Outside of a Dog, a Book is Man's Best Friend (The Book Thread)

[Susan1]

I caught a guy on one of the MSNBC shows last night (I was flipping back and forth with the Great Christmas Light Fight, so which one?............) who wrote the latest Robert B. Parker Sunny Randall book, Mike Lupica. There hasn't been one since 2007. I still have to read the latest Jesse Stone by Reed Farrell Coleman. And there are 7 Spencer books by Ace Atkins. I'm still working down the list and have 7 Spencer books actually written by Robert B. Parker to go first. I've been putting off getting the one from 2006 because it has to be interlibrary loaned.

 

[sk8pics]

I had mostly been too busy to read much but since I'm semi-retired I have more time. I'm currently listening to Peter Sagal's book The Incomplete Book of Running. I normally prefer to read my books instead of listen to them, but Sagal reads the book himself and I LOVE it! It is funny and poignant and sometimes sad and his delivery makes it all the more enjoyable. Among other stories, he talks about having been in the Boston Marathon which had the bombing, guiding a blind runner, and they finished 5 minutes before the bomb went off.Anyway, I recommend it, but get the audio book rather than the physical copy (or e-book) to read.

 

[genevieve]

Loved Fingersmith - Paying Guests was alright, but I won’t ever re-read it. Tipping the Velvet is on my shelf waiting to be read.

I still haven't read Fingersmith. Loved Tipping the Velvet (although it was my 1st Sarah Waters book and I haven't read it in a long time), and really loved her book Night Watch.

I'm on the 2nd book (The Obelisk Gate) of the Broken Earth trilogy by NK Jemisin. I still love the world she's created, although this book has a lot more things to keep track of, and there are some characters being set up where it's hard to tell if they're heroes or villains and it's tipping over from intriguing to frustrating. Also seems like a lot of setting the stage for book 3.

 

[gkelly]

I still haven't read Fingersmith. Loved Tipping the Velvet (although it was my 1st Sarah Waters book and I haven't read it in a long time),

Or if you're lazy like me you could watch the movie.

 

[Susan1]

The newest Michael Connelly Harry Bosch book, Dark Sacred Night, is with the new female detective, Renee Ballard. I read the first one with just her. I still have the last two Bosch books to go first. And they both are with Mickey Haller. The last one I read had Harry retired again and working for Mickey.

 

[mjb52]

Y'all I know I already said this but Fingersmith is a MUST-READ. The plot twists (is it a spoiler to say there are plot twists?) are simply above and beyond. I stayed up all night literally pinching myself to stay awake because I had to know what happened.

 

[Erin]

Lots of reading lately, although some of it has taken me a while to finish.

Bob Woodward’s Fear was interesting but definitely could have used some more editing - it feels like it was rushed to print. There was at least one sentence that was a fragment and a number of sections that didn’t flow well. It marred what could have been a stronger book.

The Hamilton Affair by Elizabeth Cobbs was a fictionalized account of Alexander Hamilton’s life, told from both his point of view and his wife’s. It was reasonably well done and from what I know of Hamilton’s life, historically accurate. It was a quick read.

Another cute diversion was The Jane Austen Project by Kathleen A Flynn, which is about two time travelers who go back to 1815 in an attempt to meet Jane and collect a finished copy of The Watsons that scholars recently learn was published. I enjoyed the regency aspect of it and the fish out of water parts.

Spoiler

There is an unnecessary romance, which is pretty well-telegraphed, and I was meh on the last chapter, which dealt more with the time travel aspects

I also read two Diane Chamberlain books lately, Keeper of the Light and The Stolen Marriage. Her books all have a bit of the same trope - set in North Carolina, a plucky but somewhat naive heroine, often some kind of medical and/or moral dilemma, involving class and race. In spite of the bit of formula, the books have enough variety that they are still different from one another and I still enjoyed them. The Stolen Marriage was probably stronger than Keeper of the Light.

 

[Marge_Simpson]

Y'all I know I already said this but Fingersmith is a MUST-READ. The plot twists (is it a spoiler to say there are plot twists?) are simply above and beyond. I stayed up all night literally pinching myself to stay awake because I had to know what happened.

Agree it is a must-read.
If, after the plot twist, you go back and re-read part I, you’ll see that Waters practically spelled out exactly what was going to happen, with all the foreshadowing she did.

