Readers corner

[VakAttack]

39 minutes ago, cowcards said:

The lack of crossover is why I think I may skip the others. Although the Stormlight Archive is supposed to be really good too. 

It's good, but dense.  The books are huge. 

[swoopdown]

The Making of the Atomic Bomb - Richard Rhodes

Interesting cast of characters in the world of 20th century physicists.  Most of them warrant their own books.

[swoopdown]

On 2/15/2024 at 8:24 PM, Lipdrag said:

Audiobooks count.  Braille isn't actually reading either, it is feeling.  But I am sure you won't tell a blind guy that the way he experiences a book does not "count".  The sense (sight, touch, sound) through which the information enters your consciousness should not be subject to discrimination.  Show some tolerance for diversity, dude.

I read the first 100 pages of Hamilton then listened to the next 600+ via Libby.  Often in the car and doing yard chores.  Sometimes I would find a couple more tasks to do outside to get through a particularly interesting bit of the book or arrive at my destination but remain in the car listening for a bit until reaching a natural break in the narrative.

PS, did I do an OK job of trash talking you?  Maybe I should read the book.

Audio books count for me!

I've been known to check out the audio and printed version of a book at the same time.  The most recent time for Stalin's War by Sean McMeekin.   Sometimes read, sometimes listen, some times both at once (true that it is slow compared to pure reading even at 1.25X or 1.5X speed, but better slow then nothing) -  My old eyes fade before my brain and the only way I can keep momentum is with audio.  

An aside, I read Hamilton before I started doing audio books - and I'd rank it as one of the best bios ever.  What was your verdict?

 

[jross]

11 hours ago, cowcards said:

I'm a big fan of reading completed series. I hate waiting for books to be released. Here is a few of some of my favorite series and highly recommend reading.

Ender Saga (haven't read any that Card didn't write)

Ender's Saga was good.  What did you think about the Shadow Series?

[swoopdown]

11 hours ago, cowcards said:

I'm a big fan of reading completed series. I hate waiting for books to be released.

Waiting for Patrick Rothfuss and George R. R. Martin is killing me.  Best to read books by deceased authors only and avoid the trama.

[cowcards]

1 hour ago, jross said:

Ender's Saga was good.  What did you think about the Shadow Series?

Was my favorite series within the saga. Loved the Bean perspective. 

 

40 minutes ago, swoopdown said:

Waiting for Patrick Rothfuss and George R. R. Martin is killing me.  Best to read books by deceased authors only and avoid the trama.

EVERYONE has told me to read Kingkiller series but I refuse because I don't want to be left wanting the last one. If he ever finishes it will be an immediate read. 

[VakAttack]

1 hour ago, swoopdown said:

Waiting for Patrick Rothfuss and George R. R. Martin is killing me.  Best to read books by deceased authors only and avoid the trama.

I feel like Rothfuss is worse for some reason.  I just expect this from George at this point.

[MPhillips]

Michael and Jeff Shaara, Historical fiction. All of their American Revolution, Civil War, WWI, WWII, Korean War books.  Great books. I've read plenty of Civil War books that are only history and they get kind of dry after awhile.  

I read constantly. Mostly war history, biographies/autobiographies, from Teddy Roosevelt to Jerry Garcia.

The Killer Angels by Michael Shaara is where I began thirty years ago. If I have to choose one book to recommend, it's this one.

[Wrestleknownothing]

11 hours ago, cowcards said:

Was my favorite series within the saga. Loved the Bean perspective. 

 

EVERYONE has told me to read Kingkiller series but I refuse because I don't want to be left wanting the last one. If he ever finishes it will be an immediate read. 

Seems like you would enjoy Asimov's Robot and Foundation series.

[Lipdrag]

14 hours ago, swoopdown said:

An aside, I read Hamilton before I started doing audio books - and I'd rank it as one of the best bios ever.  What was your verdict?

I thoroughly enjoyed it.  Aside from learning how America would not exist in anything like its present form without Hamilton the most striking to me was learning of the human flaws of the founding founders.  The petty squabbles - and the momentous ones.  

[cowcards]

1 hour ago, Wrestleknownothing said:

Seems like you would enjoy Asimov's Robot and Foundation series.

I'll have to look into this when I am done with Sanderson. 

[jross]

13 hours ago, cowcards said:

Was my favorite series within the saga. Loved the Bean perspective. 

Ender's Shadow, from Bean's perspective, was good.  It's been so long that I forget one book from the next.  

Speaker for the Dead was interesting as the Speaker's goal was to provide a full and honest portrayal of the deceased individual, acknowledging their virtues and flaws.  I've always wondered why people did not take the opportunity to speak the truth at funerals.

Getting the perspectives from the alien species was good for self-awareness considerations. 

Some later books had pacing issues (boring) and abstract themes around philosophy and consciousness.  I remember wondering ...huh... but I still enjoyed them and read them quickly one after another per Amazon in Feb of 2023.

The 'interconnectedness of all living beings' theme was interesting.

This reminds me of personal findings from my ancestry research.  Starting with building out my family tree on Ancestry.com and then connecting with FamilySearch.org, I've found many Americans have a genetic interconnectedness.  If you have a dead grandparent in America, the odds are very high that we can immediately find a shared common ancestor within a few hundred years.  Last Friday, I discovered I am 9th cousin with one colleague, 9th cousins in-law through marriage with a second colleague, and 8th cousin with a half-Asian colleague.  Despite the diversity of cultures, languages, and histories across Europe we are cut from a similar cloth.

