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Author Topic: Book Thread  (Read 92782 times)

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pmcd9

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Re: Book Thread
« Reply #225 on: July 27, 2013, 02:50:02 am »
I've never really been a non fiction reader, but due to a strange chain of events I'm reading a fascinating history of the Civil War 'Battle Cry of Freedom.'

It started when I watched 'The Outsiders' a couple of months ago. I decided that I had waited long enough. It was time to read the book, which I did and enjoyed very much. I had never read Gone With the Wind because it just seemed like a grandiose romance novel to me. But when Ponyboy and Johnny are hidden away and they're reading it to one another I decided that if it was okay for these tough guys then it would be okay for me too, so I read that next. Well it turns out it really is a grandiose romance novel, but it's much more than that as well. One things for certain, it definitely presents a stilted view of the civil war era. So I felt like I needed to cleanse my palate with some actual history. And that's where the textbook comes in.

I almost went with Civil War: A Narative by Shelby Foote, which was at or near the top of every best of list I looked at. But one review said "Foote displays the novelist’s eye for story and character." I thought, "nope, I just want the facts without a lot of flourish." So I'm concurrently watching Ken Burns series on the Civil War and who is their main historian commentator, but Shelby Foote. And yes, he is very eloquent. If I'm still interested in the Civil War when I am finished with the first book I may read this one as well.
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miles

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Re: Book Thread
« Reply #226 on: July 27, 2013, 03:56:24 am »
If it's good enough for Ponyboy, it's good enough for me.
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pmcd9

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Re: Book Thread
« Reply #227 on: July 27, 2013, 12:32:06 pm »
The next time someone says "The Civil War was not about slavery, it was about states rights" which I've heard a shocking number of times, I'm just gonna laugh in their face* and say "looks like someone got their history from Gone With the Wind."

*I already do that much.
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KeithHernandez

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Re: Book Thread
« Reply #228 on: July 27, 2013, 03:55:59 pm »
I got in trouble in 11th grade for telling the teacher she was full of shit.  I was a lot more outspoken then.  But seriously, they should not be teaching kids that.

Also, now I just say, yeah, states rights to own slaves.
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Arachno-capitalist

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Re: Book Thread
« Reply #229 on: July 27, 2013, 04:55:51 pm »
Quote from: pmcd9 on July 27, 2013, 12:32:06 pm
The next time someone says "The Civil War was not about slavery, it was about states rights" which I've heard a shocking number of times, I'm just gonna laugh in their face* and say "looks like someone got their history from Gone With the Wind."

*I already do that much.

The amount of crushing persecution complex that comes out of southerners is honestly one of the things I have the most trouble wrapping my mind around. When I point this out I'm told "THE WINNERS WRITE HISTORY!". To be fair I went to the last southern gentlemen's school in America so my sample is skewed.

PS: The guy who was most hardcore in the rebel reenactment anti-yankee scene became one of my best friends until he moved in to the forest and died under mysterious circumstances.
« Last Edit: July 27, 2013, 05:00:09 pm by Arachno-capitalist »
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CortJstr

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Re: Book Thread
« Reply #230 on: July 29, 2013, 01:57:34 pm »
I believe you are referring to the War of Southern Ignorance.
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theinevitable

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Re: Book Thread
« Reply #231 on: July 29, 2013, 04:48:38 pm »
A lot of my friends who are not from the south also seem to have been mis-educated on this topic. Spouting some BS about how it was really about two economic systems in conflict and people in the north were racist too and blah blah. Come on guys, hove some dignity.
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theinevitable

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Re: Book Thread
« Reply #232 on: August 06, 2013, 07:32:11 pm »
Open Veins of Latin America is kind of ruining any romantic ideas I had about that part of my family. They are the bad guys of history. Latin American mine owners are not the good guys. The idea of my great-grandma riding around the Andes on a donkey carrying a shotgun is a lot less charming than I thought.
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Carlos del Vaca

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Re: Book Thread
« Reply #233 on: August 06, 2013, 08:32:41 pm »
Quote from: Asherdan on August 06, 2013, 05:19:44 pm
Soon I Will Be Invincible

That was kinda bitchin'. Quite enjoyed it.

I picked up David Wong's "This Book Is Full of Spiders" and it's pretty good so far. I don't know that anything could match "John Dies at the End," which I first read in the serialized web format. I seriously lost an entire day at work reading that thing. Now it's been pulled down and made into a book (and also a movie); can't say as I blame him, might as well make a buck or two off of it. But the sequel is decent so far.
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wombat

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Re: Book Thread
« Reply #234 on: August 06, 2013, 10:11:28 pm »
Did you see the movie? It's one that the Tech Staff will never forgive me for. I told him the book was great and it was exactly like a movie anyway, so surely it was a sure thing. Um, no.
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Re: Book Thread
« Reply #235 on: August 06, 2013, 10:56:20 pm »
I read Soon I Will Be Invincible but have also read several books in the genre and now mix them all up.

I just finished This Is How You Die. I think it nicely expanded on the first book with some new ideas.
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Choop

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Re: Book Thread
« Reply #236 on: August 07, 2013, 03:06:32 am »
i loved the movie of john dies at the end, but i haven't read the book. i'm going to need a few things to read for my upcoming vacation, though, so maybe i'll pick that one up.
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Choop

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Re: Book Thread
« Reply #237 on: August 07, 2013, 11:17:05 pm »
whaaaaaaat
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AugustWest

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Re: Book Thread
« Reply #238 on: August 08, 2013, 02:54:22 am »
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Re: Book Thread
« Reply #239 on: August 08, 2013, 05:20:41 pm »
mooooan guys can't you do that where I can't see you...
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