What is this fascination with "Good ol' Dixie"? It wasn't that great for most folks. We spend far too much time living in the past, IMO.
I enjoyed that one too. An amazing time in US history. 1927 IIRC. Al Capone, Babe Ruth, Charles Lindbergh.
Bill Bryson is an emigre, of course. He prefers living in dear Old Blighty. But never forgets he came from Des Moines.
I have read every book he has ever written. IIRC, he decided Bulgaria was Heaven on Earth.
My next project is to figure out why the Confederacy seceded from the US.
Seems like the UK has seceded from the EU painlessly. But History tells me there will be a Price to pay.
I reserved his recent book "The Body: A Guide for Occupants" at the library just before it suspended operations.
The book contains the chapter "When Things Go Wrong: Diseases", a topic I'm sure Bill tackles in his usual humorous style!
Attachments
Hello,
What else to read with corona present?
I have seen French books translated into Vietnamese. The ones to read next could me English translation from Louis Ferdinand Celine like Death on the installment plan. Hard to read in French! The Dutch translator said every sentence is a loaded gun.
I think in Europe there are more readers than in the USA, I remember reading Malamud, Heller, Kosinski, Roth, Twain ,Vonnegut but they are long gone and i dont know any modern writer that would fit into that group....
Greetings, eduard
Hello,
You wanted to post a link where you can see American citizens in front of a world map and being asked to locate some countries?
Most Europeans wont be that much better but still.
Greetings, Eduard
Hello,
Readers are a dying breed.
I remember 20 years ago one of my co workers saw my book collection. Did you read all these books? Now he has a job high up in the organization. The top layer of the company also not used to reading and they certainly dont like people who will question their decisions because the latter developed a broader perspective reading a variety of books.
This process started a few decades ago and it will never stop. Greetings, Eduard
Turned to "In the Hurricane's Eye" by Nathaniel Philbrick. or how the French fleet won the American Revolutionary War" --
We had to read it in French in high school.
We had to read it in French in high school.
Hello,
You joined in 2002 so you have been around for a while. A few days ago i saw some high school? students who had big difficulties to name a few cities in France so hard to believe they are still reading this book in present days and surely not in French.
Greeeetings, Eduard
P.s maybe the big T read it? Might be possible he doesnt know Albert Camus at all!
As a "boomer" most of our parents served in WW2, so we knew a lot of geography just out of curiosity. I would know nothing of the Pacific if my father hadn't done the entire island hopping trek from Australia to Okinawa.
Hello,
Those interested in books and music must try Louis ferdinand Celine who described reading his books is like hearing someone read it for you. You are not the one reading but being forced to listen is how he explained it. Because of punctuation, new words, repetitions it indeed does have a kind rhythm. In French it is hard to read if you cannot accept sometimes missing a clue but there are English translations available.
Greetings, Eduard
Those interested in books and music must try Louis ferdinand Celine who described reading his books is like hearing someone read it for you. You are not the one reading but being forced to listen is how he explained it. Because of punctuation, new words, repetitions it indeed does have a kind rhythm. In French it is hard to read if you cannot accept sometimes missing a clue but there are English translations available.
Greetings, Eduard
Um..Steve? Grant's memoir is not about the South, but about the Union.
Grant was both the Marshall and Eisenhower of our civil war.
If you want to read his memoir, try to find an edition with the 36pg introduction by Theo. Roosevelt- a beautifully written essay.
I confess I do enjoy southerners calling it 'the War of Northern Aggression'- I say "(water-retention structure) straight! Care to try again?"
Of course, I was born in the state that sent the most men and material to the war, and have lived more than two-score years in the one that sent the most per capita(we still have a paper from those days, an abolitionist rag named 'The Brattleboro Reformer').
Back to the subject- Mark Twain published Grant's memoir, and he was amazed that no one believed him when he said that he(Twain) had only to paragraph and paginate the work, that Grant was actually the author.
Grant was both the Marshall and Eisenhower of our civil war.
If you want to read his memoir, try to find an edition with the 36pg introduction by Theo. Roosevelt- a beautifully written essay.
I confess I do enjoy southerners calling it 'the War of Northern Aggression'- I say "(water-retention structure) straight! Care to try again?"
Of course, I was born in the state that sent the most men and material to the war, and have lived more than two-score years in the one that sent the most per capita(we still have a paper from those days, an abolitionist rag named 'The Brattleboro Reformer').
Back to the subject- Mark Twain published Grant's memoir, and he was amazed that no one believed him when he said that he(Twain) had only to paragraph and paginate the work, that Grant was actually the author.
My limited understanding of History is that the stronger economic powers tend to win.
I greatly enjoy History as it goes. The Japanese lost the horrible Pacific Realm of WW2 due to lack of Oil and Factories to build and fly aeroplanes. I was helped in this by reading Max Hastings "Nemesis, the battle for Japan 1944-45".
Dixie didn't stand a chance against the North, by the same token. Outnumbered and agricultural for one thing. I have learnt that Dixie seceded on the election of Abraham Lincoln. It threatened their dubious way of life. It ended in starvation for the Confederate troops.
Personally I prefer more individual stories of bravery against all the odds. Lewis and Clark's expedition up the Missouri River around 1805 was epic IMO. A different World, IMO. Buffalo were tame, Bears very dangerous. Thomas Jefferson will undoubtedly get all statues and monuments torn down in future years.
But that's how it goes. I am more interested in next Year's Superbowl, TBH. And whether I can ever visit a Philly dive bar in London to watch it. We must move with the times.
I greatly enjoy History as it goes. The Japanese lost the horrible Pacific Realm of WW2 due to lack of Oil and Factories to build and fly aeroplanes. I was helped in this by reading Max Hastings "Nemesis, the battle for Japan 1944-45".
Dixie didn't stand a chance against the North, by the same token. Outnumbered and agricultural for one thing. I have learnt that Dixie seceded on the election of Abraham Lincoln. It threatened their dubious way of life. It ended in starvation for the Confederate troops.
Personally I prefer more individual stories of bravery against all the odds. Lewis and Clark's expedition up the Missouri River around 1805 was epic IMO. A different World, IMO. Buffalo were tame, Bears very dangerous. Thomas Jefferson will undoubtedly get all statues and monuments torn down in future years.
But that's how it goes. I am more interested in next Year's Superbowl, TBH. And whether I can ever visit a Philly dive bar in London to watch it. We must move with the times.