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Whatcha readin now? (book, books, reading, read) (4 Viewers)

The Everything Economics Book- less bland than reading a pure economics textbook. Not as extensive as a dense econ textbook but for most people looking to just understand things a bit better, at only 230 pages, this one is pretty solid. Easy to understand explanations of concepts. Good intro read to jump into more advanced reads. 

The Great Rupture: Three Empires, Four Turning Points, and the Future of Humanity- really enjoyed Shvets' explanations on where we've been and where we're going. Very interesting to see how three important events (Black Death, Mongols, and the Renaissance) shaped essentially the history of mankind from the 1500s on. His explanations on why the Ottomans/Russians/Chinese failed to exit the "doomsday highway" were intriguing and seemed plausible. Couldn't put this one down. Really makes you wonder if the rules of the last 500 years won't apply for the next 500 years.

Currency Wars: The Making of the Next Global Crisis- "war by other means" took on a new meaning when Rickards started his book out talking about his experience with a financial war game in the Pentagon. The interconnectedness of the world economy makes for interesting scenarios of exporting inflation/deflation to other countries. Quite jaw dropping if all of Rickards' claims are accurate. I think the author is a little biased if I'm being honest so I'm not totally sure how to process this one. I'll give it a generous 3/5.

 
BeTheMatch said:
I'll have to check this series out. How does it compare to the Mitch Rapp and Dewey Andreas series? I like both of those a lot.
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Haven't read either but looking at them I imagine they will line right up with James Reece. The author, Jack Carr, uses his experiences as a SEAL for 20 years to bring a level of reality that I notice in other non-fiction, autobiographical books. If you enjoyed those other series, you'll like these. Same genre.

The first book, The Terminal List, is being made into a series due out next April with Chris Pratt playing James Reece. Looking forward to it.

 
beer 30 said:
Haven't read either but looking at them I imagine they will line right up with James Reece. The author, Jack Carr, uses his experiences as a SEAL for 20 years to bring a level of reality that I notice in other non-fiction, autobiographical books. If you enjoyed those other series, you'll like these. Same genre.

The first book, The Terminal List, is being made into a series due out next April with Chris Pratt playing James Reece. Looking forward to it.
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Thanks. You should check out those other series. Highly recommend.

 
The Gator said:
The Gator said:
Firing up the Wheel of Time series. 
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Done with book 7 and this was the first that had some really slow/meh parts. Started out strong overlapping some storyline from book 6 via other characters POV, then had just some slow, monotonous story/characters. Picked back up half way and was really good 3/4 through, then petered out on what I was hoping would be a great finish.  

I think I benefitted from binging this series, every character is always fresh in your memory.  I could see this being the first real test of the readers if you had to wait in real time between books, then get through this one. 
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I cant get through book 6.  Looking back this series is as slow as it gets.  He does a good job with the characters but the story telling is poor.  He adds so much detail for no reason.  He subjects the readers to nonstop detail and backstory with 99% no payoff.  I doubt I will be able to finish this.

One good thing about WOT is its an excellent series to fall asleep to.  If I set my audible timer to 15min 9/10 times thats all I need., LOL!

 
Ive finished all of Will Wight "Cradle" up through the new book Reaper.  Ive been disappointed in the last few books (especially bloodline).  It seems Will Wight has somewhat dialed it in with these last few books.  Im not getting the same intensity and story as the first ones in the series.  Reaper does a decent job in filling in the backstory, but overall the entire book was almost as boring as Bloodline.

 
JAA said:
I cant get through book 6.  Looking back this series is as slow as it gets.  He does a good job with the characters but the story telling is poor.  He adds so much detail for no reason.  He subjects the readers to nonstop detail and backstory with 99% no payoff.  I doubt I will be able to finish this.

One good thing about WOT is its an excellent series to fall asleep to.  If I set my audible timer to 15min 9/10 times thats all I need., LOL!
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lol, the reader is overwhelmed with detail at points, for sure. 

That said, book 6 has one of the best endings of the series in Dumai's Wells. :thumbup:

 
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JAA said:
I cant get through book 6.  Looking back this series is as slow as it gets.  He does a good job with the characters but the story telling is poor.  He adds so much detail for no reason.  He subjects the readers to nonstop detail and backstory with 99% no payoff.  I doubt I will be able to finish this.

