain and have been baffled.
However, Bush was elected not only once but twice and on that point I will also never understand. On the otherhand maybe half the nation would prefer oligarchy after all.
On another issue, I see in your profile that you are in computers, as I was before retiring. May I ask you one simple question? If so maybe you could mail me at barlowhumphreys...at...yahoo....dot...com. (hopefully the bots won't pick up that address) Then I could mail you the simple question regarding memory and Windows7. If it is not ok, please don't worry, I will understand.
Thanks again for your insights on LT.
barlow
posted by Urquhart at 3:54 pm (EST) on Jan 28, 2009
Yeah that's me in the picture...I'm not actually taking a dump though, it was just a good photo-op! Myself and a friend were outside of Gamla Uppsala, Sweden and found this old farm complex that I think was being "run" as sort of a half-assed museum (there was a turnstile gate, but no one there). Buildings with dirt floors, beds made only of wood and straw--you could see why moving to Minnesota looked like a viable alternative for these people, hehe. But in contrast, and I might add, in what must have been an unmistakable sign of wealth, stood amongst the buildings this exclusive, double-wide outhouse! Couldn't pass up the opportunity for a good picture ya know :-D
I used it for my profile pic here because believe it or not it's one of the few pictures of me reading anything (even though I'm just "reading" a brochure for Uppsala), and not to mention, it has a double-wide outhouse! It's win/win!
posted by Feicht at 1:39 pm (EST) on Jan 11, 2009
Like Feicht below, I am fascinated by the process of dispersal around the globe, and by the persistence of cross-cultural contacts across great distances in pre-modern times, and by what was known when by peoples about other peoples.
posted by stellarexplorer at 10:24 pm (EST) on Jan 8, 2009
posted by DaynaRT at 9:45 pm (EST) on Jan 8, 2009
BTW, I too really enjoyed Before the Dawn.
BTW2, I enjoyed seeing Arslan in your list above -- an interesting, under-appreciated book.
posted by stellarexplorer at 1:42 am (EST) on Jan 8, 2009
posted by Feicht at 11:10 pm (EST) on Jan 5, 2009
I hope your year is filled with reading great books!
Stevie
posted by Stevia at 4:03 am (EST) on Jan 2, 2009
posted by Garp83 at 7:59 pm (EST) on Dec 22, 2008
Sorry about my 'quietness'. A couple of weeks ago I moved interstate and have not had much in the way of internet access, hopefully this problem is now resolved. Thank you for checking in, I will henceforth try to be more vocal.
posted by Stevia at 5:51 pm (EST) on Dec 15, 2008
posted by stellarexplorer at 10:13 pm (EST) on Nov 18, 2008
posted by stellarexplorer at 9:56 pm (EST) on Nov 11, 2008
posted by stellarexplorer at 12:58 am (EST) on Nov 11, 2008
posted by Stevia at 7:45 pm (EST) on Nov 5, 2008
posted by oregonobsessionz at 9:35 pm (EST) on Oct 21, 2008
Languages are funny things. You evidently have a lot of self-discipline but find it hard to teach yourself a language. Me too. I had plans to teach myself the basics of Greek last summer and I got as far as the alphabet!
I have to do my MA and my PhD, so approximately 5-6 years left depending on other factors such as funding, placement etc. I am doing my MA in Aus (it was just too hard to try and get funding for a UK uni without having any published work, so my aim next year is to try and get something out there!
I think it is absolutely awesome that you love Classics and haven't actually been Classically educated! It's a discipline that is becoming more and more devalued and it is most upsetting. Then again, it makes me want to study it even more (rebellious type that I am).
posted by Stevia at 3:24 am (EST) on Oct 11, 2008
May I ask, what sort of business do you have?
posted by Stevia at 4:57 pm (EST) on Oct 8, 2008
posted by Stevia at 9:22 pm (EST) on Oct 6, 2008
Ted
posted by HarmlessTed at 7:06 am (EST) on Aug 18, 2008
You might want to try Victor Davis Hanson's Why the West has Won. As a classicist he's very good on the enduring impact of Greek culture on the military practice of the West. This article by VDH here
http://www.newcriterion.com/articles.cfm/The-new-learning-that-failed-3833
might also stimulate your festering wound from the ancient Greek bite!
It's nice to know there are more classicists around.
Murr.
posted by tomcatMurr at 7:35 am (EST) on Jun 30, 2008
In our own day, I rankle still over the fact that Mao, Pol Pot, and Idi Amin died natural deaths. Who are we? As I sit here I feel way way past my prime, and what keens the "past" part, is that I have failed to give even the pettiest tyrant -- oh all of them are petty -- so much as a pause.
I'm hoping that Justice no longer cries out for blood and vengence. Forever ingenuous, I offer tea and bun. So great to share enthusiasm with a reader of history. It will always be Greek to me.
posted by keylawk at 12:08 am (EST) on Jun 26, 2008
Did Holland mention the other Myceneans? The significance in battles of differential numbers of slaves? What would civilization be like if Xerxes, or any Persian at any time, had defeated the Greeks? Hey, thanks for the intro to Holland.
posted by keylawk at 7:47 pm (EST) on Jun 24, 2008
Good luck with your studies, and keep me posted!
posted by Stevia at 10:11 pm (EST) on May 23, 2008
Read the Iliad like Alexander? Alexander disconcerts me in a similar way that Caesar does.
Keep in touch. Let me know if you stumble across any wonderful books you'd think I'd like!
