What are you reading now?
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It’s excellent. Living the reich in ‘real time’ through his diary, but also getting a glimpse of what the life of a foreign correspondent in the 30s and 49s was like. Remember he was one of the original ‘Morrow’s boys”.
I re-read Rise and Fall about every ten years. It’s excellent.
Last year I read his The Collapse of the Third Repubic. I loved it but you kind of have to be into French history not just the war.
wrote on 23 Jun 2024, 00:19 last edited by@jon-nyc said in What are you reading now?:
you kind of have to be into French history
These people exist?
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wrote on 23 Jun 2024, 00:20 last edited by
‘People’ is a strong word, but yeah.
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wrote on 2 Jul 2024, 15:32 last edited by
Finally.
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wrote on 2 Jul 2024, 20:07 last edited by
Funny, I was thinking about starting that yesterday!
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wrote on 2 Jul 2024, 21:06 last edited by
So did I, and I bought it. Started this morning.
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wrote on 5 Jul 2024, 02:16 last edited by
Part "travelogue", part spiritual quest for the meaning of life, part mystery, it is the story of a US guy who disappears while hiking in northern India. Quite interesting, and is actually quite a good read. It is a beautiful, yet somewhat isolated area.
In August 2016, an experienced American trekker named Justin Alexander Shetler ascended to a high Himalayan lake on a pilgrimage in the Parvati Valley of northern India, never to be heard from again. He carried a walking stick that he’d partially fashioned into a flute, a woolen wrap and not much else, having shed most of his earthly possessions.
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It’s excellent. Living the reich in ‘real time’ through his diary, but also getting a glimpse of what the life of a foreign correspondent in the 30s and 49s was like. Remember he was one of the original ‘Morrow’s boys”.
I re-read Rise and Fall about every ten years. It’s excellent.
Last year I read his The Collapse of the Third Repubic. I loved it but you kind of have to be into French history not just the war.
wrote on 14 Jul 2024, 23:59 last edited by@jon-nyc said in What are you reading now?:
I re-read Rise and Fall about every ten years. It’s excellent.
Jon, I just started The Third Reich Trilogy
According to Ian Kershaw, it is "the most comprehensive history in any language of the disastrous epoch of the Third Reich".[5] It has been hailed as a "masterpiece of historical scholarship".[6]
There are three volumes:
The Coming of the Third Reich
The Third Reich in Power
The Third Reich at WarI just started the first volume. A bit difficult for me, not really knowing much about European history (talking about Bismarck, etc. and how that set the basis for Nazi's), but I will continue with it for the time being. Mr. Evans, in his "preface" says that he tried to write it not too academic, but not too simplistic.
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wrote on 15 Jul 2024, 00:12 last edited by
William Shrirer's "Rise and Fall of the Third Reich" is a pretty easy read. I must've been about 16 when I read it. Of course, I've forgotten much, but I do remember how easy a read it was.
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wrote on 15 Jul 2024, 01:02 last edited by
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wrote on 15 Jul 2024, 01:28 last edited by
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wrote on 15 Jul 2024, 11:23 last edited by
@jon-nyc said in What are you reading now?:
Finally.
I finished this yesterday. I kept thinking that there’s so much good detail in there that probably had to be left out of the miniseries. I’ll watch it soon.
Only non-witches get due process.
- Cotton Mather, Salem Massachusetts, 1692
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@jon-nyc said in What are you reading now?:
Finally.
I finished this yesterday. I kept thinking that there’s so much good detail in there that probably had to be left out of the miniseries. I’ll watch it soon.
wrote on 15 Jul 2024, 12:30 last edited by@jon-nyc said in What are you reading now?:
@jon-nyc said in What are you reading now?:
Finally.
I finished this yesterday. I kept thinking that there’s so much good detail in there that probably had to be left out of the miniseries. I’ll watch it soon.
Band of Brothers and Saving Private Ryan may be the two best Hollywood productions concerning WW2. I was very disappointed in The Pacific, which would have been much better if they hadn't tried to meld two books into one story.
I have not seen Masters of the Air..
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@jon-nyc said in What are you reading now?:
@jon-nyc said in What are you reading now?:
Finally.
I finished this yesterday. I kept thinking that there’s so much good detail in there that probably had to be left out of the miniseries. I’ll watch it soon.
Band of Brothers and Saving Private Ryan may be the two best Hollywood productions concerning WW2. I was very disappointed in The Pacific, which would have been much better if they hadn't tried to meld two books into one story.
I have not seen Masters of the Air..
wrote on 15 Jul 2024, 12:58 last edited by@Jolly said in What are you reading now?:
@jon-nyc said in What are you reading now?:
@jon-nyc said in What are you reading now?:
Finally.
I was very disappointed in The Pacific, which would have been much better if they hadn't tried to meld two books into one story.
You'd really not like Masters.
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@Jolly said in What are you reading now?:
@jon-nyc said in What are you reading now?:
@jon-nyc said in What are you reading now?:
Finally.
I was very disappointed in The Pacific, which would have been much better if they hadn't tried to meld two books into one story.
You'd really not like Masters.
wrote on 15 Jul 2024, 13:02 last edited by@Aqua-Letifer said in What are you reading now?:
You'd really not like Masters.
It was OK - it just didn't have the cohesive feel that Band of Brothers did. I couldn't relate to the characters until halfway through. The fact that they tried to shoehorn so much real history into a relatable tale made it feel that way.
