What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part V

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Fallible
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part V

Post by Fallible »

jegallup wrote:
Fallible wrote:A longtime Steinberg fan here and am on a library wait list for the bio. What did you think of the book itself? As for Steinberg, I never saw a work more instantly recognizable or original than his (except for maybe Charles Addams). And he is always the subject of the great debate between cartoonists and artists or cartoonists/artists or artists/cartoonists on whether cartoons are art (in my book, they are, just not fine art).
The book is a serious, scholarly (100 pp of footnotes!) biography and the writing doesn't sparkle. But his life is so fascinating, with so many famous people turning up at every juncture, that it has really been very enjoyable. Steinberg was often compared to the Swiss artist Paul Klee, and could be bristly about not being taken seriously. But he did very well, as his wartime experience shows. His personal life was admirable in many ways—he never failed to help his poorer relatives when they asked for money—and less admirable in others, as you'll find out. The biographer chronicles the good and the bad without judging.

Seeing his art on a computer screen doesn't convey the full effect. This museum exhibit catalog book...

http://www.amazon.com/Saul-Steinberg-Il ... 0300115865

...has many wonderful reproductions in beautiful color on large sheets, a very thoughtful introductory essay, and some excellent descriptions of individual works. This book....

http://www.amazon.com/Steinberg-New-Yor ... new+yorker
...is also very enjoyable.
Thanks for the bio review. I've seen most of his other books. It's funny, I just realized that if you saw a Steinberg drawing alone, as in the book collection, you might not (although I'd get arguments here) think of it as a cartoon. But put it in a magazine like The New Yorker, and it is a cartoon, even expanding that definition. I like that his work could stand on its own because, I think, of its originality.
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Default User BR
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part V

Post by Default User BR »

Deep into The Hydrogen Sonata, the latest "Culture" novel by Iain M. Banks. So far, I like it much more than the previous two (Matter and Surface Detail).


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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part V

Post by linenfort »

I'm reading Borrow, by Louis Hyman

These days, publishers insist on a subtitle: THE AMERICAN WAY OF DEBT
There's also a sub-subtitle: How Personal Credit Created the American Middle Class and Amost Bankrupted the Nation

It's a very readable history of debt in the U.S.
---

Also, 'What Technology Wants' by Kevin Kelly of 'Wired' magazine.
chaz
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part V

Post by chaz »

"Guardian of Lies" by Steve Martini.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part V

Post by chaz »

"The Conspiracy Club" by Jonathan Kellerman.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part V

Post by travellight »

cutting for stone
by Abraham Verghese.
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htdrag11
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part V

Post by htdrag11 »

Younger Next Year by Crowley and Lodge
gkaplan
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part V

Post by gkaplan »

Stettin Station by David Downing. Downing is a British writer married to a American woman and lives in England. Stettin Station is the third in the series that features British journalist John Russell of Anglo-American parentage living in, and reporting from, Berlin during the thirties and forties
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part V

Post by reggiesimpson »

The War by Ken Burns.
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randomwalk
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part V

Post by randomwalk »

I just finished The Risk Pool by Richard Russo.

Now reading The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part V

Post by ddj »

Just finished In Sunlight and in Shadow by the ever-mellifluous Mark Helprin.

In the midst of The Emperor's New Drugs: Exploding the Antidepressant Myth by Irving Kirsch.
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Bustoff
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part V

Post by Bustoff »

Pound Foolish: Exposing the Dark Side of the Personal Finance Industry
by Helaine Olen
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part V

Post by chaz »

"Grace Notes" by Sara Paretsky.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part V

Post by nisiprius »

The Half-Life of Facts, by Samuel Arbesman.
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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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part V

Post by linenfort »

Savages by Don Winslow
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part V

Post by Dan999 »

Younger next year.
So far so good, easy to read.
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bengal22
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part V

Post by bengal22 »

randomwalk wrote:I just finished The Risk Pool by Richard Russo.

Now reading The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller.
Big Thumbs Up to anything by Russo
"Earn All You Can; Give All You Can; Save All You Can." .... John Wesley
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part V

Post by randomwalk »

bengal22 wrote:Big Thumbs Up to anything by Russo
I agree. Empire Falls is my favorite, but The Risk Pool and Nobody's Fool are right up there, and Straight Man was good as well.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part V

Post by terminer »

One Minute to Midnight. Michael Dobbs' downright scary account of the Cuban missile crisis. By turns hair-raising and jaw-dropping.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part V

Post by LadyGeek »

I just finished Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman. It's mentioned quite a bit in this forum, and I agree with the reviews. A comprehensive review by cinghiale: Kahneman's "Thinking, Fast and Slow" Is Out!.

Taking a break from investing, I'm back into sci-fi. My current book continues The Sword of Truth series with The Omen Machine, by Terry Goodkind.
Wiki To some, the glass is half full. To others, the glass is half empty. To an engineer, it's twice the size it needs to be.
chaz
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part V

Post by chaz »

"Caught" by Harlan Coben.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part V

Post by hudson »

A friend who visited Ft. Benning on business brought me back a handful of Infantry Magazines, which I read through. The magazine put "The Killing Zone, My Life in the Vietnam War" on a recommended reading list....so I got it and read it.

