Favorite book

[Reacher]

On 4/1/2023 at 8:40 AM, mrflynn03 said:

I have both.  Like you, I like having a book, something about the smell and feel of it.  I also, prefer paperback.  Easier to handle and can fit in a back pocket.

The benefit of electronic for me is storage space. 

I prefer electronic most of the time. The problem for me is my wife prefers physical. On top of that, she prefers new. Since we read a lot of the same stuff, that means we end up buying a lot of new books. 

[mrflynn03]

I finished the Bob Lee Swagger series. If I were to pick one to read Time to Hunt would be it. 

[5fouls]

On 4/6/2023 at 3:09 PM, Steubenhoosier said:

I just finished Scott Turow's newest book, Suspect. 

Main character is the granddaughter of his best character, Sandy Stern who was played so well by the late Raul Julia in some of the movies made from his books. Not as good as the earlier books, but still worth the time if you like the author.

I've read several of Turow's books, but I don't make him a priority.  Will pick up a paperback from him if there is little else of interest to me on the shelf.  There are several writers in the legal/judicial genre that I like better.  

Edited April 21, 2023 by 5fouls

[5fouls]

There are few things I used to enjoy more than browsing a bookstore.  The last few years that has been changing.  No because I don't still love to read.  I do.  My issue is I prefer the mass market paperbacks.  I always considered hardbacks to be too bulky, and I'm also a cheap SOB.  

Lately, there has been a big trend in bookstores to the intermediate sized paperbacks.  Not only are they not the size I prefer, but they not priced well.  You pay almost as much as you do for a hardback, without the durability, and you don't get the comfortable size or lower cost of the smaller paperback.

This trend not only delays the release of mass market paperback (as it is now the 3rd release of the book instead of the 2nd), but it seems like only the most popular authors even have a mass market release.  Lesser known authors don't seem to get the mass market size any longer.

I've recently found myself having to do some shopping on the bargain shelf for older hardbacks just to find something I'm interested in reading at a price I'm willing to pay.  

[Steubenhoosier]

7 minutes ago, 5fouls said:

There are few things I used to enjoy more than browsing a bookstore.  The last few years that has been changing.  No because I don't still love to read.  I do.  My issue is I prefer the mass market paperbacks.  I always considered hardbacks to be too bulky, and I'm also a cheap SOB.  

Lately, there has been a big trend in bookstores to the intermediate sized paperbacks.  Not only are they not the size I prefer, but they not priced well.  You pay almost as much as you do for a hardback, without the durability, and you don't get the comfortable size or lower cost of the smaller paperback.

This trend not only delays the release of mass market paperback (as it is now the 3rd release of the book instead of the 2nd), but it seems like only the most popular authors even have a mass market release.  Lesser known authors don't seem to get the mass market size any longer.

I've recently found myself having to do some shopping on the bargain shelf for older hardbacks just to find something I'm interested in reading at a price I'm willing to pay.  

Do you have a library card?

[5fouls]

31 minutes ago, Steubenhoosier said:

Do you have a library card?

I am embarrassed to admit that I am quite phobic when it comes to reading a book that has been previously read.  I've had friends give me books before and many of them go unread.  My phobia overrides my cheapness unless I am desperate.  

[mrflynn03]

21 minutes ago, 5fouls said:

I am embarrassed to admit that I am quite phobic when it comes to reading a book that has been previously read.  I've had friends give me books before and many of them go unread.  My phobia overrides my cheapness unless I am desperate.  

Considering how much reading gets done on a toilet the phobia is warranted. 

[Steubenhoosier]

24 minutes ago, 5fouls said:

I am embarrassed to admit that I am quite phobic when it comes to reading a book that has been previously read.  I've had friends give me books before and many of them go unread.  My phobia overrides my cheapness unless I am desperate.  

Is that you, Sheldon?😛

[kycarter88]

Chaos, by Tom O'Neill or The Sacred Mushroom and the Cross by John M. Allegro. 

Chaos is about how the Manson Family was supplied with LSD via a secret CIA operation in San Francisco, then subsequently the same CIA official in charge of that operation was also the man who was tasked with evaluating Jack Ruby after killing Lee Harvey Oswald. It intertwines 3 great conspiracies and shows the corruption of the government in pushing their narratives on several defining points in American History.

