Whatcha readin now? (book, books, reading, read) (2 Viewers)

[Eephus]

RIP Robert Coover who died today at the age 92. Coover was one of the last surviving American post-modernists from a generation that included Pynchon, Vonnegut and Barth.

I enjoyed a couple of Coover's novels when I was young and not as left-brain dominant. The Public Burning is a crazy bit of 70s metafiction about the execution of the Rosenbergs narrated by a bizarre and oddly sympathetic version of Richard Nixon.

 

[Eephus]

@kupcho1 I was curious if any of the big post-modern novels of the 70s won a Pulitzer but it looks like the jury was very conservative in their selections. They didn't give out an award at all the year Gravity's Rainbow was published.

The National Book Award winners of that decade are more interesting and probably more reflective of the cultural zeitgeist than the Pulitzers.

 

[bonsai]

the jury was very conservative in their selections.

It always seemed the people on the juries just picked their friends.

 

[kupcho1]

@kupcho1 I was curious if any of the big post-modern novels of the 70s won a Pulitzer but it looks like the jury was very conservative in their selections. They didn't give out an award at all the year Gravity's Rainbow was published.

Gravity's Rainbow was recommended for the Pulitzer Prize for fiction by the jury,

All three members of the Pulitzer Prize jury on fiction expressed distress and bewilderment yesterday that their unanimous recommendation for a prize for Thomas Pynchon's “Gravity's Rainbow” had been turned down and that no fiction award was given this year.

The three jurors were Benjamin DeMott, professor of English at Amherst College, chairman; Elizabeth Hardwick and Alfred Kazin, all distinguished authors and critics in their own right.

All three said separately yesterday that they were particularly unhappy at having received no explanation for the rejection of their recommendation. Appraised of the jurors’ views, neither Joseph Pulitzer Jr., chairman of the advisory board on the Pulitzer Prizes, nor Prof. John Hohenberg, board secretary, would offer any comment.

So for my exercise, Gravity's Rainbow is a winner and I'm counting it in my totals.
I haven't gotten there yet, but would you consider Mailer's The Executioner's Song post-modern? (Full disclosure: I've never read a word of Mailer's yet.) Otherwise, I think you're spot on.

 

[shuke]

Finished Dune. Not sure how I feel about it. I really liked the world-building and found a number of things interesting, but it seemed like that last quarter of the book was rushed. I'm not even sure how many years had passed. And while I like trying to figure out what things mean by context*, I think maybe I'm too dumb to fully understand everything the spice was used for and why it was so important.

*Reading on the Kindle and didn't realize until the end that there was a glossary and appendices at the back. Probably wouldn't have used it, too much interruption of flow while reading on the Kindle to jump around.

 

[Eephus]

I haven't gotten there yet, but would you consider Mailer's The Executioner's Song post-modern? (Full disclosure: I've never read a word of Mailer's yet.) Otherwise, I think you're spot on.

Executioner's Song is more like journalism than fiction. For it, Mailer toned down the more exaggerated aspects of his prose. It's very direct which is unlike some of the deliberate obscurity/obliqueness that's usually associated with post-modern fiction. The author still appears as a character in the book which is one of the hallmarks of metafiction.

It's been a long time since I read The Executioner's Song but I thought the first half focusing on Gilmore and his life and crimes was excellent. The second half about the media circus surrounding his execution (and co-starring Mailer the character) was more disjointed but possibly more visionary about where the country was headed.

 

[TheBaylorKid]

Finished Dune. Not sure how I feel about it. I really liked the world-building and found a number of things interesting, but it seemed like that last quarter of the book was rushed. I'm not even sure how many years had passed. And while I like trying to figure out what things mean by context*, I think maybe I'm too dumb to fully understand everything the spice was used for and why it was so important.

*Reading on the Kindle and didn't realize until the end that there was a glossary and appendices at the back. Probably wouldn't have used it, too much interruption of flow while reading on the Kindle to jump around.

I’m on Children of Dune currently. I don’t love it or hate it, I just keep reading it.

 

[bonsai]

Finished Dune. Not sure how I feel about it. I really liked the world-building and found a number of things interesting, but it seemed like that last quarter of the book was rushed. I'm not even sure how many years had passed. And while I like trying to figure out what things mean by context*, I think maybe I'm too dumb to fully understand everything the spice was used for and why it was so important.

