What's Currently on Your Reading List?

[thankgod4rkids]

I started on this. It was in my grandpa's collection that I've had for 20 years but never read. Written in the late 1960s Several authors on history stating with Lewis and Clark and mountain men, gold rush, Indian wars through ranches and settlers in the late 1800s. Tons of Frederick Remington pictures and others. Almost ashamed its been on my shelf that long without getting to it.
Bill

[Steve Warden]

I started on this. It was in my grandpa's collection that I've had for 20 years but never read. Written in the late 1960s Several authors on history stating with Lewis and Clark and mountain men, gold rush, Indian wars through ranches and settlers in the late 1800s. Tons of Frederick Remington pictures and others. Almost ashamed its been on my shelf that long without getting to it.
Bill

WOW! Way cool!!
What do you think of it so far?

[cudgee]

That will be a good read, and i think that sometimes you are better off putting off reading something. I think you appreciate them more the older you get, and more experienced and wiser. That's the theory anyway.

[thankgod4rkids]

I started on this. It was in my grandpa's collection that I've had for 20 years but never read. Written in the late 1960s Several authors on history stating with Lewis and Clark and mountain men, gold rush, Indian wars through ranches and settlers in the late 1800s. Tons of Frederick Remington pictures and others. Almost ashamed its been on my shelf that long without getting to it.
Bill

WOW! Way cool!!
What do you think of it so far?

I'm just in the mountain men section. Very well written and researched. May be this winter before I can give it some serious time. Wish we were closer to each other so I could share.
Bill

[FRJ]

I started on this. Bill

I have that book. I looked through it after I saw yours.
It is just packed with history of that era.
You will enjoy that I'm sure.

[Old Folder]

For those of you that are interested in great world Authors and literature, I thought I would share the current book that I am reading, titled "The Best Short Stories of Dostoevsky". The book contains two (2) short stories that I do not have, this completes my Dostoevsky collection. I purchased the book "used" for just a few Dollars through Amazon.com. The book is in excellent condition, however, the book's cover has been consumed by time. I made a plastic page sheet cover to protect the well worn cover from future damage.
The translation of this older book is excellent!

The first book that I read of Fyodor Dostoevsky was "Crime and Punishment" many years ago.
He is my favorite Russian Author. (I have not read many Russian authored books.)

From my own personal research of Fyodor Dostoevsky, I have discovered that he was not a visually attractive man, he walked with a constant limp, and appeared to some people as "deformed". He was also an "Epileptic".
However, in the books of Dostoevsky that I have read, he writes about love, beauty, and the dignity of the human spirit.

Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky was born in Moscow in 1821.
Dostoevsky was the son of a doctor. His parents were hard-working, religious people but poor. His first work, "Poor Folk," (1846), made his name popular and he found himself an instant celebrity. A brilliant career seemed opened to him, but in 1849 at the age of 28 he was arrested and condemned to death in the Russian empire.

He was found to be a member of a group of young men who met to read "Fourier and Proudhon," he was accused of "taking part in conversations against the censorship in Russia... and of knowing of the intention to use a printing press." For involvement with the politically subversive 'Petrashevsky circle' and until 1854 he lived as a convict in prison at Omsk, Siberia. He served nearly 6 years in jail.
Below is his current and actual prison cell, preserved in the Omsk Siberia Prison museum. However, I assume that the flashy paint and tidiness was not actually like it was when Dostoevsky served his many years there. This is where Dostoevsky wrote many books and short stories.

After his first eight months in jail, he was taken to the Semyonovsky Square to be shot with many other prison inmates. Fortunately, he was informed that his Majesty had spared their lives. The sentence was commuted to hard labor -- four years of penal servitude in Siberia, where he began his book: "Dead House." Dostoevsky wrote many books in prison.

In 1864 he lost first wife Maria, and his brother Mihail. He was in terrible poverty, yet he took upon himself the payment of his brother's debts. Weighed down by debt, he wrote at heart-breaking speed, and is said never to have corrected his work. The later years of his life were much softened by the tenderness and devotion of his second wife, "Apollinaria Suslova," eighteen years his junior.

He is still probably the most widely read writer in Russia. In the words of a Russian critic, "He was one of ourselves, a man of our blood and our bone, but one who has suffered and has seen so much more deeply than we have his insight impresses us as wisdom... that wisdom of the heart which we seek that we may learn from it how to live."