It was a "just the facts" account of his shortened Vietnam tour. The writer was an OCS lieutenant assigned as a replacement in the 4th Infantry Division near Pleiku in late 67 and early 68. The author reported that his platoon was in almost constant contact with VietCong and NVA units. There was no rest from constant patrolling, ambushes, and defensive perimeters. He described daily activities and noted the following about c rations:

"Sounds of disappointment and joy about the meals depended on each man’s taste. Ham and lima beans were universally hated by everyone except for the one man in each platoon who was a culinary masochist. We all bartered back and forth with all the expertise of gem dealers, trading meals until our packs were full of the next three days’ treasure."

Downs Jr., Frederick (2007-02-17). The Killing Zone: My Life in the Vietnam War (pp. 119-120). Norton. Kindle Edition.

I'm glad that I read the book...I did not serve in Vietnam....but I always loved ham and limers.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part V

Post by gatorman »

Wheat Belly. Here is a link:
http://www.amazon.com/Wheat-Belly-Lose- ... 1609611543
A great book if you are interested in dropping some weight. I've lost 12 pounds in 14 days and the only change I've made is eliminating wheat and wheat products from my diet.

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gatorman
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part V

Post by gatorman »

Tall Trees, Tough Men by Robert E. Pike, is a history of logging in New England. One of my clients gave this to me and I thought it was going to be a very dry read, but Mr. Pike could write, and it is a suprisingly interesting book. Pike had quite a life, here is a link to his obituary:
http://www.nytimes.com/1997/08/11/nyreg ... ies.htmlMr.
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randomwalk
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part V

Post by randomwalk »

I just finished The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller and Scorpions by Noah Feldman.

Now reading Benediction by Kent Haruf.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part V

Post by gkaplan »

Death at the Bar by Ngaio Marsh
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part V

Post by randomwalk »

I just finished Benediction by Kent Haruf.

Now reading Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part V

Post by chaz »

"Suspect" by Robert Crais.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part V

Post by Valuethinker »

hudson wrote:A friend who visited Ft. Benning on business brought me back a handful of Infantry Magazines, which I read through. The magazine put "The Killing Zone, My Life in the Vietnam War" on a recommended reading list....so I got it and read it.

It was a "just the facts" account of his shortened Vietnam tour. The writer was an OCS lieutenant assigned as a replacement in the 4th Infantry Division near Pleiku in late 67 and early 68. The author reported that his platoon was in almost constant contact with VietCong and NVA units. There was no rest from constant patrolling, ambushes, and defensive perimeters. He described daily activities and noted the following about c rations:

"Sounds of disappointment and joy about the meals depended on each man’s taste. Ham and lima beans were universally hated by everyone except for the one man in each platoon who was a culinary masochist. We all bartered back and forth with all the expertise of gem dealers, trading meals until our packs were full of the next three days’ treasure."

Downs Jr., Frederick (2007-02-17). The Killing Zone: My Life in the Vietnam War (pp. 119-120). Norton. Kindle Edition.

I'm glad that I read the book...I did not serve in Vietnam....but I always loved ham and limers.

Thank you. It looks very interesting. The Vietnam War was a productive one in terms of literature.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part V

Post by Valuethinker »

johng wrote:One Minute to Midnight. Michael Dobbs' downright scary account of the Cuban missile crisis. By turns hair-raising and jaw-dropping.
I read this, bobbing around in a boat with 15 other tourists in the Galapagos. It wasn't the best of groups-- lot of tension, so it really kept my mind off it. Yes, very good.

We came so close, and mostly due to miscommunication and misunderstanding and misappreciation. Both sides at times acted liked crazy men. Nobody comes out of it really well. Macnamara's discovery in 1992 in Moscow that the Russians had armed their missiles, and US intelligence was convinced they had not, and the Russians assumed that the Americans knew that they had....

I met a guy once who was preparing to be part of the spearhead of the US invasion of Cuba-- they had the Marines and the paratroops all ready. Given that history has shown that the Cubans tend to shoot back (Grenada, and they did well against the South Africans in Angola) it would have been no cakewalk-- even excepting the fact that the Russian officers in command of the nuclear missiles had orders to 'use, not lose' if they came under attack.

What it teaches you is that you can sleepwalk into disaster by defining your 'vital interests' too widely, or convincing yourself you cannot afford to lose prestige or 'face' by backing down. Also that you can (Kruschev) best someone once, and assume you can just bully them again-- underestimating the violence of their reaction.