*Reading on the Kindle and didn't realize until the end that there was a glossary and appendices at the back. Probably wouldn't have used it, too much interruption of flow while reading on the Kindle to jump around.

Dune is much better on subsequent reads. You can focus less on what's happening and more on why things happened.

 

[kupcho1]

I just now finished The Caine Mutiny by Herman Wouk. What an amazing book. I knew a little bit about it having seen the Humphrey Bogart movie eons ago, but had no idea it was also a love story. The detail and characters (in addition to Queeg, the supporting cast of Keith, the Keefers, Maryk, etc.) were extremely well written. The trial, and the defense attorney, was one of the best trial scenarios I've ever read.

Big thumbs up and recommendation on this one.

Next up: one I've already read, but will re-read given its appearance in Gimme 1 book that you read in its entirety, but absolutely hated, The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway. Despite winning the 1953 Pulitzer, some people really seem to hate it. I read it years and years ago, and it is a short book, so a brief pause in my Pulitzer quest to check it out again.

54 read, 45 to go

Year	Title	Author
1918	His Family	Ernest Poole
1919	The Magnificent Ambersons	Booth Tarkington
1920	no award
1921	The Age of Innocence	Edith Wharton
1922	Alice Adams	Booth Tarkington
1923	One of Ours	Willa Cather
1924	The Able McLaughlins	Margaret Wilson
1925	So Big	Edna Ferber
1926	Arrowsmith	Sinclair Lewis (declined)
1927	Early Autumn: A Story of a Lady	Louis Bromfield
1928	The Bridge of San Luis Rey	Thornton Wilder
1929	Scarlet Sister Mary	Julia Peterkin
1930	Laughing Boy	Oliver La Farge
1931	Years of Grace	Margaret Ayer Barnes
1932	The Good Earth	Pearl S. Buck
1933	The Store	T.S. Stribling
1934	Lamb in His Bosom	Caroline Miller
1935	Now in November	Josephine Winslow Johnson
1936	Honey in the Horn	H.L. Davis
1937	Gone with the Wind	Margaret Mitchell
1938	The Late George Apley: A Novel in the Form of a Memoir	J.P. Marquand
1939	The Yearling	Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings
1940	The Grapes of Wrath	John Steinbeck
1941	no award
1942	In This Our Life	Ellen Glasgow
1943	Dragon's Teeth	Upton Sinclair
1944	Journey in the Dark	Martin Flavin
1945	A Bell for Adano	John Hersey
1946	no award
1947	All the King's Men	Robert Penn Warren
1948	Tales of the South Pacific	James A. Michener
1949	Guard of Honor	James Gould Cozzens
1950	The Way West	A.B. Guthrie, Jr.
1951	The Town	Conrad Richter
1952	The Caine Mutiny: A Novel of World War II	Herman Wouk
1953	The Old Man and the Sea	Ernest Hemingway

 

[Eephus]

Herman Wouk is the sort of solid craftsman that the Pulitzers have favored over the years. Like Michener, he went on to write a bunch of lucrative tomes of historical fiction in his later years.

I read Winds of War and War and Remembrance as a youngster and liked them enough to make it though all 2000+ pages of them. A few years ago, I really enjoyed Youngblood Hawke, Wouk's attempt at the great American novel from 1962.

I seem to recall timschochet being a big fan of Wouk but perhaps that was Michener.

 

[beer 30]

Finished Dune. Not sure how I feel about it. I really liked the world-building and found a number of things interesting, but it seemed like that last quarter of the book was rushed. I'm not even sure how many years had passed. And while I like trying to figure out what things mean by context*, I think maybe I'm too dumb to fully understand everything the spice was used for and why it was so important.

*Reading on the Kindle and didn't realize until the end that there was a glossary and appendices at the back. Probably wouldn't have used it, too much interruption of flow while reading on the Kindle to jump around.

Dune is much better on subsequent reads. You can focus less on what's happening and more on why things happened.

