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Roger Breedlove
climber
Cleveland Heights, Ohio
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Jul 10, 2016 - 12:19pm PT
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Hi Paul,
I have not read any of Delillo's novels. I read the recent NYTimes review for "Zero K" but could not get a clear signal that this is the one to start with. Any suggestions?
Nice pictures Sycorax. Jane's place, by comparison, looks a little shabby.
Since my long Shakespeare post upthread, I have delved into his Sonnets and found (in the Cleveland Public Library) and read Stephen Booth's An Essay on Shakespeare's Sonnets, 1967 (Only about 40 people have checked it out and the selling price on Amazon is ~$100). I am not sure that I would recommend this, except for bragging rights (5.14 R). That said, I have a much deeper appreciation of why these poems have been on everyone's reading list for the past 400 years. Booth has his own edition of the Sonnets with his copious textual notes. I also have several other editions--somehow I keep buying them until I finally started reading. These other editions refer to Booth's comments, especially in tricky bits.
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Ed Hartouni
Trad climber
Livermore, CA
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Jul 10, 2016 - 12:43pm PT
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The Genetical Theory of Natural Selection
R.A. Fisher
the foundational work of neo-Darwinism,
an excellent read even if written in difficult prose.
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steelmnkey
climber
Vision man...ya gotta have vision...
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Jul 10, 2016 - 01:27pm PT
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If you want a little edge of your seat, solving a mystery, true story with an adventure bit to it, check out Shadow Divers by Robert Kurson.
I've never been much of a "water guy", but read it cover to cover in a nearly single stretch.
For John Chatterton and Richie Kohler, deep wreck diving was more than a sport. Testing themselves against treacherous currents, braving depths that induced hallucinatory effects, navigating through wreckage as perilous as a minefield, they pushed themselves to their limits and beyond, brushing against death more than once in the rusting hulks of sunken ships. But in the fall of 1991, not even these courageous divers were prepared for what they found 230 feet below the surface, in the frigid Atlantic waters sixty miles off the coast of New Jersey: a World War II German U-boat, its ruined interior a macabre wasteland of twisted metal, tangled wires, and human bones–all buried under decades of accumulated sediment. No identifying marks were visible on the submarine or the few artifacts brought to the surface. No historian, expert, or government had a clue as to which U-boat the men had found. In fact, the official records all agreed that there simply could not be a sunken U-boat and crew at that location.
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paul roehl
Boulder climber
california
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Jul 10, 2016 - 02:11pm PT
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Hi Paul,
I have not read any of Delillo's novels. I read the recent NYTimes review for "Zero K" but could not get a clear signal that this is the one to start with. Any suggestions?
I'd recommend it. It's a quick read. He's a stylist of sorts a bit like James Salter but more surprising and, at least in this case, more surreal... sentences that are at once confounding and yet perfectly clear.
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Darwin
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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Oct 15, 2016 - 07:42pm PT
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I want to nominate Moby Dick as a great climbing read. The "Mast-Head Chapter" captures so much of what love about being on rock with partners.
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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Oct 15, 2016 - 08:27pm PT
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Alan Turing: the enigma by Alan Hodges. Superbly written about the man who saved western civilization and envisaged the computer as we now know it, and was foresaken by his nation.
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Mungeclimber
Trad climber
Nothing creative to say
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Oct 15, 2016 - 09:52pm PT
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Grisham; The Rogue Attorney
great build up, likeable character, entirely flat ending.
like his publisher said, 'tough, you give me what you got or you're out'
could have tied the story lines together to a grand finale. let down.
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bluering
Trad climber
Santa Clara, CA
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Oct 15, 2016 - 10:02pm PT
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"Tribe", by Sebastian Junger. Good stuff about how people traditionally relate to one another, or not. Also great insights in how to treat PTSD, in the realm of a "tribe of people", or veterans who cannot relate to civilian life anymore.
Easy read too.
Still trying to parse my way through the "Republic" too. Plato. I can relate to it, and I see where they're going, by it's fuking slow....
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Gary
Social climber
Desolation Basin, Calif.
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Oct 17, 2016 - 08:07am PT
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About a third of the way through War and Peace. This is my third try and three's a charm. I'm hoping somewhere in here Pierre gets his head out of his ass.
Next in the pile is An American Tragedy by Theodore Dreiser.
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Brandon-
climber
The Granite State.
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Oct 17, 2016 - 09:29am PT
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Name of the Rose, by Umberto Ecco, last month.
Now, the full Gungslinger series.
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ydpl8s
Trad climber
Santa Monica, California
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Oct 17, 2016 - 10:28am PT
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Wow, I read a ton and don't shy away from difficult reads, but Name of the Rose is right up there with the few I've had a hard time getting through. Two others on that list are Anathem by Neal Stephenson (I loved Cryptonomicon) and V by Thomas Pynchon (I liked Gravity's Rainbow).
I'm currently reading Rising Strong by Brene Brown
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Gary
Social climber
Desolation Basin, Calif.
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Oct 17, 2016 - 10:42am PT
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Brandon, what did you think of Name of the Rose? Should it go on the pile?
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EP
Trad climber
Osteoarthritis Shouldervile
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Oct 17, 2016 - 11:13am PT
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In the last month I have read two Phillip K Dick books, two on teleporting, and one on prime numbers.
Gotta start a new one today after I learn the Theme from Lumpy Gravy on my new classical guitar, dry out the tent and fly after getting rained on at Plakett Creek Campground this weekend, and miss climbing since my neck and shoulder no longer allow it.
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DanaB
climber
CT
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Oct 17, 2016 - 11:23am PT
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Essays by Gore Vidal.
An interesting one about the War of 1812.
Writing in Restaurants, David Mamet
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Brandon-
climber
The Granite State.
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Oct 17, 2016 - 11:27am PT
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Name of the Rose is an incredible book!
It begins slowly, and is full of lists as it gets going, but if you stick through the first hundred pages you'll have figured out the writing style and are in for a great read.
IMHO, his style is excellent. Best book I've read in a couple of years.
There is a Twenty Thousand Leagues aspect to it which wasn't my favorite.
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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Oct 17, 2016 - 11:48am PT
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Gary, here's one for yer pile: Moscow Nights:The Van Cliburn Story-How One Man and His
Piano Transformed The Cold War by Nigel Cliff
OK, it won't win awards for its succinct title but "The Economist" gives it a thumbs up.
You'll like this quote:
"...Sviatoslav Richter...reportedly awarded him full marks for each round and zero to other contenders."
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Gary
Social climber
Desolation Basin, Calif.
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Oct 17, 2016 - 06:43pm PT
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Reilly, I'll check that out, thanks. They loved him in Russia. That was a tough jury: Richter, Gilels, Kabalevsky and Shostakovich.
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Tobia
Social climber
Denial
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Topic Author's Reply - Oct 30, 2016 - 07:45am PT
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i fell in a slow reading gulch last spring, managing to climb out by reading a book authored by a close friend, Allen Levi, The Last Sweet Mile, written about his brother's life with ended all too with cancer .
i followed that by re-reading most of Mitch Albom's works. i think tuesdays with Morrie is my favorite.
i re-read The Final Leap by John Bateson. i can't restrain myself from mentioning the irony in the fact that one the most beautiful man made structures in the world is being used as a platform for one of humanities most desperate acts. Both the bridge and the act serve transportation roles, only one by design.
Lately i read several of Pat Conroy's books, My Losing Season, The Water Is Wide, The Death of Santini and South of Broad. i have The Boo, his first work to read soon.
Gregory, knowing you enjoy books about sports, i think you would enjoy My Losing Season.
i just finished Sitting Bull, Champion of The Sioux by John Vestal, which has led me to The Heart of Everything Is (the story of Red Cloud) by Bob Drury and Tom Clavin.
For those that Empire of the Summer Moon, you will find these two books just as intriguing.
bluering, read Junger's The Perfect Storm.
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Reeotch
climber
4 Corners Area
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Oct 30, 2016 - 08:17am PT
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ooooh, Perfect Storm, forget about the movie. That book was tough to read - tragic, humbling . . .
I'm getting back into my sci fi addiction with "Lies Inc." by Philip K Dick, can't put it down. Written in 1964, his depiction of a world where the superpowers are not governments, but corporations, I find to be particularly spot on . . .
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ontheedgeandscaredtodeath
Social climber
SLO, Ca
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Oct 30, 2016 - 08:31am PT
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Going old school right now- The Pickwick Papers by Dickens.
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