Oct 14

Oct 14 Tell Me What you’re Reading #6: Conversations at Marty’s Mercantile in West Shokan: our geological beginnings, Of Mice and Men and Moby Dick, dystopian tales and sobering memories of war.

Howard Altarescu

Our geological beginnings, Moby Dick and Of Mice and Men, dystopian tales and sobering memories of war.

My discussions in Episodes #1 - 5 were planned out. I did precalls with guests to find out what they were reading and what they would like to talk about on the podcast. I then read reviews of the books we were going to discuss, and a week or two later, we did the podcast, either in the Anchor podcast lab in New York City or in another quiet spot. I knew the books to be discussed, i had questions prepared and, for the most part, I had a plan for the discussion.

The discussions in Episode #6 are quite different. First, these discussions were impromptu, no planning, no prep, no organization. Second, as you will hear, we did not go to a quiet spot. Most were recorded with the background noise of the diner or the restaurant where we had the discussion. Although you can add background music and sounds to a podcast on the Anchor app, all of the background in this episode is genuine.

The one similarity between this episode and all the prior episodes is that we offer an eclectic mix today as well.

One of the segments in this Episode refers to the Spotify playlist I created with the songs he New York Times included in a list of the songs that soldiers in Vietnam listened to as they trekked through the jungle, which were many of the same songs that anti war protesters, many of the same age as those soldiers, listened to back in the states. Here iss my Vietnam Soundtrack.

What the crew at Marty’s Mercantile is reading . . .

Marty

Magician of the Gods, Graham Hancock

Buy on Amazon

Reviews Kirkus

Dominick

Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck

Review The New York Times

Moby Dick, Herman Melville

Reviews The New York Times | How To Read Moby Dick

Dune, Frank Herbert

Review The Guardian

Confessions of an Economic Hitman, John Perkins

Review The Guardian

Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds, Charles MacKay

Buy on Amazon

Reviews of The Wisdom of Crowds, James Surowiecki The Guardian

Guns, Germs and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies, Jared Diamond

Buy on Amazon

Review NPR

Victoria and Emily

The Prey, Tom Isbell

Review Kirkus

Emily

The Pretties, Scott Westerfeld

Adrianna

The Things They Carried, Tim O’Brien

Reviews The New York Times | NPR

And more . . .

A Bright Shining Lie, Neil Sheehan

Reviews The New York Times

Tree Of Smoke, Denis Johnson

Review The New York Times

Perfect Spy: The Incredible Double Life of Pham Xuan An, Time Magazine Reporter and Vietnamese Communist Agent, Larry Berman

Review Foreign Affairs

Vietnam War Books - Best of Lists

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/15/books/20-must-read-books-on-the-vietnam-war.html

https://www.signature-reads.com/2017/09/fractured-identity-best-vietnam-war-books/

https://bookriot.com/2018/06/14/best-vietnam-war-books/

https://fivebooks.com/best-books/vietnam-war-karl-marlantes/

http://www.historynet.com/

https://www.cfr.org/blog/ten-vietnam-war-novels-read

https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/208.Best_Literature_About_the_Vietnam_War

All Quiet on the Western Front, Erich Maria Remarque

Reviews Smithsonian Magazine | The New York Time - movie review

Colder Than Hell: A Marine Rifle Company at Chosin Reservoir, Joseph R. Owen

Review U.S. Naval Institute

Presidents of War, Michael Bechloss

Review The New York Times

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