What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

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

Post by mcblum »

I'm about half way through Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey/Maturin series. "Gives you Joy"
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by Texanbybirth »

I'm about to start the third book of CS Lewis's Space Trilogy, That Hideous Strength. The previous two have been excellent!
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by wilson08 »

Tom Brown's School Days
by Thomas Hughes

I normally love books set in 19th century England,
particularly the classics by such authors as Austen,
Eliot, Dickens, Gaskell, Hardy, etc, but I just could
not get through or connect with the above novel.
The author kept addressing the reader which was
off-putting and the story was slow and not that
interesting.
Last edited by wilson08 on Sun Oct 23, 2016 5:54 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by the_poet »

mcblum wrote:I'm about half way through Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey/Maturin series. "Gives you Joy"
Marty
I keep meaning to jump back into those. I read Master and Commander last year. It was okay, but also a little dense at times. I hear the later novels are better.

I just started Agincourt by Bernard Cornwell. If you enjoy historical fiction, I have enjoyed just about everything Cornwell has written. I read all 24 Sharpe books in the correct order several years ago on a months-long binge, and the Warlord trilogy was fantastic.

Also going to start Morning Star today as the library e-book just came through.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by ruralavalon »

The Apache Wars,by Paul A. Hutton.

This is an interesting history of the wars with the Apache in Arizona, New Mexico, and Sonora during 1861 through 1886.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by a »

Some books read recently:

Lehninger Biochemistry(6th ed.)

Alberts et al. Molecular Biology of the Cell(6th ed.):
Quite good
at making 2-d figures "come alive". Minimal repetition,
minimal summarization.* (chapter 15 is not as good)

Sometimes a large number of surprising facts
are compressed into a small space.

p.127: why proteins tend to be assembled
from subunits:

(1) smaller quantity DNA required
(2) assembly of e.g.two halves can be done at opposite
ends of the cell, then combined later.
Agility of assembly in general.
(3) error checking can be done at checkpoints
(4) rapid evolution (p.160)

I am very satisfied with this book.

I was wondering why calcium, or cyclic AMP, and such.
Werner Loewenstein's The Touchstone of Life (recommended
by Lehninger I think) answers these
kinds of questions.

*Writers should not follow "Say what you're going to say,
say it, then say what you just said." They should focus
on quality of content (maximize) and quantity of words
(minimize - Strunk & White).
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by abuss368 »

Any additional Jack Bogle or Vanguard books on the horizon that anyone is aware of?
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by FreeAtLast »

a wrote:Some books read recently:

Lehninger Biochemistry(6th ed.)

Alberts et al. Molecular Biology of the Cell(6th ed.):
Quite good
at making 2-d figures "come alive". Minimal repetition,
minimal summarization.* (chapter 15 is not as good)

Sometimes a large number of surprising facts
are compressed into a small space.

p.127: why proteins tend to be assembled
from subunits:

(1) smaller quantity DNA required
(2) assembly of e.g.two halves can be done at opposite
ends of the cell, then combined later.
Agility of assembly in general.
(3) error checking can be done at checkpoints
(4) rapid evolution (p.160)

I am very satisfied with this book.

I was wondering why calcium, or cyclic AMP, and such.
Werner Loewenstein's The Touchstone of Life (recommended
by Lehninger I think) answers these
kinds of questions.

*Writers should not follow "Say what you're going to say,
say it, then say what you just said." They should focus
on quality of content (maximize) and quantity of words
(minimize - Strunk & White).
A second enthusiastic vote here for Lehninger's Biochemistry. This is one of the best science textbooks ever written, bar none. It reads like a novel and its diagrams of reaction pathways, chemical species, and bio-molecular structures are crystal clear. I own a 2nd edition that occupies a special place in one of my living room bookcases (now that I think of it, it's probably time to purchase a new copy :) ).
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by investingdad »

Just finished Stephen King's Revival.

The first half of the book felt like a diary rather than a novel, as intended.

