Spoiler Yes! Felt the same about all of that. Didn’t expect that ending but like you said, loved it. I’ve been thinking about it ever since I finished. There are plenty of books I move on from once I finish, and it’s always a mark of how a book affected me when I’m still going over it days/weeks later.
1. The Border (Don Winslow) - 7.5/10 2. Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong (James W. Loewen) - 8/10 3. The Jakarta Method: Washington's Anticommunist Crusade and the Mass Murder Program that Shaped Our World (Vincent Bevins) - 9.5/10 4. The Stranger Beside Me (Ann Rule) - 5/10 5. The Cigarette Century: The Rise, Fall, and Deadly Persistence of the Product that Defined America (Allan M. Brandt) - 9/10 6. The Anatomy of Fascism (Robert O. Paxton) - 9/10 7. Portnoy's Complaint (Phillip Roth) - 7.5/10 - Easy to see why this one garnered so much attention upon release in the late '60s. I liked the conceit (protagonist is undergoing psychoanalysis and sharing his innermost thoughts) and one can't help but think this might be autobiographical from Roth. Portnoy is highly neurotic, obsessed with both his penis and his mother, and certainly not politically correct. Roth is a strong writer of course but honestly, one can only read about Portnoy masturbating so many times. I enjoyed it and am glad I read it but would only recommend to certain readers. 8. The Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era (James M. McPherson) - 9.5/10 - Easily one of the best works of history I've ever read and I considered giving it a 10. Covering the civil war (including the leadup) from all sides seems like an impossible task but I think McPherson pulled it off about as well as could be possibly expected. He does a great job showing the shifts in opinion among both politicians and the people during the era around secession and emancipation. Notably strong passages on Dred Scott, Lincoln/Douglas debates, and John Brown. Of course a lot of attention shown to actual war and battles but centers those battles within the larger context of the country. Just really great stuff. First Oxford History of the US book I've read and won't be the last. 9. The Deficit Myth: Modern Monetary Theory and the Birth of the People's Economy (Stephanie Kelton) - 8.5/10 - No need to go too deep into this one, feels like most have already read it. Definitely written for a lay audience which I appreciate but it does repeat itself a lot which I personally find off-putting at times even if it's understandable. I'd like to read a bit more in depth on inflation control from the MMT perspective but the core arguments seem solid. I'd urge anyone to read it if they haven't; even if you don't agree with its tenets, MMT seems to be gaining adherents rapidly. Next Up: 1) Wise Blood 2) Stayin' Alive: The 1970s and the Last Days of the Working Class 3) The Wright Brothers
1) Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by JK Rowling 10/10 2) The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon 9/10 3) American Assassin by Vince Flynn 10/10 4) Darth Bane Path of Destruction by Drew Karpyshyn 9/10 5) Darth Bane Rule of Two by Drew Karpyshyn 8.5/10 6) Darth Bane Dynasty of Evil by Drew Karpyshyn 9/10 7) Meat Market by Bruce Feldman 8/10 8) Star Wars: Lost Stars by Claudia Gray 10/10 9) NBA Jam by Reyan Ali 7.5/10 10) The Psychology of Money by Morgan Housel 8/10 11) Kill Shot by Vince Flynn 8.5/10 12) Think Like a Rocket Scientist by Ozan Carol 8.5/10 13) How to Avoid a Climate Disaster by Bill Gates 9/10 14) The Rage of Dragons by Evan Winter 10/10 15) Spark by John Rate 7/10 16) Flash Boys by Michael Lewis 8/10 17) Do the Work by Steven Pressfield 5/10 18) Uncomfortable Conversations With a Black Man by Emmanuel Acho 8.5/10 19) Stories of Your Life and Others by Ted Chiang 9/10 20) Money: The True Story of a Made-up Thing by Jacob Goldstein 9.5/10 21) Star Wars: Thrawn by Timothy Zahn 8.5/10 22) The Long Walk by Stephen King 9/10 23) Limitless by Jim Kwik 6/10 24) Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro 8.5/10 Took me a bit to get into it, reminds me of the movie AI. Liked this better than another book of his, Remains of the Day, and would put it up there with Never Let Me Go.
