What Book Are YOU Currently Reading? Part IV. (07/04/2010)

Questions on how we spend our money and our time - consumer goods and services, home and vehicle, leisure and recreational activities
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Sam I Am
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Post by Sam I Am »

I'm working on another Ken Follett book, A Dangerous Fortune. This one is a little heftier at 500+ pages than The Hammer of Eden.

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perries
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Post by perries »

Indestructible Truth: The Living Spirituality of Tibetan Buddhism by Reginald Ray

And Spiderman vs. The Rhino, Spiderman vs. Dr. Octopus, Spiderman vs. The Sandman :D
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Jethro2007
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Reading is Fun damental...

Post by Jethro2007 »

Hey Y'all,

I searched out a revised version of Herodotus: The Histories...
Its a newer translation..
and although its almost 800 hundred pages( I swear my dad had this in paper back) lots of anotating and such...its a real trip, but getting tired of all the dysfunction...Amazing stories...Sadly, I am still not up to Alexander the Great, yet...geez....
chaz
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Post by chaz »

"Die Trying" by Lee Child.
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catdude
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Post by catdude »

Henry Clay: The Essential American, by David and Jeanne Heidler. An interesting read. Henry Clay was Abraham Lincoln's political idol, so as a Lincoln buff I am obliged to read this book and learn a bit about Clay.
catdude | | All generalizations are false, including this one.
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Post by gkaplan »

The Hemmings of Monticello: an American Family by Annette Gordon-Reed
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Post by Chief »

Counterinsurgency by David Kilcullen
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Post by chaz »

"I, Alex Cross" by James Patterson.
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kenyan
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Post by kenyan »

Been doing quite a bit of reading lately. Just finished "The Bogleheads' Guide to Investing," "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" by Stieg Larsson, and "End the Fed" by Ron Paul.

Now reading "The Little Book of Common Sense Investing: The Only Way to Guarantee Your Fair Share of Stock Market Returns" by John Bogle, and "Calculating God" by Robert Sawyer.
Valuethinker
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Post by Valuethinker »

runthetrails wrote:





Burning Chrome by William Gibson - great stuff. For some reason I had thought that Johnny Mnemonic was written by Philip K. Dick... I should have realized that it was not obtuse enough to be Dick's work, but I had only seen the movie, which one could expect to be dumbed down.
You are obviously on a mission to read SF/ Fantasy 'classics'.

Gibson is (was) the meister of the cyberpunk movement (along with Bruce Sterling?). The triptych of Neuromancer-Count Zero- Burning Chrome is perhaps the apogee of the style (or at least the apehelion ;-)). In particular, of course, the character of Molly.

It's so cliched now it's a stereotype, but it's hard to remember the raw inspiration when Neuromancer came out. The sequels are not as good, but they are good.

Trivia: when Gibson penned 'I need a modem' in Neuromancer he didn't actually know what a modem did (this novel is *old*).

There's lots of Cyberpunk movies, none good AFAIK, although arguably the Matrix is Cyberpunk. It's thematically connected to Blade Runner, which really is a classic film (albeit predates Cyberpunk).
Shadows Linger - Glen Cook; book 2 of the Black Company. I like the fact that the author feels free to dispense with major characters at any time, but it sometimes makes me wonder if he knows where the story is going.
If you've got the Steve Erikson introduction or can get access to it, read it.

Erickson reminds us when we were mired in the post Tolkein/ Sword of Shanara type blechhh... cute and twee elves.

And along came Cook, with endlessly dark and complex characters and plots, the gritty military history, the politics-- the sense as a reader you never entirely know what is going on. The whole concept of the unreliable narrator is well developed in the 9 book series (11 books?). As we progress, subsequent Chroniclers of the Company criticize Croaker for what he left out. Croaker's own role changes, and so does his personallity.

At the risk of giving the game away, it takes a long time to get to Khatovar (?)-- 11 novels if I remember correctly. Probably the strongest are the first 3, and the first 3 Books of the South. Each stands integrally as a trilogy as well as being part of the greater whole.

I'd tell you more but then I'd spoil the fun...

His knowledge and use of military history is unparalleled in fantasy. And the endlessly memorable characters. His use of flashback. His endlessly fascinating 'minor' characters (Maron Shed, Bomanz etc.).

