What are you reading?

[JamesSavik]

Here's an idea for a new thread: tell us about you are reading.

 

________________________________________

 

Fuzzy Nation by John Scalzi http://www.amazon.com/Fuzzy-Nation-John-Scalzi/dp/0765367033 

 

(Sci-fi) I just finished this book and its a lot of fun.

 

Holloway is a contract explorer. He looks for valuable resources under contract with the corporations that own the rights to planets.

 

With his Labrador retriever, he looks for valuables in the dangerous nooks and crannies of a frontier planet with hungry critters that would like to have him for dinner.

 

Out of the blue one day an unusual creature visits him. Small, cute and fuzzy critters that seem very, very smart. So smart that his biologist girlfriend thinks they might be sentient.

 

The discovery of a sentient species on a planet stops all ongoing work there and billions of dollars are riding on the judgement: are fuzzies people?

 

It's an interesting question: what constitutes sentience? In our own history the question had all sorts of convoluted answers: religion, race or just plain inconvenience. Can we do better?

 

Like all Scalzi's books, you will enjoy the wit and the quirks of the characters. They are a motley bunch and some of the biggest dirt-bags are wearing the most expensive suits.

 

My Rating: 4.25/5

 

 

[Adam Phillips]

Interesting premise; interesting question. I'll add it to my list.

[Adam Phillips]

I always have more than one book going. Here's one that I'm about halfway through:

 

The Rented Mule by Bobby Cole.

 

Cooper Dixon should have it made, with a beautiful wife, Kelly, two great kids, and a thriving business, the Tower Agency. But for Cooper, things aren’t turning out how he expected. He and Kelly are caught in a never-ending cycle of arguments—Cooper can’t remember the last time they had sex. And Cooper’s troubled business partner, Gates Ballenger, is scheming to sell the Tower Agency out from under him.

 

When a gang of criminals is hired by a mysterious client to kidnap Kelly and set up Cooper to take the fall, Cooper’s life goes completely off the rails. The cops quickly zero in on Cooper as the prime suspect, and the combination of an attractive suburban mother, workaholic husband, and a million-dollar insurance policy makes the case primetime television fodder.

 

Soon, Cooper’s face is plastered on every TV screen in the country. Cooper races against time to find his wife before the gang turns her over to their client, whose plan to take down Cooper is far more sinister than anyone could imagine.

 

I'm enjoying the storyline. Unfortunately, the writing itself is flat and clunky, and it tends to beat the reader over the head stating the obvious. Clearly, nobody ever taught Bobby the "Show us, don't tell us" principle.

 

I'd give it a 6 out of a possible 10. At least at this stage in the reading. Maybe on the Savik scale that translates into a 3.0. :-)

Edited March 1, 2014 by Adam Phillips

[sat8997]

Murder mysteries have always been my go to genre.

 

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/alienist-caleb-carr/1100394603?ean=9780812976144

 

The Alienist by Caleb Carr

 

The year is 1896, the place, New York City. On a cold March night New York Times reporter John Schuyler Moore is summoned to the East River by his friend and former Harvard classmate Dr. Laszlo Kreizler, a psychologist, or "alienist." On the unfinished Williamsburg Bridge, they view the horribly mutilated body of an adolescent boy, a prostitute from one of Manhattan's infamous brothels.

        The newly appointed police commissioner, Theodore Roosevelt, in a highly unorthodox move, enlists the two men in the murder investigation, counting on the reserved Kreizler's intellect and Moore's knowledge of New York's vast criminal underworld. They are joined by Sara Howard, a brave and determined woman who works as a secretary in the police department. Laboring in secret (for alienists, and the emerging discipline of psychology, are viewed by the public with skepticism at best), the unlikely team embarks on what is a revolutionary effort in criminology-- amassing a psychological profile of the man they're looking for based on the details of his crimes. Their dangerous quest takes them into the tortured past and twisted mind of a murderer who has killed before. and will kill again before the hunt is over.

 

A 19th century Criminal Minds.    Kept my interest so well, I've just started another book by the same author.

[Leftcoast]

I've been reading Andy Weir's The Martian.

 

Six days ago, astronaut Mark Watney became one of the first people to walk on Mars. 

Now, he's sure he'll be the first person to die there.

After a dust storm nearly kills him and forces his crew to evacuate while thinking him dead, Mark finds himself stranded and completely alone with no way to even signal Earth that he’s alive—and even if he could get word out, his supplies would be gone long before a rescue could arrive.

 

This was a real surprise to me, but a pleasant one.  Told in the first person, the tone makes the novel.  Not a grim survivalist tract, but a somewhat lighthearted account of the ordeal.  Highly recommended.

 

Jim 

[Ron]

I first read Little Fuzzy about forty years ago back in Jr. High School. I enjoyed it then, and I read it again about a year ago, and enjoyed again.

 

I am currently re-reading Everything Matters by Ron Currie, Jr.

