A (Rather Long) Friday Reads for 22 November 2024

[@angelica351a]

In michigan coast guard does search rescue in summer and runs an icecutter to mackinaw island in winter. Grand haven is home of us coast guard festival

[@virginiafernandes336]

Hey Steve! I am reading Vanity Fair for the first time! Also re-reading The Razor's Edge, one of my favorite books.

[@saintdonoghue]

"Vanity Fair" for the first time - oh my! Dare I ask: is it holding up well? Are you enjoying it?

[@virginiafernandes336]

@saintdonoghue i am loving it! So much already happened and i am just half way through!

[@WeWiLLRefuse]

Happy Friday, Steve! Also, a TGIF to my fellow book nerds! I just started reading Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom by David W. Blight; and Anarchism by Noam Chomsky. Happy reads, everyone!

[@theaelizabet]

Almost finished with Trollope’s Barchester Towers, midway through Guard! Guard! by Terry Pratchett and The Safekeeping by Yael Van Der Wouden. Can’t wait for Giant Love. Completely agree with you about Edna Ferber.

[@saintdonoghue]

Remind me: is this your first time reading "Barchester Towers"? I assume you'll be following up the book by watching my chapter-by-chapter read-aloud?

[@theaelizabet]

@@saintdonoghue This is my first time and of course! Dare I hope that you’ll take on Dr. Thorne in 2025?

[@audreyh7892]

i finished "The Salt Path" and "Brothers on Three" and I am going to start "Defiance" by Nechama Tec this weekend.

[@saintdonoghue]

Ohh - did you like "The Salt Path"?

[@audreyh7892]

@@saintdonoghue I love travelogue type books but I wouldn't have been comfortable taking that journey. If something had happened, it would have been difficult getting help. The tone sometimes did not feel congruent to the situation. Also, the Author felt bitterly towards people who ended the conversation in short order when homelessness came up but people are that way because we are all just one bad situation from homelessness or one bad diagnosis away from death.

[@NanaQuilts]

I’m reading LES LIAISONS DANGEREUSES. I have three different translations and have just ordered Christopher Hampton’s play to see what he does with the story. I looked for but could not find a critical edition of the work (Heads up, Norton.). I find this book absolutely riveting. I love the epistolary form but more than that the story is full of nuance, mystery, psychological insight, and terror. Merteuil and Valmont could step out of a New York elevator at any moment. I have notes in all three copies and have read the book through many times in many ways, for example, just reading the Valmont-Merteuil letters or just the Valmont-Tourvel letters. HOW did Laclos put together this fascinating novel? I expect to be working on my notes from it for weeks.

[@virginiafernandes336]

I've read for the first time last month and what an amazing book, my god. I was already a fan of the movie but the book took my breath away. Loved it.

[@laura0104]

It's a fascinating book. Horrible characters, but you just can't stop reading about them. I've read the Penguin Classics translation and I highly recommend it.

[@virginiafernandes336]

@@laura0104 the horrible characters is what makes it so fun! Lol

[@laura0104]

​@@virginiafernandes336Absolutely 😁

[@crypsid]

Hey Steve! I finished and loved Shirer's Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, and now wondering what to read about WW2 next. Also going to start the second LOA volume of John Quincy Adams' diaries, and really looking forward to it.

[@saintdonoghue]

So glad to hear you liked the Shirer book - I strongly recommend following it up with Timothy Snyder's "Bloodlands"

[@bottleimpbooks]

Can we get a Saturday Stevestream?

[@donnyboy2589]

Reading 'Empire of the Summer Moon' by S. C. Gwynne. It's about the Comanches and their rise to power and the long war they had with settlers and the US government. It's been jarring, intriguing, and even tender at times. I've learned some stuff didn't know before. Even with such sweeping episodes, it's interesting how there's still relatable examples of very ordinary and sometimes quirky human nature. Long Live Non-fiction November! (at least for another week!)

