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Whatcha readin now? (book, books, reading, read) (3 Viewers)

shuke said:
dharmapunk said:
I have question for you too, Shuke: did you like Faulkner's The Sound and The Fury?
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Never read it.
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I asked because it's a notoriously difficult book that people are forced to read in college. It starts as the first person narrative of a man with the intellect of a three year old. Time is utterly distorted. He can't tell memory from the present tense. Because of this, many people get ten pages into the book and throw it against a wall. But if you suffer the disorientation long enough, you seep into the man's thoughts and witness something remarkable. It's a classic case of suffering a difficult text for the sake of a huge payoff. You seem like a smart bloke who may have read it in college. I thought you may have appreciated it after a class forced you to work through it. That's what happened to me, and afterwards I was more patient with "difficult" authors like Pynchon, Faulkner, Joyce, etc.
 
Just finished The Passage. Glad I didn't spend $30 on a hardback at the airport, mainly because it wasn't there. Got a nook for Xmas and that was the first book I downloaded. Read some of the reviews, which weren't as glowing as the ones I remembered from this thread. I agree with them. Solid start, but falls off sharply the more you read.

Loose ends I am fine with for a planned trilogy, but what I am not fine with is the incessant time flip flops. The cliffhangers within a chapter when he goes back and says (sometimes literally) "what happened was this...". Or "Peter later remembered how..." Too many flashbacks, too many flashbacks within flashbacks, too many foreshadowings in the flashbacks, too many flashbacks in the flashbacks, too many flashforwards with flashbacks. Hell, I think there's a few flashsidewayses. Gets very frustrating when a writer overuses a device, especially as clumsily as he did. Also annoying were the multiple wrong uses of colons as well as somehow this book getting past several editors with the word "wretched" used instead of "retched" about a dozen times. Too many clumsy coincidences and overly simple answers and opportune events etc... Really, just poorly executed, though the storyline holds great promise. The build up to the "present' and the post viral world are fairly well thought out, but the plot not so much. Not sure if I'm interested in the next one but I probably will read it unless reviews are absolutely terrible.

But seriously...

 
I recently finished The Age of Innocence, by Edith Wharton. The Pulitzer committee and Martin Scorsese recommended this one. And for something that I originally thought to be Austen/Forster-like chick lit, this was very entertaining. The story centers on a young, independently wealthy man in 1870s New York City and his struggle between freedom and conformity. Wharton has a keen and humorous insight into human nature, enough that I was able to identify with the lead character and his internal struggle. And I thought the ending was perfect. :thumbup:

Now reading Tree of Smoke, by Denis Johnson. I picked this one because it was a National Book Award winner in 2007 and because of some praise in this thread (and despite a scathing review at the Atlantic). I also wanted to read a book with a Vietnam War setting since so much of the classic writing of the last century seemed to be centered on the Second World War and I wanted something different. I'm about 100 pages in and so far there have been a few scattered chuckles and some really elegant sections of prose. This is yet another recent novel with multiple shifts in perspective, so I haven't yet fully connected with the characters.

 
Reading Guns, Germs and Steel right now based upon numerous recommendations I've seen on FBGs.

Moderately interesting, but it seems like each new chapter is rehashing the chapter prior and adding one small modicum of interesting new hypothesis. Not a very meaty book for its size, imo.

 
Idiot Boxer said:
Reading Guns, Germs and Steel right now based upon numerous recommendations I've seen on FBGs.Moderately interesting, but it seems like each new chapter is rehashing the chapter prior and adding one small modicum of interesting new hypothesis. Not a very meaty book for its size, imo.
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Agree in general but I almost liked it that way because it hammered the main theme home as opposed to trying to tie it to a chapter or two. But I agree that it is overlong.
 
Just re-read The Eyes of the Dragon. It had been many years.

First of all, it's not as impressive as I've been telling myself it is. Oh, it's a well-told story, and it has a few of the patented King humorous moments, but it seemed simple-minded to me. This thought has caused in me a desire to re-read maybe It or The Stand, just to see if his true voice speaks to me now; because I forgot that Dragon was a big departure for him in terms of the style of storytelling.

