Updated 'What are you reading' thread

don winslow is the man. i read everything he wrote.

This is coming...

http://www.lamplighterpublishing.com/images/AOTD.jpg



Got it.

This is a must-read, and explains (among other things) the source of much of the trouble I chronically have with users of the WWW as opposed to those on the old Usenet.

Currently reading Cold Hand In Mine, strange stories by Robert Aickman.

Years ago I read a short story by him called Wood, and it was one of the most oddly unsettling stories I've ever read. The stories in this book, though, are a bit of a letdown so far. The Swords showed real promise but the climax was obviously borrowed from a hair-raising moment in Robert W. Chambers' The Yellow Sign. :sad:

Just starting Tales of Ordinary Madness, a collection of short stories by Charles Bukowski. Just finished Call of the Wild, because I couldn't remember reading it back when I was supposed to. I would have liked it better then.

I've read the reviews and understand what [A People's History of the United States] is.

I actually doubt that, as what it really is has only become clear upon the declassification of some information subsequent to Zinn's death, which we should celebrate rather than memorialize.

I'm not opposed to hearing what other people think, whether I agree with them or not.
Aside from being a pack of lies and demonstrable nonsense, which of course is nothing special in itself, this book is explicitly a work of Soviet disinformation from a Soviet agent of influence, Zinn, who was also a talent-spotter for Soviet intelligence.

Expect some interesting books about the real Howard Zinn to come out in a few years as more data on his true background becomes declassified.

The Swords showed real promise but the climax was obviously borrowed from a hair-raising moment in Robert W. Chambers' The Yellow Sign. :sad:
The hearse-driver's fingers? :wink:

Carte Blanche, the new James Bond book by Jeffery Deavers.

I just did something that every member of the TV Generation should think about doing.

I read Barbara Eden's Jeannie Out of the Bottle.

Really!

:smile:

Currently reading :

Sreven Levy, In the Googleplex, Simon and Schuster

And

Jonathan D. Spence, The memory Palace of Matteo Ricci, Pinguin

Funny syncronicity with the last book : for the last canadian federal election I went to vote at the local community center which is italian. And there was exhibit about Matteo Ricci ! I mean.. Who knows whothis guy is?

Just finished To Kill A Mockingbird and A Farewell To Arms. Now I've moved onto this:

http://www.friendsofhpl.ca/images/Catch%2022.jpg

I've also got For Whom The Bell Tolls and Crime And Punishment up next.

I just did something that every member of the TV Generation should think about doing.

The "TV Generation" desperately needs to read this (http://www.tdpri.com/forum/3386056-post252.html). :wink:

Rereading High Fidelity on the Kindle. Probably my second-favorite book of all time, after I Love You, Beth Cooper.

Cliff notes on this thread.

I'm reading Blood and Thunder - Hampton Sides. It's about Kit Carson, Freemont, the opening the America west and war with Mexico.

Also an Alan Furst novel, Spies of the Balkans, set in mainly Greece 1940.

The Odyssey - Homer

It's great so far.

The Virginian by Owen Wister

The Omnivore's Dilemma a must read

Just finishing this http://www.sixsongs.net/

Not so much a book, more a sub-par doctoral thesis IMHO.

Next up is Les Miserables. Again.

The Psychopath Test by Jon Ronson

The Omnivore's Dilemma a must read

Indeed!

The hearse-driver's fingers? :wink:
Yes, and it's a mental image I've carried with me since the first time I read it when I was about 12 years old. :shock:

I have recently discovered this series of books by Collin Cotterill. I really like them.

Finished reading Lost Empires by JB Priestly. The Story of an innocent Yorkshire lad taken onto the variety stage with his Uncle's Magic act on the run up to WW1. One of my Fave books.

I had to go up the dreaded Attic yesterday, but I found my old Julian May books So Im going to start reading The Many Coloured Land. I fancy a bit of Science Fantasy right now

Churchill's War, David Irving

So is it as "revisionist" as claimed??

I would recommend this but i'm waiting for the idiot's guide to it first

http://ebooks-imgs.connect.com/product/400/000/000/000/000/113/591/400000000000000113591_s4.jpg

"One Hundred Years of Solitude" by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

Next will probably be "Life" by Keef

Right now I'm reading Norwegian crime novellist Jo Nesbø's latest, called "Gjenferd". (In English that would be "Ghosts").

Just finished Barry Gifford's "Night People", the novel that inspired David Lynch to create Lost Highway. Highly recommended.

Goldratt...

Currently: http://img.tesco.com/pi/Books/L/67/9781843547167.jpg
and also: http://ec1.images-amazon.com/images/P/0674006933.01._SX220_SCLZZZZZZZ_.jpg but it's rather dense.

Just finished re-reading Michelangelo and the Pope's Ceiling.

Also, on audio book, Hunter S Thompson Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas and Area 51 Uncensored by Annie Jacobsen. Both worthwhile.

Currently reading Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness and on audio book, Keith Richards, Life.

Howdy,

"Silent Coup" came out 20 years ago and I'm just now getting round to it. It's about Nixon and Watergate. I'm enjoying it.

The Case of the Man Who Died Laughing - Tarquin Hall

Pretty good so far.

Beatles Gear, by Andy Babiuk. Do NOT read this book, if you are subject to GAS!

Recently got Riot on Sunset Strip, by Domenic Priore. About the Sunset scene in the mid 60s.

Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell ... An addictive read

rereading Ham on Rye - Charles Bukowski

Demons (formerly translated as "The Possessed") - Dostoevsky
Huckleberry Finn - Twain
FDR - Jean Edward Smith
Odyssey of a Friend - Whittaker Chambers Letters to William F. Buckley, Jr. 1954-1961

I’ve been traveling, with stops at home, so I’m juggling depending on my mood. Huck Finn isn’t as good as I remember. At least I’m not enjoying it as much. I found it in my children’s library and all this talk of Twain's biographies tempted me. I’ll leave it in my favorite bathroom. Read “Whittaker Chambers” by Tanenhaus and it fell far short of “Witness” but I credit it for helping me track down the letters book. Great read. That man could write.

Just finished George R.R. Martin's " A Clash Of Kings." Brutally realistic in the world of plotters vs. idealists. Possibly the Machiavelli of Fantasy books?

finished the Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury

Working on Indian Killer by Sherman Alexie. Love Alexie.

"The Big Payback"..The history of the Business of Hip-Hop

Nuremberg-The Last Battle
David Irving. The guy is crack for historians.

"Blockade Billy" Stephen King
"Spider Kiss" Harlan Ellison

Almost finished with The Sisters Brothers by Patrick deWitt, a Western novel about the Sisters brothers, Charles and Eli, and their adventures in murder and mayhem. It takes the Western genre and kind of twists it about. Spiced with some twisted humor.

Philip Ball: "The Music Instinct"

B1ZTAnS5trs

It's a bit heavy...

Anthem and Atlas Shrugged. I never got around to reading them.

Just started reading the Federalist Papers, as well.

Extraordinarily lucid and prescient:

http://www.randomhouse.ca/catalog/covers_450/9780679745402.jpg

Written nearly twenty years ago, and it's fascinating to see how the late author's predictions worked out -- unlike, say, McCluhan's.

Much better than expected...so far:

http://www.ianrankin.net/assets_cm/files/Image/complaints_large_250.jpg

Unbearable...quit after about eighty pages. Lifeless writing or lifeless translation? You decide:

http://newsodrome.com/scifi_news/green-review-the-preacher-by-camilla-l-ckberg-harper-16669824.jpg

Dry, but interesting take on the historic effects of Tacitus's Germania:

http://img.hotbooksale.com/books/9780393062656/1/A-Most-Dangerous-Book-Tacituss-Germania-from-the-Roman-Empire-to-the-Third-Reich.jpg

A series of semi-fiction, about Genghis Khan, by Conn Iggulden. Currently on book 2, where the Mongols invade China.

I just started a "summer project" book, Victor Hugo's Les Miserables.

Anchoret, you sure go through 'em; I'm impressed. You ever clock your reading speed?

Anchoret, you sure go through 'em; I'm impressed. You ever clock your reading speed?
Not since I was a kid, when it was around 1300wpm with excellent comprehension/retention. I was severely dyslexic and vision-impaired (before those terms were generally used), but I was really smart and taught myself a different way of reading that worked for me. By pure chance, it was very much like the methods later promoted as speed reading. I would read two or sometimes three books a day.

As a geezer, I can do nowhere near that now, nor do I have the remaining mental acuity to handle all that information anyway. :cry:

I can still knock out a book a day with no problem. Being retired with no family and no TV helps. :wink:

I just finished reading my first book in over 4 years-"Cannery Row" by John Steinbeck. I liked it a lot. You could really imagine the people and actions quite vividly.

Currently reading Joseph Conrad, "Heart of Darkness"
Ugh. Probably the worst classic I've ever read. Would have made a fantastic twenty page short story. As it is, it was disappointing as hell.

Come on, it is summertime. That means mindless summer reading. Why not follow that game of thrones and see who wins in the next book:

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51uB90%2BxrSL._SL500_AA300_.jpg

I have recently discovered this series of books by Collin Cotterill. I really like them.
They are certainly unusual.

I have read all of them. Not perfect, but different enough to be worthwhile.

Soho Press has a lot of other unique, exotic-setting series like this one which are worth looking into.

Battlecruiser - Douglas Reeman.

Re-reading Systematic Theology by Wayne Grudem.

Self-Knowledge: Sankara's "Atmabodha" - translated by Swami Nikhilananda
Chord Chemistry - Ted Greene

I'm reading Stephen King's "It" and "Survive!" by Les Stroud (Survivorman). Started reading Stephen King's "Hearts in Atlantis" about 3 years ago after seeing a snippet of the movie with Christopher Wallken and Anthony Hopkins. Since then I've been hooked on his novels and have read almost everything he's written.

I'm reading "Record Makers & Breakers," the story of the indpendent record men of the 1940s/50s/60s and up. Included are Ahmet Ertegun, Sam Phillips, the Bihari Brothers, Leonard & Phil Chess, Herman Lubinsky, Berry Gordy, Morris Levy, and many others. Its a very long book and really not all that interesting, so I just want to finish it and move on.

I did learn the mob was involved in certain companies, and that the jukebox industry was largely mob-run.

Just finished "Shantaram" by Gregory David Roberts. What a book! Hightly recommended.

Bummer that Johnny Depp's other work (pirates) and the Writer's Strike killed the movie.

http://pickledeel.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/12/shantaram290x.jpg

I was in the process of reading some online stuff about other countries economy.

I just finished Can't be Satisfied, a bio of Muddy Waters, and enjoyed it a lot (even if he came across as selfish and domineering). I'm now on to GK Chesterton's The Everlasting Man.

Re-reading Systematic Theology by Wayne Grudem.

Reading that for a class.

