What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

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VictoriaF
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by VictoriaF »

The Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes, a winner of Man Booker Prize.

Victoria
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by gouldnm »

I subscribe to Bookbub, a service where I get an e-mail every day with special deals on electronic books (many of them are free). Today I got an e-mail announcing a deal on a book that many forum readers might find interesting. It's a historical novel that takes place in England, and there are a lot of details about the early days of stock trading and the emergence of modern financial markets. I haven't read the book myself, but it got good reviews. The title is called "A Conspiracy of Paper: A Novel" and it's by David Liss:

A Conspiracy of Paper: A Novel

[Referral code removed; link formatted by admin LadyGeek]
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by ruralavalon »

The Boys in the Boat, by Daniel James Brown. A story of rowing crew in 1930's in Washington state, and the 1936 Olympics. I am surprised how interesting the story is, young people becoming grown-ups at the start of the Great Depression. and how physically demanding the training for the sport was. I have only just started the book.

Just finished the book. An excellent book.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by VictoriaF »

Seneca's On the Shortness of Life, a short but profound book.

Here is an interesting extension of the Bogleheads principles to managing one's life:
Seneca wrote:We are not given a short life but we make it short, and we are not ill-supplied but wasteful of it. Just as when ample and princely wealth falls to a bad owner it is squandered in a moment, but wealth however modest, if entrusted to a good custodian, increases with use, so our lifetime extends amply if you manage it properly. (p.2)
Seneca divides life into three periods: past, present, and future.
Seneca wrote:Of these, the present is short, the future is doubtful, the past is certain. (p.15)
He suggests that living in the present results in a fuller life than living in the future:
Seneca wrote:But putting things off is the biggest waste of life: it snatches away each day as it comes, and denies us the present by promising the future. The greatest obstacle to living is expectancy, which hangs upon tomorrow and loses today. You are arranging what lies in Fortune's control, and abandoning what lies in yours. (p.13)
The bold of the last sentence is mine. This is the fundamental paradox of our lives, trying to control the things that are not in our control and abandoning our responsibility to control the things that are in our control.

Interestingly, Seneca's advice is different from a modern suggestion to live in the present instead of living in the past or in the future. Seneca specifically advocates living in the past. One's past is his ultimate resource, something that he owns, something that can't be taken away. Seneca considers the past not only as one's personal history but also in the broader sense of the great ideas of the past that one has access to. Reading great philosophers and contemplating their ideas in the context of one's own life will lead one to living his life to the fullest and prolonging his life by the virtue of using it well.

Victoria
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by nisiprius »

The Locked Room, by Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö. I'm afraid I didn't like this one as well as earlier ones. Too many unlikely coincidences, too many ironic happenstances. Nevertheless, some great remarks:
When a person of the upper class drinks, it is called "culture"; citizens of the other class having similar needs are immediately categorized as alcoholics, or as persons in need of care and protection. Whereafter they receive neither care nor protection.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by gouldnm »

nisiprius wrote:The Locked Room, by Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö. I'm afraid I didn't like this one as well as earlier ones. Too many unlikely coincidences, too many ironic happenstances. Nevertheless, some great remarks:
When a person of the upper class drinks, it is called "culture"; citizens of the other class having similar needs are immediately categorized as alcoholics, or as persons in need of care and protection. Whereafter they receive neither care nor protection.
Awww, don't get the forum locked on us now!
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by gkaplan »

I'm reading Blood Sisters: the Women behind the War of the Roses by Sarah Gristwood. It's an interesting book. It's not an easy read, however. So many individuals flow in and out of the narrative that it is difficult to keep track of all the individuals named Anne, Edward, Richard, and so on, despite the Glossary of Select Names at the beginning of the book. The book also has a "Simplified Family Tree" that is too simple in my opinion in trying to keep up with the complex relationships, inter-family relationships, and warring relationships.

