Thanks for the update. I'll probably give it a go at some point.
Thanks for the update. I'll probably give it a go at some point.
Last night I finished The Second World War, Volume V: Closing The Ring by Winston Churchill.
Some interesting quotes:
"When men are fighting for their lives they are not often disposed to be complimentary to those who are trying to kill them."
"Hitler…had in fact made a spider’s web and forgotten the spider."
"But who in war will not have his laugh amid the skulls?"
"...pine forests from which the newspapers get their pulp to guide us on life’s journey."
"...this class of criticism which I read in the newspapers when I arrived on Sunday morning reminds me of the simple tale about the sailor who jumped into a dock, I think it was at Plymouth, to rescue a small boy from drowning. About a week later this sailor was accosted by a woman, who asked, ‘Are you the man who picked my son out of the dock the other night?’ The sailor replied modestly, ‘That is true, ma’am.’ ‘Ah,’ said the woman, ‘you are the man I am looking for. Where is his cap?'"
"I have now received a telegram from U.J. which I think you will feel is not exactly all one might hope for from a gentleman for whose sake we are to make an inconvenient, extreme and costly exertion."
"Thanksgiving Day, which fell on November 25, is a feature in American life. Every soldier in the American armies is supposed to eat turkey on that date, and most of them did in 1943."
"I could not admire the arrangements which had been made for my reception after landing in Teheran. …As we approached the city the road was lined with Persian cavalrymen every fifty yards, for at least three miles. It was clearly shown to any evil people that somebody of consequence was coming, and which way. The men on horseback advertised the route, but could provide no protection at all. A police car driving a hundred yards in advance gave warning of our approach. The pace was slow. Presently large crowds stood in the spaces between the Persian cavalry, and as far as I could see there were few, if any, foot police. Towards the centre of Teheran these crowds were four or five deep. The people were friendly but non-committal. They pressed to within a few feet of the car. There was no kind of defence at all against two or three determined men with pistols or a bomb. As we reached the turning which led to the Legation there was a traffic block, and we remained for three or four minutes stationary amid the crowded throng of gaping Persians. If it had been planned out beforehand to run the greatest risks and have neither the security of quiet surprise arrival nor an effective escort the problem could not have been solved more perfectly. However, nothing happened. I grinned at the crowd, and on the whole they grinned at me."
"I do not feel any break in the continuity of my thought in this immense sphere. But vast and disastrous changes have fallen upon us in the realm of fact. The Polish frontiers exist only in name, and Poland lies quivering in the Russian-Communist grip. Germany has indeed been partitioned, but only by a hideous division into zones of military occupation. About this tragedy it can only be said IT CANNOT LAST."
"I have always had a great objection to what are called ‘stuffed clouds’ – i.e., clouds with mountains inside them…"
"...I had hoped that we were hurling a wild cat on to the shore, but all we had got was a stranded whale."
"When you have to hold a hot coffee-pot it is better not to break the handle off until you are sure that you will get another equally convenient and serviceable, or at any rate until there is a dishcloth handy."
NOTE: an entirely unexpected reference to the physical act of love: "...nothing could be more natural and nothing could be more becoming than that a young king should marry a highly suitable princess on the eve of his departure for the war. Thus he has a chance of perpetuating his dynasty, and anyhow of giving effect to those primary instincts to which the humblest of human beings have a right."
"We should all look very silly if some of our valuable guns were blown up."
"Much had been made beforehand of the magnitude and perils of this enterprise. It was entirely successful, with no casualties, except, according to sailors’ stories, one soldier bitten by a mule."
Last edited by St. Troy; 11-15-2018 at 07:02 AM.
Last night I began The Second World War, Volume VI: Triumph And Tragedy by Winston Churchill.
This is the last volume in the series, which I began last May. I'm excited to read something else soon, but there will be massive withdrawal, as there normally is when I finish anything that takes over a month to get through.
Done. An excellent collection. Now reading The Plot Against Earth. I like all of the many eras of Silverberg, but his early pulpy/adventure SF is my favourite.Originally Posted by WeDealInLead
Speaking of Philip K. Dick, some of you might be interested in this: http://www.foliosociety.com/book/PKD/scanner-androids
I'm reading Justin Cronin's The Passage for the first time in my life and, wow man. Just wow.
Just picked up The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson. Man this is a dense book but I am really enjoying it so far.
Amanda, I don't know what to say.I'm reading Justin Cronin's The Passage for the first time in my life and, wow man. Just wow. Ricky really knows how to recommend books. I should've listened to him years ago! What an American treasure!
A NEW GAME BEGINS
Amanda, I don't know what to say.I'm reading Justin Cronin's The Passage for the first time in my life and, wow man. Just wow. Ricky really knows how to recommend books. I should've listened to him years ago! What an American treasure!Oh man.
