What BOOK are you reading right now?

@Sturgis,

Yes. We've not done any such things within the past century.

2 Replies

@oralloy,

Tell that tale to the people of Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Somalia, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia...

1 Reply

@Sturgis,

The US has committed neither genocide nor war atrocities in any of those places.

1 Reply

@oralloy,

You should get a better dictionary and work on achieving a better comprehension of what the definition of Atrocity is.

1 Reply

@Sturgis,

No I shouldn't. I am already fully aware of what the term means.

Note that "atrocity" does not mean "doing something that progressives disagree with".

1 Reply

@oralloy,

Once more, I am not a Progressive.

Anywho, this is a book thread so time to list a book.

1 Reply

@Sturgis,

Sturgis wrote:

Once more, I am not a Progressive.

Anywho, this is a book thread so time to list a book.

I put assholes on ignore, they are not worth even one reply. 😉

1 Reply

@BillW,

Progressives don't like it when people post facts.

0 Replies

@oralloy,

Quote:

We've not done any such things within the past century.

Some people have argued that the Allied bombing of Dresden is considered a war crime.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bombing_of_Dresden_in_World_War_II

There is also the My Lai Massacre, where US Troops killed over 340 unarmed civilians during the Vietnam War.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M%E1%BB%B9_Lai_massacre

3 Replies

@Rebelofnj,

Rebelofnj wrote:

Some people have argued that the Allied bombing of Dresden is considered a war crime.

Those people are probably wrong. But even if they are correct, it's nothing to do with the US.

The Dresden firestorm was deliberately started by British bombers. US bombers focused on attacking the railyards.

Rebelofnj wrote:

There is also the My Lai Massacre, where US Troops killed over 340 unarmed civilians during the Vietnam War.

The US did not order that attack. That was a unilateral act of a rogue band of war criminals.

I do agree that it was a war atrocity however.

0 Replies

@Rebelofnj,

In an effort to bring the thread back on topic:

It is always a wise decision to read Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut. The book was responsible for bringing a spotlight on the bombing of Dresden; Vonnegut was a POW during the bombing.

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Earlier year, late August/early September, I read Deacon King Kong by James McBride.

Set in Brooklyn part of NYC it's an interesting story, with cops, churchies, gang members, residents of a public housing complex. Well written and with quite a vivid picture given as well as a number of laughs.

1 Reply

@Rebelofnj,

Quote:

There is also the My LamaVietnam War.

If I remember correctly in the Mỹ Lai massacre there was a US helicopter crew who landed between the US troops and the surviving civilians and threaten to open fire on those US troops to stop that massacre.

The best and the worst of the US military was shown that day.

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I read the new book Ready Player Two.

It is not very good. It is very similar to the first book: a treasure hunt, created by an eccentric tech genius, and the clues involve a dedicated memorization of 1980s pop culture. This time around, the clues revolve around the arcade game Sega Ninja, John Hughes films (16 Candles, Pretty in Pink), the music of Prince, and Tolkien's Middle Earth.

Since I haven't seen nearly all John Hughes films or listened to most Prince songs, most of the references flew right by me. The pop culture references overall were kept at a minimum compared to the first book, which is fine by me.

Two of the main characters have become more unlikable: the lead Wade has become more reclusive and isolated due to his abrasive behavior and using his CEO status to misuse his power, and the aforementioned tech genius Halliday is revealed to be much more sociopathic and uncaring.

The book could have been better if it focused on some of the plot threads it introduced (AI runs amok, the new character L0hengrin and her team, using the OASIS tech to deal with the problems of the world) or if it was a prequel about the OASIS founders, but instead just another Easter egg hunt.

2 Replies

@Rebelofnj,

Thanks for the heads-up. I've been tainted on the first book by Conor Lastowka and Mike Nelson's 372 Pages We'll Never Get Back podcast. I'd previously listen to the Audible book with Wil Wheaton as the narrator. And thought that was fine. But after the podcast, I understood the book's weakness and that my enjoyment basically came mostly from Wil Wheaton's narration.

I'm not going to bother with the sequel. Found the author's Armada sorely lacking as well.

~~
Finished reading Axiom's End (Noumena, #1) by Lindsay Ellis. Enjoyable first contact scifi book taking place in 2007.

1 Reply

@Rebelofnj,

Rebelofnj wrote:

I read the new book Ready Player Two.

It is not very good. It is very similar to the first book: a treasure hunt, created by an eccentric tech genius, and the clues involve a dedicated memorization of 1980s pop culture. This time around, the clues revolve around the arcade game Sega Ninja, John Hughes films (16 Candles, Pretty in Pink), the music of Prince, and Tolkien's Middle Earth.

Since I haven't seen nearly all John Hughes films or listened to most Prince songs, most of the references flew right by me. The pop culture references overall were kept at a minimum compared to the first book, which is fine by me.

Two of the main characters have become more unlikable: the lead Wade has become more reclusive and isolated due to his abrasive behavior and using his CEO status to misuse his power, and the aforementioned tech genius Halliday is revealed to be much more sociopathic and uncaring.

The book could have been better if it focused on some of the plot threads it introduced (AI runs amok, the new character L0hengrin and her team, using the OASIS tech to deal with the problems of the world) or if it was a prequel about the OASIS founders, but instead just another Easter egg hunt.

I sorta enjoyed Ready Player One...but I have already decided not to read Ready Player Two. I recognized that it could be a bummer...and I appreciate your comments confirming that.

I actually enjoyed the Stephanie Meyer's Twilight Saga. The books obviously were written for a much younger audience than my age group, but I love vampire stories. Adults could read them with at least some degree of interest.

I am about half way through Midnight Sun, supposedly the saga from Edward Cullen's perspective. I was apprehensive about reading it.

BOY, I wish I had listened to my apprehension...or that I had read commentary on it similar to what you wrote here about Ready Player Two before shelling out my $15.

It obviously was written with a 10 year-old audience in mind.

What a sad, sad attempt at writing!

What a sad waste of $15.

0 Replies

@tsarstepan,

I should say that in the sequel, Wade does get better as a person by the end, and he is at least self aware enough that he has not been a nice person in the three years since the first book. Halliday's reputation does not recover, though.

I am also listening to the 372 Pages We'll Never Get Back podcast. The most recent episode is about the new book and its prologue chapters.

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Barchester Towers by Anthony Trollope

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Cabbages and Kings.

Well, the library is closed, maybe for the duration. Anyhow, I'm having to grab anything off my shelves that hasn't been read in the past decade.

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I'm reading a mystery by Ian Rankin.I've been working my way through his John Rebus series in chronological order. These books tend be dark and complicated, as is Rebus.

2 Replies

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