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The New Coffee Room

  1. TNCR
  2. General Discussion
  3. What are you reading now?

What are you reading now?

Scheduled Pinned Locked Moved General Discussion
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  • taiwan_girlT Offline
    taiwan_girlT Offline
    taiwan_girl
    wrote on last edited by
    #927

    Just finished kind of an "academic" book - Germany 1923

    9781324093466_p0_v1_s1200x630.jpg

    Interesting, but also kind of a hard read for me. Not surprise, but it goes into depth about 1923 Germany (and a little bit of the year before and after) and some of the causes for the problems they had in economics, politics, etc.

    As I said, and interesting book about that period of history and gave me a bit of background on that part of the world in that period of time.

    Glad I read it, but probably will not read it again. LOL

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    • jon-nycJ Offline
      jon-nycJ Offline
      jon-nyc
      wrote on last edited by
      #928

      Interesting. My bedside read is a very academic book called The Nazi Seizure of Power that goes into great detail of how a single town (Northeim) got Nazified. Down to what local personalities, businesses, newspapers, etc did at the end of the republic through the transition and terror and finally through the end of the regime. It was written within 15-20 years of the war’s end and relies on months of local interviews as well as archives.

      Person. Woman. Man. Camera. TV.

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      • taiwan_girlT Offline
        taiwan_girlT Offline
        taiwan_girl
        wrote on last edited by
        #929

        @jon-nyc It was interesting to read about the "hyper inflation" and how incredibly bad it was. Prices were initially changed monthly, then weekly, and then hourly. There was a story about how a diner went to a restaurant, and when they got the bill, it was like twice what they thought. They complained, and the waiter asked what time they arrived, and gave them that price. LOL

        I think I mentioned before that I knew a guy who was in Brazil during the early 1990's when they had a similar (but not as bad) inflation. He was with TECO (Taiwan Economic and Cooperation Office) and they would regularly have to carry in large amounts of cash (US$) as most places stopped accepting credit cards as the period of time between charging and getting reimbursed meant that their money was worth so much less. When they would go buy something, the money would be changed right before purchasing anything so as to get the current "best" rate.

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        • jon-nycJ Offline
          jon-nycJ Offline
          jon-nyc
          wrote on last edited by
          #930

          A friend of mine lived in Argentina during their hyperinflation. Grocery stores would announce new prices on a loud speaker throughout the day. He remembers seeing a woman crying while putting back some groceries she could no longer afford after the latest announcement.

          Person. Woman. Man. Camera. TV.

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          • jon-nycJ Offline
            jon-nycJ Offline
            jon-nyc
            wrote on last edited by
            #931

            My current bedtime/sofa/airplane read (a third reading for me):

            IMG_0295.jpeg

            My current audiobook:

            IMG_0296.jpeg

            I’m a glutton for punishment. After the endurance test of Twain I pick up two 1000+ page reads.

            Person. Woman. Man. Camera. TV.

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            • jon-nycJ Offline
              jon-nycJ Offline
              jon-nyc
              wrote on last edited by
              #932

              This is my audiobook. It’s a little weird because my kindle book at the moment is Shirer still. So I go back and forth between Weimar and WWII.

              IMG_0997.jpeg

              Person. Woman. Man. Camera. TV.

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              • Andrea BA Offline
                Andrea BA Offline
                Andrea B
                wrote on last edited by
                #933

                Never cared (too much) for King's horror stuff. Thought I'd give this a try.

                Screenshot 2026-03-12 at 7.09.08 PM.png

                Has anyone read the other books in the series?

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                • bachophileB Offline
                  bachophileB Offline
                  bachophile
                  wrote on last edited by
                  #934

                  I’ve read the whole series. In general I like king, not because I’m a horror fan, I’m not, but I find his literary style so accessible, readable. Just a great story teller.

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                  • Doctor PhibesD Offline
                    Doctor PhibesD Offline
                    Doctor Phibes
                    wrote on last edited by Doctor Phibes
                    #935

                    When I was in my late teens and 20's I read everything King wrote as soon as it came out. I absolutely love his storytelling, and his description of characters. Now I read him occasionally. I might give that one a go.

                    I was only joking

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                    • Tom-KT Offline
                      Tom-KT Offline
                      Tom-K
                      wrote on last edited by
                      #936

                      I just finished reading Hamlet--an amazing play. Almost every other sentence is a famous quote people use all the time. Now I'm reading (or will be when the book arrives):

                      b20628de-6435-4088-be84-b22b6c430e4b-image.jpeg

                      François Mauriac won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1952.

                      Flushing the toilet is like practicing the piano; you just cannot go too long without doing it.--Axtremus

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                      • taiwan_girlT Offline
                        taiwan_girlT Offline
                        taiwan_girl
                        wrote last edited by
                        #937

                        alt text

                        Quite an interesting book. The guy is an equal opportunity cynic on who is at fault; slams pretty much every administration in the 2000's. Soldiers get addicted to drugs (both prescribed and illegal) and alcohol to keep them energized. Then they need other drugs to help numb the pain from the things they see and do.

                        Focusing on Fort Bragg, N.C., home to Delta Force and other elite military units, Harp uncovers a culture steeped in drug trafficking, weapons theft, and cover-ups. Drawing on extensive interviews and documentation, Harp alleges that soldiers returning to Fort Bragg from Afghanistan smuggled opioids and other narcotics into the U.S., sometimes in collaboration with Mexican cartels, and engaged in reckless, often violent behavior on the base—much of it fueled by substance abuse—that the military swept under the rug. A detailed history of the Army's entanglement with Afghanistan's opium trade and harrowing accounts of drug-fueled parties at Fort Bragg full of racist behavior frame Harp's discovery of a shocking number of deaths on the base: 109 from 2020 to 2021 alone, many of them unexplained. Harp's investigative rigor and visceral storytelling make this a disturbing must-read for anyone seeking to understand the full cost of America's overseas conflicts.

                        It was a good companion to the book I read about the drug trade in the Gold Triangle in Myanmar.

                        https://nodebb.the-new-coffee-room.club/topic/95/what-are-you-reading-now/777?_=1774917935468

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