Those of you interested in expanding their vocabulary should read this book.
Booth Tarkington was an American author popular during the early years of the last century and he was extremely articulate.
I began reading his Penrod series when I was about 9 or 10 years old and soon discovered that I needed a good dictionary because I was totally unfamiliar with many of the words he used. I guarantee this book will help your English language skills. It sure helped mine.
You can read the online book (which is a copy of the original) by using the arrow key next to "page" in the upper right corner. Enjoy - it's an extremely humorous account of a young boy's trip through life in early America but I suspect that older men of any country will recognize the situations described in Mr. Tarkington's "Penrod".
Posts from Stumpy in thread „The Book Dimension“
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Isn't that the truth. I've ran across a few books in stores that I thought I might enjoy reading, but not enough to pay the price they are asking. Hardback books are priced way more than they are worth. Most of my expensive hardbacks were given to me as presents. I can see books that are filled with photographs (that the author has to pay royalties to use them) being on the expensive side, but just a book of written word? I am a printer, and I know that the more books printed in the order, the cheaper the price per book. Well, thank goodness for libraries, where we can still read the book without paying out the nose for it.
Mark
Anymore, when I see a title or author I might like, I begin thinking of ways to buy the book without paying that price printed on the inside front dust jacket. I check Sams first because sometimes you can find a title you want there for considerably less money. And often I get the books I want at abebooks. And even Amazon usually has them below full retail price. I just flatout refuse to pay $27.95 for a run-of-the-mill novel that I used to buy for 7 or 8 dollars. -
Paperbacks fit well into that category as they are inexpensive.
Not so much anymore. I remember back in the Fifties I bought hardbacks for less than what paperbacks cost nowadays. And most paperbacks then were either 25 or sometimes 35 cents. Ah, what inflation does to your money. -
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I'm in the middle of reading Little Big Man right now, by Thomas Berger. It's close to the movie with minor differences, but a good read all around. I like reading western books. The Lonesome Dove series (Lonesome Dove, Streets Of Laredo, Comanche Moon and Deadman's Walk) by Larry McMurtry were great. Bury My heart at Wounded Knee by Dee Brown is another.
I also like reading autobiographies, mostly sports biographies. As far as baseball players go, there's only one autobiography I couldn't finish. That was Pete Rose's book. He was a great baseball player, but way too full of himself.
Just an idea, but it seems we have quite a few readers on this forum. Why don't we utilize the trading post thread on this board and offer up books we have read and decide to pass on. We could list them and trade them for others from members who list theirs. Granted, most of the ones I have are paperbacks, some worn from being enjoyed, but I would be glad to pass them on for others to read. If someone sees a book they want to read and don't have one to trade, they could just offer to pay the shipping cost to receive it. What are your thought on this? Any takers?
Mark
I'm pretty attached to nearly all my books, Mark, so don't think I'd want to get rid of any of 'em. Some of 'em I've had for 40 or 50 years. Some of my paperbacks I might trade; I'll go through them and see.
I thought "Lonesome Dove" was great but didn't care for the sequences at all. -
I've just recently finished reading all the Ian Fleming James Bond books
I have a lot of 'em but only in paperback. Most of my books are in hardback and I have a fairly extensive library. I've given away to various libraries thousands of dollars worth of books, mostly to make room for new ones. My tastes in reading cover a wide range. -
US History books cover Eisenhower and Patton in the African campaign, but hardly anything about the Brits.
As I said, Jeff, Churchill's history of WW2 is one of the best, at least inasmuch as the European theater goes. For the Pacific, I strongly recommend John Toland. I especially liked his "The Rising Sun". In it, he makes a pretty strong case that Japan was almost forced to go to war with us to save face.
one of my favorite US Civil War books is written by GF Henderson a British Colonel.
Did you ever read Douglas Southall Freeman's "Lee's Lieutenants"? IMO, it's one of the best histories of the Civil War, or at least that part that concerns The Army of Northern Virginia, which was commanded by General Lee.
Save your Confederate money, boys, the South's gonna rise again. (let us hope) -
I used to read entire weekends away but as I've aged, my powers of concentration aren't as acute as they once were. Also, I recently had an eye exam and the doctor told me I have cataracts (I've used reading glasses for several years and for at least 30 years, I've had what's called presbyopia, which means the lens of your eyes aren't as elastic and thus can't focus as well as they once did). Anyway, the concentration and vision problems have somewhat diminished my enjoyment of reading.
