Posted on 02/03/2014 2:13:32 PM PST by jocon307
My daughter’s the only person I’ve ever known who’s actually read the “Divine Comedy” from cover to cover and survived to talk about it as though she really enjoyed it - probably would have made a great English professor if she hadn’t gone into mathematics....
That’s what I was gonna say. Now, how do I bump the thread?
My dad is mentioned in "Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo." He was the unnamed civilian crew chief who Ted Lawson was angry at for revving the Ruptured Duck's engines beyond specification while it was chained down and chocked at McClellan Army Air Base where they were practicing short take offs. Ted Lawson did not know why my dad was revving his beloved Duck's engines and was angry about what he thought was abuse! At that time, he did not yet know what his mission was going to be.
My dad's crew was charged with making those engines perform beyond factory specs. If Dad couldn't get at least a consistent 110% over spec from an engine, it was pulled and a brand new engine was put on that would. My dad hit on the idea of putting water injection—same as was done with Spitfire Fighter/Bombers—for the take off. This got as high as 116% for a short time. . . not something you could do for long as it was hard on the engines, but gave the engines the power boost needed that got the planes the speed and lift to get those heavy bombers off the Hornet's flight deck in the distance they had to.
cool story
And of course they were meant to be performed, not merely read, so in addition to the words you get the visuals that make it easier to figure out what's going on. It doesn't hurt that older English often sounds more familiar than it looks, either.
(I'm assuming you're comparing read vs. acted Shakespeare, and not performances by British vs. American actors.)
I’ve read every primary work thru 1960
All I can say is God smiled on little boys when he created Classics Illustrated
I’ve read The Origin of Species and Atlas Shrugged.
Someone mentioned The Bible. I’ve read it, although I do skim through many of the genealogies. I’ve spent the last 18 months in Romans. I’m savoring it.
I never read Origin or Species
Studied Smith.... Tocqueville and Melville ....Machiavelli ....Orwell
Read the other Ulysses.in...Virgil’s works...nice reads....
This a far better lie I tell tonight than I have ever told before....
Really I love 19th century English works....tale of two cities is wonderful
Though he did "bleep" them on occasion:
Bond said politely, "Then you can go and —— yourself." He expelled all the breath from his lungs and closed his eyes.
"Even I am not capable of that, Mr Bond," said Goldfinger with good humour.
This exchange was unfilmable in the 1960s, so in the movie it became the much more memorable, "Do you expect me to talk, Goldfinger?" "No, Mr. Bond, I expect you to die."
In fact, Goldfinger the movie was a big improvement in general over Goldfinger the novel, in which Goldfinger plans to rob Fort Knox by blowing the doors off with a nuke (while hiding behind a wall). The plan in the film to irradiate all the gold inside is somewhat more plausible.
For me the 19th century fiction writers are mostly boring windbags.
I have found the books by soldiers,explorers,seamen,adventurers and so forth to be much more straightforward and interesting.
I do like Morris and Rider Haggard and Verne though.
Verne has suffered from suckass translators who shortened and abused his originals works.
Yes, I remember that passage well.
Wow. Your dad was a witness to history!
Hahahaha...I can see it now, The Great Freeper Novel:
FREEPER 1: “He turned to gape at her in astonishment. She peered coyly back at him as the machinery she had set in motion took on a life of its own behind her.”
FREEPER 2: “Out of nowhere, John McCain appeared and hustled a dozen illegal immigrants across a road behind him.
FREEPER 3: “Oh, the Hugh Manatee!”
LOL!
Agree.
I also think that most of those books are pretty boring, and, since I read a lot of boring stuff at work, I don’t want to think too hard when I read for fun.
Rim -That’s hilarious.
Jocon - YES!! a ‘novel’ thread. Like the Anna Nicole Smith serial soap opera? After more pondering - I expect JR would object.
We could begin with a few guidelines - but it would quickly get unruly. FReepers are so hard to herd;)
gracias and merci beaucoup :)
LOL...I recently watched a very long movie on Netflix.
It had apparently been a British TV Serial, and I knew where all the commercial breaks had been just from the ebb and flow of the action.
Yes, I agree. The Historical Comments though, are interesting, as they show a totally different view of Napoleon than one often reads in the West.
Here’s what I found amazing though...in all 1386 pages, there is not a single reference to a struggling young nation on the other side of the planet who is going through a “War of 1812” of her own!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.