Welcome Aboard

[Mark]

To give you an idea of what to expect, please go into my personal books and take a gander at what is there ... especially my to-read shelf (sorted by newest first under Date Added). That will give you and idea of what obscure but exciting novels I have been finding lately.

[Jim]

Thanks for the invite. I'm not serious about reading too much history, although I am reading Ranch Life and the Hunting Trail by Theodore Roosevelt right now.

[Mark]

Fair enough. Glad you still decided to join and hopefully you will find some benefit here.

[Jim]

Generally, I like historical fiction backed up by some wandering research better. Harold Lamb's books got me interested in history around the world & then John Jakes' Bicentennial series got me far more interested in US history & gave me a better feel for it than any text books.

One big exception is with wood & metal working. I have a small farm & grew up on one, so the differences that technology has brought to the field intrigue me. I'm a huge fan of Roy Underhill & Eric Sloane. I've made a lot of things out of Underhill's books & still do. Making a shaving horse out of a log using just a few hand tools was an awesome experience. later I built another using sawn lumber & power tools. It is better & was far easier to build. The ability to contrast the methods was priceless.

[Debbie]

Hi, I'm Debbie Zapata and I've just discovered your group. I read all sorts of genres, but I especially enjoy older forgotten or neglected books, both fiction and non-fiction. I don't really have a place to talk about the non-fiction books I find, so I was excited to find this group and I hope I will be able to contribute to the discussions. My interests are the USA Revolutionary War, some Civil War but haven't really explored that just yet. WWI (have recently found many titles at Project Gutenberg), and early explorations of all parts of the world...to name a few.

Thanks for creating this group, I look forward to getting to know everyone!!

[Jim]

Welcome, Debbie.

[Debbie]

Hi Jim...thanks!!
I read in your comment above that you like wood and metal work. Have you ever looked at Project Gutenberg? It is my main source for online reading. Free and you can either read online or download. I was curious about whether or not they would have any wood working titles and found this from 1903, thought you might get a kick out of it.

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/22107/...


Thought I would stop by also to tell what my first book in this group's category will be. I have been reading Robinson Crusoe and am nearly finished with The Further Adventures Of Robinson Crusoe. Last week when I was browsing on Gutenberg (sometimes a dangerous thing to do...HA) I found The Solitary of Juan Fernandez or The Real Robinson Crusoe, by Joseph X. Saintine...this old book tells the true story of Alexander Selkirk, who of course was the inspiration for Daniel Defoe's Crusoe. So that is my official first offering to the group.

I tend to babble and I apologize in advance for any long comments I may make about the books I read here.... =))

Happy trails!!

[Jim]

Ah! A kindred spirit!!! I've been a big fan of Gutenberg for years, but missed that one. Getting it now. Thanks. I have downloaded, read, & printed out many of their books on woodworking & a few on metal. I recently reviewed several this year. You can see them if you look on my shelves here:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/list...

Perhaps the best find this year was the ability to read Moxon's "Mechanick Exercises" (The best version I've found yet.) along side Mercer's "Ancient Carpenter's Tools". Both are classics & the few reprints I've seen of Moxon's book tend to be expensive.

There are a couple of other great resources to check. Project Gutenberg Australia has some books the regular one doesn't have due to differences in copyright law.
http://gutenberg.net.au/

The Internet Archive, archive.org, has books, movies, & radio broadcasts. They have Daniel Defoe's A Tour Through England and Wales - Volume I while Gutenberg only has part of it, Tour Through the Eastern Counties of England (1722. I got interested after reading Sheep: The Remarkable Story Of The Humble Animal That Built The Modern World by Alan Butler. He used Defoe's book as a reference. Can't say as I like Defoe's style & haven't gotten through it, though.

WikiSource is another great resource for classics:
http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Wikisou...

Babble? Long comments? Who? Me?
;)

[Debbie]

You would have gotten along great with my Dad, Jim! He had a little shop out in the garage, with lathes for both metal and wood,and he loved old books about tools and such. He used to get some from Dover Books, they have reprints of antiquated books of all sorts. He made models of steam engines and tractors, all sorts of things. Guess that is why I understand about your interest in the subject. Oddly enough, his name was Jim and so is my brother's...=))

I know what you mean about Daniel Defoe's style. In Further Adventures he goes on and on for nearly 8 chapters about all sorts of other people, then said he didn't want to digress with stories that did not really pertain to his own....hello!! I confess I skimmed a lot of that section and I will be glad to get the old guy to the end of his journeys.

I'm trying to tidy the lists I've made for myself from titles at Gutenberg. I was just copying them down in no particular order....the fussy bookworm in me couldn't handle that so they are now getting sorted into genres. I don't dare look anywhere else right now...but of course I will copy down the addresses you mentioned....I just won't look. Nope, not even a peek.
And I have some ocean front property in Arizona if you're interested...HA!!

