CafeCap

Current reads:

1)  Invisible Nation by Quil Lawrence. The book talks about one of history's more persecuted, yet less spoken people - the Kurds. From facing historical persecutions to genocides by Sadaam Hussein to more recently being a target of ISIS, the community has seen it all. Quil talks in length about the community's resilience, survival, and its relentless quest for a homeland - a much-needed work.

2) Caste by Isabel Wilkerson. It is an investigation of rigid social hierarchies across times and cultures. In her work, Wilkerson connects the race-based caste system that persists in America to the ancient caste hierarchy of India and the rapid formation of ethno-religious castes in Nazi Germany. An excellent and immersive read.

3) And finally, this Psycholgy book.

15 hours ago, T-Bone said:

I probably ought to revisit some of those classics…think I make such a “learning project “ out of non-fiction stuff, I forgot how much fun, relevant and thought provoking allegories, fables, and such can be. Maybe my mind has gotten lazy    just looking to be entertained…switching to movies for a minute cuz it touches on the same thing - a big fav of mine and my wife’s too  is Being John Malkovich - a comedy about a puppeteer discovering a portal into a famous actor’s mind. It is such a quirky funny story - and always gets me thinking about social dynamics , interpersonal skills, the authentic self. It’s entertaining but really gets you to think afterwards.

Yes, and Orwell's are easy and intriguing to revisit. Animal farm is a super short read.

I haven't watched the movie, but I'll make it a point to visit it sometime.

7 hours ago, T-Bone said:

There’s a method to my madness      -   when reading several books at a time – only ONE of them may be a novel – the other books will be non-fiction, history, philosophy, theology, etc. I can’t read TWO novels at the same time – I’d get lost. As it is – full disclosure here – when reading a novel, I sometimes have to make cheat notes on who some peripheral characters are or even draw timelines or look at maps – or I can get lost   . Funny story - I got into reading The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo trilogy – I’m following along the action of the story with an atlas but then couldn’t locate Hedeby island in Sweden…had to Google to find out it is a FICTIONAL island featured in novel    …but with non-fiction it’s easy for me to switch gears and put down a history book and pick up a philosophy book – maybe my mind is in high school or college mode – going from class to class of different subjects…I was an average student back then – guess I’m making up for it now.

Hahaha makes a lot of sense.

7 hours ago, T-Bone said:

I know what you mean about getting lost in visualization with Sci-Fi. I was a technician so I can get really picky on Sci-Fi novels.  if I feel the author is trying to impress me with their technical-know-how, gadgetry and complex details of other worlds rather than having a compelling storyline or interesting character arc, I lose interest…anyway, a story like HG Wells’ The Invisible Man is a very interesting story of the inner transformation of the main character - a scientist - who invents an invisibility serum – but he didn’t know how to reverse it. There’s not much to VISUALIZE in a story like that -  the dude’s invisible.      But that’s one of the first Sci-Fi books I read as a kid that made me try to get inside the character’s head – why was he driven to make the serum? Why didn’t he figure out how to reverse it before he tried it on himself? I was like 10 years old when I read it – but even then, I got one of the big ideas in the book – power corrupts…of course I thought of it in kid’s terms – what would it be like if you could do whatever you want and not get caught? You’d be a corrupt person.

...people read novels or watch movies and TV shows to escape – to get away from the familiar and the drama of real life…I liked Orwell’s 1984 – now that’s a very compelling story. 

Ohhh @invisible man. I'll give it a try asap. I'm in the middle of Murakami's Norwegian Wood and Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman now. Yes, Orwell's 1984 is my fav as well. Animal Farm and 1984 and indisputable and timeless classics. More the time passes, more relevant they became.

7 hours ago, T-Bone said:

Well, I’ll probably have to reread this stuff on Tao a few times to give a better answer – but anyway, with everything I read I have somewhat of a synthesis approach (which may be something of Tao in that   ) trying to combine new info with what I already know; Tao is defined as the absolute principle underlying the universe, and sees opposites as complementary, interconnected, and interdependent…that there is a harmony in the natural order of everything…and after reading Love Wins, I get a deeper sense of what Jesus said about the kingdom of God being at hand…bottom line, I think there’s a lot more going on in and around all the lives that cross my path.

ohh. Alright!

On 4/20/2021 at 12:06 PM, T-Bone said:

My tastes vary genre-wise  - depending on what mood I'm in - so I often wind up reading several books at a time - but I'm not a fast reader, so it might take me 3 months to finish several books.