I finally started reading The Regulators. Now I know why I kept putting it off.
yeah that one was just meh. I heard if you read it before desperation it's better but if not it's just blah
Both The Regulators and Desperation seemed to have interesting ingredients, but left me pretty flat and just didn't work for me.
I love Desperation and was excited to read The Regulators, but when I finally got around to it, it was very meh. I can't remember a lot of details about it now, but I remember feeling let-down when I finished it. Like my life didn't change in the slightest for having read it.yeah that one was just meh. I heard if you read it before desperation it's better but if not it's just blah
Both are definitely on the bottom of my SK list.
You don't know my kind.....You don't my mind.....Dark necessities are part of my design.....
Wow, I love both. I read The Regulators when it first came out and thoroughly enjoyed it. Read Desperation years later and enjoyed that one as well. Then just a few years ago decided to read them back to back so I could pick up on all the connections
Two nights ago I finished The Second World War, Volume VI: Triumph And Tragedy by Winston Churchill. This was the final volume in the series, which I started on May 24 last year (it took about 8 1/2 months) - other than a 2-day break to read A Christmas Carol in December, this is all I've read since then.
There is always a kind of withdrawal when finishing something long (if it's any good), and this is the worst one yet ( Lord of the Rings and It were my first experiences with this, and there seemed to be a vast rushing sound as if from a nearby cave when I reached the end of Harry Potter, although I've never read all 7 in a row - all was well NOOOOOOOOOOOO).
This was the longest time I've ever spent reading anything continuously. It's a combination of the feeling that a pet has died and the feeling that my parents kicked me out of the house (this part probably because the reading experience was akin to having "Uncle Winston" inform me personally).
Some quotes from this volume:
"…we hope to furnish the enemy with a succession of surprises during the course of the fighting."
"There was no complaint. Everyone saw we just had to lump it…"
"An expert operator…forgot his own part in the procedure. In his astonishment he pushed the control lever well off to the left and held it there. The rocket obediently kept turning to the left, and by the time the operator had pulled himself together it was out of control range and heading for Sweden. There it fell."
"Communism raised its head behind the thundering Russian battlefront. Russia was the Deliverer, and Communism the gospel she brought."
"When the Russians entered the city three months later they found little but shattered streets and the unburied dead. Such was their liberation of Poland, where they now rule."
"We lunched in a tent looking towards the enemy. The General was in the highest spirits. I asked him how far away was the actual front. He said about three miles. I asked him if he had a continuous line. He said, ‘No.’ ‘What is there then to prevent an incursion of German armour breaking up our luncheon?’ He said he did not think they would come. The staff told me the chateau had been heavily bombed the night before, and certainly there were a good many craters around it."
It seems I'm miles above the surface of the Earth
I can see across the whole of London and beyond
A quick one:
On Saturday, I finished a book I began on Thursday: The Boy In The Striped Pajamas by John Boyne.
Told from the POV of a 9-year-old son of a Nazi officer in 1943. The tone is light, because the boy doesn't know much about what is going on around him, but the atmosphere is heavy, because the reader does.
This is so short (218 pgs), I feel that anything I might say about it would be a spoiler, but suffice it to say that while I enjoyed and can recommend it, it leaves a cloud hanging over you (as you might expect).
It seems I'm miles above the surface of the Earth
I can see across the whole of London and beyond
Just started J.K. Rowling's The Casual Vacancy.
As with many others out there, this is the first non-Potter thing of hers I've read.
So far (65 pages in), it's what I was told to expect: a decent and enjoyable read that is neither excellent nor noteworthy in any way.
It seems I'm miles above the surface of the Earth
I can see across the whole of London and beyond
Just started the, ‘A Song of Ice and Fire’ series by GRRM. I don’t know why I put this off for so long. Instantly entranced.
"Monsters are real, and ghosts are real too. They live inside us, and sometimes they win." - SK
WTB:
- S/L 'Storm Front' Jim Butcher (Subterranean Press)
- S/L 'Fool Moon' Jim Butcher (Subterranean Press)
I'm in the middle of 3 right now.
Sanderson's white sand 2
Sanderson's way of kings
And
Kings On Writing
I’m surprised you got that far.
That rough, eh?I’m surprised you got that far.
Did you try the Cormoran Strike series? I've heard that is much better than TCV.
It seems I'm miles above the surface of the Earth
I can see across the whole of London and beyond
The Strike books have actual plots. They're perfectly serviceable beach reading but that's it.
I enjoyed the Cormoran Strike series. Quirky and entertaining.
bearhead still not working properly, bears have downloaded all horror short stories anthologies they could lay their paws on (various Best Horror of the Year, Mammoth Books of Horror and such like). Reading now. It's bliss. Can't imagine anything more entertaining and relaxing.
Ask not what bears can do for you, but what you can do for bears. (razz)
When one is in agreement with bears one is always correct. (mae)
bears are back!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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