Author Topic: What are you READING right now?  (Read 762493 times)

Nancy

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Re: What are you READING right now?
« Reply #50 on: December 28, 2013, 08:25:38 AM »
Very sorry to hear that, grant!

C. K.

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Re: What are you READING right now?
« Reply #51 on: December 28, 2013, 03:29:57 PM »
"Why I Believe Printers Were Sent From Hell to Make Us Miserable"
http://theoatmeal.com/comics/printers

N

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Re: What are you READING right now?
« Reply #52 on: December 28, 2013, 04:45:21 PM »
Ive read a ton this year-Im up to 89 books , though I may have forgotten to record a few.

I just finished Far From the Tree, Parents: Children and the Search for Identity, by Andrew Solomon (non fiction)

on my kindle to read: Joan Didion's A Year of Magical Thinking and Anne Tyler's The Amateur Marriage

I have eclectic tastes in books. This past year I read a lot of Star Wars books. I had never read any and got kinda into it. I also read a few mystery/thriller series. I like series a lot. I also recently enjoyed Sarah Silverman's autobiography/memoir The Bedwetter. It was really funny.

2014 I want to read a lot of memoir, bios, autobios. I got Anjelica Huston's for my birthday from a friend.


basd

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Re: What are you READING right now?
« Reply #53 on: December 29, 2013, 04:28:50 AM »
I also recently enjoyed Sarah Silverman's autobiography/memoir The Bedwetter. It was really funny.

2014 I want to read a lot of memoir, bios, autobios. I got Anjelica Huston's for my birthday from a friend.
If you liked Sarah Silverman's book (as I did), you might enjoy Adam Carolla's In Fifty Years We'll All Be Chicks and Artie Lange's Crash and Burn. Both are memoirs (of sorts) and I liked both.

N

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Re: What are you READING right now?
« Reply #54 on: December 29, 2013, 01:11:36 PM »
thanks for the recs!
my husband loves adam corolla. I liked his movie that he made. my husband loves his podcasts.

pipercat

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Re: What are you READING right now?
« Reply #55 on: January 11, 2014, 06:15:13 AM »
Having just discovered MMM around Thanksgiving, most of my reading time is spent catching up on his blog!  My husband is always asking what I am reading, because he sees me looking so intently at the ipad.  I'll get back to books soon, though.

I really want to read Divergent next, but I need to wait for it to be available at the library.

arebelspy

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Re: What are you READING right now?
« Reply #56 on: January 11, 2014, 08:13:48 AM »
This past year I read a lot of Star Wars books. I had never read any and got kinda into it.

I read a ton of those as a kid!  Which were your favorites?

Some of mine were the "Tales" ones - short stories of various previously minor characters (Tales of the Bounty Hunters, Tales from Jabba's Palace, Tales from the Empire, etc.)

Now I'm all nostalgic and want to go read some SW!  :D
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pachnik

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Re: What are you READING right now?
« Reply #57 on: January 11, 2014, 09:09:16 AM »
Shah of Shahs by R. Kapuscinski.

If you are at all interested in the Iranian revolution this is a highly readable book from a Polish journalist. 

grantmeaname

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Re: What are you READING right now?
« Reply #58 on: January 11, 2014, 05:18:20 PM »
This past year I read a lot of Star Wars books. I had never read any and got kinda into it.
I read a ton of those as a kid!  Which were your favorites?

Some of mine were the "Tales" ones - short stories of various previously minor characters (Tales of the Bounty Hunters, Tales from Jabba's Palace, Tales from the Empire, etc.)

Now I'm all nostalgic and want to go read some SW!  :D
I'm really a fan of the Magic the Gathering books. If you're interested in some really solid fantasy, check out The Thran.

davisgang90

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Re: What are you READING right now?
« Reply #59 on: January 15, 2014, 10:44:56 AM »
The Revenge of Geography: What the Map Tells Us About Coming Conflicts and the Battle Against Fate by Robert Kaplan.

The Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 5 Book for Digital Photographers by Scotty Kelby

The Wolf Gift by Anne Rice

HayMaker

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Re: What are you READING right now?
« Reply #60 on: January 15, 2014, 03:46:19 PM »
For fun I'm reading "The Abominable" by Dan Simmons and based on some recommendations from other MMMs I reread "The Millionaire Next Door" and  just ordered a used copy of "The Overspent American" by Juliette Schor.

rocksinmyhead

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Re: What are you READING right now?
« Reply #61 on: January 15, 2014, 03:49:33 PM »
this month's book club book is Wild Cards, edited by George R R Martin, but it's a shared-universe compilation with different chapters/stories by different authors. I'm really enjoying it. The way the different chapters do and don't fit together is really interesting.

boy_bye

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Re: What are you READING right now?
« Reply #62 on: January 15, 2014, 04:03:05 PM »
Just finished Woman Rebel by Peter Bagge. It's a graphic novel about Margaret Sanger -- for those not familiar, she is the reason we have birth control! Great story. Am definitely going to read some more books about her, especially since there are so many falsehoods in what many people think about her. Highly recommended!

Kriegsspiel

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Re: What are you READING right now?
« Reply #63 on: January 15, 2014, 04:11:01 PM »
Freedom  by Daniel Suarez

Freedom and Daemon were my favorite books read in 2013, they're just awesome.

So far this year I've read

Total Frat Move; Bolen (4 Jan)
Bunker Hill; Philbrick (8 Jan)
The Future; Al Gore (13 Jan)

And I just cracked open The Way of Kings, by Brandon Sanderson, which is like 1,000 pages long. On deck is My Share of the Task, by Gen. Stanley McChrystal

oldtoyota

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Re: What are you READING right now?
« Reply #64 on: January 15, 2014, 06:04:51 PM »
Catherine the Great by Robert K. Massie

If this is the bio that I think it is, great book! I read it last January.
« Last Edit: February 25, 2014, 02:57:40 PM by oldtoyota »

oldtoyota

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Re: What are you READING right now?
« Reply #65 on: January 15, 2014, 06:06:34 PM »
Liar’s Club, Mary Karr
Cheapskate Book, (John Yeager??)
Several design books to get ideas for "re-doing" my house with things I already own.


I am casting about for my next book. I started another memoir, but was terribly written.

HappierAtHome

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Re: What are you READING right now?
« Reply #66 on: January 15, 2014, 10:55:32 PM »
This past year I read a lot of Star Wars books. I had never read any and got kinda into it.

I read a ton of those as a kid!  Which were your favorites?

Some of mine were the "Tales" ones - short stories of various previously minor characters (Tales of the Bounty Hunters, Tales from Jabba's Palace, Tales from the Empire, etc.)

Now I'm all nostalgic and want to go read some SW!  :D

Nah, the Courtship of Princess Leia was clearly the best. Sure, it was seriously messed up in its approach to romantic relationships, but there were rancors!

Currently re-reading the Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan (read up to book 11 as a teenager). Better than I remembered and very enjoyable, though still cringe-worthy in parts.

Rabs

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Re: What are you READING right now?
« Reply #67 on: January 16, 2014, 12:16:31 AM »
I am reading "This time is different: Eight centuries of financial folly" on my Kindle.

http://www.amazon.com/This-Time-Different-Centuries-Financial/dp/0691152640

Roses

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Re: What are you READING right now?
« Reply #68 on: January 16, 2014, 01:30:28 AM »
Currently re-reading the Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan (read up to book 11 as a teenager). Better than I remembered and very enjoyable, though still cringe-worthy in parts.

Good to hear these are worth re-reading!  I also read up to book 9 several years ago then waited very impatiently for the next book to come out and it took forever!  When he finally wrote the next one (2 years later) I had forgotten so much I lost steam right away.  So I gave up on the whole thing.  Then I heard he died and someone else finished the series?  Maybe I'll pick it up again!  Since then I've tried not to start any long series until they are finished.  I had the same problem with the Game of Thrones books - and those are really cringe-worthy!  But guilty pleasure reading is always fun :)

I'm currently on the home-stretch with War & Peace and it's probably the best book I've ever read, and I've read a lot of classics.

