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pedersencr
Posted: Fri May 28, 2004 4:23 pm Reply with quote
Joined: 21 May 2004 Posts: 921 Location: New Orleans
Lissa,

Yup, maybe we also need a Book Buyers Anonymous chapter in here Sad

Another great idea from you.

Charles, LOL
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marantzo
Posted: Fri May 28, 2004 4:46 pm Reply with quote
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I read The Little Drummer Girl by Le Carre. That was it for me. What a plodding, overwritten clunker it was. There wasn't a character in it that I cared about. And for being about a spy/counter-spy, terrorist huntdown, it was boooring. The little mannerisms that he gives his characters ( to make them endearing in some way, I suppose) are just annoying.

Vengeance, a book about the hunting down of the people behind the Munich massacre, by George Jonas was more sharply written, less pretentious and far more enjoyable.
yambu
Posted: Fri May 28, 2004 4:50 pm Reply with quote
Joined: 23 May 2004 Posts: 6441 Location: SF Bay Area
Charles, I wish you well in this worthy project. My wife has a two-volumn geneology, from 1609 in England, when her family were Quakers, to No. Ireland, where they became Presbyterian, to Ohio (their Methodist period), to Arkansas and Texas, where they split into several denominations.

When I read about them in the 1860's, suddenly there are pages and pages that just list the dead, from both sides of that conflict, and the enormity of that horriffic time becomes immediate.
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lissa
Posted: Fri May 28, 2004 4:54 pm Reply with quote
Joined: 20 May 2004 Posts: 2148 Location: my computer
Quote:
When I read about them in the 1860's,


You were reading back then? Wow, yambu, didn't realize you were that old!!

Sorry - I just couldn't resist. It must be Friday.

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pedersencr
Posted: Fri May 28, 2004 4:55 pm Reply with quote
Joined: 21 May 2004 Posts: 921 Location: New Orleans
Yambu,

Wowww.

Charles
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tirebiter
Posted: Fri May 28, 2004 5:17 pm Reply with quote
Joined: 20 May 2004 Posts: 4011 Location: not far away
LeCarrés I recommend without reservation:

The Spy Who Came In From The Cold
Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy
Smiley's People
A Perfect Spy
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marantzo
Posted: Fri May 28, 2004 6:30 pm Reply with quote
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Well I gave up on Hemingway after a two year odyssey through For Whom the Bell Tolls so I'm not going to give a little kahker like Le Carre another chance. I didn't realise till I finished FWtBT that I should have read the last 20 pages or so and skipped the first 320.

I know this attitude may sound ridiculous to some, if not all, but I'm not a big reader of fiction and I don't want to waste my time on someone whose work not only didn't impress me but actually annoyed me.

Oh, wait a minute, I did read The Old Man and the Sea. It was short. And not annoying, but sort of silly. Good for a writing thesis but really inconsequential for a great writer.
yambu
Posted: Fri May 28, 2004 7:03 pm Reply with quote
Joined: 23 May 2004 Posts: 6441 Location: SF Bay Area
If you like 'em real short, try this:

http://www.geocities.com/cyber_explorer99/hemingwayveryshort.html


My collection of his short stories is by my bed. Try Death in the Afternoon, his classic re the bull fight.

And BTW, I never saw "kahker" before. I researched it and came up empty. What can you tell us?
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pedersencr
Posted: Fri May 28, 2004 7:08 pm Reply with quote
Joined: 21 May 2004 Posts: 921 Location: New Orleans
Marantzo,
Actually I like big, long, slow, boring novels, although Cryptonomicon and Quicksilver may be beyond even my pain threshold.

However, that ain't gonna stop me from finding George Jonas's Vengeance that you recommend and probably enjoying it as much as you suggest I will.

Thanks for the recommendation,
Charles
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Marc
Posted: Fri May 28, 2004 7:12 pm Reply with quote
Joined: 19 May 2004 Posts: 8424
its nice and calm here in the reading room. Just coming in for a little peace of mind. Thank you. Bye.
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marantzo
Posted: Fri May 28, 2004 7:23 pm Reply with quote
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yambu it's a yiddish word that means literally 'shitter'. It refers to a baby, but is used as sort of an affectionate reference to a small person. I used it as a way of comparing Le Carre to Hemingway. There was an hilarious Johnny Carson show where Jack E Leonard was a guest on the same show with Charles Aznevour and Jack kept calling Aznevour by that epithet. Aznevour was completely non-plussed. It was priceless to see these two, who were from different universes.

Charles I don't neccessarily favour short books. I hope you enjoy Vengeance. They made a movie of it called Sword of Gideon I believe.
yambu
Posted: Fri May 28, 2004 7:27 pm Reply with quote
Joined: 23 May 2004 Posts: 6441 Location: SF Bay Area
Peace of mind, my ass. You wanna talk books, then talk books. Otherwise, quit taking up space, you New Mexican roadkill.

Shhhh....this is the reading forum.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!
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lissa
Posted: Fri May 28, 2004 7:31 pm Reply with quote
Joined: 20 May 2004 Posts: 2148 Location: my computer
Boys, boys, boys, must I come in here, and peer at you over my little half-glasses and shush you incessantly till you respect the sanctity of this space?

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yambu
Posted: Fri May 28, 2004 8:05 pm Reply with quote
Joined: 23 May 2004 Posts: 6441 Location: SF Bay Area
No, Ms. Lissa.
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lshap
Posted: Fri May 28, 2004 8:15 pm Reply with quote
Site Admin Joined: 12 May 2004 Posts: 4246 Location: Montreal
Hey Yambu, just checked my kids' bookshelf and there's a recent series of books by Byron Barton that my kids loved. They're small with thick cardboard pages in bright primary colors and they're called, "Trucks", "Trains", "Planes", "Machines At Work", and there are probably more. Each is illustrated with big theme-appropriate pictures.
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