So, What Are You Reading?

Discussion in 'Off-Topic Discussions' started by Ted Heiks, Jul 27, 2013.

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  1. sirjamesm

    sirjamesm New Member

    1) 7 Habits of High Successful People (2nd go round, I never seem to make it through)
    2) Atlantis World by A.G. Riddle - I like the sci-fi/fantasy genre, especially apocalyptic/post apocalyptic fantasy and I read the first two in this series (Atlantis Gene and Atlantis Plague) when I was sick back in January. Riddle is a fairly new author and much of the first novel had some rough patches in the fluidity of his writing, but I liked the story so I stuck it out, the 2nd was great and so far the third is good too.

    I have a large list of books I want to get to but I am also looking forward to The Widow's House by Daniel Abraham coming out in August.
     
  2. Tireman 44444

    Tireman 44444 Well-Known Member

    Honestly by Michael Sweet ( Lead singer of Stryper..metal band from California. They are a Christian metal band that has sold over 10 million albums)
    Rereading The WPA Guides by Christine Bold..about the Federal Writers Project ( my research..LOL)
    Finishing up Bang Your Head- David Karnow..about the rise and fall of metal ( if you have not figured out by now, I am a metalhead, minus the drugs and drinking...:) )
     
  3. Johann

    Johann Well-Known Member

    Glad to know there actually are such people -- although "Lemmy" would likely frown on them. :smile: Just kidding... I know there are lots of sober metal fans!
    Seriously -- the first Stryper fan I met was a friend's teenage son, back in the 80s - the band has been around for a long, long time. I believe Jim Bakker was a fan, and supported the band, but Jimmy Swaggart didn't.

    Johann
     
  4. airtorn

    airtorn Moderator

    Old Man's War by John Scalzi
     
  5. Tireman 44444

    Tireman 44444 Well-Known Member

    [Glad to know there actually are such people -- although "Lemmy" would likely frown on them. :smile: Just kidding... I know there are lots of sober metal fans!
    Seriously -- the first Stryper fan I met was a friend's teenage son, back in the 80s - the band has been around for a long, long time. I believe Jim Bakker was a fan, and supported the band, but Jimmy Swaggart didn't.

    Yep they have. Their latest, No More Hell To Pay is back to their thrashy, fast paced style of metal. It has sold over 30 K in the US alone. Now, before you all say, oh that is terrible, it is not a great market for metal these days. It does not get airplay "AT ALL". Yeah, Jimmy Swaggart. Humm. Actually, Lemmy is clean and sober now. He had a heart scare this year and no more drinking and smoking for him. For me, I have never been high. I have never smoked. I have never been drunk ( I think I have had two beers and a flute of champagne in my life. When I go to concerts (yes, I do..:), I consume Dr. Pepper.

    Johann[/QUOTE]
     
  6. Rich Douglas

    Rich Douglas Well-Known Member

    Asphalt Gods by Vincent Mallozzi
     
  7. SteveFoerster

    SteveFoerster Resident Gadfly Staff Member

    Is one of the habits perseverance? :wink:

    Normally I prefer my sci-fi to be more sci-fi and less technothriller, but that looks potentially interesting. Have you read the Breach trilogy by Patrick Lee? The books themselves are fairly breezy technothrillers, but boy does he have a knack for "WTF?!" endings, especially at the end of the third book.
     
  8. 03310151

    03310151 Active Member

    There you go....the Rucker!!! Heaven is a Playground is one of my favorites.

    Love to hear a review when you finish.
     
  9. sirjamesm

    sirjamesm New Member

    I haven't, but now I have to add another one to my list... I tend to lean more towards LotR and Song of Fire and Ice type fantasy, but don't mind sci fi as long as it's not too scary. I know that probably sounds strange for a grown man, but I don't really want to read to get freaked out, I want to be sucked into the world and enjoy it to a degree.
     
  10. Johann

    Johann Well-Known Member

    I agree, humm.

    Apparently, Jimmy's gripe had to do with Stryper's practice of giving out Bibles to metal fans. He called it "casting pearls before swine." A truly flawed and miserable individual, as I see it.

    At least one "heavy" musician didn't like Jimmy much - Ozzy Osbourne.
    I'm sure you know his "Miracle Man" - the song about Swaggart:

    "Now Jimmy, he got busted
    With his pants down
    Repent ye wretched sinner
    Self righteous clown

    Miracle Man got busted,
    Miracle Man got busted ..."


    Johann
     
    Last edited by a moderator: May 30, 2014
  11. Tireman 44444

    Tireman 44444 Well-Known Member

    Yep and it is a great song with Zakk Wyld on guitars. Yeah, it was Strypers come uppance, as it were.


    And who was Jimmy?
     
