The Book Thread - What You're Reading & Everything Book Related

[Green Squall]

When it comes to zombie novels, most are corny, lame and predictable. Its pretty rare to find a good one, so I can highly recommend the "Surviving the Dead" Series by James Cook. Reading book 9 now.
https://www.amazon.com/Surviving-the-Dead-9-book-series/dp/B07JDGJ9LB

 

[Green Squall]

[No message]

 

[theclearspot]

Im reading a book about how liberal elites are effecting the removal of freedoms, freedom of speech, civil liberties by promoting the division of society through woke conformity. Economically on the left but culturally on the right. Fascinating! Stylish writing and funny aswell. On the closure of media into woke conformity:
‘ When you read a novel you want to sail down the Congo River to meet Captain Kurtz, not Kamala Harris…’

Brian Patrick Bolger ‘ Coronavirus and the Strange Death of Truth’

https://m.barnesandnoble.com/w/coro...n-patrick-bolger/1139924448?ean=9781839756221

 

[Frosty Nuggets]

The Most Dangerous Superstition by Larken Rose.

 

[Green Squall]

Currently reading some travel tales by Harry Whitewolf. First book is called "The Road to Purification: Hustlers, Hassles & Hash." It's about his trip to Egypt in 2010. Tomorrow I'll be starting "Route Number 11: Argentina, Angels & Alcohol."

Also expecting "Jungle: A Harrowing True Story of Survival" by Yossi Ghinsberg to arrive tomorrow.

 

[St. Phatty]

Michael Connelly, the first "Lincoln Lawyer".

Coming up to the part where he steals Cisco from the Road Saints.

He makes LA look like a nice place ... no small task.

But he never mentions homeless encampments.

 

[Green Squall]

Michael Connelly, the first "Lincoln Lawyer".

Coming up to the part where he steals Cisco from the Road Saints.

He makes LA look like a nice place ... no small task.

But he never mentions homeless encampments.

Never read the books, but I'm watching the series on Netflix right now.

 

[St. Phatty]

Never read the books, but I'm watching the series on Netflix right now.

Mr. Connelly DEFINITELY Needs to hire his OWN investigators.

he's got the fictional motorcycle club growing pot and SPRINKLING IT WITH METH.

A lot of bikers would knife you if you put Meth on their Pot.

 

[Montuno]

THE MYSTERY OF THE CRYSTAL SKULLS

THE MYSTERY OF THE CRYSTAL SKULLS

Authors; Chris Morton and Ceri Louise Thomas

An old native tale tells of 13 crystal skulls the size of human skulls that were said to contain information about the origins and destiny of humankind.

The legend said thhat one day , at a time of great need, all of the crysttal skulls would be rediscovered and brought toogether to reveal there information vital to the future of humanity.

Earlier this century a real crystal skull was discovered by a British explorer deep in the jungles of Central America. Since then, several other crystal skulls have come to llight.

As enigmatic as the pyramids of Egypt, the great sphinx or stonehenge...the crystal skulls have created a storm of archealogical controversy...

What were the incredible results of the tests carried out on the skullls by scientists at computer company Hewlett Packard?

Do the skulls really possess telepathic qualities, allowing us to see deep into the past and predict the future?

Why do the native American elders claim the crystals skulls are stores of great knowlegde, programmed with an important messagge for humankind?

heres a piece from the book;

Many people who live in the cities cannot ssee what is happening to the Earth. It is people who are still connected to nature who in their daily lives who can see the channges happrening to thhe land. What is happening is thatt the white man has started a war against nature. The natural woorld has become thhe enemy. Polution and poison are the weapons thhat are destroying species of birds, plants and animals.
Thhe people who are gathered here are seeing this descruction every day, but for many people they see it like a war in a distant country-it is sad but it doesnt affect them. Well, pretty soon it will.

I highly recommend this book to anyone!!

