Posted on 02/24/2005 6:11:45 PM PST by Tanniker Smith
Welcome to the Free Republic Book Club.
It was suggested a couple of days ago, in the FReeper's Book Rockets Up Amazon After Ingraham Show! thread (somewhere toward the end) that it would be great if there FR Book Club. Somehow, I think I got nominated to start one. I don't really know how to do that other than just to go ahead and do it. So I am -- please, feel free to point out mistakes, or point out how to make a "ping" list for folks that want to be a part of this.
Anyway, if there are no complaints, I think it would be better to have a Book Club rather than a Conservative Book Club (or a Republican Book Club or a Libertarian Book Club, etc). Yes, let's focus on the bounty of conservative books that we didn't have even a dozen years ago, but if anyone wants to occasionally talk about a mystery or SF book, it won't be off topic (unless The Powers That Be decide that it is, at least at FR). I don't know about anyone else, but the majority of my reading is composed of other stuff, as can be seen on this thread: Books Read in 2004 (Read Any Good Books Lately?)
Other than that, I have only one ground rule: judge (or slam) the books themselves, not the authors. The latter is way too easy, and beside the point. Likewise, I know the opinions folks have of Sean Hannity and Bill O'Reilly, but please separate the books from the people, particularly if you haven't read them.
So what should we discuss first?
I'm interested in any FReeper fiction writers. :-)
My sister just finished The Notebook by Nicholas Sparks and said it was as good as A Walk to Remember. I also want to read Eragon, a fantasy written by teen homeschooler, Christopher Paolini.
Tommy Frank's autobiography, American Soldier is excellent and there's so much in it, I wouldn't mind reading it again.
A while back I read the first book in Newt Gingrich's Civil War duo, Gettysburg and was pleasantly surprised by how captivating it was, still haven't read the second, though. Staying with the historical fiction theme, The Virtues of War: A Novel of Alexander the Great by Steven Pressfield looks interesting.
I read Left Illusions by David Horowitz last year...it was pretty heavy, would love to read it again and be able to discuss it with others (actually, any of his books would be worthy of discussion...he's absolutely brilliant).
Tear Down This Wall: The Reagan Revolution (compiled by eds. of National Review) looks good. Also, just picked up at my favorite used book store, Patriots: The Men who Started the American Revolution by A.J. Langguth.
Regardless of what's ultimately chosen, I love to read and I think this group is a wonderful idea!
"Treason" by Ann Coulter
"Unfit For Command" by John E. O`Neill and Jerome R.Corsi
Exactly. It's a type of narrative completely ignored and rarely taken on its own merits by the literary establishment, but vital nontheless.
The question for any discussion is --- is it well done or not?
It always involves a hero, and heroes are at present shunned.
The great mythic prototypes are always with us, however. Consider the 'band of brothers' theme; the ancient prototype is Ulysses, then used successfully, beautifully, in 'Saving Private Ryan' (a movie but let that go for now).
I would say that in 'Cities of the Plain' Cormac McCarthy didn't do well with the theme of the lone hero. In All The Pretty Horses he constructed a masterpiece with his lone hero.
That's the only question -- well done or badly done.
Take The Old Man And The Sea --- again, the hero on a quest. Again, a masterpiece.
You can find these mythical themes in so many works. It's like a kaliedoscope -- you have a limited number of glass pieces, but the creative combinations are endless in their variety.
Don Quijote was a brilliant satire on the Quest Novel and its stereotyped hero. Stereotyped at that timer with such overblown things as Amadis De Gaula etc. But he really was on a quest, and that's what makes the book more than just a satire.
Quest novels are wonderful in that they always invovlve those who help us and those who hinder us, and the heroes' ability to distinguish.
Even the Wizard of Oz is a quest novel. There ar einfinite variations.
But thehero/heroine must set out from home -- either forced to or voluntarily --- there has to be a treasured goal, and an animal companion.
I used t wonder what the animal companion was in Old Man and the Sea but then realized it was the old man's memory of the lions on the beaches of Africa.
After finishing I am Charlotte Simmons will be starting on Goodman, Musgrave and Herrick's Lives at Risk: Single Payer National Health Care Insurance Around the World, of which Newt says "This book will be an eye-opener for anyone who thinks a government-run system is the solution for our health care problems".....
And at present I am reading Patrick O'Brian --- all the Aubrey-Maturin novels. I'm addicted.
Starting Next:
I've got a lot of time on my hands with Leukemia and Rheumatoid Arthritis, so I'll wind up doing 20 - 25 books this month.
Currently reading "How to Talk to liberals (If You Must)" by Ann Coulter. I am enjoying it very much. Ann's ability to literally cut out the heart of a liberal idea and offer it up on a silver platter is great fun. One does not often laugh out loud when reading a book. With this book it's impossible not to laugh.
I haven't read Men in Black yet, but I'm thinking about buying a few copies and giving them for gifts. Would the average non-political person like it for a birthday or St. Patrick's Day gift?
Well, I've co-written a self-published novella, which was a follow-up to a self-published anthology fanzine, which was a follow-up to several stories printed in "Autoduel Quarterly".
... if that counts.
TS
Please add me to your list! I'm currently reading textbooks but am fighting for some spare time for some leisurely reading. Currently reading "High Crimes and Misdeameanors" because Business Law has help make sense of a lot of it. Then I want to start "Men in Black."
I just finished Hugh Hewitt's Blog. He has some interesting things to say about bloggers and sites like FR leading to a 21st century Information Reformation just as significant as the Reformation Luther started.
Uncivil War, about the meritocracy created by aptitude testing, is absolutely fabulous. It's the New Elites versus Left Behinds, precursors of Red-versus-Blue. It's a joy to read and see how we got into this situation.
LOL - me too.
Old English was not high on my favorite subject lists.
Right. There are a lot of good war stories that are well done. Some of my favorites are Up Periscope, The Enemy Below, Patton, The Grey Ghost, and the Audie Murphy bio - To Hell and Back. Though not really classics, still, very good stories in the pursuit of victory.
Then there's the ill-fated or tragic quest, like Billy Budd, or Herman Melville's Moby Dick - both classics in their own right.
I also enjoy fiction with a political bent, such as: Fahrenheit 451, The 480, The Ugly American, and Sarkahn.
"Cities of the Plain" is actually the name of the trilogy, of which I think "All the Pretty Horses" was the best. Strange that I finally discovered McCarthy, years after my BA in English! The thing about this trilogy that absolutely floored me, though, is his capture of the American (post) frontier in spare and beautiful language, which sends the spirit soaring.
I know a new thread was started for today, but I was reading this one to catch up on posts I'd missed and wanted to add a seeming freeper favorite to your "quest novel" list: "The Stand" by King.
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