I just finished reading my first book in over 4 years-"Cannery Row" by John Steinbeck. I liked it a lot. You could really imagine the people and actions quite vividly.

Woo-HOOO! You picked a good one. Steinbeck's my "desert-island" author, and Cannery Row is my favorite book of his (though of course his masterpiece is either Grapes of Wrath or East of Eden.) He wrote a sequel to it, Sweet Thursday.

I was going through some weekly ads and other worthless crap they sent in the mail this week.

. . .speakin' of desert islands. . . .

I did learn the mob was involved in certain companies, and that the jukebox industry was largely mob-run.

If you wish to read an amazing book on how bad this could get, here it is (how can you be selling more records than the Beatles and be seeing no royalties?):

http://oldies.s3.amazonaws.com/i/boxart/large/bk/bk2676.jpg?v=4

It's going to be a movie now, I understand.

Pop music "as told to" autobios usually bore me to tears, but this was a notable exception.

Finished this one (http://www.tdpri.com/forum/3422513-post297.html) today and have to say it was very good.

Rankin can really move a story forward. If there's any criticism, it may be that his stories may be a bit complex in their eventual resolutions -- but they ring true and they are intelligently and vividly written.

This is the upcoming sequel in his new series, which I will certainly read:

http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1304464734l/10808013.jpg

Re-reading Systematic Theology by Wayne Grudem.
I was all, "Wait! Wait! Paul Tillich wrote Systematic Theology!" but it appears were were about a dozen others who wrote books with that same title, too.

I was all, "Wait! Wait! Paul Tillich wrote Systematic Theology!" but it appears were were about a dozen others who wrote books with that same title, too.

Systematic theology is a subject just as algebra is a subject. Just as we have hundreds of books called "Algebra", so we have hundreds (or perhaps just scores) of books called "Systematic Theology". I'm sure Amazon could give you as many takes on the issue as you'd like.

I just started a "summer project" book, Victor Hugo's Les Miserables.

Anchoret, you sure go through 'em; I'm impressed. You ever clock your reading speed?

"Les Miserables" has had an impact on so many different influential people of vastly differing ideologies. Many autobiographies cite this novel as influential. It had an impact on me too. I hope you enjoy the read.

Yes, Anchoret is the man. I envy his ability to cultivate his mind.

I am currently reading A Battle From The Start by Brian Wills, a bio on Nathan Bedford Forrest, a very interesting Civil War figure. Nathan Bedford Forrest: In Search Of The Enigma is one of the better books I've ever read.

I recently finished Laura Hillenbrand's "Unbroken," which is an excellent book and has sold a zillion copies for good reason.

I don't read a lot of fiction, but several people that I know are reading "Matterhorn," by Karl Marlantes. It's on my long amazon shopping list, and I'll read it sometime this year. Anyone here read it?

http://www.amazon.com/Matterhorn-Novel-Vietnam-Karl-Marlantes/dp/0802145310/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1309891384&sr=1-1

My list as it stands right now:

Currently reading Steve Earle's "I'll Never Get Out Of This World Alive"
then it'll be Albert Brooks' "2030"
then the newest James Bond "Carte Blanche"

Naked Lunch By William S Burroughs.

"Forever" by Pete Hamill

"The Heroin Diaries" by Nikki Sixx

We're at The Beach for two weeks so I got a brand new copy of "Lonesome Dove" which I haven't read in over twenty years and wanted to read again.:cool:

Currently......Democracy in America,by Alexis de Tocqueville & Two treatises on government by Locke...............just a lil light reading for these warm summer days and nights

"Rise and Fall of the Third Reich" (Shirer). An old one but still definitive. Got a 1960 hardback edition for $7 at a local used book store.

"Forever" by Pete Hamill

Nice bit of historical fiction, I thought. Fun premise and a good read. It was popular with New York Irishmen, that's for sure. Enjoy.

"Rise and Fall of the Third Reich" (Shirer). An old one but still definitive. Got a 1960 hardback edition for $7 at a local used book store.

That book attracts more attention, unfortunately because of the swastika on the spine, than any other book in my library. It's like a magnet.

Moonwalking with Einstein. A book about memory. I can't remember where I left it though.

http://img1.fantasticfiction.co.uk/images/n19/n95965.jpg

Haven't even opened it and think I'm going to hate it, but maybe it'll surprise me:

http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1296495447l/5762055.jpg

I'm not wrong very often, but I was in my expectations of this. I think it may actually be a work of genius.

Haven't even opened it and think I'm going to hate it, but maybe it'll surprise me:

http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1296495447l/5762055.jpg

"Life" by Keith Richards.

Embassytown - China Mieville. I have Shantaram on deck along with a few others.

Came in today. We'll see.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3458/3990609862_8a98443a56.jpg

http://www.booksandoldlace.com/mysteries/CaraBlack/PalaisRoyalCoverWEB.jpg

I finished "The Mystery of 2012: Predictions, Prophecies & Possibilities" today and will be starting Slash's biography next.

Seem like I can't get through more than a few pages before we fall asleep, so I'm reading more than I am finishing. This summer I have read:

Blink by Malcolm Gladwell, who wrote The Tipping Point

The Defense of Jisr Al-Doreaa by Michael Burgoyne which also contains the classic The Defense of Duffer's Drift from the Boer War era

Excursion to Tindari, by Andrea Camilleri, from the Sicilian police inspector Montalbano series. I don't much like detective stories, but these are fun to read.

The English Warrior from earliest times to 1066 by Stehen Pollington.