One good thing about WOT is its an excellent series to fall asleep to.  If I set my audible timer to 15min 9/10 times thats all I need., LOL!
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No doubt the middle of WoT is a lot of circles.  I think way back when I stopped at about book 7.  Now that it's done I'm redoing it - luckily I first read these a long time ago, so my memory is degraded enough to make for good reading.

 
BeTheMatch said:
Reading the first book in the series now, and I gotta say, the anti-liberal schtick is a little over the top.
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Yea it's not gonna go down. It's probably a little more pronounced in the first book than any of the others but it's always there. You can google Jack Carr and it won't take you long to see what side of the aisle he falls on.

 
Too Big to Fail: The Inside Story of How Wall Street and Washington Fought to Save the Financial System--and Themselves- tremendous read of the 07-08 financial crisis. If you want to know what happened and the background story, this is the book for you. Deeply researched with interviews of all the players involved. Sorkin went above and beyond in this one. Felt like I was there in all the meetings and phone calls that took place. Lengthy, but would recommend. 5/5 

Indestructible: The Unforgettable Memoir of a Marine Hero at the Battle of Iwo Jima- incredible story of Jack Lucas who successfully joined the Marines at 14 after being angered by the events of Pearl Harbor. Fought at Iwo Jima. Saved his buddies by jumping on grenades that threatened them all. He performed this heroic action at 17 years of age. Was awarded the Medal Of Honor for his bravery. Much more than just a war book though. Jack Lucas shows you his emotional side with his description of his life after the military. Great story of perseverance and determination. 

 
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Don Quixote said:
Currently on Colson Whitehead's Harlem Shuffle.  I'm a bit disappointed in this one. Loved Underground Railroad and Nickel Boys by him, but this story is just kind of blah and not really grabbing me. I suppose I'll finish, but more so I can get to my next read.  (Also still on American Promethus too.)
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I just finished Underground Railroad (my first Whitehead). I thought it was very good and I'll definitely read more of him. I'm not sure where I'm going next. I'm long overdue for a Lonesome Dove reread, so maybe there.

I'm also reading Dana O'Neil's The Big East, her look back at how that hoops conference came to be. If you like college basketball, you'll like this one.

 
I'm about halfway through Louise Erdrich's new one, The Sentence. I said after reading The Night Watchman (which went on to win the Pulitzer) that I think she is one of the best writers out there.  This one is up to her usual standards. Novel that is partially set in the Minneapolis bookstore that she owns in real-life.  Story is pretty current, as its setting includes the past couple of years (Covid and George Floyd). 

 
Haven't updated in a while.  

Found two new series that I'm quickly plowing through.  Both are enjoyable thrillers.

Gabriel Allon series, starts with The Kill Artist.  Allon is an art restorer and a 'retired' Isreali spy/assassin.  These seem to take place all over Europe, which is nice.

Joe Pickett series, starts with Open Season.  Pickett is a game warden in Wyoming.  Lots of hunting and murders in the Wyoming wilderness.  

Also read @Captain Fantastic's trilogy earlier this year.  The whole trilogy was great.  

Nomadland is the only nonfiction I've finished lately.  Good read about the 'working retired'.  I had no idea it is so common and quite unfortunate.   

Have heard good things about The Boys in the Boat, have it queued up for my next nonfiction.

 
Don Quixote said:
I'm about halfway through Louise Erdrich's new one, The Sentence. I said after reading The Night Watchman (which went on to win the Pulitzer) that I think she is one of the best writers out there.  This one is up to her usual standards. Novel that is partially set in the Minneapolis bookstore that she owns in real-life.  Story is pretty current, as its setting includes the past couple of years (Covid and George Floyd). 
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I'm also currently reading this and, not sure if I'm just heading into a reading "lull" or not, but I'm not exactly enthralled.  Hopefully it gets better and/or I get more engaged.

 
Got the first book of the Wheel of Time series Sunday, we'll see how far I go. This might be one and done, those things are huge and there are sooooo many of them.

 
Poke_4_Life said:
Haven't updated in a while.  

Found two new series that I'm quickly plowing through.  Both are enjoyable thrillers.

