Watcha readin'?

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Bobbin

Minister of Fire
Hearth Supporter
Nov 2, 2008
1,096
So. Me.
Since we're coming up on "George Birthington's Washday" I have begun reading, "George Washington" by Willard Sterne Randall. I think of George Washington as our first President, the one with wooden teeth... . Wow! what I didn't know about the guy! Fascinating man, very intelligent and very sensitive about his very basic education, and how hard he worked to cultivate the manners and comportment that would advance him in a very class conscious society. The book is stern reminder that I know less than "jack" about the French and Indian war.

What's on your nightstand?
 
Hearth.com is what I read of course. I don't read in bed and I don't read paper either. At home I read all online content with my kindle.

On my nightstand is an alarm clock, under that is a loaded gun.
 
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Bruce Grant's Encyclopedia of Rawhide and Leather Braiding...is full of mystery and suspense.
 
Do you have horses, Delta?

Can't recall the last time I required an alarm clock. I awaken at 4:30AM every day, no matter the weather or the gov't. dictated "time", funnily enough. I suspect, Highbeam, you're not a familiar face at your local library?;)
 
no, no horses. improving my macrame` skills. the book is mostly from the horse tackle/cowboy gear perspective, but the techniques crossover pretty well to rope. Big section on Turk's Heads Knots and weaving patterns inside those knots.
 
A sailor, perhaps, Delta.?
 
Bobbin said:
Highbeam, you're not a familiar face at your local library
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Correct. I have been to a few libraries in my life and during my education but mostly for a quiet place to work. I am of the next generation, one where newspapers and other paper media are on their way to extinction.

I purposely save the bedroom for sleeping and one other activity. This in an effort to train my body for efficient sleep. The alarm clock is used but most days I am already awake when it rings.
 
So, shoot the damn thing and be done with it. ;)

My mother was a librarian. She'd be sad to read your reply. So am I. Libraries are free and it's important to spread the word that access to the internet is free in libraries.

Do you read any novels, biographies, etc.? why/why not?
 
Stephen King.....Dr. Sleep.
Discovered a copy of Lisey's Story in a pile of magazines. I had started that a couple years ago, and forgot about it. Maybe I should finish that first.;lol
I gave the rest of my S.K. collection to one of my daughters.
Do tons of reading on the interwebs.:cool:
 
Just re read Fahrenheit 451 and somehow never read the grapes of wrath so I just finished that one also. Just picked up Tiger Trap, not into it yet, non fiction American/Chinese spies, well see.
 
Bobbin said:
So, shoot the damn thing and be done with it. ;)

My mother was a librarian. She'd be sad to read your reply. So am I. Libraries are free and it's important to spread the word that access to the internet is free in libraries.

Do you read any novels, biographies, etc.? why/why not?
Click to expand...

The libraries where I live are not free. If my family wants to check out a book we have to pay a membership fee since we live outside city limits. I have been re-reading The Creature from Jekyll Island By G. Edward Griffin. It's probably the best non fiction book I have ever read. I encourage everybody to read it. It reveals the way banking really works and exposes the Federal Reserve.
 
Bobbin said:
So, shoot the damn thing and be done with it. ;)

My mother was a librarian. She'd be sad to read your reply. So am I. Libraries are free and it's important to spread the word that access to the internet is free in libraries.

Do you read any novels, biographies, etc.? why/why not?
Click to expand...

You have to understand, I'm an engineer so maybe a little odd. The last books i read were by jack london decades ago. Tech manuals, diy project blogs, forums, etc. have taken the place of fiction for me.
 
Bobbin said:
A sailor, perhaps, Delta.?
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no, not even a sailor, just a knot person. I dont do anything really that would require me to know knots...not rock climbing or timber hauling...I'm sure you've seen the oh-so popular paracord braclets about? my son asked me to make him one a few years ago, basic square knot, which I had learned as a kid from my mom who did the whole macrame plant hangers and owl wall hangings in the 70's. then i saw a pic of a turk's head knot and just had to learn it...several years later i can tie many dozens of decorative knots with very few practical application.
 
Last Call, the rise and fall of prohibition by Daniel Okrent. It's an interesting read about what happens when movements join and amend the constitution, then everyone figures away around the silly law. It brought a lot of people to church and pharmacies and made many a preacher and pharmacist rich. (This is how Walgreens started out.)
 
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Was on a roll with African-American history (12 years a slave and lots of others), but also lots of Vietnam memoirs - many have come out (finally!) in the last decade.

Some of them and others

The Pipes were calling
The Mailman went UA
Beyond Survival (POW story)
No Easy Day (bin laden capture)
Steel Boat, Iron Heart (German Submariner)

All Souls (Boston Southie Memoir)

Now starting one called China's Wars

I read a couple fiction in-between, but when I can find good history I go for that.
 
