What are you reading now?
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Blurbs I Never Finished Reading
With charming and moving anecdotes from his experiences in a tight-knit community, an undertaker . . . (The Undertaking)
Ember is a cupcake-baking werewolf who . . . (Huntress Born)
A small cat with a big job, Mr. Fluffikins was . . . (Paranormal Temp Agency)
What is the meaning of life? (What’s It All About?)
How can we turn the American economy around? (Building the New Economy with Forward by Bernie Sanders)
A zoologist crafts a detailed portrait of the timber rattlesnake . . . yeah, no. (America’s Snake)
After her brother is transformed into a chipmunk . . . (A Chip on Her Shoulder)
A Fields medalist illuminates his pioneering work in geometric analysis . . . Yuh, I’ll get right on that. (The Shape Of A Life)
A doctor offers an insider’s look at life in an emergency room . . . oh, hellz no. (The Night Shift)
As a distant star goes supernova, it sends an EMP towards Earth — and when it finally strikes, civilization collapses, . . . yeah, yeah, yeah. (Dark End)
This offbeat and thoroughly delightful guide to housework makes doing chores seem fun, exciting, and rewarding . . . Tchyeah. (How to Get Things Really Flat)
Didn’t even get past the title on this one. (Twins of Evil)
An astronomer explores five potential scenarios for finding extraterrestrial life . . . Having enough trouble with this one, thanks. (All These Worlds Are Yours)
This eye-opening read argues that many of today’s scientific results can’t be trusted . . . No duh? (Science Fictions)
An enormous comet, more destructive than any the world has ever seen, threatens Earth. The fate of humanity depends upon a select few — including the president of the United States . . . well, we’re sure fucked, aren’t we? (The Inner Circle)
This “fascinating and smartly written” book explores the history and nature of beavers . . . [giggle]; come on, Bookbub, this is a family list! (Once They Were Hats)
Do you consider yourself particularly empathetic? . . . less so every day, baby. (The Space In Between)
Are individualism and extreme competition jeopardizing our future? – GMAFB. (Out Of The Wreckage)
This scientific exploration of humanity’s connection with trees . . . remembering the Smothers Brothers singing “I Talk To The Trees” and Tommy stops singing and rolls his eyes and stamps on the stage floor and says, ‘Hello, Stage! You used to be a tree, didn’cha?’ (The Heartbeat of Trees)
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"All The Old Knives?" Meh. The movie was actually better.
"Riders of the Purple Sage?" Wonderful prose and fabulous descriptions. There was a TNT movie made based on the book (one of several) starring Ed Harris that I'm told was faithful to the book. I'll try to seek it out. Grey left the ending kind of ambiguous as to what happens to the protagonist. Supposedly that's explained in "The Rainbow Trail." I might pick that up soon.
But in the meantime, this is next:
I loved neurology when I was a student, so this might be fun.
Early studies of the human brain used a simple method: wait for misfortune to strike -- strokes, seizures, infectious diseases, horrendous accidents -- and see how victims coped. In many cases their survival was miraculous, if puzzling. Observers were amazed by the transformations that took place when different parts of the brain were destroyed, altering victims' personalities. Parents suddenly couldn't recognize their own children. Pillars of the community became pathological liars. Some people couldn't speak but could still sing.
In The Tale of the Dueling Neurosurgeons, Sam Kean travels through time with stories of neurological curiosities: phantom limbs, Siamese twin brains, viruses that eat patients' memories, blind people who see through their tongues. He weaves these narratives together with prose that makes the pages fly by, to create a story of discovery that reaches back to the 1500s and the high-profile jousting accident that inspired this book's title.
With the lucid, masterful explanations and razor-sharp wit his fans have come to expect, Kean explores the brain's secret passageways and recounts the forgotten tales of the ordinary people whose struggles, resilience, and deep humanity made neuroscience possible.
I enjoyed Oliver Sacks' books - so this might an interesting companion.
@George-K said in What are you reading now?:
It's...okay. Like many books of this ilk, it tries to be at least mildly scientific while a large part of it is the "freak show" aspect of these peoples' suffering.
Knowing a little neuroanatomy, I found parts of it a bit boring and repetitive.
However, the chapters on memory and its failings I found fascinating.
For the layman, not a bad read. For me, 3 stars out of 5.
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That was typical Connelly. Good story, and perhaps a bit more involved than his other tales.
(This is not a "Bosch" book, by the way).
Having read "All The Old Knives" and being disappointed by it, I really wanted to give Steinhauer another shot. He's written a series of books based on one character. So, I started this today.
"Milo Weaver used to be a “tourist” for the CIA—an undercover agent with no home, no identity—but he’s since retired from the field to become a middle-level manager at the CIA’s New York headquarters. He’s acquired a wife, a daughter, and a brownstone in Brooklyn, and he’s tried to leave his old life of secrets and lies behind.
But when the arrest of a long-sought-after assassin sets off an investigation into one of Milo’s oldest colleagues and exposes new layers of intrigue in his old cases, he has no choice but to go back undercover and find out who’s holding the strings once and for all."
"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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I read Steinhauer's Tourist.
I give it 3.5 out of 5 stars.
Easy enough to read despite all the plots within plots; would have preferred more action; really liked the spy stuff (especially the turf war within the US); but didn't care about the wife or kid.
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I read Steinhauer's Tourist.
I give it 3.5 out of 5 stars.
Easy enough to read despite all the plots within plots; would have preferred more action; really liked the spy stuff (especially the turf war within the US); but didn't care about the wife or kid.
@Friday said in What are you reading now?:
I read Steinhauer's Tourist.
I give it 3.5 out of 5 stars.
Easy enough to read despite all the plots within plots; would have preferred more action; really liked the spy stuff (especially the turf war within the US); but didn't care about the wife or kid.
Thanks...I'm only about ¼ of the way through it, and I find the family stuff overbearing and irrelevant.
This is the third Steinhauer book I've done. I gave up on "Bridge of Sighs" - too much talk and scene-setting without actually moving the story along. "All The Old Knives," as I said, was a better movie than book. If this doesn't grab me soon, I'll give up on this author.
If I want popcorn, I'll read Connelly.
If I want a thriller, I'll read Forsyth.
If I want top-notch spy stuff, well, there's only LeCarre', right?
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Just started
Elbows up!
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Just started
@Renauda looks like this was published before Chernow's biography. I believe Chernow's is considered the best. I loved it.
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@Renauda looks like this was published before Chernow's biography. I believe Chernow's is considered the best. I loved it.
I picked up a pristine hardcover copy of Chernow’s bio for a couple of dollars at a rummage sale in early summer. I have had this one for a couple of years - thought I would read it first then Chernow’s because the latter is considered the definitive bio of Grant.
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I picked up a pristine hardcover copy of Chernow’s bio for a couple of dollars at a rummage sale in early summer. I have had this one for a couple of years - thought I would read it first then Chernow’s because the latter is considered the definitive bio of Grant.
@Renauda Do you know about this fellow?
My Journey Through the Best Presidential Biographies
https://bestpresidentialbios.com/about/Stephen Floyd writes, "Given my fascination with the presidency and love of great writing, in 2010 I began collecting the best biographies of each of the presidents. In late 2012 I embarked on a quest to read them all – beginning with George Washington.
This site was initially created to log my journey and organize my thoughts. But 260 presidential biographies later it has evolved into something a bit larger…"
Success is measured by your discipline and inner peace. – Mike Ditka
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Just started
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@Renauda Do you know about this fellow?
My Journey Through the Best Presidential Biographies
https://bestpresidentialbios.com/about/Stephen Floyd writes, "Given my fascination with the presidency and love of great writing, in 2010 I began collecting the best biographies of each of the presidents. In late 2012 I embarked on a quest to read them all – beginning with George Washington.
This site was initially created to log my journey and organize my thoughts. But 260 presidential biographies later it has evolved into something a bit larger…"
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Just started
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It’s okay, I knew that already from my childhood collection of Civil War cards.
I know you and George would probably remember those.
@Renauda said in What are you reading now?:
I know you and George would probably remember those.
Harrumph.
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@Renauda said in What are you reading now?:
I know you and George would probably remember those.
Harrumph.
C’mon George, at least we were there when the cards came out. Seems to me I still had some of those Confederate dollars that were included with the cards and bubblegum stick in each pack, kicking around when was in high school. Don’t know what ever happened to them.
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@Copper said in What are you reading now?:
@Renauda said in What are you reading now?:
Just started
click to showHa. I can tell you didn’t finish your reading.
click to show -
@Copper said in What are you reading now?:
@Renauda said in What are you reading now?:
Just started
click to showHa. I can tell you didn’t finish your reading.
click to show -
This book has me entirely enthralled. Life has ceased for me until I find out what happened.
It's not a chick book, but I kind of feel like it's better suited to women. Maybe it's the sort-of Austenish flavor; maybe it takes more patience to read than the pace of modern life. I don't know. But it's super!
Don't take my word for it. It has 4,294 stars at 4.0. And as you see from the cover, it's a Booker Prize nominee.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08JMFFCYL/ref=kinw_myk_ro_title -
That was typical Connelly. Good story, and perhaps a bit more involved than his other tales.
(This is not a "Bosch" book, by the way).
Having read "All The Old Knives" and being disappointed by it, I really wanted to give Steinhauer another shot. He's written a series of books based on one character. So, I started this today.
"Milo Weaver used to be a “tourist” for the CIA—an undercover agent with no home, no identity—but he’s since retired from the field to become a middle-level manager at the CIA’s New York headquarters. He’s acquired a wife, a daughter, and a brownstone in Brooklyn, and he’s tried to leave his old life of secrets and lies behind.
But when the arrest of a long-sought-after assassin sets off an investigation into one of Milo’s oldest colleagues and exposes new layers of intrigue in his old cases, he has no choice but to go back undercover and find out who’s holding the strings once and for all."
@George-K said in What are you reading now?:
Though this was a "meh" book, I thought the concept and world that Steinhauer described was interesting. So, being curious, I thought I'd pick up the first of 3 sequels.
About ¼ of the way through it, and so far, it's a much better book, and a much tighter story. The events of "The Tourist" set up the situation in "The Nearest Exit," but the story isn't really dependent upon it.
"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.
