What have you read recently? 2009 -2020

[MuirWannabe]

Empire of the Summer Moon. History of Qaunah Parker. Incredible book. Also Country Music, companion book to Ken Burns PBS series.

I’ve driven through the small Texas panhandle town of Quanah several times. Think I’ll give this book a try. Thx.

 

[Mark1]

I’ve driven through the small Texas panhandle town of Quanah several times. Think I’ll give this book a try. Thx.

Yup, +1 Thanks..

 

[donheff]

Until the End of Time is a new one by Brian Greene. For fans of cosmology and evolution.

 

[Tailgate]

What have you read recently?

I’ve driven through the small Texas panhandle town of Quanah several times. Think I’ll give this book a try. Thx.

It will suck you in and show you everything you thought you about the early West knew was...

 

[Lsbcal]

Until the End of Time is a new one by Brian Greene. For fans of cosmology and evolution.

Thanks! You can read good snatches of this on Amazon as a primer. And here is a positive review: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/17/books/review/until-the-end-of-time-brian-greene.html

All living creatures that we know about on Earth share the same genetic tool kit, based on DNA. And we are all battery-operated, deriving energy from a molecule called adenosine triphosphate, ATP for short. In order to keep going, Greene tells us, each cell in your body consumes some 10 million of these molecules every second.

Upward we go through the emporium of ideas to floors dedicated to consciousness, free will, language and religion. We don’t linger long on any floor. Greene is like one of those custom shopping consultants. He knows the wares, the ideas being pitched in every department. He drags in all the experts — from Proust to Hawking — and tries to be an honest broker about the answers to questions we can’t really answer.

 

[donheff]

Thanks! You can read good snatches of this on Amazon as a primer. And here is a positive review: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/17/books/review/until-the-end-of-time-brian-greene.html

Thanks Lsbcal. I shoud have given more of a review but I was tapping away on my phone and don''t have the patience there. As soon as a review on a new Greene book hits the papers, I reserve it at the library. They are all good and this one is no exception.

 

[51notout]

What have you read recently?

A few months after I FIREd in 2017, I pulled out all 6 of the Dune books that I read 50 years ago or so. Frank Herbert's son Brian has also written additional books in the series, making 19 full length books in all. I started on them in the fall of 2017, but have also put them aside to read other things in the meantime. I am currently up to God Emperor of Dune, which I think is #15 of the 19. It has been so long since I read it, it is practically all new to me again.

Just finished God Emperor of Dune (book #4 of Frank Herberts 6 books). Started Heretics of Dune 2 days ago.

I’ve enjoyed all of them very much. I too read them in my early 20’s and listening again via Audible is like I never read them before. I listen whilst I’m riding my bike every day for a couple of hours so I’m getting through them a bit too quickly.

Prior to Dune I listened only to non fiction. Malcolm Gladwell books were interesting in a quick way, Edward Snowden’s book is interesting, Steven Hawkins Brief Answer’s to the big questions was OK too.

The Brains Way Of Healing by Norman Doidge was excellent.

Back to Dune [emoji3]

ETA: come to think of it, I think it was your post, DrRoy, that reminded me of the Dune series again. So, a hearty thanks for that [emoji3]

 

[braumeister]

I think it was your post, DrRoy, that reminded me of the Dune series again. So, a hearty thanks for that [emoji3]

Yes, so many great books from that era that were hugely influential on many of us. Dune was "unputdownable".

"wheels within wheels"

 

[kcowan]

Joined NetGalley and completed my first pre-release book review, The IPO Playbook.

 

[Mr._Graybeard]

It will suck you in and show you everything you thought you about the early West knew was...

Along those same lines, Helldorado: Bringing the Law to the Mesquite is a memoir by Billy Breakenridge, who was deputy sheriff and a deputy US marshal in Tombstone, Ariz., during the showdown between the Earps and the Clantons. Breakenridge was more sympathetic to the Clantons than the Earps, both of whom had few qualms about breaking the law, according to the author.

The memoir caused some resentment from Wyatt Earp, who was in Hollywood rewriting Western history for the young movie industry when the book was published. That fallout was evident as recently as the 1991 movie "Tombstone," where Breakenridge was cast as an ineffectual milquetoast.