So true. The first time I read the series it took a minute, as @shuke said, trying to understand the length/breadth/depth of the Dune universe is incredibly difficult. Subsequent books in the series help solidify things but there are still things I don't understand with some of the time jumps they do in the series. All-in-all if you get through the first 3 books I'd say read the series. If they don't do anything for you then bail.

 

[bonsai]

All-in-all if you get through the first 3 books I'd say read the series.

He's good to stop after God Emperor of Dune, which is, arguably, the best book in the series.

 

[Hastur]

As a man thinketh by James Allen.

I've heard so much about this book thru the years, but I finally grabbed a copy. Great read. Strong lessons contained in it. If you haven't read it, I recommend you do. It's a pretty short read.

 

[kupcho1]

Next up: one I've already read, but will re-read given its appearance in Gimme 1 book that you read in its entirety, but absolutely hated, The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway. Despite winning the 1953 Pulitzer, some people really seem to hate it. I read it years and years ago, and it is a short book, so a brief pause in my Pulitzer quest to check it out again.

54 read, 45 to go

Well I remembered that it was a short book, but had forgotten exactly how short it was. Finished The Old Man and the Sea (the 1953 winner) in a little under an hour. It is a good book. Hemingway has a very simple, straightforward style. I don't get the hate for it.

Still 45 to go. There was no award given in 1954. So next up is the 1955 winner A Fable by William Faulkner.

 

[Eephus]

So next up is the 1955 winner A Fable by William Faulkner.

Faulkner won the Nobel before he got a Pulitzer

 

[kupcho1]

At long last I've finally managed to finish A Fable, the 1955 Pulitzer winner by William Faulkner. I went back through the list of the Pulitzers I've read and this is, by far, the worst of the lot.
A Fable can best be described as"Faulkner's failed political novel" (Richard H. King, The Southern Literary Journal)

Anyway,

Synopsis. The book takes place in France during World War I and stretches through the course of one week in 1918. Corporal Stefan, who represents the reincarnation of Jesus, orders 3,000 troops to disobey orders to attack in the brutally repetitive trench warfare.

On to Andersonville (1956 winner) by MacKinlay Kantor. Hopefully this one won't take me a month to finish.

55 read/44 to go

 

[kupcho1]

I just finished Andersonville. Wow, what a book. I think kirkusreviews sums it up best:

Man's inhumanity to Man -- and the redeeming flashes of mercy -- this is the theme at the heart of this grim record in fictional form of one of the blots on the nation's history.

Yes, it is fiction, but it is based on research done by Kantor over the preceding decades.

It is carved out of primary sources:- reports filed only to be buried and the infamy condoned, the sadist who boasted of his achievement confirmed in his horrifying perfomance; letters, diaries smuggled out, stories written afterwards, contemporary eye witness accounts, notes left and saved by descendants of prisoners and Jailers; interviews with those descendants; historical accounts year after year.

There are very few heroes in the book (one of which emerges at the end of the book, that I was completely surprised by), but plenty of villains ranging from Henry Wirz, the prison commandant to William Collins, a Union soldier and Andersonville "raider." But the biggest villain was General John Winder, the Confederate general in charge of prisoners-of-war. It was a visit to Buchenwald when it was opened to war correspondents (in this case the author) to bring home the horrors of Andersonville and spurred Kantor to write the book.

In reading the book, and given that it was written not all that long after WWII, I couldn't help but compare the Conferate's treatment of prisoners with the Nazis treatment of the Jews. Granted, Winder & co. didn't gas anyone, but neither did they provide them with food, shelter or medical intention. Winder considered the Yankees subhuman, and wanted to use the prison to exterminate as many as he possibly could.

Andersonville, the prisoner stockade in Georgia, twenty acres hewn out of a pine woods, counted for more dead in fourteen months of the Civil War than Bull Run, Antietam and Gettysburg combined.

From wiki:

Of the approximately 45,000 Union prisoners held at Camp Sumter during the war, nearly 13,000 (28%) died. The chief causes of death were scurvy, diarrhea, and dysentery.

If you haven't read it already, I highly recommend this book.

56 down/43 to go
Next up: A Death in the Family by James Agee, the 1958 winner (no prize awarded in 1957)

 

[kupcho1]

**** THIS JUST IN! ****

Apparently Neal Stephenson has a new book out, Polostan (Volume 1 of Bomb Light), and nobody told me about it.
Immediate hold placed and I'll be reading this one as soon as I get my hands on it. So the Pulitzer series will be on hold.

