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Thread: The Book Thread

  1. #131
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    Per my dad's recommendation I just ordered Beyond the Call. It is the story of WW2 bomber pilot Robert Trimble. After serving on the Western front he was given an assignment within Poland and the Soviet Union to fly US planes that landed there (following bombing missions in Eastern Germany) back to US bases. He soon realized that the Soviets didn't have much interest in repatriating freed allied POWs and civilians back to their home countries. Trimble was able to smuggle out 1,000 people that would have otherwise 'disappeared'. All right under the noses of the Soviet secret police.

  2. #132
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    Has anyone read the CS Lewis Space Trilogy? I recently finished the first two, and was blown away by them.

    My most recent book completion was Thomas Goodrich Scalp Dance: Indian Warfare on The High Plains 1865-1879. I don't think i ever read so many true stories of horror and butchery. The sheer vindictiveness of the Indians, especially the squaws, who - knowing they themselves would be shot for it immediately - would butcher little white captive children right in front of the rescue party's cavalry forces. The manner in which pioneers and soldiers alike would be murdered and mutilated by the Indians, usually without any provocation whatsoever is reading i'll certainly never forget. It makes reminds me just how uneducated modern Americans are that they are willing to throw their civilization away after so much blood was cruelly let and suffering horribly endured to create and establish it. Talk about ingratitude. A horrifying and amazing book only matched by another book by the same author on a similar theme: Hellstorm: The Death of Nazi Germany, which i read a few years ago.

    Currently going through Lawrence James The Rise & Fall of The British Empire, and Practical Programming latest edition.

    In this age of mass disinformation, standardization of (wrong) opinion and general ignorance, reading to learn and reading for inspiration is so utterly important.

    Thanks,

    Troy

  3. #133
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    Quote Originally Posted by Ayrsson View Post
    Has anyone read the CS Lewis Space Trilogy? I recently finished the first two, and was blown away by them.
    I read them a few years ago on my brothers recommendation and really enjoyed them. It's a little eery how closely the evil forces in That Hideous Stength match what's going on in politics today. I think the only reason it's not as popular as Narnia is because it isn't geared toward children and it's more overtly Christian.

    Planet Narnia is another interesting book to go through if you like Lewis. The author explorers some of the mythologies that infleunced the Narnia series, but there's crossover to the space trilogy.

  4. #134
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    Quote Originally Posted by Ayrsson View Post
    Has anyone read the CS Lewis Space Trilogy? I recently finished the first two, and was blown away by them.
    I have, and the only one I liked was That Hideous Strength. The others were too "out there" for me. I don't do all that well with allegory, so that's almost certainly why. One of my failings.

    I am re-reading Master and Commander and enjoying it even more the 2nd time around. I've learned more about the history of the times since the 10+ years of my first reading and it all makes more sense. Other than O'Brian's obsessive and incomprehensible use of nautical jargon. I just can't crack that particular code.

  5. #135
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    Quote Originally Posted by Ayrsson View Post
    Has anyone read the CS Lewis Space Trilogy? I recently finished the first two, and was blown away by them.
    Decades ago, on my Lewis kick (when there was time for kicks). Engrossing, not least because of Lewis' writing style, which is one of the most natural I have encountered.

    Quote Originally Posted by Mark E. Hurling View Post
    I have, and the only one I liked was That Hideous Strength. The others were too "out there" for me. I don't do all that well with allegory, so that's almost certainly why. One of my failings.
    I thought his imagery of angels (if I remember) as overwhelming, nearly nauseating, wheels-in-wheels was novel. A different take than technicolor fairies in green fields. Segues into the concept of "faeri" of the Inklings - not for the in-sane (e.g. "to hunt for symbols in fairy tale is absolutely fatal." - Tolkien)

    Quote Originally Posted by ltomo View Post
    I read them a few years ago on my brothers recommendation and really enjoyed them. It's a little eery how closely the evil forces in That Hideous Stength match what's going on in politics today.
    They were very prescient. Hurling said similar in the COVID thread.

  6. #136
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    Quote Originally Posted by ltomo View Post
    It's a little eery how closely the evil forces in That Hideous Stength match what's going on in politics today. I think the only reason it's not as popular as Narnia is because it isn't geared toward children and it's more overtly Christian.
    I was steered in the direction of the Trilogy by listening to Charls Carroll of Million Dollar Extreme fame. He said much the same. I can see why a series like Narnia would be easier to market than the Space Trilogy. Much the same reason there are sadly more readers of Nietzsche than Julius Evola (not that i dislike Nietzsche, far from it; but as philosophy goes, he's relatively accessible).

  7. #137
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    Quote Originally Posted by OldDog View Post
    You're absolutely right on the volume of material. Enjoy the search and journey!

    Here's what I can offer:

    Undaunted Courage: Meriwether Lewis, Thomas Jefferson and the Opening of the American West - Stephen E Ambrose

    Complicity: How the North Promoted, Prolonged, and Profited from Slavery - Anne Farrow, Joel Lang, and Jenifer Frank

    Rebels from West Point: The 306 US Military Academy Graduates Who Fought for the Confederacy - Gerard A Patterson

    The Real Lincoln: A New Look at Abraham Lincoln, His Agenda, and an Unnecessary War - Thomas J DiLorenzo

    Lincoln Unmasked: What You’re Not Supposed to Know About Dishonest Abe - Thomas J DiLorenzo

    Emancipating Slaves, Enslaving Free Men: A History of the American Civil War - Jeffrey Rogers Hummel

    When in the Course of Human Events: Arguing the Case for Southern Secession - Charles Adams

    Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era - James M McPherson
    I'll second that recommendation of Undaunted Courage. Great story, great read.

    I just started The Killer Angels by Michael Shaara last night and suddenly it was 1AM. Shaara really brings the events of those July days to life and fully develops the various participants characters. Some very moving passages so far, such as Chamberlain's speech on why the Union is fighting, ending with "We're an army going out to set other men free."
    Then from the Confederate side, a major has this to say: "...know that the government derives its power from the consent of the governed. Every government, everywhere. And, Sir, let me make this plain: We do not consent. We will never consent." Powerful stuff.

  8. #138
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    For light enjoyable reading: The Right Stuff by Tom Wolfe. Classic summer beach reading.
    Amazing writer, actually funny at times. The way he frames the setting in the 60s and the Mercury astronauts is fantastic. The astronauts and the test pilots back then were the polar opposites of today’s pajama boys. God damn nerves of steel.

    Great fun easy read.

  9. #139
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mark Rippetoe View Post
    By popular demand (primarily Bre) we shall discuss your reading. I am rereading The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress by Robert Heinlein. A very important book, fit to start what I'm sure will be a long and popular thread. (Just so's you'll know, it is proper to italicize titles.)
    Mans Search for Meaning by Vicktor Frankl and Meditations by Marcus Aurelius - I've been adulting . . .

  10. #140
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    Quote Originally Posted by RJPinAZ View Post
    I just started The Killer Angels by Michael Shaara last night and suddenly it was 1AM. Shaara really brings the events of those July days to life . . . .
    Do not miss Gettysburg if you have any interest in the Civil War (especially if you've read books about the battle, such as The Killer Angels). The battlefield is vast and well-preserved. When you're standing in Devil's Den or looking up at Cemetery Ridge, you might as well be back in 1863. I'd probably want to spend three days there, if I could get back.

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