The Fall Reading Thread

Bensell · Post by **Bensell** » Wed Oct 16, 2013 1:14 pm

Since I think the Spring Thaw Reading Thread is a bit out of date, reading was one of the only distractions I have had recently. Here are my favorites for my time AWOL from the Swamp:

Rush2112 · Post by **Rush2112** » Wed Oct 16, 2013 1:25 pm

Rush2112 · Post by **Rush2112** » Wed Oct 16, 2013 2:43 pm

Rush2112 wrote:

Just reading the section on Hoover and his dealings with relief efforts in Belgium during The Great War and the Mississippi floods of '27.
That man was a bastard.

Pruitt · Post by **Pruitt** » Wed Oct 16, 2013 3:49 pm

This was okay, nothing spectacular, but a nice trip through Italy.

This however was an amazing novel.

The Sybian · Post by **The Sybian** » Wed Oct 16, 2013 6:52 pm

One Midnight to Midnight. Supposed to be the preeminent book on the Cuban Missile Crisis, as if I haven't read enough about it as a Poli Sci major and 20th Century history buff. Michael Dobbs reportedly found a lot of never before reported tidbits in the archives and interviewed tangential characters, like fighter pilots dispersed in DEFCON 3 that nobody ever interviewed. so far it is good. Easy read and plays through in chronological order jumping between players. The writing seems extremely impartial so far, and openly discusses JFK's weaknesses and health issues.

Scottie · Post by **Scottie** » Wed Oct 16, 2013 8:13 pm

Immagunnabump this one from the longest swampian Spring Thaw to say that:

If you are a New Yorker or know anything about New York, you have to read this novel. If you are Jewish, you have to read this novel. If you know anything about how the interwebs work, you have to read this novel. If you are a Jewish New Yorker, or even know a Jewish New Yorker, you absolutely have to read this novel. Or if you just want to sit down and enjoy a master literary craftsman at work, you have to read this novel.

It is brilliant.

Do NOT turn away from it because it is by Thomas Pynchon. Yes, some of Pynchon's work is very difficult. The Crying Of Lot 49, Gravity's Rainbow, Against The Day, Mason & Dixon . . . all very tough and demanding reads. You can not be blamed for picking up any of those and immediately thinking "well, this is certainly fucking out there". But not this one. This is Pynchon-lite, as it were. Very accessible. Sure, there are passages (many) that are pure Pynchon poetry. But you are never going to get to a point in this novel where you are Pynchoned into perplexity. Not at all. Highly, highly, recommended.

Scottie wrote:

'zon link, as usual.

And THIS site makes a marvelous companion. (partially shameless plug as a contributor)

sancarlos · Post by **sancarlos** » Wed Oct 16, 2013 10:53 pm

Coincidentally, I am also currently in the middle of One Summer, 1927, by Bill Bryson. I'm enjoying it very much.

Charles Lindbergh sounds like the most boring man possible. He was a great pilot, but that's about all one can say for him. I enjoyed the stuff about Babe Ruth. What a bigger than life guy. Oh, and corruption nowadays got nothing on the 1920s!

Scottie · Post by **Scottie** » Thu Oct 17, 2013 1:14 am

sancarlos wrote:Charles Lindbergh sounds like the most boring man possible.

Really? That's quite odd that a book, particularly a microhistory, would portray him as such. Lindbergh was easily one of the more fascinating people of the entire 20th century. Granted he was quite young at the time of his world-famous flight but, damn, boring is not exactly the word that comes to mind.

Pruitt · Post by **Pruitt** » Thu Oct 17, 2013 4:26 am

Phillip Roth didn't portray Lindbergh as boring in this great novel.

As for the Thomas Pynchon - I liked a couple of his books, but found "Inherent Vice" to be unreadable (made it to page 40 or so).

I'll give the new one a read, but my expectations are pretty low.

Rush2112 · Post by **Rush2112** » Thu Oct 17, 2013 8:21 am

Scottie wrote:
sancarlos wrote:Charles Lindbergh sounds like the most boring man possible.
Really? That's quite odd that a book, particularly a microhistory, would portray him as such. Lindbergh was easily one of the more fascinating people of the entire 20th century. Granted he was quite young at the time of his world-famous flight but, damn, boring is not exactly the word that comes to mind.

Seeing that he was basically off the farm when he made his flight he was very much a turnip eating hayseed during the early part of his life. Wasn't 'til later that he started spouting about isolationism and losing his baby.

sancarlos · Post by **sancarlos** » Thu Oct 17, 2013 10:42 am

Yeah. What Rush said. At the time of his historic flight, Lindbergh was a virgin who'd never had a date in his life, bred from stoic, quiet oddballs - no interest in social interraction, no gift for speaking, too shy to voice opinions, etc. His life got more interesting, and I assume he also did, personally, but the "boring" comment was about him, personally, in 1927 - not his life, his experiences, or what he would evolve to become.

