Expat I'd like to re-introduce this thread in your corner. As a considered literary friend I hope you don't mind me starting it here. I see DJ already has begun a writing thread. So let's hope this gets some good traffic. This picture is of a dictionary that belonged to my dad and is approximately 60 years old. I love the finger indices for locating letters. This is old school stuff here, perhaps to set the tone. A trilogy of good books I just finished by the same author C.J. Box is listed. Two of the books, Free Fire and Open Season, are about his game warden Joe Picket. Good series on outdoor detective work by way of the Federal Game warden. The other book was a hugely acclaimed novel called Blue Heaven.
I've been studying a lot of Behavioral Economics and Ethics lately so I don't think anyone wants recommendations on those weighty tomes. They are not particularly readable anyway. That is a cool dictionary. I remember the thumb indexes. A lot of old Bibles had those too. We still have an old family dictionary. We were looking at it the other day, impressed with the color art inside of it. I recently read the newest Daniel Silva novel. I like that series. It's about spies, particularly Israeli spies. It's a little more realistic than the James Bond stuff. @GaryMc has stirred some Hemingway recollections lately. Here's one of his best short stories: Big Two-Hearted River. It's a simple story but one I think will resonate with a lot of people here. You might be able to find it online for free somewhere. EDIT: Here it is right here: http://xroads.virginia.edu/~drbr/hem_river.html Worth the read. (I'm sure this thread will grow with book recommendations)
I have got to get back to reading, it's been a while and @Expat I'll post up some books I have about Hemingway here, some are really excellent reads. He was definitely a man's man back in the day when real men "ruled" and women loved them for it......
I enjoyed all the Lee Child Reacher books, I'm working through Stephen Hunter's stuff now. Anything by Cormac McCarthy is worth the time. Most of my reading right now relates to OB/GYN and pediatrics...so you may want to go with @Expat and his Behavioral Economics and Ethics instead.
Expat--why behavioral economics? Job related, project related, or just a dry curiosity? It sure sounds like a tough slog though. I've read many a boring book on topics that could only be described as "dry" conversation. But I did it because I wanted to. And at that time I would finish that book no matter what just because I started it. Now with a few gray hairs on my head and a little bit of life perspective I just won't finish a book that isn't holding my interest. In other words, I'm not working at it. My reading has become more whimsical or cavalier. I still go the book store and just browse to see if anything catches my eye. I also like hearing what other people are reading and liking. The thread on the other side, called Dead Zone led me to the article on Yellowstone and the author C.J. Box. I read his fiction, set within the Dead Zone, and before you know it I had read two more of his books. That's what I'm talking about when I follow a whim.
Just received from Amazon, a copy of "The Holy Or the Broken: Leonard Cohen, Jeff Buckley, and the Unlikely Ascent of Hallelujah". Looking forward to reading it.
I understand the original had dozens of verses. I would like to read all of them. It is an interesting piece. One that seems interpreted different ways, depending on who's listening.
Hunting Books: Death in the Silent Places, by Peter Hathaway Capstick (or any of his other books) The Horn and the Hunter, by Robert Ruark The Old Man and the Boy, by Robert Ruark
You guys are sure listing a lot of great classic books here! On the current front, in anticipation of the movie, I have just finished reading The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins. Great read, especially if you like thrillers!
I have quite a few old books. What I have been doing for several years now is buying collection books usually leather bound. Only have about 5 or so, but contain many of the works that I enjoyed as a kid. Off topic, but I miss flea markets. Seems like now everything is prepackaged junk or some of your neigbor's tools that the other neighbor "stoled it and sold it." Many of my books that I have were purchased at Flea Markets.