The Taking of Harden will live in my mind forever-- could have come straight out of a counterinsurgency textbook. So will Maron Shed. And of course the Dark Lady.

I'm not clear Cook at this point does know where he is taking a 20 year series (although the first 3 hold together very well, and integrally, along with The Silver Spike). But it doesn't really matter. Each of those 3 has a very distinct story and flavour, and the sense that [Edited]...

Garrett, PI, is a more popular series, and shares some of the dark themes, but I like it less. It tries to be funny. It is funny, sometimes. It is almost Chandler-esque at times (Hammett is probably closer) and Chander-esque'ly complicated. But I get lost. Never quite came to grips with it.

The Dread Empire series has been reissued, particularly the first 2 (The Fire in His Hands/ With Mercy Towards None) which are in effect 'prequels' and retell the rise of 7th century Islam, are also very good and similar in flavour. I couldn't finish TDE (it didn't sell as a series, and so Cook never finished it fully) but the early ones I felt were very good.

A Matter of Time, his SF novel about the aftermath of Vietnam, still chills me.

If you like military-politico SF, try Lois McMaster Bujold (the events are as dark as Glen Cook, but the people are not) and in particular 'Cordelia's Honor' (aka Shards of Honor/ Barryar).. The sequels (Miles Naismith Vorkosigan, starting with The Warrior's Apprentice) are lighter in tone but wait until you get to (I think) Memory. Or the one set in the Cetagandan prison planet.

Nobody in SF can write a military mission gone horribly, catastrophically wrong, from the perspective of those in the middle of it, quite like Bujold.
I'm currently working on both The History of Europe by J. M. Roberts, which is interesting if a slow read and SuperFreakonomics, which I'm having trouble putting down.
Read Real Climate blog on SuperFreakonomics. The authors did apologize to Ken Caldeira for misrepresenting his views (or at least they revised the paperback edition).

What that debate, where I could see easily how they got it wrong, made me think was that in the areas where I knew less, Superfreakonomics might also have gotten it very wrong in places where I cannot so easily check them.
Last edited by Valuethinker on Tue Mar 01, 2011 9:56 am, edited 1 time in total.
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tdhg566
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Post by tdhg566 »

The Hole in Our Gospel: What Does God Expect of Us? The answer that changed my life and just might change the world
by Richard Stearns, CEO of World Vision.


http://www.amazon.com/Hole-Our-Gospel-E ... 257&sr=1-1
As an Enrolled Agent I advise clients about taxes and investments. My work is retiree friendly, geographically portable, mentally stimulating, personally profitable and emotionally rewarding.
chaz
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Post by chaz »

kenyan wrote:Been doing quite a bit of reading lately. Just finished "The Bogleheads' Guide to Investing," "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" by Stieg Larsson, and "End the Fed" by Ron Paul.

Now reading "The Little Book of Common Sense Investing: The Only Way to Guarantee Your Fair Share of Stock Market Returns" by John Bogle, and "Calculating God" by Robert Sawyer.
"The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" is the 1st novel in a wonderful trilogy.
Chaz | | “Money is better than poverty, if only for financial reasons." Woody Allen | | http://www.bogleheads.org/wiki/index.php/Main_Page
Sam I Am
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Post by Sam I Am »

I just finished reading An Ordinary Decent Criminal by Michael Van Rooy. Not a bad read, though a bit slow. I probably won't pick up another of his books.

I just started reading A Lily of the Field by John Lawton. WWII based novel.

Next up is Gertrude Bell - Queen of the Desert, Shaper of Nations by Georgina Howell. This was recommended by a good friend; usually her taste in books is good, so I'm looking forward to reading it soon.

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runthetrails
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Post by runthetrails »

VT, thank you for your always insightful comments! (I do object, however, to the grouping together of Tolkien and Terry Brooks. I've read the Lord of the Rings several times -- I can't get through the first of the Shanara books.)
-- edit: on rereading your post, you actually said "post-Tolkien"

I do enjoy both SciFi and Fantasy, and since there is so much very good material that I have not yet read, I do gravitate towards the classics -- many of which were recommended to me in this thread and its predecessor. That said, I tend to read them for diversion, without the analysis that you obviously apply.

