i thought i had purchased Stalin's Ghost, but apparently i didn't. i enjoyed Polar Star but not so much as Red Square. but the greatest crime in the history of movie-making was casting William Hurt as Renko in Gorky Park. the movie itself isn't horrible, but Hurt as Renko. boo, hiss.
It would be really hard to give anything away. You will understand when you start reading it. It is a lot different than most things you will read. It's a long read. I have been on it two weeks and I am only halfway though. Although, I only get about 30-45 minutes at a time to read it.
"On New Year's Eve 1972, following eighteen magnificent seasons in the major leagues, Roberto Clemente died a hero's death, killed in a plane crash as he attempted to deliver food and medical supplies to Nicaragua after a devastating earthquake... Anyone who saw Clemente, as he played with a beautiful fury, will never forget him. He was a work of art in a game too often defined by statistics. During his career with the Pittsburgh Pirates, he won four batting titles and led his team to championships in 1960 and 1971, getting a hit in all fourteen World Series games in which he played. His career ended with three-thousand hits, the magical three-thousandth coming in his final at-bat, and he and the immortal Lou Gehrig are the only players to have the five-year waiting period waived so they could be enshrined in the Hall of Fame immediately after their deaths."
Just finished this:- It was so freeking dry and boring I had to take a shower afterward to moisturize my body. Probably good for a stat and history nerd.. Wait I like history but not sucked arid.
Finished in the last 2 weeks: 1Q84 - by Haruki Murakami --- very well written, but not the great epic story I was expecting are can brag about experiencing... good eye for detail, in all 920 pages... The Fault in Our Stars - by John Green --- a YA book about a girl with cancer, and her unique approach to handling it... it's basically almost Juno, except looking at cancer instead of pregnancy.. a good book for your teenage kids to read... and then discuss, i would imagine... reading now: All Your Base Does Belong to Us - by Harold Goldberg - a history of important milestones in video gaming and the stories that surround it... I am 60 pages in and it is interesting... but I don't like the style... a lot of forced pop culture references that interrupt the storytelling... disjointed at times, but I will press on anyway, because I just got to Tetris part of the history, and i remember it so well...
1Q84 is next for me after I finish the Harry Potter series. I kind of fear my expectations for it are through the roof based on all of the reviews.
Looks like I'm going to have to find that one. The cover make it look like one of the Flashman books. I'm sure it's not though.
I've recently "discovered" the Lee Child Reacher series. Really been enjoying them as well. Going through them really fast. Great when you find a series you can get stuck in to.
Sixty Feet, Six Inches: A Hall of Fame Pitcher & a Hall of Fame Hitter Talk About How the Game Is Played by Bob Gibson and Reggie Jackson Essentially transcribed conversations between the two Hall of Famers. A good, quick read with their takes on a wide range of baseball subjects.
I have to get that. The first grown up book I read was this one: Read it three times the summer between second and third grade. Of course, by sixth grade I, and most of my little league team, was reading this:
The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer. Have to say, I'm really not enjoying the experience very much. I know myself, I should have picked up a prose version, but I wanted to read a more "authentic" translation, but it's slow going and I'm finding the stories really, really boring. I feel like such an edutard for saying so, and I well know the import of the work, but I suspect I'm not going to make it all the way through the tales.
Take a look at the "Millers Tale" It's been a while for me but I remember that one as being funny as hell, raunchy a bedroom farce. It's like an old Peter Sellers movie. Then go back and read the others. The book I had was in old prose and modern script on facing pages. Prolly a lot easier to read.
we had to memorize the first four lines of The Prologue from The Canterbury Tales. i still remember it...
Fun old story innit? We had a teacher who loved it and liked to share his feelings. Derk was the nyght as pich, or as a cole, And at the wyndow out she putte hir hole, And Absolon, hym fil no bet ne wers, But with his mouth he kiste hir naked ers Ful savorly, er he were war of this. Abak he stirte, and thoughte it was amys, For wel he wiste a womman hath no berd.
Just finished "The Limit" Gritty story about Grand Prix, (F1) and road racing after WWII until the 60's. I'd forgotten how many drivers died in those years, well written stories. "Michael Cannell tells the enthralling story of Phil Hill-a lowly California mechanic who would become the first American-born driver to win the Grand Prix-and, on the fiftieth anniversary of his triumph, brings to life a vanished world of glamour, valor, and daring. With the pacing and vivid description of a novel, THE LIMIT charts the journey that brought Hill from dusty California lots racing midget cars into the ranks of a singular breed of men, competing with daredevils for glory on Grand Prix tracks across Europe. Facing death at every turn, these men rounded circuits at well over 150 mph in an era before seat belts or roll bars-an era when drivers were "crushed, burned, and beheaded with unnerving regularity." I actually got to sit in Hill's Shark Nose Ferrari at the British Grand Prix the year Hill won the Championship.
After reading that bit and the bit with the hot poker that followed, I asked my English teacher "did you really mean for us to read this part?" and was told she figured only the ones who could handle it would actually make it that far.
That was getting into the climax. The hot poker, (i think we were told it was a plowshare) the screams for water. Then the Miller making a break for it. Literally. I was a kid back then but I remember thinking that peoples thinking and humour hadn't changed a lot over the years. Yes the media has changed along with technology and even words and usage, but the thought proccess hadn't.
Years ago, on my own(!), I read Shakespeare's A Comedy of Errors, and laughed all the way through it. It was, and still is to me, the finest piece of extended humor writing I have read. Be that as it may, I just finished this modern classic (audio version):
I read a good new book review of a guy called Thomas Perry in the Sunday paper and realised I hadn't even looked at him and he's been writing for a while. I ordered his first book (Just going into reprint) from the library and started last night. Good writing style that make you want to read it though and see where it goes. I'll let you know.
Giving this one a run; it is as the title suggests brief, and for a UN wonk like myself full of interesting information: Myint-U Thant and Amy Scott's The UN Secretariat: A Brief History. Thant is a pretty good historian about Burma and SE Asia, and this is a nice change of pace.