Winter Reading Thread

Okay . . . let's try this again.

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Winter Reading Thread

Post by Pruitt »

Got a bunch of gift cards from Indigo (Canadian book seller) for my birthday.

Starting out with this one:

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2/3rds of the way through and it is really, really good.
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Re: Winter Reading Thread

Post by Rush2112 »

Just finished this:

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and reading this on the commute

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Re: Winter Reading Thread

Post by EdRomero »

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It has probably been over 20 years since I last read Vonnegut. This book is a nice collection of short stories, but the last piece in the book --a personal essay, "The Last Tasmanian," is pure Vonnegut goodness and a great reminder of why I read all of his work so enthusiastically.
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Re: Winter Reading Thread

Post by Pruitt »

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So, so slow at the start, but picking up nicely (about halfway through)
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Re: Winter Reading Thread

Post by Rush2112 »

I went on a La Carre / Ludlum bender a few years ago. I'm more middle-aged now so I guess I should pick them up again. Also, have to find the Turtledove and Cornwell sections at the library I guess.
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Re: Winter Reading Thread

Post by DaveInSeattle »

After Toni Morrison died, I felt bad that I'd never read any of her books. So I put a bunch on my hold list at the library.

I'm currently reading 'Jazz'...and I'm not sure what to think. The writing is spectacular on its own...but I'm not sure if the story itself is really doing anything for me.
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Re: Winter Reading Thread

Post by P.D.X. »

DaveInSeattle wrote: Wed Dec 04, 2019 12:16 pm After Toni Morrison died, I felt bad that I'd never read any of her books. So I put a bunch on my hold list at the library.

I'm currently reading 'Jazz'...and I'm not sure what to think. The writing is spectacular on its own...but I'm not sure if the story itself is really doing anything for me.
I always assumed Beloved was her swan song, but mostly because it's the only one I've read from her (college) and I thought it was pretty damn good.
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Re: Winter Reading Thread

Post by Pruitt »

Pruitt wrote: Tue Dec 03, 2019 6:18 pm Image

So, so slow at the start, but picking up nicely (about halfway through)
Meh, bordering on feh.

Skimmed the last 80 pages or so because I just didn't give a shit.

On to this one - at least the plot twists won't be presented as being a shock when they were obvious from page 20.

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Re: Winter Reading Thread

Post by A_B »

I either love le carre or its just like you said. His best are classics but the others are just run of the mill. But having a few classics is a good legacy.
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Re: Winter Reading Thread

Post by govmentchedda »

Pruitt wrote: Sat Dec 07, 2019 8:23 pm
Pruitt wrote: Tue Dec 03, 2019 6:18 pm Image

So, so slow at the start, but picking up nicely (about halfway through)
Meh, bordering on feh.

Skimmed the last 80 pages or so because I just didn't give a shit.

On to this one - at least the plot twists won't be presented as being a shock when they were obvious from page 20.

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Re: Winter Reading Thread

Post by Pruitt »

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A fantastic, fairly short novel, but as creepy as hell.
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Re: Winter Reading Thread

Post by Shirley »

DaveInSeattle wrote: Wed Dec 04, 2019 12:16 pm After Toni Morrison died, I felt bad that I'd never read any of her books. So I put a bunch on my hold list at the library.

I'm currently reading 'Jazz'...and I'm not sure what to think. The writing is spectacular on its own...but I'm not sure if the story itself is really doing anything for me.
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Re: Winter Reading Thread

Post by wlu_lax6 »

Read the new Grisham over the last few days. Decent enough read. Better than some of his more recent stuff.
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Re: Winter Reading Thread

Post by sancarlos »

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Re: Winter Reading Thread

Post by Johnnie »

Ooh. Gonna have to get that Kluwe book. He's one of the coolest 'nerds' out there. I like him a lot.

As for my reading, since the internet is wack here, I brought my loaded Kindle. And I'm glad I did.

Shout out (again) to Calibre and TOTALLY LEGAL means of acquiring free books online.

Read Catch and Kill, Tribe, The Closers, and The Overlook. (Skipped Echo Park because that book was the basis of season 1 of the TV show Bosch.)

