Whatcha reading?

[wild_turkey 3159]

I would rank the Erik Larson books as follows:

1. The Splendid and the Vile
2. The Devil in the White City
3. Dead Wake
4. Isaac’s Storm
5. Thunderstruck

Although I read The Devil in the White City about 15 years ago (damn that’s a long time) and I read The Splendid and the Vile last year, so maybe there’s a little bias involved. Regardless, they are all good except for In the Garden of Beast which sits on my shelf and for unknown reasons does not get read.

[Hozz 1017]

8 hours ago, wild_turkey said:

I would rank the Erik Larson books as follows:

1. The Splendid and the Vile
2. The Devil in the White City
3. Dead Wake
4. Isaac’s Storm
5. Thunderstruck

Although I read The Devil in the White City about 15 years ago (damn that’s a long time) and I read The Splendid and the Vile last year, so maybe there’s a little bias involved. Regardless, they are all good except for In the Garden of Beast which sits on my shelf and for unknown reasons does not get read.

That is exactly how I have them except Splendid and the Vile would be last.  I did not find it engaging at all in the way the other books were.

[closetohumping 17435]

Glad I found this thread.  All through life, people have been jealous of my ability to read good.  Good to find some fellow intellectuals.

[SimonBolivar 10957]

On 5/19/2022 at 8:54 AM, closetohumping said:

Good to find some fellow intellectuals.

Was it our extensive Stephen King and Tom Clancy knowledge that gave it away?

[BigOrange1 6433]

read this over the weekend:

just incredibly well written.  as a white guy, gives me a lot to think about.

[TexPx 2322]

Found this one fascinating. Focus is mostly on the Ford family, Detroit and the Willow Run facility.

[Post Oak 20208]

On 5/10/2022 at 2:41 PM, TonyTexas said:

Iggulden’s Conqueror series on the Mongols is really good as is the Empire series about Rome. 

I tore through the Mongol series. It was fantastic.  Started the War of the Roses series and didn't care for it at all.  At 100 pages I gave up.

[TexPx 2322]

I tore through the Mongol series. It was fantastic.  Started the War of the Roses series and didn't care for it at all.  At 100 pages I gave up.

Have to check those out. I get into historical fiction binges but then have to take a break.
Read these from Jay Penner followed by his Cleopatra trilogy. He seems to know his stuff and has a succinct writing style that always keeps the story moving along. (Penner is Dallas based)

[UpperWestside 6160]

Been reading this book. It’s pretty engrossing and the descriptions make you feel like you are there with the various surfers like Laird Hamilton riding the wave with them. I will likely never get on a wave the size of the ones they tow-surf on, but I love surfing and this book is such a great read!

Combining it with the interviews with scientists from around the globe is a masterful touch. I highly recommend reading this book even if surfing and the ocean are of no interest to you!

[Post Oak 20208]

5 hours ago, TexPx said:

Have to check those out. I get into historical fiction binges but then have to take a break.
Read these from Jay Penner followed by his Cleopatra trilogy. He seems to know his stuff and has a succinct writing style that always keeps the story moving along. (Penner is Dallas based)

Will add them to the list.  Thanks

 

[BayouBill 835]

To whoever recommended The Source by James Michener, thank you. Got it not long ago and absolutely love it. 

[Deej 76755]

[TexPx 2322]

To whoever recommended The Source by James Michener, thank you. Got it not long ago and absolutely love it. 

That’s a good one. I think The Covenant may be my favorite Michener.

[hookem2010 2623]

On 5/10/2022 at 2:41 PM, TonyTexas said:

Iggulden’s Conqueror series on the Mongols is really good as is the Empire series about Rome. 

I'm about to finish The Journeyer by Gary Jennings, historical fiction of Marco Polo's journey into Kubilai's khanate. Very explicit, very entertaining. It's a beast of a book though, nearly 800 pages. Interested to check out his book in a similar vein, Aztec. 

[TonyTexas 10506]

1 minute ago, hookem2010 said:

I'm about to finish The Journeyer by Gary Jennings, historical fiction of Marco Polo's journey into Kubilai's khanate. Very explicit, very entertaining. It's a beast of a book though, nearly 800 pages. Interested to check out his book in a similar vein, Aztec. 