Roses

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Re: What are you READING right now?
« Reply #69 on: January 16, 2014, 01:33:51 AM »
Little Women

I need to figure out what classic to do next.

Along those lines all the Jane Austen books are great, if you haven't already read them.  Also, Middlemarch, by George Elliot.  Nothing better than a good old classic!

HappierAtHome

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Re: What are you READING right now?
« Reply #70 on: January 16, 2014, 01:50:25 AM »
Wheel of time and a song of ice and fire are also very similar in that the further in you get, the more the plot gets drawn out to the point where you read and read but the story doesn't progress. I'm currently at book 5 of wheel of time and that's still the sweet spot of plot development.

Paulie

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Re: What are you READING right now?
« Reply #71 on: January 16, 2014, 01:56:24 AM »
I just finished 'The secret history' from Donna Tartt and I just started in 'Yellow Birds' from Kevin Powers.

martynthewolf

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Re: What are you READING right now?
« Reply #72 on: January 16, 2014, 01:59:54 AM »
I finished reading Enders Game over Christmas and have just started reading the second book in the series A speaker for the dead.

Kriegsspiel

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Re: What are you READING right now?
« Reply #73 on: January 16, 2014, 05:59:56 AM »
So I gave up on the whole thing.  Then I heard he died and someone else finished the series? 

Brandon Sanderson, according to my current book's jacket.

arebelspy

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Re: What are you READING right now?
« Reply #74 on: January 16, 2014, 06:25:59 AM »
Since then I've tried not to start any long series until they are finished.

I used to do this as a kid with Star Wars books, wait until all three in the series came out.

Now I try to stick with that as well, as I kinda got away from it and got burned a few times (Koontz' Frankenstein Book 3 being WAY delayed because it was set in New Orleans and then Hurricane Katrina happened and he had to like redo it, and it got delayed by years and years, Eragon's author saying there was only 3, then adding a 4th at the last minute that I had to wait forever for, etc.).

Sometimes I get sucked in though.  I'm currently waiting for book 5 of the Tapestry Series (one of the best kids' series I've read in a LONG time - the first straight rips off Harry Potter, but then the rest of the series goes away from that into originality), upon which time (November 2014) I'll reread the first 4, then read 5.

I do try and wait for the whole series though.

I do the same with Movies - haven't watched Hunger Games/Catching Fire (read the books, of course), until all 3 are out.  Ditto The Hobbit and all 3 of those.
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aj_yooper

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Re: What are you READING right now?
« Reply #75 on: January 16, 2014, 06:32:03 AM »
Deborah Feldman's Unorthodox: The Scandalous Rejection of My Hasidic Roots and Ray Jayawardhana's Neutrino Hunters.

Kriegsspiel

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Re: What are you READING right now?
« Reply #76 on: January 16, 2014, 06:06:40 PM »
Since then I've tried not to start any long series until they are finished.

I used to do this as a kid with Star Wars books, wait until all three in the series came out.

Now I try to stick with that as well, as I kinda got away from it and got burned a few times (Koontz' Frankenstein Book 3 being WAY delayed because it was set in New Orleans and then Hurricane Katrina happened and he had to like redo it, and it got delayed by years and years, Eragon's author saying there was only 3, then adding a 4th at the last minute that I had to wait forever for, etc.).

Sometimes I get sucked in though.  I'm currently waiting for book 5 of the Tapestry Series (one of the best kids' series I've read in a LONG time - the first straight rips off Harry Potter, but then the rest of the series goes away from that into originality), upon which time (November 2014) I'll reread the first 4, then read 5.

I do try and wait for the whole series though.

I do the same with Movies - haven't watched Hunger Games/Catching Fire (read the books, of course), until all 3 are out.  Ditto The Hobbit and all 3 of those.

Yea, c'mon GEORGE RR MARTIN!

HappierAtHome

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Re: What are you READING right now?
« Reply #77 on: January 16, 2014, 06:20:17 PM »
The problem for George R R Martin is that he keeps adding new characters and plots at an alarming rate... too much project scope creep. He'll never finish at this rate, and all we can hope is that he's smart enough to write out the overall plots and assign the rights to someone else in his will to finish off the series after he dies, Robert Jordan style.