The man's genius continues to astound me...
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by rakornacki1 »

Dark Money by Jane Mayer.
A fascinating revelation into the power of billionaires' money on the influence on government and politics.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by gkaplan »

I just finished The Ex by Alafair Burke. After agreeing to defend her ex-fiancé when he is arrested for a triple homicide, top criminal lawyer Olivia Randall begins to have doubts as the evidence mounts against him.

This is a standalone crime novel. Reviewers compare it to Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn, but I don't see it. At any rate, I think this book is much better. I emailed Alafair Burke to ask her to turn this standalone into a series.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by bertilak »

Just finished Dracula. See viewtopic.php?p=2946462#p2946462

The technique of jumping between the different main character's viewpoints by way of quoting diaries (with occasional other written materials, like newspaper accounts) is clever and effective. The entire book is written this way. There is no all-seeing third person narrator.

Well, mostly effective. A few oddities crop up. Some diary entries read a bit too much like dialog, things one would say but not write. (This was NOT part of quoted dialog.) In one case a diary entry mentioned that all the character's writing material, pens, ink, paper were take away yet there was still a diary entry! Maybe I missed that it was written later and pre-dated and that he somehow got his writing materials back -- I'll have to go with that. Another: there is much quoted dialog as many diary entries quote conversations among several characters. This involves amazing recall as these conversations can go on for many paragraphs!

I found the above quirks amusing, not problematic.

Interesting aspects about late 19th century life are welcome. For example they were fortunate at one point that the saddle on a horse had a horn that could be rotated in a way allowing one of the female character to ride. (Sidesaddle? No further explanation was given.) There are other interesting life-style observations. Come to think of it, these observations by the author, mentioned in such matter-of-fact ways, are part of what makes the book "real." One character made his diary entries by talking into a recording device! I assume it was a wax cylinder system. Someone played it back and typed it all out for him and he was grateful how convenient the written text was. He could easily jump into it at any point to look for things. He still preferred to record and have someone else type it.

It is definitely worth a read!
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by MP173 »

Just finished a great book - "The Grail Guitar" by Chris Adams.

The author is a folk rock musician in 1973 and steps into a guitar shop in London and purchases a used Fender Telecaster. It is a right handed model with left handed tuners. When he asks the store manager about the tuners he is told that a Jimi Hendrix roadie brought it in a couple of years earlier. The author purchases the guitar and 40 years later is still puzzled and intrigued by the guitar. Further research indicates that Hendrix recorded "Purple Haze" with a borrowed Telecaster. Could it be that Adams has a guitar which was used in the recording?

Adams writes an outstanding book which explores the possible lineage of his guitar (Experience bassist Noel Redding, Lonely One's Guitarist Trevor Williams, etc) and provides a reason for Hendrix using a Tele rather than a Stratocaster...on the night of the recording, he disabled his only guitar and Redding hustled across town to pickup a spare from Williams as studio time was booked for after midnight.

What a story. What a passion Adams has for searching for the truth. Even tho this is not a bio on Jimi, considerable insite is provided for the inner workings of the power trio, including the financial abuse they suffered from signing with a shady manager.

The book shines brightest when examining the lives and careers of the other musicians. A few which were associated with the guitar (thru early bands) had incredible careers, most however struggled. Adams seems to have had a fair amount of success, but nothing big.

I highly recommend this book, if you have interest in "classic rock", Hendrix, or enjoy research driven books.

Now I am reading "Estate Planning for Blended Families".

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

Post by rockylou »

Just finished The Rent Collector, great book, hard to put down. People living in the dump in Cambodia
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by Nicolas »

The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien, 1954, reading it for the fifth time, but the last time was 36 years ago.

Their Finest Hour by Winston Churchill, 1949.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by snowshoes »

Telecommunications cost mgt : by W.Yarberry, B.DiMarisco & T.Phelps.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by Hector »

I finished The Future for Investors by Jeremy J. Siegel. I think it was combination of economics and investing. He shares his thoughts about future and also shares research that he did on few stocks with highest return under S&P.