Sarah Gristwood is a biographer and journalist and attended Oxford University.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by spin_echo »

In the Kingdom of the Ice (north pole exploration, not as good as the Shackleton books)
The Warrior's Apprentice, Shards of Honor, Barrayar (really enjoyed, looking forward to reading the rest!)
Basalisk Station (David Weber -- meh, will probably try another but was a little disappointed)
Excession (Iain Banks) -complex, slooooow start -- this is the book I am currently reading
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by snyder66 »

Just finished, Reunion, by Hannah Pittard. Loved it! Excellent writer!
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by MP173 »

My last trip to the library yielded:

Unstoppable - Ralph Nader which discusses left and right joining together to stop corporations from running America.

Burgler on the Prowl - Lawrence Block....Bernie gets involved in a murder of a Russian bad guy who killed Latvians. Perhaps Block's weakest book...and I am a big fan of his.

Not a good trip to the library.

Hopefully today is a little better.

ed
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by VictoriaF »

I have discovered a blogger Ryan Holiday, who has a lot of interesting advice about reading. Among other things he wrote:
In [url=http://www.ryanholiday.net/how-to-read-more-a-lot-more/]How to read more, a lot more[/url], Ryan Holiday wrote:(One related note: I don’t check books out from the library and haven’t since I was a child. This isn’t like renting a mindless movie. You should be keeping the books you read for reference and for re-reading. If you are OK giving the books back after two weeks you might want to examine what you are reading).
I had not thought about it, but after reading Holiday, I agree with him. When books matter, I buy them, read them slowly, make notes in the margins. When I get a book from the library, it's usually superficial reading, a guilty pleasure.

Other interesting Holiday's posts are: In the latter post, Holiday recommends reading with the focus on extracting the meaning. This is different from reading for school: in a class you are tested on facts, in reading for personal enrichment you look for the value to yourself. It's fine to look for "spoilers" by reading reviews and Wikipedia before starting a book: it enhances the reading experience and makes it more effective from the start. When promoting challenging reading, Holiday recommends to prefer:
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by bertilak »

VictoriaF wrote:IWhen books matter, I buy them, read them slowly, make notes in the margins. When I get a book from the library, it's usually superficial reading, a guilty pleasure.
I also make this distinction, although I always buy the all books I read. I just buy them in cheap paperback editions then sell them in yard sales or to used book stores or give them away.

Some "superficial" books are keepers anyway and I may even go out and buy a fancier edition. Agatha Christie falls into his category. I can't explain it! OK, I might be onto an explanation: the evocation of time, place and character.

I also don't write in books I keep. Any notes I take would be on separate paper that I keep with the book. I rarely do this anyway. I sometimes leave a bookmark in a spot I want to find again quickly.

P.S. despite my current signature ("I have a strong moral sense - by my standards.") Rex Stout has not made my "keeper" category. He is one of the authors who supplies me with an occasional quote I take note of.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by VictoriaF »

bertilak wrote:
VictoriaF wrote:When books matter, I buy them, read them slowly, make notes in the margins. When I get a book from the library, it's usually superficial reading, a guilty pleasure.
I also don't write in books I keep. Any notes I take would be on separate paper that I keep with the book. I rarely do this anyway. I sometimes leave a bookmark in a spot I want to find again quickly.
Ryan Holiday does both. He highlights and writes on book margins. He also has disciplined himself to get back to a book 1-2 weeks after he has finished it, and to transcribe the key ideas to index cards, by hand. The "by hand" part is important, because it forces him to be very selective about what he wants to keep and revisit. He has a large collection of these index cards sorted by topic.
bertilak wrote:I just buy them in cheap paperback editions
I used to buy paperbacks but now I favor hardcover books, because they have wider margins that are more welcoming to my writing.

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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by placeholder »

My reading is entertainment and pretty much all fiction so the library is great for me (and frankly I find his attitude pretty condescending).
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by gkaplan »

If I kept all the books I read, I'd have to live in a place other than the loft I am living in.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by bertilak »

gkaplan wrote:If I kept all the books I read, I'd have to live in a place other than the loft I am living in.
When we came up with plans for our house (8 years ago) one of my criteria was a room big enough to be a library. Lots of bookcases. The room also serves as our media (TV) room.

