What books are you into recently?

My all time favorite book is "The Art of Racing in the Rain" by Garth Stein. It's a tear jerker, and about to have a movie come out, on Aug 9th. I'm excited! It really is good. Narrated by a dog, which I found very interesting.

I'm currently reading the third book in a trilogy about the King Arthur legend, though I don't remember the name of it. That time frame fascinates me. I do remember the name of the first book though, which is "Hawk of May". It's about the Knight Gawain. Supposedly he was the first knight of the round table.

Ahh, as you can see, starting me on books is a mistake. I love books.
I also loved'The Art of Racing in The Rain',being a life long dog lover,I'll read any book which involves a dog
Did you know,Kevin Costner will be the voice of the dog in the movie? I just hope the movie is as good as the book Sue
 
I did hear that Kevin Costner is the voice of the dog. I think that's awesome, I'm sure he'll do a great job. I'm hoping the movie is as good as well. Kinda worries me because there's lots of stuff coming out that day, and I haven't seen the commercial lately. Oh well...I got a little disappointed about it because I'm friends with the author on goodreads. I've been trying to reach out to him, just to give some well wishes, and haven't gotten any response. It's left me feeling bad about it all.
 

"Red-Tails in Love" by Marie Winn, the true story of the hawks that mated and nested atop a building across from Central Park in NYC. Also talks about the regular human birdwatchers and their involvement with the hawks and all the other birds and various species of wild life who call Central Park their home. Lovely story.
 
I just downloaded 1984 and Animal Farm from Amazon Prime (free read). I haven't revisited those two books in several years, and with the current state of things in the world they seem more relevant than ever.
I recently reread 1984 and Brave New World. Both were more prescient than I ever would have believed during my first reading of them back in HS days.
Ditto The Handmaid's Tale, though that was written much later.

All these books are frightening because our modern world seems to be moving toward what we once considered impossible fictional dystopias.
 
thanks 911
in your experience , would you say the most evil people are cold blooded? Have no empathy?

Oh, absolutely. You may be interested in reading about a man, who was a psychotherapist and actually researched and studied “EVIL.”

Check out Dr. Michael Stone. He uses a scale, like 1-10, or something similar to put the different levels of evil onto a scale. Very interesting man.
I remember reading some of his stuff about evil people and their different tendencies. Depending on what these evil people did, is where he would put them on the scale.
 
I'm currently reading 'The Drama of the Lost Disciples'...about the beginnings of the Christian Church. The Church was established here in Britain first and the Britons took Christianity to Rome. The first Bishop of Rome was St Linus, the son of a British king. I don't think any of this is taught in schools...and it should be! Britain has an illustrious past and our children should be proud of that. Also, the Romans met their match when they tried to invade...it was not a bunch of undisciplined barbarians they were up against, but cultured, educated people. This book has really been an eye-opener for me.


I can't imagine how that is possible when according to scripture Jesus was born in Bethlehem. But I'd like to hear how they came to that conclusion. I've studied the Bible for over 40 years and always like to hear new info.
 
Oh, absolutely. You may be interested in reading about a man, who was a psychotherapist and actually researched and studied “EVIL.”

Check out Dr. Michael Stone. He uses a scale, like 1-10, or something similar to put the different levels of evil onto a scale. Very interesting man.
I remember reading some of his stuff about evil people and their different tendencies. Depending on what these evil people did, is where he would put them on the scale.
Well at least im not cold blooded. 😀
 
I might sound snobbish in my taste here. I returned to Christianity a few years ago so that is certainly going to shape what I read now. Im trying to fully grasp G K Chesterton but its a challenge. Everlasting Man is one.
Dostoyevsky. The Idiot and Brothers Karamazov
All Quiet on the Western Front. I should have read this book ages ago. it is absolutely awesome.
Laurence Freeman. But Im not sure Im into his version of Christianity.
Will mentioning Christianity ostracise me here? :)
Amen Brother..✝
 
I can't imagine how that is possible when according to scripture Jesus was born in Bethlehem. But I'd like to hear how they came to that conclusion. I've studied the Bible for over 40 years and always like to hear new info.
maybe its semantics. when jesus was born in bethlehem, places of worship were not called "churches" but rather "temples". jesus descended from the jews. Or maybe rosemarie is talking about the first catholic church. I'm not familiar with the catholic history. i know their worship practices and doctrine are a little different than what it says in the bible.

