An FSU Without a Book Thread is Like an FS Event Without Snark

[Buzz]

Steve Jobs bio has just hit shelves but the folks behind the book are now talking about a 2nd edition! They want to put in more about his final days. As much as I loved reading about this guy, the more I think about it, the more I realise that the book has very little about the man that is new. In addition any new editions this soon after the first one was published just sounds like they are milking Jobs fame for all it's worth. There is also a documentary available on On demand/PPV about his life. The name escapes me right now and if you do not want to read the book, watch the documentary. It has much of the same information. Something that is not in the doc is the part of the book that mentions Mona Simpson publishing a novel inspired by him and using information she learnt from him and his daugther Lisa without their knowledge made me feel Kweezy.

[rfisher]

As the Self-Confessed Dreck Reader, I have moved on to Diana Gabaldon's newest Lord John Grey novel, "The Scottish Prisoner." At 500+ pages, it's longer than any of the previous LJG tales and there's precious little mystery in it so far but I'm enjoying the glimpse into Jamie FRaser's "lost years."

I also have Janet Evanovich's latest, #18, on tap so as to not tax my brain at all during the holidays.

I love dreck, but I can't read either author any more. I didn't even finish Gabaldon's last opus. She's waaaaaaaaaay too full of herself. Plus, I don't like her personally which may color my opinion a tiny bit. Evanovich is letting her daughter write under her name and she sucks. Worse than her mother.

[zaphyre14]

I love dreck, but I can't read either author any more. I didn't even finish Gabaldon's last opus. She's waaaaaaaaaay too full of herself. Plus, I don't like her personally which may color my opinion a tiny bit. Evanovich is letting her daughter write under her name and she sucks. Worse than her mother.

Each to her own.

I can't stand 90% of the stuff people seem to love in this thread so I just figured I'd post something a bit different. And somebody else must like Gabaldon because "The Scottish Prisoner" is #8 on the NYT Best Sellers list.

[BigB08822]

I got a Kindle and an Amazon gift card. I want to try an audio book. Can anyone recommend a good audio book? Some recent books I have read that I really liked are The Hunger Games, The Book Thief, Sookie Stackhouse series. Just to give an idea. I prefer fiction unless it tells a really good story. I don't care so much about learning anything, lol

[rfisher]

Each to her own.

I can't stand 90% of the stuff people seem to love in this thread so I just figured I'd post something a bit different. And somebody else must like Gabaldon because "The Scottish Prisoner" is #8 on the NYT Best Sellers list.

I know. Who's buying this stuff???? Well, apart from you.

[zaphyre14]

I know. Who's buying this stuff???? Well, apart from you.

Well, Janet Evanovitch is #1, Steven King (whom I gave up reading after Salem's Lot) is #2 and Danielle Steele (who's been writing the same book over and over for the last 20 years) is #32. Debbie Macomber has two Harlequin Romances on there, Nora Roberts is listed twice and so is James Patterson.

Which just either makes me wonder where the NYT gathers it's data from (grocery stores and Walmart?) or tells me that that this group doesn't exactly represent the general reading public.

I will confess, though , that I've never heard of many of the books mentioned here - and when I look them up on Amazon, I usually have zero interest in even the blurbs. Much of the time I think my tastes are too low-brow for this group.

[Wyliefan]

I got a Kindle and an Amazon gift card. I want to try an audio book. Can anyone recommend a good audio book? Some recent books I have read that I really liked are The Hunger Games, The Book Thief, Sookie Stackhouse series. Just to give an idea. I prefer fiction unless it tells a really good story. I don't care so much about learning anything, lol

Do you like mysteries? I've really enjoyed the Nero Wolfe mysteries by Rex Stout on audiobook. Also Dave Barry's books on audio -- they're nonfiction but light and funny.

[Prancer]

As the Self-Confessed Dreck Reader

DRECK

I got a Kindle and an Amazon gift card. I want to try an audio book. Can anyone recommend a good audio book? Some recent books I have read that I really liked are The Hunger Games, The Book Thief, Sookie Stackhouse series. Just to give an idea. I prefer fiction unless it tells a really good story. I don't care so much about learning anything, lol

Check out the Audies and Best of Books for Ears.

[rfisher]

. Much of the time I think my tastes are too low-brow for this group.

Mine too. I think what the best seller list shows is if you get one good one, all you have to do is continue to follow the same formula for the rest of your life and your books will sell. The key is getting that *one*. I do wonder how ebooks will change that situation. James Patterson, of course, is already making the change by promoting his books with Nook. Clever man that he is. I've seen that Kill Alex Cross ads so many times, I almost want to buy the book just to see if he does kill him off. I guess we'll see more ebook ads.