 

[mjb52]

I just read a book called The Quick and it was a real disappointment. There is supposed to be a big plot twist, but I didn't find it interesting at all, and the story after the twist (which comes pretty early in the book) has no real force or drive behind it - I would have far preferred it to not have the twist at all and to have continued on the path it appeared to be on (trying to avoid spoilers here).

 

[Susan1]

Since the library is/was going to be closed Dec. 24, 25, 31 and Jan. 1, I requested a bunch of books a couple weeks ago. I have 10 library books in my house (2 finished)! And the new Janet Evanovich book came in Saturday.

I just finished Lisa Scottoline's 18th Bennie Rosato book, and in three different places she wrote that they were "representing" the company they were actually suing. And two sentences later mentioned that they were suing that company. Sloppy, sloppy, sloppy.

 

[genevieve]

Finished The Stone Sky, the last of the Broken Earth trilogy. The whole trilogy is pretty incredible and I'm sorry to leave that world. Especially because a BUNCH of new information was jammed into this book that I'd like to explore more than the central division that was set in motion on Book 2 to be resolved here. There's a lot to nit-pick about in terms of consistency (and red herring details), but the overall story and storytelling is worth it.

If anyone is considering this trilogy, a warning that each chapter in all the books is told in different POVs - including the dreaded 2nd person - which is distracting at first, but stick with it.

 

[skateycat]

This six year-old article made it to my Twitter feed about Scott Lynch’s Gentleman Bastards series. So it is the audiobook for our road trip. Young Skateycat cracks up at each F and S bomb. And book 1 is enjoyable so far!

 

[oleada]

Barack Obama published his list of his 2018 Favorites of the Year. (Remember when we had a president who could read? Good times.)

Here’s a reminder of the books that I read this year that appeared on earlier lists:
Becoming by Michelle Obama (obviously my favorite!)
An American Marriage by Tayari Jones
Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
The Broken Ladder: How Inequality Affects the Way We Think, Live, and Die by Keith Payne
Educated by Tara Westover
Factfulness by Hans Rosling
Futureface: A Family Mystery, an Epic Quest, and the Secret to Belonging by Alex Wagner
A Grain of Wheat by Ngugi wa Thiong’o
A House for Mr Biswas by V.S. Naipaul
How Democracies Die by Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt
In the Shadow of Statues: A White Southerner Confronts History by Mitch Landrieu
Long Walk to Freedom by Nelson Mandela
The New Geography of Jobs by Enrico Moretti
The Return by Hisham Matar
Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe
Warlight by Michael Ondaatje
Why Liberalism Failed by Patrick Deneen
The World As It Is by Ben Rhodes

Here are my other favorite books of 2018:
American Prison by Shane Bauer
Arthur Ashe: A Life by Raymond Arsenault
Asymmetry by Lisa Halliday
Feel Free by Zadie Smith
Florida by Lauren Groff
Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom by David W. Blight
Immigrant, Montana by Amitava Kumar
The Largesse of the Sea Maiden by Denis Johnson
Life 3.0: Being Human in the Age of Artificial Intelligence by Max Tegmark
There There by Tommy Orange
Washington Black by Esi Edugyan

My MIL got me Michelle Obama's book as well as Asymmetry for the holidays so this is timely. Normally, Asymmetry isn't the type of thing I'd go for.

I read a couple of books over the holiday:

K2: Life and Death on the World's Most Dangerous Mountain by Ed Viesturs: This was for the Popsugar reading challenge (which I am nowhere near finishing) "A book about sports". Mountaineering is a sport, right? Anyway, I'm weirdly fascinated by it. It's not exactly the most well written but it covers the history of climbing K2 and it's a quick read.

The Last Time I Lied by Riley Sager: Woman goes back to the camp where her 3 cabinmates once disappeared. Well, kudos because I didn't see the twist coming but that would require a major suspension of disbelief and it was all super ridiculous. I was't the biggest fan.

Popsugar published their 2019 challenge so I'm going to try that again this year. I met my original reading goal (read 28 books, 24 was my goal) but only 24 of those really fit in any of the categories for the Popsugar challenge...

 

[emason]

@oleada, yes mountaineering is a sport! I read Touching the Void for that category; it's about a famous mountaineering accident. If I hadn't read that I would have read the book (name escapes me at the moment) about the point-shaving scandal that derailed the greatest basketball team CCNY ever had.

