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What are you reading Chapter 4

#321
BazzTard said:
As we approach the 100th anniversary of Gallipoli (WW I) I'm reading Peter Fitzsimons' Gallipoli, an amazing read about the idiots ruling the dying British Empire,and in particular the warlords, Lord Kitchener and Winston Churchill. The Prime Minister is more concerned with his mistress' love letters than the War Council. A study in incompetence and in-breeding lol
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If, after reading that, you remain interested in the Turkish (Gallipoli) front of the First World War...and you're not too busy burning effigies of Churchill and Kitchener (May I join you?)
, I Highly Recommend "An ANZAC's Story" by Roy Kyle! A beautifully written remembrance of Australia at the beginning of the last century and how a sweet young country boy found himself considered cannon fodder by the douche bags running the War To End All Wars. Harrowing...sad...deeply moving. One of the best anti-war stories I've ever read.
 
#322
the harp unstrung said:
, I Highly Recommend "An ANZAC's Story" by Roy Kyle! A beautifully written remembrance of Australia at the beginning of the last century and how a sweet young country boy found himself considered cannon fodder by the douche bags running the War To End All Wars. Harrowing...sad...deeply moving. One of the best anti-war stories I've ever read.
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thanks for the tip, i'll hunt down a copy,though it is depressing subject matter,I intersperse rock biographies in between war history hehe to lighten things up,reading Rush's Chemistry now as well.

Woohoo found a copy, on it's way to me,cheers
 
#323
BazzTard said:
Woohoo found a copy, on it's way to me,cheers
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I found it and read it on my first trip to Australia...9 years ago. I've never looked at Australia the same way. It made me cry more than once...so, save the 'cheers' until you've finished it. I grew up in a household that was always pissed off at England. Reading "An Anzac's Story" was like pouring gas on embers. BTW...I love a rock history called "Dancing In The Streets" by Robert Palmer...no, not THAT Robert Palmer... :) It's the companion to a BBC series of the same name...so, as you can see, I am capable of picking my battles with all things British...something that my father was incapable of doing. Perhaps we should call that 'progress'. Cheers!
 
#324
Just started on this:

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#325
Islands in the Stream - Ernest Hemmingway

First novel published after his death. Found manuscript by his wife, and edited by her and his longtime publisher and realesed in 1970.

Tale of a world travelling man who has settled down on the Bimini Islands as a painter. Entertain locals and has his boys from previous marraiges spend the summer.
Next part of the book has him as an older man who now lives in Cuba. Spends his days getting drunk and working for the Navy as a civilian doing patrol reconnaissance on his yacht.
Third part has him and a crew searching for a crew of Germans who abandonded a suken U boat off the islands along the northern Cuban coast.

Good read. Lots of action. Lead character is a stoic, hard drinking, self made man. Romance, bar fights; great descriptions of the easy lifestyle of island living, nature, and animals. The guy is a great writer. Seems like he and Steinbeck really changed American writing a gave this country a terse, crisp modern style of its own. Then The Beats came and changed up everything again.
 
#326
I finished "The Summer Of Beer And Whiskey" last night. It's a grand story about America...and base ball in St. Louis, America in 1883. It was a hoot! This is day #2 of SnowPocolypse II. Last week we missed 4 days of school, and I stayed busy doing lots of other things...never cracked a book. Late this morning I picked up "Animal Farm". I read it in about 3 hours, and here I am, 10 hours later, Stunned. I'd recommend it to anyone and everyone!
 
#328
the harp unstrung said:
I found it and read it on my first trip to Australia...9 years ago. I've never looked at Australia the same way. It made me cry more than once...so, save the 'cheers' until you've finished it.
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haha I was gonna ask your connection to us, not many Americans know the story, not from ignorance, it's just a little side note in the grand scheme of a world war, but for us it was the forming of our identity as a nation.
The book just arrived, but I won't get around to it for a while.
On a side note, my dear departed friend Jack was a leading WW1 historian and had actual diaries of soldiers from all sides, really heart wrenching reading a soldier's diary, with mud and blood and scrawly writing, I can just imagine them hurriedly jotting down some notes in the dark.

thanks again for the tip !
 
#329
Feral; Rewilding the Land, Sea, and Human Life - George Monbiot

Title pretty much describes the premise of the book; letting some of the lands, particularly agricultural lands no longer viable for profitable production, return to wilderness and re-establishing native species, including larger preditors. Also using the same philosophies to return the fishing stocks of the seas.

Mostly refers to Britian and the UK which as of now prefers to keep it's sheep shorn neat and clean golf course look and regard that as "natural".
 
