Spring Thaw Reading Thread

Shrew · Post by **Shrew** » Thu Mar 21, 2013 3:45 pm

I scrolled meticulously through all three pages of threads and saw nothing so I made this. Which means that 30 seconds after submitting someone will link to the reading thread I missed.

Latest read:

cerrano · Post by **cerrano** » Thu Mar 21, 2013 3:47 pm

thaw. right. that's rich.

A_B · Post by **A_B** » Thu Mar 21, 2013 3:53 pm

I enjoyed that book. But I have enjoyed every Winchester except The Map that Changed the World.

Scottie · Post by **Scottie** » Thu Mar 21, 2013 3:58 pm

Reading, or studying, a lot of calligraphy books lately. I've got something like 10 of them from the local libraries.

Also picked up this:

The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ by Philip Pullman . . . since I've been on a Hitchens and Dawkins kick, that one seemed like a natural extension.

The Sybian · Post by **The Sybian** » Thu Mar 21, 2013 7:20 pm

Currently reading The Man Without a Face: The Unlikely Rise of Vladimir Putin. Been excited to read this for a long time. Interesting so far, but a lot of speculation, as Putin apparently came out of nowhere, and most of his biographical info was self-selected. His only official biography was limited to a handful of sources who were all told exactly what to say by Putin himself. The first 9 years of his life are shrouded in mystery, as he was believed to be adopted by his parents, and nobody remembers him at an age younger than 9. I'm surprised the author is still alive.

howard · Post by **howard** » Thu Mar 21, 2013 7:31 pm

If Russia ends up owning the Cypriot banks and putting a military base on the island, I will be reading that one.

govmentchedda · Post by **govmentchedda** » Thu Mar 21, 2013 7:34 pm

Scottie wrote:Reading, or studying, a lot of calligraphy books lately. I've got something like 10 of them from the local libraries.

Also picked up this:

The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ by Philip Pullman . . . since I've been on a Hitchens and Dawkins kick, that one seemed like a natural extension.

I had to write in calligraphy for my first 6 years of school. The skill has completely left my quiver.

P.D.X. · Post by **P.D.X.** » Thu Mar 21, 2013 7:38 pm

Smashed through these while on vacation...

Yes, yes, no, yes.

Currently:

The Sybian · Post by **The Sybian** » Thu Mar 21, 2013 8:12 pm

howard wrote:If Russia ends up owning the Cypriot banks and putting a military base on the island, I will be reading that one.

Well, Bush looked into his eyes, saw his soul and saw that he was a good man, so probably no need to read the book. Plus, they both named their daughters after their Mother's, and calls him "Pooty Poot." Jesus. I watched that Press conference live, and was in absolute shock. I gotta find the video. BRB. Fuck, couldn't find it, but I did see an interesting comment that Putin responded to an invitation to Bush's ranch by stating that he looked forward to riding horses with the President. Fantastic comment because Cowboy in Chief is scared of horses and doesn't ride. Goddamn Putin is smooth. Fucking chopped Bush down brutally right there, and you know Putin was just waiting to use that. I would have loved to listened to Putin and his team talk about the presser right afterwards. Jesus Christ, the level of stupidity in that speech was off the charts. If 9/11 didn't happen. Bush would have been remembered as a complete buffoon of a one-term President.

DaveInSeattle · Post by **DaveInSeattle** » Fri Mar 22, 2013 8:21 pm

I just finished this:

written by the guy who has the BaoHaus resturant in New York. The book got great writeups, but it pissed me off. The guy spents 75% of the book talking about how hard his life was growing up as the kid of Chinese immigrants, and about how big of a knucklehead he was...fights, dealing pot, etc. And just crap about what kind of basketball shoes he likes and how he felt in high school when Tupac died. Only about the last 15% of it is about him getting into cooking and opening the restaurant.

Scottie · Post by **Scottie** » Sat Mar 23, 2013 6:55 pm

The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson

Often imitated. Often flat-out plagiarized. But when, if ever, have you read the original?

This is an excellent one-day read. The story itself is only 82-pages. Beautiful writing.

TheHumanComa · Post by **TheHumanComa** » Sat Mar 23, 2013 8:49 pm

It's been awhile since I read any of his stuff, but I bought this for a quarter and it looks pretty good.

TheHumanComa · Post by **TheHumanComa** » Sat Mar 23, 2013 8:54 pm

P.D.X. wrote:

You didn't like Stranger in a Strange Land? I remember loving it. But I only read it once a long time ago. It reminded me of Scientology and how fucked up people can get. All I remember is Micheal. and yoga? Gonna have to read it again.