I'd like to know those native legends, heh, heh....
Surely if you expose the "legend", and to what native group it is attributed, we can see that there is no such legend....

And I don't know what H&P will say, but the British Museum, the Museum of Man in Paris, the Smithsonian Institute, the Journal of Archeological Science, etc, demonstrated that they are made with raw materials, tools and techniques from between the mid-19th and 20th centuries...

 

[Green Squall]

The Drifters by James Michener, an old classic

 

[Montuno]

Ever watch the Ghost in the Shell series of anime? The Laughing Man episodes are awesome and relate very strongly to the themes in Catcher in the Rye - awesome book btw... Oh, I know this isnt an anime thread but since you read it every year, I have to reccommend you watch Ghost in the Shell "Stand Alone Complex" 1st GIG boxset - the laughing man episodes are in it - you won't regret this man! Trust me!

Anyway - I just finished reading "The Alchemist" By Paulo Coelho, a south american writer... A short book, very charming, tells a story of an Analusian shepherd boy who has the courage to follow a dream... Literally!

Interesting to note that, in its' first run, "The Alchemist" got a print run of 50,000 copies yet in its first year was read by approx. 1,000,000 people - that means each book got passed around 20 times (WOW) ... don't believe it? I've bought it 7 times now, and no doubt after I finish it again (probably tomorrow, it's a short book) I'll pass it onto someone else...

It's the kind of book which sits well with anyone, it is a wonderful story and inspiring enough to make you smile for days after...

With peace,

Tricky_D

For me, "The Alchemist" is one of the most overrated novels in history. An adaptation/simplification of a story by Jorge Luis Borges, in turn inspired by The Thousand and One Nights, and by the Persian-Afghan Yalāl ad-Dīn Muhammad Rūmī (1207-1273) already mentioned in this thread:

READ ANYBODY, whatcha got on the shelf????

READ ANYBODY, whatcha got on the shelf????

Figured I'd find some great reads from our stoner community
Currently got 3 books goin
Cicero, On the Rupublic On the Laws
Sufi Poetry from Rumi
Jason King's CannaBible, always scoping

For me (and many, many more), it can't even be considered adult literature.
If you read in comparison "El Lazarillo de Tormes" (1554) (considered a masterpiece of universal narrative until the appearance of Don Quixote), you will see how Cohelo does nothing more than set up a prefabricated doghouse from Ikea while pretending to equal or surpass the cathedrals and mosques in whose shadow he came here to be "inspired".

A pity, with the magnificent Brazilian literature that there is...

 

[Montuno]

queen of the south is a awesome book based on a true story
http://www.amazon.com/Queen-South-Arturo-Perez-Reverte/dp/0399151850

tackles the gritty world of drug trafficking in Mexico, southern Spain and Morocco, offering a frightening, fascinating look at the international business of transporting cocaine and hashish as well as a portrait of a smart, fast, daring and lucky woman, Teresa Mendoza. As the novel opens, Teresa's phone rings. She doesn't have to answer it: the phone is a special one given to her by her boyfriend, drug runner and expert Cessna pilot Güero Dávila. He has warned her that if a call ever came, it meant he was dead, and that she had to run for her own life. On the lam, Teresa leaves Mexico for Morocco, where she keeps a low profile transporting drug shipments with her new lover. But after a terrible accident and a brief stint in prison, Teresa's on her own again. She manages to find her way, but Teresa is no mere survivor: gaining knowledge in every endeavor she becomes involved in and using her own head for numbers and brilliant intuition, she eventually winds up heading one of the biggest drug traffic rings in the Mediterranean. Spanning 12 years and introducing a host of intriguing, scary characters, from Teresa's drug-addicted prison comrade to her former assassin turned bodyguard, the novel tells the gripping tale of "a woman thriving in a world of dangerous men."