Delta-T said:
no, no horses. improving my macrame` skills. the book is mostly from the horse tackle/cowboy gear perspective, but the techniques crossover pretty well to rope. Big section on Turk's Heads Knots and weaving patterns inside those knots.
Click to expand...

My father gave me a copy of "Ashley's Book of Knots" when I was a kid. I don't know if it's still in print but there are pages upon pages of macrame and plaiting knots in it.
 
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"Children of the Mind," book IV in the Ender's Game series, by Orson Scott Card. I had read Ender's Game when it was first published as a novel in 85 & when the movie was released last fall, I decided to read it again, but I couldn't find it in my bookcase. Amazon had the 4-book set so I grabbed it...By the time I got it, the movie was done. I read it anyway, & then the next 2, Speaker for the Dead & Xenocide, which were not NEARLY as good as EG, but I got thru them & figured I'd plod thru book IV...Next up? Not sure, but I'd like to find the rest of the Jack Reacher novels by Lee Child. pretty good reads, IMHO...
 
Interesting books mentioned. I was always a sporadic reader but after retiring, the last two winters have been reading by the fireplace months.

This winter I've read 3 books on presidents

A. Lincoln Ronald C. White
Thomas Jefferson The Art of Power Jon Meacham
FDR Jean Edward Smith

I thought the Ender Series was magnificent with the exception of Xenocide (3rd book) which was good but
not up to the quality of the other three.

All Souls was fascinating ... read that one last year.

Though I've not read Steinbeck recently he's always been my favorite. Grapes of Wrath is one of only 3 books I've read 3 times (To Kill a Mockingbird, Desert Solitaire)

Recently finished the Hunger Games trilogy and my wife and I both thought they were all A+

I'm a sucker for post Apocalypse novels and this year's sampling was A Canticle for Leibowitz. Epic.
One Second After and Lucifer's Hammer are two favorites in this realm.

My son is a reader and he's always good for giving me books I wouldn't read otherwise. Most recently
Brain Rules and Dr. Tungsten.

About 3/4 of these are either checked out from our podunk local library or a free Kindle download from my still current
Denver library account. When I've exhausted the local shelves I'll start taking advantage of their inter library loan program. I joined Amazon Prime over Christmas which has a great free Kindle download library but they only allow one per month. First was Vonnegut's Sirens of Titan.

Interestingly when the weather turns I'm usually outside and don't read much.
 
Delta-T said:
no, not even a sailor, just a knot person. I dont do anything really that would require me to know knots...not rock climbing or timber hauling...I'm sure you've seen the oh-so popular paracord braclets about? my son asked me to make him one a few years ago, basic square knot, which I had learned as a kid from my mom who did the whole macrame plant hangers and owl wall hangings in the 70's. then i saw a pic of a turk's head knot and just had to learn it...several years later i can tie many dozens of decorative knots with very few practical application.
Click to expand...

I learned how to do fish net once but I forgot how. Good survivor skill. Can you explain it verbally?

I don't mean stockings.
 
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Re-read of Dostoevsky's The Idiot.

Upon the Inheritance of Acquired Characters by Eugenio Rignano, 1911 the Open Court Pub. Co.( Probably out of print, a used book shop find). Appears to be a post "Origin ofSpecies" defense and elaboration of the ideas of Lamark and Erasmus Darwin (Charley's dad) upon the mechanism of evolution. First usage of the term "epigenesis" to my Knowledge.

Re-read of The Holy Bible at joful's urging. Read it as a Lit. course years ago.
 
Wow, what a cool list of books, many of which I've never heard of!

Last official "novel" I read was, "The Jungle". Shiver!
 
Bobbin said:
Wow, what a cool list of books, many of which I've never heard of!

Last official "novel" I read was, "The Jungle". Shiver!
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You should read some of his others - free on Kindle, etc.....
King Coal
The moneychangers
Etc......

Good stuff!
 
I was on a lengthy library ebook waiting list for "I am Malala" but it became available so I just finished it this morning. A true story with wonderful insight on the alternative reality of a Muslim girl fighting for education in an area of Pakistan controlled alternately by the Taliban and military with questionable motives. Seriously wounded by point blank gunfire because of her efforts. Good one.
 
DAKSY said:
"Children of the Mind," book IV in the Ender's Game series, by Orson Scott Card. I had read Ender's Game when it was first published as a novel in 85 & when the movie was released last fall, I decided to read it again, but I couldn't find it in my bookcase. Amazon had the 4-book set so I grabbed it...By the time I got it, the movie was done. I read it anyway, & then the next 2, Speaker for the Dead & Xenocide, which were not NEARLY as good as EG, but I got thru them & figured I'd plod thru book IV...Next up? Not sure, but I'd like to find the rest of the Jack Reacher novels by Lee Child. pretty good reads, IMHO...
Click to expand...
Give Ender's Shadow a try. It's the first in a series (The Shadow Series) ... good stuff.
 
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