and all three is movies

Just started John Carter of Mars: The first five novels by Edgar Rice Burroughs and am very impressed with the author's diction and style.

Have an autographed copy from Dr. Stone...

Very profound!

The book is a true story.  Dr. Stone is a Professor at Fordham University - LC




http://www.aboyionceknew.com/

------------------------------------------------------


Not from the above book...

"…Someone once described the joy and anxiety of parenthood as the equivalent of having your heart outside of your body all the time, walking around. With their very first cry, this most precious, vital part of ourselves, our child, is suddenly exposed to the world, to possible mishap or malice, and every parent knows there’s nothing we will not do to shield our children from harm. And yet we also know that with that child’s very first step and each step after that, they are separating from us, that we won’t — that we can’t always be there for them."


- From Obama’s speech in Newtown, CT


This is the person's exact words:

"Making the decision to have a child - it is momentous. It is to decide forever to have your heart go walking around outside your body."
― Elizabeth Stone

 

This book is next on my reading list:

 

* There are lots of people with great, distinguished professional careers but when it comes to their personal life, there is little fulfillment.

 

 

In Clayton Christensen’s new book, How Will You Measure Your Life?, the Harvard Business School professor offers profound advice about priorities; specifically about the importance of investing in family, about living a life of integrity and having metrics that make it easier to make the right decisions.

 

Christensen opens the book with a disturbing story. At the 30^th reunion of his Harvard Business School class, about half of his returning classmates related stories of divorce, alienated kids and personal unhappiness. They had great careers but little fulfillment.

 

This should be an interesting read.

 

Rev

Finished reading "Travels with My Aunt" by British writer Graham Greene.

This 1969 novel follows a retired bank manager as he travels with his 75-year-old aunt Augusta from Britain to France to Turkey and finally to Paraguay in South America.

Henry Pulling, who has not seen his aunt for 50 years, meets her at his mother's funeral. Augusta invites Henry to her apartment and tells him a bit of family history, including the fact that the woman who was just cremated was not Henry's real mother.

Augusta invites Henry to accompany her abroad. During these journeys Henry discovers Augusta has some mysterious and shady relationships and dealings.

In the end, as it turns out, Augusta is Henry's real mother.

I really enjoyed reading this novel, the first I've completed for the year.

At the rate I'm going, however, I will not match my reading record for last year. I must spend more time to catch up.

Gilly,

you know you can get most of these books free from the library as ebooks on kindle?  You check out online, and check back in when done read. Maybe you know this already, but just in case. I read ..kite runner..that way a while back.

TI, as I understand it, if you've purchased the printed edition of a book from Amazon, you can also download the electronic edition free. I haven't taken advantage of this offer yet. Thanks for the reminder.

Gilly, I am talking about the Public Free Library, not Amazon.  NY library Offers free ebooks.  You don't have to buy books anymore

 http://www.amazon.com/gp/featu...tml?docId=1000718231

 

 

thanks.

 IGH, I love this quote!

I'm going to check if our library system has this feature.

The Man Who Loved Only Numbers: The Story of  Paul Erdős and the Search for Mathematical Truth

 

* This masterful biography of Hungarian-born Paul Erdos is both a vivid portrait of an eccentric genius and a layman's guide to some of this century's most startling mathematical discoveries.

 

Rev

Here is the memoir of one of the funniest comedians ever--Don Rickles

 

 

* How funny was Don Rickles ?

 

* Check out his tribute to Clint Eastwood:

 

 

* F-U-N-N-Y and hilarious.

 

Rev

 

 

Finished reading "West Indian Tales of Old" by Algernon E. Aspinall.

This book was published 98 years ago.

It's part history, part travel and part legend.

Among the topics covered are the earthquake that sank Port Royal town in Jamaica, the English-French battle for Diamond Rock just south of Martinique, a famous battle for Brimstone Hill in St Kitts, and a human interest piece about ghosts haunting the great house at plantation Rose Hall in Jamaica.

I been clickin to look inside but I aint gettin through, hehe

Sorry, cain. I copied the cover from Amazon.com and got the click instruction as a bonus. Actually, you have to click the thing on the Amazon page.

Finished reading "Shadows of the Pomegranate Tree", a historical novel by British writer Tariq Ali.

The story is set in Andalusia, south Spain, in 1499 to 1501. It begins with the Christian burning of rare and precious Islamic books 7 years after they had completed the reconquest of Spain. The Arabs/Moors had been ruling Spain since the 8th century.

Andalusia was the last Muslim holdout, where lived the brave and devout Hudayl clan. This novel is about the victories and defeats of that clan.

"Shadows of the Pomegranate Tree" is the first of a 5-book series called the "Islam Quintet."

 

I'm reading one of those Don't Sweat the Small Stuff books.

Finished reading "The Civil War in France" by Karl Marx. Originally a pamphlet, it was a seminal work on the 1871 Paris Commune.