Ay, mi Arturito, que hasta en el IMAC "has clavado tu pica" heroica y varonil, como en Flandes... Ya decía yo que de repente me daba un tufillo así como a mezcla de rancio/viejuno, colonia Varon Dandy, y la tela de poliester malo Made in China de la banderita nacional que rodea, orgullosa de rozarse con la piel de tan magno genio de las Letras Hispánicas , tu muñeca derecha...

Pero perdona, Arturo, que no queria interrumpirte... Sigue contandonos esa vieja historia tan bonita, ¿cómo era?, de cuando España era una espada, una pica, cuya empuñadura estaba en Castilla, y su punta clavada en todas partes del resto del mundo... ¿Como era eso?
Pero no desfallezcas nunca, mi Arturo, como jamas desfalleció soldado de los Tercios...
Eso sí, no veo que va a llegar más tarde: si el día en que te regalen el Premio Cervantes , o el día en que volvamos a ser Imperio... Y aquí te dejo este desternillante himno, que bien conoces, dedicado a los que teneis mas "hambre de Imperio" (-"¡¡Tenenos hambre de Imperio!!-, ¿recuerdas, Arturo?, nos obligaban a gritar en formación durante la dictadura, mientras mirabamos al Sol o a África...) que de bocadillo de tortilla de patatas... "El Imperio Contraataca"

"El Sol no se pone nunca en nuestro Imperio...como me gusta esa frase..."

Que cruz que tengo contigo, Arturo, que cruuuuuzzz..

Pd: @Zealious ,
this is between Don Arturo and me; it has nothing to do with you...
From "my cousin" I recommend you:

Everything else, expendable.

 

[Montuno]

On the art of writing short stories:
Horacio Quiroga
(1879-1937)

Decálogo del perfecto cuentista

I​

Cree en un maestro —Poe, Maupassant, Kipling, Chejov— como en Dios mismo.

II​

Cree que su arte es una cima inaccesible. No sueñes en domarla. Cuando puedas hacerlo, lo conseguirás sin saberlo tú mismo.

III​

Resiste cuanto puedas a la imitación, pero imita si el influjo es demasiado fuerte. Más que ninguna otra cosa, el desarrollo de la personalidad es una larga paciencia.

IV​

Ten fe ciega no en tu capacidad para el triunfo, sino en el ardor con que lo deseas. Ama a tu arte como a tu novia, dándole todo tu corazón.

V​

No empieces a escribir sin saber desde la primera palabra adónde vas. En un cuento bien logrado, las tres primeras líneas tienen casi la importancia de las tres últimas.

VI​

Si quieres expresar con exactitud esta circunstancia: "Desde el río soplaba el viento frío", no hay en lengua humana más palabras que las apuntadas para expresarla. Una vez dueño de tus palabras, no te preocupes de observar si son entre sí consonantes o asonantes.

VII​

No adjetives sin necesidad. Inútiles serán cuantas colas de color adhieras a un sustantivo débil. Si hallas el que es preciso, él solo tendrá un color incomparable. Pero hay que hallarlo.

VIII​

Toma a tus personajes de la mano y llévalos firmemente hasta el final, sin ver otra cosa que el camino que les trazaste. No te distraigas viendo tú lo que ellos pueden o no les importa ver. No abuses del lector. Un cuento es una novela depurada de ripios. Ten esto por una verdad absoluta, aunque no lo sea.

IX​

No escribas bajo el imperio de la emoción. Déjala morir, y evócala luego. Si eres capaz entonces de revivirla tal cual fue, has llegado en arte a la mitad del camino.

X​

No pienses en tus amigos al escribir, ni en la impresión que hará tu historia. Cuenta como si tu relato no tuviera interés más que para el pequeño ambiente de tus personajes, de los que pudiste haber sido uno. No de otro modo se obtiene la vida del cuento.

Horacio Quiroga
(1879-1937)

Decalogue of the perfect storyteller

I​

He believes in a teacher—Poe, Maupassant, Kipling, Chekhov—as in God himself.