Carry on

 

[TheBaylorKid]

**** THIS JUST IN! ****

Apparently Neal Stephenson has a new book out, Polostan (Volume 1 of Bomb Light), and nobody told me about it.
Immediate hold placed and I'll be reading this one as soon as I get my hands on it. So the Pulitzer series will be on hold.

Carry on

Thank you! I was not aware either.

Oh man it is at my library and available. I’m getting it today.

 

[El Floppo]

3rd place I'm writing this because I'm so excited...and terrified.

Netflix is dropping a 16 part miniseries of 100 years of Solitude, my all time favorite book.

Marquez had nixed the idea of tv or film, but his sons conditionally approved a long form mini series provided it was filmed in Colombia in Spanish.

Starts Dec 11, but read the damned book first if you haven't. I really really really hope they don't **** this up.

 

[dickey moe]

Anyone interested in a thread where we could discuss consensus "great novels" that we would consider overrated? I'm in the midst of one right now:

Blood Meridian

 

[Uruk-Hai]

Anyone interested in a thread where we could discuss consensus "great novels" that we would consider overrated? I'm in the midst of one right now:

Blood Meridian

I don't necessarily think they're overrated (too many people I respect love them) but Moby D1ck, and any novel by Orwell or Joyce are just slogs to me.

 

[beer 30]

Almost done with The Hot Zone by Richard Preston. Depicts the suspected Ebola outbreak in the late 80's in Reston, VA. Keeps you hooked, little wordy in some parts but a fairly quick read.

A highly infectious, deadly virus from the central African rain forest suddenly appears in the suburbs of Washington, D.C. There is no cure. In a few days 90 percent of its victims are dead. A secret military SWAT team of soldiers and scientists is mobilized to stop the outbreak of this exotic "hot" virus. The Hot Zone tells this dramatic story, giving a hair-raising account of the appearance of rare and lethal viruses and their "crashes" into the human race. Shocking, frightening, and impossible to ignore, The Hot Zone proves that truth really is scarier than fiction.

 

[Uruk-Hai]

Almost done with The Hot Zone by Richard Preston. Depicts the suspected Ebola outbreak in the late 80's in Reston, VA. Keeps you hooked, little wordy in some parts but a fairly quick read.

A highly infectious, deadly virus from the central African rain forest suddenly appears in the suburbs of Washington, D.C. There is no cure. In a few days 90 percent of its victims are dead. A secret military SWAT team of soldiers and scientists is mobilized to stop the outbreak of this exotic "hot" virus. The Hot Zone tells this dramatic story, giving a hair-raising account of the appearance of rare and lethal viruses and their "crashes" into the human race. Shocking, frightening, and impossible to ignore, The Hot Zone proves that truth really is scarier than fiction.

That book terrified me more than any horror-fiction work.

 

[beer 30]

Almost done with The Hot Zone by Richard Preston. Depicts the suspected Ebola outbreak in the late 80's in Reston, VA. Keeps you hooked, little wordy in some parts but a fairly quick read.

A highly infectious, deadly virus from the central African rain forest suddenly appears in the suburbs of Washington, D.C. There is no cure. In a few days 90 percent of its victims are dead. A secret military SWAT team of soldiers and scientists is mobilized to stop the outbreak of this exotic "hot" virus. The Hot Zone tells this dramatic story, giving a hair-raising account of the appearance of rare and lethal viruses and their "crashes" into the human race. Shocking, frightening, and impossible to ignore, The Hot Zone proves that truth really is scarier than fiction.

That book terrified me more than any horror-fiction work.

Given the recent escape of monkeys from a testing facility in SC, I thought it appropriate I give this one a read. Definitely reinforces my thought that we should have opened up the hunting of said monkeys to the locals rather than let them meander about willy nilly for a few weeks.

 

[SWC]

I just now finished The Caine Mutiny by Herman Wouk. What an amazing book. I knew a little bit about it having seen the Humphrey Bogart movie eons ago, but had no idea it was also a love story. The detail and characters (in addition to Queeg, the supporting cast of Keith, the Keefers, Maryk, etc.) were extremely well written. The trial, and the defense attorney, was one of the best trial scenarios I've ever read.

