What are you currently reading?

Started by facehugger, April 07, 2007, 12:36:10 AM

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Haffner


ChamberNut

Quote from: George on February 08, 2008, 05:22:43 AM
Good for you, I quit smoking about 6 years ago.  :)

Good for you too George, it will 7 years for me in August.  :)

orbital

Quote from: ChamberNut on February 08, 2008, 09:17:44 AM
Good for you too George, it will 7 years for me in August.  :)
What is scary about the quitting business is that people still count after all these years   :-\

MN Dave

Quote from: orbital on February 08, 2008, 09:22:04 AM
What is scary about the quitting business is that people still count after all these years   :-\

I don't.  ;D

ChamberNut

Quote from: orbital on February 08, 2008, 09:22:04 AM
What is scary about the quitting business is that people still count after all these years   :-\

I don't see why one can't?  Anyone who has quit smoking any lenght of time should feel good about that, and be proud of that.  It's a big achievement.

orbital

Quote from: ChamberNut on February 08, 2008, 09:28:06 AM
I don't see why one can't?  Anyone who has quit smoking any lenght of time should feel good about that, and be proud of that.  It's a big achievement.
I know. I quit for about a year and a half, but started smoking cigars after that and it all came back  :-\
What I mean is it is discouraging to see that it always stays somewhere in the back of your mind, and a relapse always feels like it is around the corner. A good deal of those who quit do not go back which is great, but then there are people like my uncle who quit probably 20 or so years ago, and he still carries a pack with him just to smell the tobacco a few times a day   ::)

karlhenning

Quote from: longears on February 08, 2008, 05:08:15 AM
A few years ago some losers made a movie out of it, with Johnny Depp out of his depth playing Thompson.  About 15 minutes of that was all I could take.

Harsh!  But I must say that not even the serious watch-all-the-Gilliam-I-can tear that I've been on, has tempted me to seek this one out.  Already knowing the source text has torpedoed it from my viewpoint  8)

ChamberNut

Quote from: orbital on February 08, 2008, 10:12:55 AM
What I mean is it is discouraging to see that it always stays somewhere in the back of your mind, and a relapse always feels like it is around the corner.

I think it has to always stay in the back of one's mind.  Just like any other addiction.  I quit drinking 2 years ago too (obviously I have an addictive personality ;D).

I also should really try to cut down on the amount of caffeine I drink in a day.  To quit altogether though?  I don't think I could do it.   ???

Kullervo

Someone should create a separate thread (or poll) on addictive personalities. :)

longears

Quote from: Corey on February 08, 2008, 11:06:41 AM
Someone should create a separate thread (or poll) on addictive personalities. :)
Or on addictive substances.  Getting hooked on nicotine, booze, or horse is physiological and has nothing to do with personality.  I suspect that even getting hooked on shopping, gambling, or sex may be largely physiological as an addiction to the neurochemical changes wrought by such stress and excitement.

I don't count the years since I quit smoking, but I remember when I quit and it's no harder to count back than it is to count back to when I got married, bought a car, or last visited Boston.

Current reading:  Ron Hansen, Desperadoes -- his first novel.  I'm still waiting for the movie.  Sean Penn bought the rights to it nearly 30 years ago.  Come on, Sean--get with it!

Daverz



Fingersmith by Sarah Waters.  Loved this, and also Tipping the Velvet, but I haven't seen the BBC production above.

Danny

#991

MN Dave

Quote from: MN Dave on February 08, 2008, 04:31:50 AM
I'm also reading Thomas Merton's NO MAN IS AN ISLAND.

I stopped reading this. Too much of a Christian perspective. Yeah, I know he's a Catholic monk, but based on all the accolades, I expected a more philosophically neutral book.

Lady Chatterley

The Empress Letters by Linda Rogers,enjoying it so far.


carlos

Guenter Lewy's "The Nazi Persecution of the Gypsies"
(Oxford U.P.,2000) One of the few studies on this
sombre subject.
Piantale a la leche hermano, que eso arruina el corazón! (from a tango's letter)

Florestan

Intellectual Terrorism by Jean Sevillia.

The shameful story of that bunch of very influential useful idiots collectively known as post-WWWII leftist French intelligentsia
Every kind of music is good, except the boring kind. — Rossini

J.Z. Herrenberg

Quote from: Florestan on February 14, 2008, 03:12:40 AM
Intellectual Terrorism by Jean Sevillia.

The shameful story of that bunch of very influential useful idiots collectively known as post-WWWII leftist French intelligentsia

An interesting book, written from a Catholic perspective. Are you reading it in French? What intrigues me is the phrase 'useful idiots'. Useful for what or whom?
Music gives a soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination and life to everything. -- Plato

Florestan

Quote from: Jezetha on February 14, 2008, 03:30:31 AM
An interesting book, written from a Catholic perspective. Are you reading it in French? What intrigues me is the phrase 'useful idiots'. Useful for what or whom?

I'm reading it in a Romanian translation.

Here are the useful idiots;)
Every kind of music is good, except the boring kind. — Rossini

J.Z. Herrenberg

Quote from: Florestan on February 14, 2008, 03:59:28 AM
I'm reading it in a Romanian translation.

Here are the useful idiots;)

Okay, now I understand. I wasn't aware of the exact connotations of this term, and its origin in Lenin. Thanks.
Music gives a soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination and life to everything. -- Plato