Conservative Political Forum

General Category => Entertainment => Books => Topic started by: kit saginaw on October 21, 2015, 12:17:08 AM

Title: Last Book Read
Post by: kit saginaw on October 21, 2015, 12:17:08 AM
I Owe Russia $1200, by Bob Hope...  An enjoyably quippy summation of Hope's USO-tours from '57 to '62-ish... with diary-like accounts of his movie-making adventures in Europe.  -Specifically, Paris Holiday.  That's when he became determined to do a USO-type show in Moscow, while filming a documentary about entertainment behind the Iron Curtain.  He presents it in a wonderfully snappy, first-person style. It's not ghostwritten.  It's him. 

The Peoples Ministry Of Entertainment charged Hope $1200 for 'free' access to the stars they allowed him to interview and mingle-with.   
Title: Re: Last Book Read
Post by: Late-For-Lunch on March 29, 2016, 07:15:29 AM
That sounds like a great book kit! I'm going to check it out! Hope was an amazing person.

He once had a brush with the mercy of Almighty God in the form of an incident with a fellow I had the great pleasure of knowing personally. Barney McNulty was Hope's cue-card guy - he basically started the business of writing out cue cards back in the early days of Hollywood so stars didn't have to remember all of their lines - especially during live shows. Barney travelled with Hope's USO troop but he had a bad habit - he was always late. Always. Between shows, Barney liked to take a bunch of his cameras, grab a cab or borrowed a military jeep in whatever exotic country / city they were in overseas and go sight-seeing (and drinking). Barney was a one-man US good-will ambassador - infinitely trusting / friendly with everyone he'd meet and always finding a way to communicate even when he didn't speak the local language (money is great facilitator for understandings). Inevitably whenever the troop was packed up and ready to board a plane, boat or train to go to their next destination, Barney would be late returning to base. It became a major pet peeve of Hope's because it was a regular thing - Barney was ALWAYS late, regardless of how strongly he was cajoled, pleaded with or threatened.

While the USO tour was in Viet Nam, the entourage was on a military base - everything was packed up and ready to board a military transport to fly to the next stop - and as usual Barney was nowhere to be seen and his job was so essential to the show that they could not leave without him. Hope was reportedly livid. He railed and cursed and swore that this time he was going to fire Barney the first chance he got when he returned to the states and would never work with him again. They had been waiting for at least a half hour when a thundering boom was heard in the distance and everyone nervously turned in the direction of the sound, murmuring with curiosity and many of the military escorts immediately communicated with their radios and left in a hurry. Eventually the military liaison came up and explained that a large terrorist bomb had just gone off across the compound. He further revealed that it had been placed in the staging area where Hope's entourage had been scheduled to be at that very time. If they had been on schedule...many of them would likely be dead. A few minutes later Barney came roaring in through the gate, hustled up with all of his gear shouting how he was ready to go, chattering with the usual apologies / excuses and no doubt expecting to be  lambasted. Hope greeted him personally, grabbed him, hugged him and announced for everyone to hear, "Barney can be as late as he wants, whenever he wants from now on!"

And he was. 
Title: Re: Last Book Read
Post by: CasND on February 24, 2017, 06:31:41 PM
My latest read is a western by Ralph Compton..."Phantom Hill"

One of my all-time favorite western authors is Charles G West.
I believe that I've read all of his stories. Some start out a little slow but, none of them have disappointed me yet.  :thumbsup:

My favorite story from Charles G West is "Stone Hand" 
The plot just kept coming at me like crazy...

There's something about westerns that are simple and relaxing reads.
If a guy gets shot, he just cuts out the bullet, has a cup of coffee and some beef jerky; and he's good to go... :laugh:
Title: Re: Last Book Read
Post by: TboneAgain on September 29, 2017, 10:29:59 PM
My latest is called "To Kingdom Come: An Epic of Survival in the Air War Over Germany," by Robert J. Mrazek. It's an incredibly detailed and researched book-length accounting of a single daylight bombing mission that took place on September 6, 1943 over Stuttgart, Germany. The story is told with heart and feeling, loaded with personal detail and amazing technical accuracy. The story is one of those that will change the way you think about life and death and war and good and evil and power and weakness. It is a story of heroism and tragedy and carnage and stupidity and luck, both good and bad.

