Talkinghalls

Yes, the first one was written in the 1980's before his universe "started." Once you drudge through the first book the following six fly by.

colorider

Cool. Thanks. I'll give them a try then.

vsudhir18

Jim Cramer - Confessions of a Street Addict
Jeff Pearlman - Love Me, Hate Me (on Barry Bonds)
Audrey Niffenegger - The Time Traveler's Wife

mitmitenhp7

Currently reading American Gods by Neil Gaiman

mconlonx 

loved that book!

Just finished The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss. If you like fantasy, chances are you will like this.

I liked Harry Potter well enough, but am not big on coming of age stories, especially school-time stories. Which this book is. But Rothfuss is a great fantasy writer, and the book is totally engaging. The plot device is that it is being told in retrospect by the protagonist as his story is transcribed. There is the story of his history, which forms the bulk of the book, there are odd goings on in the present as his story is being transcribed, and there are other stories within the tale he's spinning. It's a fully-realized alt-universe, fleshed out and incredibly detailed. Rothfuss is an exellent story-teller, and again, if you're into swords and sorcery fantasy of a more "believable" and persuasive bent, you will not fail to find this worth a read.

bikecrate

Just finished reading The Buried Giant by Kazuo Ishiguro. Good book. It is about an elderly couple in post King Arthur Britain who go on a journey to find their son. Although there are dragons, knight and orges, it isn't a fantasy book. It is more a meditation on forgetting and forgiveness.

canklecat

A few chapters into Ripper: The Secret Life of Walter Sickert, Patricia Cornwell's latest. I hadn't planned to read it but it showed up free on my Kindle for a limited reading period, and was formatted with some semi-animated graphics. So what the heck.

Initially I was annoyed at Cornwell for borrowing from Stephen Knight's 1970s research and book on the Ripper without acknowledging Knight. But so have other writers and movie makers, notably "Murder by Decree", the non-canonical Sherlock Holmes movie (good movie, by the way).

But she makes an interesting case for artist Walter Sickert being a likely candidate for the Ripper. Knight's earlier book proposed that Sickert was involved peripherally but Cornwell takes it deeper. Assuming her research is accurate and she's appropriately cited diaries, correspondence and other material about Sickert, she makes a plausible case.

One argument against Cornwell's theory is that it depends heavily on letters to the police and newspapers claiming to be from the Ripper, most of which vary tremendously in handwriting, use of language, etc. But Cornwell argues that an artist like Sickert could easily fake many variations of handwriting, and his high intelligence and apparent borderline social pathology (possibly psychopathic) would make it relatively easy to fake letters that appeared to be from different people. After all, that's what writers do anyway -- create multiple characters, each with his/her own personality, language and speaking style, etc. And it's already been demonstrated that human analysts and AI techniques used to identify writers can be fooled.

Cornwell is a pretty good writer but despite her background in journalism she compromises the reportorial aspect of this book by interjecting herself too often. It creates some doubt about her objectivity in analyzing the research. Despite her protestations in regard to criticisms of her earlier Ripper book that implicated Sickert, she may be a bit too married to the material to be objective.

Still a worthwhile read for armchair Ripperologists -- assuming they aren't married to their own pet theories (very common among Ripper lore fans).

trsidn 

Currently reading Bad Boy Boogie - by Thomas Pluck

bikecrate

Just finishing Imperium: A Fiction of the South Seas by Christian Kracht. It's about pre W.W. I German man who goes off to a South Seas colony to found a utopian society based on coconuts. Odd book but I enjoyed it.

I-Like-To-Bike

Finished listening to Flashfire, a Parker series crime novel by Richard Stark, AKA Donald Westlake. It is the fourteenth book I have read in the Parker series, and as expected it was entertaining from first to last page.

Started listening to Ask the Parrot, another Richard Stark novel about the career criminal Parker.

Robyx

The Dark Tower series by Stephen King

I-Like-To-Bike

Finished listening to Ask the Parrot, another Richard Stark novel about the career criminal Parker.

Started listening to Prussian Blue, a novel in the Bernie Gunther series by Phillip Kerr.

I-Like-To-Bike

Finished listening to Prussian Blue, a novel in the Bernie Gunther series by Phillip Kerr.

Started listening to The Jungle, novel by Upton Sinclair.

bikecrate

About a third of the way into The Passage by Justin Cronin. It is set in the near future where a government experiment to modify humans has gone wrong and turned them into vampire monsters. The book is a bit of a doorstop at 700 + pages. Also part of a trilogy. I'm going to be reading this for a while.

jack pot 

>>> so much for your vienna sausage and spam feasts AND since we are on a book thread i HIGHLY recommend Dreams of a Robot Dancing Bee by the poet James Tate

I-Like-To-Bike

I'm halfway through The Jungle - you ain't kidding about sausage, or anything else that went through the meatpacking hell of the Chicago Stockyards as described in the novel.

Dirt Farmer

Strong Wine: The Life and Legend of Agoston Haraszthy

Because I love California wine, and I really like the Wollersheim winery in Sauk Prairie, Wisconsin.

Jadesfire 

It's been a little while since I've checked out this thread, so pardon the lateness. But do yourself a favor and stop after #4. Just...don't.

Finished Old Ways of Working Wood, as I've started to get interested in woodworking as another possible hobby. Going to give Stephen Hawking's A Brief History of Time another try.

late

I got 'Unfair Justice: The new science of criminal injustice' from the library today.

As is the case with so many of the books worth bothering with these days, the underlying theme is 'it's worse than you think'.

I plan on talking about it once I've read some of it, but that will prob happen in P&R. Or somewhere else, I'm forum shopping again.


https://www.amazon.com/Unfair-New-Sc...unfair+justice

I-Like-To-Bike

Finished listening to The Jungle, novel by Upton Sinclair.

Started listening to The Lost City of Z: A Tale of Deadly Obsession in the Amazon, non fiction book by David Grann.

Szinvak

I'm reading The Dome by Stephen King. Really good, like other books I've read from him!

I-Like-To-Bike

Finished listening to The Lost City of Z: A Tale of Deadly Obsession in the Amazon, non fiction book by David Grann. Good book, looking forward to seeing the recently released movie.

Started listening to It Can't Happen Here, a novel written in 1935 by Upton Sinclair.

Also started reading Flivver King, a novel written in 1937 based on the life of Henry Ford, by Upton Sinclair.

I-Like-To-Bike

Finished listening to It Can't Happen Here, a novel written in 1935 by Upton Sinclair. Seems like current events.

Finished reading Flivver King, a novel written in 1937 based on the life of Henry Ford, by Upton Sinclair.

Started listening to The Unraveling: High Hopes and Missed Opportunities in Iraq, by Emma Sky.

Super_Sport

Just finished reading A Centenary Pessoa

Started reading Marvel 1602 (graphic novel) by Neil Gaiman

Irkk

Just finished A World Out Of Time, probably will start The Handmaid's Tale.