What have you read recently? 2009 -2020

Status
Not open for further replies.
Since I am, apparently, just about the only one here who'd never heard of Anthony Bourdain, (even though I discovered one of his unread books on my shelf), I have just started into Kitchen Confidential.
 
Nemo2 said:
Since I am, apparently, just about the only one here who'd never heard of Anthony Bourdain, (even though I discovered one of his unread books on my shelf), I have just started into Kitchen Confidential.
Click to expand...
Ha. You must be one of our frugal members who forgoes cable or you would have stumbled on Parts Unknown at one time or another.
 
donheff said:
Ha. You must be one of our frugal members who forgoes cable or you would have stumbled on Parts Unknown at one time or another.
Click to expand...

Don't watch TV.......although we will oftentimes borrow movies/series from the library, but c'est tout.
 
I have just begun reading a book about Johnny Carson by Henry Bushkin. If that name sounds familiar to my fellow Carson fans, it is because he is the "Bombastic Bushkin" Carson often joked about in his opening monologues. Henry Buskin was Carson's advisor, counselor, etc. from 1970 on, which is the book's timeframe (I like that because I don't really need to read about his youth in Nebraska).


Reruns of Carson's Tonight Show began airing on AntennaTV in January of 2016, so this book dovetails well with my daily viewing of those reruns from 1972 on, after he moved the show from New York to Burbank, California.
 
Nemo2 said:
Since I am, apparently, just about the only one here who'd never heard of Anthony Bourdain, (even though I discovered one of his unread books on my shelf), I have just started into Kitchen Confidential.
Click to expand...

You're not alone. I'd never heard of him either.
 
Nemo2 said:
Since I am, apparently, just about the only one here who'd never heard of Anthony Bourdain, (even though I discovered one of his unread books on my shelf), I have just started into Kitchen Confidential.
Click to expand...

About 40% of the way through....really enjoying this book, and learning a lot from it!
 
To get a feel for The Secret Place by Tanya French, I needed to get in touch with my inner Irish boarding school teen-age girl. To my chagrin, I was able to accomplish this with a minimum of effort. The book is about several different sorts of relationships between two sets of girls (four girls to a set) and about the individual relationships between the girls themselves. Unfortunately, while I could keep the girls straight, I couldn’t keep all the cell phones straight. There were lots and lots of cell phones--way more than eight. And, the cell phones were usually either hidden, stolen, misplaced, given to others and/or had their SIMS cards swapped out. I almost enjoyed the book. There was also a murder.
 
I've read all the Tana French books but I could not get through The Secret Place. Too much teen angst for me but maybe I didn't see the issues of young people's development in it? Don't know.

One of my favorites of French's was Broken Harbor which showcased the knock-on effects of the real estate boom/bust.
 
Last edited:
redduck said:
To get a feel for The Secret Place by Tanya French, I needed to get in touch with my inner Irish boarding school teen-age girl. To my chagrin, I was able to accomplish this with a minimum of effort. The book is about several different sorts of relationships between two sets of girls (four girls to a set) and about the individual relationships between the girls themselves. Unfortunately, while I could keep the girls straight, I couldn’t keep all the cell phones straight. There were lots and lots of cell phones--way more than eight. And, the cell phones were usually either hidden, stolen, misplaced, given to others and/or had their SIMS cards swapped out. I almost enjoyed the book. There was also a murder.
Click to expand...

We tried to warn you--see p. 125 of this thread.
 
I just finished Killing Reagan. I've read a couple of this "killing" series by Bill O'Reilly (actually ghost written by someone else I think). They are quick reads because simply written, and this one appeared in my Cloud library search so I read it between last evening and this evening. It wasn't bad. Since this was "my" era as a young adult it helps to connect dots now as to what was actually happening politically. Despite O'Reilly being a conservative pundit there's not much affection for Reagan expressed, and I learned more about the demented John Hinckley.
 
Bestwifeever said:
We tried to warn you--see p. 125 of this thread.
Click to expand...

RE: Tanya French's book: The Secret Place

Yes, I saw Lsbcal's review beforehand. Also saw yours. I'll pay closer attention next time.

But, a question: would it be helpful to read these books in chronological order (which I won't be able to do, so I guess it's a meaningless question).
 
