Have you read anything interesting lately? Care to make a comment, or give a short critique?

I read subtitles while watching movies, so can it count?

I’ve finished Napoleon’s Memoires, Machiavelli’s Arte of Warre and The Prince, The Discourses, some Clausewitz and am ready for a break from all that. I don’t think Machiavelli was as evil as he is portrayed, He was a true Renaissance man and he was into everything. Napoleon found his advice on Republicanism as useful as his warnings to “new” (first generation, non-heriditary, or usurping) princes.

I’m about 100 pages into The Last Refuge of Scoundrels, Paul Lussier’s first novel (2001). I usually don’t read historical novels, but this one was gripping from the first page where he uses a unique device to pull you in. His extremely unflattering portrayal of the Founding Fathers I found disturbing and certainly rare in American literature. Too bad there are no footnotes or appendices, because if there is any truth in what Lussier says, it’s important. So I check him out and found an interview from 2001:

”...John Adams’ own diary. All those observations come from a variety of sources and that includes Samuel Adams’ diary, John Hancock’s writings — however slim. These men were dishing each other like crazy as they were writing to each other. As a matter of course when we study these men we study the documents that they wrote for public review. We traditionally don’t think it reliable or necessary to the story — that behind the scenes Samuel Adams was trashing John Adams and John Adams was embarrassed by Samuel Adams. Somehow that is not considered relevant. And the reason is that as a rule the story of the American Revolution only concerns the story of the American Revolutionary Founding Fathers as they were public figures. It’s no different if two hundred years from now if you were to base a biography of Clinton on his own approved autobiography or a few mainstream press stories on everything that happened in the Clinton Era. What you would walk away with, two hundred years from now, was an account that wouldn’t remotely capture the e-mail version of that same experience. It would be sanitized. It would be too respectful. It would not be reproachful. And it wouldn’t be sensual.”

Turns out Lussier spent ten years doing research on this book, burying himself in source documents on both sides of the pond. But don’t think he is just another unhappy, muckraking critic of American history. In this book, he heroically champions the common man, the American peasantry, and disses the upper class leadership unmercifully in their unenlightened self-interests and their money-making schemes at the expense of the lower classes—not much different than the British Lords they demonized but (according to Lussier) wished to emulate. I wish this man would write a non-fiction work on the same period, but his novel has given me leads on where to look for the darker, more human side of these people we have heretofore beatified as our national saints. It’s one of the most absorbing things I’ve read in ages.

I recently finished The Pocket Wife by Susan Crawford. I really liked it. The main character, Dana, is a housewife whose female neighbour is murdered. Dana was at the neighbour’s house that afternoon and they were both drinking. Dana is bipolar and is starting a manic phase. She can’t remember what happened that afternoon. It’s a lovely mixture of detective story and a illustration of Dana’s mental state. It’s beautifully written, lots of suspense and intrigue and the mix of elements makes it so refreshing and different. I thought it was great.

@Stinley That sounds good!

Just finished Vanessa and Her Sister by Priya Parmar – a novel written about the Bloomsbury Group from the point of view of Virginia Woolf’s sister, Vanessa Bell. Such romantic goings-on, such intellectuals, such an interesting look at the madness and narcissism of Woolf! Highly recommend it to those interested in the literary world.

“Leaving Time” by Jodi Picoult. It was a very interesting premise and it had a wild twist at the end that I didn’t see coming.

It interweaves facts about Africa and elephants and their treatment in America with a riveting personal story.

@marinelife I’d given up on Jodi Picoult after the one about the sisters. I started to find her manipulative and sensationalist. But this one was good?

I recently got around to reading Thom Hartmann“s Rebooting the American Dream. I first came across it shortly after it was written. It is unabashedly written from a Progressive point of view, but it is extremely well-researched. Some of the material is slightly dated, but the historical references are interesting and well written.

@janbb It’s considered a real departure from her previous books.

I’m reading The Shining by Stephen King. Just about done. I know it’s a classic, but unfortunately I just don’t find it that good. Seeing Jack slowly fall into insanity isn’t interesting, it’s just long and…boring. His kid and wife are kind of bad characters, really cookie cutter material which surprises me coming from King. The only interesting character is the black cook dude, but he’s barely present.

I just can’t seem to fall into the book’s atmosphere, just not doing it for me. But where the book shines (no pun intended lol) is the spooks everywhere. I can’t get into the book so much, but not enough where some of what the kid is experiencing isn’t creepy. A regular haunted hotel, classic spookery is actually…kinda spooky. It’s just too bad that I don’t care about the characters that are haunted by these things.

The book is well written and all, but it misses good flowing, and that’s part of what’s killing it for me. Oh well, I was so wanting to enjoy this…well I still have 100 or so pages left. I already know what’s going to happen, thanks to so many parodies I’ve seen based on this, but maybe it will redeem itself. Dogman, make me proud!

I recently picked up A Tale of Two Cities. I’d never read any Dickens before.

Two things really struck me. First, was how riveting the story was. It was originally published as a serial over seven months. People must have gone bananas waiting a whole week to find what happens next! The second thing that amazed me is how violent the French Revolution was. It was bad like Pol Pot Cambodia bad.

My other most recent book was Umberto Eco’s The Prague Cemetery.

The plot is absolutely Byzantine, stretching from the 1840s to the 1890s, structured around real 19th-century conspiracy theories and hoaxes. We think of the Internet to be the best conspiracy incubator ever, but the way people can be led by their prejudices sure isn’t new. Not a quick read, you have to be prepared for an intricate story, but I really enjoyed the mental exercise. Great book.

@jaytkay Nobody beats Dickens for plotting, character and great use of imagery! I love his books.

Will look for the other at some point.

@jaytkay I’ve been a fan of Eco for a long time!

I read much of “Wristwatch Annual 2018”. I has photos and full descriptions of many watches made by many brands. Many people imagine that Rolex is the costliest and best watch brand. That is due to Rolex’s advertising and publicity blitzkrieg. Rolex spends twice as much money as any other brand on advertising. The 2018 price range for Rolex wristwatches is $6200 to $62,500. That seems quite expensive to many people, but Cartier’s price range is $6250 to $630,000. Richard Mille’s price range is now $67,000 to $1,939,000, thus his cheapest watch costs $4500 more than Rolex’s costliest one Many brands are costlier and better than Rolex that is just an entry level luxury brand.