Martinex1: What is the topic going to be today? Only the leader knows! Jump in and get us started - any topic related to the great Bronze Age of our youth is fair game. Music, movies, television, and comics can be discussed of course! Define the subject and get us started! Cheers!
10 comments:
Are there any books you bought but never read ? Or any books you've never read but intend to read someday ?
I mostly read the books I buy (even though some have been a slog - I bought it so I feel an obligation to read it) but here are some I never got round to reading:
The Foundation Trilogy by Isaac Asimov - I bought this in December 1978 as a "box-set". I only bought it because of the stunnings paintings of space-ships on the box, it was such a beautiful object I had to have it but I never read the novels inside. I discovered many years later that the paintings were almost certainly by Chris Foss who does lots of sci-fi artwork.
Christine by Stephen King - I bought this in 1983 and I read the first few pages then abandoned it. It's the only Stephen King book I've ever owned.
Ancient Evenings by Norman Mailer - also bought in 1983. I bought this because I was very interested in ancient Egypt (where the book is set) but I also thought that owning a book by Norman Mailer would make me seem intelligent and sophisticated :) Unfortunately I never actually read it.
Books I'd like to read someday: I suppose The Foundation Trilogy and Ancient Evenings (I'll skip Christine). Thanks to e-books I've read such classics as Dracula, Frankenstein, On The Road, Homer's The Odyssey and To Kill A Mockingbird. I've yet to read The Grapes of Wrath, Catcher In The Rye and...er, loads of others :)
My answer to the first question is sort of yes. Sort of, because I have stacks of books I've bought that are waiting to be read - I have every intention of reading them, I just don't know when I'll get around to it. (And like you, I feel an obligation to read a book all the way through if I took the trouble to buy it; actually, though, I feel an obligation to finish any book, whether bought or borrowed, once I start reading it - there's only relatively few books I've decided to stop reading because I found them too boring or poorly written, etc.).
Anyway, that first answer basically answers your second question as well.
I never read any of the Dune series, even though I bought the first three books in anticipation of the movie in the early 80's. I actually started the first one a few weeks before the movie and couldn't get into it, then I saw the movie and definitely didn't get into it. I think it was the glossary of terms that they handed out before the movie. Not sure how I was supposed to read it in a darkened theatre, but.....
Oh Man, I have lots of books (and comics) that I just haven't gotten around to yet. I'll see something that I've always wanted to read, get it because it's a steal, then not read it right away and BAM, it's in the "to read" pile. That's partly what my blog is about, finally reading (or re-reading) some classic stuff.
Not actually purchased, but I tried a Tom Clancy book once, on a bus trip. Being a career military guy and my fondness for science and technology, I'd thought I'd like it. Nada.
Enjoyed the movies though.
Dune. Bought it used, tried to read it, gave it to the library, bought it again... now sitting in a drawer.
Just read the first dozen or so pages... I think I had trouble remembering so many names (there is the glossary of names!) Also the concept of peoples eating something for enhancing their minds reminded me of Lennon and other 60s personalities taking LSD for enhancing their mind. I just ain't into the drug culture so it didn't sit well with me. (Man - what's with kids these days taking heroin and LSD? I thought those two drugs died out in the 70s.)
David_B - you were a cold war guy, no? You might enjoy "Red Storm Rising" by Clancy. I actually read it while on Reforger '88 and we were flying all over the area where the land war was centered, near Wolfsburg, (West) Germany.
Okay, nother story:
Back in the day, 2008, to be exact, my oldest daughter's high school team had a tournament in another city. This was the "Big Trip" for her team. There was a four hour break in the games so I went to grab some lunch and kill some time. Turned out there was a Borders in the same strip so I went and picked up some books. I perused the close out table, randomly picking out three books that were 80% off. Tried to think outside the box.
Later that weekend, I found that the Half Price Bookstore was literally down the street from the tournament site!!! I know! Right?
After that, it became a yearly tradition to hit the Half Price, grab lunch and do some reading. Part of the tradition was I had to have the books finished before the next year's tournament. Because of tradition, I kept my picks to three. Over that years, changes made the out of city tournament a thing of the past by time my youngest was a sophomore, 2013 to be exact. And now, I have a History of Poland and a book on Reconstruction that I haven't read. Part of the problem is time and buying too many Essentials. Again, I know, right?
Big fan of both Dune and the Foundation Trilogy. Enjoyed them both.
I would like to someday read the entire Natty "Hawkeye" Bumpo series. I do believe there's six books by Cooper.
Last word on yesterday:
In my clue, I was describing Alfred, Bruce Wayne's butler. david_p answered Jarvis. I could see how the clues could lead to Jarvis, but I have always thought of Jarvis as the Avengers butler. I know he was Stark's butler but to me, Jarvis is the Avengers' butler. And yes, Tony's parents died, but again, that was never a huge influence on why Tony became Iron Man. Wayne's parents death is a huge piece of canon to why he's Bat-Man. Just saying...
(I was alone, I took a ride
I didn't know what I would find there
Another road where maybe I could see another kind of mind there
Ooh, then I suddenly see you
Ooh, did I tell you I need you
Every single day of my life
You didn't run, you didn't lie
You knew I wanted just to hold you
And had you gone you knew in time we'd meet again
For I had told you
Ooh, you were meant to be near me
Ooh, and I want you to hear me
Say we'll be together every day
Got to get you into my life
What can I do, what can I be
When I'm with you I want to stay there
If I'm true I'll never leave
And if I do I know the way there
Ooh, then I suddenly see you
Ooh, did I tell you I need you
Every single day of my life
Got to get you into my life
Got to get you into my life
I was alone, I took a ride
I didn't know what I would find there
Another road where maybe I could see another kind of mind there
Then suddenly I see you
Did I tell you I need you
Every single day).
I don't have too many books around that I haven't read, but there is an impossibly long list of books I want to read but haven't. Many classics, works of Shakespeare, histories, science fiction. Philosophy, science texts. And yes, loads of comics. Waaay too much to list. I need to get busy. I'm hoping the afterlife includes access to the complete literary works of mankind; I'll need eternity to get through it all.
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