I am almost through with:

On Killing: The Psychological Cost of Learning to Kill in War and Society by Grossman

I am in the middle of:

Empire of the Summer Moon by Gwynne, about the Comanches

Empires and Barbarians: The Fall of Rome and the Birth of Europe by Peter Heather

Wind, Sand and Stars by Saint-Exupery

I have Spies of the Balkans by Alan Furst waiting. I am making myself wait for the right moment. I love his stuff.

Rereading John Updike's short story collection Trust Me.

The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov. And am currently trying to learn Russian, so also have the original Russian language version.

Also have been making my way through Dan Wells' John Cleaver trilogy. Currently reading the last one, I Don't Want to Kill You. They're more for YA, but they're pretty good.

"Forever" by Pete Hamill

I have that. Haven't gotten around to it yet though. Hope you enjoy it. :)

I'm an everyday reader, and right now I'm reading Jo Nesbø's latest crime novel "Gjenferd" (Ghosts).

As you can see by the cover illustration, it's about illegal drugs ...

http://www.boklageret.no/db/media/catalog/product/cache/1/image/375x/9df78eab33525d08d6e5fb8d27136e95/g/j/gjenferd.jpg

Just started The Game of Thrones by George R. R. Martin. Great so far.

Shattered Sword: The Untold Story of the Battle of Midway by Jonathan Parshall

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51Trd4vqEpL._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-sticker-arrow-click,TopRight,35,-76_AA300_SH20_OU01_.jpg

Detail intensive.

Primarily from the Japanese perspective.

I don't think I will read it again.

A famous scientific work written for a general audience that has changed the way we think about the world and ourselves.

Just bought it today.

Just started The Game of Thrones by George R. R. Martin. Great so far.

Hey, I just finished that because of the HBO series. Pretty fast paced book, no? I'm plodding my way through the second one...key word plodding. Well into it and not a damn thing has happened. Nothing like that first book.

The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov.

Wow! Literally one of the greatest works created by our species. Incredible book. The Pilate/Jesus chapters were the greatest thing I've ever read.

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and a book by Winston Churchill.

Today it's "Have Not Been The Same. the Canrock Renassance 1985*1995" by Micheal Barclay, Ian A.D. Jack. and Jason Schneider. Just what the title says it is.

Just finished "The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo," and started "The Girl Who Played With Fire" today.

Pretty Good.

A famous scientific work written for a general audience that has changed the way we think about the world and ourselves.

Just bought it today.

Either:

A Breif History Of Time (Hawking)

or

Origin of Species (Darwin).



??

Either:

A Breif History Of Time (Hawking)

or

Origin of Species (Darwin).



??

Very good! The second. I have read the first, too.

Been on kind of a Western kick, by accident. The books just came along. Anyway, just about finished with Mary Doria Russell's "Doc," a novel about Doc Holliday. Excellent book.

just read this one yesterday..
http://pixhost.info/avaxhome/b9/ab/001babb9_medium.jpeg
..but other then comics..(which I read waaayyy tooo many of) .I just finished a western novel by Jack Curtis called "The Quiet Cowboy"...
I read a lot of "Junk" pulp type stuff sometimes...westerns, Fantasy, etc.
Sometimes I read "real" literature, but mostly I read for pleasure and escapism.

I got an advanced copy of Zakk Wyldes new book pretty hilarious

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51t3biGNYLL._AA380_.jpg

Very good! The second. I have read the first, too.

My first bet was Hawking, but your signature gave you away. :razz:

My first bet was Hawking, but your signature gave you away. :razz:

Yes, I'd been reading books that quoted Darwin, like Richard Dawkin's Greatest Show On Earth:

http://c0508042.cdn.cloudfiles.rackspacecloud.com/100815PB-TGSOE.jpg

JD Salinger - Nine Stories..........for about the thousanth time

1). "Billie Mays, the Hawking Years"

A WONDERFUL read that gets a little loud and obnoxious at times, with some astrophysics thrown in too!!


2). "Nels Cline, Nils Lofgren and Nile Rodgers: For Whom the Knell Tolls"

Interesting anthropological studies from the Strat tribes and Jazzman boutique effects harems, seen through the eyes and ears of a deceased Margaret Meade

.

Hey, I just finished that because of the HBO series. Pretty fast paced book, no? I'm plodding my way through the second one...key word plodding. Well into it and not a damn thing has happened. Nothing like that first book.

Well, that's encouraging about the second book.. not. I actually went out and bought the boxed set of the first four (so I hope it gets better..). And I haven't gotten much farther than when I posted this, so can't really comment on the pace. I read several different books at a time, so I'll get back to it in a day or so, haha.

Wow! Literally one of the greatest works created by our species. Incredible book. The Pilate/Jesus chapters were the greatest thing I've ever read.

YES. I'm loving it. It was recommended to me by a friend, and as it's not something I'd normally read, I wasn't expecting to enjoy it. But it's great - can't wait to finish it.

Well, that's encouraging about the second book.. not.
Since I last posted I have moved another 100 pages into the second GAME OF THRONES book. Uhh, nothing happened.

No spoilers so don't worry about reading this. All that is going on is positioning. Who wants to do what, who is moving to where, but nothing is happening at all during this. 400 pages in and NOTHING!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hey, I admit nothing happened much in "Moby Dick" for 99% of that novel, but I loved that book. Best I ever read. Melville had a way of pulling you along on his journey whereas this G.R.R. Martin guy has no way of doing that. Yet I am pushing on because I want to see something happen to my favorite characters.

