Good books

[Bigun]

The author is a composer, so there's a lot of musical analysis.  If you know the works, it's clear.  If not, skim.  ^-^

But the personal information, the letters and notes Beethoven wrote, the Heilegenstat Testament, his anguish, his multiple physical maladies, his deeply emotional personality, his "raptus"....where he went into almost a trance and composed, the tremendous resolve in spite of his deafness....... it's just remarkable.

He's been a hero of mine since I was 13 years old, and in spite of the warts, he's one of the most amazing and admirable people who ever walked the face of the earth.

History is filled with amazing people but most know only about the Kardashians!

[Cripplecreek]

History is filled with amazing people but most know only about the Kardashians!

My grandfather handed me the Chuck Yeager autobiography probably more than 30 years ago. Even as a teenager I couldn't put it down.

[Bigun]

My grandfather handed me the Chuck Yeager autobiography probably more than 30 years ago. Even as a teenager I couldn't put it down.

Here's a list of some pretty amazing people from just one short period in our history: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Medal_of_Honor_recipients_for_the_Vietnam_War

Most people know very little to nothing at all about most of them!  Why is that?

[musiclady]

History is filled with amazing people but most know only about the Kardashians!

Eric Metaxas' books Amazing Grace about William Wilberforce, and Bonhoeffer about, well, Bonhoeffer  ^-^ are two of the best biographies I've read.

Both remarkable, strong men who stood up again evil forces.

[Bigun]

Eric Metaxas' books Amazing Grace about William Wilberforce, and Bonhoeffer about, well, Bonhoeffer  ^-^ are two of the best biographies I've read.

Both remarkable, strong men who stood up again evil forces.

I agree on both!

[Cripplecreek]

Here's a list of some pretty amazing people from just one short period in our history: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Medal_of_Honor_recipients_for_the_Vietnam_War

Most people know very little to nothing at all about most of them!  Why is that?

I may be a high school drop out but I was an avid reader even as a problem teenager. I loved science fiction but I also loved true stories like "5 years to Freedom" by Nick Rowe. I read several first person accounts by Green Berets, Navy Seals and Army Rangers in Vietnam.

[Bigun]

I may be a high school drop out but I was an avid reader even as a problem teenager. I loved science fiction but I also loved true stories like "5 years to Freedom" by Nick Rowe. I read several first person accounts by Green Berets, Navy Seals and Army Rangers in Vietnam.

The biggest FRAUD ever perpetuated is the idea that one can only become educated by sitting in a classroom somewhere!  Knowledge is free to anyone who seeks it and WANTS to know!  Especially so today!

[Lando Lincoln]

Here's a list of some pretty amazing people from just one short period in our history: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Medal_of_Honor_recipients_for_the_Vietnam_War

Most people know very little to nothing at all about most of them!  Why is that?

He graduated a few years in front of me, but I went to the same high school as Gary Wetzel.  It was a big deal in my (then) small town.

[EasyAce]

I'm reading a new 964 page biography by Jan Swafford called Beethoven: Anguish and Triumph that is both thorough and fascinating.

Anyone interested??







Anyone????   ^-^

I'm putting it on my to-read list!

Meanwhile, here are some music-related books I've read in the past year . . .

Peter Guralnick, Sam Phillips
Mark Ribowsky, Dreams to Remember: Otis Redding, Stax Records, and the Transformation of Southern Soul
Fred Goldman, Allen Klein
Tommy James, Me and the Mob and the Music (Tommy James & the Shondells recorded for the label owned by
                     perhaps the single most corrupt/crooked man in the history of the music business, Morris Levy, who strong-
                     armed several labels out of even thinking about signing the Shondells when those kids had an unexpected
                     regional hit with a little number called "Hanky Panky." The irony: Corrupt though he was, Levy gave his label's
                     artists complete artistic freedom. Go figure . . .)
Timothy O'Brien and David Ensminger, Mojo Hand: The Life and Music of Lightnin' Hopkins
Joel Selvin, Here Comes the Night: The Dark Soul of Bert Berns and the Dirty Business of Rhythm & Blues
Darlene Love, My Name is Love
Jan Mark Wolkin and Bill Keenom, Michael Bloomfield: If You Love These Blues
John Glatt, Live at the Fillmore East & West
Dave Marsh, Louie, Louie: The History and Mythology of the World's Most Famous Rock 'n' Roll Song;
                    Including the Full Details of Its Torture and Persecution at the Hands of the Kingsmen, J.
                    Edgar Hoover's FBI, and a Cast of Millions; and Introducing, for the First Time Anywhere,
                    the Actual Dirty Lyrics (I could be wrong, but this may be the only book ever written
                    about a single song . . .)
William Bunch, Jukebox America: Down Back Streets and Blue Highways in Search of the Country's Greatest Jukebox

[Bigun]

He graduated a few years in front of me, but I went to the same high school as Gary Wetzel.  It was a big deal in my (then) small town.