Secondly, I'd like to share a passage from it - because it made me cry. That's right, I admit it freely. It wasn't a blubbering, girly thing, but no denying I was emotionally touched and it manifested as that extremely manly misty-eyed type of reflection on Greater Truths. It's a rare enough occurrence for me to want to talk about it.

It should be noted that unless one remembers the story, and especially the characters, this may not seem like a big deal. I happen to think it's quite universal in its application. The climax has come and gone, and now we're in epilogue-land. Indulge me.

Did they all live happily after?

They did not. No one ever does, in spite of what the stories may say. They had their good days, as you do, and they had their bad days, and you know about those. They had their victories, as you do, and they had their defeats, and you know about those, too. There were times when they felt ashamed of themselves, knowing that they had not done their best, and there were times when they knew they had stood where their God had meant them to stand. All I'm trying to say is that they lived as well as they could, each and every one of them; some lived longer than others, but all lived well, and bravely, and I loved them all, and am not ashamed of my love.

I just think that's a beautiful thought, written beautifully. So despite my very slight disappointment in this book (as compared to my memory of it, anyway), it was still a fun, quick read (about 4 hours, naysayers from the Other Thread), and King still stands in my mind as one of the best pure storytellers ever.

Sorry for the length.

 
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Have barely read anything outside of magazines and school stuff for the past few years. Done with school, so getting back into it with:

The Singularity is Near (Kurzweil)

The War for Late Night (Carter)

Made in America (Bryson)

Baseball Between the Numbers: Why Everything You Know About the Game Is Wrong (Keri)

Need to find some fiction that I like. Way out of that game. Been reading a few short stories from a really good compilation that I have from back in undergrad. Any recommendations for someone who is a big fan of Borges, Saramago and Doestoevsky?

 
ConstruxBoy said:
Idiot Boxer said:
Reading Guns, Germs and Steel right now based upon numerous recommendations I've seen on FBGs.Moderately interesting, but it seems like each new chapter is rehashing the chapter prior and adding one small modicum of interesting new hypothesis. Not a very meaty book for its size, imo.
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Agree in general but I almost liked it that way because it hammered the main theme home as opposed to trying to tie it to a chapter or two. But I agree that it is overlong.
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Some great info, but probably could've been 1/2 the length. The author repeated himself over and over. Have avoided reading Collapse for this reason.
 
The_Man said:
kupcho1 said:
Now on to The 42nd Parallel (book 1 of the U.S.A. trilogy) by John Dos Passos.
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:confused: I hope you like it - I hype this trilogy to people all the time but it seems like nobody ever takes me up on it. I think it's great. When they were all alive and writing, Dos Passos, Faulkner, Hemingway and Fitzgerald were all considered peers. But as time went by, for some reason Dos Passos dropped out of their league. Let us know what you think.
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Update on this? As I said, I'm always looking for someone else who has read and likes these books.Currently reading "Wolf Hall" which won the Booker Prize in England last year. It is excellent literary/historical fiction. Tells the story of Henry VIII's break with the Catholic church from the point of view of his minister Thomas Cromwell - the guy who's always been seen as the villain in this episode in things like "A Man for All Seasons."

Got "Matterhorn" and "War" on tap next.

Anyone want to write a list of the five best books they read this year? I can't remember them all, but here are some that stick in my mind.

1. "Stitches: A Memoir" by David Small. I'm not the biggest graphic novel fan in the world, but this book was funny and scary and sad and tremendously moving. I don't even want to describe it further to give anything away, but it's definitely an amazing book that I recommend very highly.

2. "The Keep" by Jennifer Egan. A really cool, post-modern, meta-fiction Gothic story.

3. "A Visit from the Goon Squad" by Jennifer Egan. This was actually the first Egan book I read - I thought it was funny and smart and lively, and it got me interested in reading her other books, which led me to #2 above.

