A Certain Point of View, Too

Tag: Books

Musings & Thoughts for Saturday, January 14, 2023, or: Low Temperatures, Cold Symptoms Put the Kibosh on a Planned Book Review

Jan 14, 2023

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Alex Diaz-Granados

in Alfred Coppel, Blogging, Books, Code-Name Downfall: The Top-Secret Plan to Invade Japan – and Why Truman Dropped the Bomb, Hell to Pay: Operation DOWNFALL and the Invasion of Japan, 1945-1947, Life in Florida, Life in the Tampa Bay area, Military History, Personal Thoughts, The Burning Mountain: A Novel of the Invasion of Japan (1983)

A cold front passed through Central Florida between yesterday afternoon and early this morning, so the temperature in Lithia (as I write this) is 47°F/8°C under mostly cloudy skies on Saturday, January 14, 2023. The house is warmer than that, thank the Force, but I still have that nagging cold, and the combination of low…
Book Review: ‘The Life and Times of Le Bronco von der Löwenhöhle: Stories and Tips from Thirteen Years with a Leonberger’

Dec 14, 2022

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Alex Diaz-Granados

in Book Reviews, Books, The Life and Times of Le Bronco von der Löwenhöhle: Stories and Tips from Thirteen Years with a Leonberger, Thomas Wikman

Reviewer’s Note: Thomas Wikman is one of my long-time online friends from Epinions, a now-defunct review site where we both wrote product reviews. Additionally, I adapted this review from an original version that I wrote on the book’s Amazon product page. “Dogs are our link to paradise. They don’t know evil or jealousy or discontent.…
On Books & Reading: The Joy of Reading (and Rereading) Books…It’s in My DNA!

Oct 22, 2022

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Alex Diaz-Granados

in Blogging, Books, Emmanuelle (1974), Erotic Movies, Family History, Ian Doescher, Life in Florida, Life in Miami (1972-2016), Life in South Florida, Life in the Tampa Bay area, Life in the United States, Military History, Movies, Personal Thoughts, Rick Atkinson, Star Wars: A New Hope, The Liberation Trilogy, William Shakespeare's Star Wars

On Books and Reading “If one cannot enjoy reading a book over and over again, there is no use in reading it at all.”― Oscar Wilde Over the years, as I have grown older, grayer, and more set in my ways, I’ve noticed how many habits I have that are like those of my mom…
Book Review: ‘The Only Plane in the Sky: An Oral History of 9/11’

Sep 25, 2022

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Alex Diaz-Granados

in Books, Garrett M. Graff, Oral History, September 11, 2001 Attacks, The Only Plane in the Sky: An Oral History of 9/11, U.S. History, Watergate: A New History

We have some planes. – Mohammad Atta, Hijacker I look at the clock, and every time I look at the clock, it seems to be 9:11. I’m like, “Oh, 9:11 again.” It just happens, something so simple like that. – Sharon Miller, Officer, Port Authority Police Department (PAPD) On September 10, 2019, Avid Reader Press…
On Books & Reading: An Oral History of 9/11, and Observations About ‘The Third World War’ Duology

Sep 19, 2022

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by

Alex Diaz-Granados

in Amazon, Books, Computer and Video Games, Conservatism in the U.S., International Relations, MicroProse Software, Regiments (2022), The Only Plane in the Sky: An Oral History of 9/11, The Third World War: August 1985, To Be Read (TBR) Stack, U.S. Politics

The Growing TBR Stack My copy of Garrett M. Graff’s The Only Plane in the Sky: An Oral History of 9/11 arrived yesterday at 4:56 PM. I retrieved it from our front porch where the Amazon Prime driver had dropped it off, and within a few minutes I had taken it out of its shipping…
Book Review: ‘The Third World War: August 1985’

Sep 15, 2022

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by

Alex Diaz-Granados

in Bird's Eye Games, Book Reviews, Books, Cold War-Turns-Hot Games, Computer and Video Games, MicroProse Software, Red Storm Rising, Red Storm Rising (1986 novel), Regiments (2022), The Third World War: August 1985, Tom Clancy (author)

