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I love to buy used books from abebooks.com. So many low low prices, even from the UK. Friday's mail contained "Harry Black" by David Walker, the source novel for the movie "Harry Black and The Tiger" which is one of my favorite Stewart Granger movies.
Also received "Memory Hold The Door", a memoir by John Buchan. (JFK's favorite book apparently.) Fun coincidence, David Walker was Military Aide to John Buchan when Buchan was Governor General of Canada.
I did not know the authors knew each other.
Also reading "Bestseller" by Claud Cockburn, a review of best sellers between 1900-1939. Which might sound rather trivial subject, but he reviews several cracking novels of the period and an analysis of the point of view of readers of the time. Bonus: I've read most of the books reviewed so I can add my memories of the books to Cockburn's insights. It is so entertaining, I've rationed my self to a chapter a week just to stretch the pleasure.
 
Just got done reading "Strange Weather" by Joe Hill. Its 4 short stories that I was rather impressed with. Joe Hill is Stephen King's son... and I have to be honest, I like Joe better. He has a book called "Heart Shaped Box" and "Horns" that are on my fave books list.
I love me some Joe Hill. Mostly. I have yet to complete Heart Shaped Box. I've tried multiple times. I will be checking out Strange Weather.
 
I'm reading the Count of Monte Cristo.

Based on actual events, this sweeping historical romance, considered to be Dumas' finest work, recounts the story of Edmond Dantès, a gallant young sailor whose life takes a bitter turn when, during the final days of Napoleon's reign, he is falsely accused of treason and condemned to lifelong imprisonment. After languishing for many years in a fetid dungeon, he makes his dramatic escape. In a labyrinthine tale plump with themes of justice, vengeance, lost love, and mercy and forgiveness, Dantès is now free to play out his elaborate plans of revenge on those who betrayed him.
 
I also just finished 'Good Omens, The Nice and Accurate prophesies of Agnes Nutter, Witch' by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett. Since it's being made into an Amazon Prime limited mini series debuting at the end of May 2019, thought I get ahead of it and get the book read. It's so good. Here's a brief synopsis~

There is a distinct hint of Armageddon in the air. According to The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch (recorded, thankfully, in 1655, before she blew up her entire village and all its inhabitants, who had gathered to watch her burn), the world will end on a Saturday. Next Saturday, in fact. So the armies of Good and Evil are amassing, the Four Bikers of the Apocalypse are revving up their mighty hogs and hitting the road, and the world's last two remaining witch-finders are getting ready to fight the good fight, armed with awkwardly antiquated instructions and stick pins. Atlantis is rising, frogs are falling, tempers are flaring. . . . Right. Everything appears to be going according to Divine Plan.

Except that a somewhat fussy angel and a fast-living demon -- each of whom has lived among Earth's mortals for many millennia and has grown rather fond of the lifestyle -- are not particularly looking forward to the coming Rapture. If Crowley and Aziraphale are going to stop it from happening, they've got to find and kill the Antichrist (which is a shame, as he's a really nice kid). There's just one glitch: someone seems to have misplaced him. . . .

First published in 1990, Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett's brilliantly dark and screamingly funny take on humankind's final judgment is back -- and just in time -- in a new hardcover edition (which includes an introduction by the authors, comments by each about the other, and answers to some still-burning questions about their wildly popular collaborative effort) that the devout and the damned alike will surely cherish until the end of all things.
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Oh and I also read the entire series of 'The V Wars' by Johnathon Mayberry. It's also going to be a tv series coming out this spring. I wasn't sure about the books as they come in different types. Some are regular novels, some are graphic novels and they tend to jump back and forth between different characters with no notice. But I really liked them too.

It starts as the polar ice caps are melting and virus's that are billions of years old start turning on peoples 'Junk DNA' and turning them into vampires. And depending on your heritage will determine what type of vampire you become. So apparently all the old myths are true because before plain old humans wiped them out, each county had their own type of vampire.

Doctor Luther Swan is the hero of the story but as he'll admit he's not much of a hero. He just knows a lot about all the old myths. So everyone thinks he's the expert on vampires. The show is going to diverge a bit from the books I've been told. But as Ian Solmhalder (Damon
Salvatore from the Vampire Diaries) will be playing Luther Swan, I'll be watching. The books as well as the graphic novels are worth the read.
 
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Currently I'm reading "Fallout", the second novel of a three part series by the master of alternative history, Harry Turtledove, called "The Hot War". Its a story about what could have happened if during the Korean War President Truman authorized General McCathur to used atomic weapons against the Chinese invasion of the Korean Peninsula. The story centered on a bunch of different people affected by the course of the war, including President Truman, an American B-29 pilot stationed in the west Pacific and his stateside wife, an English widow that runs a pub near a US airbase, a Soviet TU-4 pilot, a Russian expat living in Manchuria, a Jewish Hungarian/Magyar soldier fighting for the Warsaw Pact, a former German Wehrmacht soldier living in West Germany, a furniture mover living in Los Angeles, and a Soviet T-54 tank commander Sergeant.