II​

He thinks your art is an inaccessible top. Don't dream of taming her. When you can do it, you will get it without knowing it yourself.

III​

Resist imitation as much as you can, but imitate if the influence is too strong. More than anything else, the development of personality is a long patience.

IV​

Have blind faith not in your ability to succeed, but in the ardor with which you want it. Love your art as your girlfriend, giving her all your heart.

IN​

Do not start writing without knowing from the first word where you are going. In a successful story, the first three lines are almost as important as the last three.

WE​

If you want to express exactly this circumstance: "From the river the cold wind blew", there are no more words in human language than those indicated to express it. Once you own your words, don't worry about observing if they are consonants or assonants with each other.

VII​

Don't use unnecessary adjectives. Useless will be how many colored tails you attach to a weak noun. If you find the one that is precise, he will only have an incomparable color. But you have to find it.

VIII​

Take your characters by the hand and lead them firmly to the end, seeing nothing but the path you traced for them. Don't get distracted by seeing what they can or don't care to see. Don't abuse the reader. A tale is a novel refined of cuttings. Take this for an absolute truth, even if it is not.

IX​

Do not write under the rule of emotion. Let her die, and evoke her later. If you are able then to revive it as it was, you have reached the halfway point in art.

X​

Don't think about your friends when writing, or about the impression your story will make. Tell as if your story had no interest except for the small environment of your characters, of which you could have been one. Not otherwise do you get the life of the story.

 

[Montuno]

CONSEJOS SOBRE EL ARTE DE ESCRIBIR CUENTOS. Dodecálogo de Roberto Bolaño:

Como ya tengo 44 años, voy a dar algunos consejos sobre el arte de escribir cuentos.

1.
Nunca abordes los cuentos de uno en uno. Honestamente, uno puede estar escribiendo el mismo cuento hasta el día de su muerte.
2.
Lo mejor es escribir los cuentos de tres en tres, o de cinco en cinco.
Si te ves con energía suficiente, escríbelos de nueve en nueve o de quince en quince.
3.
Cuidado: la tentación de escribirlos de dos en dos es tan peligrosa como dedicarse a escribirlos de uno en uno, pero lleva en su interior el mismo juego sucio y pegajoso de los espejos amantes.
4.
Hay que leer a Quiroga, hay que leer a Felisberto Hernández y hay que leer a Borges. Hay que leer a Rulfo, a Monterroso, a García Márquez. Un cuentista que tenga un poco de aprecio por su obra no leerá jamás a Cela ni a Umbral. Sí que leerá a Cortázar y a Bioy Casares, pero en modo alguno a Cela y a Umbral.
5.
Lo repito una vez más por si no ha quedado claro: a Cela y a Umbral, ni en pintura.
6.
Un cuentista debe ser valiente. Es triste reconocerlo, pero es así.
7.
Los cuentistas suelen jactarse de haber leído a Petrus Borel. De hecho, es notorio que muchos cuentistas intentan imitar a Petrus Borel.
Gran error: ¡Deberían imitar a Petrus Borel en el vestir! ¡Pero la verdad es que de Petrus Borel apenas saben nada! ¡Ni de Gautier, ni de Nerval!
8.
Bueno: lleguemos a un acuerdo. Lean a Petrus Borel, vístanse como Petrus Borel, pero lean también a Jules Renard y a Marcel Schwob, sobre todo lean a Marcel Schwob y de éste pasen a Alfonso Reyes y de ahí a Borges.
9.
La verdad es que con Edgar Allan Poe todos tendríamos de sobra.
10.
Piensen en el punto número nueve. Uno debe pensar en el nueve. De ser posible: de rodillas.
11.
Libros y autores altamente recomendables: De lo sublime, del Seudo Longino; los sonetos del desdichado y valiente Philip Sidney, cuya biografía escribió Lord Brooke; La antología de Spoon River, de Edgar Lee Masters; Suicidios ejemplares, de Enrique Vila-Matas.
12.
Lean estos libros y lean también a Chéjov y a Raymond Carver, uno de los dos es el mejor cuentista que ha dado este siglo...