1. A People’s History of the United States - Howard Zinn (8.25/10) 2. Developing the Leader Within You 2.0 - John Maxwell (6/10) 3. The New Confessions of an Economic Hit Man - John Perkins (7/10) 4. The Institute - Stephen King (7.5/10) 5. This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs. The Climate - Naomi Klein (8/10) 6. The Burning Case for a Green New Deal - Naomi Klein (7.5/10) 7. The Dead Zone - Stephen King (9/10) 8. Grant - Ron Chernow (10/10) 9. Bleak House - Charles Dickens (9/10) 10. Great Expectations - Charles Dickens (9/10) 11. A Tale of Two Cities - Charles Dickens (reread) (8/10) 12. Nicholas Nickelby - Charles Dickens (8.5/10) 13. Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens (8/10) 14. David Copperfield - Charles Dickens (9.5/10) 15. The Magician’s Nephew (Chronicles of Narnia #6) - C. S. Lewis (6.5/10) 16. The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe (Chronicles of Narnia #1) - C. S. Lewis (7.25/10) 17. The Horse and His Boy (Chronicles of Narnia #5) - C. S. Lewis (6.5/10) 18. Prince Caspian (Chronicles of Narnia #2) - C. S. Lewis (7/10) 19. The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (Chronicles of Narnia #3) - C. S. Lewis (7.5/10) 20. The Silver Chair (Chronicles of Narnia #5) - C. S. Lewis (6/10) 21. The Last Battle (Chronicles of Narnia #7) - C. S. Lewis (6/10) 22. Caste: The Origins of our Discontent - Isabel Wilkerson (9/10) 23. Washington: A Life - Ron Chernow (9/10) Up next: Beartown by Fredrik Backman
Finished Station Eleven by John Mandel last night. Loved the idea and the world but thought some story lines diluted it. Think I would've liked it more if I read it with someone else. Feel like I missed the point of a few characters. Just started Project Hail Mary
1) Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by JK Rowling 10/10 2) The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon 9/10 3) American Assassin by Vince Flynn 10/10 4) Darth Bane Path of Destruction by Drew Karpyshyn 9/10 5) Darth Bane Rule of Two by Drew Karpyshyn 8.5/10 6) Darth Bane Dynasty of Evil by Drew Karpyshyn 9/10 7) Meat Market by Bruce Feldman 8/10 8) Star Wars: Lost Stars by Claudia Gray 10/10 9) NBA Jam by Reyan Ali 7.5/10 10) The Psychology of Money by Morgan Housel 8/10 11) Kill Shot by Vince Flynn 8.5/10 12) Think Like a Rocket Scientist by Ozan Carol 8.5/10 13) How to Avoid a Climate Disaster by Bill Gates 9/10 14) The Rage of Dragons by Evan Winter 10/10 15) Spark by John Rate 7/10 16) Flash Boys by Michael Lewis 8/10 17) Do the Work by Steven Pressfield 5/10 18) Uncomfortable Conversations With a Black Man by Emmanuel Acho 8.5/10 19) Stories of Your Life and Others by Ted Chiang 9/10 20) Money: The True Story of a Made-up Thing by Jacob Goldstein 9.5/10 21) Star Wars: Thrawn by Timothy Zahn 8.5/10 22) The Long Walk by Stephen King 9/10 23) Limitless by Jim Kwik 6/10 24) Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro 8.5/10 25) Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir 10/10 Echo everyone else's comments on this book. At least on par with The Martian, if not above it. I put it up there with rage of dragons for favorite book this year so far.
Fine I’ll read Project Hail Mary next. Who was it that really liked the James Islington books, billdozer ? Those are on deck after PHM. Then maybe Rage of Dragons
Yeah, that was me. I'll be hopping on the Project Hail Mary band wagon after I finish the current set of books I'm reading.
Halfway through update...this book is so fucking good. It's part Western, part crime/detective story, part history, part sociology almost with the way it explains the history of racism in the US and the way different police forces developed. Page turner, short chapters, will add to your knowledge of living in America today. Great stuff
Haha I got that, just thinking through different genres the book melds. The Western element is interesting to me. It has those details about outlaws and rugged landscapes and native Americans, but it's nonfiction like you said
He does. Although I was underwhelmed by his last book about exploration of Antarctica . Mostly due to high expectations
Lost city of z and Sherlock Holmes are great though? Based on the writing in Killers of Flower Moon I feel like I would love
Went to Barnes and Noble today walked out with some new books. PHM is because of this thread the other two are just personal interests.
