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Whatcha readin now? (book, books, reading, read) (5 Viewers)

Shaft41 said:
I finally decided to start Child's Jack Reacher series this summer, since I didn't have anything else I was waiting to read.  I've plowed through the first 6 books in about the last 6 weeks.  Really enjoying them. I just love Child's eye for detail.  
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I am doing the same thing. I have been reading them in order of Reacher's life which is different then the published order. They are easy fun reads. They are also ridiculous but I can't stop reading them. I love the violence in them.

 
Don Quixote said:
Must reads for funny books?  I'd nominate Lucky Jim by Kingsley Amis, Voltaire's Candide, and some Evelyn Waugh.  A lot of people like Catch-22, but I was not really a fan.  Considering you did not like Don Quixote, comic sensibilities may be different though.
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finished Lucky Jim. enjoyed it. 

 
tonydead said:
Brave New World

Just never read it before, I know it's a horrible excuse. 
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It happens- everyone has blind spots, even the most accomplished reader. I thouht it was good but not great. Maybe some it's ideas have had their impact reduced due to how influentual they have been on much of the sci-fi/dystopian future media that has come since. 

 
Has anyone dived into the Sam Sisavath  "After the Purge" series? I read and enjoyed all the Babylon books but have holding back on these.

A few recommendations I'll pass along 

The Pittsburgh Cocaine Seven.   The story of the Pirates in the late 70's and how their mascot got hung out to dry on drug charges stemming from the sale of cocaine to team players 

Beauty Possed by Ben Lokey 

BEAUTY POSSESSED is a historical fiction romance novel, based on the actual events of model/showgirl Evelyn Nesbit’s life, leading up to what was coined the “Murder of the Century” by the press, a crime reported “to the ends of the civilized globe.” 

The Last Paradise by Antonio Garrid

Jack Beilis once lived the American dream: custom suits, new cars, and the best clubs. But by 1931, he has sunk so low he cannot feed himself or his ailing father. Now he barely has time to wipe the blood from his hands before he finds himself on a ship from New York to Moscow, running from a crime he never intended.

 
Fiction:  Finished The March last night.   It's E.L. Doctorow's epic about Sherman's march to the sea.  It's reminiscent of Ragtime in its huge cast of characters, some of whom arc in for a couple of pages, make an impression and then disappear (or die) for the rest of the novel.  Real-life characters are kept to a minimum compared to Ragtime.  Highly recommended if you like the author or historical fiction.  Caveat for some: there's a fair bit of dialect.

Non-Fiction:   AI Superpowers:  China, Silicon Valley, and the New World Order by Kai Fu Lee.  The author was President of Google China prior to getting involved in the Chinese VC racket.  At its best, the book is a fascinating survey of new China companies you may have heard of but definitely don't know.  Lee crafts a compelling argument that China's massive amount of vertically-organized data (among other factors) positions it to thrive in the AI economy.  On the downside, he overuses words like frictionless and bespoke and he utterly fails in the closing chapters to translate his personal epiphany after beating cancer into a non-dystopian vision of a future with ubiquitous AI.

 
Finished Hugh Howey's Half Way Home.  I've loved everything I've ready by Howey until this.  I mean it was ok, but kind of boring.

Now on Robert McCammon's Gone South.

 
shuke said:
Finished Hugh Howey's Half Way Home.  I've loved everything I've ready by Howey until this.  I mean it was ok, but kind of boring.
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I thought it was pretty good.  Not as good as Sand or Beacon 23, but still quite good.  Not sure what happened to Howey - he's gone dark.  A shame, he writes great stuff.

Also, for those interested, Jim Butcher's Storm Front is on sale for a buck.  Good start to a highly entertaining series.

 
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It's been a while since I've posted to this thread.

I read Dylan Goes Electric!: Newport, Seeger, Dylan, and the Night That Split the Sixties about the 1965 Newport Folk Festival.

The English Major, a road novel by the late, great Jim Harrison.  It's not his best work but it gives him a chance to ruminate about the country and growing old.