Scottie · Post by **Scottie** » Sat Mar 23, 2013 10:06 pm

TheHumanComa wrote:You didn't like Stranger in a Strange Land?

Neither did I. I hated it. I threw it in the garbage after less than 200 pages. I consider it one of the worst things I have ever read.

FredRomero · Post by **FredRomero** » Tue Mar 26, 2013 9:16 pm

My fondness for Francona outweighed my hatred of Dan Shaughnessy so I read this. Interesting stuff about Francona growing up with a MLB dad, then his playing and early managing career. Most of the stuff he said about his time with the Red Sox, I heard before, but it was nice to hear Francona's perspective, especially how he described his interactions with Theo. And the owners come across really badly -- Lucchino as a lying dick, Werner as a buffoon, and Henry as extremely weird. The Boston Globe attack on Francona that someone inside the Sox leaked right after he left sounded bad when it happened, and is absolutely disgusting a year later reading about it.

Rush2112 · Post by **Rush2112** » Tue Mar 26, 2013 10:57 pm

Excellent

A_B · Post by **A_B** » Wed Mar 27, 2013 7:10 am

Scottie wrote:The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson

Often imitated. Often flat-out plagiarized. But when, if ever, have you read the original?

This is an excellent one-day read. The story itself is only 82-pages. Beautiful writing.

I agree. Great book. I'm actually reading Treasure Island right now. Never read it before. It's pretty fun.

Also reading Island of the Sequined Love Nun, as I get one more book closer to completing the Christopher Moore collection. This one, and Sacre Bleu, and I'm done.

Steve of phpBB · Post by **Steve of phpBB** » Wed Mar 27, 2013 10:23 am

Scottie wrote:The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson

Often imitated. Often flat-out plagiarized. But when, if ever, have you read the original?

This is an excellent one-day read. The story itself is only 82-pages. Beautiful writing.

On a similar note, I picked this up from the library. Supposedly I read it in high school, but I'd bet it was just the Cliff Notes:

P.D.X. · Post by **P.D.X.** » Wed Mar 27, 2013 11:20 am

TheHumanComa wrote:
P.D.X. wrote:

You didn't like Stranger in a Strange Land? I remember loving it. But I only read it once a long time ago. It reminded me of Scientology and how fucked up people can get. All I remember is Micheal. and yoga? Gonna have to read it again.

It's a mess of a novel. Clumsy plot that keeps changing direction, too-powerful central character, pages full of descriptions of mundane everyday life, preachy subtext, new-agey wish-wash, etc.

Post by **Sabo** » Wed Mar 27, 2013 11:35 am

This book (1,200 pages! 3.8 pounds!) will be my latest reading effort.

Yay?

Rush2112 · Post by **Rush2112** » Wed Mar 27, 2013 3:13 pm

I feel for ya Sabo, I'm working my way through the CompTIA A+ Certification book. Fun fun!

Shrew · Post by **Shrew** » Tue Apr 09, 2013 1:02 pm

Riding the Iron Rooster
A book Scottie recommended to me a while ago that I never finished. Theroux pulls no punches but helped me round out some stuff about Chinese geography and history that I could never put together.

testy boxcar · Post by **testy boxcar** » Tue Apr 09, 2013 1:11 pm

Sabo wrote:This book (1,200 pages! 3.8 pounds!) will be my latest reading effort.

Yay?

I was in a shell scripting class on 9/11. Was hoping it'd be an excuse to cancel the class, but didn't get to deploy for another couple months.

So, basically, I wanted to go get shot at rather than do that shit. Enjoy!

Shrew · Post by **Shrew** » Tue Apr 09, 2013 1:15 pm

Currently reading:

Batavia's Graveyard: The True Story of the Mad Heretic Who Led History's Bloodiest Mutiny

Most interesting fact so far: Wealthy Dutch families "for a month or more before the birth, as was common at the time...[he] paid an old woman named Maijcke van den Broecke to suckle his wife's breasts in order to stimulate the flow of milk."

Can I use this as an opportunity to plug Good Reads? I've gotten some good recommendations from other swampers and would like more. If old women being breast fed by pregnant women doesn't drive traffic to Good Reads, I don't know what will.