I have read most of the Vorkosigan / Naismith books and enjoyed them very much. I also liked her two fantasy series, although I thought her SciFi was better.

I will continue with the Black Company series; I enjoy the books all the more for their atypical character development, even if I am not sure where they are going. I have the 3rd and 4th books on my paperbackswap wish list. The Garrett, PI series looks pretty good to me, and I'll keep my eyes open for the first in this series, but if you get lost, I suspect I will fare no better.

The Superfreakanomics authors appear to have gotten it wrong on climate change; if they got other things badly wrong as well, we can hope to have heard about it already, given the book's popularity. I do appreciate being pointed to the discussion, though.
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Post by chaz »

"Until Proven Guilty" by J.A. Jance.
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nisiprius
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Post by nisiprius »

Stephen King, Full Dark, No Stars. Continuing to take small nibbles at Don Quixote, my Stanza eBook reader on my iPod says I've read "13%." Have a small pile of nonfiction: Oliver Sacks Island of the Color Blind and two Simon Winchester's, The Map that Changed the World and The Man Who Loved China but I fear I'm going to end up returning some of them to the library unread.

Speaking of libraries, I'm trying to compose a good constructive letter to www.overdrive.com , a distributor of eBooks to libraries, explaining to them why HarperCollins is being pigheaded in wanting them to restrict library copies of HarperCollins eBooks to 26 readings, and why this will ultimately be a lose-lose-lose-lose-lose situation for libraries, readers, authors, HarperCollins, and Overdrive. I urge others who agree with me to do likewise.

"Libraries will get you through times of no money better than money will get you through times of no libraries."--Anne Herbert
Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure nineteen nineteen and six, result happiness; Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure twenty pounds ought and six, result misery.
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Maestro G
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Post by Maestro G »

I'm currently reading Niall Ferguson's
The Ascent of Money.

I thought it was time to increase my knowledge of historical finance in a more specific way. Particularly, as it relates to this "thing" we are always worrying about, discussing, accumulating, spending, losing, hording, coveting and rejoicing!

I think Ferguson is an excellent writer with a keen sense of narrative and just the right amount of humor.

I'm also in the middle of The Rest is Noise by Alex Ross. Also wonderful!
Not finance, this is a selective historical look at 20th century classical music.

After these, it's on to Vol. 1 of the Mark Twain autobiography.

Best,
Maestro G
Everything should be made as simple as possible, but no simpler. Most daily market noise is "a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.”
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Igglesman
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Post by Igglesman »

Just completed:
Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption

Appetite for America: How Visionary Businessman Fred Harvey Built a Railroad Hospitality Empire That Civilized the Wild West

Half way through:
The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America's Great Migration
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stratton
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Post by stratton »

nisiprius wrote:Speaking of libraries, I'm trying to compose a good constructive letter to www.overdrive.com , a distributor of eBooks to libraries, explaining to them why HarperCollins is being pigheaded in wanting them to restrict library copies of HarperCollins eBooks to 26 readings, and why this will ultimately be a lose-lose-lose-lose-lose situation for libraries, readers, authors, HarperCollins, and Overdrive. I urge others who agree with me to do likewise.
Overdrive is already on this...

Overdrive respond to the new HarperCollins
Yesterday Steve Potash, the CEO of Overdrive, posted a letter explaining how Overdrive will handle the changes forced upon them by HarperCollins. There’s really not much of interest to the general public, though.

The one really interesting part is that they briefly considered dropping HC ebooks. Obviously that wasn’t possible. If they had, Overdrive would have left an opening for a competitor to swoop in and offer the terms HC wanted.
Copy of Overdrive's letter at the link.

Librarians poking holes in HarperCollins new rules (video)
One OK based library system have decide to take an activist role in responding to the new restrictions imposed by HarperCollins. The Pioneer Library System won’t be buying any more HarperCollins ebooks, and they objected to the principle of the limit: ...
Lots more details at the link.

Paul
...and then Buffy staked Edward. The end.
Valuethinker
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Post by Valuethinker »

stratton wrote:
Yesterday Steve Potash, the CEO of Overdrive, posted a letter explaining how Overdrive will handle the changes forced upon them by HarperCollins. There’s really not much of interest to the general public, though.

