Oh man, I hear ya. Last night I literally dreamt in code. Python and R, to be exact. When I'm not reading documentation on those, I've been reading The Demon Haunted World, but Carl Sagan. I'm kind of surprised that it's centered around alien abduction stories. Didn't expect that.
Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth by Reza Aslan. I'm interested in learning about the historicity of Jesus. The first chapter on the Jewish temple was riveting. The Mormon temple is like the Jewish temple in Jerusalem used to be? -- not so much.
I'm rereading a now 14 book series, sci/fi, that is sweet and pure and makes me feel good.
It's the Union Station series, by E. M. Foner. If you've got 12-17 year kids or grandkids, I bet they'd really enjoy these books. (12/17 is my emotional maturity level, so it's okay that I enjoy them so much.)
They should be read in order, because the books follow the growth and progress of one character and her friends and growing family. It's a very intelligent book ...
Quite frankly, I'm wondering if the alien "overlords" featured in this series aren't behind them, using them to prep humanity for them (the "overlords") doing for us what is done for humanity in the books.
Finally got round to it. The Satanic Verses. Almost finished it now. Its like Franz Kafka'S Metamorphosis meets Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse Five. A sometimes challenging but amazing read.
The Boner has been reading the classics this month—
Wurthering Heights, was a wrong about this! I was expecting a Victorian love story...wrong. Love may be the catalyst, but hate and vengence are the real protaganists. This is a horribly brutal book.
Carmilla, look out for vampires! Riviting novella about a young woman, Laura, and her buddy, Carmilla. Read this! Atmospheric, poetic, and erotic. Much better than Stoker, IMO.
Fight Club, i AM Tyler D*rden!
Frankenstein, holy shite! No movie has ever approached this. The Hollywood horror is about one line, ... I discovered how to reanimate dead flesh... riveting, thoughtful, and very applicable to today’s violence with between outcasts and society.
Brave New World, family planning at it finest. Even the today’s music is forcasted.
Yes it is but brad pitt isn't i don't think. My card playing friends want to start a fight club but it would have card playing involved and maybe a fight to initiate.
Lord of the Flies finally - borrowed it from my 16-year-old daughter. What's fascinating is she's put notes in the margins and a couple of those notes are DEFINITELY not in lockstep with LDS teachings (my kids still believe but they're not @ssholes about it).
One that struck me: "Humans are little more than bipedal animals and many other species in the animal kingdom have more common sense than humans."
What ever happened to humans being the offspring of gawd and his divine creation?
I just smiled and realized that my kiddos are gonna be just fine.
by Roy Appleton. This is a harrowing read. If you want to know why political and military leaders would do almost anything, including dropping the A-bomb, to avoid invading the Japanese home islands, I'd recommend this book.
I had an uncle who came home from Okinawa with a serious case of PTSD which pretty much ruined the rest of his life.
When everyone was being so certain of what was right in re the use of the A-bomb on two Japanese cities, the Battle of Okinawa loomed large in my mind in terms of an argument in support of that proposition. Saucie's dad was in the Army part of the Okinawa assault. She says his PTSD became more evident has he aged.
One thing, for certain, is that the A-bombs made Okinawa WWII's last major battle. Three months long, with 72,000 American casualties, on 466 sq. miles of land... Utah County has 2,144 sq. miles. Rhode Island has 1,034 sq miles. It was all very, very fresh in some people's minds...
"No Time to Spare." Ursula K. Le Guin's last book before she died, ironically.
An on top quote from last night's excerpt:
"They defend their discomfort by dismissing people before their time as simple, quaint, naive, etc."
I don't know if that will mean anything to anyone else, but it speaks volumes to me. It's like the whole Joseph "marrying" young girls and then hearing Mormons say, "Oh that was common back then," as a way not to face facts.
“The Accountant” a fairly interesting biography of Pablo Escobar founder of the Medellin drug cartel. Written by his brother Roberto, an unbiased source. A good book but definitely take with a huge grain of salt.
And the “Darkest Night” by Ron Franscell an absolutely horrific true story of two young girls kidnapped, raped and thrown off a 120 foot bridge to their deaths(one survived)in Casper, Wyoming.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/12/2018 06:55AM by Whiskeytango.
For a literature course: "Where we once belonged" by Sia Figiel. On my own: re-reading "Harmony" by Project Itoh I have an English translation of "Nausea" by Jean-Paul Sartre that I plan to read next.