.
Couple commentors on the last thread reminded me it’s been a while since we had one of these. I’m currently reading, and enjoying, Michael Perry’s Population: 485- Meeting Your Neighbors One Siren at a Time. Perry’s style is halfway between Garrison Keilor and Patrick F. McManus, prioritizing precisely-drawn characters and a well-turned phrase over plot, but that’s what I like in my reading.
What’s on your night table, kindle, or reading list?
piratedan
recently finished the latest Child and Rowling titles, now working my way through the latest set of King novellas. Anxiously awaiting the arrival of the latest Weber and Cook titles to get my Harrington and Garrett fixes. Also too awaiting shipment of the latest Liaden entry from Lee and Miller.
Not too long ago, I also pounded out Bujold’s latest in the Vorkosigian series and it I gotta say, her style is very deceiving in that I can rifle through the pages and still feel like I had just opened the book. Also got caught up on some old Scalzi as I plowed through the Lost Colony from the Old Man War series.
Thank you to whomever is in charge to keep providing us with such a wide array of fantasy and escapist fare to help us cope with the brutal realities of today.
Yutsano
I feel like such a failure because I’m not reading anything right now. But as I have no tablet reader and Amazon was massive FAIL delivering to my house last time (to be fair I’m having all kinds of mail issues) I just haven’t delved into anything. That plus sequester means this may not change any time soon. Fuck you Republicans.
Jewish Steel
JG Ballard’s giant collection of short stories. What a treat! Oh, and biography of Skip James.
Anne Laurie
@Yutsano: On the bright side, if you’re getting unpaid time off, you’ll be able to get to the library even if they cut back their hours, right?
Alison
Well, as I said in the previous thread, I’m currently working my way through The Brothers Karamazov, which, once I’m done, I’ll probably recommend to any nerds like me who love gigantic fucking books.
Recent reads I’ve enjoyed:
Fiction:
The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey – based on an old Russian fairy tale, and a really enchanting, well-told story. I loved it.
Queen of America by Luis Alberto Urrea – the follow-up to The Hummingbird’s Daughter, so you should read that one first, and please do, because both of these were great. This dude is definitely one of my new favorite authors. (New as in new to me.)
Non-fiction:
The Savage City by TJ English, about NY in the 60s and 70s – corrupt cops, Black Panthers, race riots, told with just enough grit and detail to be very real and very effective but not so much that it seems TV-movie-ish.
Also really liked Justice Sotomayor’s memoir, My Beloved World – if you like her and just want to know more about her childhood and pre-SCOTUS life, check it out. A quick read and really engaging; she’s a very good writer in addition to being generally awesome.
craigie
Why the West Rules – for Now By Ian Morris. It’s overlong, but full of interesting historical trivia.
Joseph Nobles
I’m reading the Lilith’s Brood trilogy right now. Just into the first book, and I really like it a lot.
I’ve also ordered The Myth of Persecution: How Early Christians Invented a Story of Martyrdom by Candida Moss for delivery to my Kindle in a few days. That I’m really looking forward to.
The Reverend Lowdown
Well, I was rereading “The Sea Wolf” by Jack London on my kindle. I brought it along ice fishing last weekend and, after a few drinks, accidentally dropped it down the hole. Alas, the walleye will have some good reading. I’m going back, old school, to the paperbacks. Just picked up the complete poems of Anne Sexton. Interesting, crazy stuff. I’m due for a Dostoyevsky reread after that. Can’t get enough of those Russian authors
Joseph Nobles
@The Reverend Lowdown: You know you can get another Kindle and get your books downloaded again, right? Or get a computer, tablet, or smartphone app. Better than losing access to the books you have bought for it.
But yes, with the hard copies, you can only lose one book at a time to the walleyes.
The prophet Nostradumbass
I recently finished George Takei’s “Oh Myyy” on the Kindle app on my ipad and really enjoyed it. It’s about the Internet, so reading it on a tablet seemed appropriate.
Narcissus
Reading A Queer History of the United States by Michael Bronski, Going Clear by Lawrence Wright and assorted fiction (a series by S.M. Stirling that recreates a sort of Burroughs-esque solar system and the 80s novelization of the John Carpenter Escape From New York. I like pulp.).
Anne Laurie
@The Reverend Lowdown: For Anne Sexton, “Mercy Street”:
The Reverend Lowdown
@J. Nobles: Yes, I did know that. I liked the kindle for all the free classics and it was great downloading all the great recommendations from lurking here. Although after using the kindle, for a few years, I find that I really miss holding an actual book in my hands. Nothing like having a couple of full book shelves staring back at you.
Yes, ice fishing and reading…Northern Wisconsin is quite a hoot
Xenos
@Anne Laurie: That was not the right video, was it?