I started reading The Black Swan by Nassim Taleb and stopped after 15-20 pages or so. The subject (The Impact of the Highly Improbable) sounds very interesting, but I am not a great reader and I did not find it easy to read. I might give it a try later on.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by FandangoDave5010 »

James Patterson's "15th Affair" was a good read and one of the better crime stories out there. The enemies this time are spies from PRC, sort of like "The Americans" but entrenched in Silicon Valley.

For mind expansion, "Digital Gold" by NY Times writer Nathaniel Popper gives background for the current articles on Bitcoin mining in China. Of course for Bogleheads, Bitcoins are a little out of our reach. But interesting reading if you followed the Silkroad Bazaar created by Dread Prirate Roberts to move drugs and money unnoticed.

More relevant for Bogleheads, if you are a Bernie Sanders supporter is "People Get Ready" by McChesney and Nichols. Wage inequality is the issue with workers getting less of the economic pie with nearly all of it going to the 1% ...unless you are an NBA free agent and just signed a multi-million dollar contract. In the NBA the owners are making money millions from TV contracts...but players are getting a 50% share. Can the NBA become the first Marxist enterprise that shares the wealth earned by its players?
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by montanagirl »

carolinaman wrote:I just completed “Makers and Takers” by Rana Foroohar, a noted business columnist with Time and a CNN economic analyst who has 20+ years of experience writing about the economy and business. She describes the problem of Financialization of the US economy, which is the short term focus of business. She describes how American business companies like GE and Apple have used financial measures to manipulate their stock value rather than long term investment in products. She describes how Wall Street, investment banks, private equity, hedge funds and others damage our economy with all of their manipulation and risk. I was surprised to learn how investment banks like Goldman Sachs have such a significant role in commodities and how they often drive commodity prices higher due to their manipulation of this market.

...
Also, she seems to have a liberal perspective and therefore sees many problems from that perspective. In spite of that, I believe she is on target in most of her commentary. I rate it 4 stars in a 5 star scale.
I started reading Makers and Takers yesterday (it was displayed as a new arrival at our library) and am fighting the urge to dump a bunch of my large cap!

Also I have learned a lot from econ history books written from the liberal perspective, though I consider my self on the opposite end. They tend to be honest with their facts even if they don't help their side that much. Mississippi Rising was one, and there was another recent (since 2000) one about railroad history the title of which escape me. I wish the library kept a running list of my checkouts but I guess that's a no-no. :confused
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by VictoriaF »

wizzard wrote:
VictoriaF wrote:The Signal and the Noise by Nate Silver.

It's long been on my to-read list. I am happy that I finally got to read it and highly recommend it.

Victoria
I actually have this sitting on my shelf at home. My statistics professor recommended it to me and I have yet to read it, but I will certainly get to it in the next few months. Did you enjoy it??
I did! Even the sports and gambling sections were more interesting to me than I would have expected. For you they should be a treat.

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

Post by jginseattle »

Just finished two by Elmore Leonard:

52 Pickup. Not bad, but not one of his best. It was made into a not very good movie.

Raylan. Very entertaining. Darkly humorous.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by jebmke »

finished Devil in the White City

now on The One on the Other - fourth in the Bernie Gunther Series by Phillip Kerr
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by bertilak »

jebmke wrote:finished Devil in the White City
Strangely fascinating book.

I recommend it.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by ruralavalon »

South By Java Head, by Alistair MacLean.

A classic thriller of escape by boat from Singapore on its capture by the Japanese in 1942.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by nisiprius »

I recently read a couple of Eric Amblers, whom I've never read before: Background to Danger and Journey into Fear. I enjoyed them but did not think they were as great as some people do. I should probably try A Coffin for Dimitrios someday...

Oh, I read The Girl on the Train, by Paula Hawkins. It took me a while to get into it but then I found it enjoyable... just a mystery novel, with an interesting twist on the "unreliable narrator" idea. But the plot was way too complicated and involved far too many coincidences...
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by Nicolas »

Under the Stars: How America Fell in Love With Camping, by Dan White, 2016. Halfway through it and so far it's been informative and enjoyable. I just finished the chapter about when John Muir camped with Teddy Roosevelt under a sequoia.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by denismurf »

Zealot, the Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth.