Big thumbs up and recommendation on this one.

Next up: one I've already read, but will re-read given its appearance in Gimme 1 book that you read in its entirety, but absolutely hated, The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway. Despite winning the 1953 Pulitzer, some people really seem to hate it. I read it years and years ago, and it is a short book, so a brief pause in my Pulitzer quest to check it out again.

54 read, 45 to go

Year	Title	Author
1918	His Family	Ernest Poole
1919	The Magnificent Ambersons	Booth Tarkington
1920	no award
1921	The Age of Innocence	Edith Wharton
1922	Alice Adams	Booth Tarkington
1923	One of Ours	Willa Cather
1924	The Able McLaughlins	Margaret Wilson
1925	So Big	Edna Ferber
1926	Arrowsmith	Sinclair Lewis (declined)
1927	Early Autumn: A Story of a Lady	Louis Bromfield
1928	The Bridge of San Luis Rey	Thornton Wilder
1929	Scarlet Sister Mary	Julia Peterkin
1930	Laughing Boy	Oliver La Farge
1931	Years of Grace	Margaret Ayer Barnes
1932	The Good Earth	Pearl S. Buck
1933	The Store	T.S. Stribling
1934	Lamb in His Bosom	Caroline Miller
1935	Now in November	Josephine Winslow Johnson
1936	Honey in the Horn	H.L. Davis
1937	Gone with the Wind	Margaret Mitchell
1938	The Late George Apley: A Novel in the Form of a Memoir	J.P. Marquand
1939	The Yearling	Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings
1940	The Grapes of Wrath	John Steinbeck
1941	no award
1942	In This Our Life	Ellen Glasgow
1943	Dragon's Teeth	Upton Sinclair
1944	Journey in the Dark	Martin Flavin
1945	A Bell for Adano	John Hersey
1946	no award
1947	All the King's Men	Robert Penn Warren
1948	Tales of the South Pacific	James A. Michener
1949	Guard of Honor	James Gould Cozzens
1950	The Way West	A.B. Guthrie, Jr.
1951	The Town	Conrad Richter
1952	The Caine Mutiny: A Novel of World War II	Herman Wouk
1953	The Old Man and the Sea	Ernest Hemingway

this is so cool that is all that i wanted to say i should maybe think about doing this take that to the bank bromigo

 

[SWC]

i am reading a book about norman mclean called a life of letters and rivers and it is great take that to the bank brohans

 

[kupcho1]

**** THIS JUST IN! ****

Apparently Neal Stephenson has a new book out, Polostan (Volume 1 of Bomb Light), and nobody told me about it.
Immediate hold placed and I'll be reading this one as soon as I get my hands on it. So the Pulitzer series will be on hold.

Carry on

Just finished. If you like Stephenson, you'll like this book. If not, or if you are unfamiliar, it might not be the best entry point.

So ends the break; next up: A Death in the Family by James Agee, the 1958 winner (no prize awarded in 1957)

 

[TheBaylorKid]

**** THIS JUST IN! ****

Apparently Neal Stephenson has a new book out, Polostan (Volume 1 of Bomb Light), and nobody told me about it.
Immediate hold placed and I'll be reading this one as soon as I get my hands on it. So the Pulitzer series will be on hold.

Carry on

Just finished. If you like Stephenson, you'll like this book. If not, or if you are unfamiliar, it might not be the best entry point.

So ends the break; next up: A Death in the Family by James Agee, the 1958 winner (no prize awarded in 1957)

Just finished Polostan. As a Stephenson fan I agree with you. Snow Crash or Cryptonomicon are my suggestions as starting points.

 

[Sand]

**** THIS JUST IN! ****

Apparently Neal Stephenson has a new book out, Polostan (Volume 1 of Bomb Light), and nobody told me about it.
Immediate hold placed and I'll be reading this one as soon as I get my hands on it. So the Pulitzer series will be on hold.

Carry on

Just finished. If you like Stephenson, you'll like this book. If not, or if you are unfamiliar, it might not be the best entry point.

