The Books/Reading Thread

[EspaDa]

Can someone recommend me a good introductory read to the world of John Steinbeck?

 

[Einherjar86]

Can someone recommend me a good introductory read to the world of John Steinbeck?

I'd start with Of Mice and Men. It might be cliche, but there's a reason they often assign it in high school. It's an accessible introductory work, and short.

Made a big haul recently for next semester:

Mark Z. Danielewski, Only Revolutions

Matt Ruff, Lovecraft Country

Waubgeshig Rice, Moon of the Crusted Snow

Jesmyn Ward, Sing, Unburied, Sing

Eric Hogan, Spiral Jetta

Andreas Malm, Fossil Capital: The Rise of Steam Power and the Roots of Global Warming

 

[Dak]

Very good read, particularly as it mentioned a HK uprising and crackdown as potential spark towards a Sino-US conflict.

 

[Oblivious Maximus]

https://www.amazon.com/Doomed-Fail-Incredibly-History-Post-metal/dp/1644280647

Doomed to Fail explores the heaviest music the world has ever heard, tracing doom, sludge, and post-metal as their own distinct (and incredibly loud) traditions. Anselmi covers the bands and musicians that have impacted those styles most―Black Sabbath, Candlemass, Melvins, Eyehategod, Godflesh, Neurosis, Saint Vitus, and many others―while diving into the cultural doom that has spawned such music, from the bombing of Birmingham and hurricane devastation of New Orleans to glaring economic inequality, industrial alienation, climate change, and widespread addiction. Along the way, Anselmi interweaves the musical experiences that have led him to proudly identify as one of the doomed.

Excerpt: HOW MELVINS INVENTED SLUDGE: "UGLY SPAWN OF PUNK AND METAL"

Despite my open hostility to the term "post-metal", this looks mighty enticing.

 

[TageRyche]

Here's my Top 10 Mysteries & Thrillers of 2019.

 

[TechnicalBarbarity]

@CiG one of the best x-men origin books out there. A total masterpiece and a must read for anyone interested in the x-men ...

 

[TageRyche]

I finished my first book of 2020: Lethal Agent by Kyle Mills.

 

[CiG]

 

[Ugadwal]

I am really interested it this topic. And I think it's great opportunity to learn something new using online resourses. Today one can also easily get help with his studies using free apps or research paper writers or place an order for other complex written work. Wide choice makes the process easier and more productive.

 

[Einherjar86]

Snatched this for free at the Johns Hopkins booth at MLA. Some great stuff in this.

 

[TageRyche]

If anyone here likes the Jack Reacher books by Lee Child, the author has decided to retire from writing the series and hand it off to his brother.

 

[Sedition and Pockets]

 

[Allfader]

As I was discussing politics with some metalheads, I had to revisit on the fly this book, since I couldn't remember the exact quote I was looking for.

This is the thing: There is a chapter on it where Hitler mocks Germans for being too romantic about the medieval times. He literally laughs at people who like swords, axes and old fashioned battles, calling them cowards and clowns. The guys I was talking with resulted being NS sympathizers (in black metal circles there are countless dudes like that, really) that defended that pagan black metal was one of the few metal styles that fitted the NS message. I said "but Hitler shut down every single pagan and esoteric cult or society under his regime, leaving only chistianity as the official religion of his movement. Moreso, he only allowed buddhism in Germany because it was pretty scarce and also to keep good relations with Japan. I mean, no matter how much norse mythology he tried to lump into the NDSAP aesthetics, the fact is that he sent to hell all pagan believers, even demanded that his officers - incluing Himmler - should leave any kind of cult of society, including the Thule society where the very same Hitler was an ocassional guest- He even went to openly declare that NS movement was fundamentally christian, so Hitler would have hated and forbid pagan black metal, hell, even metal altogether, since he openly declared war against antichristian movements".

I went to say them that Hitler in one of his speeches said that it was foolish to try re-establish the worship of Wotan, so I asked them how can be possible to be pagan AND a Hitler supporter?

We had another meeting later where we discussed how "nazis" misunderstood Nietzsche to the point of being supporters of his philosophy, which literally says that Nationalism is an illness, it's the equivalent of putting shackes to men's mind and heart and it belongs to the moral of slaves (besides the years where Nietzsche actually defended the jews).

It was fun, I have to say it.

 

[CiG]

Hitler invented DSBM, not NSBM.

 

[Allfader]

Got today:

Bataille - Erotism
Velasco - Critique to Kantian Morale
Arntz - The German Reality (1945-1962)

 

[TageRyche]

Here's my Mystery Scene magazine review of the Matthew Quirk thriller Hour of the Assassin.

 

[TageRyche]

Here's my Mystery Scene magazine review of the Michael Stanley mystery Facets of Death.

 

[TageRyche]

Here's my Mystery Scene magazine review of the S.L. McInnis thriller Framed

 

[TageRyche]

I finished reading the Joanna Schaffhausen mystery All The Best Lies.

 

[TageRyche]

I finished reading the James R. Benn mystery BILLY BOYLE: A WORLD WAR II MYSTERY. You can see what I thought about the book via my Goodreads review.