My dad served in World War II, as a Seaman 1C on a Fletcher-class tin can in the South Pacific. He and around 300 shipmates celebrated his 18th birthday 8,000 miles from home, while a million or so Japanese were using every tool at their disposal to kill them all.

Until I die, I will always wonder how those boys -- and they were boys -- did what they did.
Title: Re: Last Book Read
Post by: midcan5 on August 25, 2018, 05:37:34 AM
I noticed this topic was created a while ago but it was still on top.  Two recent reads are worth your time.  Having traveled these roads often, 'Deep South' was fascinating. The interstates have changed America in many ways.

'Deep South: Four Seasons on Back Roads'  by Paul Theroux'

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/23719344-deep-south

And this will surely make you think differently about the mind.

'Incognito: The Secret Lives of the Brain'  David Eagleman

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/9827912-incognito


"The best advice I ever got was that knowledge is power and to keep reading."  David Bailey



Title: Re: Last Book Read
Post by: Solar on August 25, 2018, 06:10:46 AM
Quote from: midcan5 on August 25, 2018, 05:37:34 AM
I noticed this topic was created a while ago but it was still on top.  Two recent reads are worth your time.  Having traveled these roads often, 'Deep South' was fascinating. The interstates have changed America in many ways.

'Deep South: Four Seasons on Back Roads'  by Paul Theroux'

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/23719344-deep-south

And this will surely make you think differently about the mind.

'Incognito: The Secret Lives of the Brain'  David Eagleman

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/9827912-incognito


"The best advice I ever got was that knowledge is power and to keep reading."  David Bailey
Interesting. I take it the first was written, or took place before 1940?
Title: Re: Last Book Read
Post by: midcan5 on September 26, 2018, 05:35:54 AM
Quote from: Solar on August 25, 2018, 06:10:46 AM
Interesting. I take it the first was written, or took place before 1940?

'Deep South' was published in 2015,  Theroux drives the back roads we have often driven. He visits and talks with the people. Route 301, 13, 17, 29, 331, or even Rt 61 in Mississippi. They too are changing, wider and they often bypass the towns now.  Somethings have changed but much has remained the same.  Change is slow and often complex.

"Afoot and light-hearted I take to the open road,
Healthy, free, the world before me,
The long brown path before me leading wherever I choose.

Henceforth I ask not good-fortune, I myself am good-fortune,
Henceforth I whimper no more, postpone no more, need nothing,
Done with indoor complaints, libraries, querulous criticisms,
Strong and content I travel the open road."

Walt Whitman 'Song of the Open Road'
Title: Re: Last Book Read
Post by: Solar on September 26, 2018, 05:44:45 AM
Quote from: midcan5 on September 26, 2018, 05:35:54 AM
'Deep South' was published in 2015,  Theroux drives the back roads we have often driven. He visits and talks with the people. Route 301, 13, 17, 29, 331, or even Rt 61 in Mississippi. They too are changing, wider and they often bypass the towns now.  Somethings have changed but much has remained the same.  Change is slow and often complex.

"Afoot and light-hearted I take to the open road,
Healthy, free, the world before me,
The long brown path before me leading wherever I choose.

Henceforth I ask not good-fortune, I myself am good-fortune,
Henceforth I whimper no more, postpone no more, need nothing,
Done with indoor complaints, libraries, querulous criticisms,
Strong and content I travel the open road."

