The Swamp

Posted: **Thu Feb 09, 2023 12:05 pm**

EdRomero wrote: ↑Thu Feb 09, 2023 11:31 am
DaveInSeattle wrote: ↑Thu Feb 09, 2023 11:05 am
EdRomero wrote: ↑Wed Feb 08, 2023 9:00 pm Also, the name droppping is just ridiculous...4 of the 5 most recent US presidents, Mandela, the Pope, Princess Di, George Soros, Warren Buffett, Bill Gates, and a few musicians too.
Let me guess...which was the one President he didn't discuss....
Oh, he discussed him. Just never talked to or hung out with him like the others. He discussed MLK's instruction to find 1 good thing about a person and start the discussion there. It worked for GW. With Trump, he still hasn't found what he's looking for.

Posted: **Mon Feb 20, 2023 1:01 pm**

This is a wild book. Halfway through and just loving it...

Thus far it's about...

[+] spoiler: The ghost of Everett Till wreaking very bloody vengeance on the descendants of the men who killed him.

Posted: **Mon Feb 20, 2023 6:00 pm**

Heard about this on a podcast. Just started today. Writing is not great but the subject will keep me locked in.

Posted: **Tue Feb 21, 2023 10:55 am**

This is a harrowing novel and I have been staying up pretty late the last few nights because I can't put it down. Will the fastest I've ever read a near 900-page book.

Posted: **Fri Feb 24, 2023 9:36 pm**

govmentchedda wrote: ↑Fri Jan 20, 2023 11:39 am
Giff wrote: ↑Fri Jan 20, 2023 11:22 am I'm enjoying this one waaaaaaay more than I thought I would.

It's really good. Might be the only book I finished last year.

I really enjoyed it while reading it but felt unsatisfied at the end -- got a lttle too meladromatic for me, and then I found out it's a a television series on AppleTV (which I dont have right now). The early 20th century Japanese do not come across well in a lot of my reading.

I really enjoed this book:

And this one:

I've had some luck choosing popular books on Libby.

Posted: **Mon Mar 06, 2023 2:19 pm**

Just finished Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandel. Very interesting book if you like the author. I'd recommend reading The Glass Hotel first, as one of the characters from that book is a character in this one. To a lesser extent I'd recommend reading Station Eleven first, as another character is surely supposed to be the author to some extent (a little-known author who wrote a novel about a pandemic who later became famous and then lives through a pandemic). Much like her other books, it's hauntingly beautiful and jumps around between characters and timelines. First third of the book you have no idea what's going on, but it all comes together. A little weird reading this while watching Severance, as both have a similar tone to the stories and you initially know there is something going on that you don't understand yet, and it's a cool reveal.

Posted: **Mon Mar 06, 2023 2:33 pm**

Absolutely loved all three of those books. Really unique style, and as you say, the kind of ethereal tie-ins of the various characters is very cool device.

Posted: **Fri Mar 10, 2023 3:48 pm**

Just finished this one. Between that and The Deluge, I've read 1577 pages between two books since my last trip to library.

Posted: **Fri Mar 10, 2023 4:43 pm**

Good page total my man!

Currently reading

and

Posted: **Fri Mar 10, 2023 4:57 pm**

three poles...climax

Posted: **Mon Mar 20, 2023 8:07 am**

My mother's librarian friend (not Rush) recommended these:

Loved it. An aquarium octopus is a narrator throughout it and there's a Scandanavian older woman that reminded me of my grandmother.

This was ok. Very interesting stuff about forced sterilization

Posted: **Mon Mar 20, 2023 9:37 am**

What's your mom's problem with Rush?

Posted: **Mon Mar 20, 2023 10:00 am**

Remarkably Bright Creatures is a very fun read. Endearing.

Posted: **Wed Mar 29, 2023 2:49 pm**

Just finished this last night:

Its about various college football stars who volunteered for the Marines in WWII, and ended up stationed on Guadalcanal, where they staged a football game (the "Mosquito Bowl") on Christmas Eve, 1944 before they shipped off for the invasion of Okinawa.

It was good. Whatever his personal oddities, Bissinger can certainly tell a story.

Posted: **Wed Mar 29, 2023 2:58 pm**

i mean, there's no way he could have remembered all these specific conversations from the 1960s so I have to think there may be some revisionism involved... but holy hell this is really fascinating to hear so many specifics on how their latter-period records were recorded.

Blows my damn mind that Sgt Pepper was recorded on a 4 track...

