Hey!! Let's get some action going! What are we reading?

[Trebro]

Have not jumped in here for awhile. These are some books I recently finished, in various formats:

Between the Assassinations by Aravind Adiga, a book of loosely connected short stories, was just a bit too filled with unlikeable characters for me to really get behind it. (Review is here. It might read better for those who like setting more than character, as the stories themselves are very well written and the settings are awesome. Set in a fictional town in India, a whole host of desperate characters try to get by in an often uncaring world. I think I would have liked it more if it were a bit shorter.

I thought The Incredible Double by Owen Hill, however, was not terribly well written. Don't mention writers who are better than you in your book! It's an attempt at modern noir that just didn't work for me. (Review is here.) A book hunter turned PI must investigate for a corporate client with quite a few secrets. The trouble with this one is a plot that just doesn't seem to hold up as it moves along.

Lines of Contention is a book of political cartoons from the (American) Civil War. I really like how they looked for cartoons that usually don't make it into the history books. The art of political cartooning may be a bit cleaner today, but there are a lot of parallels. Highly recommended, even if you're not hugely into the Civil War. (Review is here.)

Up right now is Stephen King's Thinner in my car (wow, that's a great book so far, about halfway through) and Ken Follett's Eye of the Needle. I'm not sure how I feel about the latter book just yet, but it's early. That was a recommendation from MR, but I forget who at the moment.

-Rob

[klindenberg]

I am reading Jonathan Franzen's Corrections and I think it is a work of genius! I so envy an author that can actually "be" so many different people!

[charleski]

Just finished The Grand Design by Stephen Hawking. It's quite a short work, and I thought I'd finish it in a day or two, but no... There are several parts where you go back and read several pages a couple of times, then have to sit and stare at it and think for a while.

If you've read popular physics books in the past and thought this would just be another rehash of cosmology and quantum mechanics, think again. Hawkings is talking about some very deep stuff concerning the nature of spacetime, chiefly focussing on the implications of Feynman's sum-over-histories as a solution to wave-particle duality and the nature of the anthropic principle. It's the closest you'll get to finding out how leading physicists actually think at the moment without spending a couple of decades learning the maths - and as in his previous books, there are no equations (though in some places they would have helped).

Before that I read Jonathan Franzen's Freedom - and wow, it is worthy of all the praise it's been getting. A superb work.

[kennyc]

Thanks for the "review" charleski!

[WT Sharpe]

Originally Posted by charleski

Just finished The Grand Design by Stephen Hawking. It's quite a short work, and I thought I'd finish it in a day or two, but no... There are several parts where you go back and read several pages a couple of times, then have to sit and stare at it and think for a while.

If you've read popular physics books in the past and thought this would just be another rehash of cosmology and quantum mechanics, think again. Hawkings is talking about some very deep stuff concerning the nature of spacetime, chiefly focussing on the implications of Feynman's sum-over-histories as a solution to wave-particle duality and the nature of the anthropic principle. It's the closest you'll get to finding out how leading physicists actually think at the moment without spending a couple of decades learning the maths - and as in his previous books, there are no equations (though in some places they would have helped).

Before that I read Jonathan Franzen's Freedom - and wow, it is worthy of all the praise it's been getting. A superb work.

Thanks for that review. I had already downloaded that book from Amazon, but your review convinced me it should be the next science book I read.

[Latinandgreek]

I'm reading "Year of the Griffin" by Diana Wynne Jones. Laugh-out-loud funny. I'm also a bit more than halfway through Dune.

[Dr. Drib]

Originally Posted by klindenberg

I am reading Jonathan Franzen's Corrections and I think it is a work of genius! I so envy an author that can actually "be" so many different people!

I agree!



Don

[kennyc]

Hmmm all this talk of Franzen.....

and a Dr Drib agreement too.....

hmmmm.....


And just ran across this book of essays (maybe I'll start there):

http://www.amazon.com/How-Be-Alone-J...tt_at_ep_dpi_3

[MickeyC]

[QUOTE=charleski;1130279]Just finished The Grand Design by Stephen Hawking. It's quite a short work, and I thought I'd finish it in a day or two, but no... There are several parts where you go back and read several pages a couple of times, then have to sit and stare at it and think for a while.

If you've read popular physics books in the past and thought this would just be another rehash of cosmology and quantum mechanics, think again. Hawkings is talking about some very deep stuff concerning the nature of spacetime, chiefly focussing on the implications of Feynman's sum-over-histories as a solution to wave-particle duality and the nature of the anthropic principle. It's the closest you'll get to finding out how leading physicists actually think at the moment without spending a couple of decades learning the maths - and as in his previous books, there are no equations (though in some places they would have helped).[QUOTE=charleski;1130279]

Thanks. I also notice the price has dropped from about $15 to $9.99 at least at Sony. May have to give it a go now.

[thinkpad]

Originally Posted by cassidym

Just finished The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini and I thought it was excellent. Gives you a great insight into Afghanistan and its people.

It's a good read. Much better than the film.

[WT Sharpe]

Originally Posted by kennyc

And just ran across this book of essays (maybe I'll start there):

http://www.amazon.com/How-Be-Alone-J...tt_at_ep_dpi_3

Let me know what you think of that book. I doubt I'll buy it, as I'm one of those folks who enjoys solitude more than most people. I've always felt I'm perfectly capable of entertaining myself.

[Cyclops]

Am next going to cast my eyes to Lieutenant Gulliver Jones: His Vacation
(Gulliver of Mars)

(1905)
A novel by
Edwin Lester Arnold
An electronic-book lovingly prepared thusly by the good members of this here MobileRead forums!

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by WT Sharpe

Let me know what you think of that book. I doubt I'll buy it, as I'm one of those folks who enjoys solitude more than most people. I've always felt I'm perfectly capable of entertaining myself.

Just read the first essay "My Father's Brain" about his father's death from Alzheimers and based on that I definitely give the book so far.

[GraceKrispy]

I just finished (and reviewed) "Hemlock and the Wizard Tower" and am about to start "Flaming Dove" by Daniel Arenson. (Author Interview here)

[lilac_jive]

I'm reading Raymond Chandler's "The Big Sleep" right now and I'm really enoying it. I'm trying to get back on track with the 1001 Books to Read Before You Die list by reading four a month. This will be my fourth for the month.