(Marge_Simpson and I belong to a loosely organized PopSugar group here in NY; if you want to join us online (or in person when we infrequently get our acts together for brunch) just give one of us your email and we can add you to our distribution list for whenever we email about books. We have some interesting discussions going and not all members of the group are here in NY. One of our goals is world domination through reading.)

 

[Kasey]

for anyone wanting to read any mountaineering books, I read (for my own self, not for any challenge!) "Into thin air" by Jon Krakauer, about climbing Everest. Very interesting, and a good one for living vicariously!

 

[dinakt]

Love that Obama has a book list. ((Presidents with introspection)))
Am reading "Less" by Andrew Sean Greer, that won 2018 Pulitzer's. Can't put it down, as it is so relatable, and observes people with both irony and kindness.
The protagonist is a semi-successful gay writer, who, facing a recent break-up and anxiety over turning 50, embarks on a long international trip. I am just over half way done, and I already feel sadness that it'll be over too soon.

 

[oleada]

for anyone wanting to read any mountaineering books, I read (for my own self, not for any challenge!) "Into thin air" by Jon Krakauer, about climbing Everest. Very interesting, and a good one for living vicariously!

I have read that multiple times. It’s by far my favorite Krakauer book. I’ll have to add Touching the Void to my list; I love books about disasters like that.

Not related to mountaineering but In The Kingdom of Ice: The Grand and Terrible Polar Voyage of the USS Jeanette reminds me of “Into Thin Air” a bit on the sense that they’re both epic stories of exploration and survival. It’s well written; Hampton Sides does a good job in developing the characters and overall, it’s just heartbreaking.

And @emason yes I’m interested!! I’ll PM you my email.

 

[emason]

I have read that multiple times. It’s by far my favorite Krakauer book.

And @emason yes I’m interested!! I’ll PM you my email.

Great!

 

[Kasey]

I am just over half way done, and I already feel sadness that it'll be over too soon.

I felt that way about I book I read a while back, Hiker Trash: Life on the Pacific Crest Trail. The author is the narrator, and she has such a genuine, honest, and funny voice, it was like losing a friend once the book was over.

 

[puglover]

The new Lincoln Child/Douglas Preston book "Pendergast series" entitled "Verses for the Dead" is set to be released Dec. 31st. I would highly recommend the narrator for this book - "Rene Auberjonois" from audible. At least in the previous books he has read, he really captures these stories impeccably. My absolute favorite!

 

[Susan1]

The Last Time I Lied by Riley Sager: Woman goes back to the camp where her 3 cabinmates once disappeared. Well, kudos because I didn't see the twist coming but that would require a major suspension of disbelief and it was all super ridiculous. I was't the biggest fan.

I totally agree.

 

[PrincessLeppard]

You know Obama put that Frederick Douglass book on his list to troll Trump.

If you liked Into Thin Air, there is a rebuttal book by the Russian (I think) guide who gets a bad rap in the book. His name escapes me, but he died the following year on K2.

I just finished The Feed by Nick Clark Windo. It's dystopian (duh) and is all about how good intentions can go massively wrong. Parts of it are a bit far fetched (the parts that should be based in reality), but I think it was mostly pretty good. The writer is a movie producer, so I'm thinking he has BLOCKBUSTER MOVIE signs flashing in his head.

 

[genevieve]

Love that Obama has a book list. ((Presidents with introspection)))

((Presidents who read))

Although Obama had the truly awful Fates and Furies on his list a few years ago, and he's got another Lauren Groff book listed here. So I can't say I totally trust his judgment

 

[MsZem]

If you liked Into Thin Air, there is a rebuttal book by the Russian (I think) guide who gets a bad rap in the book. His name escapes me, but he died the following year on K2.

Anatoli Boukreev. But it seems like everyone who was on Everest in 1996 eventually put out a book about it.

I never got the feeling that Boukreev was given a bad rap in Into Thin Air. Krakauer gave him credit for what he did well, and raised questions about some of his other actions. He did that about most of the people who were there, himself included.

 

[dinakt]

((Presidents who read))

Although Obama had the truly awful Fates and Furies on his list a few years ago, and he's got another Lauren Groff book listed here. So I can't say I totally trust his judgment

I was thinking of reading Groff's "Florida" because it made a few other "best" lists. I don't know her. No good?

