What Are You Reading ?

[Jerome]

Yes Tiggi, you are right. It is about Gary Gilmore (I almost typed Gilmour). Norman Mailer is one of the few authors that made me look at things very differently. The other one is Peter Hoeg (stangely enough the first novel I read by him was 'Miss Smilla's Feeling for Snow' - about a murder no less), but his 'Twelve Tales of the Night' takes writing to a whole new level. Someone who sees things completely differently to rest of us dumb sh*ts. The way he puts his thoughts down on paper is totally unique. Wish someone would compose music like he writes books. Anway, I digress, as CH said, it is an emotive issue, and I suppose unless you have been a victim or are related to someone who was, it's very difficult to cast judgement or form an opinion. Have to say I have zero confidence in the judicial system. I just think there must be a better way - as a species we have not figured this one out yet. We can split the atom but we can't figure out how to deal with the human race - must be because there's no profit in it. Houston we have a problem!

And by the way, I do not have anything against those who support the death penalty - they see things in a different way to me. But one point Tiggi made which I had not really thought of - the death penalty is irreversible.

[Music Head]

Well that was a complete waste of time. But stupid me, I have to see it through. For those who don't know, Don Imus is a radio/tv talk show host who has been on the air for decades. One of those who likes to push the envelope to see what he can get away with. Been suspended or fired several times, but always makes it back on. Not sure if this is his only attempt at writing fiction, but it should be. A story about some idiot that grows to decide he is Jesus' brother. Set in the 50's/60's he grows up never knowing a father or mother and his step mother is a religious nutcase who convinces him his childhood erections are the work of satan. He becomes a famous preacher spreading the gospel throughout the country on radio and tv. He cures his erection problem in various ways. Most exciting, slamming it between two bricks and slamming a window down on it. That would cure me. Most of the book is just making fun of religion and preachers. Barrel of laughs.

Grade - F

next up - Decision Points by George W Bush

[CRAZY-HORSE]

so i gather your next book is a picture book MH as 'dubya' aint the brightest candle around
afterall, he did read a childrens book upside down on 9/11 2001 didnt he!

[CRAZY-HORSE]

i dont get to read many books for various reasons,mainly i like to listen to music and cant concentrate on both at the same time, but this piece of non-fiction is both sickening and absorbing at the same time, i read it in two nights about a week ago.
as a rule i generally read, biographies, Stephen King, and true crime/murder books, but this book is the most sickening, depraved piece of work i think i have ever read...even more so than accounts of holocaust survivers.
this book is 10/10

brief synopsis for those who dont know the story:

On 28 August 1984, Josef Fritzl drugged his teenage daughter with ether and imprisoned her in an underground bunker behind eight locked doors. Over the following twenty-four years, he raped and abused her, never letting her or the children she bore him out of the dark, windowless cellar. Based on 150 new interviews with psychologists, neighbours, colleagues and friends who knew Fritzl, as well as the insight of his own chilling confession, Allan Hall reconstructs the monstrous personality behind this hideous crime. He exposes Josef Fritzl's dark past in Nazi Austria, his previous conviction as a rapist, the appalling conditions in which Elisabeth and her children were kept and her astonishingly brave conduct while held prisoner. Including exclusive photographs and previously unseen evidence, this is a truly heart-stopping record of one of the most elaborate and disturbing cases of abuse in modern times.

[Music Head]

^^

I remember the story well
What ever happened to the sicko freak?

[CRAZY-HORSE]

serving life, opted to go into isolation wing of jail for his own protection. the one question that keeps going on in my head is "why is he allowed to be protected...his daughter wasnt"
when this book was written, he'd spent two years in jail, and was still writing letters to his daughter Elizabeth, apparently she doesnt open the letters...who can blame her?, last i heard on our news, the creep is still alive....this is one case where Capital Punishment should apply IMO

[Tiggi]

'Twixt-wars satire on the lives and times of the Jazz Age "bright young things".

[Music Head]

To answer CH's questions first. Yes there are pictures in the book, but they are photographs, not drawings, and I don't think George took them, as he is in most of them. The second point about the childrens book reading, must be another of those things promoted by the left such as Sarah Palin saying she could see Russia from her house, which she never said. As for this book, pretty good reading. At first I didn't like the way it was laid out. Most books of this nature are in some sort of chronological sequence. In this book, appropriately titled, George focuses on key issues that arose during his presidency, and why he made the decisions that he made. Major topics are, his early life, his deciding to run for both governer and president, personnel choices, stem cell research, 9/11, Afghanistan, Iraq, hurricane Katrina, then just the promoting of democracy in general. Nothing I can say hear to change anyones opinion of the man. All the haters will still hate. My second most respected president in my lifetime. Bring it on!

Grade - B

next up - Thank You For Smoking by Christopher Buckley

[Tiggi]

Nothing I can say hear to change anyones opinion of the man. All the haters will still hate. My second most respected president in my lifetime. Bring it on!

Can we just amicably agree to disagree ?? So much more civilised.

[Music Head]

Can we just amicably agree to disagree ?? So much more civilised.

Yes. Yes it is,when not forming policy decisions.