What Are You Reading?

[Brewdude]

Fascinating and gripping read. Dunno know how historically accurate it is but it certainly held my interest.


Cheers,

RR

 

[eggman]

The obituaries to make sure I’m not in them

 

[user 2031]

The Good Neighbor: The Life and Work of Fred Rogers by Maxwell King



<img src="https://i.servimg.com/u/f68/17/82/26/64/fr10.jpg" alt="What Are You Reading? - Page 3 Fr10"/>

 

[user 2027]

Found it on sale on Amazon from my BookBub newsletter - The Last Sword Maker by Brian Nelson.

In the high mountains of Tibet, rumors are spreading. People whisper of an outbreak, of thousands of dead, of bodies pushed into mass graves. It is some strange new disease … a disease, they say, that can kill in minutes.

The Chinese government says the rumors aren’t true, but no one is allowed in or out of Tibet.

At the Pentagon, Admiral James Curtiss is called to an emergency meeting. Satellite images prove that a massive genocide is underway, and an American spy has made a startling discovery. This is no disease. It’s a weapons test. Chinese scientists have developed a way to kill based on a person’s genetic traits. But that is only the tip of the iceberg. The success of their new weapon proves that the Chinese are nearing “Replication”—a revolutionary breakthrough that will tip the global balance of power and change the way wars are waged.

Now the US must scramble to catch up before it is too late. Admiral Curtiss gathers the nation’s top scientists, including a promising young graduate student named Eric Hill who just might hold the missing piece to the replication puzzle. Soon Hill and his colleague Jane Hunter are caught up in a deadly game of sabotage as the two nations strive to be the first to reach the coveted goal. But in their headlong race, they create something unexpected … something the world has never seen and something more powerful than they had ever imagined.

The Last Sword Maker is an exciting globe-trotting thriller with unforgettable characters that depicts a haunting vision of the future of warfare.

 

[Stick]

Just finished reading this. It's an unauthorized bio of Stevie Nicks and her ascendancy to the the fairy godmother of R&R through Buckingham/Nicks in the pre-Fleetwood Mac Days through her solo career and up to the present.

She has embarked on a fresh Fleetwood Mac tour which will bring her to Phoenix this coming week and has all the original band members save for Lindsay Buckingham. I'm strongly considering attending as the "Mac" was one of my favorite mid-70's pop rock bands.

Apparently Stevie is pushing 70 and this may be one of the last chances anyone will get of seeing her and the band performing the old tunes that are much loved by many, including myself!

This book makes fascinating reading for a fan like me.


Cheers,

RR

I just love Fleetwood Mac, Rande. It resonates with my soul. Really takes me back to good times of being on Dartmoor, college, and my late teenage / early 20s.

So, awful question to ask Rande... what's your fave 'Mac track?

 

[Stick]

My good lady bought me 'Mad, bad and dangerous to know' by Ranulph Fiennes. I've always admired this chap for his derring-do, adventures and interesting military background. Ever thoughtful, my good lady also tucked 2 tickets into the book to see him present at our local theatre in September '19. I'm a lucky boy.

 

[Brewdude]

Just finished reading this. It's an unauthorized bio of Stevie Nicks and her ascendancy to the the fairy godmother of R&R through Buckingham/Nicks in the pre-Fleetwood Mac Days through her solo career and up to the present.

She has embarked on a fresh Fleetwood Mac tour which will bring her to Phoenix this coming week and has all the original band members save for Lindsay Buckingham. I'm strongly considering attending as the "Mac" was one of my favorite mid-70's pop rock bands.

Apparently Stevie is pushing 70 and this may be one of the last chances anyone will get of seeing her and the band performing the old tunes that are much loved by many, including myself!

This book makes fascinating reading for a fan like me.


Cheers,

RR

I just love Fleetwood Mac, Rande.  It resonates with my soul.  Really takes me back to good times of being on Dartmoor, college, and my late teenage / early 20s.

So, awful question to ask Rande... what's your fave 'Mac track?

Hard to say mate as there are so many. I'd rate "Gold Dust Woman" and "Rhiannon" right up there.


Cheers,

RR

 

[Brewdude]

This bio is unique.

While it was OK'd by Sir Paul in a tacit way, it doesn't contain any direct interviews from him. The author had verbal license to interview all and sundry involved in his career. Some of it is very gritty and hard to read, particularly the rather acrimonious dissolution of his marriage to model Heather Mills.

The author admits his personal relationship with Sir Paul goes back to the Beatles glory years when they had a falling out over his journalism. And he's clearly managed to drag up all the dirt....

Still, this account is quite interesting and worth reading if you don't mind reading some uncomfortable copy!