The Browns of California by Miriam Pawel:  a biography of the family of Pat and Jerry Brown that extended back to the gold rush days.  It was an interesting if non-critical account of how the family helped to shape modern California.

I'm now 45% through Anna Karenina.  I've never read any Tolstoy and I figured why not now?  It's surprisingly readable but ooh man it's long.  I really didn't need the chapters where Konstantin Levin explains his theories of farming but I guess it's part of the experience.

 
Sand said:
.

Also, for those interested, Jim Butcher's Storm Front is on sale for a buck.  Good start to a highly entertaining series.
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Thanks for this. I’m cheap when it comes to books, but the waitlist for this is always 2 month in the library. I’ve had it marked on goodreads for 2 years, and now the price is right.

 
Just finished “The Institute “ by Stephen King.  Conspiracy, supernatural, and believable enough that he didn’t have to reach for an ending and negate the good work he did through the first 3/4s of the book.

Also recently read-

Salems Lot. Haven’t read it since I was a teen, still great.

Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo. More of a YA type novel, good world building. She has a new adult oriented novel that just came out, figured I’d see what her hype was about. I enjoyed it enough will definitely read the new novel.

the Firm by John Grisham- Great book, never much of a movie person, immediately added a bunch more of his books to my “want to read” list.

 
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MindCrime said:
Thanks for this. I’m cheap when it comes to books, but the waitlist for this is always 2 month in the library. I’ve had it marked on goodreads for 2 years, and now the price is right.
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Funny, I'm the opposite.  My dad was pretty tight with money, but at the bookstore he let me buy whatever I wanted.  it worked.  Now it's my only impulse buy indulgence.  I've spent about $60 on myself this year and 40 of that is books.  

 
Sand said:
Funny, I'm the opposite.  My dad was pretty tight with money, but at the bookstore he let me buy whatever I wanted.  it worked.  Now it's my only impulse buy indulgence.  I've spent about $60 on myself this year and 40 of that is books.  
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Haha, I’m that way with my kids. I always told them that I’d buy it if they were going to read it. I finally had to buy my oldest son a kindle and use the digital library service because i was spending so much on books for him. 

 
Finished Gone South by Robert McCammon.  Not nearly as good as some other books I've read of his.  

Next up: Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson    

 
Blake Crouch- just finished book 3 in the Luther series and will wrap it up with book 4. This is some great psycho serial killer stuff, very inventive.

"Greetings. There is a body buried on your property, covered in your blood. The unfortunate young lady's name is Rita Jones. In her jeans pocket, you'll find a slip of paper with a phone number on it. You have one day to call that number. If I have not heard from you by 8 P.M. tomorrow, the police department will receive an anonymous phone call. I'll tell them where Rita Jones is buried, how you killed her, and where the murder weapon can be found. (I do believe a paring knife is missing from your kitchen.)"

 
Just got the new Reacher today. Page 15:

The guy said, "My mom always told me not to play in the gutter."

"Mine too." Reacher said. "But right now we ain't playing."

 
shuke said:
Finished Hugh Howey's Half Way Home.  I've loved everything I've ready by Howey until this.  I mean it was ok, but kind of boring.

Now on Robert McCammon's Gone South.
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Besides from being very Young Adult-ish I really like "Half way Home"

Sand said:
I thought it was pretty good.  Not as good as Sand or Beacon 23, but still quite good.  Not sure what happened to Howey - he's gone dark.  A shame, he writes great stuff.

Also, for those interested, Jim Butcher's Storm Front is on sale for a buck.  Good start to a highly entertaining series.
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Howey has been sailing around the world and documenting his travel in the "Wayfinder" series.  I have no interest in that so I can;t comment if it's good or not,

I followed him on twitter for a while, where he talked of a "Silo" tv mini-series, and he said he was working on a "Sand" follow up, but that was years ago. Now he mostly just posts sailing and political junk. 

 
I just finished The Institute by S King and loved it. 

I am moving on to Blaze which is a book written under King's pseudonym Richard Bachman. I am not sure how this book got by me as I try to read anything King has written pretty quickly. I am kind of excited that I missed this one so I am reading two King books back to back that are both new to me.

