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Post by tzarine on Dec 30, 2018 1:52:54 GMT 2
scrubb
the entire indian history is the us is pretty grim
finished riot days by maria alyokhina of pussy riot about her incarceration in russia awful conditions endured by the women prisoners & through her fame, she is able to get some changes in the system. considering the topic, it was quite readable
any cheerier recommendations for the new year?
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Post by Scrubb on Dec 30, 2018 7:04:59 GMT 2
Have you read all of David Sedaris' books? They are light (mostly) and funny but very worthwhile.
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Post by Voy on Dec 30, 2018 15:24:56 GMT 2
The Last Mountain, by Ian Downs. autobiog of a Kiap who was very instrumental in PNG independence. Christmas pressie from Ian, and now, probably the last of the PNG reading...
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Post by wikki on Jan 6, 2019 18:09:06 GMT 2
I got a little book about Japan for Xmas. It is from IGORT, an Italian comic ilustrator who worked some time in Japan. (apperently there is also a docu film about it Manga do) The book is a bout a road trip throuhg Japan. very nice and quiet.
I am still working my way throu all the dark tower books. I am at the 5th book now. It is so dark and depressing that it takes me some time to read it. In between I need some easier or positive books. Like the book about the japanese road trip or the Bone Witch or The Dark Side from Frank Schaetzing.
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Post by Baz Faz on Jan 6, 2019 18:29:40 GMT 2
I am reading Munich by Robert Harris. This is about the events of 1938 when British PM Chamberlain met Hitler and came back to London waving a piece of paper that Hitler had signed, claiming it meant "peace for our time". No, it meant peace for a few more months. Hitler had other plans. The judgement of history is that Chamberlain was weak and humiliated by Hitler. Certainly Chamberlain was not tough enough to make Hitler change his mind but he meant well. I am half way through the novel and there is a plot to kill Hitler still to come. Spoiler alert - the plot failed. Oh, you already knew that.
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Post by sophie on Jan 6, 2019 23:00:03 GMT 2
Baz.. isn’t Robert Harris the one who does alternative history with his novels? I read two of them.. think it was him.. quite thought provoking
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Post by Baz Faz on Jan 7, 2019 0:32:20 GMT 2
Sophie, I guess you could call them alternative history. They are novels about events in the past and some of what he writes about is from his imagination.
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Post by Netsuke on Jan 7, 2019 0:46:00 GMT 2
I've been reading "Bury My HEart at Wounded Knee" for the past few weeks. It's depressing. I had no idea just how horrifically the INdians were treated during colonization/settlement of the west in the US. The American film industry always portrayed the Indians as the "baddies" in all cowboys and Indians movies. When boys played cowboys and Indians, the cowboy was always the goodie, the Indian the baddie and he always died.
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Post by Scrubb on Jan 7, 2019 4:02:49 GMT 2
That is the mythology, Netsuke. THe reality is that the "cowboys" were often the aggressors, and I was surprised to learn that the practice of scalping was not started by the INdians. It was practiced ON the Indians first, and more often than the reverse.
I've read the first few pages of "A Brief History of Seven Killings" by Marlon James, set in Jamaica, which won the Booker prize a few years ago. I read them a few days ago and know it's going to be good, but haven't kept going - I have it in paperback and have been reading on my kindle. But Tuesday at the latest I'll get going with it.
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Post by tzarine on Jan 19, 2019 21:38:54 GMT 2
scrubb
have you read any sherman alexie? he's a modern indian/native american/first nation writer tzarevich & i lovedthe absolutely true diary of a part-time indian
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Post by Netsuke on Jan 20, 2019 3:49:48 GMT 2
Scalping being what Indians did to white people, one is given the impression that that is something that do - that's another lie being bandied about.
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Post by Scrubb on Jan 20, 2019 4:21:40 GMT 2
tzarine, yes, I've read that -thought it was good.
Netsuke, well as I said, the white man started scalping Indians first, but yes, the Indians retaliated.
I haven't got going with "A BRief HIstory of Seven Kllings" yet but I started "DO Not Say We Have Nothing" by Madeleine Thein. I have it in paperback, though, and I've been trying to finish something on my kindle, so haven't made much progress yet.
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Post by sophie on Jan 20, 2019 4:28:27 GMT 2
I just finished that one by Madeleine Thien second time around, scrubb. Liked it even more second time.
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Post by Netsuke on Jan 20, 2019 5:26:08 GMT 2
I've just started reading The Girl From Munich. It's about a young woman from a privileged background growing up in Hitler's Germany and her changing world during WW II.
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Post by Scrubb on Jan 21, 2019 3:59:27 GMT 2
I just finished that one by Madeleine Thien second time around, scrubb. Liked it even more second time. I started it while flying home last Tuesday and really liked it, but haven't picked it up since I got off the plane. LIke I said, I've been trying to finish another book on my kindle - one that I like, and is good, but is not absorbing so I keep doing other stuff instead of reading...