Speaking of which, are the Brandon Sanderson Wheel of Time books any good?

C. K.

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Re: What are you READING right now?
« Reply #78 on: February 05, 2014, 02:35:47 AM »
A Satisfying Retirement blog - http://satisfyingretirement.blogspot.com

rocksinmyhead

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Re: What are you READING right now?
« Reply #79 on: February 05, 2014, 06:42:15 AM »
The Stand by Stephen King. really diggin it so far. we read 11/22/63 for book club a while back and I LOVED it, but I am scared easily and really don't like scary books or movies, so my King-obsessed friends recommended this one to me as an excellent book of his that is not scary. so far so good!

uppy

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Re: What are you READING right now?
« Reply #80 on: February 05, 2014, 07:23:55 AM »
There is a lot of nonfiction on here -- I guess not surprising considering where we are!

Really digging John Irving lately. Never been into him but read Last Night in Twisted River and loved it, so now I'm on The Hotel New Hampshire. Really well done.

Also:
Great Expectations by Dickens
Dance Dance Dance by Haruki Murakami
A few outdated finance books I found on someone's curb

davisgang90

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Re: What are you READING right now?
« Reply #81 on: February 05, 2014, 07:51:50 AM »
Lone Survivor

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jugglingcontinents

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Re: What are you READING right now?
« Reply #82 on: February 05, 2014, 07:52:40 AM »
The Power of Habit, by Charles Duhigg - it's turning out to be really interesting. Initially, I felt that the writing style was similar to Malcolm Gladwell's - with lots of generalizations based on a single case study. But now that I'm almost halfway through the book, the 'generalizations' seem to backed up by solid research. The case studies are just a storytelling device.

I'm also re-reading my stash of YA fantasy books (Neil Gaiman, Diana Wynne Jones, Pratchett) to help me unwind in the evenings after work :)

MissStache

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Re: What are you READING right now?
« Reply #83 on: February 05, 2014, 07:53:30 AM »

Really digging John Irving lately. Never been into him but read Last Night in Twisted River and loved it, so now I'm on The Hotel New Hampshire. Really well done.


He's one of my favorite writers.  A Prayer for Owen Meany is in my top 25 books, and I've really enjoyed everything else he has written.

I'm currently re-reading the Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon in anticipation of the new series coming out on Starz this summer and the release of the 7th (and final?) book in the series.   I read them all about 10 years ago and I'm pleased to find I like them even more now that I'm a bit more grown up. 

davisgang90

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Re: What are you READING right now?
« Reply #84 on: February 05, 2014, 09:40:45 AM »
The problem for George R R Martin is that he keeps adding new characters and plots at an alarming rate... too much project scope creep. He'll never finish at this rate, and all we can hope is that he's smart enough to write out the overall plots and assign the rights to someone else in his will to finish off the series after he dies, Robert Jordan style.

Speaking of which, are the Brandon Sanderson Wheel of Time books any good?

I read the whole WOT series and thought Sanderson did a good job capturing Jordan's style and intent.

I also love GRRM's stuff.  Fun to see the reaction of those in my office watching the HBO series as they are shocked by the killing off of their favorite character.  My advice to them "Don't get attached to any character..."

uppy

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Re: What are you READING right now?
« Reply #85 on: February 05, 2014, 03:49:02 PM »

Really digging John Irving lately. Never been into him but read Last Night in Twisted River and loved it, so now I'm on The Hotel New Hampshire. Really well done.


He's one of my favorite writers.  A Prayer for Owen Meany is in my top 25 books, and I've really enjoyed everything else he has written.

I'm currently re-reading the Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon in anticipation of the new series coming out on Starz this summer and the release of the 7th (and final?) book in the series.   I read them all about 10 years ago and I'm pleased to find I like them even more now that I'm a bit more grown up. 

Not to hijack this thread but I would be interested in seeing some of your top 10 or 25 all-time faves?

