What have you read recently? 2009 -2020

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I highly recommend, Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania, by Erik Larson, author of In the Garden of Beasts, and The Devil in the White City, both of which I also highly recommend. Dead Wake is a fascinating study of the Lusitania incident that all of us have read about but generally have only a very cursory knowledge of. For example, I always thought we declared war on Germany in response to the Lusitania sinking and was surprised that it occurred two years before our entry.
 
donheff said:
I highly recommend, Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania, by Erik Larson, author of In the Garden of Beasts, and The Devil in the White City, both of which I also highly recommend. Dead Wake is a fascinating study of the Lusitania incident that all of us have read about but generally have only a very cursory knowledge of. For example, I always thought we declared war on Germany in response to the Lusitania sinking and was surprised that it occurred two years before our entry.
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Great! This has just been listed for my Book Club.
 
Just finished The Brain's Way of Healing by Norman Doidge (2015). He is a neurologist, writing about neuroplasticity. The book is organized around human interest stories, with a basis in science, but many of the techniques described are experimental and I wonder about some of the statements he makes. Anyhow, a good read.

The Brain’s Way of Healing | Norman Doidge, MD
 
I saw Sarah Helm's Ravensbruk on my library's new book shelf and am about 100 pages in. It is exhaustedly researched and well written. And of course horrifying even while compelling.
 
I finally got around to our own T-Al's Contact Us: A Jake Corby Sci-Fi Thriller. Al's SF debut is a bit dark and a lot of fun. Who would dream up an alien taking on a Walter Cronkite persona to communicate with Earth. Or that Cronkite should couple humor with psychopathic violence. The plethora of dystopian apocalyptic novels is getting old. But while Macy's world goes through some shocks, we humans shine through in a way that made me think of the upbeat vibe in Earth Abides. Happily the title encourages us to expect more Jake Corby thrillers. Send them our way T-Al.
 
Just re-read Issac Asimov's 'Caves of Steel' and 'The Naked Sun' written in 1953 and '56. Interesting to read them so many years later. I actually listened to them as mp3's downloaded from the library. What a great thing. Getting the yard work done while 'reading' classic sci-fi!
 
Dan Harris' 10% Happier is a great read, and I also enjoyed this little article about him on Flipboard, my newsreader. His story is told in a very personal way, kinda as his journey to being comfortable with his ambitions, his limitations, and how meditation helped him in pretty much every part of his life. I'm not a meditator myself, but I keep reading these kinds of stories in hopes I will actually try it one day.

https://about.flipboard.com/inside-flipboard/on-the-red-couch-with-abc-news-dan-harris/
 
"Brave New World" by Aldous Huxley. It's still hard to believe this was written 84 years ago, or that it took me half that long to discover it.
 
The Reluctant Tuscan - How I Discovered My Inner Italian (2006) by Phil Doran

The author was a producer of several popular TV sitcoms in the 80s. His wife was a sculptor and had been living in Tuscany for a while to work, when she called him one day and said she bought an old farmhouse for them to rebuild. He flew there, and found that the home had no heat, no electricity, no bathroom. In fact, he discovered later when applying for a building permit that the town could not provide one because it never had an address.

A reviewer says this book is a cross between Frances Mayes' (Under the Tuscan Sun) and Dave Barry's works. Indeed, the author's recollection of his run-in with town and bank officials was hilarious, as well as his encounter with the idiosyncrasy of the Italian customs.

Learning that the author's wife was an accomplished sculptor, I searched the Web to learn more, and found that she died recently of cancer at the age of early 60s. It's sad.
 
Kindle Fire + NC Ebook Lending Library

I find that I have broadened my reading with this modern setup. Books can be "borrowed", and either downloaded through my Amazon account, or directly downloaded as PDF's or other ebook formats. In the last month I have read books on the future of information and database use, a bio on President Ike, the four voyages of Columbus, and Buddhism in America. Interspersed with nonfiction, I've also read my normal thrillers and SciFi. :)
 
Dead Wake, by Erik Larson (2015). This is the story of the sinking of the Lusitania, which happened 100 years ago this month. It's well researched and told with plenty of human interest and suspense.
 
