currently reading...

[vbplyr]

Sometimes when I read a really good book, I can't put it down and read it through in one sitting. However when I read a great book, I take my time with it to make it last longer. "Exact Revenge" from Tim Green is one of the great ones.

Just finished Connelly's new one, "The Closers" - really good one.

[Chicago Jake]

I'm still reading "Don Quixote" and have been working on it since March. It's about 1000 pages long, and given my slow reading speed and poor attention span, it will probably take me all year. But it is a great read, and I wouldn't want to rush through it......Jake

[♥ COVID-19♥]

Just finished the first page of Seuss' "Green Eggs & Ham".

LOVING IT!

Please don't anyone tell me how it ends -- I would hate for it to be ruined.

But damn, them pictures is great!

[Ardbeg... innit]

OK Sam I am...

This is one book that I happen to have read MANY times about 13-15 years ago, but its words still ring true in my memory.

Perhaps Seuss' MOST provocative work. An excellent allogory of sexual temptation and exploration and a mans resistance to ch-ch-change.

I will not reveal the ending, but I will say that "Sam I Am's" pressure to explore strange new 'taste's' is compelling to the point that I wanted yell at him No Means NO (or Baaaa). Physical human fraility to resist the forbidden is stretched to the limit, testing endurance. BUT OH the sweet release Seuss provides for a climax of this test of body and will.

Enjoy the book BB.. let us know what you think.

Gordon

[Hedo69]

Gordon,

That is the most awesome review of Green Eggs and Ham that I have ever seen. ;D

I would be curious to know your take on One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish or the even deeper novel of Horton Hears a Who.

Deb

Whose favorite christmas cartoon is still the (old one only-not Jim Carrey) The Grinch who Stole Christmas.

[Chicago Jake]

Hey, Deb - I'm a HUGE Grinch fan myself. I have the book, the DVD (the original, natch, with Thurl Ravenscroft), and even two Grinch Ties to wear to the office for those festive Christmas events!....Jake

P.S. - the review was by Gordon, I believe, not Simon, even though it includes an ode to Sam

[Christinko]

"Go Dog, Go" was a big fav of mine, though I do recite almost the entire "Green Eggs & Ham" epic to my English classes at least once a semester (comes up during discussion of the ever-infamous Series Comma).

I detested "Are You My Mother."

As a youth, my mother did have me read "White Gloves and Party Manners," to prep me for the country club scene. Not Seuss, but I did learn to avoid licking my knife, to put my soup spoon on the saucer when not in use, and to always pass the salt & pepper together. Yawn.

Currently I'm finishing up an Issac Asimov science book about how the universe came to be...now I'm just starting to understand relativity, quarks (even the charmed ones), and the age of the universe. Oh baby. You know I'M a hit at cocktail parties.

Last night started a trashy historical romance (first one in more than a year) because I needed a fix...it's been a while. Well, maybe not a while, but a satisfying while. 1400s....Scottish lairds, heaving bosoms, quivering thighs....sweet release, throbbing manhoods. Just writing the word "tumescent" brings me pleasure. Sigh.

[Hedo69]

Damn Jake,

You are sooo right. It musta been the "Sam" I am part that stuck in my subconscious. I fixed that error. Yep, love the Grinch....Ravenscroft's singing along with Karloff's narrating was pure melodical perfection.

[Hedo69]

Historical Romances.....you gotta love em....milky globes, moist thighs, steely eyes, hard lips, true dislike always turning to true love, and can't forget the horny virgins. I still also enjoy a good one when I am in the mood...the books, not the horny virgins......

[Ardbeg... innit]

Deb said:

I would be curious to know your take on One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish or the even deeper novel of Horton Hears a Who.

In starting to do the background research on the Seuss book "One fish, two fish" (a book to which I am not near as well versed as I am with "Green Eggs and Ham"), I ran across the following review which pretty much hits the nail on the head with my thoughts on this "Political Thiller". (I do vehemently disagree with her assessment of "Green Eggs and Ham" however)



Maddi Hausmann Sojourner "madhaus" said

Just as Seuss covered anti-intellectualism in Green Eggs and Ham, and alternate lifestyles in Hop on Pop, the Fish book is a trenchant political analysis. Foreseeing the red vs. blue state deadlock back in the idealistic better-living-through-chemistry early 1960s, Suess contrasts the red (as in communist) fish with the all-American blue fish. This motif weaves through the book, teaching little ones the red vs. blue tension of multiculturalism (in the form of strange animals) and isolationism of Ned in his too-small bed [bornagain comment- could Suess have been using the bed as symbolism for the US??]. While most younger children will miss the allusion to Procrustes, they may remember the literary echo in Hop on Pop: Ned joins Red, Ted, and Ed in a more appropriately sized bed, and Seuss shows his support for the UN, or at least the International Monetary Fund.

The tension is palpable when the young boy and girl bring home a large, walrus-like pet and wonder how their mother will feel about their deed; no preschooler could miss this reference to the Teapot Dome scandal. Similarly, their advice to get a pet Yink simply because of its fondness for pale red india writing product is a sardonic commentary on rampant consumerism. And the camel-like Wump shows his prophetic realization that our demand for oil would force us to deal with the Saudis on a regular basis.

Seuss warns us of the coming divide in these United States in the introduction: "From there to here, from here to there, funny things are everywhere." It starts with the fish, red, blue, and black (but not white, showing where Geisel's sympathies lie), young and old, then proceeds up the evolutionary chain to large land mammals, eventually including the aforementioned school-aged boy and girl. They serve as the Adam and Eve as well as the Joe and Joan Sixpak of the book. They espouse embracing what is different while they reinforce doing the same.

