I enjoyed hearing about your thoughts on the diverse selection of books you read this month. At various times listening to you, it has occurred to me that these days, I mostly read for entertainment, whereas a great deal of your reading is for learning. I guess as much as you read, there is room for both! My takeaways from this video are that 1) I am going to pick up a Lawrence Block book the next time I come across one at the thrift store (which is often), as this sounds like a fun read. 2) I just pulled my Daphne du Maurier collection off my shelf & put it on my bedside table. I plan to read "The Apple Tree" by the end of the weekend. I will let you know what I think! Thanks for the time & effort you put into your videos. Your videos are a bright spot for me.🙂
Thank you, and I hope you'll enjoy The Apple Tree, too, and I'm looking forward to hearing what you think of it. I don't know much about Lawrence Block's novels, The Burglar in the Library is the only one I've read so far, but his Bernie Rhodenbarr series seems like a lot of fun. Believe it or not, I read mostly for entertainment, too. I'm lucky in that I usually find nonfiction to be as entertaining as fiction. However, I do have a lot of books which I find intimidating specifically because I don't expect them to be very entertaining, and I really do want to read them, but the time and effort involved usually scares me away
@@MustReadMore I just finished "The Apple Tree". I will be curious to see if it sticks with me this week and I continue to think about it, as is usually the case with a good short story. It was interesting to me that initially my sympathies were with the husband, having experienced people like Midge who are of the martyr mentality. But as the story went along, I did not find him at all likable. And I wonder if he had psychological issues based on guilt, or if there was something more supernatural going on with the tree. At any rate, I enjoyed the read. I wonder if it makes any difference reading the story on its own as opposed to reading it as a part of the entire collection of stories? These are the sorts of rambling thoughts I have when I read! Take care, buddy! 🙂
I'm glad you liked it. I had much the same experience with initially sympathizing with the husband and then gradually completely disliking him. I thought du Maurier really captured that relationship well, and like you, I still don't know if the story was supernatural or only a manifestation of the man's guilt or anger, and I like how du Maurier left me wondering about that. All the stories in the collection I read, other than The Birds and Don't Look Now, had that kind of ambiguous feel to them. Thanks for sharing your thoughts!
Sounds like you've had a good reading month, John. I read The Burglar in the Library a while back and enjoyed it. In September I picked my way through a couple of essay collections and most of the first volume of Edward Gibbons Decline and Fall.
I really enjoyed The Burglar in the Library, I didn't expect it to be such a fun read. I watched your video a while back where you showed your Folio Society volumes of Gibbon, they look so much easier to read than the Brittanica set I have. I hope you're enjoying The Decline and Fall. I really liked the beginning on through to Constantine. (that's about as far as I managed to read)
It's a pretty good read, really. I went into it expecting it to be about cults and secret societies, sort of in the vein of what was going on in pre-war Germany, and even though it wasn't about that at all, I wasn't disappointed
I've read _The Maltese Falcon_ years ago and I've also read _Red Harvest_ , but I think I was too young to appreciate them at the time. I have _The Thin Man_ , too, but I haven't read it yet. I've always heard good things about Raymond Chandler, but I've never read one of his books. I have _Farewell, My Lovely_ and _The High Window_ . I need to get to them one of these days. Thanks for watching, and thanks for commenting!
I enjoyed hearing about your thoughts on the diverse selection of books you read this month. At various times listening to you, it has occurred to me that these days, I mostly read for entertainment, whereas a great deal of your reading is for learning. I guess as much as you read, there is room for both! My takeaways from this video are that 1) I am going to pick up a Lawrence Block book the next time I come across one at the thrift store (which is often), as this sounds like a fun read. 2) I just pulled my Daphne du Maurier collection off my shelf & put it on my bedside table. I plan to read "The Apple Tree" by the end of the weekend. I will let you know what I think! Thanks for the time & effort you put into your videos. Your videos are a bright spot for me.🙂
Thank you, and I hope you'll enjoy The Apple Tree, too, and I'm looking forward to hearing what you think of it. I don't know much about Lawrence Block's novels, The Burglar in the Library is the only one I've read so far, but his Bernie Rhodenbarr series seems like a lot of fun.
Believe it or not, I read mostly for entertainment, too. I'm lucky in that I usually find nonfiction to be as entertaining as fiction. However, I do have a lot of books which I find intimidating specifically because I don't expect them to be very entertaining, and I really do want to read them, but the time and effort involved usually scares me away
@@MustReadMore I just finished "The Apple Tree". I will be curious to see if it sticks with me this week and I continue to think about it, as is usually the case with a good short story. It was interesting to me that initially my sympathies were with the husband, having experienced people like Midge who are of the martyr mentality. But as the story went along, I did not find him at all likable. And I wonder if he had psychological issues based on guilt, or if there was something more supernatural going on with the tree. At any rate, I enjoyed the read. I wonder if it makes any difference reading the story on its own as opposed to reading it as a part of the entire collection of stories? These are the sorts of rambling thoughts I have when I read! Take care, buddy! 🙂
I'm glad you liked it. I had much the same experience with initially sympathizing with the husband and then gradually completely disliking him. I thought du Maurier really captured that relationship well, and like you, I still don't know if the story was supernatural or only a manifestation of the man's guilt or anger, and I like how du Maurier left me wondering about that. All the stories in the collection I read, other than The Birds and Don't Look Now, had that kind of ambiguous feel to them. Thanks for sharing your thoughts!
Sounds like you've had a good reading month, John. I read The Burglar in the Library a while back and enjoyed it.
In September I picked my way through a couple of essay collections and most of the first volume of Edward Gibbons Decline and Fall.
I really enjoyed The Burglar in the Library, I didn't expect it to be such a fun read.
I watched your video a while back where you showed your Folio Society volumes of Gibbon, they look so much easier to read than the Brittanica set I have. I hope you're enjoying The Decline and Fall. I really liked the beginning on through to Constantine. (that's about as far as I managed to read)
Sounds like a good month. Demon Haunted World sounds particularly interesting
It's a pretty good read, really. I went into it expecting it to be about cults and secret societies, sort of in the vein of what was going on in pre-war Germany, and even though it wasn't about that at all, I wasn't disappointed
Hello John,
Wow, 13 books in 1 month, great work !🎉
Where do you find the time? I hope that all is going well for you my friend🤝
Thank you, and I hope all's well for you, too!
Big sleep is great. Anything by Raymond Chandler and Dashiell Hammett are pretty good. The Maltese Falcon is close to perfect. Best wishes.
I've read _The Maltese Falcon_ years ago and I've also read _Red Harvest_ , but I think I was too young to appreciate them at the time. I have _The Thin Man_ , too, but I haven't read it yet.
I've always heard good things about Raymond Chandler, but I've never read one of his books. I have _Farewell, My Lovely_ and _The High Window_ . I need to get to them one of these days.
Thanks for watching, and thanks for commenting!