Now reading...

[jazzbo]

Oh yes, this was Kirby before he created the Fantastic Four for Marvel, and the final third of this series under Kirby was inked by Wally Wood, a great combination. (Kirby and Wood did a newspaper strip together previously). 

I didn't buy these off the rack originally (I was too young) but picked them up in the early 'eighties in reprints because. . . Kirby and Wood. I wasn't collecting comics then but . . .Kirby and Wood caused me to pick them up. I now have the edition pictured.

[ghost of miles]

One of the books I seem to inevitably reread every few years:

[ejp626]

I just read Tim O'Brien's America Fantastica while on the bus to and from Buffalo.  I liked it a lot, though he has a very sour, jaded take on Americans, particularly those of the MAGA-variety.  (I felt he sometimes was trying to channel Hunter S. Thompson, though this wasn't quite so gonzo.)  Indeed, the book is set in the waning years of the previous president, and COVID does make an appearance at the end.  Everyone in the book, with the possible exception of two characters, is a grifter or an outright thief.   

[GA Russell]

On 2/16/2024 at 1:17 PM, jazzbo said:

Oh yes, this was Kirby before he created the Fantastic Four for Marvel, and the final third of this series under Kirby was inked by Wally Wood, a great combination. (Kirby and Wood did a newspaper strip together previously). 

I didn't buy these off the rack originally (I was too young) but picked them up in the early 'eighties in reprints because. . . Kirby and Wood. I wasn't collecting comics then but . . .Kirby and Wood caused me to pick them up. I now have the edition pictured.

Lon, I can see that you are a comic book connoisseur!

For many years (decades) I have wanted to read the stories of Black Mask and Dime Detective.

A few years ago, an attorney obtained as payment for services rendered the rights to the Black Mask catalogue.  He re-published many of the stories.  Apparently the sales were good, because now we are seeing the Dime Detective stories re-published as well.

Radio Archives is also re-releasing many pulp magazines as eBooks.

[jazzbo]

Cool! Those old pulps are fun. I haven't read too much. . . Shadow. . . Doc Savage. . . and quite a bit of fantasy and science fiction . . . all in book form, not pulp mag form. I don't yet do any ebooks.

Edited February 18 by jazzbo

[soulpope]

10 hours ago, GA Russell said:

 

Hard boiled stuff .... 

[Referentzhunter]

William Wilson & Story of the Rough Mountains

[Referentzhunter]

[mjazzg]

Len Deighton - Berlin Game

interspersed with selections from,

The Translations Of Seamus Heaney

[ejp626]

I got about 2/3 of the way through East of Eden on a very long bus ride.  Will wrap it up in next few days.  I haven't decided whether to watch the movie, which only covers a relatively small chunk of the novel.

[soulpope]

On 2/23/2024 at 1:18 PM, Referentzhunter said:

Definitely changing reader's view on professional cooking ....

[GA Russell]

Anyone here a ham?  My dad was.  This is a glorified advertisement for having a portable ham radio.

[EKE BBB]

Re-reading Gunther Schuller’s ‘Early Jazz’. Undoubtedly outdated in some of his analyses, but still it makes a very interesting and enlightening reading. 

[JSngry]

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2024/02/26/on-the-night-of-the-khatam-fiction-jamil-jan-kochai

Print version. A vivid story that leaves a lot told in the untelling. 

Enjoyed it so much that I ordered the author's shirt story collection. 

[rostasi]

1 hour ago, JSngry said:

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2024/02/26/on-the-night-of-the-khatam-fiction-jamil-jan-kochai

Print version. A vivid story that leaves a lot told in the untelling. 

Enjoyed it so much that I ordered the author's shirt story collection. 

This might be of some help to some.

[jlhoots]

1 hour ago, JSngry said:

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2024/02/26/on-the-night-of-the-khatam-fiction-jamil-jan-kochai

Print version. A vivid story that leaves a lot told in the untelling. 

Enjoyed it so much that I ordered the author's shirt story collection. 

The short stories are well written, but harrowing.

[GA Russell]

Eleven stories, all above average.

[jlhoots]

Tommy Orange: Wandering Stars

[rostasi]

[Referentzhunter]

[Referentzhunter]

[ghost of miles]

[Brad]

On 3/7/2024 at 8:24 AM, Referentzhunter said:

Is this your first time reading this?

Catcher in the Rye, even today, is a book people like to ban. According to one site I saw, “The American Library Association states that The Catcher in the Rye has been banned by schools and public libraries for having ‘excess vulgar language, sexual scenes, things concerning moral issues, excessive violence and anything dealing with the occult’ and ‘communism,’ among other things.”  Yeah, that’s the whole point of reading it! I still have my original copy that I read back in 9th or 10th grade in 1965 or 1966. 

Edited March 8 by Brad

[gmonahan]

5 hours ago, Brad said:

Is this your first time reading this?

Catcher in the Rye, even today, is a book people like to ban. According to one site I saw, “The American Library Association states that The Catcher in the Rye has been banned by schools and public libraries for having ‘excess vulgar language, sexual scenes, things concerning moral issues, excessive violence and anything dealing with the occult’ and ‘communism,’ among other things.”  Yeah, that’s the whole point of reading it! I still have my original copy that I read back in 9th or 10th grade in 1965 or 1966. 

Me too--and in about the same year and grade! Handed to me under a desk by a friend as if we were in a spy movie!

 

[GA Russell]

This is interesting.  The author believes that the story we all know regarding the deaths of Hitler and Eva Braun was the work product of Hugh Trevor-Roper (who in 1945 was a major assigned to Military Intelligence).  He says that there has never been physical evidence supporting the story.  The story is based upon the testimony of a few Germans who claimed to be eyewitnesses, but none of their testimonies match up.  In the summer of 1945, two German submarines arrived in Argentina, and surrendered to the Argentine navy.  The author believes that Hitler, Eva Braun, Martin Bormann and others were on one of the submarines.  Bormann, by the way, is portrayed to be a businessman who was much more savvy than I have seen him shown elsewhere.