Actually, Breakenridge put a number of outlaws in Boot Hill. He was a young cavalryman at the Sand Creek Massacre and surveyed the site for the Roosevelt Dam near Phoenix.

Another interesting book about the old West is Great Gunfighters of the Kansas Cowtowns 1867-1886 by Nyle Miller and Joseph Snell. The scholarly work relies on contemporary newspaper accounts to trace the exploits of men like Bat Masterson, Wild Bill Hickok, Earp and Mysterious Dave Mather as they fought their way through Abilene, Wichita, Dodge City and other hubs of the cattle trade in the 1870s and 1880s. The book includes extensive excerpts from newspapers of the day, which can be quite colorful in their own right.

 

[Moemg]

I just finished "Florence Adler swims forever " .It is set in Atlantic city in 1934 . Florence Adler is preparing to swim the English Channel . A great story about a family loss , a love story and lots of side plots . It is so refreshing to read a nice book during all the Covid crisis. An enjoyable book.

 

[harley]

Dune was "unputdownable".

Not really. I tried to read it probably 5 times over a 15 year period. Each time I put it down before I could finish the first hundred pages. That part was just a history book. When someone told me that I just had to tough it out and get past that part, I finally did it. Then it was definitely a classic and unputdownable. But getting past that first part was a bear.

 

[donheff]

When I read the judge released Mary Trump's "To Much and Never Enough," I clicked over to the library to put a hold on it and discovered that I was quick enough to download a copy immediately. I won't give a review since any review would end up political and would undoubtedly cause the demise of this timeless, very worthwhile thread. But, having read the intro and a bit of the first chapter, I will report that I was pleasantly surprised at the quality of the writing. It is quite readable, as we say, and the subject is certainly interesting.

 

[Lsbcal]

+1

...but shouldn’t that be Too Much and Never Enough ?

 

[donheff]

+1

...but shouldn’t that be Too Much and Never Enough ?

Thanks, fixed it.

 

[SumDay]

Currently reading "Such a Fun Age" by Kiley Reid. It was written in 2019, but pretty timely for today. It's a novel dealing with class, race, growing up, etc. Probably more of a female read.

 

[Nemo2]

Panama
Eric Zencey

https://www.publishersweekly.com/978-0-374-22943-6

This is that extremely rare find, a first novel that is not only extremely accomplished but also quite unlike anything else. It daringly places a real person--American historian and philosopher Henry Adams--into a historic situation--the scandal in 1892 Paris over the corrupt collapse of the grand Panama Canal plan--and makes of it a dashing, sometimes touching and, yes, thoughtful thriller. Adams is sketched quickly and deftly: enterprising, sensitive, observant, still mourning the suicide of his wife years earlier, half in love with beautiful Elizabeth Cameron. We see him briefly in Panama, stealing a picture that will come to be significant; at Mont Saint-Michel and Chartres (naturally), where he is much taken with a young American painter, Miriam, who seems like a new breath in his life, and to whom he becomes quickly, quixotically attached; finally in Paris, where Miriam instantly disappears, is perhaps dead. At once, Adams begins to search for her, becoming involved with Parisian police, including a fledgling fingerprint expert and his young nephew; a coroner is killed, a macabre gift arrives for Adams via a pneumatique and the political plot around the Panama scandal, which could bring down a government and create a new one, thickens. At the heart of it all, Adams barges ahead like a gallant detective with the mind of an aesthete; through his eyes Paris, on the brink of the modern age, has never seemed stranger or more alluring, its people more enigmatic. That Zencey can create a headlong read, with a piercing climax and a poignant final note, out of such esoteric material is almost miraculous. A wonderful debut.

On Goodreads reviews, most liked it, a few didn't.....I'm one that did.

 

[MichaelB]

"unputdownable".

Hadn’t heard it before, and I like that word. Precise and descriptive.

 

[ProspectiveBum]

Not really. I tried to read it probably 5 times over a 15 year period. Each time I put it down before I could finish the first hundred pages. That part was just a history book. When someone told me that I just had to tough it out and get past that part, I finally did it. Then it was definitely a classic and unputdownable. But getting past that first part was a bear.