Gabriel Allon series, starts with The Kill Artist.  Allon is an art restorer and a 'retired' Isreali spy/assassin.  These seem to take place all over Europe, which is nice.
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I've touted the Allon series forever.  As it has progressed, I've become more and more convinced Silva has sources deep inside Israeli intelligence.  His books sometimes seem almost prophetic as you hear news and then check the dates of publication.  Excellent series.

 
facook said:
I've touted the Allon series forever.  As it has progressed, I've become more and more convinced Silva has sources deep inside Israeli intelligence.  His books sometimes seem almost prophetic as you hear news and then check the dates of publication.  Excellent series.
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You may have been the one that got me to add the Allon series to my Goodreads list.  If so, thank you.  

 
kupcho1 said:
I'm also currently reading this and, not sure if I'm just heading into a reading "lull" or not, but I'm not exactly enthralled.  Hopefully it gets better and/or I get more engaged.
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The "ghost" aspect took me a bit to get into (I'm not all that into the supernatural stuff), but it has eventually won me over.

 
Finished three over the last few weeks:

Dave Grohl's new book "The Storyteller: Tales of Life and Music".  He covers a lot of ground in here - from Scream, to Nirvana, and everything Foo since.  Very saccharine overall, but in a good way.  Quick read. Many, many behind the scenes stories make it worth it...including his DUI in Australia riding a scooter past fans when getting pulled over, a few involving Paul McCartney, and a short bit on his time living with Kurt Cobain and he reaction to finding out about his death (both times!?).

Marin Fader's book "Giannis: The Improbable Rise of an NBA MVP".  Being a life long Bucks fan living near Milwaukee I thought I knew about everything Giannis related, but Fader's book was surprisingly full of things I didn't know and extremely well written (for one - I didn't realize the government changed the spelling of his last name when they approved his visa - to make it sound more Greek).  The depth of the families plight and the racism they faced was/is staggering.  His rise to NBA superstardom has to be among the most improbable in league history.  Recommend if interested at all in Giannis.

"This Is How You Lose the Time War"
Novel by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone.  Shorter, science-fiction story written by two authors.  They go back and forth from both sides of a future war where each side infiltrates the past to change events upstream, in various time threads.  Then the two main agents (Red / cyber robotic humans vs Blue / Garden, communal intertwining) from each side begin to exchange complicated, hidden messages throughout time.  Partial love (?) story written with poetic like precision at times.  Won a bunch of awards.  Hated it at first, but it slowly won me over.

 
trader jake said:
"This Is How You Lose the Time War"
Novel by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone.  Shorter, science-fiction story written by two authors.  They go back and forth from both sides of a future war where each side infiltrates the past to change events upstream, in various time threads.  Then the two main agents (Red / cyber robotic humans vs Blue / Garden, communal intertwining) from each side begin to exchange complicated, hidden messages throughout time.  Partial love (?) story written with poetic like precision at times.  Won a bunch of awards.  Hated it at first, but it slowly won me over.
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Excellent book. A lot of very clever plotting. 👍

 
finished The Fall of Babel. loved it. it's the final in the Books of Babel. All 4 books were great and this series is one of my favorites.

 
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My oldest daughter is a voracious reader and we're thinking of getting her the new Kindle Paperwhite but we're worried about capability.

  1. Does anyone who owns one know if you can read stuff on the Wattpad store/app? (<-- I have no idea what Im talking about. )
  2. Is the 8GB version enough memory? 
 
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Started George Saunders' A Swim in the Pond in the Rain: In Which Four Russians Give a Master Class on Writing, Reading, and Life.

Different from most books that I read. It is adapted from a course on Russian short stories that Saunders teaches at Syracuse. Saunders presents some short stories from the likes of Chekhov, Gogol, Turgenev, and Tolstoy, and then dissects what makes them great. How he uses them to teach his students how to write, but also works to teach how to become a better reader. (Saunders an incredible writer himself.)  Applies to all sorts of art too -- e.g., he discusses a scene from Bicycle Thieves and ties that into one of the short stories in terms of the level of care/attention that the director put into how to film a scene, and how a writer should similarly put forward that level of care.

 
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STEADYMOBBIN 22 said:
My oldest daughter is a voracious reader and we're thinking of getting her the new Kindle Paperwhite but we're worried about capability.