Walt Whitman 'Song of the Open Road'
That would have been me, back in he day when I wore a younger mans attire.
Title: Re: Last Book Read
Post by: Ranb on October 20, 2018, 10:12:35 PM
The Martian - Andy Weir
Uncle Will and the Fitzgerald Curse - JD Fitzgerald
On Killing - David Grossman
Beyond Band of Brothers - Richard Winters
Title: Re: Last Book Read
Post by: Skull on August 29, 2020, 09:14:46 AM
Uprising by Diamond & Silk, independent sisters who inspire (and entertain) many folks.

After Fox News starting turning Left & let them go, they now have a Saturday show on Newsmax.
Title: Re: Uprising
Post by: Skull on August 30, 2020, 10:38:10 AM
Here is Eric Metaxas interviewing the two sisters about their autobiography:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QdYIPahXGEI
Title: Re: Last Book Read
Post by: joesixpack on August 31, 2020, 08:50:17 AM
The New Jim Crow was that last one
Title: Re: Next Book to Read
Post by: Skull on September 02, 2020, 03:37:59 PM
Available for pre-order now, comes out 6 Oct.  Wallnau's latest is God's Chaos President.  Metaxas interviews him about the book.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4AfEkX-FVqY
Title: Re: Last Book Read
Post by: Skull on November 28, 2020, 06:00:02 AM
Just finishing Kengor's Devil and Karl Marx a powerful and often vomit inducing tale.  Marx personally and the Communism that was his spawn are simply demonic and Evil.  Could not read it quickly, too ugly & disgusting.
Title: Re: Last Book Read
Post by: Skull on December 01, 2020, 08:17:11 AM
Have only a pdf of this gem so far. Am dipping into the brilliant analysis by Barak Lurie.  His Atheism Kills covers all the destructive effects that ignoring the source of the good, true & beautiful produces.

https://www.atheismkills.com (https://www.atheismkills.com)

From Dennis Prager's Foreword:

QuoteWhat Barak Lurie offers here is, in my opinion, more important than "proofs" of God's
existence. Instead, he proves something else—the consequences of atheism. And those
consequences are precisely reflected in the title of the book: atheism kills.

...Atheism is the subject of this book. And Lurie is right: Atheism
kills. It kills people, civilizations, beauty, meaning, order, happiness. If something is good,
atheism will eventually kill it.

That's why this book is important. People need to know both the logically inevitable
consequences of atheism and its historical record, which starkly bears them out. This is not
mere theory.

Atheism Kills is a robust, relentlessly interesting, and intellectually invigorating read.
But it is also—and perhaps most of all—a cri de couer, an impassioned cry from the heart.
Lurie is worried about civilization, and cares deeply about human suffering. Those are the
reasons, I suspect, that he devoted so much time and effort to writing this book. And every
one of us who reads it is the beneficiary of his noble and massive effort.
Title: Re: Last Book Read
Post by: ModelCitizen on December 01, 2020, 09:59:30 AM
I was recently jumping around The Federalist Papers and Anti-Federalist Papers.

I'm currently reading How Democracies Die. It's quite good so far and I recommend it.

Title: Re: Last Book Read
Post by: Yuriy the Loader on December 01, 2020, 10:17:08 AM
When I was young, I read a lot of books by American authors, which in our Soviet Union were called "Social Science Fiction". There, excellent American science fiction writers scourged the horrors of capitalism (for this reason, these books were translated and published in the USSR).

Of course, you know the names of such classics of the golden age of fantasy as Kurt Vonegut, Ray Bradbury, Van Vogt, Ursula Le Guin and others.

27 years ago I came to America. To one of the most damned places in the world, a city of a yellow devil, a rotten apple, dirty streets and dull square buildings.

And what was my surprise that everything that my favorite writers taught me to mess with is complete nonsense, and I need to mess with black racism, liberal lies, Jewish socialism.

That Protestants are not a threat to America, but a threat to America is the Left University Profession.

That not stupid firefighters will burn books, but university students will burn books and knock down monuments.

So what is it? Did the classics lie? Cheated? Curved soul? Did they just not understand the processes taking place in the country?

