What have you read recently? 2009 -2020

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I have read a bunch of World War II era stores of late. Two of the best were Beneath a Scarlet Sky by Mark Sullivan and We Were the Lucky Ones by Georgia Hunter.

Both are true stories. Beneath a Scarlet Sky was particularly good. I could easily see it being made into a movie...
 
donheff said:
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The Quantum Spy, by David Ignatius, is a thriller set in the current day CIA featuring Chinese efforts to steal our work on quantum computing. It is a well crafted, low key thriller, with endorsements from two former CIA directors.
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Just read this book at it is really good. Feels like real trade craft although there is no way for me to prove that. If you look up the author, he is a Washington Post senior reporter with quite a CV. Also appears on PBS News from time to time. He probably has pretty good contacts.
 
I read Quantum Spy about a month ago and had very mixed feelings about it.

As a simple thriller it was pretty good. But there are so many details of how things are done in that world that were just flat out wrong that it made me crazy. I was a small part of that world a long time ago so I have strong memories of it. I got so annoyed I almost quit reading it a couple of times, but I did finish it. If you didn't know better, those things wouldn't even register and you would probably enjoy it all.
 
The audio of Grant by Ron Chernow is excellent as well (my husband and I both have long commutes and this is well done).
 
braumeister said:
I read Quantum Spy about a month ago and had very mixed feelings about it.

As a simple thriller it was pretty good. But there are so many details of how things are done in that world that were just flat out wrong that it made me crazy. I was a small part of that world a long time ago so I have strong memories of it. I got so annoyed I almost quit reading it a couple of times, but I did finish it. If you didn't know better, those things wouldn't even register and you would probably enjoy it all.
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Can you mention a few details that were off? I promise not to tell anyone.;)
 
Lsbcal said:
Can you mention a few details that were off? I promise not to tell anyone.;)
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Sorry, I suspect they were changed deliberately at the request of certain authorities. :angel:
Don't mind me; I just got frustrated at what I considered glaring errors.
 
braumeister said:
Sorry, I suspect they were changed deliberately at the request of certain authorities. :angel:
Don't mind me; I just got frustrated at what I considered glaring errors.
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I remember reading a book years ago, a thriller/detective book. I can't remember the name or author. But at one point the protagonist is going to break into the mansion the bad guy is living in. It belongs to a rich widow the bad guy is scamming. And it's on my street in Arlington VA. Where my 2500 sq ft brick 50 year old house was. It was only a mile or so outside DC, but there weren't any mansions there. Not even any McMansions (at that time). I still enjoyed the book, but that bit bugged me.
 
Recently finished the Silo series by Hugh Howey. I enjoyed those so I looked for similar recommendations. So glad to now be in the middle of Pierce Brown’s Red Rising series of books. Love them. Elven got DW hooked.
Guess I’m still a bit of a science fiction nerd. I really enjoy how a good author can use only words to make you visualize things you’ve never seen or even considered.
 
Just finished American Gods by Neil Gaiman. I really enjoyed it, as I have with most of his books. I think I'll watch the series on Netflix (DVD) and see how it compares.
 
harley said:
Just finished American Gods by Neil Gaiman. I really enjoyed it, as I have with most of his books.
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After Neverwhere, (which I've read at least three times......and watched the movie), I was quite disappointed with American Gods...but that's just me.
 
Nemo2 said:
After Neverwhere, (which I've read at least three times......and watched the movie), I was quite disappointed with American Gods...but that's just me.
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+1 or is it +2 ?

I loved Neverwhere. I've never watched the full BBC teleserial of it (is that what you meant ?)

I disliked American Gods. Book and show.

I've also read some Gaiman short stories and he has written for Dr. Who and Babylon 5 as well.
 
Nemo2 said:
This one:
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That's the one. I've only seen the first two episodes out of six.

Funnily enough, Peter Capaldi is in it. He went on to play some sort of police box attendant from Gallifrey.... :cool:
 
Koogie said:
That's the one. I've only seen the first two episodes out of six.
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Quite a while back we borrowed the DVD from the library and watched it all.
 
Nemo2 said:
Haven't started it yet, but I just picked up, for $1 Cdn at the library bookstore, My Friend The Mercenary by journalist James Brabazon:
https://www.amazon.ca/My-Friend-Mercenary-James-Brabazon/dp/1554685494
Having known, in 1960s Toronto, a guy who fought with 'Mad Mike' Hoare in the Congo, (yeah, I saw pics), I'll be interested in some insights from this book.
Mike Hoare (Congo Mercenary)
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We are definitely in sympatico lately.

That is a fantastic book. The Liberia chapters are especially good and he is a great writer and has more than a little bit of a deathwish.

On the same subject (the Equatorial Guinea takeover) may I also suggest the book The Wonga Coup. Interesting to see their different takes on the same events and players.

Another book written by a war journalist with African roots is The Zanzibar Chest. It delves into the authors history as a white African and as a child of an Empire family and when he becomes a correspondent it deals with Rwanda mostly and it's aftermath on those who covered it.
 
Koogie said:
That is a fantastic book.
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Good to hear!

The feller I knew in Toronto, (the guys, Australians etc, with whom I bunked had known him for a while before I moved in), had a bunch of stories, (which were later verified in Mad Mike's book)..........he subsequently obtained a B.A. in Toronto and a post-graduate degree in Sydney, NSW.

He then worked for a while in Toronto as a supply teacher......apparently, but not surprisingly, the worst schools had the most teacher absenteeism so that's where he generally ended up.

One story......first day a teenage punk kept creating a disturbance, so friend meekly asked him if he could have a quiet word in the hallway.

In the hallway, after checking that there was no-one around, he lifted the guy off the floor with one hand around his throat and whispered "If you make one more sound in my class I'll break your ****** arm".

After work on Friday he commented that the guy was very well behaved for the balance of the week. :LOL:
 
Ooooh - just finished Best Day Ever by Kaira Rouda. (No its not about your first day in FIRE) I usually don't like mystery suspense but this one is a cracker! Read it in two days, and DH is also zooming thru it.
 
Last week I had the flu, so I read "I'll Be Gone In The Dark", by Michelle McNamara. It's about the Golden State Killer, who has never been caught. It is very good and has me double-checking our door locks at night.
 
CoolRich59 said:
I started 'Team of Rivals' by Doris Kearns Goodwin when a copy of 'Grant' by Ron Chernow became available at my library and so I'm reading both. So far, they are both excellent.
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I have been having a great time reading 'Grant' and 'Team of Rivals'.

But, then I got a notification that the Kindle version a book I've had on my list for quite a while went on sale. So, I purchased a copy of 'Pacific Crucible: War at Sea in the Pacific, 1941-1942' by Ian Toll and am reading that as well.
 
Throwdownmyaceinthehole said:
Ooooh - just finished Best Day Ever by Kaira Rouda. (No its not about your first day in FIRE) I usually don't like mystery suspense but this one is a cracker! Read it in two days, and DH is also zooming thru it.
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I decided to see if our library had this as an ebook and they did. I downloaded it yesterday and read it yesterday. I enjoyed this book. It has been some time since I read a book in one day, but I wanted to see what happened!
 
Finished Origin by Dan Brown. Good novel. Gripping conclusion. Neat theory about the universe. The wrap up was somewhat disappointing. Definitely supports Elon Musk in his worry about AI.

We were in the Copper Canyon without internet or cell phone service so I had to rely on a book in our e-library. So am reading The Rules of Civility by Amor Towles. Bit a a heavy go but then seems to flow nicely now.
 
The Pentagons Brain: The untold history of DARPA and LoLa, Melissa Scrivner Love.
 
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