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Post by wikki on Jan 27, 2019 18:34:13 GMT 2
I am reading Jack Kerouac, The Lonesome Traveler. To early to tell what I think about his writting. So far I can only say, it is difficult for me to read, with other words, good for my English.
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Post by Voy on Jan 27, 2019 19:45:29 GMT 2
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Post by sophie on Jan 28, 2019 5:09:14 GMT 2
Read Indian Horse by Richard Wagamese and highly recommend it.. novel based on issues caused by the residential schools to one child.
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Post by Scrubb on Jan 29, 2019 5:24:58 GMT 2
Am reading "The Caine Mutiny" by HErman Wouk - about a ship in WW2. Entertaining, but easy/light.
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Post by Voy on Jan 29, 2019 16:40:03 GMT 2
Love ^ ! See if you can find the movie - it's great ! ( as was the play )
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Post by Scrubb on Jan 30, 2019 4:30:21 GMT 2
Yeah, it turned out to be a really good book - I will look for the movie.
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Post by Scrubb on Feb 13, 2019 3:39:40 GMT 2
Also finished "Do Not Say We Have Nothing", about China from the '60s to 1990ish, and some present day time in Vancouver and China. Excellent book, as sophie said.
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Post by Voy on Feb 13, 2019 16:22:09 GMT 2
The memoir about Jane Austen, by her nephew. So nice to read about her by someone who actually did know her, and who's book is probably the basis for a whole lot of "Austeniana"
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Post by tzarine on Feb 18, 2019 17:20:58 GMT 2
a bio of boris pasternak - now i need to reread dr. zhivago
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Post by Scrubb on Apr 2, 2019 0:28:40 GMT 2
I'm sort of reading 4 books and making little progress on any of them.
A Brief History of 7 Killings - Marlon James - started it about 2 months ago at last, and really liked it - but forgot to take it to work one week, then didn't want to take the heavy tome on holidays, and just haven't picked it up again, so I sit about 50 or 75 pages in. But I think it's excellent, from the start!
The Warmth of Other Suns - Isobel Wilkerson - is the story of the migration of black people out of the southern US to the northern states between 1915-1975. It won the Pulitzer and is pretty good so far, but it's not compelling reading so I keep setting it aside for something else. Again, I'm only about 75 pages in.
A Woman of Substances - Jenny Valentish - about substance abuse in women, the causes and relationships with other issues such as eating disorders, and how they manifest in women in particular. The author is apparently a sort of D-list celebrity ladette that Brits or Aussies might have heard of, but I haven't. Anyway, it is well written, and an interesting combination of memoir (she uses her own history as an example of many of the issues) and research, which she presents well.
Vernon God Little - DBC Pierre - won something (Booker?) several years ago and has been on my list for a long time. I'm liking it a fair bit, though not loving it, so far, but am not that far into it. It seems to be about a kid in a small town in Texas that had a school shooting, done by his friend, but told from his point of view and focusing on his perception of people's reactions.
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Post by tzarine on Apr 2, 2019 1:16:00 GMT 2
scrubb
i just abandoned a book & i am not loving jm coetzee's the schooldays of jesus
tho i am enjoying vanishing new york bc i am living it. it's about gentrification & how politicians & developers destroyed ny & the neighborhoods like mine.
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Post by Voy on Apr 2, 2019 14:30:27 GMT 2
I could never get into the tv series "Call the Midwife", but I'm very much enjoying the book.
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Post by Scrubb on Apr 3, 2019 23:54:24 GMT 2
FInally finished one of those 4 - the shortest one, of course. Vernon God Little. It won the Booker back in the early 2000s. Not sure it was really worthy - I was really liking it for quite a while, but the last third of it devolved into melodramatic farce. I guess he sort of meant the whole thing to be funny, and it certainly had humourous elements, but for the first 2/3 it felt like it had a lot more underneath. Then the end just went splat, IMO.
Today I remembered that I"d bought David Sedaris' book "Calypso" on line for $4.99, so I started it this morning and am about 3/4 done now. I just stopped reading to do some housework this afternoon, and go for a run.
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Post by tzarine on Apr 18, 2019 19:46:19 GMT 2
mythologies by edith hamilton
love revisiting these
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Post by Scrubb on Apr 19, 2019 5:14:12 GMT 2
I finally finished "The WArmth of Other Suns" by Isobel Wilkerson, about the migration of black people from the southern states to the northern states, between 1915-1975. I learned quite a lot and it was quite interestingly written, for the most part.
The stories of treatment in the south were horrifying, of course, although there were plenty of racists in the north, too. One thing that was news to me, and that was INFURIATING to read, was that in all the northern cities, landlords charged blacks higher rent than they charged whites. So these people who were only hired for menial, low-paying jobs, also had to pay higher rent than anyone else.
Anyway. Now I'm reading "The MAn WHo Fell To Earth". I remember there was a movie with David Bowie based on it, but I never saw it.
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