Been here for hours, I'd better unplug for a bit and go pester hubby...he'll think I have drowned or something. See you later, thanks again for the welcome!!

[Jim]

That's neat, Debbie. My father-in-law was named Jim & my son is James. Popular name & my son is a wood & metal fiddler, too. The Dover books are pretty good. I have some.

I can't keep books by genre very easily. I sort into fiction & nonfiction. Fiction in directories by last name of the author (Directories by first letter of last name, & then subdirs for each author, further subdirs for series & such.) Nonfiction does have some categories, but again is in subdirs, although they vary a bit more depending on the subject. I'm not very happy with it, but I don't get too many duplicates. Audio books are kept separately & they are broken into genres, then subdirs for each author. I'm really not happy with it, though.

My problem with categories or genres is that I can change my mind depending on the day & books can so easily cross. I have the same issue with my physical book shelves. I really appreciate being able to keep books on multiple shelves here.

[Debbie]

The biggest problem I have about where I live now (a tiny house in Mexico) is that there is not enough room for books. I've brought some down over the years but when I think of my library in Mom's house in Arizona, I just sigh. Three big bookcases stuffed full. Here I have my books in two suitcase sized plastic bags, separated by 'Have read these here' and 'Have not read these here yet'. I miss having them out where I can look at them easily...somehow that is part of the magic of books...seeing them waiting for you on the shelf, you know? =))

[Jim]

That's rough, Debbie. I went through that many years ago after I left home, but before I got married. Mom got rid of some of my books. I guess that's been 35 years or more & I still haven't forgiven her entirely.

Now I have most of my books out. I'm a carpenter, so I've made a lot of bookshelves including the one in my bedroom that covers an entire wall from floor to ceiling except the window. Still, there isn't quite enough room for all the books, so there are some boxes under my bed. Like you, I love to see my books. Laying on my bed & looking at the spines is like visiting with a group of old friends.

[Debbie]

I'm lucky in that my mom won't get rid of anything (hers or mine)...she will leave the dirty work to me....but books are SO hard to put on the discard pile!!

[Jim]

I'm really sorry that the book swapping sites seem to have lost all their steam. I use BookMooch & PaperBackSwap, but have a couple of dozen credits on each & over 100 books I'd like to get. I haven't gotten a book for ages. I have a few dozen more to put up for swap, but haven't bothered.

[Debbie]

When I lived in El Paso years ago there were shops where you could trade paperbacks. I loved those places! And library book sales were big draws for me too. I'm so glad to have found sites where I can read online, since there is nothing like those used book stores here. I have been overdosing on the fun of browsing virtual shelves...=))

[Debbie]

This comment probably should not go here, but I did want to share my review of The Solitary of Juan Fernandez, or the Real Robinson Crusoe which I just finished and which I mentioned above as my first book for this group.

The link to my review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[Mark]

It's on my to-read list ... up high on the list ...

[Debbie]

Hi Mark....I think you'll like it!!

[Debbie]

I've just placed one last order at Amazon. Among the books I requested is Bitter Victory: The Battle For Sicily, July August 1943.

My dad marched across Africa and was part of Patton's forces in Sicily. Then he fought his way up Italy until being wounded at Anzio. He was sent home after that and became a drill sergeant. He never would talk too much about his war. I think this book will help me understand what happened.

[Debbie]

The next book I plan to read (starting October 1st) for historical non-fiction is Around the World on a Bicycle Volume I
and I will follow that up with Volume 2.

Mark, sorry to ask this again, but is there any way we could each start a library-type thread where we can list the books we read for this group? I feel like I am posting in the wrong place...if I had my own little Biblioteca page I would stay out of everyone's way...=))...Thanks much!!

[Carlos]

Hi everybody, just joined and found this group!
Honestly, I was immediately intrigued because I am looking for books that are similar to one that I am promoting; my dad finally wrote the true story of his adventures surveying for a gold and diamond mine deep in the amazon jungle in the early 80's. I was so lost when I tried to figure out what genre this is but you guys seem to have it down! It is historical non-fiction and action packed to boot. Anyways I will be perusing the group for books to look into, if anybody knows of any specifically dealing with the Amazon Jungle, that might send me in the right direction.

Loving GoodReads, Thanks everybody!

[Jim]

Welcome, Carlos. I recently had The River of Doubt: Theodore Roosevelt's Darkest Journey by Candice Millard recommended to me. That's about his journey up the Amazon after losing the presidential nomination.

Your father's story sounds interesting, too. It's Red Diamonds, Grey Gold: Adventures of a young surveyor in the open pit mines of the Amazon jungle by Juan B. Plaza?

[Carlos]

Thats the one! I will immediately go and check out the River of Doubt, thank you so much.