Don't you just hate it when you pay full price for something, then you find it on sale later after its too late to take it back? Happens to me every time I buy something. Anyways, even though I hate forking out full price, this book 2700 MILES by Norbert Reichert was a good story and it was thick enough that I didn't feel ripped off at all. Save your money, the ebook is on sale on Amazon for a few days starting June 7th. Tom Clancy's without remorse is getting a re-read.
Been too busy to post. Finished the final volume of Tad Williams' Memory, Sorrow and Thorn, as good as I remembered. Read Night School by Lee Child, seriously lazy story. Revisited my childhood comic reading with Zenith phase one and two. Actually better than I remembered. Now reading A Princess of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs.
Just started reading the Dresden files currently on book six. Each book stands alone but with a few plot threads running cross the books. Lite and fun. Done in a film noir private investigator style. So there are femme fetals, organised crime, and cops , but the private investigator is also a wizard, so thier are also vampires, werewolves and very scary faeries. There was a tv series but it didn't do the books justice. The first book is called Storm front. worth picking up a copy of Abe.
That's in my pile of "to read" books. I'm working on "From Socrates to Sartre: the Philosophic Quest." I'm up to Kant. Very, very good book.
Reading Les Miserables, by Victor Hugo. I decided to read this to see if I can gain anymore insight into the movie/musical's characters. It certainly does that. It also goes into excrutiatingly detailed explenations of everything else. Hugo drones on for chapters at a time on stuff that, IMHO is only mildley related to the story. I get it, there are nuns and they have certain habits (pun intended)... but good god I don't need THAT much info. The description of the war of 1812 was very detailed as well, but only one little nugget of that saga actualy pertained to the story and a character in it. I'm still digging my way through...
Ive just started reading Happy by derren brown, and he quotes extensively from Marcus A. I'll be reading meditations next!
Started a couple of books, the first is 'Ramblings of an AFC Coach' which is essentially an interweb blogs transferred to paperback and Kindle by my ex-MMA coach John Atkin. It's a fairly decent read without wanting to sound biased, it goes into detail his background, training methodologies, and general chat in and around the world of martial arts. I just wished that someone had proofread it and did something with the page structure, as it's all over the shop in places. Still, this can be corrected in future Kindle versions I believe. I've also started 'Eat Me - A Natural and Unnatural History of Cannibalism by biologist Bill Schutt. I'm not far into it, but so far it is fascinating.
Gurkha: Better to Die than Live a Coward by CSgt Kailash Limbu. A detailed and gripping account of 2nd Battalion, The Royal Gurkha Rifles' experiences fighting the Taliban in the Afghanistan town of Nowzad back in July 2006. I've admired the Gurkhas ever since I occasionally trained alongside them during my infantry training at Catterick. I may even unwittingly have met some of the characters referred to in this book. Anyone who enjoys war journalism will enjoy it.
I read that book last year, VZ, and found it a good account. Makes me want to read more into the Gurkhas, as the book mentions the training but only briefly.
Finally finished Bernard Cornwell's Last Kingdom series, Amazing series of books and Uhtred's final battle of Babbenburg had me on the edge of my seat . Now I have just started reading Ben Kane's Eagles at war trilogy set at the Roman battle in the Teutoburg Forest in Germania, Always loved his work and his writing style.
Just finished Jack Slacks "Notorious" book on Conor McGregor. Breaks down his fighting style. Absolutely amazing read.
I'm reading Republic of Thieves by Scott Lynch. I'm halfway through and I really don't understand the hate people have for the second two books. I enjoyed Red Seas and so far Republic is just as good as Lies.
Just read Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman, he's been on my radar but never looked at his stuff till now.Bit underwhelmed overall, feels like it might translate better to film. It made want to reread some Mervyn Peake for something a bit earthier. Will persevere and give American Gods a go. I'm in the middle of Siddhartha by Herman Hesse, beautiful in its simple yet evocative language, he explores the search for dhaoist self knowledge amid the emotional conflict of everyday temptation and distractions. Perfect contemplative reading as I approach my half century !
I enjoyed that book very much. I didn't think of it being about Daoism, though, but I suppose it is. I thought of it more as Zen, but now that you mention it, I suppose it's either/both. Excellent book, anyway.
Yes the dhaoist interpretation is my own ☺ He is a Hindu by birth,who becomes a ascetic Semana, seeks out an enlightened Buddha figure before realising he can only experience"oneness" (and the subjugation of the ego) via his own realisations rather than other's teachings. Dhaoism is born of Boddhidharma and Buddhism so the end result is the same ,as you said.