So what kind of classics and engineers of human souls are they, if they are deaf and blind cripples?
Title: Re: Last Book Read
Post by: Solars Toy on January 30, 2021, 10:30:10 AM
I just read a couple by James Rubart. 

James L. Rubart is a 28 year old trapped in an older man's body, who loves to water ski and dirt bike with his two grown sons. He's the bestselling, Christy Book of the Year, Carol, INSPY, and RT Book Reviews award winning author of ten novels, including his latest, The Pages of Her Life.

I also went back and reread "The Five Times I Met Myself" and "The Chair".  I own all the books so will eventually be rereading all of them.

The Man He Never Was
The Book of Days
Rooms
The Long Journey to Jake Palmer

Souls Gate
Memory's Door
The Spirit Bridge


Toy   :popcorn:

Title: Re: Last Book Read
Post by: Walter Josh on January 30, 2021, 08:44:38 PM
Recently re-read "The Republic" to experience the wisdom of Plato,
arguably the wisest mind who ever existed.
By the way, we are hardly the greatest and never were!!!
Title: Re: Last Book Read
Post by: Solar on January 31, 2021, 05:46:26 AM
Quote from: Walter Josh on January 30, 2021, 08:44:38 PM
Recently re-read "The Republic" to experience the wisdom of Plato,
arguably the wisest mind who ever existed.
By the way, we are hardly the greatest and never were!!!
Define "Greatest"...
Title: Re: Last Book Read
Post by: Skull on February 10, 2021, 07:16:28 PM
Not finished yet, but Kirk's The American Cause is a brilliant little gem, less that 150 pages.  Essential reading for those who are fuzzy about the non-ideological principles that underpin this nation.
Title: Re: Last Book Read
Post by: Owebo on February 11, 2021, 01:23:58 AM
I just re-read Ayn Rand's Anthem for the upteenth time....it's prophetic....
Title: Re: Last Book Read
Post by: TboneAgain on December 13, 2021, 01:18:26 PM
Quote from: Owebo on February 11, 2021, 01:23:58 AMI just re-read Ayn Rand's Anthem for the upteenth time....it's prophetic....

I wish Rand wasn't such a chore to read. She applies a level of attention to detail that puts me in mind of techno-thriller authors like Tom Clancy or, farther back, Alistair Maclean. But there's really no detail in what she's saying that merits that level of attention.

I remember reading "Atlas Shrugged" and thinking "I've already read this." But I hadn't. What I'd already read was "The Fountainhead."
Title: Re: Last Book Read
Post by: Solar on December 13, 2021, 02:18:36 PM
Quote from: TboneAgain on December 13, 2021, 01:18:26 PMI wish Rand wasn't such a chore to read. She applies a level of attention to detail that puts me in mind of techno-thriller authors like Tom Clancy or, farther back, Alistair Maclean. But there's really no detail in what she's saying that merits that level of attention.

I remember reading "Atlas Shrugged" and thinking "I've already read this." But I hadn't. What I'd already read was "The Fountainhead."
I tried a few times, but kept falling asleep.
The movie isn't all that bad. :biggrin:
Title: Re: Last Book Read
Post by: TboneAgain on December 13, 2021, 03:08:19 PM
Quote from: Solar on December 13, 2021, 02:18:36 PMI tried a few times, but kept falling asleep.
The movie isn't all that bad. :biggrin:

At just over 700 pages, "The Fountainhead" ain't that bad. It drags in spots, but most books do. The story is strong, the pace is usually brisk, and the characters are - naturally - heroic! Gary Cooper and Patricia Neal did it justice in the film, though I would have cast someone besides Neal as Dominique Francon. (The part was made for Vivien Leigh, IMO.) Worth watching especially is Cooper's truly epic monologue during his character's trial. (See below.)

But "Atlas Shrugged".... zowie. Nearly 1,200 pages, roughly 600 of which essentially repeat the other 600. It's been done in a series of movies, but the films had completely different actors and lacked a coherent style. I think it would make a good mini-series in the right hands. The story is essentially "The Fountainhead," with every detail told twice.