The last two are Michael Connelly novels in the Harry Bosch series. I read my first two books from him on my very first deployment because paperback books are always all over the place in deployed locations. That deployment I read Void Moon and Angel's Flight and really got into his stuff. At this pace I'll finish up everything he's written by the time I get home. Next up, Nine Dragons.
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Re: Winter Reading Thread

Post by brian »

Just finished the latest Connelly joint myself. Great as always.
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Re: Winter Reading Thread

Post by DaveInSeattle »

I'm about 40% of the way done with this:

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Its pretty interesting so far. Lots of things about 'The Troubles' that I remember hearing about, but didn't know the details.
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Re: Winter Reading Thread

Post by Sabo »

Started reading again over the Christmas holidays, and have a nice backlog of books to read. This is what I read over Christmas:

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... what I'm currently (re-)reading:

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... and what's on deck:

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Re: Winter Reading Thread

Post by DaveInSeattle »

Sabo wrote: Tue Jan 07, 2020 4:43 pm Started reading again over the Christmas holidays, and have a nice backlog of books to read. This is what I read over Christmas:

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Thats an AWESOME book.
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Re: Winter Reading Thread

Post by Rush2112 »

If you don't know about it the LIbrary Extension is pretty great. It adds a link to the library of your choice in Amazon (and other vendors) webpages letting you know if it's available from the library. You just install for Chrome or FF and then select the libraries that you use.
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Re: Winter Reading Thread

Post by govmentchedda »

DaveInSeattle wrote: Tue Jan 07, 2020 4:59 pm
Sabo wrote: Tue Jan 07, 2020 4:43 pm Started reading again over the Christmas holidays, and have a nice backlog of books to read. This is what I read over Christmas:

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Thats an AWESOME book.
I really feel underprepared to post here, given how little I read, but I enjoyed Barbarian Days.

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Last edited by govmentchedda on Wed Jan 08, 2020 9:47 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Winter Reading Thread

Post by Sabo »

DaveInSeattle wrote: Tue Jan 07, 2020 4:59 pm
Sabo wrote: Tue Jan 07, 2020 4:43 pm Started reading again over the Christmas holidays, and have a nice backlog of books to read. This is what I read over Christmas:

Image
Thats an AWESOME book.
I enjoyed it. And while I liked reading about surfing and all that, I was much more interested in the science of how rogue waves are formed. I was surprised at how poorly humanity understands wave formation, but it does seem especially complicated.
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Re: Winter Reading Thread

Post by EdRomero »

I've mostly avoided graphic novels, but I just flew through the Amulet series (without realizing the last book of the series hasn't been written yet), and loved it.

Also, might need to read Slaughterhouse Five again: https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by- ... -2020.html
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Re: Winter Reading Thread

Post by Pruitt »

Every once in a while I go on a short TC Boyle binge.

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The title story is brilliant. https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2014 ... relive-box
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Re: Winter Reading Thread

Post by Rush2112 »

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and

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Did you see that ludicrous display last night?
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Re: Winter Reading Thread

Post by govmentchedda »

I had one of those Rough Guides back in the day. Wish I could find it now.
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Re: Winter Reading Thread

Post by Rush2112 »

govmentchedda wrote: Thu Jan 23, 2020 2:07 pm I had one of those Rough Guides back in the day. Wish I could find it now.
Bought one off Amazon for ~6 bucks.
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Re: Winter Reading Thread

Post by govmentchedda »

I bet mine was a year or two earlier than that one. I am pretty sure I picked it up while studying abroad in '99.
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Re: Winter Reading Thread

Post by Pruitt »

Recent events have given me a newfound interest in the workings of the brain.

Written in laymen's terms and quite enjoyable. Fascinating stuff.