Herbie Hancock has an interesting variation on Gabriel.
dance around in your bones
So my list of too many books just disappeared into the ether. I tend to “buy” lots of free books for my kindle but occasionally will actually spend money with an Amazon gift card I got for Christmas.
Like Island Beneath the Sea by Isabel Allende.
Maps and Legends by Michael Chabon
The Interpreter by Shah Wali Fazli
The Lacuna by Barbara Kingsolver
You can tell I go for the inexpensive books.
Plus tons of classics…oh! and 3 Dava Sobel books that were kindle daily deals! Thanks, whoever told me about those right here on Balloon Juice!
Anne Laurie
@Xenos: “Mercy Street” comes in, after Sexton reading her own work. There are many wonderful MS videos on YouTube, but I liked this combination of both poet & musician.
Danack
Slack: Getting Past Burnout, Busywork and the Myth of Total Efficiency
I’m currently taking a sabbatical to hone up my skills after being too busy at work for four years to keep up to date with new tech, so it’s really reflecting what I’ve experienced.
raven
I’m reading Joseph Anton, Rushdie’s autobiography, The Day Dixie Died about the Battle of Atlanta and Younger Next Year. Younger Next Year is a very funny book with fairly simple ideas to help delay the inevitable impact of aging. Guess what? Work out, don’t eat shitty food and do something that matters.
freemark
When reading Patrick F. McManus is one of few times I have laughed out loud while reading. Like the Hunter’s Dictionary:
“Meeting Place-An imaginary point in space that hunters are supposed to converge upon at a particular time. It is sometimes referred to as The Big Snag, The Car, and Camp. The experienced hunter knows that such a place is only a figment of the imagination and that the proposed meeting will never occur.
Camp cook-The guy who draws the short straw
Overdone-Used by camp cooks to mean “burnt to a crisp”
Burned-At some point the meal was totally engulfed in flames
Rare-the wood was too wet to start a cooking fire
I’ve never been hunting and have barely been camping but still find his stories extremely enjoyable. He makes it so easy to visualize.
MattF
Recently reread some Hammett, “The Glass Key” and “Red Harvest”. Both great books.
Read Daniel O’Malley’s “The Rook”, which the author describes as ‘a supernatural thriller, set in the public service’, and hilarious too. Indescribable plot, go read it.
Looking forward to the next book in Richard Kadrey’s ‘Sandman Slim’ series– the last one wasn’t as good as the earlier ones, IMO, hoping he returns to form in the coming one. First two were terrific, though. Hero has supernatural powers, gets dragged into Hell, series opens with his return to LA.
Reading James Church’s thrillers, first few set in N Korea, most recent one set in China. All good and grim. ‘Church’ is a pseudonym, he’s apparently a retired intelligence officer.
NotMax
@freemark
If that kind of thing tickles your fancy, seek out some of the ‘-manship’ books by Stephen Potter, a now nearly forgotten master of the droll genre.
R-Jud
“History of the World in 100 Objects” by the curator of the British Museum. From million-year-old hand axes to a modern credit card. I’m on my phone, so can’t give a link, but it’s really worth a read.
I’m also finally reading War & Peace.
WereBear
Would that be Full Dark, No Stars? I think they are incredible, especially the third one. Novella is really his length, IMHO.
I just finished The Myth of Martyrdom, an examination of suicide bombers which convinced me that they are, indeed, metally ill and suicidal and recruited for such purposes. So it could happen here. Which is not what “experts” have been saying. Which does not surprise me.
A friend tipped me off to the first in an apocalyptic trilogy, Pure, which impressed her, which made it into my Cloud Reader, but I’m not feeling too well this weekend (carbon monoxide poisoning) and so I’ve gone back to the first LBJ volume by Robert Caro, because I want to work my way up to the fourth, and latest.
The second one is a self-contained story that I never get tired of!
Riley's enabler
I’m bummed that I’ve finished “Ready Player One”; it was such a fun read. If you’re at all a child of the 80’s, it’s a must-read. Finally got around to “The Night Circus”, which was a delight, and just finished “Life Among Giants”, which I’d give a rousing “eh”.
For a quick read or two try “My Life as a White Trash Zombie” by Diana Rowland. Silly fun with a heart. The sequel is not quite as good, but both are fun and effortless reads.
Love the recommendations. More please!
IowaOldLady
@piratedan: I love Bujold! And Ivan has long deserved his own book.
I’m mostly starting books, getting annoyed, and not finishing them. I did recently enjoy Cory Doctorow’s Pirate Cinema.
Boudica
Recently finished Wild by Cheryl Strayed. She hikes the Pacific Crest Trail by herself to deal with personal issues. I enjoyed it.