On March 18 that year, Parisian workers overthrew an oppressive government and set up their own governing authority which they called a commune. They administered Paris on a shoestring budget and improved the living conditions of the common people.

Alas, the Paris Commune lasted only 71 days. It was crushed by the forces of former ruler Louis Bonaparte with some help from Prussia (Germany). To this day workers' organizations worldwide remember with immense respect the heroes and martyrs of the Paris Commune.

COMPLEXITY BY M. MITCHELL WALDROP

 

 

* The great physicist Stephen Hawking once said: "I think the next century will be the century of complexity." Complexity science is one of the most important breakthroughs in  recent history. Unlike the traditional specialized approach to science, complexity focuses on patterns and properties that exist across different branches.

 

Mitchell Waldrop's book introduces readers to complexity by  telling a story about the people who brought it into the spotlight. Among the characters we meet are economists, physicists,  biologists and computer scientists responsible for establishing the Institute of Complex Systems in Santa Fe New Mexico. Through  their stories, Walldrop introduces the reader to the wonderful and profound world of complex systems.

 

* This ought to be an interesting and informative read.

 

Rev

Finished reading "A Thousand Days: John F. Kennedy in the White House" by Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr.

The author served as Special Assistant to President Kennedy and gives an insider's view of the Oval Office operations in this voluminous memoir.

Finished reading "Far Away and Long Ago" by W.H. Hudson, first published in 1918.

This is a memoir of Hudson's early life in the vast plains or pampas of Argentina. It provides a vivid and beautiful panorama of that region in the 1840s and 1850s -- the community of English and Spanish sheep farmers and cattle ranchers, the native gauchos or cowboys, the rich varieties of birds and wildlife, etc.

I first read this book in high school in the late 1960s while preparing for the GCE 'O' Level exam in English Literature. At that time I didn't find it strange that a non-fiction book would be considered English Literature.

On my kindle to read again.  Read it when I was about 13. i still remember it as a green a hard cover book in my older brother's collection.

 

I read Green Manisons last year. 

All I will say nice description of then Br. Guiana.

 

 I have A Foot in England & A Crystal Age by Hudson to read also.

Welcome back, IGH. I thought about you when I read this book because I know you read it too. I also read "Green Mansions" last year. I guess we're both hooked on Hudson.

Thanks for the WB, Gilbakka. 

Presently I am reading Twelve Years A Slave.

 

before the year is finished, I will try to read the 2 other Hudson's books.

Bookman, the above was recommended to me by a colleague.  Thinking of buying the set....

I haven't read his books, but I've read about him and the reviews are generally great. Go ahead and buy.

http://www.readanybook.com/

Thanks, Danyael. I bookmarked it. Read books online for free. Great offerings.

Finished reading "The Case of the Velvet Claws" by Erle Stanley Gardner.

This is the first Perry Mason novel that Gardner published, in 1933.

The book's main character, Perry Mason, was an unorthodox and successful American detective-lawyer. He featured in many of Gardner's novels.

When Erle Stanley Gardner died in 1970 at age 80, his novels were bestsellers in many countries, including Guyana.

 

Finished reading "Twelve Years A Slave" by Solomon Northup.

Northup was born a free man in New York in 1808. At age 33 he was kidnapped and sold into slavery. He was bonded at sugar and cotton plantations in Louisiana for 12 years.

Northup's story is told with the help of a ghost writer. The edition which I read has extensive background footnotes by Dr Sue Eakin.

Coming from an insider, this ex-slave's memoir has shocked me to the bone.

I have studied Guyanese and West Indian history and learned many facts about slavery. Nothing touched my soul as Northup's book.

We went to see the movie last weekend because it's up for many Oscars tonight.

I have to look into this. Thanks, Danyael.

'12 Years a Slave' won Best Picture, Best Supporting Actress, and some other awards last night. You all should go see it. 

Best adapted screenplay.

Finished reading Twelve years a Slave last week...

I told one of the guys at work, that Twelve years a Slave will win the Oscar...

Will start Shogun tonight...

Finished reading "WALTER RODNEY: His Last Days and Campaigns" by Eusi Kwayana, edited by Robert Lalljie and Peter Drake, with an Introduction by Clem Seecharan.

This little book has a strong lesson Dr Rodney bequeathed to all working class Guyanese, that only they can emancipate themselves from their oppressors.

I recommend it, especially now that there is a Commission of Inquiry into Dr Rodney's death.

One caution: lapses in editing and/or proofreading.

Finished reading "American Assassin," a best selling spy thriller by Vince Flynn.

The bad guys in this story are from Islamic Jihad and Fatah.

Of course, the good guy is a young CIA cold blooded killer named Mitch Rapp.

Bookman, thought about you when I read this quote a few minutes ago...

No possession can surpass, or even equal, a good library, to the lovers of books. Here are treasured up for his daily use and delectation, riches which increase by being consumed, and pleasures that never cloy. ~ John Alfred Landford.