 

Book Jacket blurb - While still in his mother's womb, Junior Thibodeau is encoded with a prophecy: in thirty-six years a comet will obliterate life on Earth. Born to a working-class family in rural Maine, he comes of age in the shabby-decadent eighties, a time of Atari, baseball cards, pop Catholicism, and cocaine, all the while grappling with one question: Does anything I do matter?

 

The story is told in first person and from the viewpoint of more than one character, separated by chapter, with interjections from the unknown encoder in a numbered countdown which begins at 97, and runs from in utero to the end. To say that Mr. Currie has a way with words, doesn't begin to describe his style, he sucks you right in. I first read this book back in 2009 when it came out and I decided it was time once again for a visit.

 

His debut novel God is Dead was not successful in capturing my attention, but I did recently buy his newest, entitled Flimsy Little Plastic Miracles and I hope for the best.

[mickey1952]

I read The Ranch Foreman by our friend Rob Colton last week. Besides following several stories on GA, I'm currently reading two books. Fiction: The Reversal by Michael Connelly (from his Harry Bosch series). Non-fiction: John Adams by David McCullough.

 

I've also snuck over to Nifty(don't tell) and am rereading "My First Year with Kevin" by Brew Maxwell.

Edited March 2, 2014 by mickey1952

[TetRefine]

I'm reading three different books right now.

 

Sharpe's Triumph, by Bernard Cornwell

 

Berlin 1961: Kennedy, Kruschev, and the Most Dangerous Place on Earth, by Frederick Kempe 

 

The Starboard Sea, by Amber Dermont 

 

I'm usually only a "one book at a time" reader, but all these really caught my eye around the same time so I made an exception. 

[Graeme]

Sharpe's Triumph, by Bernard Cornwell

How many of the Sharpe's series have you read? We had all of them for awhile, but then he wrote more We also have some of the videos made from the books, staring Sean Bean as Richard Sharpe The main problem with the videos is that they really didn't have the budget to include the amount of people that were in the books. The battle scenes just don't have enough people in them....

[TetRefine]

How many of the Sharpe's series have you read? We had all of them for awhile, but then he wrote more We also have some of the videos made from the books, staring Sean Bean as Richard Sharpe The main problem with the videos is that they really didn't have the budget to include the amount of people that were in the books. The battle scenes just don't have enough people in them....

 

I've only read Sharpe's Tiger before this one. I decided to read them in chronological order instead of published order. I can't stand when an author writes prequels after he's already wrote a future storyline, so I decided to start with the "India campaign" before Cornwell gets into the Napoleonic Wars that make up the bulk of the series. 

 

I've seen a couple of short clips of the tv series, but they looked so poorly produced that I didn't much bother with them. Besides, low-budget tv book adaptions always tend to ruin it if you have already read the book in my opinion. 

[Mark Arbour]

I'm reading three different books right now.

 

Sharpe's Triumph, by Bernard Cornwell

 

Berlin 1961: Kennedy, Kruschev, and the Most Dangerous Place on Earth, by Frederick Kempe 

 

The Starboard Sea, by Amber Dermont 

 

I'm usually only a "one book at a time" reader, but all these really caught my eye around the same time so I made an exception. 

 

If you like Sharpe's series, take a trip on the sea, in the same era, and read CS Forester's Hornblower books.  I recommend starting with one of the following:  Hornblower and the Hotspur, Beat to Quarters, or Commodore Hornblower. 

[TetRefine]

If you like Sharpe's series, take a trip on the sea, in the same era, and read CS Forester's Hornblower books.  I recommend starting with one of the following:  Hornblower and the Hotspur, Beat to Quarters, or Commodore Hornblower. 

 

I have heard good think about the Hornblower series. My friend, who introduced me to Sharpe, also had the entire Hornblower series and he said they were pretty good. I guess when I get bored of Sharpe I'll take a break for a while and pick up Hornblower. 

[Red_A]

I would suggest that you tet, would like "Death to the French" aka Rifleman Dodds(USA) by C.S. Forester. and also read Poo Poo and the Dragon again by C S Forester.  And if you want to compare a good filn adaption with the book African Queen.  You must have seen that.

[JamesSavik]

This year is the centennial of the start of World War I. It's a war that has great lessons to teach but so much has been lost to time over the years.

 

A History of the Great War by John Buchanan is a four volume set written in 1923 with many first person interviews and a tight day by day timeline.

 

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0405132794

 

It's a daunting read. The language is somewhat archaic and you might find yourself doing google searches to explain some of the terms and concepts.

 

The subject matter is bleak. World War I was a disastrous affair for all concerned. It was the arrogance of the monarchs involved that made a simple crisis into a cataclysm. A complicated series of alliances, pacts, agreements and pragmatic opportunism dragged almost the entirety of Europe into the fire. They all thought it would be over quickly. None of them dreamed that it would become a four year bloodbath that would kill and main a generation of young men and made shell shock and opiate addictions common knowledge.