4. "Life" by Keith Richards. Not a great work of literature, but I can't remember a book I got more sheer entertainment from.

5. "Freedom" by Jonathan Franzen. I also liked "The Ghost" by Robert Harris, which was the basis of the movie "The Ghost Writer." Good political thriller.

 
I've pimped Alan Furst before, but I've read several more of his pre-WWII spy stories and really like them. Night Soldiers and Dark Star in particular are excellent.

 
The_Man said:
The_Man said:
kupcho1 said:
Now on to The 42nd Parallel (book 1 of the U.S.A. trilogy) by John Dos Passos.
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:cry: I hope you like it - I hype this trilogy to people all the time but it seems like nobody ever takes me up on it. I think it's great. When they were all alive and writing, Dos Passos, Faulkner, Hemingway and Fitzgerald were all considered peers. But as time went by, for some reason Dos Passos dropped out of their league. Let us know what you think.
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Update on this? As I said, I'm always looking for someone else who has read and likes these books.
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:bag: I'm about 1/3 the way through The Big Money. Great books which resonate today. Some of the themes are very familiar. Dos Passos was ... well, let's just say left-leaning, and his take on WWI (aka the War to End All Wars) implied that it was for the benefit of business. Hell, there's even significant discussion of locking up petroleum during the post War period (Wilson being knocked for allowing the Brits and Bolsheviks to take strategic positions).

I also like the way characters pop back up, or show up throughout the trilogy. George Barrow for some reason, amuses me.

Again, well worth reading.

 
kupcho1 said:
The_Man said:
The_Man said:
kupcho1 said:
Now on to The 42nd Parallel (book 1 of the U.S.A. trilogy) by John Dos Passos.
Click to expand...
:confused: I hope you like it - I hype this trilogy to people all the time but it seems like nobody ever takes me up on it. I think it's great. When they were all alive and writing, Dos Passos, Faulkner, Hemingway and Fitzgerald were all considered peers. But as time went by, for some reason Dos Passos dropped out of their league. Let us know what you think.
Click to expand...
Update on this? As I said, I'm always looking for someone else who has read and likes these books.
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:thumbup: I'm about 1/3 the way through The Big Money. Great books which resonate today. Some of the themes are very familiar. Dos Passos was ... well, let's just say left-leaning, and his take on WWI (aka the War to End All Wars) implied that it was for the benefit of business. Hell, there's even significant discussion of locking up petroleum during the post War period (Wilson being knocked for allowing the Brits and Bolsheviks to take strategic positions).

I also like the way characters pop back up, or show up throughout the trilogy. George Barrow for some reason, amuses me.

Again, well worth reading.
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Glad you like them. I actually met my wife over these books in an "American Lit of the 1930s" seminar. Each week we had to write an assignment about the text we had read - you could either do a "standard" 500-word essay about some aspect of the book, or you could do a "creative" project that could be a passage in the style of the book, or something else creative inspired by the text.When the prof handed back the first week's assignments, it turned out we were the only 2 people that did the "creative" version. Hers was an incredibly detailed and well-researched take on modern tabloid journalism, which she connected to the yellow journalism of the "Newsreel" section of the books. It was great and took her way longer than it would have taken her to bang out the 500 word essay. I banged out a mini-biography - like those in the trilogy - of an influential and famous person of our time: Elvis. It was good, too, but only about four paragraphs long and took me about half an hour.

She liked me because I was "creative." But she was pissed that we both got an A when it was clear how much more work she had put in. That turns out to have been a metaphor for our entire lives - she is incredibly hard-working and determined, I'm kind of lazy and slide through on natural ability without really pushing myself, and we end up in the same place together, with her liking me but also being slightly pissed, while I just laugh and tell her not to take things so seriously.