[@konstantinos-6-6-6-8]

Oh did you know that DC finest will be reprinting a Superboy volume next year called “the super-dog from krypton”? I definitely want to get this and the Legion volume, always enjoy watching you talk about them and they have the kind of artwork I like! It’s nice that DC is finally doing reprints-and the affordable little paperbacks seem good too, I’m tempted to get the watchmen collection, not sure I will like it (I’m a bit on the fence about Allan Moore’s stuff) but it’s so cheap! Cheaper than a regular fiction paperback!

[@jackwalter5970]

I'm reading Dombey and Son by Dickens. It's wonderful.

[@lukamina7586]

I'm 21 and watched Rebel without a cause some months ago. I thought Dean over-acted and was generally unconvincing.

[@garethreeves6090]

Fair enough. I watched him when I was 17/18, about 20 years ago, and felt uneasy about the melodrama/overacting, yet I thought he was an instant icon (having not really heard of him before), highly unusual acting for the period. The fact that he made only three films and was venerated with the best of them suggests he had something. Looks, obviously, but originality too? Steve says he lacks onscreen charisma but I find the opposite to be true - the first time he appears in Giant, my eyes are drawn to him. He has a feminine quality, unlike the typical stars of the day - Rock Hudson, John Wayne, even Marlon Brando.

[@saintdonoghue]

See, I see it immediately with a young Brando, even though I'm no more a fan of his acting than I am of Dean's - but with Dean himself, I just don't see it at all.

[@taffyj531]

Do you ever get eye strain, Steve? Wish I could read longer but my eyes get tired quicker than they used to.

[@saintdonoghue]

Since I am a sexy 28-year-old with cheese-grater abs, I don't experience eye-strain!

[@taffyj531]

@@saintdonoghue 😆We need a Friday Abs video too!

[@gaildoughty6799]

I’m reading In a Lonely Place by Dorothy B Hughes, a noir suspense novel about a serial killer. It was later wildly adapted to a movie with Bogart and Gloria Grahame in the lead roles. Just finished The Castle of Otranto; not good. I might move to The Green Knight by Iris Murdoch or maybe an Angela Thirkell.

[@Mnnwer]

I recently watched The Return of The KIng, and it was great, but there was a lot left to be desired; so I'm thinking about doing a Lord of The Rings reread, for the second time this year. I've also been thinking about starting Orlando Furioso, which have just stood on my shelf for far too long now. Then I will also try to dip into one or two poetry anthologies.

[@saintdonoghue]

Oh I agree completely - great as it is, watching "Return of the King" always sends me back to reading the book -

[@konstantinos-6-6-6-8]

I read “The Time Machine” for the first time (liked the setting, reminded me of Barsoom in its simplicity, but the plot was meh), “the mastermind of mars” (loved it though it’s a bit rushed, but what a great set-up), and “Thalaba the destroyer” (wonder what you think about it, apparently it’s divisive! Always liked it) and I’m also reading the first Conan omnibus (BW Smith, Titan edition) and it’s way better than I thought it would be! Might like it more than SSoC!

[@saintdonoghue]

That old two-volume set collecting the Smith issues, is that what you mean? Truly great stuff - although come on: they're not a patch on, say, the first 50 issues of Savage Sword!

[@konstantinos-6-6-6-8]

@@saintdonoghueyeah I get what you are saying, but from what I have seen so far Conan the barbarian is more consistent in quality, the SSoC issues when they are great they are better than anything, but when they are bad they are sooo bad! It could be because of how much SSoC I have read though, I only had 2 Conan the barbarian issues when I was a kid from the Ernie Chan era (which was pretty good I thought), for some reason in Greece CtB was impossible to find!

[@ShawnMorey-sx7wm]

I find it interesting that you read😮 all. You comment on everything. At times, you read these books again. You read fiction and non-fiction. Saturation must become overwhelming at best. If not, much respect, in your fortitude,for life is short, and you spent it on 😅books.

[@saintdonoghue]

"with respect" doesn't magically counteract telling somebody you think they've wasted their life. Spending my life on books wouldn't be at all bad (you're aware you're watching BookTube, right?), but for the record, I've done one or two other things as well.