The one really interesting part is that they briefly considered dropping HC ebooks. Obviously that wasn’t possible. If they had, Overdrive would have left an opening for a competitor to swoop in and offer the terms HC wanted.
Copy of Overdrive's letter at the link.

Librarians poking holes in HarperCollins new rules (video)
One OK based library system have decide to take an activist role in responding to the new restrictions imposed by HarperCollins. The Pioneer Library System won’t be buying any more HarperCollins ebooks, and they objected to the principle of the limit: ...
Lots more details at the link.

Paul
Harper Collins is our old friend Rupert Murdoch, who has just won the right to fully dominate the UK broadcasting industry (he's well on the way in newspaper land).

Their strategy towards the digital future has been on again off again for so long, this is another twist in the road.
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Post by apog »

Way Station by Clifford D. Simak
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Post by chaz »

"Four Blind Mice" by James Patterson.
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Sam I Am
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Post by Sam I Am »

I just finished The Wind Chill Factor by Tom Gifford. Pretty good read about sleeper cell Nazis who would take over the world at some point in time, even though they were defeated in WWII.

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catdude
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Post by catdude »

The Fiery Trial: Abraham Lincoln and American Slavery, by Eric Foner.
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meridian
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Post by meridian »

Just finished:

Shogun by James Clavell

GREAT Read! One of those books where you're a bit sad that you have to leave the world and characters crafted by the author (the book is historically accurate though based on actual events/people);
-- | To Start Press Any Key | "Wheres the 'Any' key?" | --Homer | | Mouse::Mice -- Spouse::Spice
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Post by Valuethinker »

apog wrote:Way Station by Clifford D. Simak
probably in the top 100 science fiction novels of all time.
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Post by Valuethinker »

Sam I Am wrote:I just finished The Wind Chill Factor by Tom Gifford. Pretty good read about sleeper cell Nazis who would take over the world at some point in time, even though they were defeated in WWII.

Sam I Am
Maybe that's the literary equivalent of Godwin's Law ;-).

Every conspiracy theory winds up with a group of Nazis taking over the world. Little vault at the back of the office with a locking door and inside a conference room full of Hitler memorabilia ;-). Shades of American Beauty.

It's like all Space Opera Science Fiction novels wind up with a group of Space Nazis.

Of which surely the most chilling is 'Iron Sunrise' by Charlie Stross.
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Post by Valuethinker »

meridian wrote:Just finished:

Shogun by James Clavell

GREAT Read! One of those books where you're a bit sad that you have to leave the world and characters crafted by the author (the book is historically accurate though based on actual events/people);
King Rat is meant to be autobiographical, and Clavell is I think himself a minor character in Taipan.

The TV series kicked off a Japan craze for a bit, I recall.
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Post by Valuethinker »

runthetrails wrote:VT, thank you for your always insightful comments! (I do object, however, to the grouping together of Tolkien and Terry Brooks. I've read the Lord of the Rings several times -- I can't get through the first of the Shanara books.)
-- edit: on rereading your post, you actually said "post-Tolkien"

I do enjoy both SciFi and Fantasy, and since there is so much very good material that I have not yet read, I do gravitate towards the classics -- many of which were recommended to me in this thread and its predecessor. That said, I tend to read them for diversion, without the analysis that you obviously apply.

I have read most of the Vorkosigan / Naismith books and enjoyed them very much. I also liked her two fantasy series, although I thought her SciFi was better.

I will continue with the Black Company series; I enjoy the books all the more for their atypical character development, even if I am not sure where they are going. I have the 3rd and 4th books on my paperbackswap wish list. The Garrett, PI series looks pretty good to me, and I'll keep my eyes open for the first in this series, but if you get lost, I suspect I will fare no better.

The Superfreakanomics authors appear to have gotten it wrong on climate change; if they got other things badly wrong as well, we can hope to have heard about it already, given the book's popularity. I do appreciate being pointed to the discussion, though.
Yahh Tolkein is not Brooks ;-). ;-).

On Garrett the early ones trade for hundreds of dollars, literally-- so hard to find. They will be reissued no doubt.

