Books

xoxoxoBruce • Jan 26, 2020 6:57 pm
Great way to pass the frigid winter curled up with a book by the fire.
If you're like most of us with no chance of writing a best selling novel, the next best thing is reading someone else's novel.

Here is some...
Diaphone Jim • Jan 27, 2020 11:55 am
Because I just finished "Decider", I'll mention the novels (and non-fiction) of Dick Francis.
The appeal of these horse-racing based adventures is hard to pin down, but I have read them all twice and some more.
There are about 40 and make the best long airplane flight, and just plain enjoyable, books ever.
xoxoxoBruce • Jan 27, 2020 12:18 pm
Diaphone Jim;1045553 wrote:

...make the best long airplane flight, and just [COLOR="Red"]plane [/COLOR]enjoyable...

Sorry, the devil made me do it. :blush:
Griff • Jan 27, 2020 3:36 pm
Reading The Road by Cormac McCarthy. He mixes terrible and beautiful perfectly.
Luce • Jan 27, 2020 5:03 pm
How is Moby Dick on the bad list?

I mean, yeah, dude spends like 15 pages describing a cloud, but the story is about monomaniacal revenge, and who doesn't like THAT?
Griff • Jan 27, 2020 5:17 pm
Agreed.
xoxoxoBruce • Jan 28, 2020 12:24 am
I loved it but half my class, mostly the girls, thought it was long and dull.
Carruthers • Jan 30, 2020 5:49 am
I look at my shelves and see books on the following:

Aviation

The Apollo Project

Local History

The Cold War

Modern History

Art

Birds and other wildlife

Railway Atlases

Railway History

... and many other individual titles outside the above categories but not a single example of fiction.

I hesitate to admit it, in the polite and august company that is the Cellar, but I couldn't read fiction even if my life depended on it.

Sorry about that! :blush:
xoxoxoBruce • Jan 30, 2020 9:22 am
Different strokes for... hey, you didn't mention your porn collection. ;)
Undertoad • Jan 30, 2020 9:46 am
A lot of people think that the novel is going away as an art form, partly due to the short attention spans of modern people. We got stuff to do, ain't nobody got time to digest the entire life and motivations of Gatsby.
Griff • Jan 30, 2020 10:02 am
Okay then, show your shelves. Here are 3 of mine.
Griff • Jan 30, 2020 10:05 am
Undertoad;1045753 wrote:
A lot of people think that the novel is going away as an art form, partly due to the short attention spans of modern people. We got stuff to do, ain't nobody got time to digest the entire life and motivations of Gatsby.


Thinking about all the people who don't actually do anything, I find this ridiculous, true, but ridiculous.
xoxoxoBruce • Jan 30, 2020 10:18 am
I'd refute that but it's time for Wheel of Fortune, gotta go. :haha:
Clodfobble • Jan 30, 2020 2:12 pm
Undertoad;1045753 wrote:
A lot of people think that the novel is going away as an art form, partly due to the short attention spans of modern people. We got stuff to do, ain't nobody got time to digest the entire life and motivations of Gatsby.
I don't buy it, or at least not the reasoning. If we have the time and attention span to binge 8 hours of Breaking Bad, we have the same capacity to read a novel. As for whether people who like fiction are shifting to other forms of media, vs. people like Carruthers who prefer nonfiction and thus the printed word feels more reliable than a dramatization of facts by an actor, that's certainly possible.
Clodfobble • Jan 30, 2020 2:16 pm
Oh, and our main pair of bookshelves. This has been static for at least a decade now; nearly everything since then has been ebooks and audio books.
Image
Griff • Jan 30, 2020 2:46 pm
I e-booked for a few years but I really missed the feel of paper. Trees must die for me to be happy.
Happy Monkey • Jan 30, 2020 5:30 pm
I read primarily in bed, while laying on my side, until I fall asleep. e-books are great for that, as I don't have to hold a (most of the time lopsided) book open with the light on. I can read with the light off, and if I stop turning pages then the e-book turns itself off.

Plus, my giant bookshelf is full (my small ones have been for a while).
xoxoxoBruce • Jan 31, 2020 12:58 am
Build two stacks of books a foot high and lay a board across, Voila book shelf.
xoxoxoBruce • May 16, 2020 12:34 am
There's nothing like good literature to pass the time, calm the frayed nerves, and excite the inner child...
BigV • May 16, 2020 12:01 pm
Meryl Streep is looking pretty good for a commie...
Gravdigr • May 16, 2020 2:56 pm
Meryl Streep ain't never looked that swank.
Lola Bunny • May 20, 2020 8:52 pm
I like holding a book and flipping the pages. However, I sometimes don't have time to go to the library. Thus, I read on my kindle. It is also thinner and lighter to stuff into my purse. With the quarantine the past month, I borrow library books online.
Griff • May 21, 2020 7:13 am
I didn't know that was a thing. Cool.