Charles Bukowski - Betting on the Muse

Very good:

http://www.reginalibrary.ca/blogs/media/blogs/mystery/deathofanationalist.jpg

http://img1.fantasticfiction.co.uk/images/n35/n175247.jpg

This just in...supposedly a pretty horrible forgotten WWII episode:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/rf/image_296w/2010-2019/WashingtonPost/2011/07/20/Outlook/Images/books0724thomas.JPG

These, gritty stuff in the corrupt world of Brazilian cops:

http://phasesofthenoon.files.wordpress.com/2010/07/26962237.jpg?w=321&h=480

http://murderbytype.files.wordpress.com/2010/09/buried-strangers-iii.jpg

This is on its way...looks good:

http://static.deseretnews.com/images/article/sidebar/464150/Berlin-1961-by-Frederick-Kempe-will-be.jpg

This is coming, too:

http://media.nj.com/entertainment_impact_arts/photo/ed0612bkpresjpg-c95d75c998a8b6fa.jpg

Help! I'm out of books! :eek:

As I've already said, the majority of books I read these days are Norwegian crime novels.

This is the one I'm reading right now - the English title would be "The head at the door".

http://cdon.no/media-dynamic/images/product/00/11/95/51/23/3/dahl-tor-edvin-hodet-ved-dora.jpg

Gunter Grass - The Tin Drum...fresh every reread

Gunter Grass - The Tin Drum...fresh every reread

Read any other Grass? I liked The Flounder a lot, too.

http://img1.fantasticfiction.co.uk/images/n35/n175245.jpg

http://images.mobilism.org/?dm=EL7B

BTW...I never paid any attention to Ruth Rendell's books, probably put off by their best-seller status, but I've recently discovered that they really are excellent mysteries in the classical mold, very well-written...in some ways like Simenon, but more developed and substantial.

Read any other Grass? I liked The Flounder a lot, too.

The Flounder is great, as is Dog Years and Diary of a Snail.

On its way:

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_Cd8HqaHAZvU/TRD0m84z2aI/AAAAAAAAHgw/HAVjusn5BSg/s1600/Dying+Gasp.jpg

"To The Limit" by Marc Eliot (The Untold Story of the Eagles).

Most recently I downloaded The Hunt for bin Laden on my Kindle - It's long piece by the Washington Post.

Most recently I downloaded The Hunt for bin Laden on my Kindle - It's long piece by the Washington Post.

Don't worry, we won't spoil it for you.

Just finishing up "A Bright Shining Lie" by Neil Sheehan- great reporting about the Vietnam War.

On same topic, also recommend "Dispatches" by Michael Herr, and "A Rumour of War" by Phil Caputo.

I've been seeing/reading updates on the filming of The Hobbit. I realized I hadn't read it since I was 12 so I'm re-reading it now.

Blowback: The costs & consequences of American Empire by Chalmers Johnson.....

Jaroslav Hašek: The Good Soldier Švejk

With various levels of diligence:
The High Window by Raymond Chandler
Ubik, as well as some short stories by Philip Dick
I'll Sleep When I'm Dead- The Dirty Life and Times of Warren Zevon
The Philosopher's Toolkit

"Nixonland" by Rick Perlstein.

Just finished:

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51puj0kPxdL.jpg

I also just finished 'Infamous' by Ace Atkins this morning. It’s a novel about George Barnes’ (Machine Gun Kelly) kidnapping of Oklahoma City oil magnate Charles Charles F. Urschel in 1933.

Just finishing up "A Bright Shining Lie" by Neil Sheehan- great reporting about the Vietnam War.

Though fairly untruthful.

Arthur Miller - Presence

six marvelous short stories by a great writer

Read this a couple of nights ago...

Socio-economics fascinate me.

http://www.hooverpress.org/client/Products/ProdimageLg/1244-4.jpg

Popped into the local Fleamarket - and picked up

Hell - Dante
Don Quixote - Cervantese and
The Odessey

All £2 for all 3!

Halfway through Don Quixote - then straight to hell !

Just finished book two of Steig Larrson's Millenium series, The Girl That Played With Fire.

Dark Side Of The Moon - J. Carson Black, on my Kindle

http://twelvebooks.com/images/covers/hitch_22.jpg

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-pKYGjRrBW3o/Tftr_UftBrI/AAAAAAAABQA/3J7FeF1CjP8/s400/MedicalMusesCover.jpg

Gotta be a solid read... :rolleyes:

Read this yesterday. Eh.

http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1182525383l/1288247.jpg

This is on its way. Somewhat skeptical of "INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER!" imports, but I'll give it a try:

http://images.betterworldbooks.com/037/Hypnotist-Kepler-Lars-9780374173951.jpg

And this:

http://multimedia.fnac.com/multimedia/images_produits/ZoomPE/5/3/6/9782020927635.jpg

Gretel Ehrlich's The Solace of Open Spaces.

Just finished "Loving Frank", the story of architect Frank Lloyd Wright's affair with Mamah Borthwick Cheney, written primarily from her perspective. A great read that had me feeling conflicted through the end. Done right, it would make a beautiful pre-Depression period film.

I'm reading "History of the United States" by Charles and Mary Beard. I have read most of it in segments during college but I never tried reading it cover to cover. Great book that still reads very easy almost 100 years after it was first published.

On its way:

http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1306110375l/9775295.jpg

Reading the Jack Reacher novels by Lee Child, spoilt by the fact that in best Hollywood fashion Tom Cruise is going to play the guy in a new film.