Finished Call the Midwife by Jennifer Worth yesterday about a midwife in London in the 1950s. (Also a PBS series which I haven’t watched.) It was good but not for the faint of heart-graphic descriptions of ob/gyn stuff.
Getting ready to start The Fall of the House of Dixie by Bruce Levine. Because I am fascinated by our current cold civil war and enjoy reading about its origins (which of course go further back than our “war between the states”).
Boudica
Oh, also, am in the middle of Famine by Liam O’Flaherty to better understand how the British starved my people 160 years ago…..
WereBear
These threads ALWAYS give my Kindle Wish List a workout. I use the Amazon link up top, in case I succumb and actually buy it, as I just did with The Fall of the House of Dixie.
piratedan
@WereBear: aye, that’s the one! Just starting #2 when I tire of my internet fixxe…
@IowaOldLady: agreed, although in a way, I get the feeling that she’s tiring of the universe that she’s writing in for that although most folks that I share the books with love Miles….
Dedc79
Saw a copy of Pickwick Papers in a used book store and decided it was time to read it. Really enjoying it so far.
scuffletuffle
@Boudica: Do watch the PBS show…it’s great fun!
Hillary Rettig
Just finished Balzac’s Pere Goriot – a juicy read, full of entertainingly nasty people (social climber variety and machinations. I almost missed a subway stop reading a pivotal scene.
Rereading Joan Slonczewski’s latest, The Highest Frontier, about a college student in the 2100s going to college in a space station. Rampant global warming, religious fundamentalism, in-depth biological extrapolations, and a plausible version of life embedded in a continuous Internet stream. Like all JS’s work, dense but totally brilliant on many levels, including scientific and moral. I think she’s the best worldbuilder out there.
Finally, I’ll make a pitch for my book The 7 Secrets of the Prolific: The Definitive Guide to Overcoming Procrastination, Perfectionism, and Writer’s Block. Sample chapters here.
Emma
I am in a binge of Sherlock Holmes pastiches. I think I will re-read Laurie King’s series again from the beginning, as well as the Saberhagen.
Amir Khalid
I had just started on a book about American football, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, and then I came upon Let’s Pretend This Never Happened by The Blogess. So I’m now on a temporary diversion. Well, I just finished Les Miserables and have seen the movie musical version more times than I care to admit, so I needed a break from Victor Hugo anyway.
Maude
I have a Nook and I can put anything on it I want.
The new Charles Todd is out.
Finishing a Robert Crais.
I figured out why Romance is so boring to me. It’s YA and sold as adult, not dirty book adult. It is always the same pattern. The main characters, usually women are so self involved. They also usually talk to their girlfriends about ‘Their Man’ in the most explicit detail. Poor guys.
I also found that the same phrases are used over and over and that gets irritating.
These books sell.
Omnes Omnibus
In my current pile of books: A couple of Alan Fursts, Corey Robin’s The Reactionary Mind, and Elaine Sciolini’s La Seduction: How the French Play the Game Of Life.
WereBear
@Maude: What they are selling is the same reliable experience, over and over.
I’ve never been a fan of romances, either; probably because of that predictability.
I want human brains in cat bodies! I want alien invasions and it turns out their Achilles heel is Slim Whitman! I want machine interfaces and the hearts of suns!
Chris
Recently finished The Company by Ehrlichman. Not much of a thriller but good read anyway as it’s basically about Helms’ time at the CIA under Nixon (complete with involvement in Watergate. Also the aftermath of the Bay of Pigs).
Rex Everything
Canaries in the Mineshaft, Renata Adler. Kickass.
Rex Everything
@MattF: Hell yes, those Hammett books get better with each reading. The only problem with Hammett is he didn’t write that many, and it’s all downhill once you’ve read him: nobody else in the genre even comes close.
WereBear
@Rex Everything: I’ve found that the best writers in this genre are so amenable to re-reading. John D. MacDonald, Raymond Chandler, Hammett, right up to Robert Parker, Lee Child, and John Sandford; these are read over and over.
Rex Everything
@WereBear: Agreed, but my experience is, when I reread John D. MacDonald, even though it’s masterful pulp, it’s like it becomes so obvious how he constructed each caper that it seems kind of cheap. Hammett, at his best, remains totally admirable through every kind of analysis. With Chandler you can savor the dialogue but that’s about it: the plots are ludicrous and usually don’t stand up to even one reading.
Guess I’d better read Parker, Child, and Sandford before I shoot my mouth off any more, though.
MattF
@WereBear: Chandler’s fine, as long as you’ve accepted the fact that the plot will escape from captivity at some point. I re-read ‘The Little Sister’ recently, and enjoyed it (the characters are just amazing) even though around the third or fourth plot twist, I just completely lost track.
