Hey!! Let's get some action going! What are we reading? - Page 2085

Tarana · 03-19-2023, 12:05 PM

Finished Ivory by Mike Resnick. Excellent book, glad I followed a Mobileread recommendation. Scifi

Now on to The Adventures of Langdon St Ives by James Blaylock. Bought for my sister back in 2011 and finally getting to it myself. Steampunk Fantasy.

pdurrant · 03-21-2023, 11:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pdurrant

Next up: The Time Traveller's Almanac. A massive (1200+ pages) collection of time traveller stories.

And an excellent collection it is too. But it reminds me again that I prefer novels to short stories.

Next up: Some non-fiction. Terry Pratchett: A Life With Footnotes by Rob Wilkins. The Official Biography.

astrangerhere · 03-21-2023, 11:58 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pdurrant

<SNIP>

Next up: The Time Traveller's Almanac. A massive (1200+ pages) collection of time traveller stories.

I listened to an audiobook of this ages ago and remember liking it.

gmw · 03-21-2023, 07:34 PM

Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doerr. It seems an oddly put together book, with several threads from different timelines told in relatively short snippets. But I found each story thread almost instantly fascinating and I loved the characters, they seemed to spring to life in just a few lines. It took me a long time to read, mostly because of life, but also because the short scenes feel quite dense and full of impact. Loved it. 5/5.

Uncle Robin · 03-22-2023, 12:16 AM

Currently reading Miss Buncle's Book , my seventh D.E Stevenson and shaping up as one of my favourites. A great mood-lifter

pdurrant · 03-22-2023, 04:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pdurrant

Next up: Some non-fiction. Terry Pratchett: A Life With Footnotes by Rob Wilkins. The Official Biography.

Wonderful. Best book I've read for months.

Next up: No idea.

issybird · 03-22-2023, 07:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Uncle Robin

Currently reading Miss Buncle's Book , my seventh D.E Stevenson and shaping up as one of my favourites. A great mood-lifter

I have mixed feelings about D.E. Stevenson, or to put it more accurately, I find her books to be all over the place. Some, like Buncle, are charming, and some are so appallingly classist/racist/imperialist as to be unendurable. To be clear, I'm not bothered by books that are of their time in terms of casual or throwaway comments, but some Stevenson books have those issues as their raison d'être.

Uncle Robin · 03-22-2023, 09:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by issybird

I have mixed feelings about D.E. Stevenson, or to put it more accurately, I find her books to be all over the place. Some, like Buncle, are charming, and some are so appallingly classist/racist/imperialist as to be unendurable. To be clear, I'm not bothered by books that are of their time in terms of casual or throwaway comments, but some Stevenson books have those issues as their raison d'être.

Oh, I could not agree more! "all over the place" is a perfect description.

pdurrant · 03-22-2023, 12:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pdurrant

Next up: No idea.

Bought today: Run Rose Run by Dolly Parton and James Patterson.

Light fun so far.

astrangerhere · 03-22-2023, 02:07 PM

I FINALLY finished Thomas Mann's The Magic Mountain.

I'm still working my way through War and Peace at my chapter-a-day pace.

I'm listening to To Sleep in a Sea of Stars by Christopher Paolini. I got it on a whim because the narrator is one of my favorite voice actors of all time. I'm not sure its terribly good, but it is a pleasant listen and it was a library loan.

As soon as I finished Mann, I got through half of Connie Willis' book of short stories Fire Watch in one sitting.

When I finish Willis, I'll be starting a Robert Jackson Bennett's Locklands series to fill my personal challenge of reading at least 10 books selected by my wife this year. We got the last of the three paperbacks yesterday, so I can read it all in one go and get 3 more books out of the total. I think I've already read 2 that she picked.

Dr. Drib · 03-22-2023, 02:36 PM

Just finished Trust, by Domenico Starnone, a wonderfully discerning novel about tangled relationships and frustrated dreams. By the way, he MAY be the husband of one of the most celebrated writers alive today: Elena Ferrante.