I’ve read all of Jennings stuff and enjoy it as a historical fiction fan. Try Spangle. It’s about a southern circus troupe that takes its act to Europe. 

[The Original Greaser Bob 2822]

Persian Fire by Tom Holland (audio) (2005)

As it said in one of the comments - a meandering study of the Persian Empire from the Greek perspective.  I enjoyed its quick pace.

I liked it when they impaled.

[PittsburghTiger 6175]

Read 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea while on vacation at the beach in France. It was fun, although, I wasn't crazy about the ending. I might have to read the end again to see if I was just tired, or something, and perhaps that's why I didn't like it.

I also started the The Arabian Nights, and I am not sure I will finish it because so many of the people in the stories are just imbeciles.

Edited July 16, 2022 by PittsburghTiger

[Coach pop a bitch 5459]

[ImissWallyPryor 9046]

On 7/3/2020 at 12:51 PM, Post Oak said:

Beginning this one.  I usually like Philbrick so I have high hopes

 

I was just watching the trailer for the movie to decide if I wanted to suggest it for the family to watch tonight, and my son said he read the book in college 8ish years ago. He said the book was excellent, but the trailer makes it look like they had to embellish (invent?) a love story that he doesn’t recall being of any significance in the book.

Edit:  Watched the movie. Entertaining, but not great. I’d give it a 7. My son said it was reasonably true to the book, but it had been 8-9 years since he read it. The love story wasn’t over-the-top, and it didn’t detract from the movie. Chris Hemsworth is dreamie.

That's about all you can expect for a movie review from ImWP. 

Edited July 19, 2022 by ImissWallyPryor

[After irth 1243]

On 7/17/2022 at 12:11 AM, Coach pop a bitch said:

Rec from Dave Chapelle, amirite?

[Vegas64 673]

 

[Coach pop a bitch 5459]

3 hours ago, After irth said:

Rec from Dave Chapelle, amirite?

Lol had no idea he spoke about it. Found it downloaded on a work computer 

[Rimbo 25911]

Picked this up in the library, (c) 2008: 

Good read about a really interesting guy. Doesn't waste a lot of time on "early life" bullshit -- focused primarily on his career with the 49ers.

Now that I've finished that, working on this one:

Interesting comparing this to Dick Marcinko's Rogue Warrior, given how they hated each other.

[After irth 1243]

Spent the past few days absorbing this, along with relevant discography on deck. 

[After irth 1243]

Highly recommend Unmasked by Paul Holes for those of you wanting a Mindhunter-type True Crime fix with more of a science bent. 

[Hozz 1017]

The Moral Case for Fossil Fuels

Same guy has a more recent book along the same lines but I started with this one.

[Baboontyme 2809]

I just finished this book Lapvona by Ottessa Moshfegh. Fiction novel. Super fucked up. I don't know what I thought of it. 

[WBT 20561]

I read her first two books.  Also super fucked up...thinking back I don't even remember much of what happens just the vibes given off.

[Coach pop a bitch 5459]

[Baboontyme 2809]

On 8/9/2022 at 8:43 PM, WBT said:

I read her first two books.  Also super fucked up...thinking back I don't even remember much of what happens just the vibes given off.

Yeah the more I hear about her she seems kind of like a shock artist. I had heard great things about Lapvona, read it was a quick read that you couldn't put down, so I said Eff it and bought it. Going to explain exactly how fucked up it is in the tag below.