 

[emason]

((Presidents who read))

Although Obama had the truly awful Fates and Furies on his list a few years ago, and he's got another Lauren Groff book listed here. So I can't say I totally trust his judgment

My co-op book club read Fates and Furies. Most members liked it, but I agree with you on truly awful. I got turned off when Groff referred to first her and then him in the same paragraph but then said their names are x and y, listing him first and her second. That’s bad writing and/or bad editing and it went downhill from there.

ETA: @dinakt, I wouldn't say Groff is no good so much as I would say I thinks she's all or nothing. You will either like her or hate her; I don't think there is any in-between. I fall on the dislike side of the divide.

 

[Prancer]

I just finished The Feed by Nick Clark Windo. It's dystopian (duh) and is all about how good intentions can go massively wrong. Parts of it are a bit far fetched (the parts that should be based in reality), but I think it was mostly pretty good. The writer is a movie producer, so I'm thinking he has BLOCKBUSTER MOVIE signs flashing in his head.

It seems like I read this book a long time ago, but it looks like it's new, so I guess it just seems like it was a long time ago.

I thought it was pretty good, too--better story than writing, but not bad all around.

Although Obama had the truly awful Fates and Furies on his list a few years ago

Not just on his list, but his favorite book of 2015. And it was nominated for a National Book Award, among others .

I haven't read it. I loathe Greek mythology and avoid anything that even references it.

I never got the feeling that Boukreev was given a bad rap in Into Thin Air. Krakauer gave him credit for what he did well, and raised questions about some of his other actions. He did that about most of the people who were there, himself included.

I was surprised at how many people thought Krakauer trashed Boukreev, too, as I thought his respect for Boukreev was obvious, even if he did question some of his decisions. Boukreev was more heroic than wrong.

I've read a lot of books in the past couple of weeks but the only one I remember is Chemistry, which is about an overachieving Chinese-American Ph.D candidate surrounded by other overachieving people who feels as if she can't possibly measure up to anyone or anything (especially her parents' expectations) and maybe doesn't want to be a chemist after all. When her boyfriend proposes and asks her to move to Oberlin with him, she has something of an anxiety-and-indecision-induced breakdown. The author packs a lot into her spare prose--generational angst, humor, science, graduate school psychosis, sexism in the sciences, marriage and baby indecision, and a lot of other things. I'd probably have liked it even more if I were, say, in my 20s, but I still enjoyed it. She has an interesting voice and a real knack for the subtle zinger.

 

[VGThuy]

I've read a lot of books in the past couple of weeks but the only one I remember is Chemistry, which is about an overachieving Chinese-American Ph.D candidate surrounded by other overachieving people who feels as if she can't possibly measure up to anyone or anything (especially her parents' expectations) and maybe doesn't want to be a chemist after all. When her boyfriend proposes and asks her to move to Oberlin with him, she has something of an anxiety-and-indecision-induced breakdown. The author packs a lot into her spare prose--generational angst, humor, science, graduate school psychosis, sexism in the sciences, marriage and baby indecision, and a lot of other things. I'd probably have liked it even more if I were, say, in my 20s, but I still enjoyed it. She has an interesting voice and a real knack for the subtle zinger.

I read that one as well. I really respected her prose and her interesting way of creating the narrative. I agree that she has a real interesting voice and some of the zingers she put in there were great. I liked how it build. I feel like I just copied what you said, LOL.

 

[dinakt]

When her boyfriend proposes and asks her to move to Oberlin with him, she has something of an anxiety-and-indecision-induced breakdown. The author packs a lot into her spare prose--generational angst, humor, science, graduate school psychosis, sexism in the sciences, marriage and baby indecision, and a lot of other things. I'd probably have liked it even more if I were, say, in my 20s, but I still enjoyed it. She has an interesting voice and a real knack for the subtle zinger.

I read that one as well. I really respected her prose and her interesting way of creating the narrative. I agree that she has a real interesting voice and some of the zingers she put in there were great. I liked how it build. I feel like I just copied what you said, LOL.

That makes me really want to read it (even more so as an Oberlin grad)

 

[Prancer]

That makes me really want to read it (even more so as an Oberlin grad)

Oberlin is barely mentioned, except that the boyfriend is beside himself with glee at getting a job there.