A fellow comes up to me today and asks

[Fenris]

"Hey - the test on Thursday is on the book right?"

The test we were about to begin has two parts, one section on IDs and one essay section.

"Yes, the essay exam on Thursday covers the book," I responded.

Then he says, "Oh good. 'Cuz I haven't started on the book yet. Do they have it at the bookstore."

"Um, yes, I think they do. But I had to order mine online."

"Thanks man."

"Uh...no problem."

And then I just stood there kind of stunned, because the book he hadn't started reading yet is 650 pages long and took me the entire half-semester to complete.

:o

[RevolutionaryActs]

He's a speed reader?

[Fenris]

3. If he can read a 650 page biography of Stalin in roughly 2 days

He should be given a fucking medal.

[RevolutionaryActs]

15. 650 pages of Stalin?! Oh mother of god.

:o

[Fenris]

16. He's going to enjoy these next two nights.

:D

[flamingyouth]

1. Not only is it 650 pages, it's on STALIN

It's hardly your run-of-the-mill light reading. :o

[Fenris]

7. Oh come now!

:D

[flamingyouth]

11. I admit I have enjoyed your tales of the night-long banquets

The murder, the craziness. It's all in good fun, really. :D

[Fenris]

14. The man liked his bananas, as Mikoyan so eloquently put it.

:D

[flamingyouth]

18. And clearly he was as well.

;)

[Fenris]

21. Yes, but unlike his bananas, Stalin was quite ripe.

:D

[jpgray]

2. Well, big bolshy yarblockos to you, man

Because I have a similar amount to read for my midterm on Thursday. :D Is yours a historical survey of literature course?

[Fenris]

4. Nope. Russian Politics and Government.

The book's a bio on Stalin.:D

[jpgray]

12. Well, that might at least be fascinating

I have to slog through Felicia Hemans poems and the like.

[Fenris]

13. Yeah, see to me, that seems worse.

;)

[Kathy in Cambridge]

5. Which book on Stalin?

I've read TONS on Stalin...wrote my undergrad thesis on his purges.

This is going to sound twisted but I love reading about dictators.

[Fenris]

6. "Court of the Red Tsar" by Simon Sebag Montefiore

It's a recent release. Very well written.

[Kathy in Cambridge]

20. Thanks-I'll check it out

[Fenris]

23. It delves a lot into his private life.

Which is about as strange and disturbing as you'd imagine. It can't be called an in depth history of the activities of Stalin as the leader of the CCCP, but it's absolutely fascinating as a peek inside his personal world.

[Kathy in Cambridge]

26. Someday check out "the Autobiography of Joseph Stalin"

it's fiction, of course, but the author seems to get into his mind:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0306809974/qid=1110339580/sr=2-1/ref=pd_bbs_b_2_1/102-1972569-1888921

[NNadir]

24. I recently re-read Radzinsky's fascinating biography.

Does Montefiore's book draw at all on Radzinski's commentary on the released archives?

If Radzinski is to be believed, Stalin was one of the most intriguing criminals of all time, a man who couldn't have died soon enough.

How about a little synopsis of what you learned in reading this book?

[Left Is Write]

9. It doesn't sound twisted to me.

But then again, I like reading about dictators AND true crime.

[HEyHEY]

8. Must be a cousin of mine

Be careful, he's just trying to make friends so he can sit next to you and cheat

[Fenris]

10. Funny, he did sit next to me during the ID section.

He was one of the first finished, so I assume it hit him like a Mac truck.

[MissB]

17. I have this recurring nightmare

that I'm still in college, and I find out that I have been missing a history class for almost the entire term. And a huge paper is due soon.


Thanks for renewing that nightmare. I haven't had it for awhile.

[Fenris]

19. It's better than living the nightmare.

[MissB]

25. I dunno

I graduated in '96. Nine years later, I'm still having the dream. Living it meant that there was a definitive end to it.

Poor guy, at any rate. 650 pages. Wugh.

[flamingyouth]

22. That's actually a very common dream.

My dad still has it every once in a while, and he graduated from college in 1962! :D

[driver8]

27. I have that dream all the time!

I either have the test in front of me and don't recognize any of the questions or I know the big test is coming up and I haven't been to class.