1. The Space Between Worlds by Miciah Johnson (7.5/10) 2. Star Wars The High Republic : Light of the Jedi by Charles Soule (8/10) 3. Black Buck by Mateo Askiripur (8/10) 4. I am Legend by Richard Matheson (7.5/10) 5. Moonflower Murders (Susan Reyland #2) by Anthony Horowitz (7.5/10) 6. The List (Orphan X #5,5) by Gregg Hurwitz (8/10) 7. Prodigal Son (Orphan X #6) by Gregg Hurwitz (8.5/10) 8. Remote Control by Nnedi Okafor (7/10) 9. Star Wars: The High Republic: Into the Dark, by Claudia Gray (8/10) 10. To Be Honest, by Michael Leviton (7/10) 11. The Assassination of Fred Hampton, by Jeffrey Haas (8.5/10) 12. The Orchard by David Hopen (10/10) 13 Kill Switch: The Rise of the Modern Senate and Crippling of American Democracy, by Adam Jentleson (8/10) 14. We Could Be Heroes, by Mike Chen (6.5/10) 15. Winter World (The Long Winter #1) by AG Riddle (8./10). 16 The Solar War (The Long Winter #2) by AG Riddle (7.5/10 17. The Lost Colony (The Long Winter #3) by AG Riddle (7.5/10) 18. Beartown (Beartown #1) by Fredrik Backman (10/10) 19. Us Against You (Beartown # 2) by Fredrik Backman (8.5/10) 20. The Fate of Rome: Climate, Disease and the End of an Empire by Kyle Harper (8/10) 21. The Echo Wife by Sarah Gailey (5.5/10) 22. The Last One, by Alexandria Oliva (5/10) 23. The Sum of Us: What Racism Costs Everyone, by Heather McGhee (8.5/10) 24. The Jigsaw Man by Nadine Matheson (7/10) 25. Exo (Exo #1) by Fonda Lee (7/10) 26. Cross Fire (Exo #2) by Fonda Lee (7.5/10) 27. Empire Of Pain: The Secret History of Sackler Dynasty by Patrick Radden Keefe (9/10) 28. Star Wars: Thrawn Ascendancy: The Greater Good (Thrawn Asc. #2) by Tim Zahn (7.5/10) 29. The Last Watch (The Divide #1) by JS Dewes (8/10) 30. The Premonition: A Pandemic Story, by Michael Lewis (8/10) 31. The Song of Achilles, by Madaline Miller (7/10) 32. Project Hail Mary, by Andy Weir (10/10) 33. A Man Called Ove, by Fredrick Backman (8/10) Song of Achilles - really good retelling of a part of the Iliad. Love greek mythology. Miller has been on my list for a while. Look forward to reading Circe at some point oo. Project Hail Mary - We all have talked about it. It's great. Just as good if not better than The Martian. Weir's best skill is making a hard science book feel light and fast paced. A Man Called Ove - Backman is a such a good author. He's unlike anyone else I read. Im not a super emotional person, but he makes me feel emotion from reading. So far Ive read this, and the two Beartown books. What of his should I read next? Ive been on a pretty nice wave of good books lately. Love when that happens.
1. Wolf Hall Trilogy (Wolf Hall, Bring up the Bodies, The Mirror and the Light) by Hilary Mantel - 9.5/10 2. A Children’s Bible: a novel by Lydia Millet - 8.5/10 3. The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett - 8/10 4. Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts - 5/10 5. Washington Black by Esi Edugyan - 8.5/10
Project Hail Mary - Really great book if you love science Spoiler Think the writing may be a tad better than The Martian but think I still prefer TM. PHM felt like sci-fi and TM felt like something that legitimately could happen. PHM was a great buddy story though. Loved both a lot.
Hit the pen this AM, went on a long run in the woods, and thought about PHM a good bit. Spoiler Stratt is the real hero
1-7. Harry Potter Series (8/10) 8. Killers Of The Flower Moon: The Osage Murders And The Birth Of The FBI / David Grann (10/10) See thoughts above; this book ruled. There are several stories about Oklahoma you need to know if you missed that chapter in US history. Up Next: This guy's a history professor at SCAR and he's really cool; gave me his book. Giving it a shot
Right. Also dude's dad was formerly governor of Virginia (Linwood Holton) so he is one of the star history faculty here. It was a coup for SC to lure him over from University of Richmond. One of the nation's experts on colonial US. Super nice guy though like I was saying, wears jeans and tshirts, wild crazy hair, rides a bike to work etc. Not pretentious at all. Says he wants to write history "about the people who weren't on the back of the 2 dollar bill", aka women, people of color etc
I’ve read his other book and it was very well written and was an interesting read on some things that happened before the Constitution
Finishing tonight. Got super busy the last week and haven't had a chance to sit down and read like I would have wanted. But have about 50 pages that I'll knock out tonight. Definitely sad it's coming to an end.