It should be a big deal in all America IMHO!

[Lando Lincoln]

It should be a big deal in all America IMHO!

 

And...

Amen!

[Lando Lincoln]

I just started reading:

Lee: The Last Years
by Charles Bracelen Flood

It opens with Lee's final battle and surrender at Appomattox.  From there, it explores his return to Richmond and his post-war efforts to help the nation heal.  I am about 80 pages in.  Good read so far.

A colleague has recommended a WWII Trilogy (North Africa and Europe) by Rick Atkinson. 

An Army at Dawn: The War in North Africa, 1942-1943
The Day of Battle: The War in Sicily and Italy, 1943-1944
The Guns at Last Light: The War in Western Europe, 1944-1945

Has anyone any page-turning experience with these?

[DCPatriot]

I just started reading:

Lee: The Last Years
by Charles Bracelen Flood

It opens with Lee's final battle and surrender at Appomattox.  From there, it explores his return to Richmond and his post-war efforts to help the nation heal.  I am about 80 pages in.  Good read so far.

A colleague has recommended a WWII Trilogy (North Africa and Europe) by Rick Atkinson. 

An Army at Dawn: The War in North Africa, 1942-1943
The Day of Battle: The War in Sicily and Italy, 1943-1944
The Guns at Last Light: The War in Western Europe, 1944-1945

Has anyone any page-turning experience with these?

@Lando Lincoln

Lando...what was the title..again...of that book to which you referred...something about Lion's Den....something to do with living in pre-WWII Germany and Hitiler's rise to power...

I forgot and can't locate it.   

[roamer_1]

Typically I lean toward Fantasy having started with Tolkien when I was about 12.

The best thing I have ever read in that genre, outside of Tolkien, is 'Thomas Covenant, Unbeliever' series by Donaldson... It's two trilogies, IIRC, about 300/500 pages per book, and is a pretty well fleshed out tale. Kinda sword and sorcery, serious mind-bender. This is one of my favorite all-time books of any kind.

Other favorites in this genre:

The Pelbar Cycle by Williams (somewhere around 6 books c.200/pgs) Really good post-apocalypse, easy reading
The Belgariad by Eddings  (5 books c.300/pgs) kinda predictable sword and sorcery... well written, easy reading.
Dragonriders of Pern by Anne McCaffrey trilogy, 200+pgs each - Off-world... not what you'd think... easy reading

[Lando Lincoln]

@Lando Lincoln

Lando...what was the title..again...of that book to which you referred...something about Lion's Den....something to do with living in pre-WWII Germany and Hitiler's rise to power...

I forgot and can't locate it.   

In the Garden of Beasts by Erik Larson

[musiclady]

I'm putting it on my to-read list!

Meanwhile, here are some music-related books I've read in the past year . . .

Peter Guralnick, Sam Phillips
Mark Ribowsky, Dreams to Remember: Otis Redding, Stax Records, and the Transformation of Southern Soul
Fred Goldman, Allen Klein
Tommy James, Me and the Mob and the Music (Tommy James & the Shondells recorded for the label owned by
                     perhaps the single most corrupt/crooked man in the history of the music business, Morris Levy, who strong-
                     armed several labels out of even thinking about signing the Shondells when those kids had an unexpected
                     regional hit with a little number called "Hanky Panky." The irony: Corrupt though he was, Levy gave his label's
                     artists complete artistic freedom. Go figure . . .)
Timothy O'Brien and David Ensminger, Mojo Hand: The Life and Music of Lightnin' Hopkins
Joel Selvin, Here Comes the Night: The Dark Soul of Bert Berns and the Dirty Business of Rhythm & Blues
Darlene Love, My Name is Love
Jan Mark Wolkin and Bill Keenom, Michael Bloomfield: If You Love These Blues
John Glatt, Live at the Fillmore East & West
Dave Marsh, Louie, Louie: The History and Mythology of the World's Most Famous Rock 'n' Roll Song;
                    Including the Full Details of Its Torture and Persecution at the Hands of the Kingsmen, J.
                    Edgar Hoover's FBI, and a Cast of Millions; and Introducing, for the First Time Anywhere,
                    the Actual Dirty Lyrics (I could be wrong, but this may be the only book ever written
                    about a single song . . .)
William Bunch, Jukebox America: Down Back Streets and Blue Highways in Search of the Country's Greatest Jukebox

Wow.  You are voracious!

