What are you reading now?
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Loved this book. It's, perhaps, one of the more "obscure" LeCarre books. It has all the players you've loved in the past. Guillam, Smiley, Control...
And yes, the back story of Mundt, Leamas, and Liz.
Full of flashbacks, flash forwards, etc. Gotta pay attention.
Gonna re-read "From the Cold" just to enjoy the basis of this story.
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But...before I jump into more LeCarre...a short story to keep me engaged.
Ben Patton is a genuis, a mathematician and a man on the verge of a scientific discovery that could change the world -- if the math he's invented for it works. Ben's secret to his success: A muse, Hestia, who helps him, cares for him and in many ways is the love of his life, as muses so often are for those they inspire.
Hestia is Ben's secret -- but Hestia has secrets of her own. As the two of them race toward the completion of their work, Ben discovers the price of having a muse, and learns that the world can change, in ways he does not expect.
A tale of science and fantasy, from New York Times best-selling author John Scalzi.
I love Scalzi.
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OK that was fun, and very, very different. Nice twist at the end.
Started this today. Several people on FB have commented that "Consider Phlebas" is not Banks' strongest work. If you recall, I gave up about 75% of the way through, having gotten bored with it.
So, to give Banks another shot I started this today (about 40% of the way through it).
The Culture — a human/machine symbiotic society — has thrown up many great Game Players, and one of the greatest is Gurgeh Jernau Morat Gurgeh. The Player of Games. Master of every board, computer and strategy.
Bored with success, Gurgeh travels to the Empire of Azad, cruel and incredibly wealthy, to try their fabulous game. . . a game so complex, so like life itself, that the winner becomes emperor. Mocked, blackmailed, almost murdered, Gurgeh accepts the game, and with it the challenge of his life — and very possibly his death.
Yeah, in the same "universe" as "Phlebas," but a much, MUCH, better story.
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@George-K said in What are you reading now?:
Almost finished with "Endurance."
A very well-told tale which never, ever gets boring.
It reminds me of "Unbroken," the story of survival of the airmen of a downed B-24 in WWII.
Glad you enjoyed it. Awesome book.
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@George-K said in What are you reading now?:
@george-k said in What are you reading now?:
I love, LOVE, Ben MacIntyre's books ("Operation Mincemeat").
Started this today...
Bumping this for @Renauda who might find it interesting.
Read it a few years ago. Really good. A genuine page turner.
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"Now look here, you Baltic gas passer... " - Mik, 6/14/08
The saying, "Lite is just one damn thing after another," is a gross understatement. The damn things overlap.
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@George-K said in What are you reading now?:
Return to "Dune."
About 100 pages in...so far, meh.
Actually not too bad. Pretty predictable, and with the multiple storylines (The Sisterhood, the Mentats, the Navigators, the Venport industries) the tale is limber enough to keep your interest.
Oh, and, of course, Arrakis.
Got about 100 pages left.
Popcorn's pretty good.
*** out of **** stars so far.
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Taking a deep, deep dive into the "Dune" universe, I finished "Sisterhood" a few days ago. I stand by my original thoughts. A very satisfying tale, and it makes you want to get to the next story.
So, today, I finished this:
It's basically a continuation of "Sisterhood," and my thoughts are exactly the same. Very satisfying popcorn that makes you want more, so, today, I started this:
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Just finished this:
Rather disappointing on account of being so vague. Like critical legal theory texts I’ve read, it tends to be long on complaints about liberal/enlightenment values and short on remedy or policy.
I’m now about halfway through Derrick Bell’s book:
It’s well written, and even though it is a collection of fictive short stories or parables it’s far more substantive than Delgado and Stefancic’s introduction.
It does come across as a bit dated, as he’s describing institutional environments that were mostly gone by the time I started my career. Still a very worthy read.
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I cheated, and continued my dive into the Dune-iverse. Was gonna start Barr's book, but...well, you know how it goes.
Finished this today.
It jumps forward about 10K years from the other prequels (Sisterhood, Navigators, Mentats) and puts you about 30 years before the original book. The Harkonnen/Atreides feud continues.
There are 3 in the series, but I'll take a pause for a while.
Started this today. Kind of interesting reading this guy's remembrances of early East Germany and his parents' indoctrination into the Soviet line of thinking.
More on the author here:
"Now look here, you Baltic gas passer... " - Mik, 6/14/08
The saying, "Lite is just one damn thing after another," is a gross understatement. The damn things overlap.
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Was gonna start Barr's book, but...well, you know how it goes.
Yep, one damn thing after another…
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@jon-nyc the thing that gets me about these books is that they are all, well, boring.
I read Bolton's book, and I found it supremely uninteresting. It was one rant after another. It was about three times longer than it needed to be, in my opinion.
Hopefully Barr's won't fall to that standard.
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I haven’t read any Trump admin memoirs. Or Obama admin for that matter.
I did read all the Bush era ones, well at least national security related and finance related.
