What BOOK(s) are you reading?

SaMoKo wrote:

Not sure which sci fi book I’ll pick up next. I’ve heard good things about Bobverse.

I read it over the past few days. It was okay, nothing spectacular. Similar to The Martian, except The Martian is better.

I just finished that first stormlight archive book by Sanderson. Boy. What a mixed bag (goodreads 2 star from me fwiw). The world building and metanarrative is second to none. I mean, really good imaginative stuff.

But the characters are such a fucking boring drag. Like, the past of the character they dwelled on this time... revealed nothing I did not know about him in chapter one but took up what, 100 pages at least?

I'll probably read the next one too but man what a study in contrasts in quality from my perspective. I'm not sure I'd recommend anyone read this series based on the first 1000 pages unless you're just really into awesome RPG setting sourcebook stuff.

I'm reading the Half Has Never Been Told by Baptist, an examination of the economic aspects of the antebellum south and its impact on American history. It has been quite a read, at the moment I am listening on Audible while following along in the Kindle version. There's a lot of depth in the material, and it's approaching the breakup of the union from a far more nuanced, detailed perspective than I've encountered before.

My Dad used to tell me that the foundations of all history could be summed up in two words -- "money talks". This book reveals that side of U.S. history in spades, and makes a lot of the motivations of the non-landed gentry much clearer to me. It is also a well-timed read, because as the Civil War approached citizens were more loyal to party than to country or even personal interest. When that began to break apart, all hell broke loose. This book moves along chronologically, revealing the economic state of the country as it moves.

Everything we've seen in the last fifteen years is a repeat. Mortgage-backed securities based on speculation (secured by slaves, not real estate), party loyalty in opposition to personal interest, the works. There's no stone-cold polarizing issue today like there was back then, but even the language has not changed. "Mortgage-Backed Securities" goes back to the 19th century.

There's two books here, one focusing on the treatment of blacks and how it varied by region. This is more review for me. But it's part of the other, bigger subject matter, economics, because of the way southern speculators pushed greater productivity out of their enslaved labor force year after year, strictly through business practice, not technology. The author calls it what it is, using phrasing like Labor Camps instead of Plantation, Torture instead of Discipline. Slaves in the 1830s had to learn how to pick cotton as quickly with their left hand as their right, simultaneously, or be tortured at the end of the day for not making quota. Such is the nature of unfettered capitalism when there is unlimited capital. No one gets a clean slate, American or otherwise. It's pretty ominous to read.

Not light reading and I'd wager most here would be bored with it shortly after starting. But with an interest in history and economics, this book has been a companion for quite a while now, as it's not something I can casually pick up for ten minutes at a time. Even my 30 minute commute requires me to page back each time I restart in order to get back in the groove of where I left off.

Thanks for the rec, it's on my list after the book on reconstruction that has been staring at me for 6 months.

I'm taking up a New Year's resolution to re-read All Men are Brothers by Pearl S. Buck. It's the English translation of Bandits of the Water Margin. It was Robin Hood, before Robin Hood was a thing!

I'm really excited by the Atkinson book coming out this summer---he's doing a new trilogy on the American revolution. His WWII series is my favorite history of U.S. WWII, I've written about it back in this thread.

Read the Lathe of Heaven last night. Damn it was good.

Finally finished Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell. Enjoyed it at first but was extremely glad I was done by the end. A book that is all style with no interesting characters or narrative beats, just a couple of assholes who are irreedemable. Don't really recommend it.

Some fun sci-fi books recently. Planetfall and After Atlas by Emma Newman. Book 1 and 2 of a very loose trilogy. Both written very well with great sci fi ideas and even more compelling characters. Highly recommend.

Senlin Ascends by Josiah Bancroft was also excellent and great fun to read. First book of a real trilogy and the second book is out too.

The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett. Got a bit of a bug to read some genre classics. Started here.

It's not what I was expecting. I knew it was a mystery, a noir, I was expecting the lurid, purple prose of a Tracer Bullet, but it was opaque, purely dancing on the surface of the sensible. At times it felt almost like a the writing of a reasonably bright middle schooler: a character is introduced and a paragraph of physical description follows, dialogue is had. But, as I reflect on it, it makes sense for the genre. We know nothing and are in that same precarious state of the protagonist detective. Things are said, and we must decide on our own whether we believe them or not. Without even the aid of an inner monologue, only knowing that Sam Spade is troubled when he pinches his lower lip, we are trying without handrails to decide whether we trust Joe Cairo or Mr. Gutman or Brigid O'Shaughnessy. It's an unexpectedly effective technique.

So, yeah, I liked it. It wasn't some life-altering read, but I think I'll try out The Thin Man next and call it good on Mr. Hammett. If nothing else, the glimpse into how a 1928 novel's hero could treat the women in his life and remain the hero is fascinating.

Da Bid Dabid wrote: Read the Lathe of Heaven last night. Damn it was good.

I'm listening to the Audible version of this right now (thank you for mentioning the title sir) and it stands in stark contrast to my previous read -- Ready Player One. Where Ready Player One is as light as a feather, Lathe of Heaven is literature, with Le Guin's handling of the language so superior that it forces you to recognize what can be done when someone with the gift sets their mind to it. Just beautifully written.

LeGuin uses science fiction concepts as setting, not featured players. The story travels through the details. She could have set this particular novel in 1922 just as easily, and spoken to similar issues of civic change. It's more about change than the actual changes she speaks to. That's why I think her novels continue to be relevant in spite of being written fifty years ago and set in the "near future", times that have now passed and for the most part look like quaint, incorrect visions. That doesn't matter when Le Guin is the one holding the pen, because they serve as props in a much greater package.

I finished 'Super Mario: How Nintendo Conquered America' by Jeff Ryan. It's a quick read, and I was genuinely entertained/fascinated to learn about Nintendo's business model and history. The book falters in the end, rushing a bit and glossing over post-Wii products. Nevertheless, I'd recommend it for the gaming enthusiasts. Know your history!

I'm reading Darkly Dreaming Dexter, which is the first novel in the series. I had always wanted to read them after enjoying the show so much.

There are slight differences, but so far, book 1 is pretty much season 1 of the show. It also is interesting to see just how masterfully the show was cast; the characterizations are spot on. One exception is that apparently the character of Angel was changed quite a bit for the show. In the book, he is a medical examiner and not overly important.

I've been rereading The Wind in the Willows and concluding that it's my favorite book (which usually happens when I read The Wind in the Willows).

Mole's sense of Spring: "Spring was moving in the air above and in the earth below and around him, penetrating even his dark and lowly little house with its spirit of divine discontent and longing."

Toad's first sight of a motorcar: "Glorious, stirring sight! The poetry of motion! The real way to travel! The only way to travel! Here today—in next week tomorrow! Villages skipped, towns and cities jumped—always somebody else's horizon! O bliss! O poop-poop! O my! O my!"

GorillaGrody wrote: Toad's first sight of a motorcar: "Glorious, stirring sight! The poetry of motion! The real way to travel! The only way to travel! Here today—in next week tomorrow! Villages skipped, towns and cities jumped—always somebody else's horizon! O bliss! O poop-poop! O my! O my!"

Dang, did not know Toad was a NY school poet