1. A People’s History of the United States - Howard Zinn (8.25/10) 2. Developing the Leader Within You 2.0 - John Maxwell (6/10) 3. The New Confessions of an Economic Hit Man - John Perkins (7/10) 4. The Institute - Stephen King (7.5/10) 5. This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs. The Climate - Naomi Klein (8/10) 6. The Burning Case for a Green New Deal - Naomi Klein (7.5/10) 7. The Dead Zone - Stephen King (9/10) 8. Grant - Ron Chernow (10/10) 9. Bleak House - Charles Dickens (9/10) 10. Great Expectations - Charles Dickens (9/10) 11. A Tale of Two Cities - Charles Dickens (reread) (8/10) 12. Nicholas Nickelby - Charles Dickens (8.5/10) 13. Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens (8/10) 14. David Copperfield - Charles Dickens (9.5/10) 15. The Magician’s Nephew (Chronicles of Narnia #6) - C. S. Lewis (6.5/10) 16. The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe (Chronicles of Narnia #1) - C. S. Lewis (7.25/10) 17. The Horse and His Boy (Chronicles of Narnia #5) - C. S. Lewis (6.5/10) 18. Prince Caspian (Chronicles of Narnia #2) - C. S. Lewis (7/10) 19. The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (Chronicles of Narnia #3) - C. S. Lewis (7.5/10) 20. The Silver Chair (Chronicles of Narnia #5) - C. S. Lewis (6/10) 21. The Last Battle (Chronicles of Narnia #7) - C. S. Lewis (6/10) 22. Caste: The Origins of our Discontent - Isabel Wilkerson (9/10) 23. Washington: A Life - Ron Chernow (9/10) 24. Beartown - Fredrik Bachman (8/10) 25. Project Hail Mary - Andy Weir (9.5/10) Up next: The Shadow of What Was Lost - James Islington
About 2/3 of the way through The Passage by Justin Cronin. Love the story but holy hell this dude can drag a story out. Let's go Justin, move it along. No chance I read the other 2.
He certainly does. While I was reading it, it was frustrating, because I was so eager to advance the plot, but the character building pays off imo. However, I can see how it's a turn off to some.
1. The Space Between Worlds by Miciah Johnson (7.5/10) 2. Star Wars The High Republic : Light of the Jedi by Charles Soule (8/10) 3. Black Buck by Mateo Askiripur (8/10) 4. I am Legend by Richard Matheson (7.5/10) 5. Moonflower Murders (Susan Reyland #2) by Anthony Horowitz (7.5/10) 6. The List (Orphan X #5,5) by Gregg Hurwitz (8/10) 7. Prodigal Son (Orphan X #6) by Gregg Hurwitz (8.5/10) 8. Remote Control by Nnedi Okafor (7/10) 9. Star Wars: The High Republic: Into the Dark, by Claudia Gray (8/10) 10. To Be Honest, by Michael Leviton (7/10) 11. The Assassination of Fred Hampton, by Jeffrey Haas (8.5/10) 12. The Orchard by David Hopen (10/10) 13 Kill Switch: The Rise of the Modern Senate and Crippling of American Democracy, by Adam Jentleson (8/10) 14. We Could Be Heroes, by Mike Chen (6.5/10) 15. Winter World (The Long Winter #1) by AG Riddle (8./10). 16 The Solar War (The Long Winter #2) by AG Riddle (7.5/10 17. The Lost Colony (The Long Winter #3) by AG Riddle (7.5/10) 18. Beartown (Beartown #1) by Fredrik Backman (10/10) 19. Us Against You (Beartown # 2) by Fredrik Backman (8.5/10) 20. The Fate of Rome: Climate, Disease and the End of an Empire by Kyle Harper (8/10) 21. The Echo Wife by Sarah Gailey (5.5/10) 22. The Last One, by Alexandria Oliva (5/10) 23. The Sum of Us: What Racism Costs Everyone, by Heather McGhee (8.5/10) 24. The Jigsaw Man by Nadine Matheson (7/10) 25. Exo (Exo #1) by Fonda Lee (7/10) 26. Cross Fire (Exo #2) by Fonda Lee (7.5/10) 27. Empire Of Pain: The Secret History of Sackler Dynasty by Patrick Radden Keefe (9/10) 28. Star Wars: Thrawn Ascendancy: The Greater Good (Thrawn Asc. #2) by Tim Zahn (7.5/10) 29. The Last Watch (The Divide #1) by JS Dewes (8/10) 30. The Premonition: A Pandemic Story, by Michael Lewis (8/10) 31. The Song of Achilles, by Madaline Miller (7/10) 32. Project Hail Mary, by Andy Weir (10/10) 33. A Man Called Ove, by Fredrick Backman (8/10) 34. Machinehood by S.B. Divya (9.5/100 35. The Anarchy: the East India Compay, Corporate Violence, and the Pillage of an Empire, by William Dalrymple, (7.5/10) 36. Immunity Index by Sue Burke (7/10) Machinehood - Loved this book. It was right up my alley. Speculative scifi about a not too distant future where we've created AI robots to do all our labor. It results in essentially a gig economy for humans. Humans need to take PEDs to remain competitive in the work force. Some people are just full time twitch streamer types where thier whole lives are recorded, even having sex and taking shits, to get tipped from viewers. There's a terrorist/ uprising from a group called the Machinehood that pushes for human rights for machines. Book does a really good job on big questions of what is personhood, humanity, worker rights ect. For a sci fi nerd that is also socially conscious it hit a lot of spots for me The Anarchy - Another non fiction book where the obscenely long title is self explanatory. It was good and I learned a lot. Felt a little dry at times but overall was a good reading experience Immunity Index - Another speculative fiction book that tries to do the a lot of the same things that Machinehood did, much less successfully. It was completely obvious that the author wrote this during the pandemic and it was really heavy handed. This is basically if Orpha Black occurred during a pandemic. Pretty good plot but no finesse or subtlety about the overall themes. Probably would have liked it better if I hadnt read it in such proximity to Machinehood. Still, glad I read it, it wasnt bad.