Hmm, maybe I’ll have to give it another try. I started it as a teenager, and might have made it 50 pages in before losing interest and abandoning it. My Dad had raved about it, and I found it so dry, I couldn’t understand what the fuss was. I guess good things come to those who wade (through the lengthy preamble).

 

[Mr._Graybeard]

Hmm, maybe I’ll have to give it another try. I started it as a teenager, and might have made it 50 pages in before losing interest and abandoning it. My Dad had raved about it, and I found it so dry, I couldn’t understand what the fuss was. I guess good things come to those who wade (through the lengthy preamble).

Try reading something by David McCullough. His prose is compelling and the stories are real.

 

[Nemo2]

https://www.ianrankin.net/book/even-dogs-in-the-wild/

Even Dogs In The Wild by Ian Rankin

Rebus returns:

Hands in his pockets, Rebus turned to face Cafferty.
They were old men now, similar builds, similar backgrounds. Sat together in a pub, the casual onlooker might mistake them for pals who’d known one another since school.
But their history told a different story.

Retirement doesn’t suit John Rebus. He wasn’t made for hobbies, holidays or home improvements. Being a cop is in his blood.

So when DI Siobhan Clarke asks for his help on a case, Rebus doesn’t need long to consider his options.

Clarke’s been investigating the death of a senior lawyer whose body was found along with a threatening note. On the other side of Edinburgh, Big Ger Cafferty – Rebus’s long-time nemesis – has received an identical note and a bullet through his window.

Now it’s up to Clarke and Rebus to connect the dots and stop a killer.

Meanwhile, DI Malcolm Fox joins forces with a covert team from Glasgow who are tailing a notorious crime family. There’s something they want, and they’ll stop at nothing to get it.

It’s a game of dog eat dog – in the city, as in the wild.

Even Dogs in the Wild brings back Ian Rankin’s greatest characters in a story exploring the darkest corners of our instincts and desires.

 

[Badger]

I've been checking digital books on line out of the library. They have been mostly murder mysteries for some relatively mindless fantasy entertainment. When I went to the library website and checked my history of read books I was surprised that I have read more than 40 books since February. I guess it has been mostly eat, read and sleep with a few trips to the grocery store. I still have my personal library of all of Clive Cussler's books with about 15+ that I have yet to read but saving those while I go through the choices in the library.


Cheers!

 

[donheff]

I've been checking digital books on line out of the library. They have been mostly murder mysteries for some relatively mindless fantasy entertainment. When I went to the library website and checked my history of read books I was surprised that I have read more than 40 books since February. I guess it has been mostly eat, read and sleep with a few trips to the grocery store. I still have my personal library of all of Clive Cussler's books with about 15+ that I have yet to read but saving those while I go through the choices in the library.


Cheers!

I wish my library would keep a record of my books but they don't. The Library Association changed their recommendations after 911 because the government went overboard in policing readers' choice of literature. I'm surprised your library keeps the records. My understanding is that most don't keep a record after books are checked back in. Maybe Overdrive follows different procedures? Or Amazon, if you check out Kindle versions?

 

[jimbee]

I'm currently reading How Not to Be Wrong, The Power of Mathematical Thinking by Jordan Ellenberg. The book explores the application of mathematics in everyday life, and how to not be fooled by math traps. I enjoy the writing style, and find Dr. Ellenberg's examples very informative.

 

[Qs Laptop]

I still have my personal library of all of Clive Cussler's books with about 15+ that I have yet to read but saving those while I go through the choices in the library.

Cheers!

I thought I was the only one that keeps the better ones in reserve, reading them like it was a treat after slogging through the more pedestrian ones.

I was a Kindle Unlimited member for about six months. In that time I read a lot of lousy and unremarkable books. There really is a lot of garbage out there. Many times I would quit reading a book and move on to another. Other times I would finish them because they were just good enough to continue. Sometimes I would continue reading them just to see how awful they could become, pretending to be my own Mystery Science Theater 3000 victim.

After several uninspiring books I will delve into my reserves. It feels like coming up for air after having been submerged underwater.

Local libraries have varied policies regarding releasing records of your borrowed books. My primary library system will only tell you what books you've checked out and that was a reversal of the "no-tell" policy that was in effect for about fifteen years after 9-11.