Looks like some fine recommendations there! 

[Bigun]

Here is another essential read for anyone interested in knowing the truth about what has happened to our country.

https://www.amazon.com/Dupes-Americas-Adversaries-Manipulated-Progressives/dp/1935191756/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1470849177&sr=8-1&keywords=dupes

[DCPatriot]

In the Garden of Beasts by Erik Larson

Thank you. 

[Cripplecreek]

The Language of The Third Reich is a good one by Victor Klemperer.

In the book he details how the Nazis changed the German language as a means of manipulating the German people into accepting nazi goals.

Klemperer was interesting in the sense that he was a Jew married to a respected German aristocrat and was allowed to remain "free" as long as he remained out of sight. He and his wife fled Germany during allied bombing.

I believe composer Otto Klemperer was his uncle and actor Werner Klemperer (Colonel Klink on Hogan's Heroes) was his cousin.

[Bunny Watson]

The author is a composer, so there's a lot of musical analysis.  If you know the works, it's clear.  If not, skim.  ^-^

But the personal information, the letters and notes Beethoven wrote, the Heilegenstat Testament, his anguish, his multiple physical maladies, his deeply emotional personality, his "raptus"....where he went into almost a trance and composed, the tremendous resolve in spite of his deafness....... it's just remarkable.

He's been a hero of mine since I was 13 years old, and in spite of the warts, he's one of the most amazing and admirable people who ever walked the face of the earth.

@musiclady I'll add this to my list. Have you read Music in 1853: the biography of a year? It came out a few years ago and I found it very enjoyable. The author, who isn't a music scholar, took a different approach to a biography by focusing on interactions and pivot points in music history in Europe in that year. It was great to read about the intersections of the Schumanns, Wagner, Liszt, and a young Brahms.

[musiclady]

@musiclady I'll add this to my list. Have you read Music in 1853: the biography of a year? It came out a few years ago and I found it very enjoyable. The author, who isn't a music scholar, took a different approach to a biography by focusing on interactions and pivot points in music history in Europe in that year. It was great to read about the intersections of the Schumanns, Wagner, Liszt, and a young Brahms.

Ooooo........... that sounds fascinating @Bunny Watson!  I have always been intrigued by the relationship of the Schumanns and Brahms and adding Liszt and Wagner to the mix has got to be amazing!

Thanks for the recommendation.

Still working my way through the Beethoven.  He's 50 now and near the end.  What a remarkable genius, and all around crazy guy he was!  I love him now more than ever!   ^-^

[Bunny Watson]

Ooooo........... that sounds fascinating @Bunny Watson!  I have always been intrigued by the relationship of the Schumanns and Brahms and adding Liszt and Wagner to the mix has got to be amazing!

Thanks for the recommendation.

Still working my way through the Beethoven.  He's 50 now and near the end.  What a remarkable genius, and all around crazy guy he was!  I love him now more than ever!   ^-^

I hope you like it!  It was a really quick and pleasant read. Now that I've abandoned musicology, I find that I generally prefer non-musicological writers of music history.

[musiclady]

I hope you like it!  It was a really quick and pleasant read. Now that I've abandoned musicology, I find that I generally prefer non-musicological writers of music history.

Quick and pleasant sounds a lot better than 950 pages of scholarship!  ^-^

[ABX]

Picked up a Kindle version of a good old fashioned Sci Fi/Zombie Apocalypse book. A Time To Die by Mark Wandrey. Runner up for the 2016 Dragon Award (best Sci Fi book).
https://www.amazon.com/Time-Die-Mark-Wandrey-ebook/dp/B01GGHJ1VY/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8

For a zombie book, so far, the attention to detail is really good, plus a fun read. Kind of a cross between Bracken's EFAD and Maximum Overdrive (you'll get it when you read it).

[RoosGirl]

I have thoroughly enjoyed The Stormlight Archive (Book 1 - The Way of Kings, Book 2 - Words of Radiance) by Brandon Sanderson