What are you reading now?

Just read "War on the West" by Murray.  His forty minute YT interview with Dave Rubin basically covered it but the details/exposition were worth reading.  "BullE36 M3 Jobs" lead me to reading "Debt" by Peter Graeber, which is kind of a slog but fascinating in the historical and anthropological context.  

Duke said:

ProDarwin said:

I really liked Childhood's End and 2001.

2001 was great right up until the final act.  And then it was just like Clarke dropped a lot of acid and said berk it, I'm done.

I finally finished Quicksilver over the weekend.  Started it somewhere around Groundhog Day, so that's what, 14 weeks to read it?  Oof.  I'm a fast reader typically.  For all those words, some of the important story points kind of got yadda-yaddaed over.  I'm going to wait a bit before moving on to the second part of the trilogy.  At least Jack Shaftoe gotten written out a fair distance before the end, so I didn't have to deal with him that whole time.  At the risk of a minor spoiler, I'm assuming that he will appear again later in the series.

I just started reading a set of Gibson short stories from the post-Neuromancer '80s, including Johnny Mnemonic and a few others.

Picked up Leviathan Wakes at the library, based on your recommendations for The Expanse series.  I should probably skip the rest of the Gibson and start in on that, because I may only have 3 weeks with it.  I had to reserve this copy so I may not be able to renew it.

 

Jack is one of the key characters of the series.  You are stuck with him.

Actually, if you have read Cryptonomicon, you probably remember/recognize the surname.  Thats how important he is.

Don't worry, the hallucinations are pretty much done, though.

Duke said:

Picked up Leviathan Wakes at the library, based on your recommendations for The Expanse series.

I'm guessing this was directed at someone else.  I haven't read these, but I may.  I loved the show.

On topic, I am currently reading The Footprints of God by Greg Iles.  Its a thriller about a group of top tier scientists partnered with the us govt. working to create a supercomputer clone of a human mind.

Just started "The Revolt of the Public" by Martin Gurri.  It's fascinating so far...

In reply to Mr_Asa :

Yes, I recognize the surname from both Jack and his brother.

[spoiler alert]

I assumed since we never actually saw Jack's lifeless corpse that he would be returning at some point.

In reply to ProDarwin :

Yeah, sorry, that was more of a general 'your'.

Finished Imperial Earth last night. It wasn't as chilling as Childhood's End–more like "this is what I did on my visit to Earth." Still some good twists, but it's not going to keep me up at night. (Childhood's End was deeeeeeeep.)

Next, I might read the 2001 trilogy since I have them already. 

hobiercr said:

Currently reading Trevor Noah's "Born a Crime." Hard not to read it in his voice.

Oh man.  Dang dang dang good book, and I strongly recommend.  I devoured that in less than a day and a half.  He and I have a LOT of our childhood in common from half a world a way.

Duke said:

I just finished Andy Weir's Project Hail Mary.  It was excellent, though I am admittedly a bit of a hard-science sf fan.  A lot of folks are saying it's better than The Martian, but my personal jury is still out on that.  I will say that I read the last third of it in more or less one sitting yesterday - it really becomes a page-turner as it progresses.  It's definitely better than Weir's Artemis, which wasn't really bad, but not really great

 

Just finished "Project Hail Mary" and loved it.  I think it was "up there" with "The Martian", but definitely not "better than".  Would definitely recommend.

Still juggling books series's's's, I'm reading Isaac Assimov's Foundation Series while I wait for Wheel of time to get good again.  I'm on "Foundation's Edge" and am enjoying it as a whole.

I got peer pressured into subscribing to this Substack https://draculadaily.substack.com so I guess I'm reading Dracula now.

In reply to David S. Wallens :

I have that edition too.

Currently reading Leviathan Wakes - first book in the Expanse series.  It's not short but it's moving quickly, to say the least.  Shouldn't be a problem getting through it in the 3-week loan period.

Just started reading "American Made" by Farah Stockman.  It's about the loss of factory jobs in the US as seen by three different employees at a bearing manufacturer in Indianapolis.  I'm only about 100 pages in but I'm enjoying it a lot.  It's far more balanced and compassionate than I expected.  

In reply to Duke :

It's collectible! Okay, looks like it's worth about $6.99 on eBay. 

So far, so good. I'm on the home stretch. 

I read this one a million years ago but would like to read the follow-up books. I figured I'd start with a refresher. 

And finished with 2001. :)

Two chapters down but, now, time for bed. 

Billy Connolly's autobiography "Windswept and Interesting". I barely knew who the guy was before picking up the book. He's just very humorous and interesting in an authentic way. During the time he was a welder he speaks of how uproariously funny the other Glasgow fabricators were, and how he'd go home and watch television comics and be unmoved. It's that genuine affection for people and their quirks that drives his comedy, not just a search for gags. Highly recommended.  

David S. Wallens said:

Two chapters down but, now, time for bed.

I read 2010 a long time ago, but honestly don't remember a thing about it.  I don't believe I ever read 2030 or whatever the third installment is.

So, was the last act of 2001 just as inscrutable as the movie?  I remember reading the book to try and find some enlightenment, and being sorely disappointed.

