Discuss books here

[Craig Arko]

Ok, I wouldn't normally go to a sports bar to talk books, since they're too damn loud. But since the subject was disparaged in the Announcers not using modern metrics thread, it seems like a good idea.

[Craig Arko]

I'm just finishing up Andy Weir's The Martian, which is also going to be a big screen release in October. Definitely hard science Sci-Fi.

 

Otherwise plowing through non-fiction, including the volumes of Twain's autobiography.

 

What do you all like, and recommend?

[biggentleben]

I just completed "Up, Up, and Away" about the Montreal Expos. Excellent and quick read. I'm not sure on the next from my kindle list I'll start reading while at the doctor's office with consumers - possibly a book on the argument to classify schizophrenia as a developmental disability rather than a mental illness. I'm forgetting the title of it at the moment, but it came highly recommended in my work circles.

[bluechipper]

My favorite book ever is "A Painted House" by John Grisham. I've read it 3 or 4 times. I know it's a really popular book, so what did others who have read it think about it?

[biggentleben]

This may be sacrilege, but with Tom Clancy and Harlan Coben in the same general genre, I never got into Grisham. i've read his "big 3" early books - The Firm, The Pelican Brief, and The Client. The only other book of his I've read is Calico Joe.

[kab21]

I never really got into Clancy or Grisham.

 

My latest book was Indonesia, Etc by Elizabeth Pisani where she traveled for a year all over the islands staying in small villages and trying to understand their individual and mixed aspect of their cultures.  The bureaucracy is absolutely staggering in Indonesia.  

 

Next up might be Shackleton's Stowaway or something else from the shelf.  Yes, I have started reading e-books but I still prefer real paper.

[biggentleben]

 

I never really got into Clancy or Grisham.

 

My latest book was Indonesia, Etc by Elizabeth Pisani where she traveled for a year all over the islands staying in small villages and trying to understand their individual and mixed aspect of their cultures.  The bureaucracy is absolutely staggering in Indonesia.  

 

Next up might be Shackleton's Stowaway or something else from the shelf.  Yes, I have started reading e-books but I still prefer real paper.

 

I have a book sitting by my bedside, but I've found an e-book as I sit in a doctor's office or other tedious times where I have to be present, but I don't have anything i can actively do (like sitting in court with a consumer last week) allows me to do something more productive than playing more games of sudoku as I wait.

[Craig Arko]

Pretty much entirely switching to e-book format for anything new as a good chunk of my existing 5000 volumes are packed away in boxes.

 

After enjoying Alistair Maclean and Michael Crichton, I had trouble reading the likes of Clancy.

[Brock Beauchamp]

 

I'm just finishing up Andy Weir's The Martian, which is also going to be a big screen release in October. Definitely hard science Sci-Fi.

I read The Martian earlier this year.

 

I cannot recommend this book highly enough. Don't let the phrase "hard sci-fi" scare anyone away. Weir weaves hard science into the book in such an approachable way you don't even realize you're learning some really cool **** half the time.

 

Fantastic novel and I can't wait for the movie.

 

In other news, all I've been reading lately are Star Wars novels because I've been incapable of handling anything more meaty than that for whatever reason.

[Mike Sixel]

I mostly read fantasy books. But I just finished the dispossessed by Le Guin. Old school political book disguised as sci fi. I sold most of my books in preparation for moving, and read mostly ebooks now. I have about thirty unread paper books left to read.

[Brock Beauchamp]

 

I mostly read fantasy books. But I just finished the dispossessed by Le Guin. Old school political book disguised as sci fi. I sold most of my books in preparation for moving, and read mostly ebooks now. I have about thirty unread paper books left to read.

I haven't read any La Guin books, much to my wife's chagrin.

 

I should remedy that fact.

[Mike Sixel]

 

I haven't read any La Guin books, much to my wife's chagrin.

 

I should remedy that fact.

 

This was on sale on Play Books, quite political. KLAW reviewed it on The Dish if you want more information. As you may know, he devours books and reviews them.

 

I have never read the Lathe of Heaven, but the movie entertained me as a youth.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ursula_K._Le_Guin

 

I am currently going back to a Glen Cook collection from his first works.....read book one a couple months ago.

[USMCTwin]

I recently finished Dead Wake and it was a great read. It is about the voyage of The Lusitania and beginnings of World War 1. The writer used letters and newspaper clippings to give you an inside look at individual lives. So it has the details and intricacies of a fiction book, but it is all actually non-fiction. It was a fascinating account and I strongly recommend it. 

[biggentleben]

 

Pretty much entirely switching to e-book format for anything new as a good chunk of my existing 5000 volumes are packed away in boxes.