"Tradition holds that the first Gentile church was founded in Antioch, Acts 11:20-21, where it is recorded that the disciples of Jesus Christ were first called Christians Acts 11:19-26. It was from Antioch that St. Paul started on his missionary journeys."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_of_Antioch
 
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Well at least im not cold blooded. 😀

I read a few of Dr. Stone’s book. I especially found interesting his take on serial killers, who he rates as the most evil, especially those with added tendencies. He stated that the serial killers that he studied were equal to a Jekyll and Hyde. They can be completely normal, treat their fellow man with kindness, etc., but then something in the brain snaps and they turn into a maniac. Ted Buddy, BTK and Gary Ridgway would be good examples of this type of personality.

Although, the lady that worked with BTK in his office, (Dennis Rader), made the comment that he could go off in a moment’s notice.
 
maybe its semantics. when jesus was born in bethlehem, places of worship were not called "churches" but rather "temples". jesus descended from the jews. Or maybe rosemarie is talking about the first catholic church. I'm not familiar with the catholic history. i know their worship practices and doctrine are a little different than what it says in the bible.

"Tradition holds that the first Gentile church was founded in Antioch, Acts 11:20-21, where it is recorded that the disciples of Jesus Christ were first called Christians Acts 11:19-26. It was from Antioch that St. Paul started on his missionary journeys."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_of_Antioch

Thank you Lara for the info. I learn something new often. What makes debates worth having.
 
I like short stories now since so much to do and age slowed us down.
I cleaned out and dusted my library this week. I noticed another author I like, Louis L'Amour.
One of my favorites of Grizzard though is , Elvis Is Dead and I Don't Feel So Good Myself . One of his last books he died way too early.
 
the last catastrophe by tracey leonard
woman is working as a nurse in remote aussie location. has car accident and becomes quad.

Is that fiction or non fiction? There was a really bad vehicle crash on the Turnpike during icy conditions. A car got caught between 2 semis and all but crushed the car. One of the two passengers in the backseat of the car became a quadriplegic. The man was only 56 y/o. He lived another 11 years before succumbing with pneumonia.

What a terrible life he and his family had. I went to visit him at Christmas for the next 9 years and then I was transferred. I had asked his wife to keep in touch. When he died, she called me to tell me how much he enjoyed my visits. I helped the firemen cut him out of the car using the jaws of life. She also told me that he told her that we should have left him die.
 
Is that fiction or non fiction? There was a really bad vehicle crash on the Turnpike during icy conditions. A car got caught between 2 semis and all but crushed the car. One of the two passengers in the backseat of the car became a quadriplegic. The man was only 56 y/o. He lived another 11 years before succumbing with pneumonia.

What a terrible life he and his family had. I went to visit him at Christmas for the next 9 years and then I was transferred. I had asked his wife to keep in touch. When he died, she called me to tell me how much he enjoyed my visits. I helped the firemen cut him out of the car using the jaws of life. She also told me that he told her that we should have left him die.
it is fact. she really had a car accident and became a quad in 1988.
you sound like a good man 911. i bet a lot of people think highly of you here.
 
I like short stories now since so much to do and age slowed us down.
I cleaned out and dusted my library this week. I noticed another author I like, Louis L'Amour.
One of my favorites of Grizzard though is , Elvis Is Dead and I Don't Feel So Good Myself . One of his last books he died way too early.
the last catastrophe by tracey leonard
woman is working as a nurse in remote aussie location. has car accident and becomes quad.