You can dip into Garrett and be OK. Don't misunderstand me. They are pastiche, but Cook never does pastiche badly. For me it was simply the product of reading them on and off over many years.

I had that with Zelazny's Amber, a bit. When I started, you had to wait around for Corwin's next book to come out-- stressful ;-). When the series restarted after that, it was never quite as good, and I never really picked up the thread again (I think commercially Zelazny could not resist the pressure to launch another series, but I don't think his heart was quite in it the way it is in the first 4-5).

Dread Empire I liked for the sweep of the series, and, of course, Cook's peerless grasp and use of military history (Drake tries, but Cook is better). And the sense you get 'from the ground's eye: of these great battles, the chaos and fear and desperation'.

There are other Cook singleton works which are very good: Tower of Fear in particular; A Matter of Time.

Erickson is said to be the natural successor to Cook, and Erickson himself more or less says that is what he was aiming at.

Nowadays dark military fantasy is not so uncommon, but as Erickson notes, when Cook came on the field, there was no one. There wasn't anything like the Black Company.

As I said the Taking of Harden could have come out of a counterinsurgency manual. And the ambush .... sorry you haven't got there yet ;-).

There is a joy about reading the Black Company, the first 3, the Silver Spike, the First 3 Books of the South, which is almost visceral. 25 years later, I can still feel it.

It was like that reading Amber, home sick from school. The raw joy of it, being entirely sucked into the story and the world.
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Post by Arby »

Just finished The Big Short by Michael Lewis.

Now reading D=Street Fighters by Kate Kelly.

Both easy reads.
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Post by stratton »

Valuethinker wrote:On Garrett the early ones trade for hundreds of dollars, literally-- so hard to find. They will be reissued no doubt.
The Garrett books are all available in mass market PB.

Paul
...and then Buffy staked Edward. The end.
metabasalt
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Post by metabasalt »

'Pieces of My Heart' by Peter Robinson, part of the Inspector Banks series. We just started reading the Banks series about 3 months ago and are really enjoying it. By contrast John Sanford's 'Storm Prey', which I also just read, seemed unrelentingly grim, as they so often do. I've given up on him and much prefer someone like Peter Robinson.
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runthetrails
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Post by runthetrails »

Valuethinker wrote: Erickson is said to be the natural successor to Cook, and Erickson himself more or less says that is what he was aiming at.
I have a few of the Malazan series on hand. I have read good things about this series so have tried to collect several before I start them. Really itching to read the second of Patrick Rothfuss' Kingkiller books as well, though, and of course there is quite a bit of non-fiction of interest as well.

So little time, so many books. I sometimes worry that after retirement, I will lock myself away and just read all the time. Which would be pleasant in some ways but not so good for either my mental or physical state.
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Post by CountryBoy »

Moonwalking with Einstein by Joshua Foer was an informative, fast, and interesting read on how to remember facts and really an information.

Remembering is not necessarily a function of intelligence but can be one of technique.

Highly recommended.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/09/opini ... ml?_r=2&hp

cb
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Post by chaz »

"Absolute Power" by David Baldacci.
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Post by K'zoo »

Just finished Gertrude Bell - Queen of the Desert, Shaper of Nations by Georgina Howell. I enjoyed it and found it good background for modern day goings-on in the Middle East. Her photos are here: http://www.gerty.ncl.ac.uk/index.php Gertrude Bell was also a mountain climber in the Alps in the early 1900s--before pitons, etc.--a whole 'nother sport back then!

Also just finished Larry's bond book.

Next up:
We Took to the Woods by Louise Dickinson Rich. This is about a woman and her family who moved from the city to the backwoods of Maine.

On Wings of Eagles by Ken Follett. This was a book I got my husband for Christmas but really wanted for myself. :wink:
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Macmungo
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Post by Macmungo »

Just finished Gene Wolfe's " An Evil Guest" and beginning his "Pirate Freedom". Great reads both.
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Post by Christine_NM »

Boston Noir - edited by Dennis LaHane.

A collection of gumshoe type short stories, surprisingly good, set in Boston neighborhoods. Great for transplanted Bostonians like me -- cheaper than an airline ticket.
16% cash 49% stock 35% bond. Retired, w/d rate 2.5%
Sam I Am
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Post by Sam I Am »

Well, I tried to read Freedom by Jonathan Franzen. I just couldn't get into it, no matter how I tried. Strange, as I enjoyed another novel by him, The Corrections.