The Sacred Mushroom and the Cross is about the use of mushrooms in ancient times and how those mushrooms have a deep, deep connection to the Bible and many stories that are told in the Bible.  This is a very intensive read. 

[mrflynn03]

I'm on a binge right now. Just finished 1776 by David McCullough.  Covers the first year of the American Revolution. Not a bad read but a fair amount of 18th century English. 

Currently reading Mindhunter by John Douglas and Vietnam: A History by Stanley Karnow depending on my mood. 

While on breaks at work I'm reading Lions of Medina because I accidentally got kindle unlimited for 4.99 for 2 months playing fast and loose with the left clicker. Anyway it's about Charlie Company 1st Marines 1st Mardiv on Operation Medina in 1967.

So far so good to all of them. 

[5fouls]

Last night I finished reading 'The Unwilling' by John Hart.  Set in Charlotte, North Carolina during the early 1970's, it follows a family that has been torn apart by the Vietnam War.  The storyline centers around the heinous murder of a young woman, but that's just the backdrop to the family dynamic. Strong characterization that explores good and evil, strength and weakness, forgiveness, friendship, mistrust, etc.

I've read a lot of books in my life and this one probably lands into the Top 10.  Another John Hart book that I read several years ago, 'The Last Child', is in my Top 5.  There are books that I enjoy, but are easily forgotten a few weeks later.  And, then there are books that will stick with me forever.  These two Hart books fall into the latter category.  

Edited May 7, 2023 by 5fouls

[mrflynn03]

1 hour ago, 5fouls said:

Last night I finished reading 'The Unwilling' by John Hart.  Set in Charlotte, North Carolina during the early 1970's, it follows a family that has been torn apart by the Vietnam War.  The storyline centers around the heinous murder of a young woman, but that's just the backdrop to the family dynamic. Strong characterization that explores good and evil, strength and weakness, forgiveness, friendship, mistrust, etc.

I've read a lot of books in my life and this one probably lands into the Top 10.  Another John Hart book that I read several years ago, 'The Last Child', is in my Top 5.  There are books that I enjoy, but are easily forgotten a few weeks later.  And, then there are books that will stick with me forever.  These two Hart books fall into the latter category.  

I will have to try that one out. 

There is one that came out last year I haven't got to yet called "Kiss Lori for Me" written by the daughter of a corpsman who was KIA in Vietnam when she was 6 mos old. I haven't seen one from that perspective before.  Though I have read remberances from the wall.

Edited May 7, 2023 by mrflynn03

[Drroogh]

Just recently got my first Library Card, used to read mythology a lot when I was in junior high. Don’t read much now but hope to again. The thing I find most interesting about having a card is I now have access to ‘Transparent Language’. Not very good with language, the best I’ve ever done was learning a few hundred words of Russian. I have now just started learning Ojibwa since there is a reservation within walking distance of the cabin.

[mrflynn03]

8 minutes ago, Drroogh said:

Just recently got my first Library Card, used to read mythology a lot when I was in junior high. Don’t read much now but hope to again. The thing I find most interesting about having a card is I now have access to ‘Transparent Language’. Not very good with language, the best I’ve ever done was learning a few hundred words of Russian. I have now just started learning Ojibwa since there is a reservation within walking distance of the cabin.

I can say the dirty words in a few different ones and order food in Spanish and German, and familiar with a bit when it comes to cooking. That's about the extend of my multilingual ability.

[Drroogh]

12 minutes ago, mrflynn03 said:

I can say the dirty words in a few different ones and order food in Spanish and German, and familiar with a bit when it comes to cooking. That's about the extend of my multilingual ability.

Supposedly Russian has more dirty words than any other language, I never learned one???? Probably had a few spoken to me though!!

[IUFLA]

19 minutes ago, Drroogh said:

Supposedly Russian has more dirty words than any other language, I never learned one???? Probably had a few spoken to me though!!

