Spoilers What Book Are You Reading?

[LadyX]

What Book Are You Reading?

Yesterday I finished Wool Omnibus Edition (Wool 1 - 5) (Silo series). A 5-volume set by Hugh Howey. I'd been reading it nearly daily for a few weeks and by yesterday I was 60% through it. I started reading it yesterday morning around 9 am I think and pushed all day with small breaks until I finished it last night around 8 pm.

It's a great read and I enjoyed it a lot. I killed the battery on the iPad Mini too in reading all day on it. I had 25% left by the time I was done.

I'll start a new book today, but haven't decided on which one yet. I have several in my Kindle library waiting to be read. My choices right now are these in no particular order:

• The Martian: A Novel
  
• The Maltese Falcon
  
• The First Family Detail: Secret Service Agents Reveal the Hidden Lives of the Presidents
  
• The Lost Fleet: Dauntless

I'll post back once I make a choice, unless anyone cares to push me towards one particular title over the others.

I read WOOL two years ago and I remember enjoying it. From the books you've listed, I read "The Martian" and it was a good read, although the main character ruined it a bit for me as I found him annoying at times. I have "The Maltese Falcon" on my list of books to read. Many of those who read it consider it the best detective novel they've ever read.

 

[fitshaced]

Just started The Bourne Identity. Haven't seen the movie and so have a completely open mind.

 

[pachyderm]

finished sputnik sweetheart.

more zen supernatural thriller...?

starting:

 

[SandboxGeneral]

i really enjoyed the martian...

I read WOOL two years ago and I remember enjoying it. From the books you've listed, I read "The Martian" and it was a good read, although the main character ruined it a bit for me as I found him annoying at times. I have "The Maltese Falcon" on my list of books to read. Many of those who read it consider it the best detective novel they've ever read.

I decided to start with The Maltese Falcon because it was the shortest of the three and I've seen the movie a few times too.

 

[aaronvan]

Just started reading The Road by Cormac McCarthy. Only a few pages in, and I'm curious to see where it leads. Not sure what to think yet.

Also just started listening to In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex by Nathaniel Philbrick. I'm enjoying it a lot so far.

I read both and they're both excellent.

 

[Don't panic]

R.I.P., Sir terry.
thanks for all the good time

 

[Scepticalscribe]

R.I.P., Sir terry.
thanks for all the good time

Image

Great tweets (and thanks for posting them, DP), and utterly fitting, in the circumstances..

Awww. I'm really sorry - one of the greats of witty, clever, inventive and yet compassionate fantasy writing. I loved some of his stuff. Truly sad news.

 

[MacRy]

R.I.P., Sir terry.

thanks for all the good time



Image

Sad and poignant Tweets. Such a loss to the literary world. A great author and a thoroughly nice bloke. He will be sorely missed

 

[pachyderm]

poor guy suffered from Alzheimer's. what a shame.

RIP


if you haven't read good omens treat yo'self!

 

[MacRy]

poor guy suffered from Alzheimer's. what a shame.

RIP


if you haven't read good omens treat yo'self!

Absolutely. Good Omens is a great read.

 

[LadyX]

Edinburgh, 1888. A violinist is murdered in his home. The dead virtuoso's maid swears she heard three musicians playing in the night. But with only one body in the locked practice room - and no way in or out - the case makes no sense.

Fearing a national panic over another Ripper, Scotland Yard sends Inspector Ian Frey to investigate under the cover of a fake department specializing in the occult. However, Frey's new boss, Detective 'Nine-Nails' McGray, actually believes in such supernatural nonsense.

McGray's tragic past has driven him to superstition, but even Frey must admit that this case seems beyond reason. And once someone loses all reason, who knows what they will lose next...

A spellbinding concoction of crime, history and horror - perfect for fans of Sherlock Holmes and Jonathan Creek.

 

[ucfgrad93]

I am currently reading Divergent on my Kindle.

 

[vulcanvillalta]

I am currently reading Divergent on my Kindle.

Oh? how is it?

 

[JamesMike]

Just started reading 'Midnight in Malmö', a Inspector Anita Sundström series.

 

[ucfgrad93]

Oh? how is it?

It is excellent, I highly recommend it. I'm rereading it, so I can read the next one, Insurgent

 

[Scepticalscribe]

Over the past week, I have read a number of books about the Amish, a few which deal with Asperger's and tonight, I began 'Quiet - The Power Of Introverts In A World That Can't Stop Talking' by Susan Cain.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

Having spent much of the past few days reading 'Quiet - The Power Of Introverts In A World That Can't Stop Talking' by Susan Cain - as recommended by at least two of the denizens on these fora - my grateful thanks to you, mobilehaathi, and also, to you, SandboxGeneral, it is a topic I would like to read more about.

This last week, I have been reading books about Aspergers, and introversion; mind you, I have also been reading about medieval warfare, Ukraine, and economic disaster.

In any case, as it happens, Susan Cain is the wife of Kenneth Cain, one of the three authors of a fascinating book which was written to describe what it was like to work in war zones (as a civilian) which came with a most unpromising and unpropitious title, namely, 'Emergency Sex (And Other Desperate Measures)' and which I read last autumn, on my return from an interesting period abroad.