I was not able to get all the books in so have extra shelves in the office (aka 3rd bedroom) and some books remaining to be sorted are still in boxes stacked in a hallway.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by gouldnm »

With electronic books, finding space to keep books might be a moot point.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by seeshells »

"Banks 2.0" - to - "Banks 3.0", 2 books by Brett King, and "Banks Fraud and Crime", by Norton and Walker.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

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Delete
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

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A Farewell To Arms by Ernie Hemingway.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by VictoriaF »

placeholder wrote:My reading is entertainment and pretty much all fiction so the library is great for me (and frankly I find his attitude pretty condescending).
The questions are:
- Is entertainment inconsistent with cognitive stress?
- Are those who claim to be entertained while experiencing cognitive stress, deluding themselves?
- Is entertainment the present experience only, or it also includes the anticipation of an activity and reminiscence after the activity has ended?

I had periods in my life when I read simple fiction, when I read serious fiction, when I read nonfiction, and when I read some combinations of all. For me, simple fiction was addictive. While I was reading it, I felt as I was wasting my life, and these books have left no lasting effect. To break with what I considered a bad habit, I stopped reading fiction and, with rare exceptions, until recently I read only nonfiction.

Now in retirement, I have more time to read, but I also place a higher value on my time. I continue reading nonfiction, but I also started reading some serious fiction, e.g., several Man Booker award winners. And even though these are works of fiction, I have the same impulse to underline profound statements and insert my own comments on the margins, which requires owning books.

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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by bertilak »

Just finished Mission to Tashkent by Colonel F. M. Bailey. This is the first hand account of the experiences of a British "secret agent" in Central Asia during WW I. It was mostly written in 1924, shortly after the events described and first published in 1946 after its contents were approved by the British government.

The situation in Central Asia was very confusing, to say th least. The main players were:
  • Russian Tsarists
    Russian Bolsheviks
    Germans, Turks and other Central Powers allies
    Various local players
    And of course the British and their allies.
Not all of these groups played well together. :happy

Colonel Bailey's mission (to Tashkent, an important hub in Central Asia) was to sort all this out for the British and to hinder Central Powers and Bolshevik progress in the area. It was a real cat-and-mouse game where Bailey was the mouse amongst several cats, the Bolsheviks being the most dangerous. It is all told with typical British reserve and understatement. Someone said Bailey would have fit nicely into an Indiana Jones story.

The recent edition I have includes an introduction and postscript by Peter Hopkirk, quite an adventurer and author himself. Hopkirk is an expert on the "Great Game," the term used for the machinations of many of the above and other players in the 19th century up through WW I to exert influence in this area for various strategic and conflicting purposes. Colonel Bailey is considered one of the last players in the Great Game. I am inspired to get a book by Hopkins to fill in some of the details and the general framework of the time and place covered by Bailey's first hand account.

Interesting fact: In the desert wells were, of course, very important. Some were quite deep. One was 700 (plus) feet down to the water. It was so deep a horse (or camel; I forget) was needed to pull up the heavy rope. It was (If I remember correctly) about a 40 minutes process. It took a long time to supply water for a dozen or so people with as many or more horses for a multi-day trek to the next well, leaving you vulnerable to search parties that know you must stop at a well. Some wells were guarded by hostile people. Some were salty and of no use.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by frugalguy »

VictoriaF wrote:
The questions are:
- Is entertainment inconsistent with cognitive stress?
- Are those who claim to be entertained while experiencing cognitive stress, deluding themselves?
- Is entertainment the present experience only, or it also includes the anticipation of an activity and reminiscence after the activity has ended?
I enjoy fiction more than non-fiction these days and while some fiction books are like "junk food" and quickly forgotten, certain fictional series "stick to the ribs" as you get to know the characters over time. These characters become like old friends.

Also, part of the experience in reading fiction for me is the total experience. My main "book reading season" is in the summer when I can read outdoors. The whole experience of reading a "beach book" in the sun makes for a lot of fun and nice memories of leisurely reading in the sun, and I always look forward to the next summer reading season. (That covers past, present and future experience for anyone counting. ;) ) I actually read less fiction during hte rest of the year.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by gouldnm »

frugalguy wrote:I enjoy fiction more than non-fiction these days and while some fiction books are like "junk food" and quickly forgotten, certain fictional series "stick to the ribs" as you get to know the characters over time. These characters become like old friends.
What a great thought, and a great way of expressing this!