(...me sullenly looking in the corner of my basement at my old Tascam 424 4-track portastudio and the feeble cassette demos I've recorded on it over the years...)

Posted: **Wed Mar 29, 2023 3:03 pm**

Pruitt IV wrote: ↑Mon Feb 20, 2023 1:01 pm This is a wild book. Halfway through and just loving it...

Thus far it's about...
[+] spoiler
The ghost of Everett Till wreaking very bloody vengeance on the descendants of the men who killed him.

In a rut right now where I don't want to read, but I'm going to crack this one open tomorrow.

Posted: **Sun Apr 02, 2023 1:04 am**

OK this book is amazing. I meant to go to bed two hours ago.

Posted: **Sun Apr 02, 2023 10:47 am**

Giff wrote: ↑Fri Mar 10, 2023 3:48 pm Just finished this one. Between that and The Deluge, I've read 1577 pages between two books since my last trip to library.

What did you think of this one? I read Wanderers when it came out then read this last month.

Posted: **Mon Apr 10, 2023 9:12 pm**

sancarlos wrote: ↑Fri Feb 03, 2023 6:10 pm

Really enjoying this one, after it finally became available through Libby. Kept getting the sequels listed as available, but didn't want to go out of order.

Posted: **Thu Apr 27, 2023 12:48 pm**

Giff wrote: ↑Wed Mar 29, 2023 3:03 pm
Pruitt IV wrote: ↑Mon Feb 20, 2023 1:01 pm This is a wild book. Halfway through and just loving it...

Thus far it's about...
[+] spoiler
The ghost of Everett Till wreaking very bloody vengeance on the descendants of the men who killed him.

In a rut right now where I don't want to read, but I'm going to crack this one open tomorrow.

Carolyn Bryant Donham Dies at 88; Her Words Doomed Emmett Till

Posted: **Thu Apr 27, 2023 12:51 pm**

I hope it was as horrific as possible.

Posted: **Thu Apr 27, 2023 12:55 pm**

mister d wrote: ↑Mon Mar 20, 2023 9:37 am What's your mom's problem with Rush?

Most women just don't get Prog for some reason.

I've started rereading the Discworld series. But taking a break for

Posted: **Thu Apr 27, 2023 12:56 pm**

Probably not the thread for this, but I just learned that the keyboardist/trumpet player for Vandoliers has a masters in library science and immediately thought of Rush.

Posted: **Sat May 13, 2023 3:01 pm**

I started Scorpions: The Battles and Triumphs of FDR's Great Supreme Court Justices and it's pretty good. Definite recommend.

All the political horse trading that went on in the 30s and 40s is so fascinating. Like, getting to the SC wasn't the final goal. People routinely left to do other things.

Then there's the fact that everyone knew everyone in terms of Yale, Harvard, and Columbia lawyers is quite something. That's probably still true today though.

And the fact that senators were selected and confirmed within a week is nuts. Double especially that the dude (Hugo Black) wasn't ever really a lawyer, was just FDR's buddy who supported his court packing idea, and that he was a member of the KKK. Like WTF.

It really makes all of the hearings and the spectacle of nominations look quaint today. The Heritage Foundation doesn't really seem to have shit on the Good Ol' Boy New York power playing of that time.

Posted: **Sat May 13, 2023 4:21 pm**

Pruitt IV wrote: ↑Thu Apr 27, 2023 12:48 pm
Giff wrote: ↑Wed Mar 29, 2023 3:03 pm
Pruitt IV wrote: ↑Mon Feb 20, 2023 1:01 pm This is a wild book. Halfway through and just loving it...

Thus far it's about...
[+] spoiler
The ghost of Everett Till wreaking very bloody vengeance on the descendants of the men who killed him.

In a rut right now where I don't want to read, but I'm going to crack this one open tomorrow.
Carolyn Bryant Donham Dies at 88; Her Words Doomed Emmett Till

I ended up not liking this book at all. It was a page turner and there were some cool ideas but I thought it came across as how an emo teenager would imagine karma for the racists. Not to be the one defending the awful people behind lynching but the author went over the top trying to insult each of the characters; maybe that's his point. Having a character named Ho introduce himself to Chi and then introducing themselves to another character named Minh is just a groaner

[+] spoiler: and the Donald Trump appearance came off like a South Park episode.

I quickly scanned reviews and it looks like I'm in the minority and the author is well respected. Oh well.

