2 weeks?...wow!! you must spend a lot of time reading .. I've always been an avid reader, but I can no longer read a book during the day or it puts me to sleep, so I usually only read when I go to bed. I'm delighted to have 2 hardback books arrive in the post today that I'm looking forward to reading.. The first is the Memoirs of Jeremy Paxman ( a life in Questions) ..he is the UK's most Incisive Political interviewer.. and not afraid to take all political heads of state through their paces The other is the memoirs of One of our most controversial QC's ( Queens council ) for anyone who doesn't know a QC is someone who is created a top lawyer or Barrister by the Queen ... given the badge of excellence in their field in other words...but Gary Bell QC is no ordinary QC Barrister... he started off as a bad boy , worked as a teen in numerous dead end jobs, was convicted of fraud and was so good at it he was even described by one judge as a Criminal Genius. However in his 20's he pulled his socks up, got himself an education at one of our top schools... studied for the Bar..slept rough on the streets while studying and ultimately became for the last 25 years one of our top defence QC's ....it's a funny light-hearted book about his life ..no holds barred ( excuse the pun)
Those sound like two interesting books @Holly Saunders. To bad we don't live close to one another so we could swap books. I love to read and have lots more time to do it now that I am "retired". Books are also a great stress reliever for me so when I'm feeling stressed I will dig out an inspirational book I already have or make a trip to the Library to pick up some. I used to have a large library books of my own at home but now that we have downsized most of that large library is at the Library. My Birthday is Sunday though so my husband just blessed me this morning with his credit card because he knows I'm interested in the Near Death Experiences of people right now...and I just used his card to buy some more books by people who have been through these. I like to read almost anything....and do. Enjoy your books.
I'm exactly the same @Babs Hunt , I used to have a Vast library...all one wall of my livingroom for over 20 feet had bookshelves on at one time. Now the bookshelves have gone and all the books donated to charities or the library,. I only have my very special books which I read over and over again..all hardbacks mainly political but some biographies and other like Bill Bryson just for fun.. It's a great idea if you're needing to relive stress to pick up a book on a subject you know will calm you and recharge your emotional or spiritual batteries.. I have a Kindle but I just don't enjoy reading from the kindle as I do with a good hardback propped open in my hands, or resting on a pillow in bed. I tend to use the kindle only when I'm travelling.. or sometimes when I know I've got a long wait for an appointment at the hospital I'll take it then..otherwise it's real books for me, nothing like the feel or smell of a Real Book!! Sadly the libraries here have changed out of all recognition to just a few years ago, and books are the least of their concerns, laptops have taken up most of the space. Now there's hardly any choice of books as there once was, and if we want a particular book we have to order it online from the Central library to arrive at our little town library for collection...I find it easier now just to buy my books online.. In case I miss it, Happy Birthday for Sunday... and enjoy your new books.. Happy reading!!
I'm out of anything to read. I bought two westeerns from Amazon kindle books. One wcas not worth reading. The other had a Western title but was a western romance by jodi Thomas, a Texas Author who came tw or three times to Barnes and Noble when my roommate worked. I met her and chatted with her once. Since then she has gone on to publish many books. I reread Shane. I read mysteries for a whShane on my iPod the other day. I started it one evening just before the ten o"clock news came on and finished around three a.m. The only thing, on the iPod you're turning pages more often. I have abandon all books except large print and hardbacks are hard to hold, so no reading anything now, but looking for something to read.
I know this is an old post, but I am really impressed with anyone reading Tolstoy. I read a lot, but I always found it difficult to keep all the characters straight in the big Russian novels.
I still have a lot of books. I am reading C.S. Lewis, Surprised by Joy, about his early childhood. I am reading a number of things on my Kindle, such as The Federalist Papers, and other reference-type books. I just finished a biography of Churchill and several mystery-type novels. I find the good thing about the Kindle is that you can stop when you get overwhelmed (such as politics, philosophy, or religion) and it will hold your place so you can go back to it when you are ready. I also find it useful that it will look up things in a dictionary or Wikipedia simply by touching the word or phrase. There are lots of things I don't know or don't recall, and Kindle helps me with that. I find it difficult to "jump around" in the Kindle; I think that is why I don't like it for magazines. It is best when you are reading straight from beginning to end, and, while I do that with books, I rarely do that with magazines. I love my thousands of hard cover and paperback books, too, of course, and I always keep a Patrick McManus book around for those times when I need something light and short.
I know that some forum administrators don't like old posts being brought back up, but that's not the case here. If you have something to add to the conversation, I don't care if the last post in the thread was three years ago, it's still relevant. I know that it's still relevant because you wanted to add to it, and I think it's better to have long, meaningful conversations than short bursts that are interrupted, only to start up in another place later. So feel free to bring up any older threads that you would like to contribute something to. I prefer it to having multiple threads about the same thing.
I've never read nor even heard of Patrick McManus but after a quick google I discover that he's an American humorist, mainly fiction with a touch of truth in... I'm always up for something amusing to read.. but I dislike fiction now ..( unlike my youth with Shakespeare, Christie, and Conan Doyle et al) but I'd still be willing to have a look at a Patrick McManus tales, although I'm not always sure ( Bill Bryson aside an honorary Brit who understands the British quirky look at comedy )...that American humour transfers well to English I'm a big fan of ''Diaries , Letters and Journals'', from the past..and although not particularly political myself, I enjoy the diaries and letters from notable political figures, and have read many of them.. I'm also a huge fan of Simon Garfield.. and his are the books I pick up again, and again when I run out of something new to read..
The last six or eight novels of western fiction I have read have been duds. I am beginning to think there are no good authors of westerns around anymore. Maybe it is possible that short period of time in our history has been mined out and there is no longer the will or know how to create a credible story. I am aware many readers feel the time of the western has been long past and over done. They feel stories from that time are not credible or believable or interesting. I disagree. Just as Mystery stories have changed over time and Adventure stores have changed with the times. Why not the western? Human nature and our diverse culture can be dressed up and shown off many ways. But what do I know? I am currently reading "Killlers of the Flower Moon." A nonfiction true story of the analation of the Osage Indian Tribe in northeast Oklahoma after oil was discovered in the region.
Patrick McManus was mentioned earlier in the thread. He was a outdoorsman, writer, and Professor of English at the University of Idaho (I think). Almost every American male who had a "normal upbringing" can identify with his writings. His stories are exaggerated tales of mostly real incidents from his life. I have a friend who could probably give him a good run for his money, but my friend never wrote anything. His oral descriptions of his adventures would keep you laughing for days.
Oh we used to have his ''brother'' here...one of the best story tellers there ever was, ''Ike''...sadly he passed a year ago...we miss him and all his stories...
I read a good series about a year ago that was pre-Western. I cannot recall the name of the books or the author at the moment. If I remember, I will pass it on. It was about the mountain man era--Jim Bridger and the like. You may not enjoy it since it was not set in the classic western era, but it was still a good read.