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Fat Dad
Trad climber
Los Angeles, CA
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Aug 13, 2014 - 09:19pm PT
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With the Old Breed, by E.B. Sledge. A Marine's account of the campaigns at Peleliu and Okinawa, and the basis for the solid HBO minseries, The Pacific. Absolutely amazing what those guys had to do with such little support compared to the European front.
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SC seagoat
Trad climber
Santa Cruz, or In What Time Zone Am I?
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Aug 13, 2014 - 10:27pm PT
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The Last Empty Places, a Past and Present Journey through the Blank Spots on the American Map. By Peter Stark
Susan
Edit IT's about how the internet is messing with our brains. As you would say, or grunt. GUFFAW
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KabalaArch
Trad climber
Starlite, California
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Aug 13, 2014 - 11:22pm PT
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Collected Fictions
Jorge Luis Borges, translated by Andrew Huxley
Argentine author, ranging from Islamic fantasy to gaucho frontier campfire stories, 1940 - 1970's collection. I enjoy him so much that I've one edition I've quartered down the spine, to have some backcountry reading of managable weight. Of course, if I were Norman Clyde, I'd carry the Latin translation so it'd last longer! ; )
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Tobia
Social climber
Denial
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Topic Author's Reply - Aug 14, 2014 - 02:08am PT
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fat dad, now that you have read The Old Breed, by Sledge, read The Pacific, by Hugh Ambrose. It focuses on Sledge and other marines that fought with him.
"Sledgehammer" went on to be professor of biology; but the war left a cloud over him for the rest of his days.
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Fat Dad
Trad climber
Los Angeles, CA
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Aug 14, 2014 - 02:16pm PT
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Tobia, yes, I remember Sidney Phillips talking about that in the Ken Burns documentary, The War. Not sure how anyone would get over that really. Even those who lived gave a terrific sacrifice.
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dirt claud
Social climber
san diego,ca
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Aug 14, 2014 - 02:49pm PT
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Been reading this old one from 1935 that has not seen any re-prints I don't think. Very intimate account of the Russian gulags and an escape to Finland right after the Bolshevik revolution and establishment of the Communist state.
https://archive.org/details/ispeakforthesile013752mbp
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NutAgain!
Trad climber
South Pasadena, CA
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Aug 14, 2014 - 05:01pm PT
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Right up that alley, I enjoyed reading A Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich
I just finished reading Winter of the World by Ken Follett... part two in a series covering the 20th century, part of the sweeping historical epic genre. It's a step above typical pulp fiction, quite enjoyable to read and somewhat educational, but can't really say it's classic literature. There is a significant dose of gratuitous sex and violence to keep the historical commentary couched in dialog from becoming too dry. Well, maybe the sex is gratuitous to sell books, but the violence actually shied away from much of what could have been done given the grisly history covered in the period (rise of Nazis, Jewish persecution, WWII, and war crimes by multiple groups during and immediately after the war).
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David Knopp
Trad climber
CA
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Aug 15, 2014 - 08:29am PT
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Aw Mouse, i love Ralph Moody! His "Little Britches"series about a young boy growing up on a colorado farm is the perfect antidote to all of today's dystopian young adult sheet. Also can i put in a plug for the publisher, Bison Imprints of the University of Nebraska Press-best press for western reprints!
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Mike Bolte
Trad climber
Planet Earth
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Aug 15, 2014 - 09:18am PT
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Nice thread. I'm 1/3 of the way through "The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History" by Elizabeth Kolbert.
Well written and a great blend of science history about the recognition in the 1800s that some species had disappeared from the earth and the current day recognition that extinction rates for all kinds of organisms are at much higher levels than have been seen on earth since the last big die off associated with dino demise.
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Byran
climber
San Jose, CA
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Aug 15, 2014 - 09:40am PT
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Currently reading Burke's "Reflections on the Revolution in France". I don't know if I'd highly recommend it, as it can be a bit tedious and long-winded at times. Burke has a tendency to overstate his claims and repeat the same points over and over. The other issue I have is that it's a 250 page "letter" without any sort of breaks or chapters. These could have at least been inserted into the modern editions by the editor because there are natural breaks and transitions in Burke's argument, and it would be easier to read if they had been thus marked.
On the plus side, Burke makes some interesting points and offers a perspective we don't get much these days. When was the last time you heard someone argue for the superiority a constitutional monarchy over a pure democracy? And Burke makes a convincing argument for the merits of reformation over revolution which still holds strong in modern times.
I'm about 2/3rds through it and will stick with it. It's available at many places free online
https://archive.org/details/reflectionsonthe005907mbp
A few quotes I like so far:
"...make the Revolution a parent of settlement, and not a nursery of future revolutions."
"Of all things, wisdom is the most terrified with epidemical fanaticism, because of all enemies it is that against which she is the least able to furnish any kind of resource."
"Rage and frenzy will pull down more in half an hour than prudence, deliberation, and foresight can build up in a hundred years. The errors and defects of old establishments are visible and palpable. It calls for little ability to point them out; and where absolute power is given, it requires but a word wholly to abolish the vice and the establishment together."
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Gregory Crouch
Social climber
Walnut Creek, California
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Aug 17, 2014 - 10:44am PT
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Damn, that was my favorite thread. Wonder why it went the way of the dead?
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FRUMY
Trad climber
Bishop,CA
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Aug 17, 2014 - 10:56am PT
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The Emerald Mile
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Roxy
Trad climber
CA Central Coast
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Aug 18, 2014 - 09:42am PT
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I like what Reily said upthread about enjoying a good nutter book...
"The Emerald Mile", yeah that was a full nut read for sure, great story!
Starting reading an old one this weekend, Anne Fisher's "The Salinas: Upside Down River" - published 1945. Cool learning about local history in my area.
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Fat Dad
Trad climber
Los Angeles, CA
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Aug 18, 2014 - 09:53am PT
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Before digging into my current read, I reread Hemingway's The Sun Also Rises, which I know I read in high school and maybe once over the following 30 yrs. I forget. Anyways, not a huge Hemingway fan, but definitely enjoyed it more than I remember, particularly the passages about fishing in the Pyrenees. Made me want to be there. Not chewy and thought provoking like Dostoyevsky, etc., but a quick, enjoyable read.
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Lorenzo
Trad climber
Oregon
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Aug 18, 2014 - 05:46pm PT
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Right now, Addison's Cato.
Most influential play in American history.
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Jaybro
Social climber
Wolf City, Wyoming
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Aug 18, 2014 - 06:37pm PT
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The amazing adventures of Kavalier & Clay
Michael Chabon
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Roxy
Trad climber
CA Central Coast
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Aug 21, 2014 - 07:33pm PT
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The amazing adventures of Kavalier & Clay
Michael Chabon
+1
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The Call Of K2 Lou
Mountain climber
North Shore, BC
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Aug 21, 2014 - 08:47pm PT
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I recently finished up a pile of Joseph Conrad titles that had been on my shelf for a while: Nostromo, Lord Jim, The Secret Agent, re-read Heart of Darkness.
Currently halfway through Absolute Power by David Baldacci. I'm a big fan of Robert Ludlum (Jason Bourne, etc.) and, having read most of his books, I've been searching for similar works/authors.
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guido
Trad climber
Santa Cruz/New Zealand/South Pacific
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Aug 21, 2014 - 08:49pm PT
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Embers of War-Fredrik Logevall
The Fall of an Empire and the Making of America's Vietnam. Indochina from the early 20s to 1954.
A masterpiece on how the US got involved in IndoChina.
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