The Book Thread

[Texsox]

RexKickAss; how did you do on your summer reading list?

 

I'm filling in on books I should have read, but somehow missed. Currently I am reading Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451

[beautox]

Solipsist by Henry Rollins

 

heres an excerpt.

 

Not disabled, unable. In my dream I die and come back as a brick. Yes, a brick. The brick that I come back as is lodged in a wall that was built in 1951. The exposed side of the brick faces the window of a woman who I love but who turned me away years before. Day after day I stare into her room, into her life. I watch her come and go. I see her with different men. I cannot call out, I cannot move. I am embedded in cement. I can do nothing but silently and motionlessly watch. I see her alone. I watch her cry and her head in her hands. I am forced to watch relentlessly. Sometimes she stares out the window and looks right at me. It is excruciating to look directly into her eyes and know she does not see me, she only sees a wall. She leave for weeks at a time, and I wonder where she is. Who she's with. I wait. All the other bricks are just bricks, they do not speak, they don't do anything at all. It is only my discontent that makes me believe that I am alive at all. I have no arms or legs. I feel neither hot nor cold. I do not sleep. I do not hunger or thirst. My face is a small rectangle of smooth red clay, anonymous. Sometimes I think that I am a man merely dreaming of being a brick, but the days pass and I can see enough to know that I am indeed a brick in a large wall. One day she moves away. Days turn into months, and soon the first year of her absence arrives. In this time I have done nothing but think and make up every possiblebility of her return. to my view a potential reality. Five years pass. My mind has begun to drift. I watch the squirrels and birds in the tree to my left. I watch a few families move in and out. See a few traffic accidents, a robbery. I watch the leaves explode into colors and fall off the branches. But at night when everything is quiet I think of her. She is somewhere. I am here. Always here. Not waiting, just here. Please do not let me live my life untouched and tormented. Please help me escape the tragedy of myself. I envision my face: contorted and agonized, wild-eyed, my mouth frozen in a mid scream. Never able to say the truth. Forever trapped, suspended inside a solid black eternity. Embedded, silent, identical to the hundreds of others symmetrically stacked around me.

[Queen Prawn]

I am reading Joseph Wambaugh's "The Blooding" and recently finished his "Echoes in the Darkness."

 

I am planning on getting a couple books on the Black Dahlia (read a couple websites and saw a few book suggestions).

[bmags]

reading 'the infinite jest' by d. foster wallace

[southsider2k5]

I wasn't much of a civil war person until I actually visited Gettysburg a couple of years ago. Just being on the battlefield and hearing the stories told was enough to get me very interested in it. I found this book, which is just an incredible amount of information and detail on the battle.

 

http://books.google.com/books?id=DsxcBNGyP...;q=&f=false

[Texsox]

I wasn't much of a civil war person until I actually visited Gettysburg a couple of years ago. Just being on the battlefield and hearing the stories told was enough to get me very interested in it. I found this book, which is just an incredible amount of information and detail on the battle.

 

http://books.google.com/books?id=DsxcBNGyP...;q=&f=false

 

I need to get that before I have to teach it

 

I am reading Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong by James Loewen. Great read so far.

 

I am also leaving to pick up Tecate Journal by Keith Bowden. He spent 70 days traveling down the Rio Grande River.

[southsider2k5]

I need to get that before I have to teach it

 

I am reading Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong by James Loewen. Great read so far.

 

I am also leaving to pick up Tecate Journal by Keith Bowden. He spent 70 days traveling down the Rio Grande River.

 

Its over 500 pages for a three day battle.

[Texsox]

Its over 500 pages for a three day battle.

 

Which is the challenge I am facing. History is most interesting for most poeple beneath the surface. The real drama and excitement is not a list of names, places, and dates. It's the stuff behind the scenes.

[southsider2k5]

Which is the challenge I am facing. History is most interesting for most poeple beneath the surface. The real drama and excitement is not a list of names, places, and dates. It's the stuff behind the scenes.

 

A great angle on the battle is exactly how close the Reb's came to winning this battle on Yankee soil, and how it would have completely turned the civil war on its ear. What could the "United States" have looked like if Lincoln wasn't put in a position of strength to be able to issue the Gettysburg address and the emancipation of slaves?

[Texsox]

It is funny, my gf is GRITS (girl raised in the south) and we joke about "the war of northern aggression" every so often.

 

Also, the south Texas area, especially the border region, was key to some of the Confederate's strategy. There are a couple battlegrounds near here. Including the last battle, which the south won. However it was months after the Rebs surrendered (someone forgot to check their email). So I will wind up teaching some of this from a Reb point of view, which is so foreign to me after being educated in the north.

[southsider2k5]

It is funny, my gf is GRITS (girl raised in the south) and we joke about "the war of northern aggression" every so often.

 

Also, the south Texas area, especially the border region, was key to some of the Confederate's strategy. There are a couple battlegrounds near here. Including the last battle, which the south won. However it was months after the Rebs surrendered (someone forgot to check their email). So I will wind up teaching some of this from a Reb point of view, which is so foreign to me after being educated in the north.

 

Is your grade the one that gets to teach Texas History?

[Texsox]

Is your grade the one that gets to teach Texas History?