DaveInSeattle · Post by **DaveInSeattle** » Sat Oct 19, 2013 10:02 am

This bio of Lindbergh is pretty interesting and worth checking out.

I'm currently reading "The Outsiders" by SE Hinton. My daughter was assigned it in her 7th grade English class, and since I'd never read it (only saw the movie), I told her I'd read it too so we could talk about it. Its ok....but its way better then some of the other stuff she's read, like "The Hunger Games".

Bensell · Post by **Bensell** » Mon Oct 21, 2013 8:41 am

I'm about halfway through this:

Pretty fucked up story of a college freshman who steals a bread sack full of coke during her summer break from Cal Berkley. I also picked up this from the library yesterday and can't wait to start it:

Pruitt · Post by **Pruitt** » Mon Oct 21, 2013 8:46 am

About halfway through this -

When Coetzee is on, he is a great and very disturbing writer.

A_B · Post by **A_B** » Mon Oct 21, 2013 8:49 am

I finished this:

Dragged a bit in the middle, but worth a read since I had no idea that the Confederates did anything like commerce raiding, especially in the Arctic.

Picked up this for a light read:

And I think I saw Bensell leaving the Library as I was pulling out on Saturday. Can't be positive. Surprised I didn't run into him if it was him because I loitered for about 45 minutes trying to find something.

Bensell · Post by **Bensell** » Mon Oct 21, 2013 9:04 am

AB_skin_test wrote:
And I think I saw Bensell leaving the Library as I was pulling out on Saturday. Can't be positive. Surprised I didn't run into him if it was him because I loitered for about 45 minutes trying to find something.

Could well have been as I was at the Tates Creek branch on Saturday. I have so many books on hold that I just go in and pick them up; no browsing for me at the moment.

Rush2112 · Post by **Rush2112** » Mon Oct 21, 2013 12:22 pm

DaveInSeattle wrote:This bio of Lindbergh is pretty interesting and worth checking out.

Found this as well through Goodreads.

Will have to check it out.

Bensell · Post by **Bensell** » Sat Oct 26, 2013 1:33 pm

This was a pretty decent crime novel:

Started this last night and it's basically a collection of crazy stories from various fantasy leagues. Pretty entertaining so far:

Pruitt · Post by **Pruitt** » Sun Oct 27, 2013 8:28 am

Bensell wrote: Started this last night and it's basically a collection of crazy stories from various fantasy leagues. Pretty entertaining so far:

I heard Matthew Berry on the "How Did This Get Made" podcast (which rips apart terrible movies.

He was on the podcast as he wrote the movie Crocodile Dundee in Los Angeles and he was full of hilarious stories about that movie. Made me want to check out the book.

Rush2112 · Post by **Rush2112** » Sun Oct 27, 2013 3:41 pm

Pruitt wrote:
He was on the podcast as he wrote the movie Crocodile Dundee in Los Angeles and he was full of hilarious stories about that movie. Made me want to check out the book.

He describes the process of writing for that movie in the book. It's basically autobiography inter-spaced with stories sent in by readers/listeners about fantasy.

Rush2112 · Post by **Rush2112** » Mon Oct 28, 2013 11:26 am

If anyone wants some free MOBI books, open directories are your friend.

Rush2112 · Post by **Rush2112** » Mon Oct 28, 2013 4:32 pm

Was excellent

BTTG · Post by **BTTG** » Tue Oct 29, 2013 5:14 am

Just finished:

I'm surprised that neither one really resonated with me. Having read Five Thirty Eight off and on since its inception and working in a probability-based field, most of 'The Signal and the Noise' is second nature. I was never bored with it but did not learn much or get much from reading it either.

The Wu Ming collective are amazing and 'Q' and '54' two of my all-time favourite books, but 'Altai' never really got going for me. I chalk this one up to having a three-month old with a short attention span.

Just started:

A_B · Post by **A_B** » Tue Oct 29, 2013 7:27 am

Almost finished with "Blood Meridian, or the Evening Redness in the West"

It has been a long slog, but I'm just a couple of days out from putting it behind me. I love McCarthy and I suppose with the proper time and place it wouldn't have been as long of a read.

Post by **Shirley** » Tue Oct 29, 2013 9:00 am

AB_skin_test wrote:Almost finished with "Blood Meridian, or the Evening Redness in the West"

It has been a long slog, but I'm just a couple of days out from putting it behind me. I love McCarthy and I suppose with the proper time and place it wouldn't have been as long of a read.

I liked that one. You definitely need a tolerance for endless bleak descriptions of the desert scenery though. Kinda like The Road in that regard, I suppose.

Scottie · Post by **Scottie** » Tue Oct 29, 2013 11:20 am

Rush2112 wrote:If anyone wants some free MOBI books, open directories are your friend.

Brilliant!