I, too, enjoy reading fiction. I know I've read a really good book, when I get to the end and I regret finishing it, and I can't get the characters and story out of my mind--or if I find myself wanting to re-read it!

It's so rare that I find a book like that, even though many books are still worth reading.

I did find one book recently that someone recommended on this forum (sorry, I forget the title) that was so good, it stayed with me for days, and I ended up recommending it to a lot of people. If anyone really wants to know, I still have the paperback copy and can look it up.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by heartwood »

I read Gray Mountain by John Grisham. Less a novel than a vehicle for him to preach against Big Coal, Big Law, and social injustice. His writing is polished as always, but more a screed than an entertainment.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by heartwood »

frugalguy wrote:
I did find one book recently that someone recommended on this forum (sorry, I forget the title) that was so good, it stayed with me for days, and I ended up recommending it to a lot of people. If anyone really wants to know, I still have the paperback copy and can look it up.
[/quote]

What a tease! Yes, please let me know. Seriously.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by gouldnm »

heartwood wrote:
frugalguy wrote:
I did find one book recently that someone recommended on this forum (sorry, I forget the title) that was so good, it stayed with me for days, and I ended up recommending it to a lot of people. If anyone really wants to know, I still have the paperback copy and can look it up.
What a tease! Yes, please let me know. Seriously.
The book is called "The Blue Hour" by Alonso Cueto. It was a fantastic read, I couldn't put it down! The backdrop for the book is the civil war that occurred in Peru in the 1980's. I actually remember learning about that when I was in the Naval War College, and we did a unit on terrorism (e.g., what makes people join terrorist movements, and the use of terrorism as a tactic in wars from the American Revolution to Vietnam). Because of my education, I think I had a greater appreciation of the book than I would have had otherwise. But even if you don't know anything about Peruvian history or modern warfare, it's still an enthralling story.

It's been a while since I've read it, but here's what I remember about the plot:
The protagonist is a wealthy lawyer who is from the extreme upper class in Peruvian society. After his mother dies, he finds out that his father, whom his mother had divorced, and who was a military officer during a major Civil War, had a local girl kidnapped and kept her as a captive in his quarters. The protagonist starts getting threats from the girl's family (this is years after the war has ended). The story is about his personal journey as he attempts to track down the girl, now a grown woman, and find out what actually happened as well as to discover who his father really was. As he does this he learns a lot about himself, the horrors of the war (and how it impacted both the local peasantry and the military), and also about the inequities of the class system in Peru.

What I particularly liked is that it read like a suspense thriller but also had a lot of history, social commentary, and philosophy.

I tried looking up other books by the same author but none of them have been translated into English, even though they've won awards and one was even made into a movie. You'd think the best books would get translated into English. I know it can be hard finding people to translate languages like Yiddish, but SPANISH??? Come on! So frustrating.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by nisiprius »

Just finished Cop Killer, by Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö. In the late 1960s, I read the first five of their books, which I thought were OK, but not all that great. Either the ones they wrote afterwards were better, or I bring something different to it in my sixties than I did in my twenties (do you think?) Anyway, I am really absorbed in them this time, and when I finish The Terrorists I believe I'll go back to Roseanna and reread the first five.

Anyway, I am glad to say that i found Cop Killer much better than The Locked Room--I actually suspect that their use of a classic mystery device in The Locked Room was a self-conscious (and self-indulgent) tour-de-force.

Cop Killer is great, and the scene where Martin Beck interviews Bertil Mård is one of the best things I've read in a while. And it's a great plot device, too, because at the end of the scene, like Beck, I was strongly inclined to think Mård is innocent--just because of his manner and personality--which, of course, made me wonder if I'd been set up and if it was going to turn out that he is guilty after all. (And, as everyone used to say at the end of their elementary-school book reports--"And if you want to know what happened, you'll have to read the book!")

