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  1. #2001
    I'm in Jail

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  2. #2002
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    I like this one.
    What boot are you riding right now?

  3. #2003
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    Down winders, apple ciders, cherry pieders?

  4. #2004
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    Quote Originally Posted by tomcat View Post
    ...of course not: snail mail is near extinction...along with paperbacks and acutely sloping foreheads...
    ...and half-decent handwriting...

  5. #2005
    Thailand Expat tomcat's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Troy View Post
    and half-decent handwriting
    ...^true: I have to block print to make mine legible...

  6. #2006
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    Quote Originally Posted by PeeCoffee View Post
    "To Kill a Mockingbird", Harper Lee

    I want to get the feel of race relations in the 1930's...particularly the "old South".

    Great movie though I never actually read the book.
    https://www.theguardian.com/books/20...ead-in-us-poll
    24 Oct 2018
    To Kill a Mockingbird voted top 'Great American Read' in US poll
    Millions of American readers voted Harper Lee’s renowned story about racism as their favourite novel in six-month PBS poll


    To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee’s renowned coming-of-age story about racism and injustice in the American south, was voted the US’s best-loved novel by millions of readers as part of a national poll.

    The Pulitzer prize-winning book, first published in 1960, topped the US public service broadcaster PBS’s Great American Read survey, the results of which were announced on Tuesday. More than 4 million votes were cast in the six-month long poll.

    The 100-book shortlist voted on by readers was based on an initial PBS/YouGov survey of about 7,200 Americans who were invited to nominate their favourite novel. An advisory panel of experts from the literary industry culled the list to 100 books. Authors were limited to one title or series. Provided the novel was written in English, authors could be from anywhere in the world.

    Seven out of the top 10 novels were written by women, with Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander series coming in second, JK Rowling’s Harry Potter taking third place, and Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice coming in fourth. JRR Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings rounded out the top five, and was the top ranking novel by a male writer.

    To Kill A Mockingbird has sold more than 40 million copies worldwide since its release and remains a fixture on school reading lists. Set in the 1930s US south, it centres on lawyer Atticus Finch and his young children, daughter Scout and son Jem. When Finch defends an African-American man falsely accused of assaulting a white woman, the trial and its repercussions open Scout’s eyes to the world around her.

    It was the only novel Lee published during her lifetime. The posthumous publication of a companion novel, Go Set A Watchman, in 2015, was the cause of much controversy.

    The Great American Read initiative included a TV series, a 50,000-member online book club, and a widespread social media campaign.

    The top 20 books were as follows:

    1. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
    2. Outlander (series) by Diana Gabaldon
    3. Harry Potter (series) by JK Rowling
    4. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
    5. The Lord of the Rings (series) by JRR Tolkein
    6. Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
    7. Charlotte’s Web by EB White
    8. Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
    9. The Chronicles of Narnia (series) by CS Lewis
    10. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë
    11. Anne of Green Gables by LM Montgomery
    12. The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
    13. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith
    14. The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak
    15. The Great Gatsby by F Scott Fitzgerald
    16. The Help by Kathryn Stockett
    17. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain
    18. 1984 by George Orwell
    19. And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie
    20. Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand

    The full ranked list can be found on the Great American Read website.

  7. #2007
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    Quote Originally Posted by Troy View Post

    Next is: "The Couple Next Door" by Shari Lapena...another thriller
    That was a pretty good read, another that was hard to put down, although I have the usual chesty throat for this time of year...

  8. #2008
    Thailand Expat tomcat's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Troy View Post
    chesty throat
    ...a good name for burlesque...

  9. #2009
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    Quote Originally Posted by Davis Knowlton View Post
    Just started my second Hampton Sides book, "Hellhound On His Trail". The murder of Martin Luther King and the search for his assassin. A century later than "Blood and Thunder", it covers a period of American history in which I am fairly well-versed, although my primary memory of King's assassination is looking out the plane window at smoke rising from a burning Washington D.C. as I flew out to the Vietnam War. Only a few chapters in, but the writing style is as superb as in the first of his books I read.
    Turned out to be a fantastic book. Despite King setting Hoover's frilly summer frock twirling like nobody else, the FBI mounted an incredible investigation. Not to be missed. Kind of like "In Cold Blood" by Capote, but far better.

  10. #2010
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    Just finished John Grisham's latest, "The Reckoning". Over the years, I have mostly gone off of famous, bestseller list authors, finding that once they get famous, their books begin to appear as if they'd been written by committee. However, having always enjoyed Grisham's books, I gave this one a go.

    It is not his normal........it is a dark, depressing, complicated, and often sad tale of war, betrayal, family, and the deep South. If you look it up on Amazon, it has far, far more negative reviews than any other Grisham book I can recall.....they are usually stacked with 5-star reviews from the "OMG" squad. I can only presume that many readers were looking for a comfortable beach read, and have little interest in history. If they sought comfort, they opened the wrong book.

    At first, and without writing 'spoilers', I had real timeline issues with Part I; these were all cleared up in Part II, and were intentional. While a dark and ultimately depressing book, I personally think it ranks as Grisham's most ambitious, and best, work.
    Last edited by Davis Knowlton; 26-10-2018 at 02:57 PM.

  11. #2011
    Hangin' Around cyrille's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Davis Knowlton View Post
    I can only presume that many readers were looking for a comfortable beach read, and have little interest in history. If they sought comfort, they opened the wrong book.
    Yes, I suppose that's why many authors chose 'noms de plume', such as JK Rowling writing as that Galbraith bloke.