Rush2112 · Post by **Rush2112** » Tue Apr 09, 2013 3:42 pm

Salt Sugar Fat: How the Food Giants Hooked Us

vandwagon · Post by **vandwagon** » Wed Apr 10, 2013 8:15 am

Currently reading

On the recommendation of someone here, sorry,I forget who. I find it fascinating that it was essentially written as an "F You" to a philosopher who was a contemporary of Voltaire.

I have two books on the way.

Stumbled across The Fight last week and bought it. My father in law worked the concert that was thrown before the fight. Has a funny story about getting lost in Zaire and having to wait two days to use the phone to call his company back in London to find out exactly where the rest of his company was staying. He went to the wrong hotel originally.

I'm very interested in getting this one, it's supposed to come tomorrow. I wish I could go back to college to end up majoring in something environmental or freshwater fish related instead of business. Probably my biggest regret.

Giff · Post by **Giff** » Wed Apr 10, 2013 9:03 am

Finished that Traffic book that had been mentioned here a few times. Pretty interesting and eye-opening.

About halfway through The Passage. I hear the second book is awful, but I'm really enjoying this one. I did not read the flap so went into it nearly blind.

The Sybian · Post by **The Sybian** » Wed Apr 10, 2013 11:51 am

Reading The Boys From Brazil. Really fast moving and enjoyable thus far, about halfway through. Been meaning to read this book for a long time.

Post by **Sabo** » Wed Apr 10, 2013 12:19 pm

vandwagon wrote:I wish I could go back to college to end up majoring in something environmental or freshwater fish related instead of business. Probably my biggest regret.

That sounds like a great Swamp thread. I'm stealing the idea.

Scottie · Post by **Scottie** » Thu Apr 11, 2013 10:26 pm

One of the few, very few, sweeping Russian epics that I have not got around to yet. I don't care if Sholokhov really wrote it or not (he probably didn't), fact is that somebody did. I picked up this and the sequel, The Don Flows Home To The Sea for pocket change at a thrift store a little while ago; vintage hardcovers in superb shape.

Hodor · Post by **Hodor** » Fri Apr 12, 2013 6:53 am

Hodor

FredRomero · Post by **FredRomero** » Sat Apr 13, 2013 7:37 pm

I've been struggling to find good books in the Anazon Prime lending library and chose this on a whim. I absolutely loved it.

Bensell · Post by **Bensell** » Wed May 01, 2013 2:32 pm

Reading these two:

Steve of phpBB · Post by **Steve of phpBB** » Wed May 01, 2013 5:11 pm

Bensell wrote:Reading these two:

I read that after getting it for Christmas.

Quite interesting. It's a part of history that doesn't get much play, including the ethnic cleansing of Germans from Poland, Hungary, and Czechoslovakia right after the war.

Rush2112 · Post by **Rush2112** » Wed May 01, 2013 8:51 pm

Bensell · Post by **Bensell** » Wed May 01, 2013 9:02 pm

Steve of phpBB wrote:
Bensell wrote:Reading these two:

I read that after getting it for Christmas.

Quite interesting. It's a part of history that doesn't get much play, including the ethnic cleansing of Germans from Poland, Hungary, and Czechoslovakia right after the war.

Just finished it after dinner - very excellent history book. One of the better ones I have read lately.

P.D.X. · Post by **P.D.X.** » Thu May 02, 2013 10:51 am

How many of you are on Goodreads and what's really the benefit?

The Sybian · Post by **The Sybian** » Thu May 02, 2013 2:02 pm

Finishing up Bryson's In a Sunburned Country. Really enjoy his books. Like getting back in touch with an old friend. Not sure what I am going to start next, probably going to take a break and listen to some of the podcasts recommended here.

A_B · Post by **A_B** » Thu May 02, 2013 2:14 pm

P.D.X. wrote:How many of you are on Goodreads and what's really the benefit?

I'm on it. I use it more for tracking my reading more than anything else. The feature that tells me when new books are coming out by authors I have read is nice too. Found out that Joe Hill has a book signing of his new book this weekend here in town, so snagged this:

And because I had an extra $15 on my gift card, picked up this, which is funny given the last post by syb. Was solely on the swamp's previous recomendations:

Rush2112 · Post by **Rush2112** » Thu May 02, 2013 7:38 pm

I am. Helps me keep track of books I see here, at the library, or bookstore that I want to read and also makes recommendations based on what I've read/want to read. Also there are a imperial fuckton of user created/voted lists on all sorts of subjects that help me find books to read. This one on microhistories is awesome.

P.D.X. wrote:How many of you are on Goodreads and what's really the benefit?