Marita40 said:
I just finished Killing Reagan. I've read a couple of this "killing" series by Bill O'Reilly (actually ghost written by someone else I think). They are quick reads because simply written, and this one appeared in my Cloud library search so I read it between last evening and this evening. It wasn't bad. Since this was "my" era as a young adult it helps to connect dots now as to what was actually happening politically. Despite O'Reilly being a conservative pundit there's not much affection for Reagan expressed, and I learned more about the demented John Hinckley.
Click to expand...

Just started it today, so far, so good.
 
redduck said:
RE: Tanya French's book: The Secret Place

Yes, I saw Lsbcal's review beforehand. Also saw yours. I'll pay closer attention next time.

But, a question: would it be helpful to read these books in chronological order (which I won't be able to do, so I guess it's a meaningless question).
Click to expand...

I think it is always good to read authors in order. But I don't think in French's case reading them out of order would be a problem.
 
^^
Thanks for the speedy reply. And, thanks for starting this thread. I've found it quite helpful (I guess others have as well.)
 
Nemo2 said:
Just starting Facing the Congo:

Facing the Congo: A Modern-Day Journey Into the Heart of Darkness by Jeffrey Tayler, Paperback | Barnes & Noble®
Click to expand...

Just finished it...wow....what an adventure, (better him than me).

One of our coterie, in mid 1960s Toronto, had been a merc with "Mad Mike" Hoare, (who's amazingly still alive and 98 years old https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mike_Hoare ), and almost 40 years later writer Jeffrey Tayler finds not much has improved in the area....hell of a read.
 
Nemo2 said:
Just finished it...wow....what an adventure, (better him than me). One of our coterie, in mid 1960s Toronto, had been a merc with "Mad Mike" Hoare, (who's amazingly still alive and 98 years old https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mike_Hoare ), and almost 40 years later writer Jeffrey Tayler finds not much has improved in the area....hell of a read.
Click to expand...

If you are in a current frame of mind to read more about such things, may I suggest two books that I have greatly enjoyed ?

My Friend the mercenary: by James Brabazon
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Brabazon#My_Friend_the_Mercenary
- Brabazon is a famous conflict reporter. In this book he covers the Liberian civil war and then narrowly misses getting involved in a coup in Equatorial Guinea involving Sir Mark Thatcher and the infamous Simon Mann.

The Zanzibar Chest: by Aidan Hartley
https://www.amazon.ca/Zanzibar-Chest/dp/1594480117
- "Hartley, a frontline reporter who covered the atrocities of 1990s Africa, embarks on a journey to unlock the mysteries and secrets of his own family's 150-year-colonial legacy in Africa, and delivers a beautiful, sometimes harrowing memoir of intrepid young men cut down in their prime, of forbidden love and its fatal consequences, and of family and history, and the collision of cultures that defined them both."
 
Just started Dancing with the Tiger by Lila Wright. Seems to have good potential.

(Meth dealer in Oaxaca trades ancients finds. What could go wrong? Our friends are visiting there as I write this from PV!)
 
I am reading "Chestnut Street " by Maeve Binchy .It is a collection of short stories published after her death . Reading it is like spending time with an old friend.
 
There's a series by a Polish author Andrzej Sapkowski about a monster hunter named Geralt of Rivia. It became the basis of a Polish game development team that became so popular worldwide the prime minister gave a copy of the game to Obama on one of his visits.

Loved the games, so I figured I'd give the series a change. I just finished the first book, called The Last Wish. The style reminds me a whole lot of the movie Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, only with a fantasy skin instead of a western one. I liked it enough to buy the whole series.
 
Now reading Davd McCullough's Mornings on Horseback, a life of Teddy Roosevelt. Well written and fascinating.
 
Now reading Younger Next Year by Crowley and Lodge.

It is as I have always believed. You can maintain your health and mobility of your youth into old age if you exercise and take care of your self. The effects of a sedentary lifestyle on your well being as you age are much greater than the ageing effect itself. Many around me do not believe this is so. Now I can reference the book that explains it.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Similar threads

S
Scott Burns' own story
Replies
3
Views
3K
haha
haha

Latest posts

Back
Top Bottom