Last Book You Read

[Groggy]

I've also read "A Surgeon's World".   Autobiography about  a Mayo clinc surgeon who decides to move to a small town in MN. He helos a local doctor in a small town, they have to go to Woolworth's and buy silk thread for sutures! That's how off the beaten track they are.

  Sounds interesting.

[tintinteslacoil]

Yeah, he runs the gamut. From work as a specialist, Mayo clinic, to being a GP and then only surgeon in town. About fees, ethics, how doctors get into affairs and things. A real insider's view. This is an older book; major surgery was considered $1.000 or more, then! Just my Shoulder cost $10,000 in 2003!

[Groggy]

Gallipoli - Alan Moorehead - Still considered the classic account in many quarters. It's a very good narrative history of the battle, taking the stance that it was a good idea let down by poor execution and political interference. I haven't read the more recent works on Gallipoli (Peter Hart had a book published just last year) so I'm not fit to judge the veracity of Moorehead's claim. It's a definitely a good read though, and Moorehead's unwillingness to grind axes or scapegoat is refreshing - though he periodically betrays a condescending attitude towards the Turks.

[T.H.]

Lethem's Gun with Occasional Music was a very good read. A great blend of sci-fi and PI. I don't have anything original to say about it, but I recommend to those who haven't read it that have an interest in genre fiction.

I'm almost done with Muller's take on noir, Dark City. Good stuff. I'll add my thoughts when I'm finished.

[Groggy]

Glory Road - Bruce Catton

[Groggy]

The Meinertzhagen Mystery: The Life and Legend of a Colossal Fraud - Brian Garfield - Novelist Garfield (author of Death Wish among others) writes an accusatory biography that depicts Richard Meinertzhagen - English soldier, spy, ornithologist and Zionist - as a pathological liar who either invented or hideously distorted his diaries and writings. It's hard to know what to make of books like this. On the one hand, it's well-written and interesting, and Garfield presents his case convincingly. It helps that he's largely going off of existing research (Meinertzhagen's ornithological frauds are fairly common knowledge now) and has no visible axes to grind. On the other, one's inclined to file this with, say, Richard Aldington's "biographical enquiry" of T.E. Lawrence for Garfield's extreme reaction and willingness to indulge lurid gossip (eg. whether Meinertzhagen murdered his wife). I'd probably want to read more on the subject before judging.

[Groggy]

Blood and Money - Thomas Thompson - Engaging book details the saga of Dr. John Hill, a Houston plastic surgeon accused of murdering his wife, and his own murder, purportedly at the behest of his wife's vengeful father. It's a hopelessly murky, convoluted case, but Thompson's approach is both lively and admirably close to known facts; no wild speculaton here. The book does get a bit tedious in later sections: you can only read so much testimony by seedy hookers and pompous attorneys before it all blurs together. On the whole though a solid work of true crime.

[titoli]

This is one of the few short stories collections by various authors published in the 60's dedicated to hard-boiled fiction, though all the writers involved came to be known in the '50's. The quality of the stories is generally good without being outstanding: as probably it is the case with all the fiction these authors ever produced. 7\10

[Groggy]

Signal Catastrophe - Patrick Macrory - Aka The Fierce Pawns, Kabul Catastrophe, Retreat from Kabul. A lively though not definitive narrative history of the First Anglo-Afghan War, which resulted in the annihilation of a 12,000-man Anglo-Indian army. Macrory tries to argue that the invasion was doomed from the start, but the evidence indicates the contrary. The British leaders on the spot made so many idiotic mistakes that it's easy to think one or two wiser decisions would have led to a different outcome. Flashman fans might appreciate the preface to the 2002 edition.

[Groggy]

The Great War in Africa - Byron Farwell - Good, succinct narrative history of World War I's African campaigns. Mostly focused on Lettow-Vorbeck's adventures in East Africa, Farwell nonetheless gives ample time to other theaters, including the disastrous expeditions to the Cameroons and the attempts to control Lake Tanganyika. Compares favorably to Edward Paice's recent World War I: The African Front; it's less in-depth but much more readable.

[Groggy]

The Siege - Russell Braddon - very graphic, in-depth account of the WWI Siege of Kut. Braddon's book takes on the tone of a polemic, as he makes no effort to disguise his contempt for the "idiots" in the British Army responsible for the disastrous campaign. As you read his vivid account of generals both arrogant and boneheaded (Charles Townshend seems a repulsive egomaniac), along with the horrific suffering their soldiers underwent during both the siege and in captivity, you can hardly blame him. A captivating read.

[Groggy]

American Conspiracies - Jesse Ventura - I laughed and laughed and laughed. Partly because it's so stupid, partly because it kept reminding me of Ventura's cameo on The X-Files:"your scientific illiteracy makes me SHUDDER!!!"

Voodoo Histories - David Aaronovich - 2nd reading.

[cigar joe]

BY The EL
A great collection of images and memories of the 3rd Avenue El in its final years, amazingly all in color. Only a few at night though, too bad. A venerable plethora of Noir locations. It also leaves out the lower section of line that ended at South Ferry since it was already taken down) Photographed by Lothar Stelter who with a job as an electrician received access to many vantage points along 3rd Avenue in the early 1950's (it was demolished in 1955). At one point it mentions films and lists Ray Milland's "The Lost Weekend" and shows the street clock that was shot in a scene as Milland walks up the Ave. Surprisingly it doesn't mention the film "The Dark Corner" which prominently features the EL, in its opening sequence and interspersed throughout the film (I was hoping to see Tudors Arcade in an image but no), go figure.



sample images





I don't remember any of the Manhattan Els I was only 2 years old when the last one was torn down, all I remember was the massive two level structure that served the IRT Flushing line, the BMT Astoria line and the Queens stub of the 2nd Avenue El (minus tracks) that was left standing in Queens Plaza (it had a turn around loop) into the 1970's. The 2nd Avenue El crossed the Queensboro Bridge on the upper level (with a roadway on one side, now a roadway on both sides). The original station had 8 tracks on two levels, now it has 4 tracks on two levels.

Was looking at a satellite view of the Queensboro Bridge and there is still some remnants of the 2nd Avenue El on both approaches see the Queens side below:

[dave jenkins]

Good work, Joe. Very interesting.

[Jill]

Mockinjay... why did I even.