 
shuke said:
shuke said:
After months of falling asleep after reading 2 pages I finally got through A Clash of Kings. Not as good as A Game of Thrones, but good enough to make me want to start A Storm of Swords immediately after.
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Just finished ASOS. Definitely the best in the series so far and probably one of my favorite books ever. Just started King's Under the Dome. It seems to have gotten a lot of praise, and I love his storytelling, but his writing style has really deteroriated. I know he was never considered a master of prose, but this just seems really bad.
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KarmaPolice said:
I got Under the Dome for Christmas. Is it worth trudging though 1000pgs, or should I return it for something else? Used to read a bit of King back in the day (maybe 15+ years ago), but haven't read anything since then.
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I was extremely underwhelmed by Under the Dome. I understand why some loved it, the beginning -> middle definitely drew me in and made me want to read more, but as it went on I really hated the way it finished out. I won't say how, but you'll know when you read it. Basically liked 2/3s to 4/5s of the book, but the way it ended left a bad taste in my mouth and made me feel like King just looked at how many pages he had, and instead of writing a good ending and cutting some out of the middle he just found a way to end it quickly.

I am just starting "The Tipping Point", heard a fair amount of good things about it. Also have a Way of Kings and Tad Williams Shadowmarch sitting on the shelf waiting for me to get to them.

 
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Here's a question for you all - When do you read?

As in time of day and/or day of the week (i.e. do you read more on the weekends or during the work week, etc.)

 
dharmapunk said:
Here's a question for you all - When do you read?

As in time of day and/or day of the week (i.e. do you read more on the weekends or during the work week, etc.)
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1. :goodposting: 2. In bed.

Little more on the weekends because light stays on later since we can sleep in some.

 
SimonMoon said:
Just re-read The Eyes of the Dragon. It had been many years.

First of all, it's not as impressive as I've been telling myself it is. Oh, it's a well-told story, and it has a few of the patented King humorous moments, but it seemed simple-minded to me. This thought has caused in me a desire to re-read maybe It or The Stand, just to see if his true voice speaks to me now; because I forgot that Dragon was a big departure for him in terms of the style of storytelling.

Secondly, I'd like to share a passage from it - because it made me cry. That's right, I admit it freely. It wasn't a blubbering, girly thing, but no denying I was emotionally touched and it manifested as that extremely manly misty-eyed type of reflection on Greater Truths. It's a rare enough occurrence for me to want to talk about it.

It should be noted that unless one remembers the story, and especially the characters, this may not seem like a big deal. I happen to think it's quite universal in its application. The climax has come and gone, and now we're in epilogue-land. Indulge me.

Did they all live happily after?

They did not. No one ever does, in spite of what the stories may say. They had their good days, as you do, and they had their bad days, and you know about those. They had their victories, as you do, and they had their defeats, and you know about those, too. There were times when they felt ashamed of themselves, knowing that they had not done their best, and there were times when they knew they had stood where their God had meant them to stand. All I'm trying to say is that they lived as well as they could, each and every one of them; some lived longer than others, but all lived well, and bravely, and I loved them all, and am not ashamed of my love.

I just think that's a beautiful thought, written beautifully. So despite my very slight disappointment in this book (as compared to my memory of it, anyway), it was still a fun, quick read (about 4 hours, naysayers from the Other Thread), and King still stands in my mind as one of the best pure storytellers ever.

Sorry for the length.
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Was always my favorite under appreciated King book and I do remember that passage. Really just a good, easy book by him that is still better than 99% of the good, easy books out there.
 
dharmapunk said:
Here's a question for you all - When do you read?

As in time of day and/or day of the week (i.e. do you read more on the weekends or during the work week, etc.)
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I read in bed and in the late afternoon before my family comes home. I can't read on the crapper though. Or rather, I can, but never lengthy fiction. It has to be magazine articles or short stories or FBGs. Yes, I often bring my laptop into the bathroom.

:yes:

ETA: Anyone else sleep better if they read in bed before going to sleep? I do.

 
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I'm on a re-read of King's Dark Tower. I originally read them piecemeal as they were released, so probably over a period of 15 years or so. I'm up to volume V - Wolves Of The Calla. This is where most thought the series started going downhill as it was post-accident and the thinking is that he rushed to finish before another druggie in a van could run over him. Starting with Wolves, I've only read each of the last 3 once.