I know a friend who reads 3-4 books simultaneously. I can juggle 2 at the most, that too if one's a novel and other one's a short story, else I'm completely lost.

On 4/20/2021 at 12:06 PM, T-Bone said:

For fiction I like action/thriller/ techno-thriller/sci-fi stuff - - some of my fav authors are Stephen Hunter, Janet Evanovich, Lee Child, Philip K. Dick, C.J. Lyons, John Grisham, Tom Clancy, H.G. Wells, Arthur C. Clarke, Isaac Asimov, Ray Bradbury, George Orwell, Kurt Vonnegut, Stephen King, Michael Crichton, James Rollins...late last year I finished "The Eye of God" by James Rollins - and have not started reading another novel yet.

That's a crackerjack of an author list - most of em from SF. I too want to read and explore SF, but I get lost in visualization and I find it hard to relate after that. Also, Orwell is my personal favorite. 

On 4/20/2021 at 12:06 PM, T-Bone said:

For non-fiction I jump around on what interests me at the time: history, philosophy, science, technology, theology...I recently finished "Love Wins: A Book About Heaven, Hell and the Fate of Every Person Who Ever Lived" by Rob Bell.

I started reading "The Tao of Psychology: Synchronicity and the Self" by Jean Shinoch Bolen... I've also been reading a few other books - "Tao Te Ching: Annotated & Explained" translation and annotation by Derek Lin. (after starting Bolen's book I wanted to look into taoism - fascinating stuff!)... "Understanding The Bible: An Introduction for Skeptics, Seekers, and Religious Liberals" by John A. Buehrens..."Beyond the Messy Truth: How We Came Apart, How We Come Together" by Van Jones..."The God Equation: The Quest for a Theory of Everything" by Michio Kaku...and "Music Theory for The Bass Player" by Ariane Cap.

Lots of spiritual reading there. Have you finished reading Tao? Could you explain a bit on it?

On 4/20/2021 at 12:06 PM, T-Bone said:

"Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Christian Belief" by John M. Frame

"The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History" by Elizabeth Kolbert

"Sapians: A Brief History of Humankind" by Yuval Noah Harari

"The U.S. Constitution for Dummies" by Dr. Michael Arnheim

"The New Testament In Its World: An Introduction to the History, Literature, and Theology of the First Christians" by N.T. Wright and Michael F. Bird

"How To Be An Antiracist" by Ibram X. Kendi

"White Fragility: Why It's So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism" by Robin Diangelo

"Sick in the Head: Conversations About Life and Comedy" by Judd Apatow

"The Big Picture: On the Origins of Life, Meaning, and the Universe Itself" by Sean Carroll

 

This looks like another amazing list. I haven't heard about most of them. The only book I've read is Kolbert's - an important work on climate that is a necessary read ( I feel). It must be made a part of school curriculum with subsequent workshops on climate change to bring in a holistic and sustainable approach towards climate consensus. Just leaving a summary of Sixth Extinction here. For those who do not have the time to read the entire book, the summary would do.

On 4/20/2021 at 12:06 PM, T-Bone said:

My reading interests are varied - but my retention is weak. So I have an ongoing read-and-review-list of books that I really enjoyed - and I maintain the list on paper - it's sort of like a self-imposed remedial program for someone like me who has challenges in comprehension and retention   ... anyway - I started it way back in 1990, I think -  it has some 250 books on it so far

250 books accumulated over 32 years, this is some history.

21 hours ago, WordWolf said:

I am all over the map with what I'm reading currently.  It varies with what's close at hand and any passing whim.

I finished the "Wheel of Time" saga a few months back.  I'm currently alternating some Star Wars books (right now, the Black Fleet Crisis, which isn't bad but isn't great either),  The Lone Wolf gamebook series, and the "Phule's Company" series.  The Wheel of Time is an excellent read if very long.  Robert Aspirin's "Phule's Company" is meant as light science fiction, and is a fun read.

Here's the premise... in some future, The Space Legion is the least-respected of the military branches.  Each soldier takes on a new name when he/she joins, usually wanting to break with their past.  The series began with Lt Scaramouche's court martial.  The General in charge of the meeting was evasive as to why they COULDN't throw the book at him.  Finally, he revealed the Lt's last name was "Phule"- he was the son of the CEO of Phule-Proof Munitions, their main weapons supplier and main employer of retired Space Legionnaires.   They settled on an assignment so unpleasant he'd just quit.  They forced him to change his name, and gave him a promotion to Captain.  Captain Jester was then put in charge of the current "omega company" -the dumping-ground for those who can't even make it in the Space Legion.   Rather than just quit, Captain Jester/ Willard Phule decided to put his talents (and his finances)  into turning the unit around, and the trouble REALLY started after that.