Posted: **Sat May 13, 2023 7:16 pm**

I found the last third or so to be not as good as what came before it.

Still, I flew through it, which is pretty rare for me..

Posted: **Fri May 19, 2023 12:54 pm**

and I just got notice that the other two Alistar Moffatt books the public library system owns are on the hold shelf so I have things planned.

Posted: **Fri May 19, 2023 2:02 pm**

Just got this delivered on Libby after more than a few weeks on the waiting list.

Posted: **Fri May 19, 2023 2:25 pm**

Is that the UK TV presenter that is super tall Richard Osman?

Posted: **Fri May 19, 2023 2:54 pm**

Rush2112 wrote: ↑Fri May 19, 2023 2:25 pm Is that the UK TV presenter that is super tall Richard Osman?

Not sure how tall he is, but I do think this author has a first/second career in television. The first book was super charming.

Posted: **Fri May 19, 2023 5:15 pm**

Hole Moley!

Halfway through and all I want to do is keep reading.

Posted: **Fri May 19, 2023 5:56 pm**

Pruitt IV wrote: ↑Fri May 19, 2023 5:15 pm Hole Moley!

Halfway through and all I want to do is keep reading.

He was the guest on this weeks episode of The Distraction (the defector podcast with Drew Magery and David Roth) and was great.

Posted: **Fri May 19, 2023 5:57 pm**

You just can't believe how horrible the old days were.

Like every page has my toes curling.

Posted: **Fri May 19, 2023 6:46 pm**

DaveInSeattle wrote: ↑Fri May 19, 2023 5:56 pm
Pruitt IV wrote: ↑Fri May 19, 2023 5:15 pm Hole Moley!

Halfway through and all I want to do is keep reading.

He was the guest on this weeks episode of The Distraction (the defector podcast with Drew Magery and David Roth) and was great.

Yeah I need to check this guy out.

Posted: **Fri May 19, 2023 9:40 pm**

Gone on a hell of an audio book tear this year. Highlights have been: Book Lovers by Emily Henry, Hench by Natalie Zina Walschots, Gods of Jade and Shadow, All Systems Red by Martha Wells (these are way shorter than most books). The Vanishing Half by Britt Bennett.

Why Nations Fail was pretty good, but there are chunks that can be skipped as it gets a bit repetitive as they sort of go over similar situations on different continents to prove their point.

Fifth Season by NK Jemisin is pretty good fantasy (imo the magic is the weakest part of it, but otherwise a generally very good book)

For murder mystery, I liked the Dead Water series by Barbara Hambly, she really tries to do slave era New Orleans justice.

Posted: **Fri May 19, 2023 10:43 pm**

That Martha Wells series was so good.

I tried really hard to get into NK Jemisin, but her books just haven’t connected with me.

Posted: **Fri May 19, 2023 11:05 pm**

govmentchedda wrote: ↑Fri May 19, 2023 2:54 pm
Rush2112 wrote: ↑Fri May 19, 2023 2:25 pm Is that the UK TV presenter that is super tall Richard Osman?
Not sure how tall he is, but I do think this author has a first/second career in television. The first book was super charming.

Like 6'7" but I googled him and he's the guy. I think he's been on 8 out of 10 Cats Countdown, but know him from QI. Former vicar if remember correctly.

Posted: **Sat May 20, 2023 12:09 pm**

I liked the 2nd Thursday Murder Club book even more than the first! Haven’t started the 3rd yet.

I also want to check out that David Grann book. Sounds great. (But I’ve basically given up reading books until I’m done with eye surgeries.)

Posted: **Sat May 20, 2023 12:25 pm**

Steve of phpBB wrote: ↑Fri May 19, 2023 10:43 pm That Martha Wells series was so good.

I tried really hard to get into NK Jemisin, but her books just haven’t connected with me.

I liked the books way better than the audio books if that helps.

Posted: **Sat May 20, 2023 12:53 pm**

DaveInSeattle wrote: ↑Fri May 19, 2023 5:56 pm
Pruitt IV wrote: ↑Fri May 19, 2023 5:15 pm Hole Moley!

Halfway through and all I want to do is keep reading.

He was the guest on this weeks episode of The Distraction (the defector podcast with Drew Magery and David Roth) and was great.

Also a guest on Russillo's podcast on April 18th.

His book Killers of the Flower Moon has a movie coming out soon. The trailer just came out recently. Scorsese flick staring DiCaprio and DeNiro.

The Swamp

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