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What Are You Reading Right Now?

Not enough romance being read here. :p
 
Airplane reading for my flight from JFK to PDX visit our daughter.

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I've been watching Lincoln Lawyer on Netflix - knew nothing about but thought Old Abe somehow figured in it (spoiler he doesn't the titular Lincoln is the car). Anyway liked the characters and show enough that I binged both seasons and am now dipping a toe into the series of books the show is based on.


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Final book in Steven Saylor's historical fictional trilogy on the lives of an ancient Roman family. Spans a millennia from the founding to the Roman Kingdom to the fall of the western empire. I started this series over a decade ago and never got around to finishing it.

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Mostly because Sherman is a fascinating character and there are huge holes in my knowledge of the Civil War which I should fix.

Connolly is great fun. The Lincoln Lawyer series is excellent.
 
I am close to finishing The Asset by Saul Herzog.

It is an international spy thriller well done. The first book I’ve read by Herzog. I’ve already downloaded the next one in the series on my Kindle.

Also on deck are the recent releases by Nelson DeMille and Jo Nesbo.
 
March by Geraldine Brooks. It won her the Pulitzer Prize for fiction in 2006.

We became acquainted with her earlier this year when she bought the house 2 doors down from us in Oz. Very nice lady. She's currently working on her next novel.
 
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The Last Ride of the Pony Express: My 2,000-mile Horseback Journey into the Old West
By Will Grant - Little, Brown and Company - 2023 - 336pp


Glad I picked this book up at the library. The author, a horse professional all of his life, decides to ride the entire Pony Express route himself, from St. Joseph, Missouri to Sacramento, California on horseback. Although the Pony Express is an American Old West icon, it did not last very long (too dangerous) and was replaced by Wells Fargo stage coaches and the telegraph. Grant chooses his two horses very carefully, travels to see and test many, and finally settles on Badger and Chicken Fry. He will ride one horse for a bit and use the other as a pack animal, and then switch roles after a few days. The entire purpose of this book is the people Grant meets along the way. He does not sleep at hotels/motels, but at farms and ranches that have a horse corral or barn space. He also has a solar-powered electric fence corral for when he must camp in the wilderness. Grant himself finds some places to stay (acquantances), and oftentimes total strangers offer their hospitality. Extremely interesting are the farms and the ranches, both small and large, and the people who own them and work them. It is a disappearing slice of Americana that urban dwellers rarely get the opportunity to interact with. This book is a treasure for the curious, and for those with an appreciation of horses and rural America.
 
I just finished reading America's Cultural Revolution: How the Radical Left Conquered Everything by Christopher F. Rufo. I'll start with my usual critique of these kinds of books; they are an immediate turnoff for those that conservatives need to persuade. Even though personally I am a leftist, I actually agree with much of what the author says. There is no question that the l "radical left" has gone way too far, and are fast snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. Having achieved legal racial equality, an end to McCarthyite suppression of speech and other major victories, the book lays out how some "thinkers" on the Left: 1) Herbert Marcuse; 2) Angela Davis; 3) Paulo Friere; and 4) Derrick Belle, and their "ideas" are in danger of creating a dystopia. A problem is that the elites, particularly the university system do not know how or when to say "no."

Rufo demonstrates how, in the late 1960's and early 1970's idealists, including Marcuse and Davis, unleashed sickening waves of violence in aid of their "cause." Later "thinkers" such as as Friere aided in the destruction of some of the Third World economies by urging such gibberish as "class suicide." Bell largely pioneered the Western education system through "critical race theory.

Racial equality, never really tried, has morphed into "Diversity, Equity "and Inclusion." The elites are talking openly of a French or Russian Revolution-style taking of people's property and earnings. Rufo correctly and skillfully illustrates how skill and competence is being unceremoniously muscled aside for vague and unworkable Utopian values. This book is less shrill than some in its genre. I do recommend it.
 
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Fair Warning by Michael Connelly. It's his third book with reporter Jack McEvoy as the protagonist.
 
I just finished:


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It was 🌶️🌶️.

Now I'm reading:

OIP.j49-SR4oHu8r22RMCY7LnAAAAA
 
Connolly is great fun. The Lincoln Lawyer series is excellent.
I think I read all the Harry Bosch books, but out of order and some so long ago that I can't remember everything he did. Same with Mickey Haller. But I love the new cold cases that Harry Bosch is solving with the female detective who works the night shift in Hollywood. Renée Ballard. I always hope Connelly will write another one of those.
 
