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Mel’s 2024 Year in Books
Take a look at Mel’s Year in Books, including some fun facts about their reading.
Mel Laytner’s Followers (15)
3,438 books
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963 friends
824 books
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387 friends
553 books
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92 friends
215 books
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937 friends
126 books
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4,534 friends
1,624 books
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83 friends
138 books
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4,980 friends
694 books
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241 friends
Mel Laytner
Goodreads Author
Born
in New York City, The United States
October 10
Website
Genre
Influences
Member Since
July 2016
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What They Didn't Burn: Uncovering My Father's Holocaust Secrets
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* Note: these are all the books on Goodreads for this author. To add more, click here.
Mel’s Recent Updates
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Mel Laytner
liked
Brooke Macaulay's review
of
What They Didn't Burn: Uncovering My Father's Holocaust Secrets:
"I found this to be a really interesting perspective of the Holocaust. The author is a journalist trying to piece together his father’s life through this time, and better understanding the man he was.
I’ve read previous books related to the Holocaust " Read more of this review » |
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Mel Laytner
wants to read
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Mel Laytner
made a comment on
the poll: Which of these books by Daniel Silva would you like to read together in November?
"
I’ve read 1-19…or maybe 20 or 21. Honestly, I can vaguely connect plot points with specific titles only on a couple, like The English Assassin. Others
...more
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Mel Laytner
is currently reading
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Mel Laytner
rated a book it was amazing
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Mel Laytner
rated a book it was amazing
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Most World War II history books are a mix of 50% big picture, 20-30% strategic setting and narrative and 20-30% bloody battles. This book skips right to the bloody battle details. That is, it's 70% bloody battle details. Given that the subject is the ...more |
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Mel Laytner
rated a book it was amazing
Isaac's Storm: A Man, a Time, and the Deadliest Hurricane in History
by Erik Larson (Goodreads Author) |
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Erik Larson's histories are textbook lessons in how to engage the educated lay reader. First rule, tell the history through the eyes of a person or persons. This, uh, personalizes the narrative and invests the reader with the unfolding epoch. This is ...more |
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Mel Laytner
rated a book it was amazing
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Mel Laytner
is currently reading
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Mel Laytner
rated a book it was amazing
Isaac's Storm: A Man, a Time, and the Deadliest Hurricane in History
by Erik Larson (Goodreads Author) |
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Erik Larson's histories are textbook lessons in how to engage the educated lay reader. First rule, tell the history through the eyes of a person or persons. This, uh, personalizes the narrative and invests the reader with the unfolding epoch. This is ...more |
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Topics Mentioning This Author
| topics | posts | views | last activity | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jewish Book Club: 2023/7 Discussion of Sonia Purnell's A Woman of No Importance--POLL WINNER | 15 | 31 | Aug 16, 2023 12:38PM | |
| Jewish Book Club: Holocaust literature and the Jewish Book Club | 324 | 198 | Jul 23, 2025 08:01AM |
“There are three kinds of writers of news in our generation. In inverse order of worldly consideration, they are:
1. The reporter, who writes what he sees.
2. The interpretive reporter, who writes what he sees and what he construes to be its meaning.
3. The expert, who writes what he construes to be the meaning of what he hasn’t seen.
... All is manifest to [the expert], since his conclusions are not limited by his powers of observation. Logistics, to borrow a word from the military species of the genus, favor him, since it is possible to not see many things at the same time. For example, a correspondent cannot cover a front and the Pentagon simultaneously. An expert can, and from an office in New York, at that.”
― The Press
1. The reporter, who writes what he sees.
2. The interpretive reporter, who writes what he sees and what he construes to be its meaning.
3. The expert, who writes what he construes to be the meaning of what he hasn’t seen.
... All is manifest to [the expert], since his conclusions are not limited by his powers of observation. Logistics, to borrow a word from the military species of the genus, favor him, since it is possible to not see many things at the same time. For example, a correspondent cannot cover a front and the Pentagon simultaneously. An expert can, and from an office in New York, at that.”
― The Press
“Words: with them you can do and undo as you please.”
― The Story of a New Name
― The Story of a New Name
“Cries for help are frequently inaudible.”
― Even Cowgirls Get the Blues
― Even Cowgirls Get the Blues
“Smoked like it was fuel and he was going to get every last inch to the gallon.”
― The Secret Place
― The Secret Place
“Lies are better than tranquilizers.”
― The Story of the Lost Child
― The Story of the Lost Child
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