What books are you reading right now?

I have enjoyed the few of these I have read. I have "Dead Beat" unread on my shelf. Having said that, the "I'm exhausted and can't possibly survive", followed by summoning just enough to cast the spell required to survive does get it bit old...

 

If you value your time do not read TDOB. It leaves much unexplained, and one part of the book is so incredibly WTF?! I nearly stopped reading it.

I found BK on-line--most likely an illegal upload--in PDF format, 80 pages. I stopped reading at about page 60. It's just a rehash of the previous three novels. Rice adds some political correctness, and seems to think her readers are interested in what happened to the main characters during the two decades that have passed. One thing I find hilarious not in a good way is the characters, even the ones who were 'older' in the original novels, have mostly kept their good looks and maintained their youthful physiques; the men still have full heads of hair, and the voluptuous women have not turned out to be overweight.

 

I'm 130 pages into the The Game (Penetrating The Secret Society of Pickup Artists) by Neil Strauss.

In brief--Strauss writes about, as an active member for two years, several groups where the main purpose of each is to teach men who have had little or no luck picking up women casually how to succeed in doing so. Per Strauss, basically most women want to fuck casually, and they're not as nearly as picky as the guy, or the women themselves, think they are. The steps to get past their guards, in place so that they won't feel slutty, aren't that complicated.

I'm going to hold off any detailed comments until I've finished it. It might even deserve its own thread. And I'm going to do some research on the reactions to this book after I finish it because I don't want to read any spoilers. My main reaction so far is: Do women really fall for this bullshit? Strauss' response is: Yes, and even more surprisingly much more readily than you or they might think.

 

I am re-reading Words of Radiance by Brandon Sanderson. I am not sure why as only book 2 of 10 are out and i am sure I will re-read this 1000+ page monstrossity a number of other times.
Words of RadianceWords of Radi

Words of Radiance

 

Finally found Trigger Warning, which I started back in February, and misplaced during the move. w00t.

 

I finished the The Game (Penetrating The Secret Society of Pickup Artists) by Neil Strauss.

I suggest that you read this book. But please don't buy it--get it from the library, borrow it from a friend, read it as a free eBook, download it illegally, etc--because Neil Strauss doesn't need your money. Much more importantly he doesn't deserve your money. BTW my copy cost me fifty cents (Border's price tag still on the book reads $35.00), which went to the Salvation Army.

It would be nearly impossible for me to describe the W-T-F? factor of this book. Strauss addresses this at the start of the book, very clearly and in large type.

It's one thing for guys to want to learn how to approach & win over women is bars, and social settings, where the competition is fierce. It's something else when it becomes pretty much their lives. This obession with picking-up the hottest woman available (yes, only the hottest one counts to these guys) reminds of something along the lines of a mid-life crisis except it hits earlier.


Strauss speaks out against this, and eventually leaves "the life."



He got a steady girlfriend, and maintained a normal relationship.
And wrote a book discussing his struggles.


When hat relationship fell apart, he rejoined "the life."
And wrote another book about it.

 

I recently finished Of Dope and Dervishes, a (thankfully short) novel by Louis Gainsborough. This book is so bad it's funny. I'm guessing that the author paid to have this published, and the great number of typos and printing mistakes seem to support this thought.

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I've just started Empire Falls by Richard Russo, this novel won the Pulitzer For Fiction in 2002. I saw the miniseries first, but have read so many positive comments about the novel I want to read it.

Notes--The miniseries apparently follows the novel nearly exactly. The fact that it was a miniseries, not a can't-possibly-fit-everything-important-in movie, is the main reason I watched it. Ed Harris is great in the title role, and Paul Newman very convincingly played the father, Max, in his last onscreen role.

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I also picked-up On the Origin of Species, but in all honesty I don't know if I'll ever make it through this Darwin classic. Maybe with a lot of skim reading.

 

When I Left Home My Story, by Buddy Guy with David Ritz.

I like that this autobiography reads as though Buddy is talking about his life in a simple & straightforward way. Buddy, unlike many celebrities, doesn't use the book to stroke his ego and doesn't view the past wearing Buddy Guy rose-colored glasses. Some of Buddy's stories are second-hand, and might contain more fiction than fact, but it doesn't matter because they're entertaining and make up a very small portion of the book.