 

After enjoying Alistair Maclean and Michael Crichton, I had trouble reading the likes of Clancy.

 

Clancy got lazy in the end (and the posthumous books bearing his name are absolute filler trash), but I have an interest and appreciation for military tactics, and he was very good about researching to get those right within his books.

 

I'm finding myself having to create wish lists and buy a book every so often when I go play on Amazon, otherwise, I may spend a house payment on e-books just to have as I travel around.

[Hrbowski]

Currently I am reading The Gathering Storm by Winston Churchill; it is an excellent read, and the first of six in a series he wrote on WW2.

[Squirrel]

Most of my reading is done after work, on weekends, on the beach (on vacation), so I tend to read a lot of easy crap. But of all the 'light reading crap' I've read I enjoyed the Hollows series by Kim Harrison. Not sure why it appealed, but it was easy filler for me when I needed to relax and escape.

[Vanimal46]

"The Memory of Running" by Ron McLarty is one of the best books I've read recently. I've heard it's even better as an audio book. 

[Mike Sixel]

Oh, I am also listening to the BBC radio adaptation of the foundation by Asimov.....classic 70s production

[Craig Arko]

Oh, I am also listening to the BBC radio adaptation of the foundation by Asimov.....classic 70s production

Asimov was an interesting dichotomy for me; I devour his non-fiction but, excepting The Foundation series, found his fiction to be too, stiff is the term I'd use. Whereas Heinlein could really rock a novel.

[Mike Sixel]

Yes, I love the Foundation books, the rest ..... I think stiff is a good word actually.

[twinsnorth49]

Recently read "The Feminists Go Swimming" by Irish author Michael Collins. It's a series of 11 short stories about the Irish psyche, highly enjoyable.

 

Also just finished Dial M, The Murder of Carol Thompson, by William Swanson. A buddy of mine had loaned it to me quite some time ago and I only recently got round to reading it. What a well written book, quite riveting.

[Craig Arko]

So one series I was interrupted while reading and need to return to (probably from the beginning again) is Harry Turtledove's Worldwar/Colonization set.

 

Science Fiction combined with alternate history, namely Second World War and the aftermath.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Worldwar_series

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colonization_(series)

 

 

[Badsmerf]

You guys all read adult stuff. I just can't get into that type material. I'm not into sentimental stuff, anything about war, or cool experiences. Just seems too dry. If I wanted dry, I would just get back into my Calc based Statistics book or a new Physics book. I like reading young adult. I finished the Divergent Series and wasn't impressed. Currently I'm reading a book called Legend and at about half way through have enjoyed it a lot. 

 

The problem I have with young adult, is the reading level is a little frustrating sometimes. I read them for the story, and to be in a different world. I liked the Mortal Instruments books a lot, for an example. I would like to read more adult books like this, but don't want to go super nerd like Star Wars (sorry Brock lol). Any recommendations?

[Squirrel]

 

You guys all read adult stuff. I just can't get into that type material. I'm not into sentimental stuff, anything about war, or cool experiences. Just seems too dry. If I wanted dry, I would just get back into my Calc based Statistics book or a new Physics book. I like reading young adult. I finished the Divergent Series and wasn't impressed. Currently I'm reading a book called Legend and at about half way through have enjoyed it a lot. 

 

The problem I have with young adult, is the reading level is a little frustrating sometimes. I read them for the story, and to be in a different world. I liked the Mortal Instruments books a lot, for an example. I would like to read more adult books like this, but don't want to go super nerd like Star Wars (sorry Brock lol). Any recommendations?

A friend of mine recommended the Divergent series, and, living in Chicago, thought it would be an interesting read. I stopped somewhere in the middle of the second book. I think it's an example where the movies are marginally better than the books. 

[Craig Arko]

 

You guys all read adult stuff. I just can't get into that type material. I'm not into sentimental stuff, anything about war, or cool experiences. Just seems too dry. If I wanted dry, I would just get back into my Calc based Statistics book or a new Physics book. I like reading young adult. I finished the Divergent Series and wasn't impressed. Currently I'm reading a book called Legend and at about half way through have enjoyed it a lot. 

 

The problem I have with young adult, is the reading level is a little frustrating sometimes. I read them for the story, and to be in a different world. I liked the Mortal Instruments books a lot, for an example. I would like to read more adult books like this, but don't want to go super nerd like Star Wars (sorry Brock lol). Any recommendations?

