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Post by truecristian on Feb 28, 2021 0:34:05 GMT
This was a dark and depressing book, but I expected that going into it. I guess what I was hoping for was more of an understanding or WHY humans wage war. Perhaps the reasons for it are too elusive to spell out, but I would have appreciated more of an attempt. I did learn some things so it wasn't a complete waste of time but I can't really recommend this book unless someone is looking for a concise history of all the wars mankind has ever waged.
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Post by Ass_E9 on Mar 1, 2021 5:05:04 GMT
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Post by dirtypillows on Mar 1, 2021 6:20:48 GMT
WHatever Happened to Margo? By Margaret Durrell. That's a fun title. Is the title character mentally touched? Between the movies and real life, I've known six or seven women and one transsexual named "Margo" and every single one of them was mentally ill.
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Post by dirtypillows on Mar 1, 2021 6:26:36 GMT
Thomas Tryon’s Harvest Home. So, it took me far too long (work’s fault, mainly), but I stayed up late last night to finish this at last. And it’s just so good. It’s also so disturbing—the most genuinely disturbing book I’ve read in a long time. I’m shocked that some online reviews describe it as boring; I found it impeccably paced, not boring for a moment. Tryon’s skill is extraordinary. He can draw character, setting, and plot, and he writes well, tottering on the edge of the purple but never going over. He handles the twists brilliantly, and he fooled me fairly (more clues here than in many detective stories). More than fairly, in fact—I’ve read “The Lottery” and The Golden Bough and seen The Wicker Man, which came out the same year as this book—yet he still misdirected my focus away from the true secret of Cornwall Coombe and of Harvest Home. Misdirected, that is, and lulled. That’s what I was trying to say before: he lulls the reader into complacency with his lyrical prose before springing a trap of true horror. He lulls the reader with characters so charming, so kindly, and (most important of all) so full-of-life that, even if we suspect what’s going on, we keep telling ourselves it can’t be true. Or, as Tor.com critic Grady Hendrix wrote: “It takes a while, but by the time nature starts to show its teeth, Cornwall Coombe is such a quaint idyllic paradise that you’re in as deep a denial as the characters. Surely it can’t be as bad as all that? Let’s all just take a breath and be reasonable. Please?” This is a good one, a horror story for the ages. Why it isn’t better known is beyond me. So, this "other" book he wrote, is it a thriller about two twin boys who are up to no good?
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Post by dirtypillows on Mar 1, 2021 6:31:10 GMT
I love Barbara Stanwyck. I read back in the day (the 30s/early 40s), there were only two actresses in Hollywood who had no enemies/adversaries: Carole Lombard and Barbara Stanwyck
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Post by ghostintheshell on Mar 1, 2021 14:39:47 GMT
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Post by Marv on Mar 1, 2021 21:58:53 GMT
Just finished this... Just started this... I'm also partially thru several others that i read inconsistently. Im in a full blown Joe Abercrombie binge at this point.
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Post by Captain Spencer on Mar 2, 2021 2:39:46 GMT
Lines And Shadows by former cop turned author, Joseph Wambaugh. any good? I'm now into the thick of Lines & Shadows, and it's pretty good so far. As the book cover indicates, it's a work of nonfiction and it deals with a special task force of police officers who are assigned to put a stop to gangs of bandits who rob and kill Mexican immigrants trying to cross over to the U.S. As with other books by Joseph Wambaugh, this contains some dark humor and ultimately hard-hitting material. But it's very insightful.
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Post by Zos on Mar 2, 2021 12:33:57 GMT
Lead singer of the infamous "Skrewdriver".