Typecasting mmm
Jack Reacher Ex forces 6`6" and just as wide fair haired hard man.
played by Tom (i`m not really this tall i`m standing on my wallet ) Crusie. Why :roll:

Tom Cruise is going to play the guy in a new film.

I say, that is funny! :mrgreen:

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I'm about half-way through Rodney Crowell's "Chinaberry Sidewalks".

Let me know about the Grover Cleveland book when you get done with it.

Let me know about the Grover Cleveland book when you get done with it.

I will for sure...I was going to ask you to do the same with "The Murder Of The Century." Read the synopsis of it in a recent History Book Club mailing. Looks interesting...

Jaroslav Hašek: The Good Soldier Švejk
I just requested this from the library. 800 pages? :shock:

Read this yesterday:

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I've been looking for a good book on this for years.

This is not it.

Rambling, unfocused, inadequate and the second book on the subject I've read that gets bogged down in lengthy analysis of The Elders of Zion, which, despite the authors' own fixations, is almost completely irrelevant to modern conspiracist mindset.

In Search of Time, Volume 2: In the Shadow of Young Girls in Flower ~ Marcel Proust
(in ebook form... I am so done with paper books)

Raymond Carver - Beginners

Reading the Jack Reacher novels by Lee Child, spoilt by the fact that in best Hollywood fashion Tom Cruise is going to play the guy.

Worth Dying For? I loved that book! Where Reacher describes how he survived that jet fuel fire in that meth-filled underground bunker! And when he beats up all those college dropout footballers! Yay!

Also, I'm horrified at this Tom Cruise news. My favorite scenes in the books are when Reacher goes to put on new shirts, and they tear immediately up their backs. Or when, in Bad Luck and Trouble, he gets the worst crew cut on the planet.

The Singapore Grip - J.G. Farrell

Reading Stephen King's "Full Dark, No Stars". Halfway through it. Just finished (I read several books at once, sometimes). Just finished (last night) Book VI in 'The Dark Tower' series: 'Song of Susannah'.

Born to Run

Philip Jennings "The (maybe censored) Vietnam War"

"Pandora's Star/ Judas Unchained" Peter F. Hamilton

Reading Stephen King's "Full Dark, No Stars". Halfway through it.

The scene with the rat in the cow barn in that first novella. Would you agree that that's the grossest scene King has written in years?

This:

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A non-series mystery.

Bit of a misnomer, as the book is mainly about later outbreaks, but it's certainly pretty good:

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Right now, it's Timeless Flight Revisited by Johnny Rogan, and Sun King, the Sam Phillips/Sun Records story.

The Hobbit

The politically incorrect guide to the civil war

If you love great fiction and have not read it or even heard of it, I suggest you check out The Wind-up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami. It is a truly unique story with a surreal plot line and includes some less well known (in the west) history of the Japanese occupation of Manchukuo and eventual abandonment as the Communist Chinese advance. The historical part of the novel is a subplot, not the primary story.

check out The Wind-up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami.

Despite very mixed reviews, I've requested this from the library.

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We'll see...

The politically incorrect guide to the civil war

Also requested.

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Despite very mixed reviews, I've requested this from the library.

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We'll see...

What have you read in the reviews? I think it was an outstanding book and like nothing I ever read before. Were the negative reviewers focused on the English translation, or what? I never read a negative review on it, but then I don't pay much attention to them in the first place.

What have you read in the reviews? I think it was an outstanding book and like nothing I ever read before.
Well, that category either works for you or it doesn't as a rule.
Were the negative reviewers focused on the English translation, or what? I never read a negative review on it, but then I don't pay much attention to them in the first place.

The review I read said it rambled, lacked focus and bogged down -- or words to that effect. The other review was favorable. These were from the collected journal reviews on my library's site. Kirkus, Library Journal, NYRB, etc.

In that print reviewers are hopeless panderers to their advertisers, a bad review gets my attention just for its rarity.

I'll take a look and see what I think. [shrug]

Just finished Born to Run. Reading Life Without Us now.

Out of This Furnace by Thomas Bell

and

Germany and the United States of America during the era of Bismarck by
Otto Graf zu Stolberg-Wernigerode

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My wife, she's an angel, bought me the book "Archtop Guitars: The Journey From Cremona To New York" from author Rudy Pensa of "Rudy's Music" for a present for next Christmas. (she also bought me the stool that I'm sitting on in one of the pictures...) What a great book! Some of the guitars in the book, and that were in the exhibit "Guitar Heroes" at the Metropolitan Museum Of Art, are on display in the shop. If you get a chance check out the book. The photography, the history, the contributions of the various participants, even the paper are first rate. Rudy's passion for music, guitars, and people overflow from each page. What a journey this book provides for a guitar aficionado. I spoke with Rudy for quite some time about the book, about guitars, about music and musicians, and about life. What a special individual. He signed my book and I feel very privileged to have had a chance to spend some time with him. Rudy's Soho store is absolutely beautiful! If you get to New York check out Rudy's Soho store, if you're lucky he'll be there. He has some great stories...

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I am working my way through the Arkady Renko series. I always liked the movie, Gorky Park, which lead me to the books. These are excellent!

The Hobbit

Yes, but what are you reading?

I can recommend Raymond Queneau's 'We Always Treat Women Too Well'

http://www.nybooks.com/books/imprints/classics/we-always-treat-women-too-well/

ps. you can read Queneau's 99 versions of a story here

http://www.scribd.com/doc/22561409/Raymond-Queneau-Exercises-in-Style-B-Wright

Though fairly untruthful.