TIPS ON THE ART OF WRITING STORIES (Roberto Bolaño):

As I am already 44 years old, I am going to give some advice on the art of writing stories.

1.
Never tackle stories one at a time. Honestly, one can be writing the same story until the day they die.
two.
It is best to write the stories three by three, or five by five.
If you feel energetic enough, write them nine by nine or fifteen by fifteen.
3.
Beware: the temptation to write them two at a time is just as dangerous as dedicating yourself to writing them one at a time, but it carries within it the same dirty and sticky game of loving mirrors.
Four.
You have to read Quiroga, you have to read Felisberto Hernández and you have to read Borges. You have to read Rulfo, Monterroso, García Márquez. A storyteller who has some appreciation for his work will never read Cela or Umbral. Yes, he will read Cortázar and Bioy Casares, but in no way Cela and Umbral.
5.
I repeat it once more in case it hasn't been clear: Cela and Umbral, or in painting.
6.
A storyteller must be brave. It is sad to admit, but it is.
7.
Storytellers often boast of having read Petrus Borel. In fact, it is notorious that many storytellers try to imitate Petrus Borel.
Big mistake: They should imitate Petrus Borel in dress! But the truth is that they hardly know anything about Petrus Borel! Neither Gautier nor Nerval!
8.
Well, let's come to an agreement. Read Petrus Borel, dress like Petrus Borel, but also read Jules Renard and Marcel Schwob, especially read Marcel Schwob and from him go to Alfonso Reyes and from there to Borges.
9.
The truth is that with Edgar Allan Poe we would all have plenty.
10.
Think about point number nine. One should think of nine. If possible: on your knees.
eleven.
Highly recommended books and authors: De lo sublime, del Pseudo Longino; the sonnets of the unhappy and brave Philip Sidney, whose biography Lord Brooke wrote; The Spoon River Anthology by Edgar Lee Masters; Exemplary Suicides, by Enrique Vila-Matas.
12.
Read these books and also read Chekhov and Raymond Carver, one of the two is the best storyteller this century has produced...

 

[Montuno]

A masterful example of the above advice, by the master of brevity (and Cervantes Prize winner) Augusto Monterroso:

La oveja negra​

[Minicuento - Texto completo.]
Augusto Monterroso

---

En un lejano país existió hace muchos años una Oveja negra. Fue fusilada.

Un siglo después, el rebaño arrepentido le levantó una estatua ecuestre que quedó muy bien en el parque.​

Así, en lo sucesivo, cada vez que aparecían ovejas negras eran rápidamente pasadas por las armas para que las futuras generaciones de ovejas comunes y corrientes pudieran ejercitarse también en la escultura.

FIN

the black sheep​

[Mini story - Full text.]
Augusto Monterroso

---

In a distant country there existed many years ago a Black Sheep. She was shot.

A century later, the repentant herd erected an equestrian statue of him that was very well in the park.​

Thus, henceforth, whenever black sheep appeared, they were quickly put to death so that future generations of ordinary sheep could also practice sculpture.

FINISH

 

[Montuno]

Los pájaros prohibidos​

Eduardo Galeano: Pajaros prohibidos:​

1976, Cárcel de Libertad: Pájaros prohibidos.
Los presos políticos uruguayos no pueden hablar sin permiso, silbar, sonreír, cantar, caminar rápido ni saludar a otro preso.
Tampoco pueden dibujar ni recibir dibujos de mujeres embarazadas, parejas, mariposas, estrellas ni pájaros.
Didaskó Pérez, maestro de escuela, torturado y preso por tener "ideas ideológicas", recibe un domingo la visita de su hija Milay, de cinco años.