 

WWI was the first war that employed modern battlefield technology. The "Great War" has a long list of firsts in warfare.  Submarines, machine guns, armored cars, tanks, mass produced landmines, aircraft and airships all made their battlefield debut. Many of the military technologies and strategies that we take for granted were developed by brutally Darwinian battlefield experience. Aerial reconnaissance, supply drops, underway replenishment, submarine pickets, rolling artillery barrages were all developed in WWI's Satanic laboratory.

 

Another aspect of the "Great War" were the agreements made between Great Britain and France and the proto-Arabic states in North Africa and the Middle East. Syria, Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Palestine and others left the Ottoman Empire for promises of independence and protection from the great powers.

 

Much of the modern world was formed by the First World War and an unjust peace planted the seeds for the Second. Any student of history that wants to understand the origins of our contemporary world would be well served to carefully study the period.

 

My Rating: 4.0/5.0

[APL]

"Pup" by SJD Peterson. I just finished reading Timber Pack Chronicles by Rob Colton, The Willow Springs Ranch series (so far) by Laura Harner, and The Rebuilding Year by Kaje Harper.

[crazyfish]

I have so many unfinished books on my kindle. I can't just read one book at a time. Here's the top three on my library list.

 

Kinder than Solitude  by Yiyun Li.

 

Tender is the Night by Fitzgerald. 

 

Freedom by Jonathan Franzen.

[Palantir]

I've just finished re-reading three of Robin Mckinley's heroine books, 'The Hero and the Crown', 'The Blue Sword', and 'Deerskin'.

I find she is a wonderful author who sweeps you along with the power of her writing.

Edited March 5, 2014 by Iarwain

[trackstar195]

"The First Man," by Albert Camus. 

 

This is a reread, and a work I always return to when I'm in need of emotional or philosophical guidance. Forget Boethius, forget Plato, even forget Aquinas. This is it. 

 

While I have a deep appreciation for existentialist philosophy, Camus is somehow different; perhaps it was the Algerian sun, or the modest origins. I've read most of Camus' impressive oeuvre, but as I read "The First Man," my admiration for him was profoundly renewed. First, there is his easy command over the art of writing, which is, in itself, worthy of praise and veneration. The words flow and dance on the page. However, this pales in comparison to the real gem that lies inside this work: the truly amazing love song to his mother, helpless and limited as she was. For me, this is one of the great love stories of modern literature. Incomplete though it may be, it truly is a stunning achievement. 

 

"…All that was left was this anguished heart, eager to live, rebelling against the deadly order of the world that had been with him for forty years, and still struggling against the wall that separated him from the secret of all life, wanting to go farther, to go beyond, and to discover, discover before dying, discover at last in order to be, just once to be, for a single second, but forever."

[JamesSavik]

 

Albert Camus. 

 

 

I'm reading his novel The Plague.

[C J]

I'm reading 5 books at the moment, and I might as well say I get accused of reading boring books.  Reading for me isn't that much fun if I don't learn something from it, so I choose my books on that basis.  Anyway, here's the 5 titles I'm busy with.

 

The Copywriter's Handbook by Robert Bly       It's a must for aspiring copywriters.

 

Getting Things done by David Allen                 Like most people, I need to learn to be organized and efficient, and this book is good for that.

 

Vibrational Medicine by Richard Gerber M.D.    This is the most interesting book I've seen so far that deals with medicine and health. I think it discusses concepts that are important to understanding nature generally.

 

Magnetic Selling by Robert Bly                         A Robert Bly book again, because he's a sort of expert in the copywriting field.

 

Hot Text by Jonathan and Lisa Price                 I thought there would be some value in reading this since it's related to copywriting, although it's more focused on web text. 

 

 

So, this is my current reading.  All of these books are from my Dad's collection, and when I'm finished with them there are plenty more waiting to occupy my mind.  As you can tell I avoid reading fiction.  I have read plenty of fiction but I don't really enjoy it.  Also, I tend to get more personally involved when I read fiction, and when the story is over it's a little like saying goodbye forever to close friends, which is something I truly hate to do.

Edited March 13, 2014 by Ghostboy

[W_L]

If I have free time between writing and work,

 

Friedrich Nietzsche

 

He is often misunderstood, but there's a lot of interesting paradoxes in his philosophy.
 

 

To live is to suffer, to survive is to find some meaning in the suffering.

 

 

 

[tamuki69]

Just completed "The Harvest:Taken" by M.A. Church ...Outstanding read!!!!

[layla]

About to start rereading the whole black dagger brotherhood series

[JT10SVN]

Pittacus lore

[Suvitar]

M.C. Beaton´s Agatha Raisin is one of my favourite detectives. I bought first two books while visiting York (UK) in 2004 and have bought more every time I´m in England or order from Amazon. Now I´m reading the newest book Something borrowed, something dead.

 

Agatha Raisin is middle-aged, divorced and has her own detective agency. She is always dieting, smoking and drinking too much, looking for love and a husband, and lives with her cats in Cotswold. She´s a funny character and I really like her.