BoB, however, follows ONE set of guys, each of whom is relatable from the outset.
I thing "The Pacific" had the same flaw, though I don't remember much of it.
"Now look here, you Baltic gas passer... " - Mik, 6/14/08
The saying, "Lite is just one damn thing after another," is a gross understatement. The damn things overlap.
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@jon-nyc said in What are you reading now?:
Finally.
I finished this yesterday. I kept thinking that there’s so much good detail in there that probably had to be left out of the miniseries. I’ll watch it soon.
wrote on 15 Jul 2024, 13:03 last edited by@jon-nyc said in What are you reading now?:
I’ll watch it soon.
BTW: The guy who plays Winters...he's British.
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@Aqua-Letifer said in What are you reading now?:
You'd really not like Masters.
It was OK - it just didn't have the cohesive feel that Band of Brothers did. I couldn't relate to the characters until halfway through. The fact that they tried to shoehorn so much real history into a relatable tale made it feel that way.
BoB, however, follows ONE set of guys, each of whom is relatable from the outset.
I thing "The Pacific" had the same flaw, though I don't remember much of it.
wrote on 15 Jul 2024, 13:08 last edited by@George-K said in What are you reading now?:
@Aqua-Letifer said in What are you reading now?:
You'd really not like Masters.
It was OK - it just didn't have the cohesive feel that Band of Brothers did. I couldn't relate to the characters until halfway through. The fact that they tried to shoehorn so much real history into a relatable tale made it feel that way.
BoB, however, follows ONE set of guys, each of whom is relatable from the outset.
That's how it happened, though. It's harder to write a cohesive story about the 8th Air Force because it's harder to find the exact same group of guys who stayed together all throughout the war.
I thing "The Pacific" had the same flaw, though I don't remember much of it.
I didn't think that was a flaw. Sledge and Leckie had very different perspectives about the same experiences. I think they didn't go hard enough with portraying that. To reject one over the other would have been a disservice.
Please love yourself.
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@George-K said in What are you reading now?:
@Aqua-Letifer said in What are you reading now?:
You'd really not like Masters.
It was OK - it just didn't have the cohesive feel that Band of Brothers did. I couldn't relate to the characters until halfway through. The fact that they tried to shoehorn so much real history into a relatable tale made it feel that way.
BoB, however, follows ONE set of guys, each of whom is relatable from the outset.
That's how it happened, though. It's harder to write a cohesive story about the 8th Air Force because it's harder to find the exact same group of guys who stayed together all throughout the war.
I thing "The Pacific" had the same flaw, though I don't remember much of it.
I didn't think that was a flaw. Sledge and Leckie had very different perspectives about the same experiences. I think they didn't go hard enough with portraying that. To reject one over the other would have been a disservice.
wrote on 15 Jul 2024, 13:10 last edited by@Aqua-Letifer said in What are you reading now?:
That's how it happened, though. It's harder to write a cohesive story about the 8th Air Force because it's harder to find the exact same group of guys who stayed together all throughout the war.
Exactly my point. Much, much harder, especially when you consider the mortality of these kids.
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@Aqua-Letifer said in What are you reading now?:
That's how it happened, though. It's harder to write a cohesive story about the 8th Air Force because it's harder to find the exact same group of guys who stayed together all throughout the war.
Exactly my point. Much, much harder, especially when you consider the mortality of these kids.
wrote on 15 Jul 2024, 13:10 last edited by@George-K said in What are you reading now?:
@Aqua-Letifer said in What are you reading now?:
That's how it happened, though. It's harder to write a cohesive story about the 8th Air Force because it's harder to find the exact same group of guys who stayed together all throughout the war.
Exactly my point. Much, much harder, especially when you consider the mortality of these kids.
Then how is it a flaw to stay true to that?
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@George-K said in What are you reading now?:
@Aqua-Letifer said in What are you reading now?:
That's how it happened, though. It's harder to write a cohesive story about the 8th Air Force because it's harder to find the exact same group of guys who stayed together all throughout the war.
Exactly my point. Much, much harder, especially when you consider the mortality of these kids.
Then how is it a flaw to stay true to that?
wrote on 15 Jul 2024, 13:13 last edited by@Aqua-Letifer said in What are you reading now?:
Then how is it a flaw to stay true to that?
Perhaps "flaw" is the wrong word. My point is that the characters were just not as relatable as Winters, Nixon, etc - because they were scattered all over the place, and didn't have as much "screen time."
Staying true to the story is not a flaw, but it makes the story (like the characters) disjointed. If you were to write a book, fiction, of course, you wouldn't do that.
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@Aqua-Letifer said in What are you reading now?:
Then how is it a flaw to stay true to that?
Perhaps "flaw" is the wrong word. My point is that the characters were just not as relatable as Winters, Nixon, etc - because they were scattered all over the place, and didn't have as much "screen time."
Staying true to the story is not a flaw, but it makes the story (like the characters) disjointed. If you were to write a book, fiction, of course, you wouldn't do that.
wrote on 15 Jul 2024, 13:17 last edited by@George-K said in What are you reading now?:
@Aqua-Letifer said in What are you reading now?:
If you were to write a book, fiction, of course, you wouldn't do that.Depends on how you do it. Happens plenty in books, but movies, too. For example, no one complains about Pulp Fiction being disjointed.
Not saying that's some formula they should have followed, just that the problem could have been overcome if they were more deliberate about it.