I'll go first though I don't think I can get to 25...and in no particular order:

Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami
The Names and Underworld by Don DeLillo
The Brothers Karamazov by Dosteovski
Ulysses by James Joyce
Tess of the D'urbervilles by Thomas Hardy (what can I say I like the classics)
All the Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy
G. and the Into Their Labours trilogy by John Berger
short stories by Chekov, Sherman Alexie, Joyce Carol Oates, Alexander Maksik, and many others I can't think of at the moment...

Emg03063

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Re: What are you READING right now?
« Reply #86 on: February 05, 2014, 09:29:36 PM »
http://www.amazon.com/Supply-Shock-Economic-Crossroads-Solution/dp/0865717443

Being Mustachian, I downloaded it when they were having a sale on the kindle edition for $1.  (My first kindle purchase, actually).

C. K.

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Re: What are you READING right now?
« Reply #87 on: February 10, 2014, 08:30:01 AM »
It's great to read of other people espousing frugality.  http://changingcourse.com/2014/02/05/strategy-2/

MissStache

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Re: What are you READING right now?
« Reply #88 on: February 10, 2014, 08:41:45 AM »

Really digging John Irving lately. Never been into him but read Last Night in Twisted River and loved it, so now I'm on The Hotel New Hampshire. Really well done.


He's one of my favorite writers.  A Prayer for Owen Meany is in my top 25 books, and I've really enjoyed everything else he has written.

I'm currently re-reading the Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon in anticipation of the new series coming out on Starz this summer and the release of the 7th (and final?) book in the series.   I read them all about 10 years ago and I'm pleased to find I like them even more now that I'm a bit more grown up. 

Not to hijack this thread but I would be interested in seeing some of your top 10 or 25 all-time faves?

I'll go first though I don't think I can get to 25...and in no particular order:

Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami
The Names and Underworld by Don DeLillo
The Brothers Karamazov by Dosteovski
Ulysses by James Joyce
Tess of the D'urbervilles by Thomas Hardy (what can I say I like the classics)
All the Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy
G. and the Into Their Labours trilogy by John Berger
short stories by Chekov, Sherman Alexie, Joyce Carol Oates, Alexander Maksik, and many others I can't think of at the moment...

I know I threw out the "top 25" number the other day, but when I sat down to do it I found I couldn't actually do 25.  Once I got to 20, it became hard pick more that would go on my list!  So, here are my top 20.  They aren't really in order, with the exception of A Farewell to Arms, which is truly my all-time favorite book.  Caveat:  I consider a series to be one book, because I find it it impossible to separate them, however I did note my favorite within the series as well.

A Farewell to Arms – Hemingway
Lord of the Rings (Fellowship of the Ring) - Tolkein
Harry Potter (The Prisoner of Azkaban) – Rowling
The Mists of Avalon – Marion Zimmer Bradley
Outlander Series (Outlander) – Diana Gabaldon
Dr. Strange and Mr. Norrell – Susanna Clarke
Shadow of the Wind – Carlos Ruiz Zafon
Animal, Vegetable, Miracle - Barbara Kingsolver
Soldier of the Great War – Mark Helprin
A Prayer for Owen Meany – John Irving
Here be Dragons – Sharon Kay Penman
Texas – James Michener
American Gods – Neil Gaiman
I Have Words to Spend – Robert Cormier
Mother Night – Kurt Vonnegut
A Secret History – Donna Tartt
Gone With the Wind – Margaret Mitchell
Stiff – Mary Roach
The Pillars of the Earth – Ken Follett

Kriegsspiel

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Re: What are you READING right now?
« Reply #89 on: February 14, 2014, 05:24:39 PM »

sheepstache

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Re: What are you READING right now?
« Reply #90 on: February 14, 2014, 10:11:01 PM »
Kriegs, did you like Quicksilver?  I loved the whole Baroque series and I don't usually like long series.

grantmeaname

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Re: What are you READING right now?
« Reply #91 on: February 15, 2014, 06:50:33 AM »
Kriegs, did you like Quicksilver?  I loved the whole Baroque series and I don't usually like long series.
I tried to pick that series up and it was just too freaking slow. I got like 400 pages in and nothing had happened yet, so I gave up.

