What have you read recently? 2009 -2020

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donheff said:
Discovered a new detective/thriller writer I like - Duane Swieczynski. Fun and Games is a hard boiled, quasi retro-noir, non-stop chase story featuring a troubled former police consultant helping a troubled has-been starlet evade "The Accident People" who are trying to kill her to hush up... Well, you need to suspend disbelief but, once you do, it runs out fast, furious and entertaining. I have Sweirczynski's, The Wheelman on hold.
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Just reserved two of his books at our local library.....thanks for the tip!
 
The End of Everything, by Megan Abbott is a good look inside the mind of a troubled 13 year old girl dealing with her own issues and the abduction of her best friend. It is both a coming of age novel and quite a good mystery. Abbott is supposed to have written some good Edgar winning Noir novels. I will have to check them out.
 
I am reading The Three Muskateers. I am on a kick to read classics that I haven't, and I love that they are free on the Kindle!
 
Lsbcal said:
For the start of 2012 I read Colin Dexter's The Daughters of Cain, 5 stars by my tastes. Dexter really knows his way around the English language. For me it's a joy to read. The Inspector Morris series was also done on PBS with John Thaw playing the lead. I'm going to check out a few of those DVD's now.

For reviews see: Amazon.com: The Daughters of Cain (9780804113649): Colin Dexter: Books
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I really enjoy Colin Dexter's books, and the TV shows based on them. The Inspector Lewis PBS is series that has aired the last couple of years is quite good as well. I think the streaming version of both series are free for Amazon Prime customers.
 
donheff said:
Discovered a new detective/thriller writer I like - Duane Swieczynski. Fun and Games is a hard boiled, quasi retro-noir..., non-stop chase story featuring a troubled former police consultant helping a troubled has-been starlet evade "The Accident People" who are trying to kill her to hush up... Well, you need to suspend disbelief but, once you do, it runs out fast, furious and entertaining. I have Sweirczynski's, The Wheelman on hold.
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Nemo2 said:
Started Severance Package today.......a fun read thus far!
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I will have to order that. I am part way through The Wheelman and enjoying it. Once again, you have to suspend disbelief.
 
donheff said:
Discovered a new detective/thriller writer I like - Duane Swieczynski. Fun and Games is a hard boiled, quasi retro-noir, non-stop chase story featuring a troubled former police consultant helping a troubled has-been starlet evade "The Accident People" who are trying to kill her to hush up... Well, you need to suspend disbelief but, once you do, it runs out fast, furious and entertaining. I have Sweirczynski's, The Wheelman on hold.
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Thanks. And don't call me Swieczynski!

Call me Swierczynski.
 

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TromboneAl said:
It's just like all his other books. Very superficial, but fun to read.
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I always thought Parker had a tremendous ability to describe (social) atmosphere, etc, with an economy of words.
 
I recently read this book "It's all relative ". by Wade Rouse . It is a hysterical rememberance of growing up gay in a redneck famiy. Very funny ,tender and slightly sad but he was lucky to have the most accepting ,greatest family around . A great read !
 
I came upon an obscure book from 1958 that was fascinating. Collision Course, by Alvin Moscow is about the 1956 collision of the Stockholm with the Andria Doria. Quite a gripping read and I found out an interesting factoid: the reasons captains frequently stayed with and went down with their ships wasn't primarily a romantic seafaring tradition. They were protecting a ship that might stay afloat from being taken by salvagers. The captains were just protecting owners' interests. You might have a hard time finding this one. I got the only copy left in the DC library system. Spoiler alert: the Swedish crew come out looking pretty good, the Italian, not so good.
 
I just finished "The battle hymn of the Tiger Mother " by Amy CHua . This book got a lot of controversial reaction for her parenting techniques. It was interesting but I just wanted to shout "Lighten UP". Its about a second generation mother raising two daughters in the Chinese manner . An interesting read only if you can read it for free .
 
Just finished Children of the Street by Kwei Quartey, an Inspector Darko Dawson mystery set in Ghana.
 
The Mamur Zapt and the Return of the Carpet by Michael Pearce. Intrigue in turn of the century Egypt. Liked it. Something different. Have the next one, The Mamur Zapt and the Return of the Night of the Dog on hold at the library.
 
Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver:

I didn’t think I'd like this book recommended by my daughter about 10 years ago. ( I gotta’ remember to pay more attention to my daughter). Anyhow, I didn’t think the topic/theme of the book would be of interest to me. It’s about a family—mother, father and four young daughters (not interested); takes place in Africa (not interested) and the father is a fanatical missionary (not interested). Somehow, the way the author put these ingredients together made for a pretty darn good story. I became so involved with the family (mainly the four daughters—all with quirky personalities: well, maybe not the eldest daughter who became pretty much a teen-ager with teen-ager values and attitudes). But, because I got to know and understand the daughters, I found myself anxious as I read the book because I didn’t want them to be harmed/injured/dead. I even anxiously thought about the girls when I wasn't reading the book. The incredibly tough life the family endured--I can’t compare it to anything I’ve come close to experiencing—except maybe that one episode with a pair of delayed gratification clamps and a roll of duct tape.

Not being a book critic (I’m not even well-read), I thought the book was well-written except for the last 100 pages or so (but, since the book is about 543 pages, there’s plenty of good stuff). In the last part, the author tells us about what happened to the family members once they left the little, isolated village in Africa. And, that’s where (at least for me) the book lost some of its heart and soul. Additionally, author becomes political, talking (ranting)? of how the Belgians, the rest of Europe and America took cruel advantage of Africa—particularly the Belgian Congo. Even if her point of view is accurate, it just wasn’t well presented. Way too heavy-handed. Not at all like the rest of the book.

Still, I liked the book…a lot. I think I'll recommend it to my daughter.
 
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redduck said:
Additionally, author becomes political, talking (ranting)? of how the Belgians, the rest of Europe and America took cruel advantage of Africa—particularly the Belgian Congo.
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The way it was:

Belgian Congo

Male rubber tappers and porters were mercilessly exploited and driven to death.”[6] Leopold's agents held the wives and children of these men hostage until they returned with their rubber quota.[5] Those who refused or failed to supply enough rubber often had their villages burned down, children murdered, and their hands cut off.[1,3]

Mutilated Congolese child, a victim of King Leopold’s colonial policies Although local chiefs organized tribal resistance, the FP brutally crushed these uprisings. Rebellions often included Congolese fleeing their villages to hide in the wilderness, ambushing army units, and setting fire to rubber vine forests.[2] In retribution, the FP burned villages and FP officers sent their soldiers into the forest to find and kill hiding rebels. To prove the success of their patrols, soldiers were ordered to cut off and bring back dead victims’ right hands as proof that they had not wasted their bullets.[3] If their shots missed their targets or if they used cartridges on big game, soldiers would cut off the hands of the living and wounded to meet their quotas.[3]

“Everywhere I hear the same news of the Congo Free State – rubber and murder, slavery in its worst form.” This account was published in Century Magazine (1897) by E. J. Glave, a former *** administrator.[3] Inspired by works such as Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness (1902),
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Rule 34, by Charles Stross. http://www.amazon.com/Rule-34-Charles-Stross/dp/0441020348

The title comes from this: http://xkcd.com/305/
Yeah.

The story is a near-future techno thriller, very well written, set in the authors home of Edinburgh, Scotland. The story touched on some fun stuff, more than enough to keep the old monkey mind thoroughly confused, including:
- Application of modern management methods to organized crime
- Modern AI theory (no HAL 9000 nonsense), including hazards of insufficiently parameterized utility functions
- A novel solution to a national debt problem.

Oh, cautionary notes... The story is, like a previous work with the same protagonist, "Halting State", written in the second person. The story also involves some bizarre sex, and so isn't appropriate for children or some young adults. Then again, if you looked at the origin of the title, above, you probably have some idea of what you're getting into.
 
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Just got back into reading novels; I read a lot of tech manuals being employed as an IT person. Recent titiles:

1. The Ancient Alien Question, A new inquiry into the existance, evdence, and influence of ancient vistiors (Just starting this one)
2. The Mahabharata, Codex Ancient Aliens (Just starting this one too)
3. Twilight of the Gods, The Mayan Calendar and the Return of the Extraterrestrials
4. Signs of the Gods?
5. History is Wrong
 
I just finished reading The Help by Kathryn Stockett. I really enjoyed reading it. I told my DH that it was a good thing that I was not a Black person living in the early 60's, because I would have probably been dead. It is hard to believe that those attitudes were so pervasive in the 60's. I still don't know why everyone, everywhere just can't get along.
 
Almost finished with Sketching Light: an Illustrated Tour of the Possibilities of Flash by Joe McNally. A photographer with 30+ years behind the lens(es) he writes not only of f/stops, ISOs and apertures, but also of the interaction between the photographer and the subject of the photo.

Treat your subject with dignity and respect, and they will often, but not always, bust their butt to produce a well done collaborative image.

If your subject treats you poorly, in a funny section titled "Don't Mess with the Photog" he describes how he got in a good jab at the Soviet Union for doing him wrong in Life magazine. A picture very often is worth a thousand words.

The guy's a pro, and it shows in the effort he makes to bring back a terrific product for the client.
 
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