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Re: Winter Reading Thread

Post by EdRomero »

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https://www.amazon.com/George-Scholasti ... ks&sr=1-1 After this book was donated to my program, I started reading it to figure out if it should be in the classroom library (4th & 5th grade). It's kind of shocking to read a book written at the third grade reading level with the main character getting upset about seeing his penis in the bathtub. By the end of the book, I feel it's such an important book especially as more elementary students are being more public with gender identity (along with the ones that have privately struggled with this). Still not sure if it will be in the classroom library though.
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Re: Winter Reading Thread

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So, I'm about a third of the way through this incredibly riveting book. A true World War 2 story of a Polish soldier who endured torture by the Russians and then a months long brutal trek to a Gulag. He then escaped and over the course of 18 months he and some other men travelled by foot all the way from northern Siberia to freedom in India. A few of them died, but iot's an epic story.

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But as I was looking for pictures of the cover of the book, I read that the whole thing is bullshit. The book was a sensation when published in 1956, but has been repeatedly disproven.

Well, at least it was a library book...
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Re: Winter Reading Thread

Post by Pruitt »

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This book is weaving some incredibly interesting threads together. About 1/3rd of the way through and I am hooked.
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Re: Winter Reading Thread

Post by Rush2112 »

Pruitt wrote: Wed Feb 05, 2020 5:48 pm A true World War 2 story of a Polish soldier ....
My ex wife's grandmother walked from Ukraine to the Netherlands at the end / in the aftermath of WWII. Her grandfather was killed by a strafing USAAF airplane somewhere in Poland. She's was an amazing woman, her grand-daughter turned out to be a bitch.

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This is pretty amazing. Researchers using Google Books as a way to study trends in culture.

Just finished

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Which goes a bit too much into the record company bullshit, but still pretty great.
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Re: Winter Reading Thread

Post by DaveInSeattle »

I'm currently reading 'SovietStans' about Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan.

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And I'm in the last section...about Kyrgyzstan. And holy shit...did you know that in Kyrgyzstan, its like a totally common thing for men, with the help of their friends, to KIDNAP women, take them back to their villages and force them into marriage?

From Wikipedia:
Despite its illegality,[36] in many primarily rural areas, bride kidnapping, known as ala kachuu (to take and flee), is an accepted and common way of taking a wife.[37] A recent victimization survey in Kyrgyzstan (2015) included the crime of kidnapping of young women for marriage. Fourteen percent of married women answered that they were kidnapped at the time and that two-thirds of these cases were consensual, the woman knew the man and had agreed with it up front. This means that about five percent of current marriages in Kyrgyzstan are cases of 'Ala Kachuu'.[38]

There is another source that mentions much higher numbers. Approximately half of all Kyrgyz marriages include bride kidnapping; of those kidnappings, two-thirds are non-consensual.[39] Research by non-governmental organizations give estimates from a low of 40%[40] to between 68 and 75 percent[41] of all marriages in Kyrgyzstan involved bride kidnapping.
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Re: Winter Reading Thread

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DaveInSeattle wrote: Thu Feb 13, 2020 3:22 pm I'm currently reading 'SovietStans' about Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan.

Image

And I'm in the last section...about Kyrgyzstan. And holy shit...did you know that in Kyrgyzstan, its like a totally common thing for men, with the help of their friends, to KIDNAP women, take them back to their villages and force them into marriage?

From Wikipedia:
Despite its illegality,[36] in many primarily rural areas, bride kidnapping, known as ala kachuu (to take and flee), is an accepted and common way of taking a wife.[37] A recent victimization survey in Kyrgyzstan (2015) included the crime of kidnapping of young women for marriage. Fourteen percent of married women answered that they were kidnapped at the time and that two-thirds of these cases were consensual, the woman knew the man and had agreed with it up front. This means that about five percent of current marriages in Kyrgyzstan are cases of 'Ala Kachuu'.[38]

There is another source that mentions much higher numbers. Approximately half of all Kyrgyz marriages include bride kidnapping; of those kidnappings, two-thirds are non-consensual.[39] Research by non-governmental organizations give estimates from a low of 40%[40] to between 68 and 75 percent[41] of all marriages in Kyrgyzstan involved bride kidnapping.
Roger Bennett was talking this up on the Men in Blazers, I really want to read this.
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Re: Winter Reading Thread

Post by DaveInSeattle »

The Sybian wrote: Thu Feb 13, 2020 4:49 pm
DaveInSeattle wrote: Thu Feb 13, 2020 3:22 pm I'm currently reading 'SovietStans' about Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan.