So ends the break; next up: A Death in the Family by James Agee, the 1958 winner (no prize awarded in 1957)

Just finished Polostan. As a Stephenson fan I agree with you. Snow Crash or Cryptonomicon are my suggestions as starting points.

Diamond Age, IMO, is his most approachable book. Snow Crash is close (and awesome). I've taken two shots at Crypto and failed both times. Need to give that one another go - maybe audiobook this time.

 

[TheBaylorKid]

**** THIS JUST IN! ****

Apparently Neal Stephenson has a new book out, Polostan (Volume 1 of Bomb Light), and nobody told me about it.
Immediate hold placed and I'll be reading this one as soon as I get my hands on it. So the Pulitzer series will be on hold.

Carry on

Just finished. If you like Stephenson, you'll like this book. If not, or if you are unfamiliar, it might not be the best entry point.

So ends the break; next up: A Death in the Family by James Agee, the 1958 winner (no prize awarded in 1957)

Just finished Polostan. As a Stephenson fan I agree with you. Snow Crash or Cryptonomicon are my suggestions as starting points.

Diamond Age, IMO, is his most approachable book. Snow Crash is close (and awesome). I've taken two shots at Crypto and failed both times. Need to give that one another go - maybe audiobook this time.

True, Crypto is pretty darn long.
But once I was hooked I didn’t want it to end.

 

[Eephus]

I did the three months free Kindle Unlimited subscription so I could read Johnny Marr's autobiography Set the Boy Free for the MADs music thread. He's not a bad storyteller but his life is extremely normal by rock star standards--I suspect Morrissey's book is more entertaining but I'm not about to find out.

Unlimited has altered my reading habits by getting me to read stuff that's "free" before the time is up. I read one of William F. Buckley's Blackford Oakes spy novels Stained Glass because I was always curious about the series. Buckley writes nice sentences but isn't as strong on plot and character. The author goes off on tangents that allow him to opine on history and politics.

Kayfabe: A Mostly True History of Professional Wrestling by Patrick W. Reed is another book that I probably wouldn't have read otherwise. As the title suggests, it's a history of pro wrestling but instead of an encyclopedic approach Reed sticks to the line between real fighting and kayfabe. He starts with the first fixed "fights" in Wild West shows and English music halls and ends up with the connections between wrestling and MMA. In between, there are some great stories that may or may not be true and way too much discussion on Japanese promotions from the 80s and 90s. It was interesting but could have been 100 pages shorter.

I've now started Hillary Mantel's novel of the French Revolution, A Place of Greater Safety.

 

[bonsai]

Just finished Polostan.

How did you like it?

 

[beer 30]

Just started Surprise, Kill, Vanish by Annie Jacobson (Nuclear War fame). About 20 pages in so no insights, from the Amazon link:

Surprise . . . your target. Kill . . . your enemy. Vanish . . . without a trace.

When diplomacy fails, and war is unwise, the president calls on the CIA's Special Activities Division, a highly-classified branch of the CIA and the most effective, black operations force in the world.

Originally known as the president's guerrilla warfare corps, SAD conducts risky and ruthless operations that have evolved over time to defend America from its enemies. Almost every American president since World War II has asked the CIA to conduct sabotage, subversion and, yes, assassination.

With unprecedented access to forty-two men and women who proudly and secretly worked on CIA covert operations from the dawn of the Cold War to the present day, along with declassified documents and deep historical research, Pulitzer Prize finalist Annie Jacobsen unveils -- like never before -- a complex world of individuals working in treacherous environments populated with killers, connivers, and saboteurs.

Despite Hollywood notions of off-book operations and external secret hires, covert action is actually one piece in a colossal foreign policy machine.

Written with the pacing of a thriller, Surprise, Kill, Vanish brings to vivid life the sheer pandemonium and chaos, as well as the unforgettable human will to survive and the intellectual challenge of not giving up hope that define paramilitary and intelligence work. Jacobsen's exclusive interviews -- with members of the CIA's Senior Intelligence Service (equivalent to the Pentagon's generals), its counterterrorism chiefs, targeting officers, and Special Activities Division's Ground Branch operators who conduct today's close-quarters killing operations around the world -- reveal, for the first time, the enormity of this shocking, controversial, and morally complex terrain. Is the CIA's paramilitary army America's weaponized strength, or a liability to its principled standing in the world? Every operation reported in this book, however unsettling, is legal.