[Danny Deck]

On 2/16/2024 at 10:58 AM, Wrestleknownothing said:

I have mentioned "The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the Fall of New York" by Robert Caro before. An amazing book that studies power, how it is acquired, how it is used, how it affects people, through the lens Robert Moses, the man who is most responsible for the way New York City looks and works today, though few had ever heard of him.

It is a mere 1,344 pages long. A nice, breezy summer read. There is also a podcast going on right now that geeks out on the book in installments (99% Invisible on Spotify).

The Power Broker is very good. It is definitely a must read, along with Caro's LBJ series. I'm really hoping he is able to finish it, as I don't think anyone could take it up if he even allowed for that.

[Danny Deck]

As far as e-readers go, I want to plug Kobos. I really like them a lot better than Kindles. I feel like the software is much more geared toward actually reading rather than selling you the next book. It is also a lot easier to load books from other sources. 

I still find the killer feature is that it integrates with the Pocket service and so you can save longform articles and read them on the Kobo. It is a much better experience and way less distracting than trying to read online. 

[jross]

On 2/18/2024 at 10:32 AM, jross said:

Amazon in Feb of 2023.

Feb 2019.

[Danny Deck]

Checking in here.

Top books read since February:

The Friends of Eddie Coyle by George V. Higgins

Oscar Wars by Michael Schulman

The Demon of Unrest by Erik Larson

Re read The Last Picture Show by Larry McMurtry and I love it even more. 

I've also been reading the Throne of Glass series in hopes that I'll understand more of the Reels the lady friend sends me. I feel like they have definitely gotten better although Fantasy isn't generally my preferred genre. 

Reading Independence Day by Richard Ford and Easy Riders Raging Bulls by Peter Biskind now. So far a big fan of both.

[Wrestleknownothing]

On 2/19/2024 at 10:32 AM, Danny Deck said:

The Power Broker is very good. It is definitely a must read, along with Caro's LBJ series. I'm really hoping he is able to finish it, as I don't think anyone could take it up if he even allowed for that.

My daughter turned me on to a podcast that is doing an in depth review of The Power Broker. Each month they go through a few chapters at a time in detail. I have been loving this podcast.

https://99percentinvisible.org/club/

[Danny Deck]

19 minutes ago, Wrestleknownothing said:

My daughter turned me on to a podcast that is doing an in depth review of The Power Broker. Each month they go through a few chapters at a time in detail. I have been loving this podcast.

https://99percentinvisible.org/club/

Oh wow, they got Caro for the first episode. I'm going to give this a listen.

[Jason Bryant]

1 hour ago, Danny Deck said:

Oh wow, they got Caro for the first episode. I'm going to give this a listen.

99%PI is one of my favorite listens - it's not anything I have any background in, but I find how Roman and his staff sets things up are great. Been a longtime listener to that podcast. 

[Gus]

Currently reading The Buddha of Christendom by Sir Robert Anderson and I highly recommend. On that note, I would recommend many of Sir Robert Anderson's books. 

[Jason Bryant]

Last two were books often cited in wrestling - Ben Askren's book Funky was pretty interesting to get a deeper backstory into a guy I know fairly decently - and then Chop Wood, Carry Water, which is one that seems to get referenced a lot. 

I go back to wrestling this coming time with Mat Return, a book sent to me by a fan via instagram. There's a lot of the wrestlers writing books thing I need to revisit, if nothing else, to broaden my knowledge on specific subjects. 

 

[Danny Deck]

3rd quarter was kinda light on stuff I really liked.

3 books about the Nixon years: Watergate: A New History, The Inevitability of Tragedy, and Nixon and Kissinger. 

Finished the Duane Moore series by Larry McMurtry. I think the first three are excellent, The Last Picture Show, Texasville and Duane's Depressed. The last two are much less essential. 

Probably my favorite read was Everybody Knows by Jordan Harper which I'd describe as Michael Clayton written by James Ellroy. 

So far the fall has has some better picks. 

I read Say Nothing by Patrick Radden Keefe in advance of the show coming on Hulu. The book was really good, and I'm 3 episodes into the show and it is excellent. 

I read An Officer and a Spy by Robert Harris finally. It is exactly how I wanted to learn more about The Dreyfus Affair, in dramatic form. I hope it's turned into a show/movie that has US distribution. The adaptation by Roman Polanski isn't distributed here post #Metoo.

[mspart]

Currently reading The Wright Brothers by David McCullough.   Pretty good read.  I was looking for more technical detail but he hits the highlights.  Good book so far. 

mspart

David McCullough

[ILLINIWrestlingBlog]

I have read every book and short story and every article written by Charles Dickens. It was popular to publish anonymous editorials and opinion articles during his day, so I might have missed one or two of those. I like to go back and re-read all of his books. He is my #1 hero. 

Since it's the season, I'm going to drop a short video I did about A Christmas Carol here: 

 

 

A smidgen of a transcript:

I.  What Was Dickens Trying to Do?

     In the first ten sentences of a very short book about Christmas, Charles Dickens used the words "undertaker," "mourners," "burial," "coffin," "deadest" and "unhallowed." But it doesn't end there. In those same ten sentences, which were short sentences for Dickens--one consisted of a single word--he also managed to squeeze in the word "dead" four times! In the eleventh sentence, there's another "dead"! Who gets away with that in a story about Christmas?

     It's like a children's story about ducks and ponies and vampires.

[PortaJohn]

@VakAttack if you are in to or are interested in learning about Western history I recommend "Blood and Thunder" -Hampton Sides.  Kit Carson truly was the Forrest Gump of the West.  It's a great starter or addition to that period of history.