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

[coderserdar]

underworld sampler (james b. hendryx, charles j. sullivan, william mahoney, william allen ward, frank gruber)

a good mystery and crime book

[coderserdar]

thrilling mysteries sampler (c.k.m. scanlon, robert wallace, owen fox jerome, a. boyd correll)

another mystery book

[coderserdar]

famous detective sampler (richard cortez, thomas thursday, robert turner, david james)

a good mystery book

[coderserdar]

crack detective sampler (ray cummings, grant lane, thomas thursday, robert turner)

good mystery book too

[coderserdar]

the phantom detective sampler (g.t. fleming-roberts, joe archibald, norbert davis, paul ernst, johnston mcculley)

a good mystery too

[coderserdar]

guy newell boothby - the duchess of wiltshire's diamonds

a good mystery book about the crimes

[WT Sharpe]

Just finished The Case of the Runaway Corpse by Erle Stanley Gardner. This is one of his best, and also one that became an episode of the Perry Mason TV show. It was a re-read, as so far only a few of the Mason books have made it to the electronic media, but one that was definitely well worth it!

Spoiler:

I particularly like the way Mason gets out of the charge of tampering with and possibly destroying evidence. When he is called to the police station in another city to answer the charges, Della Street loses sleep, but Mason walks into the meeting promising full cooperation, then calmly turns the tables on them and makes it appear as if they're the ones being uncooperative and trying to hide something. By the time they realize he's bamboozled them, his chartered plane is in the air and the police, who have rushed to the airport to apprehend him, are left fuming on the runway.

[Kevin8or]

Originally Posted by WT Sharpe

Just finished The Blank Slate: The Modern Denial of Human Nature by Steven Pinker, in which the author puts forward some excellent arguments for why it's a mistake and counter-productive to cling to ideas long discarded by science in an attempt to create a more just world.

Read this 8-ish years ago. A good read.

Originally Posted by WT Sharpe

Also finished A Canticle For Leibowitz by Walter M. Miller, Jr., the MobileRead Book Club's November selection, and I'm ready for the discussion that begins on the 20th.

Like it. Plan to re-read just before the discussion begins.

Originally Posted by WT Sharpe

Just finished reading Noam Chomsky's book on how the power-that-be use propaganda to control populations, Media Control, Second Edition. Powerful and thought-provoking. 3½ out of 5 stars.

Chomsky is a hit-and-miss author for me, but media analysis is his strength. His classic "Manufacturing Consent" still sits on my shelf. I might have to read this one. OTOH, it might be re-hash.

---

Currently reading:
The Spy Who Came in from the Cold by John le Carré.

Nickel and dimed : on (not) getting by in America by Barbara Ehrenreich

Originally Posted by WT Sharpe

Just finished reading Noam Chomsky's book on how the power-that-be use propaganda to control populations, Media Control, Second Edition. Powerful and thought-provoking. 3½ out of 5 stars.

Originally Posted by Kevin8or

Chomsky is a hit-and-miss author for me, but media analysis is his strength. His classic "Manufacturing Consent" still sits on my shelf. I might have to read this one. OTOH, it might be re-hash.

Manufacturing Consent is a real classic analyzing how the media and government conspire to sell the public on anything. I do find that Chomsky often descends into an 'America is the cause of everything bad in the world' mode though in some of his writing.

Originally Posted by Kevin8or

Currently reading:
The Spy Who Came in from the Cold by John le Carré.

Nickel and dimed : on (not) getting by in America by Barbara Ehrenreich

The Spy Who Came in from the Cold set the standard for gritty realistic Cold War spy novels.

Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting by in America is definitely on my to be read list and not just because it made the Banned Books List for 2011.


I am currently reading Zero: The Biography of a Dangerous Idea by Charles Seife. This has been disappointing. The mathematics is confined to about the high school level and he includes a lot of discredited information, like the whole Archimedes war mirrors legend.

Also reading Spring Snow by Yukio Mishima for the Literary Book Club.

[ProjeKtWEREWOLF]

I am reading "The Psychopath Test" by Jon Ronson.

I am really enjoying this one; it's about the (mainly British) Mental Health system and its treatment of Psychopaths. I work as a staff nurse in a Regional Secure Unit for mentally disordered offenders so it's a subject I'm very interested in.

He's the fellow who wrote "The Men Who Stare at Goats".

[alansplace]

Originally Posted by alansplace

ok, i just finished mothership and returned it to amazon, since i'm in the mood for scifi-spacefaring i have decided to read dana stabenow's second star next, er....i mean now

i'm just about half way through second star and i'm just plain enchanted with it. i feel like i'm reading a long lost vintage late 50's early 60's (except for the fact it's actually from the early 90's) heinlein novel

[coderserdar]

Originally Posted by WT Sharpe

Just finished The Case of the Runaway Corpse by Erle Stanley Gardner. This is one of his best, and also one that became an episode of the Perry Mason TV show. It was a re-read, as so far only a few of the Mason books have made it to the electronic media, but one that was definitely well worth it!

Spoiler:

I particularly like the way Mason gets out of the charge of tampering with and possibly destroying evidence. When he is called to the police station in another city to answer the charges, Della Street loses sleep, but Mason walks into the meeting promising full cooperation, then calmly turns the tables on them and makes it appear as if they're the ones being uncooperative and trying to hide something. By the time they realize he's bamboozled them, his chartered plane is in the air and the police, who have rushed to the airport to apprehend him, are left fuming on the runway.

nice choice
i love perry mason, della street, paul drake and hamilton burger a lot
these books are best in its genre (lawyer mystery )

[Kevin8or]

Originally Posted by Hamlet53

Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting by in America is definitely on my to be read list and not just because it made the Banned Books List for 2011.

Although she has an easy, conversational style -- pleasant & often humorous -- it's not an enjoyable book to read. The world she describes doesn't allow it.

[maianhvk]

I think I'll finish Breakfast at Tiffany's (plus 3 short stories by Truman Capote) today. Then I'll come back to The Gargoyle (by Andrew Davidson), in Vietnamese. I feel that the translator did a good job, but for some reasons I put it to a halt some months ago.

Originally Posted by Hamlet53

The Spy Who Came in from the Cold set the standard for gritty realistic Cold War spy novels.

It's been on my list for a whole year... Okay, I'll read it soon...er or later...

[Kevin8or]

Just finished reading The Spy Who Came in from the Cold by John le Carré. Excellent! A late-story plot twist and a powerful, unexpected ending complete a masterful tale.