So far, I'm enjoying the re-read but the heavy-handed "19" and coincidence stuff can be a little much sometimes. I know the meta poart of the story takes up most of volume VI (which is the runaway winner in the "worst of the series" catagory). I don't remember hating it when I first read it, but I flew through it then to get to VII.

 
As for when I read, I'm sure I'm a little different than most. I live alone, so don't have the other duties most of you do. I usually read when I get home from work for a couple of hours - music, a beer or maybe some Crown over ice, and my Kindle. Weekends are catch-as-catch-can depending on what's happening, but I usually can get 4 or 5 hours in over the 2 days.

 
dharmapunk said:
Here's a question for you all - When do you read?

As in time of day and/or day of the week (i.e. do you read more on the weekends or during the work week, etc.)
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In the evening after the kids go to bed, I like nothing more than turning on a Tigers game and de-compressing with a book. I'll also read a chapter or two once I get into bed.
 
dharmapunk said:
Here's a question for you all - When do you read?

As in time of day and/or day of the week (i.e. do you read more on the weekends or during the work week, etc.)
Click to expand...
On the train to and from work (about an hour and a half total per day). In bed at night. And sometimes on the weekends.
 
does goodreads have a recommendation function if you put in all the books you've read and rate them like Netflix does? Just signed up a few days ago and can't seem to find anything.

 
dharmapunk said:
Here's a question for you all - When do you read?

As in time of day and/or day of the week (i.e. do you read more on the weekends or during the work week, etc.)
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In bed, pretty much every night. Like you, I think I do sleep better if I read before bed but that might be because I have made it such a habit that if I don't read I feel off center.If I had to choose one for the rest of my life between reading in bed every night or sexy time...well my choice would make Henry Bemis proud.

 
MacArtist said:
Just finished "Dark Matter" by Peter Straub. I've always been a fan of his books, but this one fell way short of my expectations. While some parts of it were good, I felt like story line could have been much tighter.
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I agree with your assessment. Read it a while ago, and while I liked it overall, it wasn't up to his usual. I just found Straub's The Throat yesterday in a used bookstore. That's one I've never read. Excited to get to it once I've finished Sacred Games by Vikram Chandra (still a way to go in that one).
 
D_House said:
The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro (liked this one more than Never Let Me Go)
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This is what I am TRYING to read now. Maybe it's the deliberate pace, but I am having a hell of a time getting into this book. I think I am about 100pgs in right now.
 
After reading maybe a book and a half, 2 max last year, I'm gonna try to see if I can pull off a book a month this year. I'm usually a pretty slow reader and don't make a ton of time for reading, but it can be enjoyable. I've already got one book under my belt already (The Unnamed by Joshua Ferris - quite liked it) and I'll be doing a good deal of traveling over the next month, so should be able to get through another book or two.

I was wondering if anyone could give me some recos on good books?

I'm a big fan of history and learning about pretty much anything from the past (Judgement in Paris about the 1976 California vs. France wine tasting, pretty much anything sports or music related, world war 2, etc).

Other favs that I've read in the past 5+ years are 2666 by Roberto Bolano, a lot of Christopher Moore books, most things by Chuck Klosterman, Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy and so on.

 
About 66% done (according to my Kindle) with Matterhorn. I'm really digging this book a lot, it's making the same impression on me as The Things They Carried and The Killer Angels did. It's a truly gripping story of the way war works. From the decisions that are made by the upper echelon at the rear that seem so inconsequential, to the larger impact they have on a group of teenagers fighting for their lives. Highly recommend this to anyone, whether your into military history or not.