1. Wolf Hall Trilogy (Wolf Hall, Bring up the Bodies, The Mirror and the Light) by Hilary Mantel - 9.5/10 2. A Children’s Bible: a novel by Lydia Millet - 8.5/10 3. The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett - 8/10 4. Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts - 5/10 5. Washington Black by Esi Edugyan - 8.5/10 6. The Old Drift by Namwali Serpell - 8/10
1) Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by JK Rowling 10/10 2) The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon 9/10 3) American Assassin by Vince Flynn 10/10 4) Darth Bane Path of Destruction by Drew Karpyshyn 9/10 5) Darth Bane Rule of Two by Drew Karpyshyn 8.5/10 6) Darth Bane Dynasty of Evil by Drew Karpyshyn 9/10 7) Meat Market by Bruce Feldman 8/10 8) Star Wars: Lost Stars by Claudia Gray 10/10 9) NBA Jam by Reyan Ali 7.5/10 10) The Psychology of Money by Morgan Housel 8/10 11) Kill Shot by Vince Flynn 8.5/10 12) Think Like a Rocket Scientist by Ozan Carol 8.5/10 13) How to Avoid a Climate Disaster by Bill Gates 9/10 14) The Rage of Dragons by Evan Winter 10/10 15) Spark by John Rate 7/10 16) Flash Boys by Michael Lewis 8/10 17) Do the Work by Steven Pressfield 5/10 18) Uncomfortable Conversations With a Black Man by Emmanuel Acho 8.5/10 19) Stories of Your Life and Others by Ted Chiang 9/10 20) Money: The True Story of a Made-up Thing by Jacob Goldstein 9.5/10 21) Star Wars: Thrawn by Timothy Zahn 8.5/10 22) The Long Walk by Stephen King 9/10 23) Limitless by Jim Kwik 6/10 24) Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro 8.5/10 25) Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir 10/10 26) Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy 8/10 27) Muck City by Bryan Mealer 8.5/10 Finishing blood meridian in the afternoon, and watching Tenet for the first time that same evening definitely threw my brain for a loop. Would personally put this one behind Suttree and The Road as far as how much I enjoyed reading them. Saw Muck City mentioned in another thread here, spent a lot of time searching up players from the past that I remembered from recruiting. Good read, includes more than just football.
Just finished The Passage. Whoowee that went on & on. Great story. Loved it. Mixed feelings on writing style. Some really good writing and then sometimes he seemed to ramble. Don't think I'll read the next 2.
The original post with it has a more detailed write-up but basically I really enjoyed the descriptions of the settings but thought the main character/author was kind of cringe and that the plot events typically happened for unexplained reasons.
Read Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir. 8/10. that guy’s brain is just jam packed with all kinds of science. Makes me feel very stupid. Rocky was adorbs
Never saw if you finished. Did you? Any good? Finally read World War Z (didn’t originally bc I saw the movie and thought it was meh), thought it was one of the most amazing works of fantastical fiction with insight into humanity that ive ever read. don’t expect that from a big foot book but I’m still thinking of giving it a read.
It was the wiggle his carapace when he was excited for me. Also, needing to keep watch while the other sleeps. Goshhhhhhh.
I haven’t. My wife bought the audible version of it but I can’t do books on tape so I haven’t actually started a read
I’m currently struggling to find some sci-fi/ fantasy that I enjoy, but I’m striking out a lot lately. I’ll give it a shot and let you know if it’s any good.