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Great book on a real hero.
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My most frightening worry about reading other authors is infringing on their material. I would be floored with stealing another persons work.
It''s not logical but it is who I am.
 
I just started reading through the Aubrey-Maturin series again. I started and made it about 20% of the way through the 21-book series a couple of years ago, then set it down when I started grad school. It was a long enough break that I felt like I needed to start back at the beginning, but they're just as enjoyable the second time around!

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I just started reading through the Aubrey-Maturin series again. I started and made it about 20% of the way through the 21-book series a couple of years ago, then set it down when I started grad school. It was a long enough break that I felt like I needed to start back at the beginning, but they're just as enjoyable the second time around!

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I finished Mater and Commander a couple months back, great book but I haven't talked myself into the entire series yet.

Some honorable mentions I've read lately:

John Dies at the End (has a Hitch Hiker's Guide feel to it)
The Actor's Life by Jenna Fischer (Pam from The Office)
The Hunger Games Prequel
The Institute by Stephen King

This book was amazing for me, I didn't want it to end.
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In addition to some cruising sailboat literature, I've been reading histories of the American Auto industry.
CK Hyde wrote excellent books on Chrysler (Riding the Roller Coaster) and Dodge Brothers. These guys and others were smart, tough and innovative.
 
I started reading Aragon, and the main character seemed familiar but I didn't recognize any of the 'scenery'. I wondered if I read it in the 90's and just forgot it, or maybe I read some FanFiction derived from it. Finally I googled it and saw that they made a movie from it and it all clicked! It wasn't a great movie, and obviously not very memorable. The book isn't much better. It's pretty derivative (mash together Star Wars and The Dragon Riders of Pern) and feels more like a D&D Dungeon Master quest.
 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Devils_of_Loudun
Loudon is about15 miles from our house in France-there's a really great Belgian microbrewerry just outside of Loudun now. I have heard about the "Witches of Loudun" ever since I got married 40 years ago, but none of my inlaws really knew the story so this book has explained it for me. Cardinal Richelieu's walled town(now called Richelieu) is also right there, we got to their town market on Fridays for seafood and cheese.
 
The Anarchist's Workbench by Christopher Schwarz.

If you dig through this page you'll see that Chris has offered this book up as a free PDF. I'm a woodworker and love building, planning a bench build to act as my base for an electric brewing I'm putting together. Chris has a few books on workbenches, always very detailed and informative.
The Anarchist's Workbench

edit: my cat walked on my keyboard...spelling
 
The Anarchist's Workbench by Christopher Schwarz.

If you dig through this page you'll see that Chris has offered this book up as a free PDF. I'm a woodworker and love building, planning a bench build to act as my base for an electric brewing I'm putting together. Chris has a few books on workbenches, always very detailed and informative.
The Anarchist's Workbench

edit: my cat walked on my keyboard...spelling
Sounds like an interesting book for us woodworkers. I click the link to discover " We have run out of stock for this item. " Possible to post the link to the pdf?
 
I spent a couple hours skimming through it and really like his writing style - humorous but loaded with information!
Chris has an excellent writing style, and he is very committed to the subject matter as well. There are a few other books in his "anarchist trilogy", all follow the same overall pattern/writing style. Glad you enjoyed it.
 
Bread, Jeffrey Hamilton. For the umpteenth time as I like it so much.

Haven't brewed since selling off my 20 gallon system, though I do have a few gallons of sake finishing fining and maturation now. Surprisingly good, though nowhere near the quality of the sakes I've enjoyed (to be expected, using unpolished rice, for one). And PITA/enjoyment ratio is way too high for me. And vastly nowhere near my earliest experiences brewing beer so many years ago. I was so completely blown away one could brew beer at home every bit as good as what you by. Probably what got me deep in.

So, no fermentation but baking, though really miss making the french alpine cheeses. Also picking up my knives and a slow return to cooking. Interesting experience when your body decides to go whack and tremor like a mother.🙃

Edited to add a ton just came in, all if which I've read several times and really enjoy:

Baking

Breads of the LaBrea Bakery. Never read but used to eat their bread constantly, and also have a lot of respect fir Nancy Silverton.

Breaking Bread:. A Baker's Journey Home. Martin Philip, Head Baker, King Arthur.

Flour, Salt, Water, Yeast, Ken Forkish

The Bread Baker's Apprentice, Peter Reinhardt. I am constantly returning to fundamental texts, a habit going all the way back when I was young, mid-70's when my mom bought me La Technique, the inimitable Jacques Pepin. I worked that book (and several of his others) ever since.