Seuss knew where we were headed in both 2000 and 2004, and this book shows the way out. The US has plenty of (pale) red ink, so we should get a Yink. I think.

For those who are unsure of the reference to Procustes I offer this link...

www.mythweb.com/teachers/why/basics/procrustes.html

Gordon

[Hedo69]

Veddy veddy interesting (said in my best Sigmund Freud voice)

I have been on EBay today, looking for my very own Yink. Thanks Gordon!!!

Deb

[Ardbeg... innit]

Deb, If you find a Yink on EBay, let me know, I might want to invest in one myself!!

[greeneyes]

admin said:

I'm still reading "Don Quixote" and have been working on it since March. It's about 1000 pages long, and given my slow reading speed and poor attention span, it will probably take me all year. But it is a great read, and I wouldn't want to rush through it......Jake

Maybe your new glasses will help?

[greeneyes]

I'm afraid to ask what you guys' view on "Hop on Pop" (another Seuss classic) are?

"do you like to hop? Hop on Pop? Yes I like to Hop on Pop? Hop! Hop! on Pop!

[jdmcowan]

bukkakeboy said:

Just finished the first page of Seuss' "Green Eggs & Ham".

Recently saw this on a T-shirt:
I would drink beer
with a goat
on a boat
in a box
in my socks
in a car
at a bar
I do, I do, I do like beer
Slammed I am!

Jeremy

[Hazelita]

Based on Bob's recommendation in the "DaVinci Code" thread I am currently reading Angels and Demons by Dan Brown. I bought it to read on the plane when I went to visit Jakey last week but I didn't get started until I returned from the trip. I am reading it during my commute to/from work every day. I started on Tuesday and I'm already three-quarters of the way through.

This is an extremely thought-provoking book. It's got something for everyone: arts, science, religion, and lots of suspense! I'm thoroughly enjoying this book. Can't wait to see how it ends!

P.S. -- Those "ambigrams" are way cool!

[vbplyr]

The Kite Runner

Well written and horribly fascinating - the kind of book that you think about long after you put it down.

[Exildo Wonsetler Briggs III]

christinko said:

Currently I'm finishing up an Issac Asimov science book about how the universe came to be...now I'm just starting to understand relativity, quarks (even the charmed ones), and the age of the universe. Oh baby. You know I'M a hit at cocktail parties.

One thing that keeps me up at night is the fact that Quantum Mechanics and General Relativity Theory do not jive.

That, folks, is some *serious* sh*t! (Trust me!)

I wonder, Chris, whether you have come to realize that our universe came together in such a way that "by accident" it did not happen!

There is a method to the madness, othewise it's a HUGE waste of space (not to mention you just don't make something out of nothing.....nada.....can't be done).

On another note, do you *EVER* scream, "OH GOD!"

..................Bob

[jdmcowan]

Is anyone else reading Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince? I'm actually listening to it on CD, since I have a long drive to and from work and little time for sitting and doing casual reading.

Jeremy

[♥ COVID-19♥]

bobnrhonda said:

... othewise it's a HUGE waste of space (not to mention you just don't make something out of nothing.....).

I find myself struck with that very same thought whenever I read one of your rants in the Political Discussion forum.

[Ardbeg... innit]

jdmcowan said:

Is anyone else reading Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince? I'm actually listening to it on CD, since I have a long drive to and from work and little time for sitting and doing casual reading.

Jeremy

CD's are in the mail.. soon come mon.

[drmryder]

hedo69 said:

Whose favorite christmas cartoon is still the (old one only-not Jim Carrey) The Grinch who Stole Christmas.

Oh that is my favorite! Skip Jim Carrey! Christmas isn't Christmas without a seeing little Cindy Lou Who!

Okay, who else plays the Grinch game when they watch it?

[drmryder]

jdmcowan said:

Is anyone else reading Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince? I'm actually listening to it on CD, since I have a long drive to and from work and little time for sitting and doing casual reading.

Jeremy

Plan on reading it when I'm done with Robert Jordan's books. I'll have to probably reread the book prior to the lastest Potter because I can't remember where it ended.

I'm currently reading Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time Series. I'm on book 8 of 10 with books 11 and 12 to be done sometime in the next ten years.

[Hazelita]

The book I'm currently reading is by no means any great literary work. It's a diet book, the South Beach Diet, to be exact. Have been on the diet two weeks and have already lost 7 pounds!

[♥ COVID-19♥]

I'm skipping that one -- I'll wait for the movie.

[Ardbeg... innit]

hazelita said:

The book I'm currently reading is by no means any great literary work. It's a diet book, the South Beach Diet, to be exact. Have been on the diet two weeks and have already lost 7 pounds!

Go for it Hazel!! I used that diet last year and dropped from 195 to 170, and I am still at 175 after slacking up from the strictest aspects of the diet. I am going to go back on it hard this fall, my goal is 160 (what I weighed 28 years ago, when I got married).

GOOD LUCK!!

Editted to add: My doc recommended the South Beach Diet as a way to get the cholestoral, LDL's and triglycerides down, the weight loss was a bonus.

[♥ COVID-19♥]

When it comes to diets, I have a very negative attitude. My philosophy is, "A waste is a terrible thing to mind".

[Ardbeg... innit]

BB- When you put it that way I am positive you DO MEAN 'waste' and not 'waist'.

[♥ COVID-19♥]

At this point, it's getting harder and harder to me to differentiate between my waist and my waste.

[Christinko]

Is that because you are full of shit? Grin!