 

[Don Quixote]

Currently reading Susanna Clarke’s Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell. 20th anniversary edition came out recently, and thought would finally give it a read. I really enjoyed her Piranesi. Finding this one fine, but not grabbing me as much as Piranesi did.

 

[TheBaylorKid]

Just finished Polostan.

How did you like it?

By Stephenson standards a quick read. I enjoyed the historical characters he brought in, led me to do some Wikipedia research on some of them that I didn’t know anything about. Good enough cliff hanger to keep me waiting for the next novel. On the scale of 1 to 10 on how badly I want to read the next novel I’d say a 6. A 10 on the wait scale was the next george rr martin book for fire and ice.

 

[Sand]

A 10 on the wait scale was the next george rr martin book for fire and ice.

You must be pretty bummed in Baylor for like the last decade here. I gave up on him and Rothfuss quite a while ago.

 

[TheBaylorKid]

A 10 on the wait scale was the next george rr martin book for fire and ice.

You must be pretty bummed in Baylor for like the last decade here. I gave up on him and Rothfuss quite a while ago.

2021 big 12 football championship was nice and beating old miss in the sugar bowl was a cherry on top.

Yes given up on Martin and Rothfuss.

However these are novels I’m waiting on that likely will be written:

pierce brown (red rising) Red God

James Rollins next after cradle of ice

 

[TheBaylorKid]

Currently reading Susanna Clarke’s Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell. 20th anniversary edition came out recently, and thought would finally give it a read. I really enjoyed her Piranesi. Finding this one fine, but not grabbing me as much as Piranesi did.

I’d be game for a 2nd Jonathan strange novel

 

[Sand]

pierce brown (red rising) Red God

James Rollins next after cradle of ice

Personally really looking forward to The Devils from Abercrombie.

 

[TheBaylorKid]

pierce brown (red rising) Red God

James Rollins next after cradle of ice

Personally really looking forward to The Devils from Abercrombie.

Thanks for the heads up.
hmm possible Best Served Cold movie

MSN

 

[kupcho1]

Just finished A Death in the Family by James Agee, the 1958 Pulitzer prize winner. It's a very good book; I absolutely blew through it.
It's an autobiographical novel (where Agee goes by Rufus, his middle name) that's got to be one of the most evocative descriptions of loss and grief I've ever read. No, it's not the feel good book of the year, but it is so well written, I thoroughly enjoyed it anyway.

On to The Travels of Jaimie McPheeters by Robert Lewis Taylor (1959 winner).
I'm hoping to get through the 50s and into the 60s by the end of the year.

57 down/42 to go.

 

[TheBaylorKid]

Reading The End of the World Is Just The Beginning by Peter Zeihan. Mapping the Collapse of Globalization. Zeihan has a cheeky humorous approach to the topic.

I think I picked ip the recommendation from a Tim Ferris guest or maybe a Joe Rogan guest.

 

[Long Ball Larry]

Just started Surprise, Kill, Vanish by Annie Jacobson (Nuclear War fame). About 20 pages in so no insights, from the Amazon link:

Surprise . . . your target. Kill . . . your enemy. Vanish . . . without a trace.

When diplomacy fails, and war is unwise, the president calls on the CIA's Special Activities Division, a highly-classified branch of the CIA and the most effective, black operations force in the world.

Originally known as the president's guerrilla warfare corps, SAD conducts risky and ruthless operations that have evolved over time to defend America from its enemies. Almost every American president since World War II has asked the CIA to conduct sabotage, subversion and, yes, assassination.

With unprecedented access to forty-two men and women who proudly and secretly worked on CIA covert operations from the dawn of the Cold War to the present day, along with declassified documents and deep historical research, Pulitzer Prize finalist Annie Jacobsen unveils -- like never before -- a complex world of individuals working in treacherous environments populated with killers, connivers, and saboteurs.

Despite Hollywood notions of off-book operations and external secret hires, covert action is actually one piece in a colossal foreign policy machine.