On May 1, 1978, London-based Sidgwick & Jackson Ltd. published The Third World War: August 1985: A Future History, a work of near-future speculative fiction by Sir John Hackett, a retired general in the British Army, and a group of co-authors that, according to the publisher, included an admiral, an economist, and a diplomat, all…
Late July Diversions: An Update on My TBR and TBW Lists for the Summer of ’22

Jul 26, 2022

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by

Alex Diaz-Granados

in 4K UHD Blu-rays, Acting Lessons, Adults-Only Games, Amazon, Being a DIK (2020 Game), Blu-ray Collection, Books, Brotherhood, Computer and Video Games, Dr. PinkCake (Game Designer), Fire & Steel: The End of World War Two in the West, James D. Hornfischer, Maid in Sweden (1971), Movies, Peter Caddick-Adams, Red Dawn (1984), Star Wars, Star Wars Books, The Eagle Has Landed, The Life and Times of Le Bronco von der Löwenhöhle: Stories and Tips from Thirteen Years with a Leonberger, Thomas Wikman, To Be Read (TBR) Stack, Who Can Hold the Sea: The U.S. Navy in the Cold War 1945-1960

Well, with the end of July only a few days off, it’s time for an update on my To Be Watched (TBW) and To Be Read (TBR) lists for the seventh month of 2022. As you know, July is not my favorite month of the year. My mother died on July 19, 2015, after her…
Musings & Thoughts for Saturday, July 16, 2022, or: A First Look at Bronco’s Biography, and Other Leisure Pursuits

Jul 16, 2022

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by

Alex Diaz-Granados

in Amazon, Blogging, Books, Cold Waters, Computer and Video Games, Life in Florida, Life in the Tampa Bay area, Life in the United States, Personal Thoughts, The Life and Times of Le Bronco von der Löwenhöhle: Stories and Tips from Thirteen Years with a Leonberger, Thomas Wikman

Hi, there, Dear Reader. It is late morning in Lithia, Florida, on Saturday, July 16, 2022. It is a humid, hot summer day in the Tampa Bay area. Currently, the temperature is 84°F (29°C) under mostly cloudy skies. With humidity at 78% and the wind blowing from the northeast at 5 MPH (8 KM/H), the…
Musings & Thoughts for Tuesday, July 12, 2022, or: Memories, Congressional Hearings, and a Book Recommendation

Jul 12, 2022

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by

Alex Diaz-Granados

in Amazon, Beatriz Diaz-Granados, Blogging, Books, Creative Writing, Donald Trump, Family History, Life in Florida, Personal Thoughts, Summer in Florida, U.S. Capitol Siege, January 6, 2021, U.S. Politics

Hi, there, Dear Reader. It’s afternoon in Lithia, Florida, on Tuesday, July 12, 2022. It is a torrid summer day in the Tampa Bay area. As I write this, the temperature is 90°F (32°C) under cloudy skies. With humidity at 63% and the wind blowing from the south-southwest at 11 MPH (17 KM/H), the heat…
On Books & Reading: TBR Stack Update – ‘Fire & Steel’ by Carrick-Adams Due to Arrive Earlier Than Anticipated

Jun 15, 2022

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Alex Diaz-Granados

in Amazon, Blogging, Books, Fire & Steel: The End of World War II in the West, Ian W. Toll, Life in Florida, Pacific Crucible: War at Sea in the Pacific, 1941-1942, Pacific War Trilogy, Peter Caddick-Adams, Snow & Steel: The Battle of the Bulge, 1944-45, To Be Read (TBR) Stack

Greetings and salutations, Dear Reader. It is early afternoon in Lithia, Florida, on Wednesday, June 15, 2022. It is an oppressively hot early summer day in the Tampa Bay area. Currently, the temperature is 89°F (32°C) under sunny skies. With humidity at 69% and the wind blowing from the north at 2 MPH (4 KM/H),…