Not to give to much away, the limited atomic attacks on Chinese military concentration areas in Manchuria gives Stalin, the leader of the newly atomic bomb equipped Union of Soviet Socialist Republic, a reason to attack the US and her allies, all under the guise of "coming to the defense of their socialist Chinese brothers and sister against the capitalist-imperialist forces". The early days of the Korean War is unique time in history, WW2 just ended 6 years earlier and war technology was changing quickly, airplanes, tanks, even rifles were evolving. Both the US and the Soviet Union had atomic bombs like the one dropped on Nagasaki. Those bombs were around 20 kilotons, big enough to destroy the center of cities, but not whole cities. That wouldn't happen until the invention of thermonuclear weapon in 1952, which were in the multiple megaton range (hundreds of times more powerful than the ones on Hiroshima/Nagasaki).

I've read many of Turtledove's other novels and I am rarely disappointed. His insights on different people and their cultures are my favorite part about Turtledove's writing, he knows his history and it shines through in this series.
 
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Just finished
Sleeping Beauties: A Novel

By Stephen King and Owen King.

Quick synopsis:
In a future so real and near it might be now, something happens when women go to sleep: they become shrouded in a cocoon-like gauze. If they are awakened, if the gauze wrapping their bodies is disturbed or violated, the women become feral and spectacularly violent. And while they sleep they go to another place, a better place, where harmony prevails and conflict is rare. One woman, the mysterious “Eve Black,” is immune to the blessing or curse of the sleeping disease. Is Eve a medical anomaly to be studied? Or is she a demon who must be slain?

Abandoned, left to their increasingly primal urges, the men divide into warring factions, some wanted to kill Eve, some to save her. Others exploit the chaos to wreak their own vengeance on new enemies. All turn to violence in a suddenly all-male world. Set in a small Appalachian town whose primary employer is a woman’s prison, Sleeping Beauties is a wildly provocative, gloriously dramatic father-son collaboration that feels particularly urgent and relevant today.
 
I just finished A Ladder to the Sky by John Boyne. It’s akin to The Talented Mr. Ripley by Patricia Highsmith...only much better.

It’s a psychological thriller with perhaps the most excellent representation of psychopathy I’ve ever read. It’s about literary forgery and the desire to succeed and receive recognition at any cost. There are several narrators throughout the book that have been slighted by the forger in one way or another, and the book culminates with the psycho narrating the last sixty pages or so. It’s in a rare class of novels that’s literally angered me when I finished it. Excellent read!
 
trying to finish more books I was suppose to read, if you like dark murky Nord noir along the lines of Girl with dragon tattoo check out Mads Peder Nordbo
 
I like to go to my local library and hit the book sale. My boyfriend and I have decided that we want a big book collection. Something about the way a book feels in your hands.. the way you fumble to the next page... and you don't have to charge em.

Anyway, I found among the books an author named Frank Peretti. I chose the 2 books they had there, read through enough to think I might like them. Once I got them home I started reading the blurb in the back about the author. What I find out almost turns me away. He is one of the top selling Christian writers. That is all and well but I am not a fan of organized religion. I have beliefs that are not along the lines of Christianity. Yet at the same time the blurb also goes on to say he is an supernatural thriller extraordinaire. So fuck it I said.

Never judge a book by its cover! I was slapped in the face twice by that bit of wonderful advice. I read both books within 3 days. Could not wait until the next page.

MONSTER. The first one I read. This book actually had a few twists and turns that I hardly expected and made me think twice about if Bigfoot was real. It is a survival of the fittest tale that is stationed in the mountains of Idaho. A husband and wife are to meet their 2 closest friends for a weekend in these mountains in hope of finding some spiritual something. The first night though a woman screaming in the night sets the husband and wife running into the dark wilderness. In the midst of the chaos she is snatched up and he is left to wonder what happened and if she is still alive. Which she is but why is only the beginning.

It had a few moments where the God card was pulled but not enough for me to care. It was a good book from start to finish. And I love how it ends.

HOUSE. Number 2 I dove into. This one was a lot closer to the whole good vs. Evil. It's about a husband and wife who get stuck in the backwoods of Alabama and wind up at a random as hell BnB in those backwoods. Who and what they meet there is up and down, round and round crazy fight to make it until dawn. Good vs. Evil as I said. Let's just say I was ok with the amount of religious innuendo that was used in this book.

Sorry if my ramblings here make little sense... I tried. It was the fact I randomly selected these books and was definitely impressed that I wanted to suggest them.
 
Just got done reading "Strange Weather" by Joe Hill. Its 4 short stories that I was rather impressed with. Joe Hill is Stephen King's son... and I have to be honest, I like Joe better. He has a book called "Heart Shaped Box" and "Horns" that are on my fave books list.
"Locke and Key" by Joe Hill is one of my fav comics!
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Stephen King's sequel to "The Shining" is "Dr. Sleep" and it is sooooooo good. That little boy grew up and is a mess, as alcohol is the only thing that keeps the ghosties away...he's gotta straighten up and fly right, however, to protect a child with the shine from an ancient tribe of shine-sucking psychic vampires (who travel the country in RVs).
 