Spoiler

Lapvona is a village in ancient times. There is a dude who is a sheep farmer. He has a deformed, stupid son. The son thinks his mom died in childbirth b/c that's what the dad told him. The truth is that the dad raped the mother and took her as his prisoner. She was a child who had her tongue cut out and couldn't speak. She tried to kill the fetus with the help of the village witch, who doubles as the wet nurse and every male in the village was raised on her nips and still come back into young adulthood to sip from the 80 year old witches' tits. She eventually had the boy who she hated and the dad also hates. She escaped and became a slave to the nuns when the deformed boy was a baby. The village is ruled by a fucked up demented old lord. The lord has a wife, and a son who is roughly the same age as the boy but is a stud. Turns out the wife hates the lord and it's actually the stableman's kid. The boy throws a rock at the kid near a cliff for unknown reasons and the stud kid falls off the cliff and dies. The stupid boy tells his dad who beats the fuck out of him and then they go get the dead kid and take it to the lord to explain what the dumb boy did. The lord thinks it's funny and keeps the boy to replace the dead kid. He lives in the kingdom as the Lord's son and companion. Due to a series of demented events the tongueless child mother makes her way to the castle/lord's compound. On her way, she is found by the sheep herder who rapes the fuck out of her again. She shows up at the lord's manor and is reuinited with the boy, who she knows is her son and he figures out is his mom. She still hates him and he wants her to love him. The lord decides he wants to make the childless girl his new wife. She is pregnant and he thinks it was an immaculate conception and all of the dumb villagers believe him and think she is going to give birth to the new Jesus. Oh also the original wife ran off to find the stableman, who was missing because the Lord had him killed. So the lord marries the tongueless girl. I'm not clear if the witch kills the tongueless girl or if she just dies after childbirth. The lord is killed drinking some poisonous wine sent by the original wife's brother who runs an adjacent kingdom. The boy steals the baby and throws it off the cliff. The end. 

Had no idea what this book was about going in. Yeah. 

[NoName 16351]

On 7/19/2022 at 1:18 AM, Rimbo said:

Now that I've finished that, working on this one:

Interesting comparing this to Dick Marcinko's Rogue Warrior, given how they hated each other.

how was the mcraven book?

[Rimbo 25911]

10 hours ago, NoName said:

how was the mcraven book?

I've had a lot of distractions and am only now getting through it.

It's good! Like the title suggests, each chapter is more or less a self-contained story.

He is a very, very different person from Dick Marcinko, to say the least.

I'm about halfway through, and there's been very little discussion of combat missions. Mostly training episodes. He was too late for Vietnam, too early to be on the ground in Iraq, and then a training injury seems to have done in his ability to be in combat for good.

I like it.

[Biff Tannen 45665]

I probably shouldn't do this, but here we go.

As a lifelong Tolkien fan, and knowing their relationship, I WANT to like CS Lewis, but that's just not in the cards for (in my opinion) a rational human being.

 

CS Lewis - Mere Christianity

I read this in one day when I was round 12 or 13.  I was at my friend's parent's lake house near Corsicana.  I remember it because I put it down and had the following reaction.

 

This was the first review I found on the interwebs and I have to agree:

Quote

I think a copy of Mere Christianity should be provided free to every impressionable schoolchild in the country. It’d put them off for life.

 

 

[wild_turkey 3159]

I don’t understand the relevance of your post to this thread. Did you read another CS Lewis book recently that made you think of that experience from your teenage years?

This is the “Watcha reading?” thread, which is a present participle that indicates current action.

[UncleBuck 6452]

It's like he got drunk and started reminiscing about that time he came home and found CS Lewis in bed with his mom. 

[Gunsup 56]

[Lazarus Bocanegra 304]

I celebrate Candace Milllard's entire catalog.  Currently enjoying the latest

[UpperWestside 6160]

This is a really good book and I am thoroughly enjoying it. The author lays bare his own shortcomings in it while laying out the scientific evidence of how important humility is. I would highly recommend it to anyone that enjoys psychology.

[WBT 20561]

I pick this up from the library on Tuesday (damn holiday weekend).  I really enjoy this series.

[NIUHuskies 504]

Went down to Georgia, so needed a reminder of what happened of a lil war 160 years ago 

 

[The Royal We 3067]

 

I really enjoyed this one earlier in the summer.

 

I stayed up late finishing this one last night.  My wife read it a few months back and really wanted me to read it too.  I liked it a lot more than I was expecting and could not put it down last night until I polished it off.

[patrickdrinksbeer 788]

Books i’ve read over the past few years because of this thread:


Loved:
The Dog Stars
A Gentleman in Moscow
East of Eden

Disliked:
Station 11
The Winter of Our Discontent
The Thousand Crimes of Ming Tsu

Liked:
Empire of the Summer Moon
All the Light We Cannot See
Alas, Babylon

[TwiceHorn 31438]

I have a Kindle Unlimited subscription.  It has a lot of sort of "Tier 2" fiction for free, including a lot of military stuff and a lot of it isn't bad, at all.

