What have you read recently? 2009 -2020

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I just finished "Why We Sleep" by Matthew Walker, a British-born sleep researcher at UC Berkeley. The book was fascinating. There is a great deal of information about sleep which has been discovered in recent decades. The author is very good at presenting sometimes complex information in a very understandable way.

"My Ex-Life" by Stephen McCauley was a very enjoyable novel to read. Lots of clever lines and commentary about contemporary life.
 
I have been reading The Norton Book of Travel (1987), edited by Paul Fussell.

It's not a travel guide, but a collection of articles and excerpts from travelogues of different writers, starting from 400BC to the 1960s. It's an excellent source of information from stories of how people traveled in the old days, compared to how we do that now. And what people saw in those days was very interesting, for example how a couple of British writers, one of them being Charles Dickens, saw the US and its people when they were visiting in the mid 1800s. The picture they painted was not flattering, and a bit astonishing to me.

I picked up this book used, but in very good condition, for $0.25 at the public library in Haines, Alaska, when they had a fund drive and were selling donated books. Excellent material, 800+ pages, hard cover. How lucky was I?
 
I just finished "It Can't Happen Here" by Sinclair Lewis. His style was kind of a hard read for me, but it's held up well for something written in 1935. It's as disturbing as Handmaid's Tale.
 
I just finished "Why We Sleep" by Matthew Walker, a British-born sleep researcher at UC Berkeley. The book was fascinating. There is a great deal of information about sleep which has been discovered in recent decades. The author is very good at presenting sometimes complex information in a very understandable way.
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I'm about half way through "Why We Sleep" and I'm amazed at what I'm reading. I think this is a "must read" for my children and grand children. It has already changed my attitude toward sleeping.
 
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I'm generally a nonfiction reader but have decided to try focusing on fiction for a bit. Just finished The Summer Before the War by Helen Simonson. Very enjoyable, nothing too complex, set in England around the beginning of WWI. Now I'm perusing this thread for ideas before I head out to the library shortly for the next book(s).
 
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I like to grab something and just read it. Old, new or in between.

Currently almost done with James Michener - Caravans.

Set in 1946 Afghanistan. I don't know if people still read Michener much anymore. I still enjoy his books.
 
chris2008 said:
I grew up with Micheners "The drifters".
Still re-read it from time to time, with some nostalgia.
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Wow, that's an oldie......I was in Torremolinos for a month or so around the time the book was being written.....ten lifetimes ago...it feels like.
 
Finished Alan Furst's Midnight in Europe. Link https://www.amazon.com/Midnight-Eur...1533939992&sr=8-1&keywords=midnight+in+Europe. It is a spy novel taking place in pre-WW2 France with shifts to Spain, Poland, and Germany. Covers some of the Spanish Civil War (Franco nationalists versus Republic). Discusses some of the conditions in Germany pre-war. Interesting detail: some people in Germany turned on the radio to hear Hitler's speeches because Nazi youth groups listened at houses to report those not listening.
 
Lsbcal said:
Finished Alan Furst's Midnight in Europe. Link https://www.amazon.com/Midnight-Eur...1533939992&sr=8-1&keywords=midnight+in+Europe. It is a spy novel taking place in pre-WW2 France with shifts to Spain, Poland, and Germany. Covers some of the Spanish Civil War (Franco nationalists versus Republic). Discusses some of the conditions in Germany pre-war. Interesting detail: some people in Germany turned on the radio to hear Hitler's speeches because Nazi youth groups listened at houses to report those not listening.
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+1 for Furst!
 
I have just finished reading the book "Four Fires" by Bryce Courtaney. It is a big book and it took me almost a week to get through the 777 pages. I had a busy week so had to snatch time to read whenever I could because I just couldn't put the book down.



The story is set in rural Australia, is about an untypical Australian family and spans the time period from the mid 1950's to the early 60's. Although there are a lot of Australian colloquialisms used throughout the book, the story is very powerful and moving. Well worth the time if you are looking for a good read.
 
I just finished "Prairie Fires, the American Dreams of Laura Ingalls Wilder" by Caroline Fraser. I really enjoyed it, it is a biography of her and her libertarian daughter, Rose Wilder Lane. But it is much more than that, it delves deeply into western expansion, treatment of native Americans, the homestead movement, the dust bowl, great depression, isolationism before WWII, etc. Wilder's children books were a fictionalized version of her girlhood, this depicts the more difficult reality, up to and including locust invasions!
 
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Mmm Rrr said:
I just finished "Prairie Fires, the American Dreams of Laura Ingalls Wilder". I really enjoyed it, it is a biography of her and her libertarian daughter, Rose Wilder Lane.
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That is one I am going to look out for. I've read other factual books written by this author which provided a fascinating look at the not so distant history written from the female perspective.
 