I'm very proud of myself for figuring out how to type those diacritical marks, by the way.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by chaz »

"The Burnt House" by Faye Kellerman.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by Valuethinker »

spin_echo wrote:In the Kingdom of the Ice (north pole exploration, not as good as the Shackleton books)
The Warrior's Apprentice, Shards of Honor, Barrayar (really enjoyed, looking forward to reading the rest!)
Basalisk Station (David Weber -- meh, will probably try another but was a little disappointed)
Excession (Iain Banks) -complex, slooooow start -- this is the book I am currently reading
Re Bujold. You have, in my opinion, read the 3 best (and I am hoping you read the first 2 chronologically *second*: because doing so gives a different joy to The Warriors Apprentice- the incident with Sgt. Bothari and the whole Vorhalas- Vorkosigan faceoff before the Emperor-- 2 men of honour fatally divided by events).

Those lines (Vorhalas to Vorkosigan, in Shards of Honor):

'Will they counterattack?'
'Of course, this isn't an outpost, this is their home'.
'When?'
'When the first wave isn't fully landed. The point of maximum chaos'.

It just seemed to me those lines showed a CJ Cherryh like grasp of strategy, and of human motivation. Men playing at war, and then the master strategist points out that for the other side, this is no game.

Miles is an interesting character, and an annoying one. From time to time you catch glimpses of the exasperation others must feel with him. Whereas Cordelia Naismith's ringside seat on the 'Butcher of Komar' and the psychopathy of Barryan politics which serves as a subtext of everything that happens, is incomparable. I have read Shards of Honor/ Barryar at least 10x each, that's up with Lest Darkness Fall (L. Sprague de Camp) or 'Flandry of Terra' (Poul Anderson) or 'The Demon Breed' (James H Schmitz).

Good old Pacifistic Beta colony, with its weapons industry, is of course California, a satire thereon. And Barryar is 19th century Russia with a touch of Julio-Claudian Roman Imperium added in (Ezar is pretty close to the Emperor Augustus-- not quite as close as in AE Van Vogt's Empire of the Atom/ Wizard of Linn (Clane Linn is Claudius) but still recognizable).

Miles matures (wait til you hit Cryoburn, which I happened to read on *exactly* the week of similar events in my own life) and in some ways the stories get less fun, or different. Memory is by far the darkest of the whole series. But you have Taura (introduced in a short story) and Ellie Quin and Ky Tung, and The Mountains of Mourning and The Borders of Infinity (2 incomparable short stories) yet to go. I envy you, in a way: The Vor Game awaits and Brothers in Arms.

Note that Ard Mayhew has already appeared in Shards of Honor, when he reappears in The Warriors Apprentice.

No I don't think David Weber has it: never really enjoyed his stuff. David Drake is busily rewriting O'Brien (Master and Commander etc: Captain Jack Aubrey and Dr Stephen Maturin) but I still like them (and Drake's take on Republican Roman politics is always fun)-- I think they are better than Weber except consciously anachronistic (sailing ships in hyperspace etc.). But I've always liked Drake: a classicist and Vietnam vet, he puts both into his novels.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by nisiprius »

Just finished The Terrorists, by Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö. Very good, although they are a bit too preachy and let their politics show a bit too much (e.g. in the very last word of the book). But it was Per Wahlöö's swan song. Usually I can't figure out anything about a mystery story's plot, but this time--they make a big deal of letting us know that Martin Beck has a secret scheme for foiling the terrorists' plans without telling us what it is... and I was able to guess it. An interesting detail is that while I don't know if the scheme would actually have been feasible in 1973, it does at least seem plausible. And in 2014, things have changed in interesting ways what would make the scheme completely impossible.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by LadyGeek »

LadyGeek wrote:^^^ Good timing. Try The Hellhole Trilogy, by Brian Hebert and Kevin J. Anderson.

I just got the 3rd book in the series, but it's been so long that I'm re-reading the first 2.

Book 1: Hellhole
Book 2: Hellhole: Awakening <-- What I'm on now
Book 3: Hellhole Inferno

I would call this type of sci-fi space opera, which I like.
Hellhole Inferno, by Brian Hebert and Kevin J. Anderson.