I hope she soon wins the Nobel Prize in Literature, but after Joyce Carol Oates. (Well, I can dream.)

OK, so now I started another novel by Domenico Starnone: First Execution.

Bookstooge · 03-22-2023, 04:49 PM

Conan the Triumphant by Robert Jordan. Good pulpy stuff...

pdurrant · 03-23-2023, 03:15 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pdurrant

Bought today: Run Rose Run by Dolly Parton and James Patterson.

Light fun so far.

A bit of grim background, but overall light and fluffy. There's some songs featuring in the story, with full lyrics given at the end. I suspect that a CD of them available somewhere.

Next up: The Best of Jerry Pournelle. Another recent purchase.

Luffy · 03-24-2023, 03:22 AM

My 4 star review of The End of Faith: Religion, Terror, and the Future of Reason, by Sam Harris :-

Spoiler:

The End of Faith is the type of book of which I can say that I am always grateful that it exists. Most philosophy books are obtuse and inaccessible to the layman. I have always had nothing but admiration and gratitude to people who make precious ideas, and structures of thought available. Even this type of public service is rare. In the form of YouTube videos, info about socialism and capitalism is rare. The best kind of prevaricate. That is why I had been very glad that Sam Harris has used his intellect for the benefit of neuroscience, as opposed to say, derivatives.

Sam Harris is a very articulate person. If he has not written a politically charged book about religion recently, it is because he chooses to express his views through podcasts. And I can attest that Harris has no lack of material. Everything that he talks about could be placed in a book. The guy is very intelligent. When you look at the standards of public discourse, and religious speeches, Harris can blow your mind with ideas that seem irrefutable.

The ideas in The End of Faith are limpid. What I found inaccessible previously, I now find fascinating. And what I found accessible on the first read, I now find interesting, but without the sparkle that usually animates Harris' soundbites. Harris has become a person who can make his living by writing. You got to respect that, given that what he has written has been salient. He is not very visible though. A conman like Lex Fridman boasts 20 times the number of subscribers than Harris.

It is very difficult to gain the type of info that you want, that you know will fill some craving in your mind. I am not talking about eschatology and evangelicalism. I am talking about a subject so rare that you cannot order buttloads of books of them. Twitter is like hillbilly land these days, though I cannot claim to be an expert on such levels of time wasting, as I only recently got an account.

Harris is a cool customer. He provides ideas that will either challenge or change you. Hitchens said that what you can accept without evidence, you can also dismiss without evidence. The sometimes simple levers that underpin the human brain, when that brain has been conditioned to accept faith on blind faith, is fascinating to witness. All because of Harris and the rare service that he provided.

The question of Eastern philosophy should not have interested Harris, as that makes him less interesting in my opinion. Meditation is a luxury that has no crucial scientific benefits, though that is a matter of rigour. If meditation can help you combat alcoholism, depression, megalomania, I'm all for it. Should it be part of such a book? I don't think so. It blunts the subject matter, though I have never heard of anyone else complaining that aspect of Harris' disposition.

This book will always be precious to me. It was released before The God Delusion and is the better of the two. I am so interested in what the world is going to be in the upcoming years. I know I am living in a world where science is progressing so fast, yet the hobbled effigy of religion is always trying to hobble science and pay it back for its irrelevancy. This is the problem... we cannot get at the info we want, what we really need.

We have been hindered by a mechanism of camouflage. The vital piece of knowledge that can do things like making your life easy in terms of productivity, help you keep your calm, help you vote in a way that is highly beneficial to you, all of this is exposed. In the end I would say that The End of Faith is a gift of reason. It is a dollop of rationality that is encapsulated in a breath of fresh air. What Harris had been dreading in the opening paragraphs has not happened. There has not been nuclear winter. The situation seems defused. But bad things keep happening in the world. Let me end by saying that The End of Faith is entertaining?? It was a delight to partake of its contents. I would rather reread it than watch the next Batman movie, e.g. Throughout the years so many formerly prized things have become boring to me. Football matches, porn, movies, Shakespeare to an extent, all have become boring. But I can always cheer myself up with the perusal of this timeless book.

pdurrant · 03-27-2023, 02:18 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pdurrant

Next up: The Best of Jerry Pournelle. Another recent purchase.

