Recently, I have had the time and opportunity for recreational reading. A rare treat and one I have not wanted to let be wasted. So far, I devoured "The Twelve Caesars" by Michael Grant (a non-fiction recounting and analysis of the first twelve significant emporers of Rome, including Julius).
It was a lighter read than I expected. a couple hundred pages, blessedly light on over-dramatized conjecture and references to over many sources. All in all, a nice book if a person with a purely casual interest wants to have some knowledge of Rome and the leaders of the empire during this time period.
Now I'm currently taking in "The Seven Minutes" by Irving Wallace. On the surface, a complicated tale about a lawyer on his path to self discovery through an emotional case involving the first amendment.
It's a highly predictable book. I believe, at only page 237, that i have figured out the ending. The good lawyer wins the case, joins the "Do-gooder" (his words) law firm his friend started, ditches his rich glamour model girlfriend for an intellectually and sexually superior woman (of humble and sad beginnings. Read also, knight in shining armor scenario). Further, the big bad players in the book will suffer some sort of fall out from their tampering with the election, and everyone will be able to enjoy the wonderfully book in question.
No, truthfully, my interest at this point is to notice the differences in the writing in this text from what it would be today. Sure, the book was only published in 1969. My parents were children (my dad barely a teenager).
The vietnam was still ongoing, though not mentioned in the book except for a brief passage about the draft. The references to Fruedian psycho-analysis is amusing. I'd thought that had fallen out of favor years earlier.
All of the characters are adults, the men in their mid/late 30's, so they are missing the flower power affect. Further, they're a bit uncomfortable with 'current' rock and roll (the main character describes it in almost the same terms my father uses about current metal). Yet, the two main lawyers on the 'good' side (lol. lawyers on the 'good' side) are caught up in noble goals and noble ideals of protecting civil liberties.
And yet, the book is highly relatable to today. The central theme is censorship and freedom of speech. Check the news today, this very day, and you will see a censorship article (if not in the headlines, near it). Governmental bodies encroaching on civil liberties to help protect people from 'dirt' and 'smut.'
On page 128, the main character is reflecting on what a trial lawyer by the name of Edward Bennet Williams said (real or fictional attorney, i don't know. I assume fake). "We have allowed an erosion of individual liberty and freedom to take place in the last 3 decades [[40's, 50's, 60's]]. Not as a result of the overreaching of big government, nor as the calculated assaults made upon liberties and freedom in the last decade, but rather because of collective lethargy and a cavalier attitude of unconcern. I think we have made a substitution that is only now reaching is culimination [[haha, ya right]]. We have placed security in a position of primacy and subordinated individual liberty to it."
^--- Sure looks relatable to today, eh? I really gotta contact Hillary and let her know how I feel about the patriot act.
The main female character (the one the main male character will dump about half way through the book), is the very image of timeless physical perfection. Blonde, tall, athletic, well bred, rich, social lite. She attaches herself to the rising star (or so she thinks) who will someday head her father's company. Her views of sex are very simple. There is the 'clean' way to have sex and then there is the whore way. Clean girls do it to please their men by laying on their backs and occasionally thrusting their hips. Orgasm is a dirty word. As a matter of fact, any verbal reference to any part of sexual anatomy is wrong, perverse and subversive. She smiles in pride for how she controls her man through the sex she meters out at a regular interval (once a week, 11:30 pm, same day each week).
"Whores" enjoy sex, orgasm, masturbate. Say things like, "Oh yes, fuck me!" They have fantasies and indulge in comparisons between men they've copulated with (in their own minds).
Worse, WORSE, this woman the main character is attached to at the beginning of the book, and whom he will dump eventually, her name is the same as the nickname i'd given my ex.
Who is, again, on my block list. I really want to be friends, but her newest hobby seems to involve tearing away at my self image from various angles.
Has anyone ever been able to be a friend again with an ex after a long term relationship?