Image

And I'm in the last section...about Kyrgyzstan. And holy shit...did you know that in Kyrgyzstan, its like a totally common thing for men, with the help of their friends, to KIDNAP women, take them back to their villages and force them into marriage?

From Wikipedia:
Despite its illegality,[36] in many primarily rural areas, bride kidnapping, known as ala kachuu (to take and flee), is an accepted and common way of taking a wife.[37] A recent victimization survey in Kyrgyzstan (2015) included the crime of kidnapping of young women for marriage. Fourteen percent of married women answered that they were kidnapped at the time and that two-thirds of these cases were consensual, the woman knew the man and had agreed with it up front. This means that about five percent of current marriages in Kyrgyzstan are cases of 'Ala Kachuu'.[38]

There is another source that mentions much higher numbers. Approximately half of all Kyrgyz marriages include bride kidnapping; of those kidnappings, two-thirds are non-consensual.[39] Research by non-governmental organizations give estimates from a low of 40%[40] to between 68 and 75 percent[41] of all marriages in Kyrgyzstan involved bride kidnapping.
Roger Bennett was talking this up on the Men in Blazers, I really want to read this.
That's what brought it to my attention. Its really interesting, about a part of the world I knew almost nothing about.
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Re: Winter Reading Thread

Post by Pruitt »

I love books like that.

Not yet available up here. Except in French.
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Re: Winter Reading Thread

Post by A_B »

Just finished listening to Nathanial Philbrick's Bunker Hill. It's funny how all the details you think you remember from school end up being not as accurate as thought. I knew Lexington & Concord and Bunker hill were early in the war, but I also thought they were very close before the Declaration of Independence, and not a full year before. On a lesser note, it's still jarring that it took over 15 years to really have a country after the Declaration.

Also didn't realize how much Boston's geography had changed over the centuries. Looked like those nasty full belly clams at the time of Bunker Hill.
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Re: Winter Reading Thread

Post by The Sybian »

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Kushner, Inc.: Greed. Ambition. Corruption. The Extraordinary Story of Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump by Vicky Ward

Interesting read, nothing shocking or all that new. Gives a quick history of Kushner's grandparents surviving the Holocaust and moving to NJ, and how his grandparent's experience shaped his father. A good recap of the horrific piece of shit Jared's father is, down to set up his brother in law by paying a hooker to seduce him and fuck him in a hotel with hidden cameras so he could blackmail his BiL out of testifying against him in court. And he gave the tape to his sister. I didn't realize how closely involved he was into the scandal that took down NJ Governor Jim "I am a gay American" McGreevey. Apparently he set up McGreevey with the gay Israeli man he hired as his security detail so he could secretly have an affair. And I didn't know the rumors of Charles Kushner leading a secret gay life.

Also interesting stuff on Charles buying the New York Observer for Jared to run. I was always so confused about that. Why spend huge money to buy a dying newspaper in this century, and have it run by your half-wit son with no intellectual curiosity or self awareness. According to the book, Charles wanted the paper to rehabilitate his own image and write hit-pieces against his enemies and business rivals. A good friend is an attorney for Charles Kushner's biggest rival, and they discussed Jared blackmailing that guy (Vikings owner Zygi Wilf) by threatening to run a hit piece. Haven't talked to my friend about it, but he did tell me it wasn't a threat, they ran a story and it was completely fabricated lies.

Most of the book was Trump Admin insiders giving specific stories of how truly stupid and corrupt Jared and Ivanka are. Most of it I knew from watching too many pundit clips, but it was interesting to hear some inside stories to add color. Also interesting politics between Jared/Ivanka and opposing forces in the Admin vying for influence over Trump. Again, Jared and Ivanka come off as cartoonishly stupid, arrogant and lacking any self-awareness of how stupid they are.
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Re: Winter Reading Thread

Post by bfj »

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Really enjoyed listening to this. Audio book is great because it plays audio transcripts and interviews that are referred to in the book. It isn’t just Gladwell reading the whole time.
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