 

For SF, I tend to prefer lighter fare- with little heavier than the Star Wars "Legends" Extended Universe.  For fantasy, I'll read the lighter stuff as well as the heavier stuff.  My preferences there are for settings with coherent magic systems- the Recluce series, the Dresden Files (modern fantasy), and the Wheel of Time.  I've enjoyed the Harry Potter series, but I've also noted some glaring problems with the magic system (from the last 2 books- the others held together reasonably well.)

 

If you want, I can recommend every single thing in either setting that I WOULD recommend, but I don't think you're looking for that. 

That's great and sounds interesting. I haven't read any of the SF/fantasy you've mentioned. I'll love to read them once I'm done with my book stack. 

Looks like Manchester City now

On 1/25/2021 at 11:17 PM, Human without the bean said:

I've put it down for a few weeks but I have been reading "The Sun Also Rises".  Hemingway.

That's great to take a break. But what's your usual go to genre?

On 1/22/2021 at 10:56 PM, WordWolf said:

Generally, I read Science Fiction and Fantasy for fun.   A lot of it tends to lean a bit more for a consistent world, where the author put some thought into consistent rules for magic and so on.    Some of it is also modern-day supernatural stories in specific series'.        As of this week, I've been taking time to read lighter fare in both SF and F.  In between, I read through a light biography on Ben Franklin and I'm currently zipping through one on Thomas Jefferson. 

If any of the above interest you, I can recommend specific series' for each.  I tend to stick with a specific series if I find it's worth reading, then I continue it if at all possible.  I also reserve the right to abandon a series if I find the quality drops too low (I've dropped at least 2 authors over that in the past.)

Sounds interesting! I read science fantasy as well. What sci-fi have you read recently? And which sci-fi do you like the most and why?

On 1/22/2021 at 6:05 AM, GeorgeStGeorge said:

Honestly, except for comic books, the Bible, and occasional scientific articles, I don't read much.  I did read Mark Levin's Men in Black recently.

George

Oh, okay!

A lot's happening. Manchester United have topped the table with a solid and consistent performance after a dismal start. City, Leicester, Totenham, Everton, and Liverpool all closing in. What do you think about this exciting season? Who'll win the Premier League?

Looks like the forum has lost touch with books. So felt it was best to start off this thread to discuss and learn books, choices, and concepts that have fascinated each.

On 1/4/2021 at 7:19 AM, T-Bone said:

I guess this would fall under the category of six degrees of filming locations     . Filming for The Shining was on interior studio sets in England, exterior shots were of Glacier National Park in Montana like the VW Beetle driving on Going-to-the-Sun road and the Timberline Lodge in Oregon. ( see     Wikipedia - The Shining    ). I really get into the details of how movies are made and found out something else interesting about how Stephen King got the idea for The Shining: 

“The Stanley Hotel inspired the Overlook Hotel in Stephen King's 1977 bestselling novel The Shining and was a filming location for the related 1997 TV miniseries…

In 1974, during their brief residency in Boulder, Colorado, horror writer Stephen King and his wife Tabitha spent one night at the Stanley Hotel.[10] The visit is known entirely through interviews given by King in which he presents differing narratives of the experience. At the time of his visit, King was writing a book with the working title Darkshine set in an amusement park, but was not satisfied with the setting. According to George Beahm's Stephen King Companion, "on the advisement of locals who suggested a resort hotel located in Estes Park, an hour's drive away to the north, Stephen and Tabitha King found themselves checking in at the Stanley Hotel just as its other guests were checking out, because the hotel was shutting down for the winter season. After checking in and after Tabitha went to bed [sic], King roamed the halls and went down to the hotel bar, where drinks were served by a bartender named Grady. As he returned to his room, numbered 217, his imagination was fired up by the hotel's remote location, its grand size, and its eerie desolation. And when King went into the bathroom and pulled back the pink curtain for the tub, which had claw feet, he thought, 'What if somebody died here? At that moment, I knew I had a book.'"