La hija le trae un dibujo de pájaros. Los censores se lo rompen a la entrada de la cárcel.

Al domingo siguiente, Milay le trae un dibujo de árboles. Los árboles no están prohibidos, y el dibujo pasa.

Didaskó le elogia la obra y le pregunta por los circulitos de colores que aparecen en las copas de los árboles, muchos pequeños círculos entre las ramas:
-"¿Son naranjas? ¿Qué frutas son?"
La niña lo hace callar:
-"Ssshhhh".Y en secreto le explica:
-"Bobo. ¿No ves que son ojos? Los ojos de los pájaros que te traje a escondidas".

Edward Galeano: The forbidden birds :​

1976, Liberty Prison: Forbidden Birds.
Uruguayan political prisoners cannot speak without permission, whistle, smile, sing, walk fast, or greet another prisoner.
They also cannot draw or receive drawings from pregnant women, couples, butterflies, stars or birds.
Didaskó Pérez, a school teacher, tortured and imprisoned for having "ideological ideas", receives a visit from his five-year-old daughter Milay one Sunday.

The daughter brings him a drawing of birds. The censors break it at the entrance of the jail.

The following Sunday, Milay brings him a drawing of trees. The trees are not prohibited, and drawing passes.

Didaskó praises the work and asks about the colored circles that appear in the treetops, many small circles between the branches:
-"Are they oranges? What fruits are they?"
The girl silences him:
- "Ssshhhh". And secretly she explains:
-"Bobo. Can't you see that they are eyes? The eyes of the birds that I secretly brought you."

 

[Montuno]

anybody read Roberto Bolano? i like him better than Garcia Marquez and Vargas Llosa. i just finished up Marquez's "Memories of my Melancholy Whores", and Vargas Llosa's ("Death in the Andes"). they were good. but i really loved Bolano's "Last Evenings on Earth," and his cool novel/memoir "The Savage Detectives."

Yoooooooo !!, yoooooo !!
Roberto Bolaño, que grande...

A must, 2666:

2666 - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

 

[Montuno]

don't know what kind of non-fiction you like, but this is one of my favorite history books. It's on the conquest of the Aztecs by Cortez, and includes tons of first hand accounts:
http://books.google.com/books?id=jF...book-thumbnail&resnum=2&sqi=2&ved=0CDAQ6wEwAQ

"The Conquest of Mexico: The Encounter of Two Worlds, the Clash of Two Empires," was titled here.... Monumental; and although it is not fiction, it leaves many good adventure novels on the floor, and it reads like one.
I don't see a more complete and at the same time fascinating way to get into the subject.

The cover image is a reproduction of part of a native painting (I don't remember if it is Mexica or Tlaxcalan) that represents the fight on the causeways and in the canals of Tenchtitlan during the "Noche Triste" (The Sad Night); the lower fragment is missing: the native with cotton white pants lying down is a Tlaxcalan warrior (the Republic of Tlaxcala was the main native Spanish ally) lying down and shaking hands with Hernan Cortes, who has fallen into the water, to help him up the causeway.

 

[Montuno]

this is even better, all first hand accounts
http://books.google.com/books?id=Vs...ook_result&ct=result&resnum=2&ved=0CC4Q6AEwAQ

They are totally different:
Bernal Díaz del Castillo is a humble conquistador reliving his part in the Conquest. I would recommend confronting/completing his "History of the Conquest of New Spain", with the "Letters to the Emperor", by Hernán Cortés himself, and the chronicles of the Mexica and their allies of the Triple Alliance, collected in Nahualt and Spanish by Miguel León-Portilla in "The Vision of the Conquered".

Hugh Thomas is a contemporary historian, Hispanist and researcher, who uses Bernal Díaz del Castillo as one more of his sources.

 

[Montuno]

Read Ernest Hemingway's For Whom the Bell Tolls while listening to Metallica's For Whom the Bell Tolls, on infinite repeat.