Stevie
posted by Stevia at 7:59 pm (EST) on May 8, 2008
Greek tragedy is something I've always struggled with. My problem is I have reservations about reading and analysing things in translation. And the fact that I haven't learnt Greek yet has put a stop on me really getting into them. Of course I've read quite a few over my undergrad, Aeschylus, Euripides, Sophocles... but being a huge fan of Latin and Roman culture, I find myself taken away from them very easily.
Conceptually I find the Greeks harder to engage with, but that may be because of my Greek deficiency! I do intend to go back and read them in the original once I've picked up the language!
I'm so chuffed that you're getting the Classical education you never had. I'm worried that it's going to fade away to nothing and that would be such a big loss. Classics is a wonderfully rich discipline. I'm more than a little bit in love with it. In fact, I'm currently doing 13 hour days at uni simply because I love it that much!
Anyway I hope to chat more!
Stevie
posted by Stevia at 3:59 am (EST) on May 7, 2008
I made it up there over Patriots' Day weekend: thanks for the tip! I'll be adding it to my "on the way to Boston" route.
(The sign outside advertises the selection as "Scholarly and Weird". That fits my family to a T.)
posted by AsYouKnow_Bob at 7:10 pm (EST) on Apr 23, 2008
My reading practices probably don't follow the norm on this sort of thing (referring to "1491" and Cahokia) but I'd be glad to tell you what I've covered thus far.
The first authors I read were Moorehead and Crook. These two guys were anthropologists from the early 1900s. In fact, in Moorehead's paper he begged his fellow scientists to save Cahokia because the powers-to-be in St. Louis wanted to tear the mounds down and use them for landfill --YIKES! [They are available for download from archive.org for free]
Next, I got caught up in reading "The LA Salle Expedition on the Mississippi River: A Lost Manuscript of Nicolas De LA Salle, 1682" which Mann referenced. The Expedition itself has little to do with Cahokia, but the introduction by William Foster was quite extensive and he wrote about the trade routes in the midwest, and more importantly pointed out examples of Cahokian traditions that still existed in 1600s.
Finally, one of our LTers has written an excellent article entitled "The Frontier in Pre-Columbian Illinois" which he was nice enough to tell me about. This paper shines a light on what we do know about Cahokia, and what influence they had on other Indian tribes.
I really haven't outlined any future reading on this topic yet. But it's definitely of interest to me. Cahokia, along with the 'Fort Ancients'. I'd never heard of them before, but Al mentions them in his 'The Frontier in Pre-Columbian Illinois'.
Cheers!
Pam
posted by ThePam at 6:03 pm (EST) on Apr 20, 2008
Amber
posted by scaifea at 2:21 pm (EST) on Apr 14, 2008
Oh, this is just one of the many things I love about LT--I was looking at another member's profile and saw your comment about reading colonial American history, and since that's an interest of mine, I popped over to see your library--only to find that we share very few books on the subject. I haven't entered all my library yet, but have put in quite a few of the colonial history books--which means that you have lots of books I'm going to want to acquire and read!
Which is why I've added your library to my interesting libraries list . . .
Cheers,
Elizabeth
posted by ejj1955 at 3:55 pm (EST) on Apr 13, 2008
It's sort of funny, but I began "1491" and got so intrigued by what he was writing about that I delved off into reading about Cahokia and La Salle, which led off into related themes. As soon as I'm done with the current round of reads, it will be next... again ;)
posted by ThePam at 6:27 pm (EST) on Apr 11, 2008
posted by timspalding at 11:28 am (EST) on Apr 11, 2008
posted by scaifea at 8:54 am (EST) on Apr 11, 2008
posted by scaifea at 7:34 am (EST) on Apr 9, 2008
posted by scaifea at 7:25 am (EST) on Apr 4, 2008
http://www.amazon.com/100-Banned-Books-Censorship-Literature/dp/0816040591/ref=p...
Hope that helps!
posted by scaifea at 9:22 pm (EST) on Apr 3, 2008
Amber
posted by scaifea at 11:17 am (EST) on Mar 31, 2008
posted by scaifea at 12:09 pm (EST) on Mar 29, 2008
posted by scaifea at 1:07 pm (EST) on Mar 27, 2008
posted by scaifea at 7:48 am (EST) on Mar 27, 2008
So now we are mutual interesting libraries. As you may have discovered I love to read history. I have read a lot of ancient history and now am 200 pages into the "Landmark Herodotus". My main attraction to that edition is the maps, I need maps when I read history. For the last three years I have been studying the Civil War. I just finished "Shiloh and the Western Campaign of 1862". It is an excellent book and I finished it in two days because I couldn't put it down. I also have an interest in Chinese history that goes back to college. I look forward to discussing old and new books and getting to know you.
wildbill (Bill Rucker)
posted by wildbill at 10:51 am (EST) on Mar 22, 2008
posted by CynWetzel at 8:55 pm (EST) on Jan 9, 2008
I've noted Persian Fire down, and I see that Tom Holland also wrote a book on the last years of the Roman Republic. I'll definitely have give him a try.
LydiaHD
posted by LydiaHD at 4:54 am (EST) on Dec 31, 2007
Yes, indeed, I had been meaning to write you: thank you very much for choosing the Orhan Pamuk books! I read the first few pages of the memoir, and really liked it, and thought to myself: "It's going to be a long, long time before my Turkish is good enough to read this in the original." The books are next on my list to read.
I gave The Case of Abraham Lincoln to my mother for Christmas, and told her if was any good, I'd want to borrow it from her.
Thanks again -
LydiaHD
posted by LydiaHD at 4:04 am (EST) on Dec 30, 2007