In reply to Duke :

The end of the book is pretty strange. Somewhere there has to be a doctor's thesis explaining it, right? 

Summer means we're in ideal poolside/oceanside reading season, so I picked The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer by Siddhartha Mukherjee off the shelf this past weekend to be my beach bag companion book. As long as this guy keeps writing long, in-depth medical history books, I'll keep reading them. Can't recommend his work highly enough. 

I didn't go through all the pages, but I recently got a kindle e-reader and with the Amazon kindle unlimited I've been reading the James Bond books in order. 

So far I've read Casino Royale, Live and let die, Moonraker, and am now reading Diamonds are forever. 

It's been years since I've watch the movies, but there's enough difference from what I remember that I want to go back and watch the early movies to see where they diverge from the books. 

I finished The Last Days of the Dinosaurs, by Riley Black a couple of days before AppleTV dropped Prehistoric Planet, so it was a good tie-in with the show. It starts out the day the asteroid hits and describes the planet in the days, centuries, and millennia following the impact. The writing was kind of hit or miss sometimes, but I still enjoyed it.

The Old Man's War, by John Scalzi, has been very good.

Working on "Atomic Habits" by James Clear.  It has a significant waiting list at the library and IMHO has a lot of useful information to streamline your life and accomplish things. 

Something 'Blue' from Ambrose. Same author whose specialty was WW2, did the Band of Brothers books. I just cant recall the title, sorry. It's about bomber pilots during the European Theater.

Now, lets talk about two that I finished in the past week.

-Adam Carolla, "Not Taco Bell Material"

I got this one for 25c at a used media store and didnt know what to expect. I know who he is, but couldnt tell you much more than 'Loveline guy'

Holy smokes it was hilarious. Just a lot of stories about his life, but he's a FUNNY guy.

He told stories from youth to today, and Im sure many of us gentlemen on here could relate to a lot of it. He's a smart guy willing to get his hands dirty (his 'current' - this was 2012 - home was 1.6M but in rough shape and he did ALL the work on it, also for years he spent his time doing construction etc).

This book was interesting because each chapter starts with a picture of one of his residences through the years and the stories line up to that time point. I dont know, doesnt sound like much, but I think seeing the condition(s) of the places he lived is...'inspiring' - just because you come from nothing doesnt mean you have to stay there. And that's how the book ends, he's hoping that beyond you laughing a lot that you got some sort of motivation to go after what YOU want and need. 

And, personally, I like his opinions on things. He leans more conservative, and, well, so do I. He doesnt care if gays marry or people do drugs (he did/does them himself), but he's also against the PC bullcrap we've seen come up. He addresses things like Affirmative Action in the book with humor, how it's wrong to not get an opportunity because of what you are....or, in some cases, GET that opportunity because of what you are.

Here's a guy that I barely heard of (I did know he was a car fan, though!), and now Im figuring out what else he's written because I loved the book that much.

While offensive and vulgar, he's no-nonsense about life and doesnt hide what he's been through.

I'll update you as I read more of his works.

-"Raw" by U-God of the WuTang Clan

Not a Wu fan (not against them, just never got very into rap), but I like a good [auto]biography, four bucks at Ollies.

I did not like this book. I held my nose and swallowed it down, just keeping up the hopes that the book would 'redeem' itself at some point. No. It just wasnt good. Maybe it's my lack of undertanding 'hood' culture and praising it. Or maybe he's not a good writer. Or just not that exciting/important. Sorry, just being honest.

Again, not a Wu fan, so I dont know much of their group, but the more I read the book it seemed like he was a B-string member, not really doing a lot with them on the albums, unlike Method Man, RZA, or ODB. I think because of his role he tried to just fill pages with nonsense. Like, did you really need a whole paragraph on some brother of two girls you knew and how he looked/dressed like Prince? Seriously, that happened, a whole paragraph on a guy with no name but dressed like Prince. He was never brought back up and never spoke about until the writing of how he dressed.

And that's how the book went

-Childhood struggles/culture (project living, the people who 'ran' the area), and then some random tidbits about random people whose name may or may not even be given.

-Adolescent years - getting involved in the street life and drugs. Then more random people and stuff like, "xxxxxx (forgot names, not important) was a good fighter, he had knowledge of the old style of 52 fists streetfighting..." Like, W T F?

-Late teens/Early 20s - hustling drugs and spending money so others can write raps...then he goes to jail.

-Wu years... "I walked out of the hotel and instantly picked up this white b***** in a droptop bimmer....I couldnt believe how fast I bagged her" That was, basically, exact words used and a whole paragraph.

-Last bit was trash talking RZA.

In reply to hybridmomentspass :

I read a lengthy interview with RZA (probably it was from Rolling Stone?) and RZA sounded dumb as a tree stump.

Duke said:

In reply to hybridmomentspass :

I read a lengthy interview with RZA (probably it was from Rolling Stone?) and RZA sounded dumb as a teee stump.

 

I dont know anything about him, but his boy U-God is boring

I think many of us on here could write a more interesting book