What have you read recently? 2009 -2020

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MichaelB said:
Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania, by Erik Larson. Very interesting history, well told.
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I enjoyed that too, particularly as I grew up near the site of the sinking and am familiar with many of the locations. Interesting that the ship was 'sacrificed'.

You might find this series of newspaper articles to be of interest:

http://www.irishexaminer.com/lusitania/
 
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The combination of Kindle and eLibrary is amazing. Just finished "American Gods". Not sure how to describe, The Wikipedia entry reads The novel is a blend of Americana, fantasy, and various strands of ancient and modern mythology,
 
MichaelB said:
Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania, by Erik Larson. Very interesting history, well told.
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+1

MichaelB said:
The combination of Kindle and eLibrary is amazing.
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+1 I use a Nook but similar process. I decrypt with Calibre so I can read ebooks at my leisure on trips and stuff.

I am reading Police, the latest Jo Nesbo, now. So far very good, a nicer, more sober version of Harry Hole.

I also finished all five of the Expanse Series, by James S. A. Corey, a rollicking space opera (first book was Hugo nominated). There are several more in the pipeline for the next few years. It is also the subject of a Syfy channel series - book 1 this year, book 2 in the works for next season. The Syfy series is well done but reading the book(s) helps to fully understand what is happening.
 
Re reading some Rosemary Sutcliff's YA novels about ancient Britian to see what might be appropriate for friend's young but very intelligent son...
Loved these novels when I was young girl--spurred my interest in archeology and ancient cultures...and they are just so well-written compared to much YA dross...

Also reading the SPQR mystery novels set in Ancient Rome--
Fun and a quick read but very accurately researched on Roman culture...
 
Just finished Natchez Burning by Greg Iles. Very good read but I'm not the fastest reader and this took a long to finish, close to 800 pages.
 
Just finished "The Rise and Fall of Great Powers" by Tom Rachman. I really enjoyed it. I really liked his first novel "The Imperfectionists" that came out a few years ago.

I finished Miranda July's "The First Bad Man". What a weird book. I really like her writing but the subject was so odd I think it will give me weird dreams.
 
John Galt III said:
Moved on to "Tortilla Flat" in my John Steinbeck compendium.
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Just finishing Steinbeck's "Travels With Charley" and will pick up "Tortilla Flat" next.

"Travels" just ruined my idea of blogging my travels with my boy WileE. No matter what I write it won't be as good as Steinbeck. Funny how little things have changed since 1960. Just substitute Islamist for Russian and the book would seem like it was written yesterday.
 
I loved Travels With Charley! A favorite to get in audio format for road trips! I know what you mean about blogging--I have done a small bit of it, and it never flows like Steinbeck, the master storyteller.

Am currently reading the hilarious parody of the Life changing magic of tidying up book (which was also great) by Sarah Knight called the Life changing magic of not giving a f^*%!.

Very funny and actually some good tips for someone who has a tendency to worry too much about what others' think, and accepting obligations that i really don't want, out of guilt. But mostly funny, especially the audio version, which the author reads.
 
I've recently read Connie Willis's Blackout and All Clear. These are awesome books, probably some of the best I've read. They're about history grad students in the future who travel back in time as participatory researchers -- they participate in the times they're researching. This story (it's actually one book split into two volumes) has the researchers going back to World War 2 -- specifically, London during the Blitz.

I can safely say that I learned more about WW2 history from this book that I've learned from any other source. Fantastically detailed, wonderful story, good character development, painstakingly researched, and a great twist at the end.

If you like historical novels, WW2 history, sci-fi or time travel, this is your book. Can't recommend it highly enough.

I've followed up with her classic The Doomsday Book, which is a similar conceit (grad students doing time travel) with one going back to the plague years in England (early 1300s). As you can expect, there are difficulties.

She's been a prolific and heavily awarded author, and so I feel like I just found a new vein of rich gold to mine. Hooray!
 
The Revenant, by Michael Punke. A story loosely based on Hugh Glass, the quintessential American Frontiersman. It is easy to see how the narrative of and admiration for perseverance and self-reliance evolved from this character portrayal. The book was made into a film. The book is better, IMHO the film is a bit overrated.
 
