Herman > Recent Status Updates

What a fascinating read. I've learned quite a bit about the cultural history of gold, silver, platinum, and iron already. And I've only just started. Who knew that humankind knew blood contained iron a long time ago? And they only surmised this because Mars was red. And that anemia is caused by iron deficiency. Platinum is rarer than gold; thus, platinum records.
And now I am learning the history of plutonium.

Montag has an encounter with Clarisse. She tells him goodbye. Montag and his associates burn yet another household with books.
Montag is beginning to question the history of his job. And asking questions about books...the biggest sin.
He has an extended conversation with his wife, Mildred. Mildred claims that Clarisse was killed but that she forgot to inform Montag.
Gus M is starting to change his thoughts.

I think I will like this book. It's a book about the Periodic Table and the author is taking a novel approach. It is not a scientific approach, rather it is a narrative of the history of a families of chemicals and how they impact our lives. A good interesting start.

Enter Guy Montag, the main character of this book. A fireman whose job is to burn books. He meets Clarisse, who reminds him that firemen used to put out fires, not start them.
Guy enters his house and finds that his wife has tried to commit suicide. The paramedics apparently do this rescue all the time and pump out her stomach and save her. And they go on to the next victim.
Guy is already confused.

The last part of the book focuses on F. Scott Fitzgerald and his wife, Zelda. Also, EH shares his memories of living in the alpine country of Europe. Good living with plenty of skiing.

The account moves on to his relations with Ezra Pound (douchebag poet), Gertrude Stein (author, critic), Ernest Walsh (author, poet, editor) who died very young, James Joyce (Irish author), Evan Shipman (novelist, poet, newspaperman), a very good friend of EH, and, finally, F. Scott Fitzgerald.
FSF was quite the talker and social butterfly. But, he sure could drink.
Which, BTW, was quite the thing to do...drinking.

This is similar to verifying what I know about EH's life from some of the biographies I have read about him, from the Midnight in Paris movie, from his books.
The big difference, this narrative is in his own words. It's like reading a diary. I like this easy read so far.

This is taking me so long to read. My whole reading year has been hijacked by YouTube videos. Alas!
But, I am now at the part where the motley crew of vigilantes has caught up with the three men they've been looking for....frontier justice.

There actually is a Kurtz character in this story. Just like the movie Apocalypse Now. The story is dark already.

"How often had Shukhov in his youth fed oats to horses! Never had it occurred to him that there'd come a time when his whole soul would yearn for a handful of them."
Shukhov (Ivan) and his mates must endure indignities, suffering, and toil just to get their small ration of cold oats. Good grief!

"Because he had breakfasted without bread and eaten his food cold, Shukhov's bell felt unsatisfied that morning."
And this scene is one of Ivan's milder moments. The book describes in terrific graphic detail the things that Ivan and his fellow inmates must endure to just get through a typical day. What grief!

"Shukhov knew how to manage anything>
Work was like a stick. It had two ends. When you worked for the knowing you gave them quality; when you worked for a fool you simply gave him eyewash."
Ivan Denisovich Shukhov is our hero of this tale. He is a political prisoner in a gulag camp. The story does not start well for him. And it seems that it gets progressively worse.

The Civil War is over. Yancey Quimper is now General Quimper and a weasel. Somerset Cobb is now a successful senator from Texas. And Otto Macnab is now 61 years old and still a bad-ass Texas Ranger. Emma Larkin, missing nose and all, has married the Quaker Earnshaw Rusk and has established their ranch at the abandoned Fort Garner, and is now the Larkin Ranch. Texas is growing but still a wild, wild west scenario.

The Civil War is over. Somerset Cobb returns to his plantation minus his slaves, who are free now. He finds himself in a new world. As a free man, he makes arrangements with Trajan to help out with the farm.
A new chapter now starts, The Fort.

The narrative is now knee-deep in the Civil War. The story introduces the Cobb family. Immigrants from SC & GA brought their slaves with them. They make their homes near Fredericksburg, TX. Both male leaders of this family are KIA at Vicksburg. Quimper and Otto Macknab also return, a bit older, wiser, and just as deadly with fighting and conniving. A good analysis of why the South could not win this war.

The saga of the Otto MacNab Texas tale comes to an end. This, after the Battle of the Alamo, Goliad, San Jacinto, Otto becomes a ranger, meets Franzicka, and marries her. And the War with Mexico comes to an end...and Mexico gets screwed out of their land. And Otto gets to live in peace.
And now, a new chapter, with the Cobb family of South Carolina decide to move to Texas.

Otto McNab has survived the Battle of the Alamo and Goliad. His father is killed, but he survives thanks to Benito Garza, who is fighting with the Mexicans under Gen. Santa Ana.
Otto, at the age of about 16, becomes a Texas lawman, later known as the Texas Rangers.
Meanwhile, the new nation of Texas finds itself struggling to get hard currency to help with a new country.
Otto still cares for Maria & Josefina.

By now the Texicans have been slaughtered at The Alamo, and in Goliad, they have been captured. To be slaughter later by Santa Anna order. Not looking good for the Texans. Otto McNab survives Goliad bloodbath after Benito Garza helps him flee. Otto makes it to his home...injured.

I put this book on hiatus. I needed a break from reading, I suppose. Still, here we are. And our narrative takes us back to the hills of Scotland, where the forebears of some of the main characters get started in life. I'll absorb more/better as I progress this long read.

So many interesting facts about us that all I can do is listen and be amazed. If I ever need to read this book for a final exam in school I will read more attentively.
For now however, I will just soak in as much as I can.

Funny stuff from this guy.