The major novels of his late period are "The Idiot (1868), Demons (1871-2) and The Brothers Karamazov (1879-80)" He died in 1881.

In June 1880 he made his famous speech at the unveiling of the monument to Pushkin in Moscow and was received with demonstrations of love and honor. A few months later he died. He was followed to the grave by a vast multitude of mourners.

[Waukonda]

Great post, Dan, very interesting.

[Old Folder]

Have you ever wondered what the word for loving the smell of old books is? The word is "Bibliosmia".
And "Bibliomania" is the word for our excessive fondness for acquiring and possessing books.
So...I suppose that those of us that participate or read within this forum could safely be called "Bibliomaniacs?"

However, I also love the smell of my leather cased "Kindle Oasis." Similar to an old knife sheath.

[Old Folder]

Great post, Dan, very interesting.

Thank you Ike.
I like to research the many authors life histories' prior to reading his or her book(s). It seems as if I can live within the authors
world a little better, and it helps me understand his mind-set and reasoning. I have found that the authors history is at times a very interesting short story in itself.

[Quick Steel]

A wonderfully informative post Dan. Thank you. I wonder if many of our young people have the attention span to read Dostoevsky or other Russian authosrs.

[Old Folder]

A wonderfully informative post Dan. Thank you. I wonder if many of our young people have the attention span to read Dostoevsky or other Russian authosrs.

Thanks for your compliment Quick Steel.
And yes, I think the younger (very younger) generation should be introduced to Classic literature, from the state education system and home.
I"m not saying to introduce them right into "War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy" or "Les Miserables by Victor Hugo."
However, both the above great writers have many short stories that would gain their attention and interest.
Mark Twain, Kahlil Gibran, Hermann Hesse just to name a few of so many.
I think that most American children are more interested with "Microsoft, Facebook, TicTok, Xbox and Playstation."

[Quick Steel]

That is to my point. Most kids are absorbed in the digital world. But your reading lists are very fine and your suggestion of using short stories is excellent. I do think the desire to inculcate reading falls principally on the parents at the earliest years before the child begins schooling.

[Steve Warden]

[Paladin]

I just finished James Lee Burke's 'A Private Cathedral'. As a die-hard fan it almost seems like sacrilege to speak ill of his work but this is not his best. Too much supernatural in this one for me.

Ray

[steve99f]

I too am a fan of JLB Ray, its been awhile since I picked one of his up. The Robicheaux novels are well written, particularly enjoy his pal Cletus. His other novels are done well too.

[Paladin]

I too am a fan of JLB Ray, its been awhile since I picked one of his up. The Robicheaux novels are well written, particularly enjoy his pal Cletus. His other novels are done well too.

I really enjoy his work.
If you were casting the role of Cletus for a movie, who would you put in that role?

Ray

[DM11]

Reading this at the moment.

[cudgee]

Looks very interesting.

[Steve Warden]

Reading this at the moment.

Thoughts?

[DM11]

Reading this at the moment.

Thoughts?

Im about a third of the way through it and enjoying it a lot. If'n you like reading about mountain men you should enjoy it also. W T Hamiliton had an adventurous life.

[cudgee]

Reading this at the moment.

Thoughts?

Im about a third of the way through it and enjoying it a lot. If'n you like reading about mountain men you should enjoy it also. W T Hamiliton had an adventurous life.

[Steve Warden]

Im about a third of the way through it and enjoying it a lot. If'n you like reading about mountain men you should enjoy it also. W T Hamiliton had an adventurous life.

Thanks David. First I've heard of him. My have to check it out.

[Waukonda]

Got this one a few days ago as a birthday gift from one of my sons. Started it last night, it's a good one.

[steve99f]

I too am a fan of JLB Ray, its been awhile since I picked one of his up. The Robicheaux novels are well written, particularly enjoy his pal Cletus. His other novels are done well too.

I really enjoy his work.
If you were casting the role of Cletus for a movie, who would you put in that role?

Ray

I think a couple would be good Ray. How 'bout a younger Woody Harrelson? Maybe a younger Robert Duvall.

Who would you pick?

[Mumbleypeg]

Found this one at the used book store. Just finished it. Quick, light reading, predictable. A disappointment when compared to the author's prior works. His other novels, Brules and The Scout are among the better books I’ve ever read. This one, not so much.

Ken