Urchina said:
I've recently read Connie Willis's Blackout and All Clear. These are awesome books, probably some of the best I've read. They're about history grad students in the future who travel back in time as participatory researchers -- they participate in the times they're researching. This story (it's actually one book split into two volumes) has the researchers going back to World War 2 -- specifically, London during the Blitz.
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Huh. I just downloaded All Clear. Looking at my records I already read Blackout but I can't remember it. That seems to be the case pretty frequently for me. I start reading something and realize 50-100 pages in that I read it years before.
 
donheff said:
Huh. I just downloaded All Clear. Looking at my records I already read Blackout but I can't remember it. That seems to be the case pretty frequently for me. I start reading something and realize 50-100 pages in that I read it years before.
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Your memory is the second thing you lose once you reach "the age".
 
I just finished "hate reading" a book on a lot of best of 2015 books that a friend highly recommended. Fates and Furies by Lauren Groff. Overwritten, overwrought, over rated. The oh so obvious attempt to ape classical mythologies. The purple sea of unnecessary metaphors. The horribly not sexy sex. The cloying cutesy character names (Lotto? Gawain?) The parenthetical asides. The endless series of sentence fragments. Awful. Just awful.

Why did I finish it? I had to in order to legitimately give my friend a full and fair shot. Now I am going to give her a shot.


Sent from my iPad using Early Retirement Forum
 
I'm on page 180 of 500 page non-fiction book, "George Washington's War." Granted I have a general interest in history, but so far I find this book absolutely captivating.
 
^^ urn2bfree, your fortitude is to be commended, but perhaps not emulated - congratulations for making it through......relatively unscathed, I hope.
 
The Introvert Entrepreneur by Beth Buelow. Another book for us long suffering introverts, this one about leveraging your introvert strengths and managing your weaknesses in the entrepreneurial world.
 
Things to Make and Do in the Fourth Dimension: A Mathematician's Journey Through Narcissistic Numbers, Optimal Dating Algorithms, at Least Two Kinds of Infinity, and More

Yes, it's a math book. Or "maths" for our UK members. And I'm not a mathematician by any stretch of the imagination.

Still, I enjoyed my library copy so much that I might even buy an actual copy for myself.

From the Amazon description:
Parker sets out to convince his readers to revisit the very math that put them off the subject as fourteen-year-olds. Starting with the foundations of math familiar from school (numbers, geometry, and algebra), he reveals how it is possible to climb all the way up to the topology and to four-dimensional shapes, and from there to infinity―and slightly beyond.
Both playful and sophisticated, Things to Make and Do in the Fourth Dimension is filled with captivating games and puzzles, a buffet of optional hands-on activities that entices us to take pleasure in math that is normally only available to those studying at a university level.
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I'm half way through "The Big Retirement Risk" by Erin Botsford. The risk she speaks of is running out of money in retirement. She does not like SWR approaches, instead favoring guaranteed income to cover essential expenses, more risky assets for play money (vacations, boats, etc.).
 
Billion Dollar Spy.

Hoffman. Good read.
 
The Revenent, by Michael Punke. Based on a true story, it tells of Hugh Glass, an American Frontiersman, and his battle to survive after being mauled by a grizzly bear and left for dead by his companions. The film was just nominated for a bunch of awards. I saw and enjoyed it, but the book is better. :)
 
I just bought 'Your Money or Your Life' - although I've read reviews that divulge the essence of the book, it's still good to read it first hand. I choose Life :)
 
The Guest Room, by Chris Bohjalian is excellent. A late 30s investment banker hosts a bachelor party for his brother and everything goes wrong when the "strippers" turn out to be sex slaves accompanied by Russian gangsters. As one review said the book, "couples the urgency of a compulsively readable crime thriller with a quiet meditation on the meaning of family."
 
I am reading "Airport," by Arthur Hailey. The book, written in the late 1960s, was, as you probably know, turned into a movie in 1970 starring Dean Martin, Burt Lancaster, Jacqueline Bisset, George Kennedy, and Helen Hayes. Great cast.


Only about halfway through the book, I have noticed plot lines in the book which were not in the movie. It has been a good read so far.
 
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