I recommend reading all 3 consecutively, as there's no break in the action between them. Book 3 starts off where Book 2 ends.
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Ged
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by Ged »

Well, I finally finished Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi. It is a very creative work based on a dystopic future where large multinationals companies have taken over a post-oil world through genetic control of the food supply.

I think perhaps I had some difficulty accepting the premise; from what I know of the science behind this the premise is hard for me to swallow. Still there is no denying it is a major contribution to sci-fi as it brings forward a lot of new ideas.

I've just started Old Man's War by John Scalzi. The Heinlein flavor is strong with this one. It seems to be a series...
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by Lon »

Just Finished a Good Book
If you like reading WW 2 history you might give Max Hastings "Inferno" a go. He covers a number of things not previously covered like the thousands of Allied desertions during the Italian Campaign and the thousands of non combat airmen's deaths during training exercises.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by WheelsPSU »

I'm reading Fall of Giants by Ken Follett. It's part one of the Century Trilogy.

I know I'm a few years late to the party on the trilogy but the first book has been very good so far. Although its a pain to carry in my work bag while riding the subway because its so heavy!
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by black jack »

WheelsPSU: I'm "reading" (listening to the audiobook of) Fall of Giants now. My little SanDisk Clip is more convenient than carrying around the book.

Earlier this year I listened to his medieval books, Pillars of the Earth and World Without End. These are wonderful books, and the audiobooks are perfect for anyone planning a cross-country drive (they're around 60 hours each).
We cannot absolutely prove [that they are wrong who say] that we have seen our best days. But so said all who came before us, and with just as much apparent reason. | -T. B. Macaulay (1800-1859)
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by BogleMe »

Joseph de Maistre: Considerations on France.

Maistre was a contemporary to the French Revolution and his thought is an interesting perspective against "Progress".
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by dsmil »

"Enough" by John Bogle!
denismurf
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by denismurf »

C Trick by Donald M Cooper.

This is a partially fictionalized memoir of military service in the USASA (US Army Security Agency) in Cold War Germany in the 60's and 70's. As a veteran of that agency and times and place, I found the book a gritty, funny, realistic account of that piece of my life, with echoes of the current furor over Ed Snowden's revelations of electronic spying. The ASA was the principal Cold War supplier of raw data to the NSA back then.

People who have never been in the military might find that the Animal House atmosphere drowns out and trivializes the serious story of the ASA mission, but that was the reality.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by chaz »

"Death In Holy Orders" by P.D. James.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by ruralavalon »

Of Plymouth Plantation,by William Bradford. The foundation and early history of Plymouth Colony, by one of its first governors. They arrived in November. They made a treaty with a local tribe, which included a military alliance. Half of the colonists died the first winter.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by knpstr »

The Fountainhead ... Ayn Rand

Not a huge fiction reader.
Figured I should see what the fuss is about.
Very little is needed to make a happy life; it is all within yourself, in your way of thinking. -Marcus Aurelius
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by communipaw »

The Sleepwalkers [WW1]
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by Valuethinker »

knpstr wrote:The Fountainhead ... Ayn Rand

Not a huge fiction reader.
Figured I should see what the fuss is about.
I think Rand's fame has to do with her telling us what we would like to hear, rather than that she is a good novellist.

We would all like to believe we are John Galt, or the architect in the Fountainhead. We'd all like to believe we are Nietschean supermen, underappreciated, rather than the nebbishes most of us probably are. I kind of feel I had my fill of that as a teenager reading Robert Heinleim and Larry Niven but of course Heinlein 'only' wrote 'science fiction' and is therefore not a 'serious author'* . Rand certainly had a very interesting love life, but she wasn't so public about it (aside from some 'steamy' scenes in Atlas Shrugged).

http://www.amazon.com/Goddess-Market-Ra ... B007MXDGAY

http://www.amazon.com/Ayn-Rand-World-Sh ... Q2XG00MQEG

Remember, this is probably the most read novelist in the US in the last half of the 20th century. Atlas Shrugged is regularly voted by readers as the most influential book they have read, alongside the Bible.