Cheers,

RR

 

[Stick]

Just finished reading this. It's an unauthorized bio of Stevie Nicks and her ascendancy to the the fairy godmother of R&R through Buckingham/Nicks in the pre-Fleetwood Mac Days through her solo career and up to the present.

She has embarked on a fresh Fleetwood Mac tour which will bring her to Phoenix this coming week and has all the original band members save for Lindsay Buckingham. I'm strongly considering attending as the "Mac" was one of my favorite mid-70's pop rock bands.

Apparently Stevie is pushing 70 and this may be one of the last chances anyone will get of seeing her and the band performing the old tunes that are much loved by many, including myself!

This book makes fascinating reading for a fan like me.


Cheers,

RR

I just love Fleetwood Mac, Rande.  It resonates with my soul.  Really takes me back to good times of being on Dartmoor, college, and my late teenage / early 20s.

So, awful question to ask Rande... what's your fave 'Mac track?

Hard to say mate as there are so many. I'd rate "Gold Dust Woman" and "Rhiannon" right up there.


Cheers,

RR

Nice choices, Rande. I'm sat in my kitchen streaming some 'mac and it took me back to these few posts. I'd offer Dreams, Sarah, Everywhere, Tusk... cripes there really is so many. Thinking about it now, naming a few may be a discredit to the many others.

 

[MisterE]

Not deep literature or anything, but great escape reading. :cheers:

 

[Brewdude]

If this isn't the quintessential bio of the mop tops I sure don't know what it would be!

Having just read several other accounts of the fab four, the author here has put together an exposé that pulls no punches and tells it like it is. All the highs and lows, the rise to fame and the sordid details behind the scenes, all the dirt and the dirty laundry.........it's all here and may be a bit shocking if one were comfortable in the old image of the boys as four lovable melody makers who were a bit cheeky at times but cuddly nonetheless.

Approach at your own risk! Oh, and highly recommended..............


Cheers,

RR

 

[Brewdude]

My old mate Ian from Blighty gifted me this book for Christmas. It's a story based on a true event that occurred in the late 1700's around where Ian lives in Halifax and is all about a gang of Coiners that were notorious throughout the kingdom.

If you're not familiar with that, Coiners are those who would cut bits off the coins, smelt them and mold into a counterfeit coin. Back then, the official coins in circulation were not perfectly round like ours are so little pieces could be removed without much notice.

There was a large gang of Coiners who had been practicing this illegal craft which attracted the attention of the authorities who then tracked them down and pretty much put a stop to it.

I found the book gripping and interesting, including and especially all the olde English terms and colloquialisms.  


Cheers,

RR

 

[Brewdude]

Just finished two great Beatles books-

This goes into detail about what instruments the fab four used. Many great pics and very interesting for musicians like myself.

And this is a comprehensive account of all the tunes they ever recorded. Contributing musicians, recording details, gear, etc.

Both are large coffee table sized books and loads of pics. If you're a musician or just plain interested in the back stories these are for you.


Cheers,

RR

 

[user 4351]

I finished "The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes" a few days ago, and I'm now several stories into the memoirs. I tend to read through the short story collections once a year, though I haven't read the novels in several years. Doyle was, in my opinion, a better short story teller than he was a novelist.

 

[JimInks]

I've been reading Bing Crosby: Swinging on a Star The War Years: 1940-1946 by Gary Giddins. If you have any interest in Bing, you should get this book and Giddins' first volume on Bing, which covers his life from 1903-1940. Very detailed and Giddins shows how Bing influenced and was influenced by the culture of his times.

 

[JimInks]

I finished the Bing book. Now, I'm about to start reading The Jack Kirby Collector issue 75. This book length magazine deals with what Jack Kirby and Stan Lee had to say in chronological order about the creations and creative processes that went into forming the Marvel Universe. A few portions of my artist biographies are included in the book.

 

[Brewdude]

Have the DVD. Always wanted to read the book to get the back story and details. And here it is.

One of the creepiest stories ever.

:silent:


Cheers,

RR

 

[JimInks]

This interview with Gary Giddins about his new book on Bing Crosby greatly highlights how important Bing was in his time, and there's lots of important, interesting info here overall.

https://jerryjazzmusician.com/2018/10/interview-with-bing-crosby-biographer-gary-giddins/

 

[Brewdude]

Been on an ancient history kick lately-

Interesting enough but not really my thing.


Cheers,

RR

 

[DrT999]

Been on an ancient history kick lately-

Interesting enough but not really my thing.


Cheers,

RR

RE: Gibbon's 'Decline & Fall"; I hope you make it through all 6 volumes (or 3 in some editions), I spent a semester in grad school in a class that did just that. Some of the later volumes were a tough slog, but the action picked up by the 1400s.