Okay . . . here's what you do if you have a Kindle. Download the MOBI books you want. Hook the Kindle up to a computer via a USB cable. Drag'n'drop your downloaded books into the "Documents" folder of the Kindle.

govmentchedda · Post by **govmentchedda** » Tue Oct 29, 2013 12:24 pm

It's even easier on an iPad. Click a book on the link, it opens another tab, click the book in that tab, BAM! new kindle book on your iPad.

Post by **Shirley** » Tue Oct 29, 2013 12:47 pm

govmentchedda wrote:It's even easier on an iPad. Click a book on the link, it opens another tab, click the book in that tab, BAM! new kindle book on your iPad.

Hmm, that didn't work for me. It didn't know what to do with the link. In hindsight, I was using Chrome. I should try with the built-in Safari app.

The easy way that worked for me was to download it on my computer and stick it in Dropbox. Then, open the file in the Dropbox app on my iPad and say open in the the Kindle app.

Scottie · Post by **Scottie** » Tue Oct 29, 2013 12:48 pm

Sweet. That's much userfriendlier (ETA: Chedda's post). On my Kindle, I can load the webpage (above), tap on a book, it downloads, and then when I go to the file a "file not found" message displays.

It's likely me doing something wrong. What, I've no idea; I'm not a device guy.

And I think that's why on the PC -> USB -> Kindle method you have to drop the downloaded Mobi files into Documents instead of, say, Books. The file (and maybe formatting?) is a bit different. Mobi is a slightly different file type than Kindle stores in the Books folder. Slightly. But you do get the actual ebook, color cover and all; looks just like you grabbed it from Amazon.

Rush2112 · Post by **Rush2112** » Tue Oct 29, 2013 3:11 pm

In order for books to show up in books in the Kindle you need to have [EBOK] in the metadata. That's why you have to place it in documents, etc.

You can also use Calibre. Works with all readers, will "translate" books from PDF, TXT, etc. to Mobi or Epub. Also will help attach proper metadata and covers for everything in your collection.

It also pulls electronic copies of newspapers and magazines from around the world and puts them on your eReader when it's attached via USB. I get the Economist and a couple of papers this way.

Also you can set up a server via the programme that allows you to access your library via the Interwebs. Pretty friggin sweet.

Scottie · Post by **Scottie** » Tue Oct 29, 2013 4:05 pm

Before I (or anyone else) download and install that . . . on a Kindle will the result be anything other than the books now showing up under Documents will show up under Books once "translated"?

Rush2112 · Post by **Rush2112** » Tue Oct 29, 2013 4:35 pm

Scottie wrote:Before I (or anyone else) download and install that . . . on a Kindle will the result be anything other than the books now showing up under Documents will show up under Books once "translated"?

Yes it installs them as books. I also find thinks in all sorts of formats and 99/100 it will transfer them perfectly to MOBI so that they read correctly on your Kindle.

I use it to keep track of all my books, and allows me to correct the metadata to a common standard. And as I stated upthread you get free subscriptions to newspapers/magazines.

P.D.X. · Post by **P.D.X.** » Tue Oct 29, 2013 4:57 pm

I haven't had great success with it converting from PDF to mobi, as inset text and graphics get wonky. There might be a fix for this but I don't use it enough to pursue.

Rush2112 · Post by **Rush2112** » Tue Oct 29, 2013 5:47 pm

P.D.X. wrote:I haven't had great success with it converting from PDF to mobi, as inset text and graphics get wonky. There might be a fix for this but I don't use it enough to pursue.

There have been a few updates in the past couple of months. Not that I transfer a lot of PDFs (as they can be read on my Kindle) but the ones I have transfered ok.

P.D.X. · Post by **P.D.X.** » Tue Oct 29, 2013 6:42 pm

Well of course you can read pdf's on a kindle. The text isn't dynamic though so you have to zoom/scroll rather than just flipping pages, which is highly annoying.

govmentchedda · Post by **govmentchedda** » Tue Oct 29, 2013 6:56 pm

Thanks a million, Rush.

sancarlos · Post by **sancarlos** » Sun Nov 03, 2013 3:08 pm

I would love to get some of these free books onto my iPad, but I must be doing something wrong, because it isn't working for me... hmm...

Meanwhile, I've started this book, now:

The Sybian · Post by **The Sybian** » Sun Nov 03, 2013 7:59 pm

sancarlos wrote:I would love to get some of these free books onto my iPad, but I must be doing something wrong, because it isn't working for me... hmm...

Meanwhile, I've started this book, now:

Can't wait to read that, let me know what you think.

A_B · Post by **A_B** » Mon Nov 04, 2013 8:18 am

The%20Bullpen%20Gospelsand We Have Always Lived in the Castle

Bensell · Post by **Bensell** » Mon Nov 04, 2013 9:23 am

sancarlos wrote:I would love to get some of these free books onto my iPad, but I must be doing something wrong, because it isn't working for me... hmm...

Meanwhile, I've started this book, now:

Picked that up at the library yesterday. Reading this now: