What are you reading now?
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wrote on 7 Sept 2020, 12:19 last edited by
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"On The Road" is a ... what's the word...touchstone book for the 1960s.
I've never read it.
Worth my time?
wrote on 7 Sept 2020, 12:53 last edited by@George-K said in What are you reading now?:
"On The Road" is a ... what's the word...touchstone book for the 1960s.
I've never read it.
Worth my time?
It was an influence on me in terms of expectations of my life. Manchild in the Promised Land by Claude Brown was probably greater.
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wrote on 7 Sept 2020, 23:27 last edited by
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wrote on 12 Sept 2020, 01:58 last edited by taiwan_girl 9 Dec 2020, 02:02
Kind of like a documentary book (which I like). It talks about a small town in Pennsylvania USA called Aliquippa. It uses the high school football team to tell the story of the town, which started out as a steel factory town. Kind of sociology study of "middle" USA. The football is just the small center of the story the book tells. Even if you dont know a whole lot about US football, that is okay.
Really good book so far (I am about 60% done). A lot of the things that are discussed (labor/management, race relation, general living, etc.) are the same today as back then.
The more history repeats itself, the more it is the same.
I recommend it.
Reminds me a little of another book I read (actually listeded to) called "Friday Night Light", which used a high school football team to look at a town in Texas. The "Friday Night Light" booked studied the town (mostly) over a one year period, while this book looks at the town over the past 80 or so years.
Good compliments to each other.
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wrote on 12 Sept 2020, 02:00 last edited by
That sounds interesting, TG.
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Kind of like a documentary book (which I like). It talks about a small town in Pennsylvania USA called Aliquippa. It uses the high school football team to tell the story of the town, which started out as a steel factory town. Kind of sociology study of "middle" USA. The football is just the small center of the story the book tells. Even if you dont know a whole lot about US football, that is okay.
Really good book so far (I am about 60% done). A lot of the things that are discussed (labor/management, race relation, general living, etc.) are the same today as back then.
The more history repeats itself, the more it is the same.
I recommend it.
Reminds me a little of another book I read (actually listeded to) called "Friday Night Light", which used a high school football team to look at a town in Texas. The "Friday Night Light" booked studied the town (mostly) over a one year period, while this book looks at the town over the past 80 or so years.
Good compliments to each other.
wrote on 12 Sept 2020, 02:18 last edited by@taiwan_girl said in What are you reading now?:
a small town in Pennsylvania USA called Aliquippa
Been there, it's a PA suburb. Bet you ten bucks LD and Big AL have been, too.
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@taiwan_girl said in What are you reading now?:
a small town in Pennsylvania USA called Aliquippa
Been there, it's a PA suburb. Bet you ten bucks LD and Big AL have been, too.
wrote on 12 Sept 2020, 08:03 last edited by@Aqua-Letifer said in What are you reading now?:
@taiwan_girl said in What are you reading now?:
a small town in Pennsylvania USA called Aliquippa
Been there, it's a PA suburb. Bet you ten bucks LD and Big AL have been, too.
Pittsburgh suburb. I think I drove through it once.
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wrote on 12 Sept 2020, 09:57 last edited by
Friday Night Lights?
Never played in Texas. Played under a lot of Louisiana ones...
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wrote on 12 Sept 2020, 12:14 last edited by
"Ragtime...."
A very interesting book. Doctorow's style is unusual, very straightforward, with an occasional diversion into detailed descriptions of an item, behavior, location.
He weaves many historical characters into the narrative (Houdini, Freud, Archduke Ferdinand, Perry, Emma Goldman, Henry Ford), and all of that struck me as being a bit contrived. Yeah, it's clever, but many of the historical characters didn't really add that much to the narrative. It was like - "let's see how clever I can be to bring this guy into the tale."
A fun read, with a story that really doesn't get going until about ⅓ of the way through.
Time Magazine called it one of the 100 greatest books of the 20th century. That may be, but I found it nice, but not overwhelming. It doesn't hold a candle to Gatsby, Slaughterhouse-FIve, Invisible Man, Brave New World or a host of others.
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@George-K said in What are you reading now?:
I caved...
This is the audio version with multiple actors portraying the characters. I've only gotten to the "Arrival at Arrakis" part, but so far it's a very good adaptation.
Followup...
I finished it a while ago. This was my third time through the book (2nd time on audio).
It hasn't worn as well as I'd hoped it would.
The early parts of the book, the departure from Caledan, arrival on Arrakis, the world-building and putting all the pieces in play still are amazing. So creative...
The entire middle section, with Paul and Jessica in the desert has way too much mysticism (for a guy like me who likes "hard" SF). There seems to be a lot of "filler" material: much of the Harkonnen stuff is irrelevant and distracting in the middle as well.
The closing of the book seemed rushed. Fast forward years, and now the final confrontation is staged...and just like that, it's done. The final confrontation between Paul and F'yed (the knife fight) is silly, and the resolution of Paul marrying Irulan is contrived.
I think, in retrospect, I was more impressed with the world-building and creativity of ideas (the Spacing Guild, the spice, the Bene Gesseret etc) rather than actual plot. It could have been 60% shorter and told the same story in a more concise way.
Oh, well....
wrote on 12 Sept 2020, 23:36 last edited by@George-K said in What are you reading now?:
@George-K said in What are you reading now?:
I caved...
This is the audio version with multiple actors portraying the characters. I've only gotten to the "Arrival at Arrakis" part, but so far it's a very good adaptation.
Followup...
I finished it a while ago. This was my third time through the book (2nd time on audio).
I got half way through Dune in two days of jury duty (before I ended up on a jury) and never picked the book up again. -
wrote on 12 Sept 2020, 23:38 last edited by
I am reading Nathaniel Philbrick's The Mayflower. Very interesting to learn actual facts behind the myth.
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I am reading Nathaniel Philbrick's The Mayflower. Very interesting to learn actual facts behind the myth.
wrote on 12 Sept 2020, 23:48 last edited by George K 9 Dec 2020, 23:48@Kincaid said in What are you reading now?:
I am reading Nathaniel Philbrick's The Mayflower. Very interesting to learn actual facts behind the myth.
Indeed. I enjoyed it as well. If you like Philbrick's work, check out "In the Heart of the Sea." Defoe used a lot of the history of the whaleship Essex for "Moby Dick." I enjoyed it more than "Mayflower."
If you're interested in "fact vs. pop culture" stuff, take a look at Caroline Alexander's objective story of "The Bounty: The True Story of the Mutiny on The Bounty." It's great.
More than two centuries after Master’s Mate Fletcher Christian led a mutiny against Lieutenant William Bligh on a small, armed transport vessel called Bounty, the true story of this enthralling adventure has become obscured by the legend. Combining vivid characterization and deft storytelling, Caroline Alexander shatters the centuries-old myths surrounding this story. She brilliantly shows how, in a desperate attempt to save one man from the gallows and another from ignominy, two powerful families came together and began to create the version of history we know today. The true story of the mutiny on the Bounty is an epic of duty and heroism, pride and power, and the assassination of a brave man’s honor at the dawn of the Romantic age.
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wrote on 12 Sept 2020, 23:50 last edited by
Interesting! I think the last fiction I read was actually a re-read of The Hobbit about 10 years ago.
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wrote on 13 Sept 2020, 16:04 last edited by
Why not?
Off to a rousing start, I might add.
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wrote on 20 Sept 2020, 01:45 last edited by George K
@George-K said in What are you reading now?:
Off to a rousing start, I might add.
OK - about ⅓ of the way through.
This is good, hard, Sci-Fi.
Set at least 10,000 years BEFORE the events of Dune, it sets up the player, in the personas of the houses - Atreides, Harkonnen, Corrino, etc. It sets up the origin of "The Spice" as well as the origin of the Guild Navigators (at least as far as the ability to move through space at FTL speed). It also gets into the history of the "test" that Paul Atreides has to endure in the opening of "Dune."
("We had to make sure he was human....")
The style is VERY different from Herbert's book(s).
As I said, its hard, HARD, Sci-Fi.
Thoroughly enjoying it, and hoping it doesn't disappoint at the end. If it doesn't, I'll dive into the next of the three prequels.
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@George-K said in What are you reading now?:
Off to a rousing start, I might add.
OK - about ⅓ of the way through.
This is good, hard, Sci-Fi.
Set at least 10,000 years BEFORE the events of Dune, it sets up the player, in the personas of the houses - Atreides, Harkonnen, Corrino, etc. It sets up the origin of "The Spice" as well as the origin of the Guild Navigators (at least as far as the ability to move through space at FTL speed). It also gets into the history of the "test" that Paul Atreides has to endure in the opening of "Dune."
("We had to make sure he was human....")
The style is VERY different from Herbert's book(s).
As I said, its hard, HARD, Sci-Fi.
Thoroughly enjoying it, and hoping it doesn't disappoint at the end. If it doesn't, I'll dive into the next of the three prequels.
wrote on 26 Sept 2020, 15:05 last edited by@George-K said in What are you reading now?:
@George-K said in What are you reading now?:
Off to a rousing start, I might add.
OK - about ⅓ of the way through.
This is good, hard, Sci-Fi.
Set at least 10,000 years BEFORE the events of Dune, it sets up the player, in the personas of the houses - Atreides, Harkonnen, Corrino, etc. It sets up the origin of "The Spice" as well as the origin of the Guild Navigators (at least as far as the ability to move through space at FTL speed). It also gets into the history of the "test" that Paul Atreides has to endure in the opening of "Dune."
("We had to make sure he was human....")
The style is VERY different from Herbert's book(s).
As I said, its hard, HARD, Sci-Fi.
Thoroughly enjoying it, and hoping it doesn't disappoint at the end. If it doesn't, I'll dive into the next of the three prequels.
I enjoyed these better than the actual Dune series. Better storytelling....
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@George-K said in What are you reading now?:
@George-K said in What are you reading now?:
Off to a rousing start, I might add.
OK - about ⅓ of the way through.
This is good, hard, Sci-Fi.
Set at least 10,000 years BEFORE the events of Dune, it sets up the player, in the personas of the houses - Atreides, Harkonnen, Corrino, etc. It sets up the origin of "The Spice" as well as the origin of the Guild Navigators (at least as far as the ability to move through space at FTL speed). It also gets into the history of the "test" that Paul Atreides has to endure in the opening of "Dune."
("We had to make sure he was human....")
The style is VERY different from Herbert's book(s).
As I said, its hard, HARD, Sci-Fi.
Thoroughly enjoying it, and hoping it doesn't disappoint at the end. If it doesn't, I'll dive into the next of the three prequels.
I enjoyed these better than the actual Dune series. Better storytelling....
wrote on 26 Sept 2020, 15:12 last edited by@LuFins-Dad said in What are you reading now?:
I enjoyed these better than the actual Dune series. Better storytelling.
Indeed. It's tight, coherent, and progresses nicely through the timeline. Looking forward to #2. Have you read the next trilogy?
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wrote on 26 Sept 2020, 16:09 last edited by
I can’t remember. I did read the two books that came “after” Chapterhouse in the timeline. I didn’t read any of thHousr Atreides or House Corrino books
One of these days, I need to force my way through Chapterhouse, Heretics, and God Emporor.
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wrote on 28 Sept 2020, 18:50 last edited by
From the "Look Inside" of the book The Weather Machine, [wherein] Andrew Blum takes readers on a fascinating journey through an everyday miracle . . . . Written with the sharp wit and infectious curiosity Andrew Blum is known for, The Weather Machine pulls back the curtain on a universal part of our everyday lives, illuminating our relationships with technology, the planet, and the global community:
"Over the next eight days, Superstorm Sandy [Oct 2012] dumped flooding rains in the Caribbean, headed north across the warm ocean, soaking up energy, then took an extraordinary left turn toward the East Coast, toward New York City, toward us. We pulled down the shades as far as they would go and filled the bathtub with water. The storm came with fury, making the walls restless and twisting the windows in their frames. The lights flickered and my screen flashed with strange images: the glass carousel on the Brooklyn waterfront floating in the river like a magical barge, downtown streets turned to canals, lampposts sparkling into fireballs. Not far away, the ocean rose up against the land, rushing through living rooms, flooding power stations and corroding the subways' delicate machinery. Neighborhoods along the shore were devastated, and Lower Manhattan went dark, a disaster film come to life. At the hospital at which my son had been born, nurses and doctors carried twenty-one infants down unlighted stairways, tangled in battery-powered monitors. Across the region, 147 people died during Sandy, 650,000 homes were damaged or destroyed, and total losses exceeded $50 billion. The city felt fragile. I had the feeling that our luck had run out."
Needless to say, I bought the book.
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wrote on 4 Oct 2020, 17:08 last edited by
Still in my sci-fi mode. Started this the other day:
2312:
The year is 2312. Scientific and technological advances have opened gateways to an extraordinary future. Earth is no longer humanity's only home; new habitats have been created throughout the solar system on moons, planets, and in between. But in this year, 2312, a sequence of events will force humanity to confront its past, its present, and its future.
The first event takes place on Mercury, on the city of Terminator, itself a miracle of engineering on an unprecedented scale. It is an unexpected death, but one that might have been foreseen. For Swan Er Hong, it is an event that will change her life. Swan was once a woman who designed worlds. Now she will be led into a plot to destroy them.
This is the third Robinson book I've read.
The first, "Aurora" was great. Generation-ship headed to who-knows-where and the challenges of such a journey. Absolutely great. Encouraged by this author, I picked up "Red Mars," the story of terraforming Mars into a habitable place for humans. I gave up about halfway through. It became ponderous, predictable ("And then, on our way to Mars, this shit happened, and this asshole didn't get along with..."). I stopped.
I'm about ⅓ of the way through 2312, but I'm losing hope. Too much irrelevant filler. He's trying to combine a thriller with hard sci-fi. At this point of the book, I still don't know what's going on. Yeah, he keeps dropping seeds of the overall plot, but it's painfully protracted. I'll give it another "walk's worth" of listening and then probably bail.