And then there was the Soviet number 2 on a sub, who when the US was dropping practice depth charges to force it to surface, stopped his command from firing a nuclear torpedo at the US destroyer, an act which surely would have caused a US counterstrike....

one of 2 men, the other Colonel Petrovsky (?) (who during the Reagan era, when the Soviet radars showed an incoming attack by 6-8 missiles, did not inform the Kremlin but calmly concluded it was a technical error, which it was), who pretty definitely saved the world from destruction.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part V

Post by plantlady63 »

grok87 wrote:
mamief45 wrote:Just finished "Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln." by Doris Kearns Goodwin

Just started "Brighton Rock" by Graham Greene
i like Greene but I never read Brighton Rock. I hear its pretty depressing.
My favorite Greene novels are Travels with my aunt and Monsignor Quixote.
cheers,
May I ask what you thought of of Team of Rivals? I enjoy history of that period! :happy

Thanks
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part V

Post by bengal22 »

plantlady63 wrote:
grok87 wrote:
mamief45 wrote:Just finished "Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln." by Doris Kearns Goodwin

Just started "Brighton Rock" by Graham Greene
i like Greene but I never read Brighton Rock. I hear its pretty depressing.
My favorite Greene novels are Travels with my aunt and Monsignor Quixote.
cheers,
May I ask what you thought of of Team of Rivals? I enjoy history of that period! :happy

Thanks
Team of Rivals was absolutely great. I always enjoyed that period as well - American Civil War and Lincoln. Fantastic book. The movie Lincoln was based on small portion of Team of Rivals.
"Earn All You Can; Give All You Can; Save All You Can." .... John Wesley
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part V

Post by chaz »

bengal22 wrote:
plantlady63 wrote:
grok87 wrote:
mamief45 wrote:Just finished "Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln." by Doris Kearns Goodwin

Just started "Brighton Rock" by Graham Greene
i like Greene but I never read Brighton Rock. I hear its pretty depressing.
My favorite Greene novels are Travels with my aunt and Monsignor Quixote.
cheers,
May I ask what you thought of of Team of Rivals? I enjoy history of that period! :happy

Thanks
Team of Rivals was absolutely great. I always enjoyed that period as well - American Civil War and Lincoln. Fantastic book. The movie Lincoln was based on small portion of Team of Rivals.
The movie was terrific.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part V

Post by chaz »

"The Innocent" by Harlan Coben.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part V

Post by Blues »

"Broken Harbor" by Tana French.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part V

Post by ruralavalon »

Wilderness Empire, by Allan W. Eckert. An interesting narrative of border warfare in North America, 1715 - 1759.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part V

Post by Blues »

I read that series by Eckert some years ago. Good stuff.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part V

Post by nisiprius »

Arnold Bennett, Riceyman Steps.

And here, for you oldtimers, is a puzzler. A central character, a bookseller, is typing away in a shabby office:

"A little bell rang; the machine dated from the age when typewriters had this contrivance for informing the operator that the end of a line would be reached in two or three more taps."

OK, folks. When did typewriters ever not have such a "contrivance?" Certainly spiffy new Royals had them in the 1960s, and so did IBM Selectrics.

The book was published in 1923. I'm not quite sure what era it is set in. Typewriters started to become ubiquitous and more circa 1890 or so. We know that "21 years ago" the character in question was bored by his uncle's stories of the building of the Underground from Clerkenwell to Euston Square, and Wikipedia says the Euston Square tube station was built in 1863, so, I think the story must be set around 1890-1910 or so.
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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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part V

Post by atfish »

"My Personal Best" by John Wooden
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part V

Post by chaz »

atfish wrote:"My Personal Best" by John Wooden
John Wooden was the best coach!
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part V

Post by chaz »

"The Drop" by Michael Connelly.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part V

Post by jebmke »

Canada - Richard Ford
Stay hydrated; don't sweat the small stuff
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part V

Post by gkaplan »

chaz wrote:"The Drop" by Michael Connelly.
Excellent book
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part V

Post by gkaplan »

Surfeit of Lampreys by Ngaio Marsh
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part V

Post by hudson »

A long time friend has "Tracer 1" on his license plate....I know it was related to his 4th Infantry Division service in Vietnam. When he mentioned that he was reading "The Shake 'n Bake Sergeant" I decided to read it. The author told about going to NCO school at Ft Benning in the late 60's...the slang name for the school was "Shake and Bake". When the author read someone slam "Shake and Bake soldiers in Jesse Ventura's book, "The Teams", he was prompted to write the book. The author describes his growth as a sergeant from a novice to a competent leader. The TRACERS or small long range reconnaissance teams have a part in his story. My Tracer 1 friend has since compared notes with the author and they served at the same time but didn't know each other. If you like "just the facts" Vietnam accounts, you might like this.
The last part of the book gave the author's account of his platoon and company locked into a several day battle with a larger North Vietnamese unit.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part V

Post by ddj »

A Complicated Kindness
by Miriam Toews
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part V

Post by chaz »

"Trunk Music" by Michael Connelly.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part V

Post by FillorKill »

The grapes of wrath.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part V

Post by SurfCityBill »

The Persian Boy - Mary Renault (JFK's favorite author)
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part V

Post by Blues »

'The Man Who Went Up In Smoke' by Sjowall and Wahloo
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