Blades upon Books - Traditionals

[dantzk8]

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Jack,

You are a true survivalist.

Dan.

 

[screened porch]

She's got nice boots!

And thereby hangs a tale!

 

[5K Qs]

This book was left in the cottage we rented the first two weeks of August by a previous renter. I decided to read it and found it to be quite fascinating! I knew almost nothing about Garfield except that he was a US president who was shot soon after he took office and didn't die until a few months later. Based upon the book's presentation, he had quite an interesting life prior to winning the presidency (which he wasn't even running for, but was "drafted" when his party's convention deadlocked among the candidates that WERE running for the nomination). He also seemed to be a very personable and admirable guy. I also learned about the sorry state of American medical practice at that time; Garfield would have survived the damage done by the bullet that struck him, but eventually died from massive infection caused by the doctors' non-antiseptic practices. Alexander Graham Bell appears periodically in the story as he tried to modify his telephone to become a metal detector to help the medical personnel locate the bullet in Garfield's body. I've been a periodic, but avid, reader of JFK conspiracy theories ever since the Warren Commission Report was published when I was in 8th grade (I think), and it was interesting to read some of the conspiracies swirling around Garfield's assassination. The man who shot Garfield seemed to me to be "loony" in almost exactly the same way as the man who shot JFK. Some of the political shenanigans going on in Garfield's time were quite similar to much of the political "dirty tricks" common in the US over the past 60 years, which also surprised me. Well-written, engaging, informative book!


- GT

 

[screened porch]

 

[Jack Black]

Jack,

You are a true survivalist.

Dan.

Thanks Dan! Sorry for missing your comment until now

That's a great read Jer, and the knife looks appropriate

I think you'd enjoy Luc Sante's Low Life

 

[TimButterfield]

For a digital variation, here's an eBook & knife

 

[Giant Mondo Bug]

Heard about this strange but true caper for years and finally bought the book. I liked it.

 

[5K Qs]

Two books I read last weekend.

The first was a novella by Stephen King whose existence I only recently became aware of; I was surprised that I hadn't heard of it previously since it was published 13 years ago and I've been a fan of baseball fiction for many years. It was a good baseball story from the major leagues in the 1950s, with plenty of name-dropping of baseball stars from that era. Of course, it had a Kingian macabre twist.


The second was a "young adult" novel that I first read about 60 years ago, maybe when I was about 10 years old. At the time, I thought it was one of the best books I'd ever read, and I read many sequels that the author wrote. When I read it last weekend, I was surprised to NOT be disappointed by the book – it's still a great read (and probably had a higher reading level than I'd have predicted), at least for an old guy like me who's becoming very nostalgic lately. A boy, a magnificent horse, storms and a shipwreck (in which a pocketknife plays an important role) and a rescue, taming the beast, boy learning from helpful elders, horse race of the century, happy ending – what more could you want?? I'm gonna reread some of the sequels soon!


- GT

 

[btb01]

I knew almost nothing about Garfield except that…

I’m not proud of the fact that, before reading on in your post, my brain completed this statement on its own with, “…he loves lasagna and hates Mondays.”

The first was a novella by Stephen King whose existence I only recently became aware of…

I also initially misread this and thought you had only recently become aware of Stephen King.

I haven’t been doing nearly as much reading lately as I’d like to. I need to set aside time and get back to it.

Here’s a recent photo that was at least taken in close proximity to books.

 

[Will Power]

 

[JustinR]

This book was left in the cottage we rented the first two weeks of August by a previous renter. I decided to read it and found it to be quite fascinating! I knew almost nothing about Garfield except that he was a US president who was shot soon after he took office and didn't die until a few months later. Based upon the book's presentation, he had quite an interesting life prior to winning the presidency (which he wasn't even running for, but was "drafted" when his party's convention deadlocked among the candidates that WERE running for the nomination). He also seemed to be a very personable and admirable guy. I also learned about the sorry state of American medical practice at that time; Garfield would have survived the damage done by the bullet that struck him, but eventually died from massive infection caused by the doctors' non-antiseptic practices. Alexander Graham Bell appears periodically in the story as he tried to modify his telephone to become a metal detector to help the medical personnel locate the bullet in Garfield's body. I've been a periodic, but avid, reader of JFK conspiracy theories ever since the Warren Commission Report was published when I was in 8th grade (I think), and it was interesting to read some of the conspiracies swirling around Garfield's assassination. The man who shot Garfield seemed to me to be "loony" in almost exactly the same way as the man who shot JFK. Some of the political shenanigans going on in Garfield's time were quite similar to much of the political "dirty tricks" common in the US over the past 60 years, which also surprised me. Well-written, engaging, informative book!
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- GT

I’ll have to give that one a read, I very much enjoyed river of doubt on Teddy Roosevelt.

 

[RickHuf]

This looks a bit risqué for 1941!

 

[5K Qs]

I’ll have to give that one a read, I very much enjoyed river of doubt on Teddy Roosevelt.

Thanks for sharing your opinion of River of Doubt. My wife and I both read and enjoyed Millard's book on James Garfield and were thinking we should read another of her books. Sounds like River of Doubt is the way to go!

- GT

 

[5K Qs]

I’m not proud of the fact that, before reading on in your post, my brain completed this statement on its own with, “…he loves lasagna and hates Mondays.”



I also initially misread this and thought you had only recently become aware of Stephen King.

I haven’t been doing nearly as much reading lately as I’d like to. I need to set aside time and get back to it.

Here’s a recent photo that was at least taken in close proximity to books.

Oh, THAT Garfield!
Actually, I miss daily comic strips and other appealing features of the old daily local newspapers. I had a daily subscription to the Grand Rapids Press for years, starting when I moved here to teach in 1984 (and, when I was a kid living about 30 miles south of Grand Rapids, we got an "out-of-town" edition on the farm every day except Sunday). But eventually the paper had to cut its staff drastically, the quality and size of the paper decreased significantly, and I think home delivery had been reduced to 3 days per week when we cancelled our subscription. (We might have subscribed to the Sunday paper only for a short time after that.)

I'm not sure you misread my sentence about King's Blockade Billy. It's certainly not perfectly obvious what the phrase "whose existence I only recently became aware of" is intended to modify. In retrospect (which I rarely use with online posts ), "a Stephen King novella" instead of "a novella by Stephen King" would have made the entire sentence much more clear.

That Albers burl lambsfoot is an instant classic, Barrett!

- GT

 

[5K Qs]

Here's a book I read while away on vacation in August. I'm always entertained by John Sandford's novels, but in the past couple of years, he's written a couple of books featuring Letty Davenport, the grown-up adopted daughter of Lucas Davenport, the character on whom Sandford's popularity was built. I don't like the "Letty novels" as much, so far - she's way too "shoot first, ask questions later" for my tastes. The premise of this book is rather intriguing, though: the US government wants to convince some West Coast hackers to screw up the scheduling software of the Russian railroads when Russian invasion of Ukraine seems imminent, thus disrupting Russian military supply chains.


- GT

 

[thepapercut]

 

[Invoice]

 

[Ratatoskr]

I'm getting therapy for an otolith in my ear canal. They usually call the otolith a crystal, which reminded me of a book called The Crystal Singer, which I read some decades ago. Turns out there are two others, one of which is still en route.

As I recall, she uses her perfect pitch channelled through that gun, to harvest the crystals on which civilization depends for something really important.

Geez, those take me back.

 

[Pt-Luso]

 

[screened porch]

Geez, those take me back.

Like Mr. Peabody's wayback machine.