I haven't heard of him. I'm behind on my book reading now though or I'd check him out.
 
just started rereading Animal Farm.i was only 21 when i first read it and utterly naive.
This time. A huge difference. Every paragraph is profound. I think the author is poking fun at the idealistic notions of radical left wing agendas. In short, communism.
See how the leading demagogue pig is brainwashing them. Teaching them to demonise humans as a way of glorifying themselves. Just shows the danger of worshipping new ideas. Especially political ones.
 
I just downloaded 1984 and Animal Farm from Amazon Prime (free read). I haven't revisited those two books in several years, and with the current state of things in the world they seem more relevant than ever.
im reading it now too.
just awesome. im envious. wish i had an original writing idea like that.
 
just started rereading Animal Farm.i was only 21 when i first read it and utterly naive.
This time. A huge difference. Every paragraph is profound. I think the author is poking fun at the idealistic notions of radical left wing agendas. In short, communism.
See how the leading demagogue pig is brainwashing them. Teaching them to demonise humans as a way of glorifying themselves. Just shows the danger of worshipping new ideas. Especially political ones.


I haven't read the book and of course it is always better than the movies but I did see the movies Animal Farm and 1984 which seem to mimic todays society.
I wear a tin foil hat that is not too popular with most.
 
The Outlander series. I got into genealogy several years ago and found that the tale of Jamie Fraser and his adventures closely parallel that of my family. My maternal side DNA is strongly Scottish Highlands and Islands. My 6th great grandfather, John Fraser born in Inverness-shire, would've been 16 at the time of Culloden. He immigrated to Boston shortly after and became a sea captain--a career that made him quite wealthy and enabled him to own his ships and a merchantile in Boston. He died of illness at sea shortly before the Revolution.

Grandpappy Capt. John Fraser was very well educated (just as Jamie Fraser is in the novels), and his son who was teen at the time of the Revolution (who was also well educated in several languages) went to work for the Boston merchant who was a good friend of the Marquis de Lafayette an handled the American end of financing of the French Fleet. And that's just the beginning of the parallels on that side of the family ....the whole story merits its own thread. The next book in the series should find the Frasers back in North Carolina around the time of the Battle of King's Mountain which was pivotal in the winning of the War for Independence. One of my father's line from that time were Over Mountain men who had accompanied Daniel Boone into what's now Kentucky. Four of that line fought in the Battle of King's Mountain.

Besides the family parallels, the series (except for a few draggy bits) is very well written from a sociologically and psychological perspective. The contrast between mores of the 18th century vs the 20th are well developed.

Excellent review of the series written by an anthropologist.
 
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The Outlander series. I got into genealogy several years ago and found that the tale of Jamie Fraser and his adventures closely parallel that of my family. My maternal side DNA is strongly Scottish Highlands and Islands. My 6th great grandfather, John Fraser born in Inverness-shire, would've been 16 at the time of Culloden. He immigrated to Boston shortly after and became a sea captain--a career that made him quite wealthy and enabled him to own his ships and a merchantile in Boston. He died of illness at sea shortly before the Revolution.

Grandpappy John Fraser was very well educated (just as Jamie Fraser is in the novels), and his son who was teen at the time of the Revolution who was also well educated in several languages went to work for the Boston merchant who was a good friend of the Marquis de Lafayette and handled the American end of financing of the French Fleet. And that's just the beginning of the parallels on that side of the family ....the whole story merits its own thread. The next book in the series should find the Frasers back in North Carolina around the time of the Battle of King's Mountain which was pivotal in the winning of the War for Independence. One of my father's line from that time were Over Mountain men who had accompanied Daniel Boone into what's now Kentucky. Four of that line fought in the Battle of King's Mountain.

Besides the family parallels, the series (except for a few draggy bits) is very well written from a sociologically and psychological perspective. The contrast between mores of the 18th century vs the 20th are well developed.

Excellent review of the series written by an anthropologist.


My hubby is also a relative of Boone. Seems so is Pat Boone the singer.
I'm a huge history buff. Forgot much of what I learned though.
I went as far back as Nimrod in ancient history up till today but mostly on American and Caucasian history. With a little of other eras and peoples.
 

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