  1. Does anyone who owns one know if you can read stuff on the Wattpad store/app? (<-- I have no idea what Im talking about. )
  2. Is the 8GB version enough memory? 
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I don't know what Wattpad is either. Can you download stuff from there as PDF? You can e-mail PDFs (I'm not sure what other formats) to what is essentially a Kindle e-mail account. I send PDFs to my Kindle all of the time.

8GB should be plenty.

 
Don Quixote said:
I don't know what Wattpad is either. Can you download stuff from there as PDF? You can e-mail PDFs (I'm not sure what other formats) to what is essentially a Kindle e-mail account. I send PDFs to my Kindle all of the time.

8GB should be plenty.
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From what I understand its a bunch of creative writers who are and aren't published. :shrug:

 
STEADYMOBBIN 22 said:
My oldest daughter is a voracious reader and we're thinking of getting her the new Kindle Paperwhite but we're worried about capability.

  1. Does anyone who owns one know if you can read stuff on the Wattpad store/app? (<-- I have no idea what Im talking about. )
  2. Is the 8GB version enough memory? 
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My Google-fu seems to indicate this is possible.  There's even a Chrome extension to send Wattpad to Kindle.  As others mentioned you can also upload .pdfs to a Kindle.  

 
Don Quixote said:
Started George Saunders' A Swim in the Pond in the Rain: In Which Four Russians Give a Master Class on Writing, Reading, and Life.

Different from most books that I read. It is adapted from a course on Russian short stories that Saunders teaches at Syracuse. Saunders presents some short stories from the likes of Chekhov, Gogol, Turgenev, and Tolstoy, and then dissects what makes them great. How he uses them to teach his students how to write, but also works to teach how to become a better reader. (Saunders an incredible writer himself.)  Applies to all sorts of art too -- e.g., he discusses a scene from Bicycle Thieves and ties that into one of the short stories in terms of the level of care/attention that the director put into how to film a scene, and how a writer should similarly put forward that level of care.
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This sounds a bit like Nabokov's Lectures on Literature.  I remember being awed by his essay on Madame Bovary back when I actually tried to read somewhat challenging things.

 
JAA said:
Ive finished all of Will Wight "Cradle" up through the new book Reaper.  Ive been disappointed in the last few books (especially bloodline).  It seems Will Wight has somewhat dialed it in with these last few books.  Im not getting the same intensity and story as the first ones in the series.  Reaper does a decent job in filling in the backstory, but overall the entire book was almost as boring as Bloodline.
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I was looking for some WOT discussion, which I've done here previously and surprisingly found little.

Anyway, Cradle is great. The first 2 books were a little meh, but they just take off like a rocket ship afterwards. Bloodline felt like one of those things which just had to be done, and I felt like Reaper was just the first step in getting back on track. Regardless, the characters just feel like family, and it's like a reunion each time you open up a new book to catch up on their lives.

 
Don Quixote said:
Started George Saunders' A Swim in the Pond in the Rain: In Which Four Russians Give a Master Class on Writing, Reading, and Life.

Different from most books that I read. It is adapted from a course on Russian short stories that Saunders teaches at Syracuse. Saunders presents some short stories from the likes of Chekhov, Gogol, Turgenev, and Tolstoy, and then dissects what makes them great. How he uses them to teach his students how to write, but also works to teach how to become a better reader. (Saunders an incredible writer himself.)  Applies to all sorts of art too -- e.g., he discusses a scene from Bicycle Thieves and ties that into one of the short stories in terms of the level of care/attention that the director put into how to film a scene, and how a writer should similarly put forward that level of care.
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I bought this, being a huge Saunders fan, but hadn’t been able to get my mind around what I was going to be reading and therefore hadn’t started it.  Your post has helped me a lot!  

 
Crisis Economics: A Crash Course in the Future of Finance- Nouriel Roubini is a pretty well-known name in economic circles. His predictions regarding 07-08 were quite on point. In this one, he takes you through how he saw the crisis develop. Whereas "Too Big to Fail" by Sorkin told you the story of what happened, Roubini's book covers more of the "how" and "why" it happened. He does not pull back on this one. Very critical of a number of characters, especially Greenspan. This one gives you a little bit of everything including a chapter on economic theory and philosophy from giants such as Keynes and Minsky. The book wraps up the final few chapters on solutions that policymakers should look to in order to help prevent future crises (some approaches he admits will be viewed as radical) as well as a chapter on the future crises that he sees looming involving the dollar. The book was written in 2011. Pretty good book to pair with Sorkin's behemoth. Gives you more of the economic analysis side of the crisis. 