That's funny...I took college Spanish while I was in the USAF back in like 92...A really good friend and co-worker of mine (who I still keep in contact with) from Puerto helped me. The dirty words were Lesson 1 🙂

[Drroogh]

4 minutes ago, IUFLA said:

That's funny...I took college Spanish while I was in the USAF back in like 92...A really good friend and co-worker of mine (who I still keep in contact with) from Puerto helped me. The dirty words were Lesson 1 🙂

That’s what I get learning from a cassette!🤷‍♂️

[mrflynn03]

3 minutes ago, IUFLA said:

That's funny...I took college Spanish while I was in the USAF back in like 92...A really good friend and co-worker of mine (who I still keep in contact with) from Puerto helped me. The dirty words were Lesson 1 🙂

When I started my old job one of the operators names was Hector.  When I first met him he greeted me by saying bullsh*t.  Turns out that was the only English he knew at the time. 

We also had so many Jose's at one time that we nicknamed them José A, Jose B, Jose C, ect.  Sounded out it was hose A, hose B and so on.  They had fun with it too.  I was called grandote for giant. I looked it up to be sure. 

[Drroogh]

4 minutes ago, mrflynn03 said:

When I started my old job one of the operators names was Hector.  When I first met him he greeted me by saying bullsh*t.  Turns out that was the only English he knew at the time. 

We also had so many Jose's at one time that we nicknamed them José A, Jose B, Jose C, ect.  Sounded out it was hose A, hose B and so on.  They had fun with it too.  I was called grandote for giant. I looked it up to be sure. 

Recently rewatched the 64 movie ‘Zulu’ . They had several who were identified solely by their number because there were so many of them!

[IUFLA]

So one day at work, my Puerto Rican friend chewed out a guy who was in training over something he'd done while working airplanes...part of it in Spanish... 

This trainee was kinda a self important tool. So he's sitting in the break room seething, saying "man, I'd like to tell that Reuben off!"

So with my cursory knowledge of Spanish, I formulated a sentence for him to accomplish his task...

"Lo tomo en El culo."

That story is still legend in the Eglin Rapcon 🙂

[mrflynn03]

18 minutes ago, IUFLA said:

So one day at work, my Puerto Rican friend chewed out a guy who was in training over something he'd done while working airplanes...part of it in Spanish... 

This trainee was kinda a self important tool. So he's sitting in the break room seething, saying "man, I'd like to tell that Reuben off!"

So with my cursory knowledge of Spanish, I formulated a sentence for him to accomplish his task...

"Lo tomo en El culo."

That story is still legend in the Eglin Rapcon 🙂

Not sure if I've told this before. I worked with a guy named James. He was from California and part Hispanic so could get away with some stuff. The production manager for one process was from Mexico and pissed James off. 

James tells him one day the wheel barrow was invented in Mexico. He really liked that.

The next day James says to him "remember how Mexicans invented the wheel barrow?" The guy says yeah, yeah. James says "well, I forgot to tell you Americans put the wheel on 100 years later" and just walked off. 

Never seen a joke last 2 days. 

[Drroogh]

37 minutes ago, IUFLA said:

So one day at work, my Puerto Rican friend chewed out a guy who was in training over something he'd done while working airplanes...part of it in Spanish... 

This trainee was kinda a self important tool. So he's sitting in the break room seething, saying "man, I'd like to tell that Reuben off!"

So with my cursory knowledge of Spanish, I formulated a sentence for him to accomplish his task...

"Lo tomo en El culo."

That story is still legend in the Eglin Rapcon 🙂

Okay I think I just got put on some list for translating that but I still laughed!

[Drroogh]

Not really a dirty word but I’ll leave you two with the Ojibwa word wayaabishkiiwed.

[5fouls]

Just finished reading 'Portrait of an Unknown Woman', the 22nd book in the Garbiel Allon series by Daniel Silva.  I always wait for the paperback versions of books, and every summer I look forward to the next installment in this series.  It's like welcoming a good friend over for a weeklong visit.  This was one of my favorites in the series.  I know the series will hav to end at some point, but hopefully that's still a few years out.  

[tdhoosier]

A couple of recommendations for action book junkies. I recently read Falling by TJ Newman, a former flight attendant, and was hooked form page one. Couldn’t put it down and read it in almost a day. The book was like the movie Speed in the sense that it is non-stop action from beginning to end, but on an airplane. 

A few weeks ago she released another ‘airplane’ book called Drowning. Just finished that and is was also great. (These can be read in any order - they aren’t a series)