Written with the pacing of a thriller, Surprise, Kill, Vanish brings to vivid life the sheer pandemonium and chaos, as well as the unforgettable human will to survive and the intellectual challenge of not giving up hope that define paramilitary and intelligence work. Jacobsen's exclusive interviews -- with members of the CIA's Senior Intelligence Service (equivalent to the Pentagon's generals), its counterterrorism chiefs, targeting officers, and Special Activities Division's Ground Branch operators who conduct today's close-quarters killing operations around the world -- reveal, for the first time, the enormity of this shocking, controversial, and morally complex terrain. Is the CIA's paramilitary army America's weaponized strength, or a liability to its principled standing in the world? Every operation reported in this book, however unsettling, is legal.

I haven’t read that but a buddy of mine did and from what I heard, you might also be interested in this book: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/16158491
Mark Mazzetti | The Way of the Knife: The CIA, a Secret Army, and a War at the Ends of the Earth

 

[kupcho1]

Reading The End of the World Is Just The Beginning by Peter Zeihan. Mapping the Collapse of Globalization. Zeihan has a cheeky humorous approach to the topic.

I think I picked ip the recommendation from a Tim Ferris guest or maybe a Joe Rogan guest.

Big Zeihan fan.

Zeihan on Geopolitics

Welcome to the Zeihan on Geopolitics YouTube Channel. Geopolitical Strategist Peter Zeihan is a global energy, demographic and security expert. If you're looking to stay informed on the realities of geography and populations, you've come to the right place. Zeihan's worldview offers insights on...

youtube.com

 

[beer 30]

I think I picked ip the recommendation from a Tim Ferris guest or maybe a Joe Rogan guest.

He was on Rogan a year or so ago, good discussion that covers a lot of what is in the book. doesn't get as detailed as the book but does cover the high level stuff. Just finished the book a few weeks ago, great read, will be interesting to see how his suppositions play out.

 

[kupcho1]

I think I picked ip the recommendation from a Tim Ferris guest or maybe a Joe Rogan guest.

He was on Rogan a year or so ago, good discussion that covers a lot of what is in the book. doesn't get as detailed as the book but does cover the high level stuff. Just finished the book a few weeks ago, great read, will be interesting to see how his suppositions play out.

I think he's nailed China's (and other countries') decline vis a vis demographics' impact on viability. I've been (ridiculously) long on U.S. equities since discovering him, and I've done quite all right.

If we can get the repatriation of manufacturing right (and that's heavy lift, so no guarantee there), the U.S. and NAFTA in general, should do very, very well over the coming decades.

 

[Hastur]

My wife has become an avid reader as of late and I wanted to get her a few books for her upcoming birthday. I know we are 98% dudes but taking a chance that you guys might have a recommendation for some books that are maybe more female friendly- not romance novels or anything. I realize most books are gender neutral but shes in a women’s book club and most of what they read appears to be more female friendly from how she has described them.

I don't know why, but 2 that have been on my mind and recently randomly saw them on shelves in stores were The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova and The Secret History by Donna Tarrt.

Tom Perrotta also came to mind, and I really liked his mid 00s trio of Little Children, The Leftovers, and The Abstinence Teacher. Also Margaret Atwood's The Blind Assassin and The Nix by Nathan Hill.

I could see all those in a library book club.

Funny you say this. The book club I'm part of has picked The Secret History this month.

 

[Hastur]

I joined a men only book club recently. It is a global organization that started in Australia. There are currently only a dozen or so chapters in America, but easy to start one. No money changes hands. It is all about the discussion. There are 2 rules: 1) don't be a jerk and 2) Can't talk about work. I like that last one. The guy next to me could be a doctor, garbage man, or taxi driver. I'll never know.

Last month we read A Clockwork Orange. This coming month is The Secret History.

Tough Guy Book Club

The reason they called it Tough Guy: It’s either; A. Because people find it weird that the words Tough and Book are together, B. It’s pretty funny name for a thing, C. If you ask ten guys what tough is they’ll give you ten different answers but they’ll all know they’re expected to be it, which seems strange. D. Because if we called it the Inner-city Nice Guys Book Society then none of us would want to go, sounds like a wanker fest.

 

[bonsai]

A Secret History.

The Secret History? By Donna Tartt?