Ah well, the cost was only my time, it is a library book. :D

So I'll tackle another book I borrowed. Libraries are wonderful.

The last few times I've gone to the library I've had the stacks pretty much to myself. No one browsing at all. Everyone was working on the PCs that are becoming more numerous. The PCs always seem to have someone using them, they do get a workout. And, everyone from young to middle age to old using them. I'm glad everyone who is able to get to a library is able to have access to a PC. I'm sure even today many simply haven't the funds to purchase their own machine.

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SHL
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Post by SHL »

John Bogle on Investing: The First 50 Years

I'm starting with his Princeton Thesis (in the back of the book).
Stephen
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Post by Fbone »

nisiprius wrote: Speaking of libraries, I'm trying to compose a good constructive letter to www.overdrive.com , a distributor of eBooks to libraries, explaining to them why HarperCollins is being pigheaded in wanting them to restrict library copies of HarperCollins eBooks to 26 readings, and why this will ultimately be a lose-lose-lose-lose-lose situation for libraries, readers, authors, HarperCollins, and Overdrive. I urge others who agree with me to do likewise.

"Libraries will get you through times of no money better than money will get you through times of no libraries."--Anne Herbert
It's an abomination!

And so are Macmillan and Simon & Schuster for not even allowing their ebooks on Overdrive.

A pox on them all!

Btw, Nisiprius, don't forget to send a copy to Harper Collins also.
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Fbone
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Post by Fbone »

Books I've recently read:

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time by Mark Haddon

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

Earth Abides by George Stewart

The Doomsday Book by Connie Willis

Speaks the Nightbird by Robert McCammon

Foundation by Asimov
Ben24
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Post by Ben24 »

The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable

By Nassim Taleb


Its very thought provoking. It might not be as impactful as taleb implies, but its definitely worth a read by anyone who deals with statistics/economics/investments.
Exuberent
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Post by Exuberent »

Lustrum - Robert Harris (2nd in a trilogy about Cicero)

Lord of Misrule - Jaimy Gordon (glimpse of life at a backwoods racetrack)
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Post by Live Free or Diehard »

One of Our Thursdays is Missing, by Jasper Fforde.
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What book?

Post by jimgour »

The authorized biography of Robert A. Heinlein.

I am learning a lot about the guy who helped formuate my thinking as an adult. Very surprising. It shows how someone can transform his views on society as he gains wisdom with age.
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CaliJim
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Joined: Sun Feb 28, 2010 7:47 pm
Location: California, near the beach

Post by CaliJim »

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Last edited by CaliJim on Sat Jun 04, 2011 2:47 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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FabLab
Posts: 1127
Joined: Mon Oct 18, 2010 12:15 pm

Post by FabLab »

I'm re-reading Jack Bogle's Enough, just because it always inspires me. Also, though not a new work, I am reading Benjamin Franklin: An American Life by Walter Isaacson.

Cheers
Ron
The fundamental things apply as time goes by -- Herman Hupfeld
chaz
Posts: 13604
Joined: Tue Feb 27, 2007 1:44 pm

Post by chaz »

CaliJim wrote:"Deliver us from EVIL" by David Baldacci

A good page turner for a long airplane flight.

Two different sets of good guys, without knowing about each other, are both on the trail of the same very evil bad guy. The hero guy from team A falls in love with the good heroine from team B. Lots of exciting stuff happens. Testosterone flows. Heroine swim in the nude in the moonlight. The good guys win. The bad guys lose.

Note: contains detailed descriptions of torture and violence.
The good guys win in Baldacci novels, but the stories are well written.
Chaz | | “Money is better than poverty, if only for financial reasons." Woody Allen | | http://www.bogleheads.org/wiki/index.php/Main_Page
chaz
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Joined: Tue Feb 27, 2007 1:44 pm

Post by chaz »

"The Renegades" by T. Jefferson Parker.
Chaz | | “Money is better than poverty, if only for financial reasons." Woody Allen | | http://www.bogleheads.org/wiki/index.php/Main_Page
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