 
Just started the new Grisham, The Guardians. I have not been that enamored by the last few JG's but this one is starting off great.

 
I've been on a tear lately and don't recall all I've read in the last couple of months, but....

King's The Institute. Like @prosopis said above, I really liked it. I almost wish he had left out the last chapter, though.

Winston Groom's El Paso. Groom wrote Forrest Gump, which I've never read. This was pretty good, though it seemed like a bit of a McMurtry knockoff.

Two short story collections: Joe Landsdale's Driving To Geronimo's Grave (great, except for the Lovecraft homage) and Joe Hill's Full Throttle (excellent).

Lovecraft Country. I forget the author's name, but this was a TON of fun. Recommend it fully.

Right now, I'm on The Invited by Jennifer McMahon, which appears to be a traditional ghost story. It's fairly benign, but she writes well and her characters are fully-formed. I'm enjoying it (not sure how I even got to it) and may look up more by her.

 
Some good deals on ebooks right now.  Sanderson's Stormlight Archive on sale for $3 apiece.  The Expanse books on sale for $4 apiece.  

Both sets are awesome.  Just finished Oathbringer and holy hell the last 100 pages of that book was as compelling as anything I've ever read.

 
Reading One year after it is the sequel to 1 second after.  Both books are pretty good its about what happens to our country after an electromagnetic pulse attack.

 
Read Underground Railroad.   VERY good, but it was a tough read.  I am glad I read it, but it was upsetting at times.  

Now I am on Little Children.   I know I read it a long time ago.  I really like how Perrotta writes the characters and situations.  I think this time around I am connecting a little too well with some of the characters and their thoughts.  I don't think I had kids when this came out and I read it the first time.

 
MindCrime said:
The Institute. The Outsider falters a bit towards the end, The Institute finishes strong.
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I’ve read through the first two chapters (like the big chapters, not the 3-4 page sub-chapters).  The only newer King book I’ve read was 11.22.63 and this one has a very different format to all of his books I’ve read. The really short sub-chapters for one and the constant reminders we’re in the present. Off the top of my head, I know he’s mentioned Trump, Wikipedia, and the X Files. It’s a little weird because most of his stories carry an aspect of timelessness.

First impression is solid though, very quick read. 

 
Sand said:
Wool series,  Sand - Hugh Howey

Snowcrash, Diamond Age - Stephenson (arguable, maybe more post - modern)

Forge of God - Greg Bear

For sure try Wool.  Absolutely superb.
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I second Wool.

Snowcrash is probably in my top 100 books, but Cryptonomicon is in my top 10.

Just finished the First Law series by Joe Abercrombie. If you liked Game of Thrones then you will like the First Law series.

 
TheFatKid said:
Just finished the First Law series by Joe Abercrombie. If you liked Game of Thrones then you will like the First Law series.
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Read that a while ago. Can't say enough good things about those.   In fact, my list of favorite literary characters:

Augustus McRae

Logen Ninefingers

Bob (yes, I know this is cheating)

 
MindCrime said:
The Institute. The Outsider falters a bit towards the end, The Institute finishes strong.
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Finished this up. I enjoyed it, it was a fun read. It has some issues but what doesn’t?  I find King’s attempt at writing “young, hip, cool kids” to be very awkward.  Solid B. 

 
Love reading Nelson DeMille novels. His protagonist always has a witty, snarky sense of humor that I enjoy.

Saw that Nelson was in Coral Gables a few weeks back for a book signing so I was able to by his new one, The Deserter, that he co-wrote with his son, get it signed and get a photo. 

That was cool.

It was a good read.

 
rustycolts said:
Reading One year after it is the sequel to 1 second after.  Both books are pretty good its about what happens to our country after an electromagnetic pulse attack.
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These books turned my folks into 'preppers'.  They now have stored water, a fire pit they can cook on with wood and stores of food/gas/medicine.  Not like extreme, just minor I guess.  I like to tease them about it.  

 
Been a while since I've updated my reading.