Anchoret,

1/ why do you think Shining Lie is untruthful?
2/ what Vietnam book is more reliable?

Gerry

Anchoret,

1/ why do you think Shining Lie is untruthful?
2/ what Vietnam book is more reliable?

Gerry
The section on the "great" Vietnam correspondents, authors and journalists (virtually all of them) who made their careers on outright lying and willful misrepresentation of facts got a few incisive pages in Brute, the biography of Victor Krulak, but this is very old news. Anyway, it's what journalism is generically about. It's never been about truth.

I don't think there can ever be such a thing as a "reliable" book on the Vietnam war any more than there can be one on "global warming."

The subject is too broad, its factual bases in unprovable dispute in a thousand places and the emotional biases of the writers are set in concrete before the first page is written.

I am working my way through the Arkady Renko series. I always liked the movie, Gorky Park, which lead me to the books. These are excellent!
They are very well-written.

This one, a remarkable read:

That one [Golden Spruce] sounds strange and interesting. I'm putting it on my list.

I just started a "summer project" book, Victor Hugo's Les Miserables.

Anchoret, you sure go through 'em; I'm impressed. You ever clock your reading speed?

"Les Miserables" has had an impact on so many different influential people of vastly differing ideologies. Many autobiographies cite this novel as influential. It had an impact on me too. I hope you enjoy the read.

Yes, Anchoret is the man. I envy his ability to cultivate his mind.

Almost finished. (I'm slow, I know.) Wow, what a book. Makes you think about the world today.

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Philip Dick - Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?

Reading: The 60 Greatest Conspiracy Theories of All Time.

Audio Book in the Car: Just finished James Michener's Sayonara and The Bridges at Toko-Ri; just starting Space.

Sat down with Unseen Academicals (latest Discworld book) yesterday.

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and

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Flipped through "***** my Dad Says", which was, oddly, the pick for my wife's book club. What a silly idea: turn a stream of tweets into a book. What happens on Twitter should stay on Twitter.

Flipped through "***** my Dad Says", which was, oddly, the pick for my wife's book club. What a silly idea: turn a stream of tweets into a book. What happens on Twitter should stay on Twitter.

They turned it into a sitcom with William Shatner as the kooky father. It flopped.

I like Don't Even Reply (Emails From An A**hole better).

The fifth book in the "Song Of Fire And Ice" by George R.R. Martin, "A Dance With Dragons". The first book was "A Game Of Thrones", the HBO series. It's great fantasy series, though it is taking Martin a great deal of time to complete. He's projecting seven books in total. I hope he lives long enough.

I am presently reading about one of the more interesting military and civil war figures, N. Bedford Forrest.

The current book is "A Battle From The Start" by Brian Wills. It is pretty good, but not as detailed as another and I recommend the other if you read only one book on Forrest. It is Nathan Bedford Forrest: In Search Of The Enigma by Davison and Foxx. It's one of the best books I've ever read, period.

http://www.amazon.com/Nathan-Bedford-Forrest-Search-Enigma/dp/1589804155/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1314728467&sr=1-1

I just finished Stieg Larrson's trilogy. I don't think I've ever read so much in such a short time. I couldn't put them down.
Uneven in places, with some questionable plot shifts, but compelling stuff with great characters.

THE OREGON TRAIL - Francis Parkman

I've since finished Game of Thrones. Started the second book, and haven't gotten past page 40 or so.

Am now reading Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas by Hunter S. Thompson.

Recently went through some recommendations that I did not like, nor regard as particularly good novels, and they were also LONG, just to add insult to injury. One I gave up on in disgust after 600 pages. :roll:
Not the works of genius a few stray critics felt.

Aside from being too long and improbable, this was adequate:

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This was slightly better and shorter, though as improbable:

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I just finished Stieg Larrson's trilogy. I don't think I've ever read so much in such a short time. I couldn't put them down.
Uneven in places, with some questionable plot shifts, but compelling stuff with great characters.


I've got to get those.

I am presently reading about one of the more interesting military and civil war figures, N. Bedford Forrest.

I recently read The Politically-Incorrect Guide to the Civil War, that someone recommended here earlier. Though tendentious and in many ways badly written, it pointed out a lot of interesting facts (particularly about Forrest) that would be surprising to most people who have experienced the usual brainwashing on the subject.

I just finished Stieg Larrson's trilogy.

I've got to get those.

My dissenting view: Overlong, preachy, weak pacing, tiresome.

Epidemic flaws in popular crime fiction these days, especially coming out of Scandinavia.

I've got to get those.

If you don't like violence, be forewarned. There are some disturbing moments and descriptions.

Also, I still much prefer Raymond Chandler. :grin:

Likely due to my charming, positive attitude :shock: I lean towards dystopian/post apocalyptic fiction.

I'm re-reading "The Immortals" by James Gunn which has a major sub plot where hospitals in the future are huge corporations (!) that force you to sign contracts for medical procedures (!!). If you default on your payments, they come and get you, paralyze you and store you until your parts are needed (!!!).


Written in 1962 I first read it in the seventies: Then, it was interesting.


...Now, it's chilling....



.

I just downloaded John McPhee's Annals of the Former World to my kindle.

I now need suspenders for my cargo pants.

Becoming Jimi Hendrix

Soldiers And Slaves

Play It As It Lays by Joan Didion - very dark, 'enjoy' is not the word but it is stunning.
Also, The Drought by JG Ballard, which is turning into quite a fascinating read.

Just started reading Jimi Hendrix: The Intimate Story of a Betrayed Musical Legend by Sharon Lawrence.