It was a lighter read than I expected. a couple hundred pages, blessedly light on over-dramatized conjecture and references to over many sources. All in all, a nice book if a person with a purely casual interest wants to have some knowledge of Rome and the leaders of the empire during this time period.
Now I'm currently taking in "The Seven Minutes" by Irving Wallace. On the surface, a complicated tale about a lawyer on his path to self discovery through an emotional case involving the first amendment.
It's a highly predictable book. I believe, at only page 237, that i have figured out the ending. The good lawyer wins the case, joins the "Do-gooder" (his words) law firm his friend started, ditches his rich glamour model girlfriend for an intellectually and sexually superior woman (of humble and sad beginnings. Read also, knight in shining armor scenario). Further, the big bad players in the book will suffer some sort of fall out from their tampering with the election, and everyone will be able to enjoy the wonderfully book in question.
No, truthfully, my interest at this point is to notice the differences in the writing in this text from what it would be today. Sure, the book was only published in 1969. My parents were children (my dad barely a teenager).
The vietnam was still ongoing, though not mentioned in the book except for a brief passage about the draft. The references to Fruedian psycho-analysis is amusing. I'd thought that had fallen out of favor years earlier.
All of the characters are adults, the men in their mid/late 30's, so they are missing the flower power affect. Further, they're a bit uncomfortable with 'current' rock and roll (the main character describes it in almost the same terms my father uses about current metal). Yet, the two main lawyers on the 'good' side (lol. lawyers on the 'good' side) are caught up in noble goals and noble ideals of protecting civil liberties.
And yet, the book is highly relatable to today. The central theme is censorship and freedom of speech. Check the news today, this very day, and you will see a censorship article (if not in the headlines, near it). Governmental bodies encroaching on civil liberties to help protect people from 'dirt' and 'smut.'
On page 128, the main character is reflecting on what a trial lawyer by the name of Edward Bennet Williams said (real or fictional attorney, i don't know. I assume fake). "We have allowed an erosion of individual liberty and freedom to take place in the last 3 decades [[40's, 50's, 60's]]. Not as a result of the overreaching of big government, nor as the calculated assaults made upon liberties and freedom in the last decade, but rather because of collective lethargy and a cavalier attitude of unconcern. I think we have made a substitution that is only now reaching is culimination [[haha, ya right]]. We have placed security in a position of primacy and subordinated individual liberty to it."
^--- Sure looks relatable to today, eh? I really gotta contact Hillary and let her know how I feel about the patriot act.
The main female character (the one the main male character will dump about half way through the book), is the very image of timeless physical perfection. Blonde, tall, athletic, well bred, rich, social lite. She attaches herself to the rising star (or so she thinks) who will someday head her father's company. Her views of sex are very simple. There is the 'clean' way to have sex and then there is the whore way. Clean girls do it to please their men by laying on their backs and occasionally thrusting their hips. Orgasm is a dirty word. As a matter of fact, any verbal reference to any part of sexual anatomy is wrong, perverse and subversive. She smiles in pride for how she controls her man through the sex she meters out at a regular interval (once a week, 11:30 pm, same day each week).
"Whores" enjoy sex, orgasm, masturbate. Say things like, "Oh yes, fuck me!" They have fantasies and indulge in comparisons between men they've copulated with (in their own minds).
Worse, WORSE, this woman the main character is attached to at the beginning of the book, and whom he will dump eventually, her name is the same as the nickname i'd given my ex.
Who is, again, on my block list. I really want to be friends, but her newest hobby seems to involve tearing away at my self image from various angles.
Has anyone ever been able to be a friend again with an ex after a long term relationship?
VIEW 12 of 12 COMMENTS
I have long (not soooo long, but long) and healthy and BORING hair... I took good care of it since 2 years... and now I WANT TO DO SOMETHING TO IT... you know.. I paint my hair since I was nine... and It seems to be boring to have the same color every day...
But I dont know what Im gonna do.
Thanks anyway.