Crust and Crumb, Peter Reinhardt.

Whole Grain Breads:. New Techniques, Extraordinary Flavors. Reinhardt.

Butchery

If I can, I prefer to break whole animals, and constantly practicing both American and French butchery. In this vein, whole Beast Butchery:. The Complete Visual Guide to Beef, Lamb and Pork. Ryan Farr. Really like it.

Culinary Culture

Down and Out in Paris and London. Nails it. You want to know what it is to have been a plongeur, dish-washer in another culinary era, all while seeing what really goes on behind the swinging doors of posh houses, George Orwell is your man (this is the Paris section. Duh). In a similar vein to the late and so, so missed still, Anthony Bourdain.

The Fat and the Thin, Emile Zola. Most gorgeously sensual descriptions around life at the grand Parisian market Les Halles that I've ever read.

My pandemic doings, along with Ashtanga Yoga (new, but a boon for me. I can't do much else. With it, and foregoing lunch (and very easy on the suds, sniff), dropped 55 lbs and counting over the last several months). Also longtime zen practitioner. From my exchanges here, I know, one would never know I've practiced zen since living and training at a Japanese martial arts and zen buddhist temple a quarter century ago. I try, and fail. I sit.

Wine

Wine Bible,
Karen MacNeil. Because I treasure it, and it git lost somewhere over our peripatetic existence. Same with Hugh Johnson & Jancis Robinson, so acquired a while back. Not a Robert Parker guy.

Not to be a pretentious dou$he, but several cookbooks and literature in French, if anyone would like some recommendations.
 
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Yes, very good book. Amazing, how some people are able to overcome their bad circumstances.

Now streaming, withGlenn Close and Amy Adams, among others. Haven't seen it and I know it's sacrilegious to see a movie before the book.... still. Amy Adams. Glenn Close.
 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Devils_of_Loudun
Loudon is about15 miles from our house in France-there's a really great Belgian microbrewerry just outside of Loudun now. I have heard about the "Witches of Loudun" ever since I got married 40 years ago, but none of my inlaws really knew the story so this book has explained it for me. Cardinal Richelieu's walled town(now called Richelieu) is also right there, we got to their town market on Fridays for seafood and cheese.

Loved the story, and the film with Vanessa Redgrave and Oliver Reed. Yikes. Would love to see it from the vantage point now, instead of then!
 
Loved the story, and the film with Vanessa Redgrave and Oliver Reed. Yikes. Would love to see it from the vantage point now, instead of then!
I never knew there was a movie, but I'm not a movie person. My ADHD makes it almost impossible to sit still long enough to watch a movie. I think the last movie I saw in a theater was the last of the Lord of The Rings movie.
 
Now streaming, withGlenn Close and Amy Adams, among others. Haven't seen it and I know it's sacrilegious to see a movie before the book.... still. Amy Adams. Glenn Close.

I actually had no idea until Thanksgiving day, my wife noticed it and asked me if it was the book I had read and spoke so highly of. The film was pretty true to the book as well, although many details were missing.
 
I started some fantasy series that I hated immediately.

Started this a few days ago, and it's awesome. Exactly they style of writing that I like.

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That is a great book. Read it back in the 80's(?) when it first came out. The continuation, 'Noble House' is quite different, but still an interesting read.
 
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Am about 2/3's through it, was a Christmas present from one of my sons. There's a lot here, plus its 600ish pages, but generally presented in an interesting way. My take-away, as it almost always is with these kinds of histories, is how horribly brutal and war-like western civilization has been. Atrocity upon atrocity.
 
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Am about 2/3's through it, was a Christmas present from one of my sons. There's a lot here, plus its 600ish pages, but generally presented in an interesting way. My take-away, as it almost always is with these kinds of histories, is how horribly brutal and war-like western civilization has been. Atrocity upon atrocity.

Looks like something I'd like.

I highly recommend Hardcore History podcast if you're interested in that sort of history. It's longform podcast - some are a few hours, and some have several episodes, each hours long. Dan Carlin covers some pretty cool stuff. My fave was Wrath of the Khans, but something similar to your book there is the Prophets of Doom episode on the Munster rebellion, anabaptists, etc... find out why those cages are STILL hanging from the top of the german church. Some evil stuff there. The Hanging Cages of St. Lambert's Church in Münster
 
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