Title: Re: Last Book Read
Post by: Twinkle on February 11, 2022, 04:48:56 AM
Quote from: Owebo on February 11, 2021, 01:23:58 AMI just re-read Ayn Rand's Anthem for the upteenth time....it's prophetic....

I read "Anthem" a couple of years ago, and it simply soared with relevance to what we have been experiencing in the last decade or so.  It made me ravenous to read "Atlas Shrugged" which, when I cracked it, sat inert like the proverbial lead balloon.  What a disappointment.

Then someone suggested that all anyone needed to to take from the whole book was John Galt's speech.  I read it, and saved myself a ton of tedious reading.

I am not much of a reader since a brain injury a little over a decade ago, so I have to look hard to find the meat of anything that isn't pure entertainment.
Title: Re: Last Book Read
Post by: Twinkle on February 11, 2022, 04:54:22 AM
Currently reading A.B. Guthrie's "The Way West".  My favorite kinds of fiction are classic science fiction and anything about the pioneers and the settling of this country.  I still love Laura Ingalls Wilder's books because they sparked in me a desire to be like the pioneers, who had to know how to do almost everything necessary to provide for all their needs.  What's so dull about life in America in the 21st century is that hardly anyone knows how to do shit anymore.
Title: Re: Last Book Read
Post by: Solar on February 11, 2022, 06:20:29 AM
Quote from: TboneAgain on December 13, 2021, 03:08:19 PM
Excellent!!!
Says soooo much about the left and how they steal with impunity.
Title: Re: Last Book Read
Post by: TboneAgain on February 11, 2022, 09:44:46 AM
Quote from: Solar on February 11, 2022, 06:20:29 AMExcellent!!!
Says soooo much about the left and how they steal with impunity.
Someone told me a very long time ago that nothing of value has ever been produced or created by a committee. Having been a member of countless committees myself, I can vouch for the truth of that statement. As Roark puts it, "There is no such thing as a collective brain. The man who thinks must think and act on his own."

IMHO Cooper did a good job as Howard Roark. I think Burt Lancaster would have been just as good or better. Kirk Douglas could have done it also. But Cooper brings a measure of humility that the other two would not have done, I think. That humility is a meaningful part of Rand's message. She didn't reserve her vision of liberty only for heroic or mythic types. But at the same time, she recognized that most people don't possess the stuff of greatness.

I feel good every time I watch this few minutes of film.
Title: Re: Last Book Read
Post by: Solar on February 11, 2022, 10:09:21 AM
Quote from: TboneAgain on February 11, 2022, 09:44:46 AMSomeone told me a very long time ago that nothing of value has ever been produced or created by a committee. Having been a member of countless committees myself, I can vouch for the truth of that statement. As Roark puts it, "There is no such thing as a collective brain. The man who thinks must think and act on his own."

IMHO Cooper did a good job as Howard Roark. I think Burt Lancaster would have been just as good or better. Kirk Douglas could have done it also. But Cooper brings a measure of humility that the other two would not have done, I think. That humility is a meaningful part of Rand's message. She didn't reserve her vision of liberty only for heroic or mythic types. But at the same time, she recognized that most people don't possess the stuff of greatness.

I feel good every time I watch this few minutes of film.
Agree all around. That was a time when real Americans still stood and spoke, now you're quickly labeled as a racist etc.
I wear their labels with pride!
Title: Re: Last Book Read
Post by: midcan5 on August 02, 2022, 04:57:05 AM
While it has been a while since anyone posted here, I want to add a favorite that everyone will enjoy.


'Zen And The Art Of Motorcycle Maintenance' By Robert Pirsig


Those of us who grew up in the sixties, loved cars and travel, lived in a different world than today. No internet, we worked with our hands on cars etc. And raced at every light....lol


"Sometimes it's a little better to travel than to arrive." Robert M. Pirsig