Hypatia's Momma
Books about Heian Japan, T’ang China, Burma, and Joseon Korea.
The Fat Kate Middleton
I loved Population: 485. Also read the sequel, Coop – AND even listened to the author’s music. I recently finished both Strayed’s Wild and Tiny Beautiful Things. TBT is a collection of advice columns she wrote under the pseudonym Sugar, and it is an amazing, wonderful read. I’m currently reading Life Among Giants. because it’s written by a friend of my sister’s, and because it received a really glowing review from the NYT. Getting ready to start Canada, by Richard Ford (another friend of the sister), and Erdrich’s The Round House. I’m not a huge fan of Kingsolver’s novels, but I though Lacuna was fantastic.
Steeplejack
@MattF:
I will have to hustle right over to the Nook store and download the James Church book. I have really liked the Inspector O series, although the last one, The Man with the Baltic Stare, was a little jarring to me. It seemed like O was suddenly revealed to be much older (retirement age) than he seemed to be in the earlier books. Although maybe that was my misapprehension.
I will once again plug the Inspector Van Veeteren novels by Håkan Nesser: The Mind’s Eye, Borkmann’s Point, The Return, Woman with Birthmark, The Inspector and Silence, Münster’s Case. Wikipedia: “These books play out in a fictitious city called Maardam, said to be located in northern Europe in a country which is never named but resembles Sweden, the Netherlands, Poland and Germany.” The writing is tight and the characters are well drawn.
WereBear
@Rex Everything: MacDonald has great plots; but once you read something the surprise is gone, true. However, it’s his indelible turns of phrase I can’t help savoring:
He lay there in the beautiful room like a dead worm on a birthday cake.
He had the bundle of clothes look that dead people got, and I couldn’t help realizing his parents had once seen him gurgling in his crib and thought him a fine baby.
He wasn’t a person, he was a thing; heart empty as a paper bag, eyes of clever glass.
@MattF: Chandler’s strength, for me, is how he paints these situations people get trapped in.
dance around in your bones
Of course, one can never go wrong with P.G. Wodehouse.
Funny as hell.
kindness
I’m reading Neil Young’s autobio ‘Waging Heavy Peace-Hippie Dreams’. It’s a whole bunch better than Townshend’s bio. Neil tells it more intimately. While Pete’s stories are fabulous he was a lot more fucked up than most of us knew. Huh, extremely talented person who can’t quite put it all together. Who’da figured? I recommend Neil’s highly. Pete’s well yea in a watchin’ a train wreck kinda way. Not always what I want to read, but I read it so…
Tehanu
I’ve got to plug Deborah Crombie’s Duncan & Gemma Kincaid mysteries — the new one, The Sound of Broken Glass, is set in the South London districts of Crystal Palace & Dulwich — and Dana Stabenow’s Kate Shugak mysteries, set in Alaska. I’m reading her latest one, Bad Blood, now, not finished yet. But they’re all first-class.
As for Lois McMaster Bujold, I’ve gotten into this rather bad habit of re-reading ALL her Vorkosigan books whenever I feel the need for comfort. The problem is that although there are about 18 of those books, there aren’t more!
Rex Everything
@WereBear: God, JDM had like a million of those little gems. Also Meyer’s speeches on the world falling apart. Good, good stuff.
artem1s
finishing up the latest JRR Martin, Song of Ice and Fire; Dance of Dragons. It has delivered extreme frustration, as expected. There is something shockingly random about the way he subjects his characters to violence and death.
Team of Rivals is next up and The Man Who Never Died, a biography of Joe Hill, American labor icon. Also, in the process of rereading Stephenson’s Baroque Cycle.
Groucho48
@Tehanu:
I heartily second the Dana Stablenow recommendation. Good stuff!
Just finished The Martian, by Andy Weir.
http://www.amazon.com/The-Martian-ebook/dp/B009IEXKXI/ref=tmm_kin_title_0?ie=UTF8&qid=1362352527&sr=1-1
A good read. Guy accidently gets stranded on Mars. Has about a year of supplies but fastest rescue mission is 4 years away. He copes. Lots of science/engineering stuff. The guy has a nice, geeky sense of humor. The book expands to NASA, back on Earth, and to the mission crew that left him on Mars, thinking he was dead.
I’ve recommended it on a couple of my gaming forums and folks have liked it.
Also recently read the latest Jane Whitefield mystery by Thomas Perry. Excellent series.
james church
@Steeplejack:
O, if I’m not mistaken, was born in 1946 or 1947, was a child when his parents died in the Korean War. That makes him in his late 60’s now. If it’s jarring to you to discover how old he is, imagine how he feels!
hp tablet
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