So I stumbled on this Vietnam fiction series called "Miles to Vietnam."  Several books featuring an Aussie-American 2LT artillery officer in Vietnam, by a guy named William Peter Grasso.  https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09L3M4L33

One book in, it's pretty good.  Seems militarily and historically pretty accurate, the protagonist is an interesting and likable character, and nothing in the writing ground my gears.

If that's your kind of thing, recommended so far.

 

[WhatTheBuck 28775]

On 7/28/2022 at 11:32 AM, Hozz said:

The Moral Case for Fossil Fuels

Same guy has a more recent book along the same lines but I started with this one.

You’re a fucking moron if you believe anything that Koch-funded science denier has to say. It’s way beyond time to stop believing in that bullshit. 

[Hefeweizen 5310]

Cross posting:

 

So I’ll put this review in the book nerd thread too, but I read One Soldier’s War by Babchenko over the past week and it’s a horrible read.  Not in the sense that war is horrible, because that is known and has been brilliantly described in books like Storm of Steel, The Face of Battle, All Quiet, with the old breed, etc.  It made me physically sick reading the book.  Torturing soldiers ( that’s not fucking hazing), killing and eating dogs multiple times, stealing anything they could, literally allowing themselves to get sick, drinking contaminated water, you name it, if it’s disgusting and depraved they’re doing it.

 

I can’t recommend the book as I kind of wish I hadn’t read it.  It is that awful.  The only book that has induced the same reaction off the top of my head was the Rape of Nanking.

[crony 359]

Just finished Slow Horses by Mick Herron after watching the show on Apple tv with Gary Oldman. The show is way better IMO, with much wittier writing. Herron's dialogue is clunky as shit, as if he were about to miss a deadline, so he downed a bunch of booze and watched a House marathon. Seriously it's pretty hack, and no I'm not taking the piss.

[Zepol87 9185]

Just finished greatest beer run ever, good book for in flight reading. Way better than the movie also.

This came in as a rec in the Ukraine-Russia thread, man it's a wild read. 

 

Edited October 16, 2022 by Zepol87

[Gil Bang 25918]

On 1/15/2022 at 4:59 PM, Elmer_Fudd said:

Currently reading this, about 4/5 the way through.

 

Is that your first Connelly? I've read them all, and enjoyed them all. 

On 7/18/2022 at 11:18 PM, Rimbo said:

Picked this up in the library, (c) 2008: 

Good read about a really interesting guy. Doesn't waste a lot of time on "early life" bullshit -- focused primarily on his career with the 49ers.

Now that I've finished that, working on this one:

Interesting comparing this to Dick Marcinko's Rogue Warrior, given how they hated each other.

I liked the McRaven book a lot.  If I'm not confusing it with something else, he writes about how his father flew Spitfires in WWII.  Prior to reading that, I was unaware that anyy Americans flew them. 

[Rimbo 25911]

1 hour ago, Gil Bang said:

Is that your first Connelly? I've read them all, and enjoyed them all. 

I liked the McRaven book a lot.  If I'm not confusing it with something else, he writes about how his father flew Spitfires in WWII.  Prior to reading that, I was unaware that anyy Americans flew them. 

He's written a couple of books. This one's focused on his actual career mostly. Was an interesting thing to read and compare with Marcinko's Rogue Warrior, given that the latter fired McRaven from Seal Team Six... only for McRaven to later lead the Seals.

Currently reading Charlie Wilson's War on the advice of a couple guys from the Ukraine thread. It's like reading a Mafia drama.

[NeverMarryAStripper 21874]

13 hours ago, Gil Bang said:

Is that your first Connelly? I've read them all, and enjoyed them all. 

I liked the McRaven book a lot.  If I'm not confusing it with something else, he writes about how his father flew Spitfires in WWII.  Prior to reading that, I was unaware that anyy Americans flew them. 

All of three of the Eagle squadrons, which consisted of American volunteers flying with the RAF prior to the US entry into WWII, eventually transitioned from Hurricanes to Spitfires.  The Eagle squadrons became the 4th Fighter Group after the US entered the war