Which also turns out to be a book by the assistant to a best selling author after the author's death.

But in this case, it's a collection of stories and articles (most articles are about Pournelle, not by Pournelle), some stories previously unpublished.

It was good, but I think it would have worked better as a two volumes, a personal biography, and a collection of his shorter fiction. 4/5

Next up: Curtain: Poirot's Last Case by Agatha Christie. Her 76th book. I'm almost to the end of her output.

03-22-2023, 02:36 PM	#31271
Dr. Drib Grand Sorcerer Posts: 45,462 Karma: 59592133 Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Peru Device: KINDLE: Oasis 3, Scribe (1st), Matcha; KOBO: Libra 2, Libra Colour	Just finished Trust, by Domenico Starnone, a wonderfully discerning novel about tangled relationships and frustrated dreams. By the way, he MAY be the husband of one of the most celebrated writers alive today: Elena Ferrante. I hope she soon wins the Nobel Prize in Literature, but after Joyce Carol Oates. (Well, I can dream.) OK, so now I started another novel by Domenico Starnone: First Execution. Last edited by Dr. Drib; 03-22-2023 at 07:37 PM.

03-24-2023, 03:22 AM	#31274
Luffy Wizard Posts: 4,464 Karma: 429063498 Join Date: Aug 2014 Location: Mauritius Device: Kindle Paperwhite 4	My 4 star review of The End of Faith: Religion, Terror, and the Future of Reason, by Sam Harris :- Spoiler: The End of Faith is the type of book of which I can say that I am always grateful that it exists. Most philosophy books are obtuse and inaccessible to the layman. I have always had nothing but admiration and gratitude to people who make precious ideas, and structures of thought available. Even this type of public service is rare. In the form of YouTube videos, info about socialism and capitalism is rare. The best kind of prevaricate. That is why I had been very glad that Sam Harris has used his intellect for the benefit of neuroscience, as opposed to say, derivatives. Sam Harris is a very articulate person. If he has not written a politically charged book about religion recently, it is because he chooses to express his views through podcasts. And I can attest that Harris has no lack of material. Everything that he talks about could be placed in a book. The guy is very intelligent. When you look at the standards of public discourse, and religious speeches, Harris can blow your mind with ideas that seem irrefutable. The ideas in The End of Faith are limpid. What I found inaccessible previously, I now find fascinating. And what I found accessible on the first read, I now find interesting, but without the sparkle that usually animates Harris' soundbites. Harris has become a person who can make his living by writing. You got to respect that, given that what he has written has been salient. He is not very visible though. A conman like Lex Fridman boasts 20 times the number of subscribers than Harris. It is very difficult to gain the type of info that you want, that you know will fill some craving in your mind. I am not talking about eschatology and evangelicalism. I am talking about a subject so rare that you cannot order buttloads of books of them. Twitter is like hillbilly land these days, though I cannot claim to be an expert on such levels of time wasting, as I only recently got an account. Harris is a cool customer. He provides ideas that will either challenge or change you. Hitchens said that what you can accept without evidence, you can also dismiss without evidence. The sometimes simple levers that underpin the human brain, when that brain has been conditioned to accept faith on blind faith, is fascinating to witness. All because of Harris and the rare service that he provided. The question of Eastern philosophy should not have interested Harris, as that makes him less interesting in my opinion. Meditation is a luxury that has no crucial scientific benefits, though that is a matter of rigour. If meditation can help you combat alcoholism, depression, megalomania, I'm all for it. Should it be part of such a book? I don't think so. It blunts the subject matter, though I have never heard of anyone else complaining that aspect of Harris' disposition. This book will always be precious to me. It was released before The God Delusion and is the better of the two. I am so interested in what the world is going to be in the upcoming years. I know I am living in a world where science is progressing so fast, yet the hobbled effigy of religion is always trying to hobble science and pay it back for its irrelevancy. This is the problem... we cannot get at the info we want, what we really need. We have been hindered by a mechanism of camouflage. The vital piece of knowledge that can do things like making your life easy in terms of productivity, help you keep your calm, help you vote in a way that is highly beneficial to you, all of this is exposed. In the end I would say that The End of Faith is a gift of reason. It is a dollop of rationality that is encapsulated in a breath of fresh air. What Harris had been dreading in the opening paragraphs has not happened. There has not been nuclear winter. The situation seems defused. But bad things keep happening in the world. Let me end by saying that The End of Faith is entertaining?? It was a delight to partake of its contents. I would rather reread it than watch the next Batman movie, e.g. Throughout the years so many formerly prized things have become boring to me. Football matches, porn, movies, Shakespeare to an extent, all have become boring. But I can always cheer myself up with the perusal of this timeless book. Last edited by Luffy; 03-24-2023 at 03:29 AM.

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03-19-2023, 12:05 PM	#31261
Tarana Wizard Posts: 4,040 Karma: 38840460 Join Date: Sep 2012 Location: Minneapolis Device: PWSE, Voyage, K3, HDX, KBasic 7 & 8, Nook Glo3, Echos, Nanos	Finished Ivory by Mike Resnick. Excellent book, glad I followed a Mobileread recommendation. Scifi Now on to The Adventures of Langdon St Ives by James Blaylock. Bought for my sister back in 2011 and finally getting to it myself. Steampunk Fantasy.

03-21-2023, 07:34 PM	#31264
gmw cacoethes scribendi Posts: 5,818 Karma: 137770742 Join Date: Nov 2010 Location: Australia Device: Kobo Aura One & H2Ov2, Sony PRS-650	*Cloud Cuckoo Land* by Anthony Doerr. It seems an oddly put together book, with several threads from different timelines told in relatively short snippets. But I found each story thread almost instantly fascinating and I loved the characters, they seemed to spring to life in just a few lines. It took me a long time to read, mostly because of life, but also because the short scenes feel quite dense and full of impact. Loved it. 5/5.

03-22-2023, 12:16 AM	#31265
Uncle Robin Diligent dilettante Posts: 3,661 Karma: 52758936 Join Date: Sep 2019 Location: in my mind Device: Kobo Sage; Kobo Libra Colour	Currently reading Miss Buncle's Book , my seventh D.E Stevenson and shaping up as one of my favourites. A great mood-lifter

03-22-2023, 02:07 PM	#31270
astrangerhere Professor of Law Posts: 3,755 Karma: 68428716 Join Date: Sep 2010 Location: Chapel Hill, NC Device: Kobo Elipsa, Kobo Libra H20, Kobo Aura One, KoboMini	I FINALLY finished Thomas Mann's *The Magic Mountain. I'm still working my way through War and Peace at my chapter-a-day pace. I'm listening to To Sleep in a Sea of Stars* by Christopher Paolini. I got it on a whim because the narrator is one of my favorite voice actors of all time. I'm not sure its terribly good, but it is a pleasant listen and it was a library loan. As soon as I finished Mann, I got through half of Connie Willis' book of short stories *Fire Watch* in one sitting. When I finish Willis, I'll be starting a Robert Jackson Bennett's *Locklands* series to fill my personal challenge of reading at least 10 books selected by my wife this year. We got the last of the three paperbacks yesterday, so I can read it all in one go and get 3 more books out of the total. I think I've already read 2 that she picked.

03-22-2023, 04:49 PM	#31272
Bookstooge Member Retired Posts: 805 Karma: 2091358 Join Date: May 2019 Device: Kindle Oasis 1st Gen, PB Era	Conan the Triumphant by Robert Jordan. Good pulpy stuff...