I think that describes the whole point of reading on any topic, and why reading is so important.
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[quote=“SuperSalad, post:131, topic:1679”] I know what they are capable of, and I have a tendency to get overly disappointed in them when they do no live up to it.
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Amen SS. I purposely decided not to teach my kids to ski, but left it to others. They all enjoy skiing today as adults.
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Took a while for my library to get a loan, but the Philadelphia library finally came through and I got a copy about a week ago. I am about halfway through “The Ugly American” and I absolutely love it so far. It’s written in a way to be completely believable, as it should be, and I’ve got nothing bad to say about is so far. Just wanted to say thanks to @pmover for the suggestion.
you are welcome! I think it should be mandatory reading for every high school student interested in foreign relations.
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I finished it last night, and I truly enjoyed it. I’m often a little trepidatious about books of that era, for some reason. I think I get it in my head that they’ll be hokie or out of touch in general, but that book really hits the nail on the head for past and current events. Even the epilogue, which the authors took the opportunity to explain themselves with, was interesting and I was excited to read each line.
So again, thanks for the recommendation. I’m beginning on some Vonnegut now. I’m planning to read “Cat’s Cradle” which I haven’t read since sophomore year of high school but I have fond memories of. Then I’m planning on hitting a few of his books I haven’t touched before.
although my opinion, most books of that era or earlier are better written and more descriptive. yes, the fundamentals of human relations do not change, only the people change.
Ok, since my last post I went on a bit of a Kurt Vonnegut binge.
I re-read Cat’s Cradle. I didn’t love it quite as much as I remember from my teens, but still good, to be sure. Breakfast of Champions, Galapagos, Jailbird, Slapstick, Deadeye Dick, God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater. I feel like I might be missing 1 or 2 others, but I can’t recall at the moment. They were all definitely Vonnegut style books: funny, weird, depressing, etc. So I enjoyed them.
God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater was the real standout to me though. I enjoyed that one more than the others. I think because it was almost believable in comparison. I think I just actually kind of liked Eliot Rosewater, which was a nice change of pace from his normal main characters, who I find myself almost rooting against most of the time.
Anyway, since that time, I’ve also read “Masters of Modern Soccer: How the World’s Best Play the Twenty-First Century Game” by Grant Wahl. Just a little pick-me up in preparation for the newly begun season of coaching the two youth teams this spring. It was more interesting than I thought it would be. Some pretty interesting insights from some of the world’s star players, coaches, managers, etc.
And finally, “Catch 22” by Heller. I’ve always meant to read it, but I just hadn’t picked it up until now. It started out weird, got slow and tedious, then it got very funny, got even more funny, and then it was over. Overall, I did sort of like it. It wasn’t what I had been expecting at all, but it was a fun read and I do get why it is as celebrated as it is. It reminded me a lot of Vonnegut’s work, but not quite as bizarre as that.
I’ll second your comment about Heller’s Catch 22. How it’s written surprised me, but the message indeed is the one I had picked up by osmosis before reading it. And there have been so many takes on the theme that it’s impossible to avoid. Like the whole premise of MASH.
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I’ve read Cat’s Cradle and Slaughterhouse 5. Never really got into Vonnegut, though he is quite readable. I may have to bite the bullet and finally read Catch 22. Now that I’m semi-retired I am looking for things to catch up on.
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So following up with authors like Heller and Vonnegut, you would think that I would like Thomas Pynchon… but no. I tried Gravity’s Rainbow and I couldn’t find it funny or thoughtful. Shrug.
Not long ago I listened (on audiobook) to the Maltese Falcon (Dashiell Hammett). This was fun but I’m (again) glad that I got it on audio because I wouldn’t have enjoyed it as much in print. The reason is that the story is the prototype of the private-eye detective story, and it’s been copied so many times that all of us know nearly every beat of this kind of story. We have seen so many twists and turns just like the Maltese Falcon that we can “see around every corner”.
The thing that made the audiobook fun is the narration by the voice actor. William Dufris puts a cartoonish, almost Spiderman twist on the voices of the characters. It brought the text to life in every scene.
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So a little change of pace. At the insistence of my oldest child (10) that I should read them. I have been reading the Sonic the Hedgehog comic series by IDW Publishing. They began publishing in 2018 and it is an ongoing series. I am nearly caught up to the most recently released issues.
And I gotta say, these are pretty dang good!
They are a lot of fun. I played a lot of Sonic the Hedgehog video games on Sega back in the day and more recently when I unearthed my old Sega Genesis a few years back. The newer “live action” movies have been great. The old and new cartoon shows have been watched many times by my kids and I sit down every once in a while and watch an episode with them.
The comics obviously go way deeper into the world than the 2D platformer games did. The character lists are immense and they are really fun, and goofy, and flushed out. Overall it is good. So if anyone wants a kid targeted, modern, and pop culture icon based reading material, I give this one 2 thumbs up 