*we've discussed Heinlein in depth on this thread or its predecessors, but the 'canon' in my view (and of others) is:

- Starship Troopers (politically this is a provocative novel, enough to throw people of a more liberal persuasion into fits of rage-- read Joe Haldeman's The Forever War as the counter argument, the US Navy/ nearly WW2 vet vs. the Vietnam vet's take on war in the future**; most people did not understand that the movie ST was a satire based on the director's own experience of occupied Holland in WW2*). One might not *like* what ST has to say, but most readers would admit that as a grab, that first chapter is such an imaginative visualization of a future combat mission-- modern Hollywood movies so very clearly owe much to that book
- The Moon is a Harsh Mistress (just as political, but less enraging)
- Double Star (nitty gritty of politics which Heinlein knew well, rather than Political Philosophy per se, but it's got a nod to the US racial questions of the time which is often missed)
- his series of 'juveniles' all of which have a libertarian message but it's delivered in such a way that it doesn't irritate, Heinlein can make the hero of a novel a civil servant (The Star Beast) without blinking an eye. These novels will, I hope, survive Heinlein into the 21st century as part of the canon of English literature

(there's also the problem his sexuality was quite countercultural and libertine, and so for books like Stranger in a Strange Land (badly overrated in my view) got a cult following with the free love set)

* Paul Verhoeven - Soldier of Orange, Total Recall, Robocop, Starship Troopers all have that characteristic, and all have a degree of satire about them which is often missed

** Haldeman was a Vietnam vet, fought in the combat engineers (wrote a book about it 'War Year'). Heinlein was a peacetime USN officer, drummed out of the service due to medical disability (TB). In an alternative history timeline, Robert Heinlein fought at Guadacanal/ Savo Island/ Ironbottom Sound etc. and wrote a very different Starship Troopers (or maybe not).
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by Valuethinker »

communipaw wrote:The Sleepwalkers [WW1]
The big debate. On the one hand the Barbara Tuchman thesis that these statesment blundered into war, with no idea what they were getting into.

The revisionist view, which I think is more accepted by modern historians, is that they had every idea what they were getting into in terms of a European wide war, but insufficient understanding of the implications of that in terms of the collapse of the existing order after a war of unprecedented length and severity.

Interesting to see what view your author takes?
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by Valuethinker »

Lon wrote:Just Finished a Good Book
If you like reading WW 2 history you might give Max Hastings "Inferno" a go. He covers a number of things not previously covered like the thousands of Allied desertions during the Italian Campaign and the thousands of non combat airmen's deaths during training exercises.
A friend of mine's father was in the Commandos as a doctor. His job was, after a planned execution of deserters by firing squad, to go around with the officer and make sure they were dead, if they were not, the office would administer a coup de grace with the .38 Webley revolver (service issue).

Fortunately Lord Mountbatten (a naval officer, and the King's first cousin) showed up and basically said 'we are going to win this war, we are not going to have these mens' blood on our hands, too'. Execution called off. Whereas in WW1 hundreds of British soldiers, called deserters then but we would now view them as shell shock (PTSD) victims, were executed-- a few years ago the British government posthumously pardoned them.

I've never read about those events anywhere, and Bob and his father are both dead, but I doubt his father would have lied about something like that to his son. One of those stories that will just be lost to memory.

They say something like 10% of deaths in combat are friendly fire. Add to that traffic accidents and training accidents, and you probably get to 1/5th of all killed, or more.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by kybourbon »

Ben Franklin: An American Life by Walter Isaacson
"Our favorite holding period is forever" (WB)
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by Dave55 »

"The Cold Dish" by Craig Johnson
First novel in the Longmire Mystery series
Excellent read so far

Dave
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Lynette
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by Lynette »

Does a newspaper count? I'm in Zagreb (Croatia) having passed through Frankfurt Airport. So I got inspired to travel on my own and so relearn some German. I put into Google translate. It seems that a report indicated that their military preparedness isn't that great especially in the case of helicopters. I'll try this with French and Italian newspapers. To me, this is far more fun than reading fiction.
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