Grape works as a soda. Sort of as a gum. I wonder why it doesn't work as a pie. Grape pie? There's no grape pie. - Larry David
"One problem with people who have no vices is that they're pretty sure to have some annoying virtues."
Have you read Washingtons Spies? I juts picked that up the other day, it's what the AMC show Turn is based on.
My Mom reads about 5-8 e-books a week-mostly romances. Lately, I've been trying to mix it up with suspense and mystery and reading the books beforehand then giving a report. Started reading Tea Shop Mysteries by Laura Childs. After reading the first book of the series Mom wasn't interested but I found them light reading and relaxing. The books have recipes and tips in the back. Now on my sixth book the hardest part is trying to locate e-book copies (free).
2024 Reds record attending: 1-02024 Dragons record attending: 0-02024 Y'Alls record attending: 0-0
"We want to be the band to dance to when the bomb drops." - Simon Le Bon of Duran Duran
MWM, I'm halfway through Thomas Chavez' Spain and the Independence of the United States: An Intrinsic Gift. Chavez lost a daughter in the Gulf War, I do believe, and his family goes back a long way in the New Mexico area, as many from that area share his heritage. Chavez was able to be assisted by his spouse, a research specialist, his Father, another academic. The goldmine that he uncovered was the two years that his team spent in Spain with their archives. Apparently, Spain has the most documented history of details regarding the American Revolution. Chavez writes, "The documentary material is so plentiful in Spain that there is enough work to last many historians a lifetime."
Spain's involvement has intrigued me, so I was wondering if you came across any reads about it that you would recommend. It was 12 years ago, but if you get time to recall one of them, I'd appreciate it (or anyone else). The issue that Chavez relayed was that to use the archives in Spain, being able to read the Chicano form of Spanish doesn't cut it. You need to be able to understandably read the 1730-1790 language of Spanish that was used at that time in writing form. Apparently, there's enough of a difference from now that it makes doing research tedious and slow if you're not already familiar with reading the language of that time. I forgot which, but either his spouse, or his father was already an expert at it, so that gave him a tremendous amount of help in putting his book together, which I also believe took over a decade to do (he had done other things from the beginning to the end of it, obviously). I don't have the book in front of me, so that's why the doubts.
"One problem with people who have no vices is that they're pretty sure to have some annoying virtues."
westofyou (05-12-2014)
I have not read anything on that particular topic, but it does sound intriguing. I was particularly interested in the couple of decades leading up to April, 1775, and even moreso the last months before that. But I've done comparatively little reading on the war itself, which I believe is where Spain comes in.
Grape works as a soda. Sort of as a gum. I wonder why it doesn't work as a pie. Grape pie? There's no grape pie. - Larry David
Been reading Stephen King's new book Mr. Mercedes today. Really enjoying it.
TeamCasey (09-10-2014)
George Packer's "The Unwinding." It reads anecdotally (and in homage to the format of John Dos Passos's U.S.A. trilogy), leaving the audience to make the connections. Well written and thought-provoking, but lacking in what I came for, Packer's intellect and incisive analysis.
Dark Tower VII.
And this.
It is on the whole probable that we continually dream, but that consciousness makes such a noise that we do not hear it. Carl Jung.
Roy Tucker (06-15-2014)
I'm about 75% in (yeah, Kindle) and this is the first book where I can really understand the criticisms. It's starting to pick up again, though. Can't say too much, but I will say that a character gives Roland a copy of Insomnia because it seems to apply to what's going on, and he gives it away because he considers it a 'mind trap'. I remember nothing about Insomnia except thinking that it was so weird that no one but King could have gotten it published. This one's getting really weird as well.
I thought everything through V was great, though. Haven't read 'Wind through the Keyhole', since it's out of sequence.
It is on the whole probable that we continually dream, but that consciousness makes such a noise that we do not hear it. Carl Jung.
A couple of quick notes now that I'm finished. I thought it was interesting that King used the ka concept to pretty much allow him to use coincidence and happenstance in ways that would otherwise take the reader out of the story. Flat-out using the term Deus ex machina in the last book underscored this. I had an English professor who said he could no longer read Dickens because of all the coincidences. I read something recently that referred to this, I can't remember whether it was one of the Dark Tower books or not. In the end, King is as much (if not more) of a spiritual successor to Dickens as he is to Poe, with his portraits of characters in stark circumstances.
Second, I enjoyed the way that pop culture references (Harry Potter, Star Wars, Marvel Comics) and King himself were used in Wolves of the Calla, but thought this wore a bit thin in the last two books.
Finally, a mild spoiler: I thought the events of the first epilogue likely took place in the clearing at the end of the path. Also, I thought the first (pre-epilogue) ending was appropriate, and the coda was, at least, interesting, and more open than it at first seemed.
It is on the whole probable that we continually dream, but that consciousness makes such a noise that we do not hear it. Carl Jung.
Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
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