Oliver Sacks' memoir, On the Move, is a wonderful book and often quite surprising.
 
I'm just starting that one, myself. Interesting how he rambles a bit, interspersing personal stories and the details of the larger events of the times. Really an interesting read, and I'm not much on biographies.
 
The Bone Tree by Greg Iles is excellent. If you read Natchez Burning, this is the second installment in an expected trilogy. Loads of twists and turns, horrific KKK history, and a great JFK assassination theory backed up with a lot of historical figures. Lots of fun.
 
I'm reading all the stand-alone Ruth Rendell's, waiting for several holds of new books by Lincoln Child and others. Just finished up "The Johnstown Flood" by David McCullough - fascinating and sad but read like a fiction book. "Dead Wake" by Erik Larson. (seems like I'm reading a lot of tragedies). And the Beecher White series by Brad Meltzer.

I read about 4-5 books a week - former librarian here.
 
LinCella said:
I'm reading all the stand-alone Ruth Rendell's, waiting for several holds of new books by Lincoln Child and others. Just finished up "The Johnstown Flood" by David McCullough - fascinating and sad but read like a fiction book. "Dead Wake" by Erik Larson. (seems like I'm reading a lot of tragedies). And the Beecher White series by Brad Meltzer.

I read about 4-5 books a week - former librarian here.
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Thanks for the note on McCullough's book. It sounds good based on Amazon reviews. I was able to snag an ePub from the library.
 
donheff, it's pretty incredible and shows how things haven't changed in many respects. I'm from the West Coast so I've only heard of the flood but never read anything about it. I found it very emotional.
 
I am not too much into fictional reading but read a book a few years back named "the monk who sold his ferrari". I would say this is one book everyone should read at least ones in life.
 
The Martian - Andy Weir

The tech/science stuff is reduced to a level even a retired lawyer can grasp. Just a great fast moving story about an astronaut stranded on Mars.

A Changed Man - Francine Prose

A very well crafted story about a white-supremacist who has a change of heart. The writing alone made this one worth reading.
 
Just finished Confessions, by Jaume Cabre. Very challenging read, for me. The narrator jumps from around in time and from first to second to third person narrative. Frequent use of Latin phrases, references to historical events I wasn't very familiar with, made it challenging. His descriptions of the atrocities committed over the last few centuries, especially Nazi, were horrifying yet gripping. Exhausting but exhilarating. Feel like my brain has been stretched.


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I don't read much fiction, but someone recently insisted on loaning me All the Light We Cannot See (Anthony Doerr). Finished it last night - it's an interesting (but very sad) story. I'm a pretty linear person so this style of novel is not my cup of tea - very short chapters that alternate narratives of the 2 main characters, and also jumping back and forth in time repeatedly. To me, this is a lot of extra work for the reader. That said, I'm glad I read it.

Next up is back to non-fiction - DH gave me David Brooks' new book, The Road to Character for Mother's Day. Should be more up my alley.
 
Just finished "Boys in the Boat" by Daniel James Brown, good easy read and interesting story of competitive rowing teams, the people and hard times of the great depression and 1936 Olympics.
 
MBAustin said:
I don't read much fiction, but someone recently insisted on loaning me All the Light We Cannot See (Anthony Doerr). Finished it last night - it's an interesting (but very sad) story. I'm a pretty linear person so this style of novel is not my cup of tea - very short chapters that alternate narratives of the 2 main characters, and also jumping back and forth in time repeatedly. To me, this is a lot of extra work for the reader. That said, I'm glad I read it.
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I pretty well agree with you on this one. The writing was well done on a chapter by chapter basis, but all the skipping around in place and time didn't add anything for me. It was in the end a touching story though.
 
Thanks, scrinch! I thought I was being too critical.
 
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