Fascinating for an old ex-Catholic like me. Jesus, the zealot, is a lot more cool than the version I learned about in grade school.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by VictoriaF »

nisiprius wrote:Oh, I read The Girl on the Train, by Paula Hawkins. It took me a while to get into it but then I found it enjoyable... just a mystery novel, with an interesting twist on the "unreliable narrator" idea. But the plot was way too complicated and involved far too many coincidences...
I found The Girl on the Train in an albergue on the Camino, picked it up, read it, and left it in another albergue several days later. At the time I did not know anything about the book's fame or that it became the basis for a film. The book was weighing on me unexpectedly heavily. I had long stretches of walking and thinking, and I recall brooding over Rachel's story and trying to guess what had happened to Megan.

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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by ruralavalon »

Thunderstruck, by Erik Larson.

Very intriguing intertwined histories of the founding of commercial radio communications by Marconi and the 1910 Crippen murder in London. I recommend this book.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by ruralavalon »

The Man In The Brown Suit, by Agatha Christie.

A young woman is off on an adventure involving murders, spies and revolution.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by cfs »

Just returned this book to my favorite library today:

The Black Swan: Second Edition: The Impact of the Highly Improbable (paperback) by Nassim Nicholas Taleb, 2010.

Just picked this book from my favorite library today:

The Rise and Fall of the Soviet Union (short book, only 112 pages), by John R. Matthews, 2000. This is part of the World History Series.

Thanks for reading.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by TimDex »

"Blacklisted by History," by M. Stanton Evans, a reassessment of Joe McCarthy. I will simply say that if you've ever used the term McCarthyite as an epithet, you should consider reading this book. Will not be to everyone's taste, I know. Tim
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by Estate_Esq »

Re-reading a golden little book by the Frenchman Rev. Jacques Philippe; namely, Searching for and Maintaining Peace: A Small Treatise on Peace of Heart
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by alpha423df »

Read the recently released biography of Elon Musk by Ashlee Something.

The guy is crazy. The most humbling biography I have read so far. I like to read biographies, so I can feel [bad --admin LadyGeek] about my accomplishments :)

Now listening to 10% happier by Dan Harris. Talks about the pros and cos of meditation, from a laypersons perspective.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by gkaplan »

Several days ago, on a trip down to the Oregon Shakespeare Festival in Ashland, I finished Vichy France and the Jews by Michael R. Marrus and Robert O. Paxton. This book examines the Vichy regime's anti-Semitic policies and practices and documents French cooperation in the Nazi effort to eliminate the Jews.

Both authors are academics; nevertheless, the book is generally readable and free from argot, although the authors have an annoying inclination for the passive voice. The book has an excellent and elegantly constructed index. It is extensively footnoted. Unfortunately the endnotes, which mostly are to primary sources, are arcane and uninformative. Surprisingly for a work of this sort, the book has no bibliography, thus greatly limiting its use for research.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by Blues »

Samaritan by Richard Price. Once again Price demonstrates his, (dare I say unique?), ear for language and dialogue as well as the rhythm of the street.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by LadyGeek »

LadyGeek wrote:Hell's Gate, by David Weber and Linda Evans. Two societies at different levels of technology and magic get connected through a multi-world portal. I like the writing style, it's keeping me interested.
Hell Hath No Fury, by David Weber and Linda Evans. This is book 2 of 3 in the Multiverse series. The first half of the book was somewhat boring as the underlying subplots were set in place. Now that the action started, it's interesting again.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by PortAlice »

Currently rereading Kim Stanley Robinson's The Wild Shore, book one of his Three Californias Trilogy. First read it about 25 years ago, and am enjoying it just as well this time. Well written, character-driven and humanistic science fiction.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by jginseattle »

The Water is Wide: A Memoir, by Pat Conroy. I'm enjoying it immensely.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by ruralavalon »

Endurance, by Alfred Lansing.