Interesting read, although some of the details dicsussed in the book are very controversial.

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Just started "The Greater Journey: Americans in Paris" by David McCullough...

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Finally came in:

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Just finished Ham On Rye by Bukowski, I enjoyed it but it was nowhere near as good as I'd been led to believe..

Finally arrived. Mildly interesting, far more sympathetic toward the Dodds than any other of the many accounts of them I've ever read, which have been uniformly derisive. Despite Larson's efforts, the Dodds still come off as extraordinarily bad choices for representing America's interests in Hitler's prewar Germany:

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Life, by Keith Richards.

I just got this for my birthday. Boy, Keith sure thinks highly of himself. However, when he sticks to talking about music, it's quite good.

Just started A People's Tragedy: The Russian Revolution: 1891-1924 by Orlando Figes.

American Gunfight: The Plot to Kill President Truman--and the Shoot-out That Stopped It

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not something you hear about every day.

Right now, Decision Points by George W. Bush.

The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club- Charles Dickens

American Gunfight: The Plot to Kill President Truman--and the Shoot-out That Stopped It

I read this one a few years ago.

It was very interesting to see the incredible difference between then and now in terms of Presidential security.

You'll be amazed. Hunter also has an actual understanding of firearms, impossibly rare among those who routinely write about them in total ignorance.

I just finished Sudden Sea: The Great Hurricane of 1938 by R.A. Scotti. Harrowing.

Mother night by Kurt Vonnegut and it's bloody brilliant!

Would totally reccomend it as a starting point for his work.

About to start blood meridian by cormac McCarthy

Starting this, finally -- looks really, really good:



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I keep a book going all the time, but sometimes I read only a few minutes at a sitting.

I almost never read more than one book at a time, but right now I have three started. At home I'm reading Dickens's The Pickwick Papers, as is chezdeluxe, I see. Dickens is great fun, and this is some of his earliest stuff.

At school I have Wind, Sand, and Stars, by Antoine de St. Exupery. When I used to fly, pilots always recommended it as a "classic." I see what they mean, and I don't think you have to be a pilot. Fine thinker and writer.

I went camping last weekend and found myself with neither book (forgot to pack Dickens,) so now I've started a book with a pair of treatises--one early, one later--by Friederich Nietzsche, The Birth of Tragedy and The Genealogy of Morals. Interesting stuff; I've never read Nietzsche, at least not so directly.

Mother night by Kurt Vonnegut and it's bloody brilliant

Couldn't agree more. I first read it in '72, and a couple times since and it's my favorite Vonnegut book. I'm not sure why it resonates so strongly with me, but it does, as much because of the 'nation of two' idea of Campbell's relationship with his wife Helga as with the larger themes.

I'm currently reading Andrew Robert's The Storm of War, and it's every bit as good a read as I expected from the great reviews it keeps getting.

Glad there are others who love that book. I had never read much vonnegut until recently. I have read sirens of Titan, hocus pocus, breakfast of champs as well. Takin a break now but have slaughterhouse five on my nighstand to read next.

This cormac McCarthy book is really good. Violent but a nice change of pace. Amazing writer, especially if you like cowboys like most tele pickers!

Finally got this in and started:

http://images.indiebound.com/295/157/9780399157295.jpg

Amazing story about an episode no one seems to pay much attention to today. Well-written.

"Midnight Assassin: A Murder in America's Heartland"

Looks at a Thanksgiving weekend 1900 axe murder near Indianola, Iowa.

I slept with the lights on last night.

:wink:

have slaughterhouse five on my nightstand

That one's probably his masterpiece. I've read all Vonnegut, I think, now--maybe I've missed a couple--since I first ran across him during college. One of my favorites, for some reason, is Deadeye Dick. Right now I forget exactly why.



P.S. Anchoret, that Berlin 1961 does look like a good one.

A book about the Mongols by Conn Iggulden. Empire of Silver.

The French Revolution -Oxford Edition

Finally got this in and started:

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Amazing story about an episode no one seems to pay much attention to today. Well-written.

Looks Interesting!

Slash's Autobiography, and finishing up Bradbury's Martian Chronicles. After that, I'll start in on Kafka's Metamorphosis (just picked it up today). It's one of those that I should have read, and never did.

A book about the Mongols by Conn Iggulden. Empire of Silver.

Conn Iggulden is a frighteningly good writer :grin:

The Jack Reacher series by Lee Child. And If You Ask Me
(and of Course You Won't) by Betty White.

The Jack Reacher series by Lee Child.
Read them all , the Mitch Rapp series by Vince Flynn, RobertCrais's Elvis Cole and Joe Pike (Pike is bad ass).
Righ now I am finishing book 5 of the "game of thrones" series, book 5 like book 4 is a little long with not much going on

Fall of Giants - Ken Follet

^ I really enjoyed that one. Can't wait for next two books.

I've since moved onto We by Yevgeny Zamyatin.

Hitch 22 by Chris Hitchens.

"In Fifty Years We'll All Be Chicks" - Adam Carolla

There ought to be a WARNING label that this book is not to be read by People with abdominal or rib issues because it is a non-stop politically incorrect howl at the moon that just may be the most spot-on intellectually together diatribe/rant that I've ever read in my adult life.

If your Family never had the funds to send you to an upper crust school this book will remedy the situation.
I wish this had been around when I was twenty.
Adam Carolla has taken all essential philosophies and distilled them into a graduate thesis for regular folks.
This work deserves The Nobel Prize for Literature. :cool: