What book are you reading?

Fedinkum

Legend
An auto-biography of the French mid-century architect and furniture designer Charlotte Perriand. Great insights into the design sceneries of her times and some of the giants in the design world. You probably have seen at least one or two furnitures by her whether you are from the design world or not.

charlotte-perriand.jpg
 
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stringertom

Bionic Poster
Gallows View...the first installment in the now rather long series of Inspector Banks mysteries by Peter Robinson. The action is set in a small community in the English Dales country with the inspector a new resident there, having relocated from London.
 
By the father of UK's prime minister Boris Johnson. Released in 1982, it's about government releasing the deadly virus as cover-up for population control through mandatory vaccine. :-D

When a 19-year-old student, Diane Verusio, returns to New York from Brussels and expires in isolation at Columbia-Presbyterian Hospital, she speaks only the words, "green monkeys"...
iu
 

Mike Bulgakov

G.O.A.T.
By the father of UK's prime minister Boris Johnson. Released in 1982, it's about government releasing the deadly virus as cover-up for population control through mandatory vaccine. :-D

When a 19-year-old student, Diane Verusio, returns to New York from Brussels and expires in isolation at Columbia-Presbyterian Hospital, she speaks only the words, "green monkeys"...
iu
You clearly did not read the book, and once again are parroting propaganda on issues that you don't understand.

Viral meme misrepresents Stanley Johnson's recently republished book 'The Marburg Virus'
Published on Monday 02 November 2020

A meme shared thousands of times claims a recently republished novel by UK PM Boris Johson’s father, Stanley Johnson, is about “a government releasing a deadly virus into the population as cover for population control through a forced vaccine”. The claims are misleading; the book actually details the efforts of a fictional globe-trotting American epidemiologist who stops a pandemic. The book does not mention population control or a mandatory vaccine.
https://factcheck.afp.com/viral-mem...nsons-recently-republished-book-marburg-virus
 
You clearly did not read the book, and once again are parroting propaganda on issues that you don't understand.

Viral meme misrepresents Stanley Johnson's recently republished book 'The Marburg Virus'
Published on Monday 02 November 2020

A meme shared thousands of times claims a recently republished novel by UK PM Boris Johson’s father, Stanley Johnson, is about “a government releasing a deadly virus into the population as cover for population control through a forced vaccine”. The claims are misleading; the book actually details the efforts of a fictional globe-trotting American epidemiologist who stops a pandemic. The book does not mention population control or a mandatory vaccine.
https://factcheck.afp.com/viral-mem...nsons-recently-republished-book-marburg-virus
Imagine believing fact checkers. And copy pasting nonsense over and over. I guess 1982 was quite "recently" too.
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@Mike Bulgakov I just read enough of this garbage to learn what it's about. Bad guys, who want to control the virus and the vaccine manufacture, planning on population reduction in Africa, are the Russians, so it sound like something up your alley. Typical cold war stuff.

There is also 1981 Dean Koontz's book "The Eyes of Darkness", which was also about Russian virus 'Gorki-400'. However later re-issue of the book changed the name of the virus to 'Wuhan-400'.

So yeah, not much imagination. That however doesn't mean I believe government released a deadly virus during this current pandemic. It's much more interesting how the whole green monkey brainwashing was introduced through different kinds of media. Especially when you research the so called isolation of the sc2.
 
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SystemicAnomaly

Bionic Poster
In the queue for a DL from a local library for an ebook copy of The Queens Gambit by Walter Tevis (1983). Same guy who wrote The Hustler, The Color of Money, and The Man Who Fell to Earth.

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haqq777

Legend
In the queue for a DL from a local library for an ebook copy of The Queens Gambit by Walter Tevis (1983). Same guy who wrote The Hustler, The Color of Money, and The Man Who Fell to Earth.

51SlecIdmuL.jpg
Would love to hear your thoughts on how the book compares to the TV show.
 

SystemicAnomaly

Bionic Poster
Would love to hear your thoughts on how the book compares to the TV show.
Still on the waitlist for a DL copy of the ebook. I tried listening to an audiobook version of the book (thru Hoopla) a couple of weeks ago but didn't get very far. Not my cup of tea. But then there's probably a lot of other audiobook versions that I wouldn't care for either.
 

SystemicAnomaly

Bionic Poster
Would love to hear your thoughts on how the book compares to the TV show.
Just got my DL of The Queen's Gambit ebook a few days ago. I'm liking it much better than the audiobook version I had attempted to listen to several weeks ago. I am only 3 chapters (of 14) in at this point. Quite a lot of the book is similar to the TV miniseries. Of course, having seen the TV version first, reading the book brings a lot of the TV images to mind.

There are some diffs so far. The backstory, Beth's mom's accident, is a tad different. The relationship between Beth & Jolene had been changed somewhat. The book has a bit of graphic detail that I don't recall the TV series had touched on. OTOH, the TV miniseries provides some substance & insight that you might not get from the novel. Also works the other way... the novel provides a bit of insight into the TV show.
 
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Sudacafan

Bionic Poster
It’s been a couple of months that I am re-reading (more than reading new) stuff.
I do that often with Jorge Luis Borges short stories.

“A very short one and interesting to read, as it reveals his vision of his own work, entitled The Two Kings and the Two Labyrinths in fact compares two types of labyrinths; the first one, complex, full of tricks and devices and the second whose labyrinthine aspect comes from its extreme simplicity and “desertness”. It has been written that the first labyrinth was assimilated to Borges’ vision of James Joyce’s literature, which lost the reader thanks to the complexity of its form, whereas the second labyrinth was Borges’ interpretation of his own work which lost the reader thanks to the vertigo of its essence.”

I copy below a translated to English version I found.


The Two Kings and the Two Labyrinths

It is said by men worthy of belief (though Allah’s knowledge is greater) that in the first days there was a king of the isles of Babylonia who called together his architects and his priests and bade them build him a labyrinth so confused and so subtle that the most prudent men would not venture to enter it, and those who did would lose their way. Most unseemly was the edifice that resulted, for it is the prerogative of God, not man, to strike confusion and inspire wonder. In time there came to the court a king of Arabs, and the king of Babylonia (to muck the simplicity of his guest) bade him enter the labyrinth, where the king of Arabs wandered, humiliated and confused, until the coming of the evening, when he implored God’s aid and found the door. His lips offered no complaint, though he said to the king of Babylonia that in his land he had another labyrinth, and Allah willing, he would see that someday the king of Babylonia made its acquaintance. Then he returned to Arabia with his captains and his wardens and he wreaked such havoc upon kingdoms of Babylonia, and with such great blessing by fortune, that he brought low his castles, crushed his people, and took the king of Babylonia himself captive. He tied him atop a swift-footed camel and led him into the desert. Three days they rode, and then he said to him, “O king of time and substance and cipher of the century! In Babylonia didst thou attempt to make me lose my way in a labyrinth of brass with many stairways, doors, and walls; now the Powerful One has seen fit to allow me to show thee mine, which has no stairways to climb, nor walls to impede thy passage.”

Then he untied the bonds of the king of Babylonia and abandoned him in the middle of the desert, where he died of hunger and thirst. Glory to him who does not die.


From Collected Fictions by Jorge Luis Borges, translated by Andrew Hurley, Penguin Books, 1998, p. 263-264.
 
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haqq777

Legend
Just got my DL of The Queen's Gambit ebook a few days ago. I'm liking it much better than the audiobook version I had attempted to listen to several weeks ago. I am only 3 chapters (of 14) in at this point. Quite a lot of the book is similar to the TV miniseries. Of course, having seen the TV version first, reading the book brings a lot of the TV images to mind.

There are some diffs so far. The backstory, Beth's mom's accident, is a tad different. The relationship between Beth & Jolene had been changed somewhat. The book has a bit of graphic detail that I don't recall the TV series had touched on. OTOH, the TV miniseries provides some substance & insight that you might not get from the novel. Also works the other way... the novel provides a bit of insight into the TV show.
Awesome feedback! Much appreciated (y)
 
Gallows View...the first installment in the now rather long series of Inspector Banks mysteries by Peter Robinson. The action is set in a small community in the English Dales country with the inspector a new resident there, having relocated from London.
Is this series set in modern times, or older (as in before the 2000s.) I could go for an interesting book series! Eons ago I read series by Jonathan Kellerman and Tami Hoag, IF my memory serves me correctly.
 

Bagumbawalla

G.O.A.T.
It’s been a couple of months that I am re-reading (more than reading new) stuff.
I do that often with Jorge Luis Borges short stories.

“A very short one and interesting to read, as it reveals his vision of his own work, entitled The Two Kings and the Two Labyrinths in fact compares two types of labyrinths; the first one, complex, full of tricks and devices and the second whose labyrinthine aspect comes from its extreme simplicity and “desertness”. It has been written that the first labyrinth was assimilated to Borges’ vision of James Joyce’s literature, which lost the reader thanks to the complexity of its form, whereas the second labyrinth was Borges’ interpretation of his own work which lost the reader thanks to the vertigo of its essence.”

I copy below a translated to English version I found.


The Two Kings and the Two Labyrinths

It is said by men worthy of belief (though Allah’s knowledge is greater) that in the first days there was a king of the isles of Babylonia who called together his architects and his priests and bade them build him a labyrinth so confused and so subtle that the most prudent men would not venture to enter it, and those who did would lose their way. Most unseemly was the edifice that resulted, for it is the prerogative of God, not man, to strike confusion and inspire wonder. In time there came to the court a king of Arabs, and the king of Babylonia (to muck the simplicity of his guest) bade him enter the labyrinth, where the king of Arabs wandered, humiliated and confused, until the coming of the evening, when he implored God’s aid and found the door. His lips offered no complaint, though he said to the king of Babylonia that in his land he had another labyrinth, and Allah willing, he would see that someday the king of Babylonia made its acquaintance. Then he returned to Arabia with his captains and his wardens and he wreaked such havoc upon kingdoms of Babylonia, and with such great blessing by fortune, that he brought low his castles, crushed his people, and took the king of Babylonia himself captive. He tied him atop a swift-footed camel and led him into the desert. Three days they rode, and then he said to him, “O king of time and substance and cipher of the century! In Babylonia didst thou attempt to make me lose my way in a labyrinth of brass with many stairways, doors, and walls; now the Powerful One has seen fit to allow me to show thee mine, which has no stairways to climb, nor walls to impede thy passage.”

Then he untied the bonds of the king of Babylonia and abandoned him in the middle of the desert, where he died of hunger and thirst. Glory to him who does not die.


From Collected Fictions by Jorge Luis Borges, translated by Andrew Hurley, Penguin Books, 1998, p. 263-264.

Was browsing- looking for ideas for something to read- and...

Speaking of labyrinths, you might check out Rogue Moon, a scifi novel by Algis Budrys,
about a man who volunteers to enter a "labyrinth" (on the moon) and be killed over and over, until he finally makes it through to "the end".
The novel, itself, is so-so with a kind of 1950s mentality, but the labyrinth on the moon is kind of nice- sort of the existential "other".

Also, if you like Borges, you might also like Italo Calvino.
 
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