An amazing history of the 1914 Shakleton expedition to Antarctica. Before they could even land to try their intended trek across Antarctica, the ship Endurance was trapped in the ice, frozen in place for over a year, was crushed by the ice and abandoned by the crew. The crew salvaged three of the ship's boats, lived on ice flows, travelled from one flow to another dragging the three boats, and eventually sailed hundreds of miles to Elephant Island and then another 800 miles to South Georgia, and then climbed across the mountains to reach a whaling station. All survived.

This is an excellent book. The narrative is detailed and vivid, based on diaries kept by nearly everyone in the crew and interviews with several of the survivors forty years later.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by Tycoon »

Data and Goliath: The Hidden Battles to Collect Your Data and Control Your World, Bruce Schneier

Summary: There is no privacy any longer.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by cfs »

Sir Ernest Shackleton [Inspirational Leadership]

Thanks shipmate Rural Avalon for the report on Endurance. And for more information about the expedition, here is a link to a NOVA documentary about: Shackleton's Voyage of Endurance..

Thanks for reading.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by cfs »

Just returned this book to my favorite library today:

The Rise and Fall of the Soviet Union (short book, only 112 pages), by John R. Matthews, 2000. This is part of The World History Series. I like this from that book, one of the reasons for the collapse, "They pretend to pay us, and we pretend to work" and I hope it never happens in the home of the brave and the land of the free [this is not a political statement].

Just picked this book from my favorite library today:

Azerbaijan (short book, only 128 pages), by Gerald Robbins, 2005. This is part of The Growth and Influence of Islam in the Nations of Asia and Central Asia Series.

Thanks for reading.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by S&L1940 »

jginseattle wrote:Just finished two by Elmore Leonard:
52 Pickup. Not bad, but not one of his best. It was made into a not very good movie.
Raylan. Very entertaining. Darkly humorous.
Leonard is one of my favorites, great story teller
Currently reading through Ambrose Bierce's short stories (think he did not right any novels). Humorous, Cynic, tales of satire and the supernatural.

Ahead of his time (supposedly died around 1914 in Mexico); one of his stories even made it into The Twilight Zone series - An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by peterinjapan »

Currently reading Beggars in Spain, about a future society that has engineered some members to no longer need sleep, and how this changes society. It's fascinating so far, and only the first book of a triligy.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by lgs88 »

I'm now reading Titan, the biography of John D. Rockefeller (Sr.) by Ron Chernow. Quite a character.
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Patricio
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Joined: Mon Jul 22, 2013 3:34 pm

Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by Patricio »

Perfidia by James Ellroy.

His latest and I think his best. It’s a prequel to the L.A. Quartet (Black Dahlia, The Big Nowhere, L.A. Confidential, White Jazz) and spans a period of about three weeks starting just before Pearl Harbor. Real estate scams, ritual murder, eugenics, Japanese internment, communist agitators, tong wars, brownshirts, collaborationists, plastic surgery, Bette Davis emptying a revolver into the ceiling of a Hollywood studio, benzedrine, opium, heroin, lesbian prison shanking and the most sadistically brutal and gleefully corrupt cops you could ever imagine.

Also moments of great courage and altruism. This book has a deep moral vision that I found strangely uplifting.

Ellroy is a hard author to read; you have to pay attention or you won’t know what’s going on. I reread the L.A. Quartet before I started this one—I’m a bit of a fan—and that added an extra dimension to my enjoyment of Perfidia, but it’s not really necessary. Some people are put off by Ellroy’s style—the staccato delivery, the hep cat slang, the oddly incantatory repetitions—but I find it grows on you.

I should add one warning. Ellroy has announced that this is just the first volume of a whole new L.A. Quartet, and though the plot of Perfidia does come to some resolution, the ending feels more like a setup for further development than a real conclusion. I can’t wait to read the rest of them.

--Patricio
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ruralavalon
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Location: Illinois

Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by ruralavalon »

Heaven's Ditch, by Jack Kelly.

This is a very readable history about Western New York in 1806 - 1844, concentrated on the construction of the Erie Canal and the religious revival along its route including the Second Great Awakening, the disappearance of William Morgan, the anti-Masonic party, the abolition movement, the temperance movement, women's rights, Shakers, Mormons, Millerites, and Adventists.
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