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I wanted to revive this thread, because it's a good one, and give my 2019 reading retrospective. Books are probably what I enjoy most in the world, so I may as well share what I've read.

2019 was an excellent year for me when it came to reading. I was a lit major in college, and a terrible student so I decided that I was going to go back through everything I should have read then and read it now, thus making myself feel more like I earned my degree.

I'm a fan of 20th century American lit, so I started with the biggies - Hemingway, Miller, and Fitzgerald. I've found myself a new obsession in Hemingway and in the last few months I've read what I consider all of his most important works:

The Sun Also Rises
For Whom the Bell Tolls
A Farewell to Arms
To Have and Have Not
The Old Man and the Sea
A Movable Feast
The Short Stories

I also discovered the greatness that is Margaret Atwood. Having read The Handmaid's Tale, I was thrilled when The Testaments came out and read it over a weekend. I loved it. Then I moved on to one which I think is her best - Cat's Eye.

Last week I finished Oryx & Crake and I'm now reading Lady Oracle.

I also discovered Markus Zusak this year. The Book Thief and The Messenger were both fantastic.

Tim O'Brien's The Things They Carried was incredible.

I'm also a big fan of crime fiction, and the two standouts this year in that genre are:

Farewell, My Lovely - Raymond Chandler
A Time to Scatter Stones - Lawrence Block
 
I'm currently reading this book. The author is actually a good friend of mine from Junior and High school. It's currently a best seller on Amazon right now. I'm only halfway through, but it's really good!

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When Conor Knighton set off to explore America's "best idea," he worried the whole thing could end up being his worst idea. A broken engagement and a broken heart had left him longing for a change of scenery, but the plan he'd cooked up in response had gone a bit overboard in that department: Over the course of a single year, Knighton would visit every national park in the country, from Acadia to Zion.

In Leave Only Footprints, Knighton shares informative and entertaining dispatches from what turned out to be the road trip of a lifetime. Whether he's waking up early for a naked scrub in a historic bathhouse in Arkansas or staying up late to stargaze along our loneliest highway in Nevada, Knighton weaves together the type of stories you're not likely to find in any guidebook. Through his unique lens, America the Beautiful becomes America the Captivating, the Hilarious, and the Inspiring. Along the way, he identifies the threads that tie these wildly different places together—and that tie us to nature—and reveals how his trip ended up changing his views on everything from God and love to politics and technology.

Filled with fascinating tidbits about our parks' past and reflections on their fragile future, this book is both a celebration of and a passionate case for the natural wonders that all Americans share.
Amazon product ASIN 198482354X
 
Thank you very much. Right now I am in search of some interesting book and did not know what else to read. But your recommendation looks so great that I will certainly read one of these books.
 
This is really good so far. Plus I'm glad to support a friend, Chuck Keeney.

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In 1921 Blair Mountain in southern West Virginia was the site of the country’s bloodiest armed insurrection since the Civil War, a battle pitting miners led by Frank Keeney against agents of the coal barons intent on quashing organized labor. It was the largest labor uprising in US history. Ninety years later, the site became embroiled in a second struggle, as activists came together to fight the coal industry, state government, and the military- industrial complex in a successful effort to save the battlefield—sometimes dubbed “labor’s Gettysburg”—from destruction by mountaintop removal mining.

The Road to Blair Mountain is the moving and sometimes harrowing story of Charles Keeney’s fight to save this irreplaceable landscape. Beginning in 2011, Keeney—a historian and great-grandson of Frank Keeney—led a nine-year legal battle to secure the site’s placement on the National Register of Historic Places. His book tells a David-and-Goliath tale worthy of its own place in West Virginia history. A success story for historic preservation and environmentalism, it serves as an example of how rural, grassroots organizations can defeat the fossil fuel industry.
 
I just got done reading this book. I've been fascinated ever since the event and I've seen multiple book reviews that say that this is the best book on the subject. I'll say this, while the author can only theorize on what actually happened to MH370, she can reveal what didn't happen to it, and that is the "official narrative". Very good book!

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A remarkable piece of investigative journalism into one of the most pervasive and troubling mysteries of recent memory.

01:20am, 8 March 2014.

Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, carrying 239 passengers, disappeared into the night, never to be seen or heard from again.


The incident was inexplicable. In a world defined by advanced technology and interconnectedness, how could an entire aircraft become untraceable? Had the flight been subject to a perfect hijack? Perhaps the pilots lost control? And if the plane did crash, where was the wreckage?

Writing for Le Monde in the days and months after the plane’s disappearance, journalist Florence de Changy closely documented the chaotic international investigation that followed, uncovering more questions than answers. Riddled with inconsistencies, contradictions and a lack of basic communication between authorities, the mystery surrounding flight MH370 only deepened.

Now, de Changy offers her own explanation. Drawing together countless eyewitness testimonies, press releases, independent investigative reports and expert opinion, The Disappearing Act offers an eloquent and deeply unnerving narrative of what happened to the missing aircraft.

An incredible feat of investigative journalism and a testament to de Changy’s tenacity and resolve, this book is an exhaustive, gripping account into one of the most profound mysteries of the 21st century.

Amazon product ASIN 0008381534
 
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