 

No, that is 7th grade. I have US History; Beginning to Reconstruction. I start with the War of 1812 when we return. I have three national anthems to play, a traditional quiet, respectful one, one from the NHL All-Star game at the old Stadium , and Hendrix at Woodstock. I thought it would be a good lesson on nationalism. Plus I get to wear some Blackhawk stuff and talk trash with the Dallas Stars fans.

[FlaSoxxJim]

Just finished Pride and Prejudice and Zombies the other night. Good fun.

[NorthSideSox72]

It is funny, my gf is GRITS (girl raised in the south) and we joke about "the war of northern aggression" every so often.

 

Also, the south Texas area, especially the border region, was key to some of the Confederate's strategy. There are a couple battlegrounds near here. Including the last battle, which the south won. However it was months after the Rebs surrendered (someone forgot to check their email). So I will wind up teaching some of this from a Reb point of view, which is so foreign to me after being educated in the north.

Some Texas companies lauched out during the Civil War to try to take New Mexico and Colorado for the Confederates. With them were a lot of people from the southeast, not used to the dry climate and real mountains. It didn't go terribly well. But there are some fascinating stories about that campaign and its battles.

 

I hated history when I was growing up, because all they taught was dry, surface level stuff. Who was the XXth President? That kind of stuff. Its not useful. I'd rather they covered less topics, but with more depth, to give people the real feel of why things were important, and what it was like to be there. When I read historical books published now (Blood and Thunder is a fave, speaking of Texas and the Civil War), they are just so much more interesting. I really wish they'd teach from books like that in high school, instead of the nearly useless textbooks.

 

[Rex Kickass]

I've become a big fan of Paul Theroux travel narratives in the last couple years.

[Texsox]

Some Texas companies lauched out during the Civil War to try to take New Mexico and Colorado for the Confederates. With them were a lot of people from the southeast, not used to the dry climate and real mountains. It didn't go terribly well. But there are some fascinating stories about that campaign and its battles.

 

I hated history when I was growing up, because all they taught was dry, surface level stuff. Who was the XXth President? That kind of stuff. Its not useful. I'd rather they covered less topics, but with more depth, to give people the real feel of why things were important, and what it was like to be there. When I read historical books published now (Blood and Thunder is a fave, speaking of Texas and the Civil War), they are just so much more interesting. I really wish they'd teach from books like that in high school, instead of the nearly useless textbooks.

 

You will be happy to know we/I use textbooks as a resource, our curriculum is independent of any one book. And I'm trying to teach by telling stories whenever possible. I wish I had more time each day. We also use a lot more independently produced videos, etc. not just "education" ones. Plus, how many history teachers would play Hendrix?

[The Gooch]

You will be happy to know we/I use textbooks as a resource, our curriculum is independent of any one book. And I'm trying to teach by telling stories whenever possible. I wish I had more time each day. We also use a lot more independently produced videos, etc. not just "education" ones. Plus, how many history teachers would play Hendrix?

 

At least your school seems to be starting to get it right. I feel that the only subject we covered in proper depth from high school was the Holocaust. Everything else was just the who, what, and when. I have also taken to reading non-fiction history books lately including Blood and Thunder (my favorite as well), and I have learned more about our history then I ever have in class. Understanding the past is more important to our future than most people know, and unfortunately names and dates don't cut it.

[Brian]

After seeing every imaginable big screen version over my life, I finally read "A Christmas Carol". The latest Zemeckis version is pretty much the book word for word. Only 80 pages as well.

 

I may start reading the book every December as a tradition.

[Texsox]

At least your school seems to be starting to get it right. I feel that the only subject we covered in proper depth from high school was the Holocaust. Everything else was just the who, what, and when. I have also taken to reading non-fiction history books lately including Blood and Thunder (my favorite as well), and I have learned more about our history then I ever have in class. Understanding the past is more important to our future than most people know, and unfortunately names and dates don't cut it.

 

Being able to sequence dates is important, and I have yet to figure out how to grasp that without discussing dates. But I agree, the sanitized who, what, when, were, approach to history is ZZZZzzzz.

[MattZakrowski]

LOL at how short this thread is.

 

BTW, Super Freakonomics is fantastic so far.

[southsider2k5]

LOL at how short this thread is.

 

BTW, Super Freakonomics is fantastic so far.

 

I couldn't find the long thread in a quick google search (couldn't remember what it was called) so I used the first one I found.

[Kyyle23]

Its on the kid side, but me and my daughter are reading "Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief" together before the movie comes out. Its not bad so far. Its very "Harry Potter" in a Greek sense instead of Magical sense, but it is still good

[The Critic]

Just finished "Gasping for Airtime" by Jay Mohr.

A very interesting read about the behind-the-scenes politics and stresses at Saturday Night Live.

Man, does he ever come off super-whiny, though.

 

Next up, "Heaven and Hell: My Life In The Eagles 1974-2001" by Don Felder.

[Soxy]

I found an awesome used books website I can recommend: betterworldbooks.com Really cheap used books and no shipping. (They do ask that you make a small carbon offset donation--usually less than a dollar.) And they have so many titles! Way more than amazon even. I love it!

 

Also, I have just about finished reading Val McDermid's Tony Hill series. Really wonderfully crafted mysteries. Really good.

 

I also read recently (several times) The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. A really neat book about the Nazi occupation of the Channel Islands. It's also about the transformative power of books. Really highly recommended.

[StrangeSox]

The Road is great/ very depressing. McCarthy's style of writing is different but fit very well with the book. Time to dig into No Country For Old Men next.