Kriegsspiel

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Re: What are you READING right now?
« Reply #92 on: February 15, 2014, 07:23:35 AM »
I had the same experience as Grant, glad I wasn't the only one! It was the only book I can remember reading and not finishing.

sheepstache

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Re: What are you READING right now?
« Reply #93 on: February 16, 2014, 12:47:40 PM »
Hmm, I really liked the story of ideas.  I thought the writing was humorous.  I also thought the sex scenes kept it moving along.  And like I said, I don't normally go in for long series (or multi-generational ones if you count the NYTimes bestseller Crytponimicon as part of the series), so I figured that meant it was a really good one.  But I found his subsequent books, Anathem and Reamde, horribly long-winded and action-less, so maybe my attachment to the Quicksilver series was a fluke.

If it just felt too long to y'all, his earlier books were all shorter.  Diamond Age, Snow Crash, Zodiac...  They are all about the evolution of an idea, though, or its transformative effect on a society, like, that _is_ the action of the story, while the violent action scenes towards the end can feel sort of stapled-on.


Oh, to stick to the thread topic, um, I have too many books out from the library to count.

I just finished King's 11/22/1963 based on another forum member's mention and liked it--although, again, I tend to prefer tighter writing and I think King is stronger in novella form.  Just finished The Intelligent Asset Allocator.  I dismissed some of the more detailed analysis parts but I'm not sure if my motivation was that I assumed they were dated or that I know I'm too lazy to make use of them.

I have Annette Thau's The Bond Book ready to start. 

I started The Prison-House of Language: A Critical Account of Structuralism and Russian Formalism, although I may not get through that as I don't know much about what Russian formalism is.  I thought I was requesting the Saussure book about linguistics.

Also, I just received the Complete Idiot's Guide to Investing that Joshua Kennon was a co-author on and so far it looks much more useful than the subsequent edition that he wasn't a part of (which is what my library had).   

Oh also, from a giveaway pile I picked up this ridiculous book called China To Me published in 1944, an American society lady's diary while she was in Shanghai.  This copy has a newspaper clipping about her wedding announcement taped in front and the picture shows her with a pet monkey.  The whole thing is so period it's delightful but I don't know if I can get through 400 pages of it.

Oh and I keep picking up and putting down Science Left Behind: Feel-Good Fallacies and the Rise of the Anti-Scientific Left.  I feel like there are good points to be made, but the authors are too partisan and the analysis of the issues is too superficial and flippant.

Kriegsspiel

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Re: What are you READING right now?
« Reply #94 on: February 16, 2014, 02:41:55 PM »
Ahh, see I really liked Anathema and Cryptonomicon. My library doesn't have his other books, but they're on my list for when I have access to a better library.

Thegoblinchief

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Re: What are you READING right now?
« Reply #95 on: February 17, 2014, 03:01:19 PM »
About to start the Alcatraz omnibus by Brandon Sanderson while waiting for the next Clockwork Century books by Cherie Priest to come from the library.

davisgang90

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Re: What are you READING right now?
« Reply #96 on: February 18, 2014, 09:52:24 AM »
The Orphan Master's Son

arebelspy

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Re: What are you READING right now?
« Reply #97 on: February 18, 2014, 10:02:35 AM »
Daemon by Daniel Suarez.
I am a former teacher who accumulated a bunch of real estate, retired at 29, spent some time traveling the world full time and am now settled with three kids.
If you want to know more about me, this Business Insider profile tells the story pretty well.
I (rarely) blog at AdventuringAlong.com. Check out the Now page to see what I'm up to currently.

Thegoblinchief

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Re: What are you READING right now?
« Reply #98 on: February 18, 2014, 03:17:26 PM »

arebelspy

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Re: What are you READING right now?
« Reply #99 on: February 18, 2014, 03:20:53 PM »
Daemon by Daniel Suarez.

That's a page turner!

Indeed, I'm about 2/3 of the way done after a day.  Quite enjoyable so far. 
I am a former teacher who accumulated a bunch of real estate, retired at 29, spent some time traveling the world full time and am now settled with three kids.
If you want to know more about me, this Business Insider profile tells the story pretty well.
I (rarely) blog at AdventuringAlong.com. Check out the Now page to see what I'm up to currently.