    Last edited by a moderator: May 31, 2014
  12. Messdiener

    Messdiener Active Member

    The Search for the Perfect Language by Umberto Eco

    and

    Orthodox Dogmatic Theology by Protoresbyter Michael Pomazansky
     
  13. Ted Heiks

    Ted Heiks Moderator and Distinguished Senior Member

    You know somethionmg? I saw that book over at a Christian used bookstore in Sandusky, but I didn't buy it because4 I have been an almost lifelong Democrat and so I didn't like Shrub when he was still in office. bUT, You know something? People's opinions, even very longly and very strongly held ones, can change. Case in point. Before finding a new humble part-time low-paid job working in the Goodwill store in Port Clinton, Ohio
    (where part of what I get to do ... for half-days ... is sort books), I was browsing in the used books section at one of the friendly neighborhood local Goodwill stores. And what do you think I should find?
    And dis I buy it? Well, I will tell you. But hold that thought. Well, what it was was a book (but I forgot the title) which was written by none other than former Rwpublican Presidential candidate Mitt Romney which was written in 2010. I didn't think I would like it because I had thought that Mitt Romney was some evil rEPUBLICAN who came off as a bit oblivious, clueless, at emotionally detatched from the everyday concerns of everyday ordinary garden-varirty common lumps like me. Well, one day when I walked over to Mommy & Daddy's house (a short four nlocks away), I briught my Mitt Romney book along with me. And so I sat doen in Daddy's easy chair and I read my new book. I liked it! YOU see, when I actually started reading what this guy thinks, I actually found thay a lot of what he had to say actually started making some good common sense. And, you see, Sam I Am, I liked it, just like that green eggs and ham.
     
  14. Ted Heiks

    Ted Heiks Moderator and Distinguished Senior Member

    Continuing On ...

    yOU SEE, the reason I didn't think I would like The Faith of George Walker Bush (And Who Was The Author?) IS that I thought of him as some evil two-timing Republican elections thief (WHO WAS appointed to the presidencty by the very men who Daddy appointed to the SCOTUS, remember?) who was still a little biy trapped in a grown man's body
    (remember the 40-year-old alcoholic miserable failure story in his elections stories?). You know hou he wanted to mobe back in to Daddy's old house in Wasshington. But, people's longly and strongly held opinions can and do change. You know what? Had I known that Shrub, like me, held a bachelor's oin history and master'as in business, maybe I might have liked the guy when he was still in offive. Maybe he could have been one of thiose guys that I'd like to have a beer with him. You know?, I like history, eben church history. So, I think i'll buy the book. And even maybe read it.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: May 31, 2014
  15. Ted Heiks

    Ted Heiks Moderator and Distinguished Senior Member

    Continuing On ...

    Almost Done &Next Up ...

    Almost Done #1:Fritz Stern,The Varieties Of History

    Almost Done #2: Page Smith,The Historian & History

    Next Up #1: Edward Hastings Ripley, Vermont General: The Unusual War Experiences of Edward Hastings Ripley

    Next Up#2: David Hackett Fisher, Historians' Fallacies
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Sep 21, 2014
  16. Ted Heiks

    Ted Heiks Moderator and Distinguished Senior Member

    And who was Stryper?
     
  17. Ted Heiks

    Ted Heiks Moderator and Distinguished Senior Member

    You know what I want to read? Buckeye Blacksmith, by John Bear. I found it offered used on amazon.com . From the book's description, it seems to be about a northern Ohio pioneer from the very early part of the nineteenth century (shortly after Ohio WAS admitted to the uNION).
     
  18. Ted Heiks

    Ted Heiks Moderator and Distinguished Senior Member

    Say, Tireman?

    Stupid Question?
     
  19. Ted Heiks

    Ted Heiks Moderator and Distinguished Senior Member

    Okay, Tireman! Sorry I accidentally edited your post. Now, yes, moderators arev legally allowed to edit other people's posts (and maybe even should try editing their own posts from time to time). But I know that some people (including Richard Coleman Douglas) tend to get a tad bit touchy about these things. tHUS far in my 2 to 4 (?) years as a mod here (and does anyone know how to figure out how long someone's been a mod here? ... the title under your name reverts to the same title going all the way back to post # 1 when you get a new title.) But, please let me explain HOW it came about that I edited your post. You see, I was actually trying to reply with quote and accidentally hit the edit button instead. You see, all I wanted to know was who Jimmy and Stryker were. You see that this was only the second time I've edited a post in my 2 to 4 years as a mod here. And only one time was intentional. And the time that it was intentional, Rich got mad at me for so doing. Plus, the tiome that it was intentional, I was actually trying to help the guy. I edited the post because the guy had accidentally scrambled up, mixed up, the alphabet soup of accreditation agency that he was talking about and I was trying to spare the poor guy a little embarrassment (sp?). Anywho ...



    About that stupid question. Well, actually, two stupid questions.

    First Stupid Question: Somewhere further upthread, I was posting about my having just finished reading KL (AND MAYBE EVEN FURTHERMORE READING Killing Kennedy and Killing Jesus). Weel, you said you really didn't like the book because it just wasn't that good. What did you mean by that?


    Second Stupid Question: Some time ago, I was asking about your thesis and dissertation titles. I had thought that the thesis was about the Slave Narratives of North Carolina and the dissertation was about the Slave Narratives of Texas. And you said to both, "Well, yes, tangentially, to both." And then you gave more specific explanations to both.
     
  20. SteveFoerster

    SteveFoerster Resident Gadfly Staff Member

    The assumption here is that just because it's in the book means it's really what the guy thinks, rather than what his handlers calculated at the time would produce a reaction exactly like the one you had. It's not a window into his soul, it's a long campaign brochure.
     

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