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A Scanner Darkly by Philip K Dick (1977) I finally managed to snag a new print edition of this book, and it's typical PKD at his best and worst: a tremendous goldmine of ideas, yet almost undone by opaque writing. It's set in the near future when America lost the drug war. Bob Arctor is a narc whos tasked with finding the supplier of a new drug called Substance D, a powerful opiate that can split the mind in half and destroy it. Arctor is an unreliable narrator because he becomes addicted to the drug, and he ends up becoming two people: one being a leader of a small group of junkies whos paranoid about police being out to get him, and another being a narc who spies on his other self.

The book is partly autobiographical since PKD opened his house to a group of junkies and stopped writing for a few years after his first divorce when his wife left him. The writing is also dense and stilted, and I had to reread a number of passages in order to fully grasp what was going on. Nevertheless, its a mindbender of a novel, and was even made into a movie starring Keanu Reeves and Robert Downey Jr. Rating 8/10
 
I just finished reading Countdown 1945: The Extraordinary Story of the 116 Days that Changed the World
by Chris Wallace, Mitch Weiss. Keep in mind the author is a rare animal; a Fox reporter who is a Democrat. I read this book in seven days; from October 28 to November 3. It was a page turner, and of course it helped that I already knew the outlines of the story. The book gave a day by day, in some case hour recount of the events. My father told me that many casualties were saved. I of course might not be here if the "bomb" had not been dropped. Interwoven were some very human stories of professional jealousy and rivalry, of a Japanese family severely impacted and other stories.

While there is not much soaring writing, two quotes from key players are in order. The first is from Jacob Beser: "I have often been asked if I had any remorse for what we did in 1945.I assure you that I have no remorse whatsoever and I will never apologize for what we did to end World War II. Humane warfare is an oxymoron. War by definition is barbaric. To try and distinguish between an acceptable method of killing and an unacceptable method is ludicrous." Paul Tibbetts, the lead pilot on the Hiroshima strike said ""If wars are going to be fought, I believe the object is to win the war.You're going to win it with all resources at your disposal. And if you're fortunate enough to possess powerful weapons or weapons more powerful than those of your enemies, there's only one thing to do and that's to use them."

You'll have to read to get more. My opinions on this subject matter are elsewhere. Just ask.
 
I just started reading The Adventurers by Harold Robbins because @Felis Leo said it was "extremely smutty". :)
 
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A Scanner Darkly by Philip K Dick (1977) I finally managed to snag a new print edition of this book, and it's typical PKD at his best and worst: a tremendous goldmine of ideas, yet almost undone by opaque writing. It's set in the near future when America lost the drug war. Bob Arctor is a narc whos tasked with finding the supplier of a new drug called Substance D, a powerful opiate that can split the mind in half and destroy it. Arctor is an unreliable narrator because he becomes addicted to the drug, and he ends up becoming two people: one being a leader of a small group of junkies whos paranoid about police being out to get him, and another being a narc who spies on his other self.

The book is partly autobiographical since PKD opened his house to a group of junkies and stopped writing for a few years after his first divorce when his wife left him. The writing is also dense and stilted, and I had to reread a number of passages in order to fully grasp what was going on. Nevertheless, its a mindbender of a novel, and was even made into a movie starring Keanu Reeves and Robert Downey Jr. Rating 8/10
I've seen bits of that - it featured some odd processing, to make the movie look like rotoscopy? Very interesting, but I came in after it had been running for a while, & I couldn't remember enough of the novel to make sense of it. Maybe I'll track it down in DVD, & be able to back up on the parts I was dubious on ...
 
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I think I read all the Harry Bosch books, but out of order and some so long ago that I can't remember everything he did. Same with Mickey Haller. But I love the new cold cases that Harry Bosch is solving with the female detective who works the night shift in Hollywood. Renée Ballard. I always hope Connelly will write another one of those.
I tried reading one of the Bosch books, but it felt so generic I couldnt finish it.
I've seen bits of that - it featured some odd processing, to make the movie look like rotoscopy? Very interesting, but I came in after it had been running for a while, & I couldn't remember enough of the novel to make sense of it. Maybe I'll track it down in DVD, & be able to back up on the parts I was dubious on ...
Yeah, they sort of animated it to save on the budget. It doesnt cover the whole book, so you might want to check it out on both mediums.
 