In a 1977 interview by the Literary Guild, King recounted "While we were living [in Boulder] we heard about this terrific old mountain resort hotel and decided to give it a try. But when we arrived, they were just getting ready to close for the season, and we found ourselves the only guests in the place—with all those long, empty corridors." King and his wife were served dinner in an empty dining room accompanied by canned orchestral music: "Except for our table all the chairs were up on the tables. So the music is echoing down the hall, and, I mean, it was like God had put me there to hear that and see those things. And by the time I went to bed that night, I had the whole book [The Shining] in my mind." In another retelling, King said "I dreamed of my three-year-old son running through the corridors, looking back over his shoulder, eyes wide, screaming. He was being chased by a fire-hose. I woke up with a tremendous jerk, sweating all over, within an inch of falling out of bed. I got up, lit a cigarette, sat in a chair looking out the window at the Rockies, and by the time the cigarette was done, I had the bones of The Shining firmly set in my mind."

 From:   Wikipedia - The Stanley Hotel 

== == == == ==

The first night of our honeymoon was at The Stanley Hotel – this was in November some 44 years ago. And just like King described above, the hotel was shutting down for the season. We pretty much had the place to ourselves – we went down to the bar – and it was just the bartender and us – oh, and the resident cat who sat up on our little round table. So overall there was a cold and a somewhat creepy ambience to our experience. This is a very old resort and was not built for the winter months, and after our first night we had to find another hotel because the pipes had froze and they closed down…and now fast forward to recent years – in our vacation travels we have stayed in Glacier National Park and toured the Timberline Lodge…this has been another exciting episode of our brush with greatness     .

Woow. It is a joy to understand and learn what inspired a creator to create. Thanks a ton!

On 12/29/2020 at 9:16 AM, GeorgeStGeorge said:

CafeCap, how did you even find this thread, buried for nine years?

I wouldn't call it a horror film, but "Experiment in Terror" was an EXCELLENT thriller.

By the way, CC, please join in in some of the other game threads.  The rules (for most of them) are posted in a pinned thread at the beginning of this forum.  The main, general rules are:  the person who gets the answer gets to post the next puzzle, and no googling to get the answer (though it's okay to google when giving the clue).

George

Found my interest. I think the movie for me broke the conventional meaning of horror. 

On 12/31/2020 at 3:35 PM, T-Bone said:

Welcome to Grease Spot,  CafeCap!

I’m glad you’ve brought this thread back from the dead – muha ha ha ha ha!!

I think The Shining is a great psychological horror/thriller movie…it freaked me out when you finally get to see what Jack had been laboriously typing – page after page of the same phrase “All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy” – yikes ! almost as bad as the repetitive nonsense we had to endure in the way corps training program      …I prefer either the old horror classics or good psychological horror thrillers (like The Shining) over the gore fest in a lot of horror movies…I also like to check out remakes of classic horror films:

Invasion of the Body Snatches (1956) – for me the original is always the best..btw, and you've probably heard this before - in the 1950s alien movies were often allegories for the communist menace.

Invasion of the Body Snatches (1978) – a scary element in this movie is Leonard Nimoy’s character – a self-help guru who uses “logic” to talk people into ignoring their emotions and well-founded fears - reminded me of the tactics of cult leaders - yikes !!!

Body Snatchers (1993) – I will put the helicopter scene right up there with the best scary scene out of any horror movie

The Invasion (2007) – interesting to note this last iteration of the Invasion of The Body Snatchers shows the alien invaders are more along the lines of a flu-virus.

 

And another classic alien invader:

The Thing from Another World (1951) – for me the original is always the best

The Thing (1982) – interesting idea of “the thing” along the lines of a virus in the blood – like the above “The Invasion”

The Thing (2011) – this movie has a lot of gore compared to the earlier versions – but like the 1951 and 1982 films, it generates a lot of suspense – isolated in the cold lonely Artic or Antarctic…who knows what otherworldly menace lurks down some long dark corridor or some store room…or under the familiar appearance of a coworker. Triple Yikes Yikes Yikes !!!

== == ==

I also like more recent psychological thrillers – especially when they twist around unexpectedly – there’s 3 that I think have some similarities:

Vanilla Sky (2001)

Ex Machina (2014)

Archive (2020) – without giving away too much I thought Archive is a cross between Vanilla Sky and Ex Machina.

Haha. Thanks for the list. The Shining was special in many ways. You did not have abstract objects scaring people. The horror purely relied on cinematography, music, and the brilliance of Jack Nicholson. I was impressed by the title shot itself where the aerial camera eerily follows the car. Not only did it build the excitement, but also covered the scenic beauty of the mountains. My favorite shot was the kid riding the cycle and going circles, the cinematography and music was simple superb. 

Love 'The Shining'- unconventionally excellent piece of art