 
Don Quixote said:
Started George Saunders' A Swim in the Pond in the Rain: In Which Four Russians Give a Master Class on Writing, Reading, and Life.

Different from most books that I read. It is adapted from a course on Russian short stories that Saunders teaches at Syracuse. Saunders presents some short stories from the likes of Chekhov, Gogol, Turgenev, and Tolstoy, and then dissects what makes them great. How he uses them to teach his students how to write, but also works to teach how to become a better reader. (Saunders an incredible writer himself.)  Applies to all sorts of art too -- e.g., he discusses a scene from Bicycle Thieves and ties that into one of the short stories in terms of the level of care/attention that the director put into how to film a scene, and how a writer should similarly put forward that level of care.
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Don't know if you are signed up for his newsletter (which comes very infrequently), but he announced this week (1) a new book of short stories coming out in early 2023, and (2) that he is continuing the book above with a series of posts called "Story Club".

 
krista4 said:
Don't know if you are signed up for his newsletter (which comes very infrequently), but he announced this week (1) a new book of short stories coming out in early 2023, and (2) that he is continuing the book above with a series of posts called "Story Club".
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Nice! I am not — did not know he had a newsletter, but I just looked it up on his website and am now signed up.

 
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Sand said:
The Blade Itself  trilogy- Abercrombie.  Gritty (and awesome), and Logen is one of my favorite literary characters ever.
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Started this about 3 weeks ago and am 1/3 of the way through the 2nd book.  Absolutely love it.  Better than Game of Thrones - IMO.

 
Full Dark, No Stars by Stephen King.  

Four novellas.  All interesting enough, but none of them anything special.

 
Don't Toews Me said:
The Everything Economics Book- less bland than reading a pure economics textbook. Not as extensive as a dense econ textbook but for most people looking to just understand things a bit better, at only 230 pages, this one is pretty solid. Easy to understand explanations of concepts. Good intro read to jump into more advanced reads. 

The Great Rupture: Three Empires, Four Turning Points, and the Future of Humanity- really enjoyed Shvets' explanations on where we've been and where we're going. Very interesting to see how three important events (Black Death, Mongols, and the Renaissance) shaped essentially the history of mankind from the 1500s on. His explanations on why the Ottomans/Russians/Chinese failed to exit the "doomsday highway" were intriguing and seemed plausible. Couldn't put this one down. Really makes you wonder if the rules of the last 500 years won't apply for the next 500 years.

Currency Wars: The Making of the Next Global Crisis- "war by other means" took on a new meaning when Rickards started his book out talking about his experience with a financial war game in the Pentagon. The interconnectedness of the world economy makes for interesting scenarios of exporting inflation/deflation to other countries. Quite jaw dropping if all of Rickards' claims are accurate. I think the author is a little biased if I'm being honest so I'm not totally sure how to process this one. I'll give it a generous 3/5.
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The Great Rupture looks like a great read, will give it a shot.

 
Sand said:
:thumbup:
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I'm on the last book of Age of Madness myself. It's not as good as the 1st trilogy to me, but still good. Things like WOT, Cosmere, or anything else in fantasy isn't going to grip ASOIAF/GOT fans as much, but this will. I went into the first series trying to figure out who the protagonist was, and I left it with no answer.

 
JAA said:
The Gator said:
lol, the reader is overwhelmed with detail at points, for sure. 

That said, book 6 has one of the best endings of the series in Dumai's Wells. :thumbup:
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Im over halfway through and I still have 17h left :cry:
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Just finished book 6, Lord of Chaos.  I am done, just not worth it.  Ill go read Wikipedia instead.

What should I get up to next?  My son liked the Reacher books, I think he is through book 3.  Maybe ill start there.

 
Sucker for Elmore Leonard. Just finished Out of Sight and the sequel Road Dogs back to back. 

Jack Foley is the coolest bank robber/felon ever. You like books about prison life? Tough to beat these.

Jack Foley:
"You'd be surprised about what you can get, if you ask for it the right way."

 
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