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#330
Been reading "turn up the radio" the L.A. music scene during the 60's and 70's, Just got my copy of "a walk in the woods" by Bill Bryson. I understand there is a movie to be made of this with Robert Redford and Nick Nolte so I want to read this before I see the movie. Its about adventures on the appalachian hiking trail.
 
#331
BazzTard said:
your connection to us,
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My connection to Australia goes back half a century, when my father's second attempt at owning a business failed and he heard about a 'land grant' kind of a program in OZ. He'd grown up, the oldest of 12, as a farmer in Ireland. We were living in a crappy little rental house outside NYC and he brought home the idea that we might move to Australia...myself and my 3 sisters and 'me mum'. My mom was a first generation American. My maternal grandparents, Felix and Nora, had come here during the Great Wave during the first few years of the last century. My Da arrived here in 1948. He was 23 at the time. He thought that 1965 would be a good time to take us all to OZ where he could employ what he knew about farming, and strike it rich...being 'rich' was very important to him...less so to my mom. She didn't win many confrontations with my dad, but (after an elongated process) she won that one...LOL! Jaysus, we were confused! Lil kids running from map to globe trying to figure out what might happen next! :) It was 9 years ago this St. Patrick's Day that we drove our precious daughter and her 'boyfriend' (whom we had come to believe was our own) to the airport here in Atlanta and put them on a plane to Sydney! Andy had gotten a job with KPMG, and SarahKate was fresh out of Syracuse University...perhaps too much information here...and they were headed off on a new phase of their lives together! These days, Andy builds security systems for CBA and SK8 tends to our precious grand daughter, whose name is...of course...'Georgia'...(as if making Pop Pop cry was the very reason for her name!)...OH! Did I mention that Georgia's middle name is my mom's? Kathleen...LOL) Yeah...I got 'connections'...:)
 
#334
Re-reading The Periodic Table by Primo Levi. I'd nearly forgotten how deeply engrossing those powerful tales of the elements are. - As it happened, I lent the book to a friend many years ago, and he just returned it last week, after it fell out of his bookcase. Glad to have it back - such an enlightening little volume.
 
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#335
BazzTard said:
Any plans to visit us again?
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Of course... "If you want to make God laugh, tell him your plans"!:) Now that you bring it up, why, YES! We are making plans to spend this coming Christmas with yous! My wife and I are planning to spend both Dec. and Jan. in Sydney wallowing in the glory of our grand daughter (and daughter and son in law!) and the Northern Beaches! We've rented a place through Airbnb (if you haven't tried Airbnb yet, you've simply got to! It's the future of travel!) that's within walking distance of the chillins...and Manley Beach, and the pubs nearby! With me retiring at the end of this school year, I'll be free to serve as a substitute Teacher through the autumn and try to get enough money together to take a bite out of the trip...but it'll be gawd-awful expensive...we're talking about Manley! So, as plans continue to come together, we will be in touch and I'll let you know how it's going. This will be our 5th trip to Australia in 9 years, and while the 'kids' (37 and 32 yrs. and 20 months old lol) are far away, we know that they are very happy and have a wonderful group of friends around them...in America that would be referred to as a 'support group':) Sydney is a GREAT city filled with music and art and amazing sights! Matter of fact, we've already been in touch with Taronga Zoo to see if we can make reservations for New Year's Eve!! SKYPE is, perhaps, one of the greatest inventions since the steam engine! TB is a close 2nd... Cheers, mate!
 
#336
East Of Eden - John Steinbeck

What a tale! Basically about two families in the period from the Civil War up to World War I. Most of the story is set in the Salinas Valley near Monterry, CA.
Steinbeck is a great, graet writer. I would encourage anyone to read this, or any of his other books. Such a long, involved intricate tale involving a couple of generations of families growing up I wouldn't know where to start a proper report. Wiki has a good condensed outline - excepy, of course, it gives away the ending!
 
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#339
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For a little light reading, I'm reading this 736-page monstrosity of a history of my alma mater. It is very well written, with a good blend of facts and story. The University of North Texas was founded in 1890, and for its first several decades was a "normal college"/teachers' college. It is amazing all they overcame to become the second largest college in the state by the '30's.

Obviously, this won't be of interest to most of you, but you might look up histories of your various almae matres.
 
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#340
Jerry Lee Lewis: His Own Story - Rick Bragg

Last of the Sun rockers tells of his fast times from growing up on a poor farm in Louisiana to acheiving superstar status. It's all here - all the stories and a lot of intimate revelations about playing with all the old rockers.
Good read. Lots of rise and falls. Lots of names and gigs and a fair amount of recording info.
 
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