Lsbcal said:
Finished Alan Furst's Midnight in Europe. Link https://www.amazon.com/Midnight-Eur...1533939992&sr=8-1&keywords=midnight+in+Europe. It is a spy novel taking place in pre-WW2 France with shifts to Spain, Poland, and Germany. Covers some of the Spanish Civil War (Franco nationalists versus Republic). Discusses some of the conditions in Germany pre-war. Interesting detail: some people in Germany turned on the radio to hear Hitler's speeches because Nazi youth groups listened at houses to report those not listening.
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Not all Germans were Hitler's followers, but they were oppressed.

I have seen again and again that Americans simply do not understand that people in many parts of the world do not have the freedom of speech as we do here. For example, they see a huge turnout of North Koreans in a rally, but do not know that the penalty for staying home may be the gulag for life. Uh, that's not fair they say. It's against the constitution or whatever. :LOL:

Or do they really think that the poor Venezuelans now support their government?
 
NW-Bound said:
Not all Germans were Hitler's followers, but they were oppressed.

I have seen again and again that Americans simply do not understand that people in many parts of the world do not have the freedom of speech as we do here. For example, they see a huge turnout of North Koreans in a rally, but do not know that the penalty for staying home may be the gulag for life. Uh, that's not fair they say. It's against the constitution or whatever. :LOL:

Or do they really think that the poor Venezuelans now support their government?
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There was never a directly elected Nazi government. So it appears we don't really know the full support level for Hitler. In the 1932 elections several regions in Germany were 40 to 50% Nazi party. One region was 50 to 60% Nazi party. So not 100% but obviously worryingly strong at that early point in time.

I'm reading this above info in Robert Gellately's new book The Third Reich from our local library. It is an Oxford illurstrated history book that has several authors for each section. Interesting stuff as my curiosity was stoked by watching Babylon Berlin on Netflix.
 
NW-Bound said:
For example, they see a huge turnout of North Koreans in a rally, but do not know that the penalty for staying home may be the gulag for life. Uh, that's not fair they say. It's against the constitution or whatever.
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This reminded me of another good book I read last winter, "Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea" by Barbara Demick. I sometimes have trouble keeping up my interest in nonfiction like this, but the way she uses people's lives to explain North Korea was really captivating to me.
 
For the person who mentioned "Code Girls" by Liza Mundy....sounds like something I would really like. Thanks for listing that one.

From another forum's recommendation, I just started a series by Robert Crais. (Joe Pike mysteries). Also, this summer I've been working my way through the "Private...." series by Patterson. Fiction detective/mystery/crime solving by the Private Investigative team based all around the world......L.A., Las Vegas, Berlin, Paris, down-under, etc.
 
Mmm Rrr said:
This reminded me of another good book I read last winter, "Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea" by Barbara Demick. I sometimes have trouble keeping up my interest in nonfiction like this, but the way she uses people's lives to explain North Korea was really captivating to me.
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I have not heard of the book. I found an excerpt from the Web:

Upon escaping to China in order to avoid impending starvation, Dr. Kim experiences a stark revelation. Her experience is captured to depict both her personal, psychological perspective, as well as suddenly realizing such drastic difference in societies she is confronted with:

She still wanted to believe that her country was the best place in the world. The beliefs she had cherished for a lifetime would be vindicated. But now she couldn't deny what was staring her plainly in the face: dogs in China ate better than doctors in North Korea.​

Yet, there are a lot of naive people who do not believe that a regime could be that bad.

How else do you explain tourists paying money to visit North Korea? Otto Warmbier, a young American, went on a tour to North Korea, was accused of stealing a propaganda sign in his hotel, and sentenced to 15 years of hard labor. He recently died in prison.

And then, there was a Canadian woman who went to Afghanistan to join Al-Qaeda. She was held hostage by the militants, and they threatened to cut off her head if she did not beg the Canadian government to send money for a ransom. Have not followed this story for a while to know her fate.

Back on the topic of reading, the above people are educated, but they either do not read, or do not believe it could be as bad as what they read.

 
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I read "A Fall of Marigolds" by Susan Meissner in the airport on a trip- historical fiction about two parallel tragedies- a fire at a factory in New York and the 9-11 terror attack. It was very good.
 
pacergal said:
Recently finished the Millionaire Teacher by Andrew Hallam and Coffehouse Investor by Bill Schultheis.
Now starting 98.6 The art of keeping your a** alive by Cody Lundin.
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Just finished Millionaire Teacher by Andrew Hallam too.
I can't recommend this book enough as the first personal finance book people should read. It covers the basic foundations that everyone should start with IMO. Simple is good.
It covers: Spending habits, time/compounding, investment fees/ and active/passive investing, the mental aspect of investing, asset allocation, and how to identify and watch out for scams and pitfalls.
 
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