I tried reading one of the Bosch books, but it felt so generic I couldnt finish it.

Yeah, they sort of animated it to save on the budget. It doesnt cover the whole book, so you might want to check it out on both mediums.
Thanks. Yah, maybe that's why my memory didn't seem to track with the events in the movie. Maybe I remembered stuff that wound up on the cutting room floor? Darkly appropriate, it was a Phillip Dick novel, after all ...
 
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I'm trying to read Salman Rushdie's 'Satanic Verses' to see what the fuss is about. Whoa! Not sure if I'm going to continue. Has anyone here read it?
 
I'm trying to read Salman Rushdie's 'Satanic Verses' to see what the fuss is about. Whoa! Not sure if I'm going to continue. Has anyone here read it?
Not read it but it is ironic that you brought this up today. In another forum, someone brought up the topic of Islam (they're broad brushing the religion to be all the same as Hamas), and something about a fatwa was mentioned, and of course that led to issues with Rushdie and the fatwa that Khomeini laid against him.
 
I'm currently working through the Phule's Company series by Robert Asprin on Audiobooks. I'm thinking that I'll be looking at Quest for the Well of Souls next. Not sure yet if I will relisten to the first two books in the series or not.
 
I tried reading one of the Bosch books, but it felt so generic I couldnt finish it.

Yeah, they sort of animated it to save on the budget. It doesnt cover the whole book, so you might want to check it out on both mediums.
I won't spend any time defending Michael Connelly. I will look for his next book about Harry Bosch and Renée Ballard, because I really enjoy those. He is not one of my favorite authors, however. My husband and I just had an interesting conversation ranging over a few days about Civization and Its Discontents by Sigmund Freud, which he is now reading. That is a book I defended. My husband was absolutely hating it as he read it, finding it very hard to read. He just gave a presentation about Freud to a meet-up group he attends and I was surprised that he found it so difficult to read this one. That is one book that I really loved.
 
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"The Dream of the Red Chamber." Just finished reading the novel, "The Miracle of the Namiya General Store," otherwise known as, "The Grief Grocery Store."
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I am close to finishing The Asset by Saul Herzog.

It is an international spy thriller well done. The first book I’ve read by Herzog. I’ve already downloaded the next one in the series on my Kindle.

Also on deck are the recent releases by Nelson DeMille and Jo Nesbo.
I recently read The Maze by DeMille. I didn't rush to read it, given the reviews, and there was no reason to have have rushed. I loved some of DeMille's early work with real intrigue like Plum Island and books about possible terrorism. I found this book to be mediocre. I hope you enjoy (or enjoyed) it. :)
 
I recently read The Maze by DeMille. I didn't rush to read it, given the reviews, and there was no reason to have have rushed. I loved some of DeMille's early work with real intrigue like Plum Island and books about possible terrorism. I found this book to be mediocre. I hope you enjoy (or enjoyed) it. :)

The Maze was, I think, the first book DeMille co-authored with his son. I agree, it wasn’t among his best. Plum Island was pure DeMille, a fine read.
 
I just finished reading
Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett. Gripping it is not. I suppose it is one of the better of the "theater of the absurd" that became popular in the wake of WWI. Other examples include Rhinocéros by Eugène Ionesco, of which I'll add a review shortly. Though not my favorite genre, both are classics. Rhinocéros at least had hilarious moments, which are few and far between in Godot. The genre teaches something specific about the era. Memorable from the book is the quote:
Samuel Beckett said:
It is true that when with folded arms we weigh the pros and cons we are no less a credit to our species. The tiger bounds to the help of his congeners without the least reflexion, or else he slinks away into the depths of the thickets. But that is not the question. What are we doing here, that is the question. And we are blessed in this, that we happen to know the answer. Yes, in this immense confusion one thing alone is clear.We are waiting for Godot to come.
Could the bolded be a ripoff from Shakespeare? Whether and how Godot comes I will leave to your eager eyes. Suffice to say I find more value in life as a human than does Beckett.
 
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