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Post by alpineflower on Mar 3, 2021 1:45:41 GMT
I love Barbara Stanwyck. I read back in the day (the 30s/early 40s), there were only two actresses in Hollywood who had no enemies/adversaries: Carole Lombard and Barbara Stanwyck I think it was Lana Turner who was after Barbara's husband and she didn't take kindly to that
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Post by Fox in the Snow on Mar 3, 2021 2:01:06 GMT
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Post by dirtypillows on Mar 3, 2021 2:50:48 GMT
I love Barbara Stanwyck. I read back in the day (the 30s/early 40s), there were only two actresses in Hollywood who had no enemies/adversaries: Carole Lombard and Barbara Stanwyck I think it was Lana Turner who was after Barbara's husband and she didn't take kindly to that Hi Alpine Flower! 😉 Yes, Lana Turner had hot pants for sure. I think she was in a near state of constant heat. It even shows up in her film roles. I also feel that it was Lana herself who stabbed her gangster lover to death, and not her 14 year old daughter. And the main reason I think this is because of Lana's hot blooded temperament. Johnny Stompanato probably beat Lana up, maybe made veiled threats towards her daughter, Cheryl, and Lana took a knife to him. But, Lana was never without a man for very long. Barbara Stanwyck, though, was a class act.
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Post by mstreepsucks on Mar 3, 2021 19:27:06 GMT
A biography on an author, the author is richard ellman.
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Post by alpineflower on Mar 4, 2021 4:41:17 GMT
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Post by alpineflower on Mar 4, 2021 4:43:03 GMT
Hi Alpine Flower! 😉 Yes, Lana Turner had hot pants for sure. I think she was in a near state of constant heat. It even shows up in her film roles. I also feel that it was Lana herself who stabbed her gangster lover to death, and not her 14 year old daughter. And the main reason I think this is because of Lana's hot blooded temperament. Johnny Stompanato probably beat Lana up, maybe made veiled threats towards her daughter, Cheryl, and Lana took a knife to him. But, Lana was never without a man for very long. Barbara Stanwyck, though, was a class act. Yup! Hasn't her daughter fessed up to this? Yes, I tend to think it could have been Cheryl since she was a bigger woman than Lana
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Post by dirtypillows on Mar 4, 2021 4:50:46 GMT
Alpine flower! I did not know this about you! I guess that makes three of us then! 😉😉😉
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Post by Jep Gambardella on Mar 9, 2021 16:14:45 GMT
I just finished "How to Stop Time" by Matt Haig. Last year a friend recommended the author's previous book, "The Humans". It has a science fiction premise (alien from advanced civilisation comes to earth on a mission) but it's not really about that. Anyway, I read it, loved it, and then recently saw this other one. From the title I thought it might have something to do with time travel, which is a favourite subject of mine, so I picked it up at the library.
I quite enjoyed it. It's not about time travel at all, it's about a man who ages very slowly, and who at the age of 400+ looks to be about 40. That of course entails all sorts of problems for him.
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Post by truecristian on Mar 10, 2021 1:55:26 GMT
I just finished "How to Stop Time" by Matt Haig. Last year a friend recommended the author's previous book, "The Humans". It has a science fiction premise (alien from advanced civilisation comes to earth on a mission) but it's not really about that. Anyway, I read it, loved it, and then recently saw this other one. From the title I thought it might have something to do with time travel, which is a favourite subject of mine, so I picked it up at the library.
I quite enjoyed it. It's not about time travel at all, it's about a man who ages very slowly, and who at the age of 400+ looks to be about 40. That of course entails all sorts of problems for him.
The author's writing brings you into the history with a depth of information and style that makes putting this very long book down nearly impossible. It has the most complete details that I have ever read or heard regarding the atrocities of the Holocaust; you fight to hold back tears for humanity. It also exposes the prejudices that existed in our State Dept. at that time and the lack of wisdom in believing in the common, populist judgment. And while FDR was truly an incredible president, it exposes his many shortcomings. The take away from this book offers many lessons for our current place and time.
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Post by Zos on Mar 11, 2021 12:24:44 GMT
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Post by sostie on Mar 11, 2021 12:52:40 GMT
On my ever increasing "to read" pile (also a signed copy)
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