Author Topic: What are you reading?  (Read 551545 times)

Meta-physical

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Re: What are you reading?
« Reply #1425 on: June 08, 2018, 05:05:59 AM »
I was reading a short essay by Isaiah Berlin this morning, which made reference to Dostoevsky's commemorative speech about Pushkin. Coincidentally, it was on this very day in 1880 that he delivered it, so its seems appropriate to share it:

http://web.archive.org/web/20050207093332/http://www.dwightwebber.com/pushkinspeech.html

The Ugly

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Re: What are you reading?
« Reply #1426 on: June 14, 2018, 06:16:48 PM »
Just picked up The North Water by Ian McGuire. Lots of positive reviews and comparisons to McCarthy. Love me some McCarthy.

Yup. Read it months ago. Solid book. Maybe best book I've read in a year. Good stuff.  :)

You were correct, sir. Fantastic book, finally got around to it.

HerbertSward

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Re: What are you reading?
« Reply #1427 on: June 21, 2018, 05:12:47 AM »
The_Teachings_of_Don_Jua n:

Hypo

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Re: What are you reading?
« Reply #1428 on: June 24, 2018, 04:52:26 AM »
Just finished. EPIC. Truly epic. Even by today's standards.


illuminati

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Re: What are you reading?
« Reply #1429 on: June 24, 2018, 05:11:27 AM »
The Dancing Wu Li Masters

About Quantum Physics - interesting / thought provoking/ tough read.

BB

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Re: What are you reading?
« Reply #1430 on: June 25, 2018, 11:55:10 AM »
.


Very fine, hard boiled urban crime novel set in the late 60's - early 70's Detroit heroin trade. Vern E. Smith was a career newspaper man for a number of periodicals, and this book grew out of one of the stories he covered. He only wrote this novel in the last 45 years, and that is a real shame, as this one has it all - double crosses, sleazy villians, and the bleak landscape that turns decent noir into great noir. Fans of David Simon, George Pelecanos, etc.... will see similarities in their work and this. Also fans of Elmore Leonard and Shane Stevens (another semi forgotten urban noir master) will find it enjoyable too.

If there is one criticism I have about it, it is the use of street names that sound similar. While it adds an air of authenticity to the writing, it may be slightly confusing for the casual reader.  

4.5/5. Great cover art too.

sync pulse

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Re: What are you reading?
« Reply #1431 on: June 26, 2018, 05:29:28 AM »
I found some of my old Juvenile Adventure Novels in my mom's attic.

This is the best of the bunch because it actually has a great "McGuffin".  A rogue industrialist is stealing industrial secrets with an ultra-sonic device that gives people you aim it at an epileptic fit.  His gang is going around using it to knock out sentries and stealing classified material from labs around Maryland.  It was written in 1948 and so is written for literate children.

It would make a wonderful movie if you made it set in 1948.

CalvinH

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Re: What are you reading?
« Reply #1432 on: June 29, 2018, 10:26:39 AM »
Peter Kirsanow-Target Omega...Damn! I was surprised how good the book was
Second Strike-while not as good as the first I still enjoyed it.

Obvious Gimmick

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Re: What are you reading?
« Reply #1433 on: July 19, 2018, 09:23:35 PM »
Crime and punishment: excellent
Madame Bovary: more excellenter

dr.chimps

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Re: What are you reading?
« Reply #1434 on: July 21, 2018, 01:43:15 AM »
Struggling through The Anubis Gates by Tim Powers. Supposed to be a great time-travel thingy. Oh, boy. Crappy writing and plotting.  If I get through 4-6 pages/night, I rock.  

Griffith

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Re: What are you reading?
« Reply #1435 on: July 31, 2018, 01:28:45 AM »

Primemuscle

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Re: What are you reading?
« Reply #1436 on: July 31, 2018, 01:30:11 AM »
Not what I should be reading, that's for sure.


Taffin

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Re: What are you reading?
« Reply #1438 on: July 31, 2018, 05:20:20 PM »
Crime and punishment: excellent
Madame Bovary: more excellenter

Good call  8)

Honestly one of my favorite books of all time.  Funny really, because it was one of those books I read because I was supposed to, rather than by choice - then from page 1 it was (to my absolute surpise) a real page turner and I devoured the things over the next few days.

It was also my introduction to the whole world of Russian patronymics and the complexities of their arcane pre-revolutionary system of governance, which came in useful for the other Russian classics after that... (Chekov and Gogol being other favorites).

Haven't read Madame Bovary yet - suppose I should get round to it now it's been mentioned...

Cheers

T

FitnessFrenzy

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Re: What are you reading?
« Reply #1439 on: August 01, 2018, 07:00:37 AM »
I am reading a book, currently, about central banking policies in the 1920's. A bit dry, but I will finish it eventually.

TheGrinch

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Re: What are you reading?
« Reply #1440 on: August 01, 2018, 08:16:02 AM »
I am reading a book, currently, about central banking policies in the 1920's. A bit dry, but I will finish it eventually.

The Reminiscences of a Stock Operator




great book

FitnessFrenzy

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Re: What are you reading?
« Reply #1441 on: August 03, 2018, 01:59:34 PM »
Crime and punishment: excellent

I recommend The House of the Dead, also by Fyodor Dostoevsky

OlympiaGym

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Re: What are you reading?
« Reply #1442 on: September 10, 2018, 10:24:27 AM »
Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil by John Berendt. Excellent book that spent 216 weeks on the NYT best seller list. The story unfolds in Savannah, Georgia, home of Congregation Mickve Isreal, first organized in 1735.

Primemuscle

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Re: What are you reading?
« Reply #1443 on: September 10, 2018, 04:03:52 PM »
Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil by John Berendt. Excellent book that spent 216 weeks on the NYT best seller list. The story unfolds in Savannah, Georgia, home of Congregation Mickve Isreal, first organized in 1735.

This is a great book. It's been a long time since I read it. Maybe I'll read it again if I can find it one of my boxes of books up in the attic.

CalvinH

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Re: What are you reading?
« Reply #1444 on: September 12, 2018, 01:11:40 PM »
Raiders Wake by James L Nelson.
It's a series on Vikings in Ireland...not bad at all.

OlympiaGym

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Re: What are you reading?
« Reply #1445 on: September 14, 2018, 12:15:20 PM »
Raiders Wake by James L Nelson.
It's a series on Vikings in Ireland...not bad at all.

Comparable to Cornwell?

CalvinH

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Re: What are you reading?
« Reply #1446 on: September 15, 2018, 04:59:31 AM »
Comparable to Cornwell?


Good but not the same level as Cornwell.

leshion

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Re: What are you reading?
« Reply #1447 on: October 05, 2018, 10:41:21 PM »
100 Days of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. Love the magic realism genre because of his books.

Kahn.N.Singh

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Re: What are you reading?
« Reply #1448 on: October 06, 2018, 02:26:29 PM »
100 Days of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. Love the magic realism genre because of his books.

You must have the extremely abridged version. That or you're short of 36,400 lonely days.


CalvinH

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Re: What are you reading?
« Reply #1449 on: October 13, 2018, 05:20:28 AM »
I've been re-reading the Stephen Hunter, Bob Lee Swagger series.