 
Maelstrom said:
shuke said:
Just started King's Under the Dome. It seems to have gotten a lot of praise, and I love his storytelling, but his writing style has really deteroriated. I know he was never considered a master of prose, but this just seems really bad.
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KarmaPolice said:
I got Under the Dome for Christmas. Is it worth trudging though 1000pgs, or should I return it for something else? Used to read a bit of King back in the day (maybe 15+ years ago), but haven't read anything since then.
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I was extremely underwhelmed by Under the Dome. I understand why some loved it, the beginning -> middle definitely drew me in and made me want to read more, but as it went on I really hated the way it finished out. I won't say how, but you'll know when you read it. Basically liked 2/3s to 4/5s of the book, but the way it ended left a bad taste in my mouth and made me feel like King just looked at how many pages he had, and instead of writing a good ending and cutting some out of the middle he just found a way to end it quickly.
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I just started reading Under the Dome as well.As for the bolded, I haven't read a ton of SK novels but I'm having a hard time thinking of one that didn't fit that sentiment.

 
Wrapping up the Big Short after reading Demille's disappointing sequel to Gold Coast ("Gate House"). Anyone else think that was a let down?

Probably Matterhorn next. I'm glad to see people here like it.

 
Finished reading the The Greatest Trade Ever by Gregory Zuckerman. It was a good quick, easy read but it was a investment/financial debacle article that interested me. It's the story of a hedge fund manager who foresaw the housing crisis and made $15 billion for his firm as well as over a billion for himself.

 
Paper Lions said:
Wrapping up the Big Short after reading Demille's disappointing sequel to Gold Coast ("Gate House"). Anyone else think that was a let down?
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Gate House definitely didn't measure up to Gold Coast, especially reading them back to back. Enjoyed How I Killed Pluto And Why It Had It Coming. A little slow every now and then, but a good popular science read by the astronomer who discovered some Pluto-like objects at the far reaches of the solar system and eventually ended Pluto as a planet.

Still dragging my feet on starting the Wheel of Time series...

 
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Tough As Nails said:
Just finished City of Thieves by David Benioff. Definitely recommended. It's about a boy and a soldier that are forced to become friends in WWII Russia. If you know even a little bit about the horrific nature of the fighting/surviving that went on...you'll be really interested in the details. If you don't know anything going in, it's a great way to get an overview of what kinds of things were really going on in the Eastern front of that war. Very well written. It's about 250 pages, but you'll swear it's only about 100 because it flies by so fast and reads so easily. The last 5 pages left a little to be desired...but it's a minor complaint.
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:goodposting: Awesome book. Just finished it myself.
 
mad sweeney said:
Just finished The Passage. Glad I didn't spend $30 on a hardback at the airport, mainly because it wasn't there. Got a nook for Xmas and that was the first book I downloaded. Read some of the reviews, which weren't as glowing as the ones I remembered from this thread. I agree with them. Solid start, but falls off sharply the more you read.

Loose ends I am fine with for a planned trilogy, but what I am not fine with is the incessant time flip flops. The cliffhangers within a chapter when he goes back and says (sometimes literally) "what happened was this...". Or "Peter later remembered how..." Too many flashbacks, too many flashbacks within flashbacks, too many foreshadowings in the flashbacks, too many flashbacks in the flashbacks, too many flashforwards with flashbacks. Hell, I think there's a few flashsidewayses. Gets very frustrating when a writer overuses a device, especially as clumsily as he did. Also annoying were the multiple wrong uses of colons as well as somehow this book getting past several editors with the word "wretched" used instead of "retched" about a dozen times. Too many clumsy coincidences and overly simple answers and opportune events etc... Really, just poorly executed, though the storyline holds great promise. The build up to the "present' and the post viral world are fairly well thought out, but the plot not so much. Not sure if I'm interested in the next one but I probably will read it unless reviews are absolutely terrible.

But seriously...
*** SPOILER ALERT! Click this link to display the potential spoiler text in this box. ***");document.close();
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I finished this book last week.I agree for the most part. The idea behind this story was interesting to me because I like post-apocalyptic type plots, but I was pretty disappointed overall with this book. I think it could have been shortened a few hundred pages and not missed a beat. I think this is one of those rare situations where a movie could be better than the novel. If they did it right.