This is an oldie as opposed to current young adult literature, but give it a look-see. There are sequels.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Incomplete_Enchanter

[kab21]

Perhaps my latest book would interest you.  It is a historical novel based on Shackleton's failed Antarctic expedition.  Note that it is a novel and not the biography.  The author used the facts of the expedition and the people but then told the story from the POV of the lowest man on the ship (the stowaway).  The dialogues and thoughts are completely made up and are just guesses as to what they might have been thinking.  I liked it a lot as a departure from a factually based book and it easily mixed in the historical aspect of it.

 

Or maybe I am just a geography and history nerd.

[Craig Arko]

 

Perhaps my latest book would interest you.  It is a historical novel based on Shackleton's failed Antarctic expedition.  Note that it is a novel and not the biography.  The author used the facts of the expedition and the people but then told the story from the POV of the lowest man on the ship (the stowaway).  The dialogues and thoughts are completely made up and are just guesses as to what they might have been thinking.  I liked it a lot as a departure from a factually based book and it easily mixed in the historical aspect of it.

 

Or maybe I am just a geography and history nerd.

That sounds pretty cool. What's the title?

[kab21]

Yeah, I forgot that.  Shackleton's Stowaway by Victoria McKernan.  Apparently the stowaway (Perce Blackborow) never talked about the experience with his family.  There was no journal or anything else to base his thoughts on.

 

It feels more like the fantasy genre where the teenagers end up on an impossible quest but it just happens to be based on a real Antarctic expedition. 

 

I really dig current and historical travel though.  I loved Roland Huntsford's 'Last Place on Earth' where he gave detailed descriptions of Amundson and Scott's competing expeditions to the South Pole and why one team succeeded and the other failed. 

[formerly33]

A discussion about books is probably the best imaginable idea, no matter the time or place.

 

At the moment I am reading Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky. It is an impressive book; I guess I'd have to rank it in my top 5 right now, even though I'm not done with it yet. It dwarves any other classic I've ever read ... even Dickens, but especially Brontë (doesn't matter which sister, though to be completely honest I have yet to read Emily).

 

Another of my favorite books is The Inextinguishable Symphony by Martin Goldsmith. It's the true story of the author’s parents and their struggles and triumphs as Jewish musicians in Nazi Germany. It’s a compelling read, possibly or even probably the best book I’ve ever laid hands on. I’d recommend it to anyone who’s interested in reading anything about music, the Holocaust, or even just looking for a love story … it’s a lot better than your typical romance, though. Don't be turned away by the reference to love; there's absolutely nothing cheesy about this book.

 

There's also The Story of Art by E.H. Gombrich. I had to read that for school and took my own sweet time about it, too, but it's really a great introduction to art history.

 

And if I had to give a favorite author, it would probably be Albert Marrin. The last and probably best of his books that I have read was America and Vietnam: The Elephant and the Tiger. I think the title is somewhat self-explanatory.

 

Well, those are the books that come to mind at the moment. Reading this over, I realize that they're mostly history. Lol ... I would never consider myself a history fanatic or anything ... but I guess I'm not fanatical about any literary genre these days. My productivity when it comes to the book department has dropped significantly in the past year or so, and I'm inclined to lay the blame in part on Twins Daily.

[Shane Wahl]

 

A discussion about books is probably the best imaginable idea, no matter the time or place.

 

At the moment I am reading Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky. It is an impressive book; I guess I'd have to rank it in my top 5 right now, even though I'm not done with it yet. It dwarves any other classic I've ever read ... even Dickens, but especially Brontë (doesn't matter which sister, though to be completely honest I have yet to read Emily).

 

Another of my favorite books is The Inextinguishable Symphony by Martin Goldsmith. It's the true story of the author’s parents and their struggles and triumphs as Jewish musicians in Nazi Germany. It’s a compelling read, possibly or even probably the best book I’ve ever laid hands on. I’d recommend it to anyone who’s interested in reading anything about music, the Holocaust, or even just looking for a love story … it’s a lot better than your typical romance, though. Don't be turned away by the reference to love; there's absolutely nothing cheesy about this book.

 

There's also The Story of Art by E.H. Gombrich. I had to read that for school and took my own sweet time about it, too, but it's really a great introduction to art history.

 

And if I had to give a favorite author, it would probably be Albert Marrin. The last and probably best of his books that I have read was America and Vietnam: The Elephant and the Tiger. I think the title is somewhat self-explanatory.

 

Well, those are the books that come to mind at the moment. Reading this over, I realize that they're mostly history. Lol ... I would never consider myself a history fanatic or anything ... but I guess I'm not fanatical about any literary genre these days. My productivity when it comes to the book department has dropped significantly in the past year or so, and I'm inclined to lay the blame in part on Twins Daily.

 

Crime and Punishment woke me to the power of the novel. I still love that book very much and think it is definitely one of the top 10 most impactful-on-me books I have read, fiction or non-fiction.