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The Liquidator, published in 1964*, by John Gardner (the British author).

This is JG's first novel, the book that started a very long & successful writing career. I'm only on page 66, but so far I'm enjoying this tongue-in-cheek spy novel which is, in JG own words, "...a complete piss-take of J. Bond." A couple of interesting notes: The novel is something of a spoof, but the Boysie Oakes character is not a spoof of the James Bond character as Ian Fleming presented him the Bond novels (it's the movie scripts that turned Bond into a suave & fearless spy who rarely made mistakes). Also around 1980 JG was chosen to revive the Bond series (*Fleming died in '64).

 

The Other, a novel by David Gutterson. This is my third DG novel, and I am not impressed. It's written in the first person and reads more like a detailed journal--in the novel the central character, Neil Countryman, relies heavily on his journals when he decides to write the book--kept by someone more interested in details of the events than the emotions the events (should) cause. DG never manages to capture the emotions that should've been present: Happiness, anger, fright, despair, sense of loss, and guilt. Note--If you are a hiker familiar with the wilderness areas of Washington state, you might like this book.

I like Snow Falling On Cedars, but am now wondering what I might think on a second reading. East Of The Mountains was OK, but it also didn't manage to convey the emotions it should've.

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Composed, an autobiography by Roseanne Cash, the daughter of Johnny Cash. Roseanne is a highly acclaimed and successful songwriter & singer. I'm only on page 30.

 

"Composed, an autobiography by Roseanne Cash, the daughter of Johnny Cash. Roseanne is a highly acclaimed and successful songwriter & singer."

This book was OK, but RC seemed very guarded. At the start she wrote that the book wasn't chronological and she felt that was necessary to tell her story. The problem is she wound up repeating herself often, and some of the jumping around came across as afterthoughts that would've been better added where the situation was first discussed.

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American Rifle A Biography, by Alexander Rose. Basically the history of the rifle in USA history starting from our early days as a British colony. I'm on page 156 of 409.

This' surprisingly a good read. Rose manages to take what could be a very boring topic and keep it interesting. I'll follow-up when I'm feeling better (if this bug doesn't kill me) and have read further into the book.

 

Finished Sunshine by Robin McKinley...who I usually like. But this one didn't do it for me. Too much exposition, too much info-dumping instead of action. I found myself skimming pages at a time and not missing anything.

Also finished Be Frank With Me, by Julia Claiborne Johnson. Started out great, got a little annoying, then picked up again. Pretty good overall.

I now have Beyond Belief by Jenna Miscavige Hill (raised in Scientology, got out when she was an adult); The Wild Truth by Carine McCandless (sister of Christopher McCandless, the subject of Into the Wild); and Positive by David Wellington (zombie novel, which I'm usually kinda "meh" about, but the sample was promising) on my Kindle.

 

I am almost finished this now. I've missed a few in the middle, so I'm a little lost with some of the side characters but enjoying it nonetheless.

 

I just downloaded We Have Lost the President, a futuristic political comedy mystery set in London in 2044 and the monarchy (the royal family fled to Miami) has been replaced with a republic.

The British president goes missing weeks before the election and his official spokesman, and wannabe secret agent, Pond, Howie Pond, sets out to find him.

 

The Odyssey. Much more fun to read without all the connotation and such. Plus, I don't have to write a report after reading it! WOOT!

 

Race Across Alaska
by Libby Riddles and Tim Jones. LR was the first woman to win the Iditarod.

 

From what I read there are several requirements for a musher to finish, much less win, the Iditarod.

--Experience, which includes choosing the right dogs, equipment, food, clothing, etc.
--Physical & mental toughness.
--Intuitiveness.
--Luck.
--A healthy dose of craziness.

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Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray.

I only 11 pages into it, and TBH I don't know if I really want to wade through a 680 page novel right now. Much will depend on Thackeray's writing skills.

 

Vanity Fair is on hold.

Asylum by Madeleine Roux. I just finished it, not bad for a Young Adult novel. I'm intrigued enough to want to read the sequel Sanctum.