What have you read recently? 2009 -2020

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TromboneAl said:
We've got six books/videos on hold right now, and that's the limit, so could you guys cool it for a while?
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Sorry Al but it is rainy season in Florida so I will be churning out the book reviews ! I'm almost finished with John Connolly 's " The Lovers " . Very weird and just okay !
 
IndependentlyPoor said:
Ken Follett's Code to Zero. Not one of his best.
A frownie for this one :(.

Is it just me or are there a lot more errors in books these days? Content as well as grammar. In this book, the protagonist steals a Ford Fiesta in 1958! It really had me going for a moment.
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And movies. I remember seeing Braveheart and spotting a plastic downpipe emanating from a bathroom in a Scottish castle. Or maybe Scottish plumbing was very advanced in the 16th century!
 
Walt34 said:
I also recently read The Big Short and agree it's the only one that explained the housing fiasco to me. It's amazing that so many people deeply involved in that didn't see it coming.
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If you haven't already read it, 'The Quants' by Scott Patterson is another great read on the same subject.

My library just got 'The Big Short' in. I'm looking forward to it.
 
Ran across this in an article discussing manufacturing moves. I did not expect such a low printing cost for hardcovers:
Printing a 9-by-9-inch, 334-page hardcover book in China costs about 44 to 45 cents now, with another 3 cents for shipping, says Goodwin. The same book costs 65 to 68 cents to make in the U.S.
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The full article (not related to reading books) is here: Companies brace for end of cheap made-in-China era - Yahoo! Finance
 
Just finished China lake by Anthony Hyde. I would give it an 8-8.5 on Al's scale. It is sort of a Mojave Desert John LaCarre mystery. It involves a young British scientist expelled from the country after being framed to appear involved in the release of Sidewinder plans to the Russians and the China Lake base security officer who argued that he didn't do it. 25 years after the incident things start popping all over again and the hunt for answers is on. Very good but a bit dense on the internal explorations and details. I got tired of the lengthy character development and skimmed by many pages -- but Hyde is good at that stuff so, if you like it, you will want to plod through every page.
 
Thanks Don, on Amazon Hyde's other book Red Fox got good reviews too. Have added to reading list.
 
I am like 8 pages from finally finishing 'Atlas Shrugged'. Boy does Ayn Rand like to hear herself write! I like the book and the message is sobering. No matter you political persuasion, it is hard to dismiss the parallels to what is going on today in America, though obviously the results in the book are played out over a much shorter time frame an more dramatically than would likely occur, if they occur at all. Still a good book and worth a read.
 
Reading The Big Short by Michael Lewis right now, like others here.

I can't believe how badly AIG got screwed by Goldman and other big banks, getting AIG to sell them credit defaults swaps on those synthetic CDOs with the bogus AAA ratings. It's amazing how unethically the big banks acted in these deals, putting together these synthetic CDOs that they knew were crap, just so AIG would sell CDS on them.

I think the big banks that did this may incur a little financial liability after it is all said and done.
 
Halfway through "Hollywood crows" by Joseph Wambaugh. Better than the previous "Hollywood station". But I still think that "The Choirboys" is his best so far.
 
cardude said:
Reading The Big Short by Michael Lewis right now, like others here.

I can't believe how badly AIG got screwed by Goldman and other big banks, getting AIG to sell them credit defaults swaps on those synthetic CDOs with the bogus AAA ratings. It's amazing how unethically the big banks acted in these deals, putting together these synthetic CDOs that they knew were crap, just so AIG would sell CDS on them.

I think the big banks that did this may incur a little financial liability after it is all said and done.
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That was a great read. I haven't been able to get that book off my mind yet.
 
vicente solano said:
Halfway through "Hollywood crows" by Joseph Wambaugh. Better than the previous "Hollywood station". But I still think that "The Choirboys" is his best so far.
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Choirboys is a classic, but I like Wambaugh's Hollywood trilogy because it's obvious that he's working with new material. It's been decades since Wambaugh was a working cop, and from the acknowledgments in the Hollywood books it's obvious that he's refreshed his stuff by spending a lot of time with cops whose time on the street is more recent. It's fresher and more relevant.

There is no denying his ability to see the absurd in all of us, and turn it into hilarious and sad at the same time.
 
Leonidas said:
Brave New World - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Fantastic story. Can't believe I never read it before now.
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Isn't it great to discover that some of these famous classics live up to their hype?

Thanks for the Wikipedia link. I read Brave New World in high school, and from the Wikipedia article, it looks like a lot of it went over my head. Also seems like I am going to have to read Men Like Gods to see what inspired it.

Have you read 1984? They are often read together.
 
Just finished Medium Raw by Athony Bourdain, the author of Kitchen Confidential. Kitchen Confidential was funny, gritty and angry. Medium Raw's Bourdain is an older, mellower guy writing as his cover blurb says, "A bloody valentine to the world of food and the people who cook." It is a very enjoyable read, especially if you are a bit of a foodie.
 
IndependentlyPoor said:
Isn't it great to discover that some of these famous classics live up to their hype?

Thanks for the Wikipedia link. I read Brave New World in high school, and from the Wikipedia article, it looks like a lot of it went over my head. Also seems like I am going to have to read Men Like Gods to see what inspired it.

Have you read 1984? They are often read together.
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Read 1984 back in high school, or maybe middle school. I probably should go back and read it again to see what I missed, forgot, or have changed my mind about. My distrust of strong central government might be hereditary, but reading 1984 certainly only solidified it, if it didn't deepen it.

I was tempted to add Men Like Gods for the same reason it interests you, but I'm working my way through a list of 200+ books and I've forced myself to stop adding to it until I finish the list.
 
I am reading my first ebook . Is it a classic ? Yes it 's classic Evanovich. "Sizzling Sixteen " . As usual a good fun read .
 
Mowed the grass, washed the cars, and played in the ESPN 2 man local qualifier. We were one stroke out of the scratch division, but won the net by 3 shots. So now we have to win one more to go to vegas. There were several guys in the tournament today that qualified for vegas last year, so hopefully we have a shot. I did play one of my best rounds today though. I guess I'll have to practice some now.
 
Finished "The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest," the final volume in Stieg Larrson's Lizbeth Salander trilogy. This one is quite good as were the others. Salander closes the book on some reprehensible characters from previous books. this is definitely a trilogy that should be read in order.
 
If you want a laugh out loud read get "**** my Dad says " . It is the funniest book I have ever read and if you ever had a crazy relative you will definitely identify with this book . It's funny ,irreverent and just a great read !
 
The Ringing Cedars of Russia book series. They have changed my life and the direction I'm going in. Looking for answers to the worlds ills? These books are written to help us understand why we have created the problems we find in every corner of the globe. A must read for anyone who cares a hoot about the future of your children and the human race in general.
 
Westernskies said:
Mt. Rushmore and Devils Tower...:D
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Saw your post about this on another thread :). Are you keeping track of how many National Park sites you've been to? Bucket list? I went to an obscure one last fall and the park ranger said a guy came thru who only needed three more to complete the list.
 
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