Getting old is a real bummer. -
I read everything from sports biographies to Dickens. I've started to take more of an interest in English history and world war 2 as both my Grandfathers fought in WW2.
I am also interested in other countries and their people,their lives etc.So a bit of everything really.How about you?
Have you ever read Churchill's 6-volume history of WW2. Old Winnie was an excellent writer.
At various periods of my life, I've been greatly enamored of the following authors:
Louisa May Alcott
Stephen Ambrose (he writes good stories about WW2 also)
Elliot Arnold (American West
John Barron (True Spy Stories)
Edgar Rice Burroughs (Tarzan)
Tom Clancy (Action-Adventure)
J. Frank Dobie (American West)
Arthur Conan Doyle (Sherlock Holmes)
Allen Eckert (Early American History - also "The Hab Theory", one of the
most fascinating fictional novels I've ever read)
Clay Fisher/Will Henry (American West)
Ian Fleming (James Bond)
C.S. Forester (Hornblower series)
Frederic Forsyth (Action-Adventure)
Zane Grey (American West)
Thomas Harris (Mysteries such as "Silence of the Lambs")
Jack Higgins ("The Eagle Has Landed" & dozens of similar books)
James Jones ("From Here To Eternity" & others)
Robert Leckie (American Military History)
Walter Lord (American Military History)
Alistair MacLean
William Manchester (Biographies-he wrote one of the best biographies of
Churchill ever written but died before he finished it)
F. Van Wyck Mason (Historical Fiction)
Larry McMurtry ("Lonesome Dove", "Last Picture Show" & others)
James Michener
Robin Moore ("The French Connection" & others)
Edmund Morris (Biographies)
Kenneth Roberts (Historical Fiction)
Robert Ruark
Cornelius Ryan (WW2)
Luke Short (Western Fiction)
Wilbur Smith (Africa-Fiction; If you want to read one of the best stories
ever written, read his "When The Lion Feeds")
Mickey Spillane (Mike Hammer)
Albert Payson Terhune (Children's Fiction about dogs)
John Toland (History-WW2)
Leon Uris (Historical Fiction)
Joseph Wambaugh (LAPD)
James Webb (Military Fiction)
There now, aren't you sorry you asked?:teeth_smile:
In the past couple of years, I've discovered a few other authors I really like, two of which are P.T. Deutermann and Vince Flynn.
I forgot to mention Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens), another favorite, especially when I was a kid. -
Anyway let's forget golf and get back to the subject of books.
Sounds like a winner. Who are your favorite authors? -
i think it is also very elitist,played by the so-called upper classes
Well, I've never been a golfer either so I don't know if your statement is true or not. I do know that my oldest and dearest friend (we've been friends since about 1949) plays golf each weekend and he's certainly no "elitist" - he's just an old country boy like me.
Though I myself am not a golfer, I very much enjoy watching it on television. But since Jack Nicklaus is long past his playing days, I don't watch it nearly as much. -
golf!! the best way to ruin a good walk! i don't think so Stumpy.
thats (no offence to older memebers of the board) an old mans game who have too much time on there hands. golf!! i'd rather watch grass grow,blimey whats golf got to do with books. i can watch most sports except golf,tennis + athletics. oh and baseball because i can't understand it.i don't mind watching american football sometimes.
sorry about that Stumpy,a bit of a outburst there,thats not like me apologies luckynedpepper
I was kidding you when I asked that, Ned. The only reason I asked was because there are so many golf courses in your part of England. :teeth_smile: -
i love reading,always have done.when im done on the computer at night i read for 1/2 an hour or so before i go to sleep. i'm always telling my kids how great books are and how you can find out anything in books if you look.i prefer reading to tv these as there's not much on i like so i tend to get through books pretty quick.
Sure you don't like golf also, Ned? -
I've been an avid reader since the age of 4 or 5 years old. (BTW, Rob,
reading helped tremendously with my spelling and grammatical skills).
My grandma taught me to read at an early age, taking me on her lap and reading to me. It's always been my belief that if one reads well, they can learn just about anything else (and that worked for me, except when it came to algebra :teeth_smile::teeth_smile:)
Probably my overall favorite reading topics have been history and biographies, subjects a lot of other people find boring.
