Author Topic: What are you READING right now?  (Read 762398 times)

Tyson

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Re: What are you READING right now?
« Reply #1350 on: July 02, 2019, 01:02:41 PM »
David Deutsch - The Fabric of Reality.  I actually had started with a different book of his, The Beginning of Infinity but I realized that Beginning of Infinity depended upon understanding a lot of the concepts that were laid down in Fabric of Reality. 

So, about 2/3rd of the way through and I'm stuck on the "Time, the first Quantum concept" chapter.  It goes so against common sense (and even newtonian and einsteinian views of time) that it's really hard to get my head around.  I actually am having to read the damn chapter twice (which never happens to me).  Wish me luck :P

TempusFugit

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Re: What are you READING right now?
« Reply #1351 on: July 02, 2019, 07:52:27 PM »
David Deutsch - The Fabric of Reality.  I actually had started with a different book of his, The Beginning of Infinity but I realized that Beginning of Infinity depended upon understanding a lot of the concepts that were laid down in Fabric of Reality. 

So, about 2/3rd of the way through and I'm stuck on the "Time, the first Quantum concept" chapter.  It goes so against common sense (and even newtonian and einsteinian views of time) that it's really hard to get my head around.  I actually am having to read the damn chapter twice (which never happens to me).  Wish me luck :P

Maybe if the many worlds theory is true, there is a version of you that has read and understood the whole thing. 

Tyson

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Re: What are you READING right now?
« Reply #1352 on: July 02, 2019, 10:10:08 PM »
David Deutsch - The Fabric of Reality.  I actually had started with a different book of his, The Beginning of Infinity but I realized that Beginning of Infinity depended upon understanding a lot of the concepts that were laid down in Fabric of Reality. 

So, about 2/3rd of the way through and I'm stuck on the "Time, the first Quantum concept" chapter.  It goes so against common sense (and even newtonian and einsteinian views of time) that it's really hard to get my head around.  I actually am having to read the damn chapter twice (which never happens to me).  Wish me luck :P

Maybe if the many worlds theory is true, there is a version of you that has read and understood the whole thing.

The common sense part of my brain rejects the multiverse theory, but the other part of my brain points out that it used to be "common sense" that the sun literally travelled across the sky while the earth stood still.  So I'm trying to put aside that inherent skepticism and treat the ideas seriously. 

As you point out, there's probably many, many, many versions of me that have no problem with the concept at all.

However, THIS version of me is still trying to get through the damn Time chapter.
« Last Edit: July 02, 2019, 11:26:38 PM by tyort1 »

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Re: What are you READING right now?
« Reply #1353 on: July 02, 2019, 10:28:00 PM »
Fiction related to the multiverse: The Rise and Fall of D.O.D.O., by Neal Stephenson and Nicole Galland.

TempusFugit

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Re: What are you READING right now?
« Reply #1354 on: July 03, 2019, 12:07:37 PM »
Fiction related to the multiverse: The Rise and Fall of D.O.D.O., by Neal Stephenson and Nicole Galland.

I read that a few months ago.  Pretty good, but IMHO isn't his best work.  This was a collaborative work, IIRC. 

My favorite of his is Cryptonomicon and more recently Seveneves. 

mm1970

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Re: What are you READING right now?
« Reply #1355 on: July 03, 2019, 06:38:42 PM »
The slow read: Why Zebras Don't Get Ulcers by Robert M. Sapolsky

The faster read: A River in Darkness: One Man's Escape from North Korea by Masaji Ishikawa 
 (man, I never knew it was so bad in North Korea.)

Davnasty

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Re: What are you READING right now?
« Reply #1356 on: July 05, 2019, 08:22:39 AM »
The slow read: Why Zebras Don't Get Ulcers by Robert M. Sapolsky

The faster read: A River in Darkness: One Man's Escape from North Korea by Masaji Ishikawa 
 (man, I never knew it was so bad in North Korea.)

My Holiday in North Korea: The Funniest/Worst Place on Earth by Wendy Simmons

Another quick read if you're interested in North Korea. Probably a much lighter take but through the humor you can see the terrifying level of control.