  12. #2012
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    Quote Originally Posted by Davis Knowlton View Post
    Just finished John Grisham's latest, "The Reckoning". Over the years, I have mostly gone off of famous, bestseller list authors, finding that once they get famous, their books begin to appear as if they'd been written by committee. However, having always enjoyed Grisham's books, I gave this one a go.

    It is not his normal........it is a dark, depressing, complicated, and often sad tale of war, betrayal, family, and the deep South. If you look it up on Amazon, it has far, far more negative reviews than any other Grisham book I can recall.....they are usually stacked with 5-star reviews from the "OMG" squad. I can only presume that many readers were looking for a comfortable beach read, and have little interest in history. If they sought comfort, they opened the wrong book.

    At first, and without writing 'spoilers', I had real timeline issues with Part I; these were all cleared up in Part II, and were intentional. While a dark and ultimately depressing book, I personally think it ranks as Grisham's most ambitious, and best, work.
    John Grisham
    15 hrs ·
    THE CLIENT was my fourth novel, published by Doubleday Books in 1993. The author photo? Also 1993... THE RECKONING (#40) is now in bookstores.

    https://www.facebook.com/JohnGrisham...type=3&theater


  13. #2013

  14. #2014
    Thailand Expat OhOh's Avatar
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    Great story.

  15. #2015
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    https://monoskop.org/images/2/2e/Bre...ja_1960_EN.pdf

    Andre Breton's, Nadja- it's a trip- literally! Rereading- read it at uni and found it challenging, to say the least, so making a revisit.

  16. #2016
    Thailand Expat OhOh's Avatar
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    ^ I found this:

    What book are you reading right now?-62aa695284031f5260cb94f4bf414245-jpg

    "This ultra-hip, post-modern vampire tale is set in contemporary New York City. Members of a dysfunctional family of vampires are trying to come to terms with each other, in the wake of their father's death. Meanwhile, they are being hunted by Dr. Van Helsing and his hapless nephew. As in all good vampire movies, forces of love are pitted against forces of destruction."

    https://x1337x.se/torrent/1131057/Na...Rip-x264-FiCO/


    Is it related?
    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails What book are you reading right now?-62aa695284031f5260cb94f4bf414245-jpg  
    A tray full of GOLD is not worth a moment in time.

  17. #2017
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    I'm just finishing the fifth book in P.T. Deutermann's simply outstanding five-book WW2 naval series - two of the books deal with submarines, the other three with surface ships. All deal with the Japanese island-hopping campaigns. Deutermann is a graduate of the US Naval Academy and a retired Navy Captain; he knows of what he writes. Some of the best, most exciting, naval warfare books I have ever read.

  18. #2018
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    Not a novel but I am really enjoying the book so thought I'd mention it:

    The GCHQ Puzzle Book II.

    The puzzles are well written and, for me, stick in the mind until they've been solved, There's a generic hints section on how to solve the problems and another short section on ciphers and how to crack them. Different people will find different puzzles easier than others and they can all take a while to work out. I'd say internet is taken into account when trying to solve them, as in without it you'd need to have eaten several encyclopedias for breakfast.

    I should also mention how I came to buy the book. Having bought my wife's Christmas present, I arrived at Gatwick for my easyjet flight with two items of carry on luggage: My camera bag and my wife's present in a smaller shoulder bag. The dilemma was only one item of luggage in the cabin, later dropped to one item and airport terminal shopping. To be on the safe side I popped into WH Smiths, bought the book with carrier bag and popped wife's present into it. Silly rules but only for the stupid...

  19. #2019
    I'm in Jail

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    I've reached the stage in my life where it was so long ago that i've read some books, i've forgotten the plotline so i can re-read them


















    What book are you reading right now?-j-j-jpg
    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails What book are you reading right now?-j-j-jpg  

  20. #2020
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    "The Wasp Factory", again. Anything by Iain Banks is worthwhile.

  21. #2021
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    Not sure why I have never read them before, but i'm tucking into John Grisham at the moment. Just finished A Painted House which I really enjoyed, and now on Rogue Lawyer which clearly with his anti establishment thread running strong appeals to me.

  22. #2022
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    ^Not only are the Grisham's books very readable and thrilling by their plots but they are also quite eye-opening for many dreaming of an "American Dream", learning a lot.

    E.g. in the A Painted House, how pitiful the living of farmers in Arkansas was (or still is?).
    As a movie in https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0362001/?ref_=fn_al_tt_2

    And as I wrote above in #1996, learning in The Rooster Bar:
    Currently reading The Rooster Bar, astonished to learn how the law students run in huge debts quite impossible to be paid back...

  23. #2023
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    Quote Originally Posted by Klondyke View Post
    their plots but they are also quite eye-opening for many dreaming of an "American Dream", learning a lot.
    One would hope. Problem is most murikans reading them would say their were disrespectful, unpatriotic, and they should be banned to protect the USA from Terrorists 5555

  24. #2024
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    Quote Originally Posted by pseudolus View Post
    One would hope. Problem is most murikans reading them would say their were disrespectful, unpatriotic, and they should be banned to protect the USA from Terrorists 5555
    Those merkins should then move on to Tom Robbins and Vonnegut

  25. #2025
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    Indeed - But its not just in the US. Re-read works by people such as Thomas Hardy, Conan Doyle, H.G. Wells, Arnold Bennett, J.M. Barrie, G.K. Chesterton, Owen Seaman, Henry Newbolt, Robert Bridges, John Masefield etc and the works from 1914 onwards all carry pro war messages - not simply because they were pro war, but because they were conscripted and told to write pro war sentiments in their works as well as publishing pamphlets, articles and the like. Its what is making the Grisham books so interesting.

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