I'm about 150 pages into A Game of Thrones and absolutely loving this one. George R. R. Martin has an incredible talent for description and character development. I'm pretty sure I'll be reading the whole series.

 
brianj74 said:
Just finished, " Hellhound on His Trail " by Hampton Sides. Detailing the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr., and the manhunt to capture James Earl Ray.
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recommended. Sides is an excellent writer of non-fiction stories.next up:

1. Radical: Taking Back Your Faith From The American Dream

2. the third in the Odd Thomas series from Dean Koontz

 
Guster said:
I was wondering if anyone could give me some recos on good books?

I'm a big fan of history and learning about pretty much anything from the past (Judgement in Paris about the 1976 California vs. France wine tasting, pretty much anything sports or music related, world war 2, etc).
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I picked up The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair that Changed America after reading recommendations here and loved it. That book alone has kept me coming back to this thread for my next reads. The architectural advances of the time coupled with a sick serial killer I'd never heard of made for very interesting reading. The book goes back and forth between the two topics and no matter which part I was reading, I was always happy to get back to the other side of the book. (In a good way)
 
the moops said:
Tough As Nails said:
Just finished City of Thieves by David Benioff. Definitely recommended. It's about a boy and a soldier that are forced to become friends in WWII Russia. If you know even a little bit about the horrific nature of the fighting/surviving that went on...you'll be really interested in the details. If you don't know anything going in, it's a great way to get an overview of what kinds of things were really going on in the Eastern front of that war. Very well written. It's about 250 pages, but you'll swear it's only about 100 because it flies by so fast and reads so easily. The last 5 pages left a little to be desired...but it's a minor complaint.
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:lmao: Awesome book. Just finished it myself.
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:lmao: I finished the book in no time and I really enjoyed it.
 
jason12vb said:
Guster said:
I was wondering if anyone could give me some recos on good books?

I'm a big fan of history and learning about pretty much anything from the past (Judgement in Paris about the 1976 California vs. France wine tasting, pretty much anything sports or music related, world war 2, etc).
Click to expand...
I picked up The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair that Changed America after reading recommendations here and loved it. That book alone has kept me coming back to this thread for my next reads. The architectural advances of the time coupled with a sick serial killer I'd never heard of made for very interesting reading. The book goes back and forth between the two topics and no matter which part I was reading, I was always happy to get back to the other side of the book. (In a good way)
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:yucky: Loved this book.

 
jason12vb said:
Guster said:
I was wondering if anyone could give me some recos on good books?

I'm a big fan of history and learning about pretty much anything from the past (Judgement in Paris about the 1976 California vs. France wine tasting, pretty much anything sports or music related, world war 2, etc).
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I picked up The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair that Changed America after reading recommendations here and loved it. That book alone has kept me coming back to this thread for my next reads. The architectural advances of the time coupled with a sick serial killer I'd never heard of made for very interesting reading. The book goes back and forth between the two topics and no matter which part I was reading, I was always happy to get back to the other side of the book. (In a good way)
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Thanks!!
 
badmojo1006 said:
Almost finished with Matt Taibbi's "Griftopia"

Holy Crap, if just half of this book is true, we are screwed
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I've lost sleep after reading some of his RS articles. And I say the same thing to people who tend to dismiss him strictly because he writes for RS and therefore must be the looniest liberal ever to pick up a pen.
 
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Finished the first WOT book, Eye of the World. I read the first 2 or 3 fifteen years ago or more and remember next to nothing of the series. I figured with the last one only a year or two away, I might as well start at the beginning and chew through the dozen+ 1000 page behemoths in advance of its release.

EotW was good, but not great. But as a table-setter of a huge series, I'll reserve judgment until I get another book or two into it.

 
guderian said:
Finished reading the The Greatest Trade Ever by Gregory Zuckerman. It was a good quick, easy read but it was a investment/financial debacle article that interested me. It's the story of a hedge fund manager who foresaw the housing crisis and made $15 billion for his firm as well as over a billion for himself.
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Which fund?
 
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