[Buzz]

LOL @ rfisher & zaphtre14

[Jenny]

LOL @ rfisher & zaphtre14

Well I'm with them. I love to read and imagine that I have a broad and diverse taste, but most of the time I have nothing to add to this thread

I once applied for a job at a publishing company. Knowing "what books do you read" would be an obvious question, I was armed and ready with an eclectic mix of serious biographies and hardcore history as well as popular novels, artsy stuff and special interest. My potential boss asked me if I had read this that and the other, which I had not, and I knew then and there we had nothing in common and the interview was going nowhere.

[zaphyre14]

Well I'm with them. I love to read and imagine that I have a broad and diverse taste, but most of the time I have nothing to add to this thread
.

That's why, every so often, I pluck up my courage and post about the dreck I'm reading - in the wild, vain hope that somebody out there is reading similar dreck and is just to shy or intimidated to mention it.

Even then, I generally try to post the "best" of the dreck - and not the stuff that I devour like potato chips.

Dreck Readers, Unite!!! (And post!)

I had an English professor in college who proclaimed that there was no bad literature - that reading anything from comic books (excuse me, "graphic novels") to cereal boxes to newspapers to best sellers to Shakespeare's sonnets was better than never reading anything at all and that primary and secondary school systems that "forced" students to read only the approved classics did more to kill the love of reading than they did to foster it. I know that with myself the best way to turn me off a book is to tell me that I "should" or "have to" read it.

[PrincessLeppard]

The only way to turn me off a book is to tell me it will "tug at my heartstrings."

I want people getting their brains eaten, eville dictators, and mayhem.

[galaxygirl]

That's why, every so often, I pluck up my courage and post about the dreck I'm reading - in the wild, vain hope that somebody out there is reading similar dreck and is just to shy or intimidated to mention it.

Even then, I generally try to post the "best" of the dreck - and not the stuff that I devour like potato chips.

Dreck Readers, Unite!!! (And post!)

I rarely read dreck. Not because I'm snooty and highbrow, but because I'd rather watch TV if I don't want to engage my brain.

I'm currently reading Remarkable Creatures: Epic Adventures in the Search for the Origins of Species.

[rfisher]

Dreck Readers, Unite!!! (And post!)
.

You know my feeling about Dreck. If it's not exciting by the first page, forget it. I'd be a great literary agent. If your first paragraph doesn't grab me, NEXT. I read for fun, not enlightenment, to be uplifted, fulfilled or any of those other metaphors Oprah throws about. I usually cross off any book Oprah endorses.

The only way to turn me off a book is to tell me it will "tug at my heartstrings."

I want people getting their brains eaten, eville dictators, and mayhem.

Throw in some sex, and you're good to go. I bought the Walking Dead compendium. I've only read chapters one and two (to catch up with the TV show) and will wait for the others. I was PML at how many pages were filled with Um...Uh... and .... still not certain what ... means, but whatever.

[gkelly]

Well, I'm trying to write a fairly fluffy mystery novel, which I hope someday will be finished to entertain those of you who enjoy fluff -- "dreck" or otherwise.

So mostly I'm reading recent mysteries. Some of them quite fluffy.

Not bestseller enough or deep enough to be worth mentioning here, but I'll let a fellow FSUer borrow them once I'm done.

And I'm reading a lot of works in progress by other would-be authors, some more skilled than me and some less so, for critique exchanges. Between that and all the other stuff I do online (or at the rink), I don't spend as much time sitting down with a book as I did 20 years ago, so for that reason also I don't have as many recent books to discuss.

[immoimeme]

I read John Grisham's latest and see, it was so memorable I can't even remember the title

Then I read Stephen King's 11/22/63 which was actually a love story, but you don't know that til the end....uh,except that I just told you that (oh well LOL)

I'm going to read "Nightwoods" by Charles Frazier (he wrote Cold Mountain if you don't remember)

"Nightwoods" was quite good, an easy read but not so simple you were bored. It often had thought-provoking moments. I recommend it, especailly if you want to read SOMEthing new but dunno what.

[flyingsit]

I want people getting their brains eaten, eville dictators, and mayhem.

Speaking of people getting their brains eaten, I read Zone One and was not very impressed. It didn't really go anywhere.

[PrincessLeppard]

Speaking of people getting their brains eaten, I read Zone One and was not very impressed. It didn't really go anywhere.

I've heard that criticism. But I'll read it, just like I slogged through all three of the Forest of Hands and Teeth series, even though I just wished everyone would get eaten already.

[Spinner]

I've heard that criticism.

I've heard this too, which is somewhat surprising given Colson Whitehead's cult-like following.