What have you read recently? 2009 -2020

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As habitués of thrift stores, library book shops, etc, we grab what we can, when we can - so I've just now finished Mission to Paris by Alan Furst......another enjoyable novel by one of our favorite authors:

https://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/24/books/review/mission-to-paris-by-alan-furst.html

Furst’s theme of “political warfare” — the infiltration of the media, repetition after poisonous repetition until lies become facts — has a distinctly contemporary resonance, though he bases it on the historical record. During the 1930s, before the first Wehrmacht tanks rolled across its borders, the Reich did indeed use movies, newspapers and books to sap other nations’ will to fight.
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Just re-read Ready Player One after seeing the movie finally. Still liked the book better, but the movie was quite enjoyable and I had fun with all the 1980s/90s pop culture references.

Currently working my way through all of the Nero Wolfe series by Rex Stout. Brilliant and fun and really makes me hate that the Timothy Hutton starring tv series didn't get to do ALL the books... just dead-on nailed the flavor of the books.

Also working on various Ellery Queen, Philo Vance and other pulp/noir genre books. Hit a major score at a book sale and have some lovely condition vintage 1st/2nd editions stacked up waiting to be read. Someone must have passed on and the heirs didn't care that the collection may have been worth selling on... their loss is my gain. At least they'll be read and appreciated.
 
I just read the updated edition of "Billion Dollar Whale".

It is a great read - reads like a novel but is the true story of greed, corruption and theft on such a grand scale it is hard to believe it can be true.

Finally people are being held accountable for the billions of dollars stolen and wasted on a party lifestyle it is hard to comprehend.

Highly recommended.
 
Rereading 1984.
 
I am halfway through the second novel of Elena Ferrante's 4 book Neopolitan Novels. I heard about them last week on NPR in a discussion about "the best fiction of the last decade". It is a fairly complex story of female friendship, beginning in the slums of Naples in the 1950s. I am really enjoying the books.
 
Wayne Dyer, Your Erroneous Zones. Oldie but goodie. I like the old 70's-80's style self-help books, with their emphasis on independence, responsibility, and freedom.

EastWest Gal said:
Man’s Search for Meaning, by Victor Frankl.
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Classic. I read a lot of Frankl's work. He helped to transition out of a very limiting atheism/materialism I was stuck in.
 
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The microwave instruction manual to find out how to reset clock after power failure. Not too intellectually stimulating though.
 
Outliers: The Story of Success by Malcolm Gladwell. It was suggested in another message thread on this forum, and I thought it was an interesting book.

"...Malcolm Gladwell takes us on an intellectual journey through the world of "outliers"--the best and the brightest, the most famous and the most successful. He asks the question: what makes high-achievers different?

His answer is that we pay too much attention to what successful people are like, and too little attention to where they are from: that is, their culture, their family, their generation, and the idiosyncratic experiences of their upbringing."
 
Do recommend
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I just finished Cixin Liu's Hugo winning Three Body Problem trilogy. If you are a science fiction fan this is an excellent series, far ranging, deep thoughts/
 
Olive, Again by Elizabeth Strout. A sequel to "Olive Kitteridge". Both are superb.

The Dutch House by Ann Patchett. Another excellent novel by Ann Patchett.

Beautiful on the Outside by Adam Rippon. A fun memoir, though the conversational style of writing, including, like, the word "like" in the middle of sentences, could be a bit annoying for some.
 
"Recursion" by Blake Crouch. Sci-fi story about what happens when a method of regressing back into your memories becomes possible. Sort of like a time-travel story but not really. Very interesting mind-bending premise with unforeseen consequences affecting others that crop up after someone regresses. Wish I could say more but it would spoil it. One of those books that you say to yourself, "just one more chapter, then I'll go to sleep", and you find yourself staying up for another hour or more.

Blake Crouch also wrote the "Wayward Pines" trilogy, which I also enjoyed immensely.
 
I'm enjoying Adrian McKinty's "I Hear the Sirens in the Street," one of several McKinty detective novels I have read recently. McKinty has won numerous awards and brings a gritty, engaging narrative to his work which focuses on everyday crime and life in the midst of the distopian reality that was Belfast during the Troubles. I assume I first heard of McKinty here - so thanks to whoever posted about him.
 
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Dramatized history that puts Edison in a different light (ha ha):

 
Qs Laptop said:
"Recursion" by Blake Crouch. Sci-fi story about what happens when a method of regressing back into your memories becomes possible. Sort of like a time-travel story but not really. Very interesting mind-bending premise with unforeseen consequences affecting others that crop up after someone regresses. Wish I could say more but it would spoil it. One of those books that you say to yourself, "just one more chapter, then I'll go to sleep", and you find yourself staying up for another hour or more.

Blake Crouch also wrote the "Wayward Pines" trilogy, which I also enjoyed immensely.
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Here are three other excellent Black Crouch books (the third is a short story):

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Finally got around to reading 'The Obesity Code' by Dr Jason Fung. Was as expected.
 
harley said:
So you were expecting thick, dense, and life changing?
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It was a relatively thin book, I think the paper was standard weight so not overly dense. The advice could definitely be life changing for some if followed and the observations about changes in diet and eating behavior has been life changing to large portions of the world's population. So I would say bang on regarding the last point.

I had seen his podcasts and knew of his clinic so there was nothing new in it for me. But still worth reading.
 
TromboneAl said:
Here are three other excellent Black Crouch books (the third is a short story):

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I read Dark Matter about nine months ago. Also very good and explores some of the same ideas of the many universes theory of physics.

Haven't read the others but since Crouch has zoomed up my must read authors list I'm sure I'll get to them in time. Thanks for the suggestions.
 
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