I've read the first 9 Mitch Rapp books, a few Scott Horvath books, all the Gray man books,  4 Jonathan Grave books, All the Dewey Andreas books.   I reccomend any/all of them to people that like Lee Child/Jack Reacher.  

Others... 

Virgil Wander - highly recommend this book, a little quirky but excellent.   Reminded me of 'A Man Called Ove', another excellent book.

The Great Alone - definitely not my normal style, but a really good book and a lot of information about living in rural Alaska and domestic abuse.  

I know I'm forgetting some.  Goodreads has me at 42 books for the year, but I know it's missing some le Carre books, as well as several nonfiction books (mainly for work, finance, management, IT, banking).  Pretty sure I read a few Liane Moriarty books as well.  

 
The Fall of Hyperion 

I read Hyperion around a year ago. This is a continuation of the story. Overall, I liked the first book. It’s an interesting story and I found parts of it captivating. I don’t care for the writing style all that much, which I guess is why it took me a while to get to the second book. So far it’s pretty much how I remember my experience with the first book, good not great.

 
Poke_4_Life said:
Virgil Wander - highly recommend this book, a little quirky but excellent.   Reminded me of 'A Man Called Ove', another excellent book.
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Reading it now. I loved his previous books and looks like I'll feel the same about this one.

I recently finished Beacon 23. I think it's by far the best thing Howey has written.

eta: Before Beacon 23, I read Stranded by Bracken MacLeod. This was like a Twilight Zone episode crossed with Cape Fear. Cool premise, got a little sloppy in the last third, good main character. It's a quick read.  3.5/5

 
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Half way through Snow Crash.  Totally uninterested at this point.  May be the first book I ever stop reading.  

 
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It has been awhile since I’ve posted in here.  In a bit of an uninspired rut.

On the nonfiction side, finishing with a limp on my run through Presidential biographies with David Garrow’s Rising Star: The Making of Barack Obama.  I’m about 600 pages into it (he just got elected to the Illinois state senate) and still have about 400 more to go.  It focuses on his life pre-presidency.  I’ve been picking up and putting it down for several months now.  It’s well-written and has a lot of detail, but maybe a bit too much.

Also recently read Robert O’Connell’s Fierce Patriot: The Tangled Lives of William Tecumseh Sherman.  It was a solid biography, but the story felt a bit over the place.  He kind of runs through his military life, and then has a second part that is mostly composed of stray parts that he did not seem to know how to fit into the narrative.

On the fiction side, just finished Helen Oyeyemi’s Gingerbread, which was pretty uninteresting and debated just giving up on it, but finally powered through to the end.  I also read Ocean Vuong’s On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous a couple of months ago, which was better, but not very memorable.

Just bought Ben Lerner’s The Topeka School yesterday.  It has appeared on a lot of end-of-year lists, so I figured I’d give it a whirl.

 
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sports_fan said:
The Fall of Hyperion 

I read Hyperion around a year ago. This is a continuation of the story. Overall, I liked the first book. It’s an interesting story and I found parts of it captivating. I don’t care for the writing style all that much, which I guess is why it took me a while to get to the second book. So far it’s pretty much how I remember my experience with the first book, good not great.
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I liked Hyperion better than the other books, but they tell much more of a coherent story than Hyperion does. 

 
I finally finished Anna Karenina.  It was a trudge, especially part 8 which is all Konstantin Levin after the conclusion of the Anna/Vronsky/Karenin story line.  I guess I'm glad I read Tolstoy after starting and putting it down in the 80s but it's somehow more satisfying to read 3-4 shorter books than one massive tome.

I moved on to An Army of Phantoms: American Movies and the Making of the Cold War by former Village Voice film critic J. Hoberman.  It's interesting how he weaves together the Cold War, the blacklist and Hollywood movies both famous and obscure.  The problem with reading books about the movies is it sends me off to looking for more information about the films described in the book.

 
The son got me The Outsider for Christmas, so I started reading that.   I really need to get to The Handmaid's sequel too.  It's been sitting on the shelf for a bit now as I wanted to re-read the original to separate out the show before going onto book 2.  

 
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