 

[mobilehaathi]

Having spent much of the past few days reading 'Quiet - The Power Of Introverts In A World That Can't Stop Talking' by Susan Cain - as recommended by at least two of the denizens on these fora - my grateful thanks to you, mobilehaathi, and also, to you, SandboxGeneral, it is a topic I would like to read more about.

This last week, I have been reading books about Aspergers, and introversion; mind you, I have also been reading about medieval warfare, Ukraine, and economic disaster.

In any case, as it happens, Susan Cain is the wife of Kenneth Cain, one of the three authors of a fascinating book which was written to describe what it was like to work in war zones (as a civilian) which came with a most unpromising and unpropitious title, namely, 'Emergency Sex (And Other Desperate Measures)' and which I read last autumn, on my return from an interesting period abroad.

Cheers, if you do come across related reading (preferably with a more academic slant, but I'm open to anything) please do pass the titles along.

 

[MacDawg]

Finished up a few Harlan Coben books
Just starting Becoming Steve Jobs

 

[Scepticalscribe]

Cheers, if you do come across related reading (preferably with a more academic slant, but I'm open to anything) please do pass the titles along.

Hm. I see what you are saying, and - to a large extent, I agree with you.

I raced through it, as I had raced through three books on Aspergers in females in the past few days; very good books, books which badly needed to be written, extremely readable and easily accessible (which is no mean feat) but I longed for something 'weightier' on both sets of topics.

Anyway, I will keep my eyes open, and will make a similar request of any others who might wish to offer recommendations on these topics.

Actually, I don't know whether this tends to be the form that such books take in the US (a breezy, cheerful tone, a bit thin on content and sources), or whether such works need to take this form in order to be accepted and marketed in that environment. Yes, it does irk me at times.

 

[mobilehaathi]

Hm. I see what you are saying, and - to a large extent, I agree with you.

I raced through it, as I had raced through three books on Aspergers in females in the past few days; very good books, books which badly needed to be written, extremely readable and easily accessible (which is no mean feat) but I longer for something 'weightier' on both sets of topics.

Anyway, I will keep my eyes open, and will make a similar request of any others who might wish to offer recommendations on these topics.

Actually, I don't know whether this tends to be the form that such books take in the US (a breezy, cheerful tone, a bit thin on content and sources), or whether such works need to take this form in order to be accepted and marketed in that environment. Yes, it does irk me at times.

It's the "popular" style of writing and there is only so much I can take without getting extremely frustrated with lack of citations.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

It's the "popular" style of writing and there is only so much I can take without getting extremely frustrated with lack of citations.

Agreed. I feel much the same way.

Which brings us to another problem with much academic writing, namely, how tedious so much of it actually is.

As a student, and later teacher, (and later still author of the kind of books I would have wanted to read as a student), I used to be absolutely baffled by how academics could turn such stunning stories (history and politics are full of gory details, back-stabbing, alliance building, abuse of power, and occasional intelligent and compassionate use of same) into such turgid prose.

But their sources were usually very well worth mining.

 

[mobilehaathi]

Agreed. I feel much the same way.

Which brings us to another problem with much academic writing, namely, how tedious so much of it actually is.

As a student, and later teacher, (and later still author of the kind of books I would have wanted to read as a student), I used to be absolutely baffled by how academics could turn such stunning stories (history and politics are full of gory details, back-stabbing, alliance building, abuse of power, and occasional intelligent and compassionate use of same) into such turgid prose.

But their sources were usually very well worth mining.

And that's the flip side, sometimes academic writing can be tedious and boring no matter how compelling the underlying subject matter.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

And that's the flip side, sometimes academic writing can be tedious and boring no matter how compelling the underlying subject matter.

Well, yes, and it is something that has long bothered and bewildered me; how on earth was it possible to turn such riveting and utterly compelling stuff into some of the most turgid prose on the planet?

I have always had a soft spot for the sort of solid academic writing - which wore its learning lightly - but yet which that could tell a rollicking good yarn at the same time.

However, now that I think of it, I realise that I forgot to mention that a book with the title of "A B C ET CETERA - The Life And Times Of The Roman Alphabet' by Alexander and Nicholas Humez arrived in the fairly recent past chez moi.

That should make for somewhat more cheerful and interesting reading than some of the other stuff I have been burying myself in recently.

 

[mobilehaathi]

Well, yes, and it is something that has long bothered and bewildered me; how on earth was it possible to turn such riveting and utterly compelling stuff into some of the most turgid prose on the planet?

I have always had a soft spot for the sort of solid academic writing - which wore its learning lightly - but yet which that could tell a rollicking good yarn at the same time.

However, now that I think of it, I realise that I forgot to mention that a book with the title of "A B C ET CETERA - The Life And Times Of The Roman Alphabet' by Alexander and Nicholas Humez arrived in the fairly recent past chez moi.

That should make for somewhat more cheerful and interesting reading than some of the other stuff I have been burying myself in recently.

Excellent, excellent. It was a fun, easy, and very interesting read.