BuffaloStache

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Re: What are you READING right now?
« Reply #1357 on: July 05, 2019, 02:00:30 PM »
I'm a ~3rd of the way through The Man in the High Castle, by Philip K. Dick. I had to travel a lot for work in May & June, and used some airplane/travel time to watch the entirety of this TV show on Amazon. I'm really enjoying the book, which has a lot of very different points than the TV show.

pachnik

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Re: What are you READING right now?
« Reply #1358 on: July 05, 2019, 04:11:08 PM »
I'm reading Vox by Christina Dalcher for my book club.  It is okay but not that great.  But there definitely will be lots of talking points for out meeting. 

vern

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Re: What are you READING right now?
« Reply #1359 on: July 05, 2019, 09:29:12 PM »
I just finished Wild Swans by Jung Chang.

It's the best thing I've ever read on the Cultural Revolution.

LaineyAZ

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Re: What are you READING right now?
« Reply #1360 on: July 09, 2019, 02:53:05 PM »
"Lincoln in the Bardo" by George Saunders.  Fiction based on a real incident of Abraham Lincoln visiting the crypt of his son Willie days after the boy's death.  Saunders imagines the cemetery inhabitants observing this and also their other musings while they are in the "bardo" (a transitional state, like purgatory, according to Tibetan tradition.)
I found it wildly creative and inventive, but most in my book club disliked it.

"The American Agent" by Jacqueline Winspear.  I'm a fan of her fictional series main character, Maisie Dobbs, along with the author's adherence to historical facts.  Her latest book is set in London during the WW2 blitz and she really brings it to life. 

Tyson

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Re: What are you READING right now?
« Reply #1361 on: July 10, 2019, 12:05:18 PM »
David Deutsch - The Fabric of Reality.  I actually had started with a different book of his, The Beginning of Infinity but I realized that Beginning of Infinity depended upon understanding a lot of the concepts that were laid down in Fabric of Reality. 

So, about 2/3rd of the way through and I'm stuck on the "Time, the first Quantum concept" chapter.  It goes so against common sense (and even newtonian and einsteinian views of time) that it's really hard to get my head around.  I actually am having to read the damn chapter twice (which never happens to me).  Wish me luck :P

Finished the book.  The chapter on Time was a slog, but it all came together in the next chapter on Time Travel (and virtual reality).  I'll admit I'm still somewhat skeptical about the whole multiverse theory, but I do have a much better understanding of it after reading this book.  It's not my first book on quantum theory (or quantum mechanics).  But it is probably the best, because Deutsch takes the time to address the various criticisms leveled at it in quite a bit of detail. 

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Re: What are you READING right now?
« Reply #1362 on: July 12, 2019, 08:37:29 AM »
I'm a ~3rd of the way through The Man in the High Castle, by Philip K. Dick. I had to travel a lot for work in May & June, and used some airplane/travel time to watch the entirety of this TV show on Amazon. I'm really enjoying the book, which has a lot of very different points than the TV show.


Huh- I'm almost done with this book, and unless anything drastic changes in the way Juliana is portrayed (lead female role), I think this may be one of the few instances where I like the TV show better than the book. In the book Juliana has a lot of insecurities, not very intelligent, is weak, whiny, and seemingly unrelatable even when I speak with other women who have read the book. In the show she still seemingly isn't very intelligent and has a lot of the same insecurities, but carries herself in a more realistic way and is more relatable.

Watchmaker

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Re: What are you READING right now?
« Reply #1363 on: July 12, 2019, 12:00:07 PM »
"Lincoln in the Bardo" by George Saunders.  Fiction based on a real incident of Abraham Lincoln visiting the crypt of his son Willie days after the boy's death.  Saunders imagines the cemetery inhabitants observing this and also their other musings while they are in the "bardo" (a transitional state, like purgatory, according to Tibetan tradition.)
I found it wildly creative and inventive, but most in my book club disliked it.

I've heard of that book, but didn't know anything about it. I had never heard the word "bardo" before, and my mind had kinda, sorta filled in that "bardo" must be a word for neighborhood, or a particular neighborhood somewhere (I think I was making a connection to "barrio"). So I learned something today.

A Fella from Stella

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Re: What are you READING right now?
« Reply #1364 on: July 23, 2019, 12:38:25 PM »
"The Traveler's Gift," by Andy Andrews.

I'm going back and forth between seeing its appeal, and hating it.

Warlord1986

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Re: What are you READING right now?
« Reply #1365 on: July 27, 2019, 09:24:37 AM »
"Walking with Petey" by Eric O'Grey. Dude slims down from 350 lbs because of his dog.

There was a brief video of this guy telling his story. I found it very heartfelt and genuine. The book less so.

calimom

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Re: What are you READING right now?
« Reply #1366 on: July 29, 2019, 09:02:18 PM »
My book group just read Improvement by Joan Silber. Half loved/half were 'meh' on it. I was in the I Loved it Camp, and overall it was a great discussion. There were multiple overlapping characters and narratives, mostly relating to the poor choices people make and why they make them.

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Re: What are you READING right now?
« Reply #1367 on: August 20, 2019, 09:46:25 PM »
I just read "Mortal Engines" and "Predator's Gold" by Philip Reeve. They were fun reads, but not interesting enough for me to continue reading the other books in the series.

I'm starting to read "Fatherland!" by Robert Harris now. It's interesting in that it's a detective novel that just happens to take place in a world where the Nazi's "~won" WWII.

Tyson

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Re: What are you READING right now?
« Reply #1368 on: August 20, 2019, 10:57:52 PM »
Finished the Sonnets by Shakespeare, moved on to Invisible Man by Ellison.  Normally I alternate between fiction and non-fiction, but I've been on sort of a fiction tear lately.  I think after I finish Invisible Man, I'll finally get around to Postwar, a rather sweeping history of modern Europe. 

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Re: What are you READING right now?
« Reply #1369 on: August 21, 2019, 07:55:53 PM »
Postwar is the best book out of the over 90 that I read last year. I still think about it on a weekly basis.

SpeedReader

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Re: What are you READING right now?
« Reply #1370 on: August 30, 2019, 10:41:04 PM »
Just finished Miraculous Abundance, about a bio-intensive market garden in France getting greater productivity per acre on a microfarm than petroleum-based agriculture does.  It made me want to move to Normandy and become a farmer.  :-)

Before that, I read Retro Tech by John Michael Greer.  Interesting thinking about the post-petroleum era facing us, and how older technologies may inspire new approaches going forward.  I think Mustachians would like this one a lot too.

LennStar

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Re: What are you READING right now?
« Reply #1371 on: August 31, 2019, 03:45:34 AM »
Just finished Miraculous Abundance, about a bio-intensive market garden in France getting greater productivity per acre on a microfarm than petroleum-based agriculture does.  It made me want to move to Normandy and become a farmer.  :-)

Before that, I read Retro Tech by John Michael Greer.  Interesting thinking about the post-petroleum era facing us, and how older technologies may inspire new approaches going forward.  I think Mustachians would like this one a lot too.

The problem for most cultures isn't exactly getting more t per hectar, it is more about getting more ton per workhour. You can almost always find a way to produce the same or even more than extensive agriculture, but you are back to hand-work again. I guess it is the same here. If you want to pick weeds by hand...
Of course in low fertility areas it is different because of the fertilizers nature just can't provide right in place.

sui generis

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Re: What are you READING right now?
« Reply #1372 on: August 31, 2019, 08:19:13 AM »
I just finished The Weight of Ink, which was an absolutely engrossing and fabulous novel.

I'm currently reading Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China. I'm really enjoying it, though am still in the early pages.i have a feeling I'll learn a lot (more than I already have) about China, particularly the pre- and early communist days. The book, it sounds like from a later edition author's note, isn't exactly banned in China, but is very hard to access.

Wrenchturner

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Re: What are you READING right now?
« Reply #1373 on: August 31, 2019, 08:26:47 AM »
I'm listening to the David Goggins audiobook Can't Hurt Me.  The authors discuss the previous chapter at the end of each one, and they issue a challenge to the reader.  It's a brilliant book and Goggins has a vicious approach to challenge and struggle.  It's been great for me.

I'm also reading The Master and His Emissary, a book on the asymmetrical, unequal characteristics of our divided brain, the underestimated significance of the right brain and its implications on how we live and frame the world.  McGilchrist is a very smart man.

Noodle

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Re: What are you READING right now?
« Reply #1374 on: August 31, 2019, 08:45:35 PM »
I had been reading a lot of light fiction over the summer, but recently have picked up a few other things--

"Travels in a Donkey Trap" is a short British memoir from the 1970s, about a woman in her 70s who buys a donkey and cart to get around so she isn't housebound. Not much happens but it was a sweet book about the English countryside.

Also have been following eminent librarian Nancy Pearl's advice that if there's a nonfiction subject you're interested in but don't want to read a 300-page book about, try a children's or YA book on the subject. David Macaulay's book "Crossing on Time" is a seriously cool (and gorgeously illustrated) book on one of the last great ocean liners.

SpeedReader

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Re: What are you READING right now?
« Reply #1375 on: August 31, 2019, 10:37:50 PM »
Just finished Miraculous Abundance, about a bio-intensive market garden in France getting greater productivity per acre on a microfarm than petroleum-based agriculture does.  It made me want to move to Normandy and become a farmer.  :-)

Before that, I read Retro Tech by John Michael Greer.  Interesting thinking about the post-petroleum era facing us, and how older technologies may inspire new approaches going forward.  I think Mustachians would like this one a lot too.

The problem for most cultures isn't exactly getting more t per hectar, it is more about getting more ton per workhour. You can almost always find a way to produce the same or even more than extensive agriculture, but you are back to hand-work again. I guess it is the same here. If you want to pick weeds by hand...
Of course in low fertility areas it is different because of the fertilizers nature just can't provide right in place.

Being back to hand-work is not necessarily a bad thing on biointensive microfarms.  Mechanization of agriculture eliminated many jobs.  Greer argues that once oil is expensive enough, hiring people becomes economical again.  The book cites studies showing that farms between 0.5 and 6 hectares (1.2 - 15 acres) have proven to be on average four times more productive than farms with more than 15 hectares (37 acres).  They say that one hectare (about 10,000 square meters, or 2.5 acres) is the minimum area necessary to install a mechanized organic vegetable farm - in which the entire surface has to be covered with crops.  With no tractor, the market gardener can focus vegetable crops on one-tenth the surface and use the other 9,000 square meters for an orchard, fruit hedges, ponds for aquaculture, beehives, chicken coops, etc. -- providing work for 2 - 4 people.

The authors also explain how the land they started with was of very low fertility, and how they built it up with manure, compost, and biomass crops.  Their farm became the subject of multi-year studies.  Really an interesting read.

Warlord1986

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Re: What are you READING right now?
« Reply #1376 on: September 01, 2019, 10:03:05 AM »
I stayed up all night reading 'The Sacred Lies of Minnow Bly.' That book has messed me uuuuuuuuuuuuup. Go read it.

Now it's off to read about Captain Cook.

Noodle

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Re: What are you READING right now?
« Reply #1377 on: October 04, 2019, 07:18:31 AM »
What have y'all been reading? Even though it's not fall weather yet where I live, something about the start of the school year has inclined me to hit the books...

There was a Victorian cluster, including a book of short stories by Bret Harte (interesting perspective on gold-rush California, probably that's as much Bret Harte as I need this lifetime), the book version of the documentary "Fannie's Last Supper" about cooking a super-fancy Victorian dinner (really enjoyed it, but watch the documentary first. The book was weirdly skimpy on some details that were really fascinating in the film), and a steampunk novel set in an alternate late-19th century sort-of Seattle, "Karen Memory." I really enjoyed the narrator's voice.

Now it's on to "memoirs of British women." Just finished "A Tuscan Childhood" about a British woman whose childhood home was a castle just outside Florence--it was fascinating because she and her brothers were basically the children, chronology-wise, of the characters from "A Room with a View." It was more about what Tuscany was like between the two world wars than it was about her personal experiences or feelings, but I enjoyed it. Currently reading "Howard's End is On the Landing" which I think Mustachians would like because it's a book about a woman (novelist/editor, so deep in the literary establishment) who decided to spend a year reading only from her bookshelves. It's an interesting companion to the other, because both women knew a lot of the major British figures in art/literature from their time periods.

Also read "Range," on the value of being a generalist, which came out a little while ago. The title is a little misleading, because it sounds like the book is claiming that being a generalist is better than being a specialist...really what is saying is that both habits of mind can be valuable in different circumstances, and sticking up for the value of indirect paths in a world that often encourages specializing. I enjoyed reading it...the author is a journalist, so he's a good writer who gets out of the way of his subject, and the book went quickly. Although he doesn't say so specifically, it's clear that the book is partially directed at parents who are trying to figure out how to encourage their kids, and he never really addresses one of the big reasons for specializing early...specifically that college is so expensive it's hard to justify or accomplish the kind of experimenting he advocates. FYI, unlike, say, Digital Minimalism, the book is pretty short on actionable items...so if you finish it feeling that you want to change things up, you'll have to figure that part out on your own.
« Last Edit: October 04, 2019, 07:26:39 AM by Noodle »

BicycleB

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Re: What are you READING right now?
« Reply #1378 on: October 06, 2019, 11:09:00 PM »
^Haha, I didn’t persist much with Bret Harte either! Might go back to some Mark Twain one day, though.

Currently traversing the galaxy in “Consider Phlebas”, by Iain Banks. Set in a time where multiple intelligent species and machines interact; the action implicitly explores questions like what does it mean to be sentient, how should intelligences on very different tech levels interact, and what sorts of culture would evolve in these situations.

mountain mustache

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Re: What are you READING right now?
« Reply #1379 on: October 07, 2019, 07:09:43 AM »
Currently:

Your Money or Your Life- day time reading
Early Retirement Extreme- night time reading
Educated- morning reading

Dogastrophe

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Re: What are you READING right now?
« Reply #1380 on: October 07, 2019, 09:57:40 AM »
At Present:

Lunch: Re-reading Lord of the Rings

Evening: Educated

In the queue: Crow (Amy Spurway), Mugabe (Martin Meridith), Long Walk to Freedom (Mandela)

MonkeyJenga

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Re: What are you READING right now?
« Reply #1381 on: October 07, 2019, 11:17:45 AM »
* Finished How to be a Woman by Caitlin Moran.

* Working on, slowly, The Assertiveness Workbook. This is going back to the library in a week, and I'm considering buying a copy. (ILL, can't renew.)

I need a new entertaining read. Little Free Libraries near me have been bare for a week.

sui generis

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Re: What are you READING right now?
« Reply #1382 on: October 07, 2019, 11:23:48 AM »
Just finished American Spy, which was pretty fun and probably the only book about the political history of Burkina Faso (or a historical fiction version of it) in the English language!

Currently listening to I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings which is read by Maya Angelou herself.  Also still reading Wild Swans (which I posted about on August 31 and am just barely halfway now).  It's extremely fascinating, but long and I only ever manage a few pages before falling asleep at night!

Tyson

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Re: What are you READING right now?
« Reply #1383 on: October 07, 2019, 11:47:59 AM »
Started on Postwar, only about 200 pages in (out of 900).  As a book, it is .... dense. 

The cool thing is that my dad was in the Air Force and we were in West Germany in the late 70's and early 80's so a lot of the things I saw/experienced are put into a broader context by Postwar.  So far its really quite good.

Dr Kidstache

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Re: What are you READING right now?
« Reply #1384 on: October 07, 2019, 11:49:14 AM »
I'm drowning in books right now! Terrible vortex of library and book club deadlines.
Today I started listening to Blowout by Rachel Maddow and also on the docket today is to read a bit of Gilead by Marilynne Robinson pre-nap, finish Shadow of Night by Deborah Harkness this afternoon, and start A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki tonight. If I can get through these quickly enough, I've got The Testaments by Margaret Atwood and The Broken Girls by Simone St. James to read by the end of the month. Oh, and there's a couple more books from the library that just became available from my hold list. Sheesh!

Dr Kidstache

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Re: What are you READING right now?
« Reply #1385 on: October 07, 2019, 11:49:42 AM »
Just finished American Spy, which was pretty fun and probably the only book about the political history of Burkina Faso (or a historical fiction version of it) in the English language!

I enjoyed American Spy, too!

koshtra

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Re: What are you READING right now?
« Reply #1386 on: October 07, 2019, 12:37:03 PM »
Just finished The Righteous Mind, Jonathan Haidt. Very worth reading, as was The Happiness Hypothesis. Lots I agree with, lots I disagree with.

Still reading Chernow's Washington, but it's slow going. My problem is that, while I admire Washington more and more, as I get older and stodgier, I still just plain don't like him.

Too Like the Lightning, Ada Palmer. A science fiction novel that's brilliant so far! Just started.

Wee Free Men, Terry Pratchett, is the evening read-aloud book. It is the most fun read-aloud ever: doing the voices of the Nac Mac Feegle is grand fun.

Eva Luna, Isabel Allende, is my Spanish reading. (Rereading, actually.) A sweet novel.


sui generis

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Re: What are you READING right now?
« Reply #1387 on: October 07, 2019, 01:00:59 PM »
I'm drowning in books right now! Terrible vortex of library and book club deadlines.
Today I started listening to Blowout by Rachel Maddow and also on the docket today is to read a bit of Gilead by Marilynne Robinson pre-nap, finish Shadow of Night by Deborah Harkness this afternoon, and start A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki tonight. If I can get through these quickly enough, I've got The Testaments by Margaret Atwood and The Broken Girls by Simone St. James to read by the end of the month. Oh, and there's a couple more books from the library that just became available from my hold list. Sheesh!

omg, a Tale for the Time Being is one of my favorites.  I don't even know why, because it's such an odd book, but it just hit me in a very unique way and I was absolutely tickled and in love with it.

I can't wait to hear what more people think about The Testaments.  It seems all my friends are reading it, but I haven't seen updates so far and haven't read any professional reviews.  I will be getting it from the library so I think it'll be roughly 3 years before it's my turn on the waitlist.

BicycleB

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Re: What are you READING right now?
« Reply #1388 on: October 07, 2019, 02:33:28 PM »
Just finished American Spy, which was pretty fun and probably the only book about the political history of Burkina Faso (or a historical fiction version of it) in the English language!


Oh, that sounds awesome! Have reserved at my city's library... 19th in line for 7 copies. Must be a popular book.

sui generis

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Re: What are you READING right now?
« Reply #1389 on: October 07, 2019, 05:20:38 PM »
Just finished American Spy, which was pretty fun and probably the only book about the political history of Burkina Faso (or a historical fiction version of it) in the English language!


Oh, that sounds awesome! Have reserved at my city's library... 19th in line for 7 copies. Must be a popular book.

I'll be interested to hear how you like when your turn is up!  It also has a decent amount of time spent in Martinique and NY, and it feels quite rich with description about all of them.  And I definitely read up on Burkina Faso (nee Upper Volta!) after reading the book.

MonkeyJenga

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Re: What are you READING right now?
« Reply #1390 on: October 07, 2019, 11:18:50 PM »
I picked up my new fun books: Let's Pretend This Never Happened, by Jenny Lawson (The Bloggess), and Alone Atop the Hill, the autobiography of Alice Dunnigan, the first African-American woman in the White House press corps.

nnls

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Re: What are you READING right now?
« Reply #1391 on: October 08, 2019, 02:24:42 AM »
Just finished Daisy Jones and the six, I enjoyed it

Mrs. S

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Re: What are you READING right now?
« Reply #1392 on: October 09, 2019, 10:13:21 AM »
Mountains beyond mountains by Tracy Kidder. It is beyond humbling and puts your existence and work in perspective. I'm reading the YA version mostly because thats what I found on the library shelf but honestly I prefer easier prose.

Noodle

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Re: What are you READING right now?
« Reply #1393 on: October 09, 2019, 05:04:43 PM »
I picked up my new fun books: Let's Pretend This Never Happened, by Jenny Lawson (The Bloggess), and Alone Atop the Hill, the autobiography of Alice Dunnigan, the first African-American woman in the White House press corps.

I love "Let's Pretend This Never Happened," to the point where I bought a keeper copy for my bookshelf. My favorite chapter is the one about her adventures in HR early in her career. My best friend adores the same author's "Furiously Happy." That book really delves into her mental health struggles, which my friend shares, so it really resonated with her. I enjoyed it too, although it didn't have the same meaning for me.

MonkeyJenga

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Re: What are you READING right now?
« Reply #1394 on: October 09, 2019, 05:55:36 PM »
I picked up my new fun books: Let's Pretend This Never Happened, by Jenny Lawson (The Bloggess), and Alone Atop the Hill, the autobiography of Alice Dunnigan, the first African-American woman in the White House press corps.

I love "Let's Pretend This Never Happened," to the point where I bought a keeper copy for my bookshelf. My favorite chapter is the one about her adventures in HR early in her career. My best friend adores the same author's "Furiously Happy." That book really delves into her mental health struggles, which my friend shares, so it really resonated with her. I enjoyed it too, although it didn't have the same meaning for me.

I loved the first part of the book! I started it when I was visiting a forum friend. Because I'm an adult, I only briefly considered taking it home with me.

Dr Kidstache

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Re: What are you READING right now?
« Reply #1395 on: October 09, 2019, 07:50:51 PM »
omg, a Tale for the Time Being is one of my favorites.  I don't even know why, because it's such an odd book, but it just hit me in a very unique way and I was absolutely tickled and in love with it.

I've just started it but so far I'm enjoying it immensely. I need to start keeping track of a category of my favorite books: fiction written by Buddhists. There's a certain lightheartedness and inherent humor that Buddhist monks/nuns/lay teachers bring to observation of the world. I recognized it right away in A Tale for the Time Being. Reminds me one of my favorite crime novel series written by a Buddhist: Janwillem van de Wetering's Amsterdam Cops series.

Noodle

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Re: What are you READING right now?
« Reply #1396 on: October 30, 2019, 12:05:55 PM »
Currently rereading "The Handmaid's Tale" in advance of receiving a library copy of the sequel "The Testaments." I had not realized how closely the first season sticks to the original book. The series fleshes out the plotlines of several secondary characters (all well-done) but the plot for Elizabeth Moss's character, Offred/June, is largely as Margaret Atwood wrote it. The main change to her storyline was that in the book the Commander and his wife to whom June is assigned are much older, whereas in the series all three of them are around the same age. It was also interesting to see where they had adapted details from the book for later seasons, where the plots no longer come from the books...for instance, the epilogue to the book explains that the narrative survived as an oral history on cassettes, and in the series June records a message for her exiled husband on reused music tapes.

koshtra

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Re: What are you READING right now?
« Reply #1397 on: October 30, 2019, 12:36:11 PM »
Just finished Affluence Without Abundance: What We Can Learn from the World's Most Successful Civilisation, about the Bushmen of southern Africa, and how an egalitarian hunter-gatherer society actually worked: a really interesting book. (Fun fact: if you hang out for long with Bushmen, apparently, and you're not a complete asshole, they give you  a Bushman name. There are only a hundred and some names, and if you're given, say, "Kinta," you're considered to be the cousin of everyone else named "Kinta," so you have relatives all over the place.)

Also finished La Tía Julia y el escribidor, a very entertaining but ultimately rather disturbing novel by Mario Vargas Llosa. 1970s Peru seems very far away and very long ago, now!

Starting Too Like The Lightning by Ada Palmer, a science fiction novel so warmly recommended by a friend that I couldn't decently not read it. I used to be a science fiction devotee, but it usually doesn't do much for me these days. But this one is promising.

sui generis

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Re: What are you READING right now?
« Reply #1398 on: October 30, 2019, 12:48:24 PM »
Just finished Affluence Without Abundance: What We Can Learn from the World's Most Successful Civilisation, about the Bushmen of southern Africa, and how an egalitarian hunter-gatherer society actually worked: a really interesting book. (Fun fact: if you hang out for long with Bushmen, apparently, and you're not a complete asshole, they give you  a Bushman name. There are only a hundred and some names, and if you're given, say, "Kinta," you're considered to be the cousin of everyone else named "Kinta," so you have relatives all over the place.)

wow, this sounds fascinating.  I am putting it on my list for sure. For the last several years, whenever I think about our modern societies and how they are structured, the incentives we create, the insane amount of hours we work...I think of this group and how different their perspective must be and how they get meaning and joy out of life so differently than we do. It sounds like this would really be perfect for me.

I've just finished Talking to Strangers: What We Should Know about the People We Don't Know by Malcolm Gladwell.  Totally had low expectations because I'm getting a little burned out on his schtick (I'm a subscriber to his podcast, Revisionist History).  But I did enjoy it! As usually, he makes some unusual or unique connections and provokes some thought.  It didn't hang together in the end quite as much as I'd hoped it would, but it did somewhat.  And I guess his schtick is still successful at sucking me in ;)

turketron

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Re: What are you READING right now?
« Reply #1399 on: October 30, 2019, 01:10:34 PM »
I've just finished Talking to Strangers: What We Should Know about the People We Don't Know by Malcolm Gladwell.  Totally had low expectations because I'm getting a little burned out on his schtick (I'm a subscriber to his podcast, Revisionist History).  But I did enjoy it! As usually, he makes some unusual or unique connections and provokes some thought.  It didn't hang together in the end quite as much as I'd hoped it would, but it did somewhat.  And I guess his schtick is still successful at sucking me in ;)

This is good to hear! I've also been a little intrigued about the book but haven't pulled the trigger yet, probably for the same reasons as you. I've never read any of his writing but I also subscribe to Revisionist History and definitely have a love/hate relationship with his schtick- some episodes are fascinating and others just make me roll my eyes and move on to the next podcast.