I've been enjoying both Adam Grant and David Epstein lately. Grant's books are a quicker read but I enjoy the scientific detail from Epstein.
What are you reading?
- Thread starter RedBlooded
- Start date
I just bought the Willa Cather Great Plains Trilogy off Kindle for 99 cents. Now I know I've read some Cather before, but it was so long ago, I don't remember which book(s) I read. It was probably during my 6th grade through about freshmen year when I was obsessed with reading the classics from authors like Steinbeck, Hemingway, Faulkner, Twain, Arthur Miller, etc. etc. I even delved into some Tolstoy, Dumas and Cervantes during that period.
I was a bit of a precocious reader, but I also loved to read anything with the words "Mystery" or "Secret" in the title, so I read a lot of Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys mysteries and when I was 12, I spent the summer with an uncle down in Missouri. His wife had a huge collection of Agatha Christie paperbacks and I devoured every one of them.
I also inherited a massive hard cover book collection from a great uncle, who was a Western fan, so I read a lot of older westerns by authors like Zane Gray.
As I've gotten older, I've kind of veered away from the classics and have read more popular fiction, but every once in a while I'll dive back into a classic book, so I can't wait to start reading some Cather. But it'll have to wait until I finish another trilogy I'm working on, a series of three not really courtroom dramas, although there is some of that, but it's more about a team of formerly married defense attorneys who always seem to tackle the most difficult cases where it sure looks like they have a guilty client.
I was a bit of a precocious reader, but I also loved to read anything with the words "Mystery" or "Secret" in the title, so I read a lot of Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys mysteries and when I was 12, I spent the summer with an uncle down in Missouri. His wife had a huge collection of Agatha Christie paperbacks and I devoured every one of them.
I also inherited a massive hard cover book collection from a great uncle, who was a Western fan, so I read a lot of older westerns by authors like Zane Gray.
As I've gotten older, I've kind of veered away from the classics and have read more popular fiction, but every once in a while I'll dive back into a classic book, so I can't wait to start reading some Cather. But it'll have to wait until I finish another trilogy I'm working on, a series of three not really courtroom dramas, although there is some of that, but it's more about a team of formerly married defense attorneys who always seem to tackle the most difficult cases where it sure looks like they have a guilty client.
Starting “The Indifferent Stars Above” this weekend. Ready to learn about the Donner party and cannibalism.
Just finished The Road by Cormac McCarthy.
Now starting Bleachers by John Grisham.
Other books:
Columbine by Dave Cullen
The Romanovs 1613-1918 by Simon Sebag Montefiore
The War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells
Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton
When Zachary Beaver Came to Town by Kimberly Willis Holt
Creature by John Saul
The Only Plane in the Sky by Garrett M. Graff
War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
1984 by George Orwell
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë
1453: The Holy War for Constantinople and the Clash of Islam and the West by Roger Crowley
Rendezvous with Rama by Arthur C. Clarke
Citizen Soldiers by Stephen Ambrose
Crazy Horse and Custer by Stephen E. Ambrose
Caught in the Revolution: Witnesses to the Fall of Imperial Russia by Helen Rappaport
The Romanov Sisters: The Lost Lives of the Daughters of Nicholas and Alexandra by Helen Rappaport
The Race to Save the Romanovs by Helen Rappaport
The Last Days of the Romanovs: Tragedy at Ekaterinburg by Helen Rappaport
Now starting Bleachers by John Grisham.
Other books:
Columbine by Dave Cullen
The Romanovs 1613-1918 by Simon Sebag Montefiore
The War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells
Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton
When Zachary Beaver Came to Town by Kimberly Willis Holt
Creature by John Saul
The Only Plane in the Sky by Garrett M. Graff
War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
1984 by George Orwell
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë
1453: The Holy War for Constantinople and the Clash of Islam and the West by Roger Crowley
Rendezvous with Rama by Arthur C. Clarke
Citizen Soldiers by Stephen Ambrose
Crazy Horse and Custer by Stephen E. Ambrose
Caught in the Revolution: Witnesses to the Fall of Imperial Russia by Helen Rappaport
The Romanov Sisters: The Lost Lives of the Daughters of Nicholas and Alexandra by Helen Rappaport
The Race to Save the Romanovs by Helen Rappaport
The Last Days of the Romanovs: Tragedy at Ekaterinburg by Helen Rappaport
Finally read The Count of Monte Cristo which I loved! Super old and super long but I really enjoyed the setup and revenge, etc..
Almost done with The Chairlift by John Irving , very similar to many of his other long novels like A Prayer for Owen Meany and A World According to Garp , hilarious at times and heartbreaking at times.
Almost done with The Chairlift by John Irving , very similar to many of his other long novels like A Prayer for Owen Meany and A World According to Garp , hilarious at times and heartbreaking at times.
I just finished The Hard Way by Mark Jenkins (former adventure columnist for Outside, National Geographic and others). Collection of short stories. Great, fairly quick read. What a life.
Currently reading Aurora Rising by Alistair Reynolds. He may well be my favorite recent science fiction writer, I really like most of his books. This one has been superb so far.
Currently reading Aurora Rising by Alistair Reynolds. He may well be my favorite recent science fiction writer, I really like most of his books. This one has been superb so far.
I've read several Greg Bear books. I'm usually not a big sci-fi guy, but Bear's books, most of them anyway, didn't seem as far-fetched as I find most sci-fi books to be.
Recently read “The Stranger in the Woods” by Michael Finkel . Very good about a 20 yr old guy who walked into central Maine woods in 1986 and lived without human contact for 27 years. He stole food and supplies from summer cabins around a lake and was finally caught after more than 1000 break ins. He liked his solitude
Probably. He was called the North Pond Hermit and only said one word in 27 years. At about year 15 he was on a path in woods and came across another hiker in daylight. Lowered his head, said Hi and kept walking. Then he limited any daytime activity and mostly moved around at night.
After he was caught, he spent 6 months in jail awaiting trial, pled guilty and sentenced to time served. All he wanted was to be left alone. He felt bad about stealing but had to in order to survive. He felt at odd with the world, was a loner by nature and just stayed to himself in a makeshift camp, hidden deep in tangled section and behind boulders. He was never discovered and after he showed Rangers his camp, they said he never would have been discovered it was so well hidden. Hard to believe as he was close enough to houses/people he could hear them talk sometimes at night.
The scene where the woman (the boy's mother) ends herself got me the most out of everything.
Finished “The Indifferent Stars Above” last week and finished “The Subtle Art of Not Giving A ****” last night. Moving onto “This Will Not Pass” now.
Couple months ago I considered starting Stormlight, but went with the Mistborn series instead. Excellent 1-3, 4-7, and 0.5 IMO. Loved the first 3, but fell in love with the Sci-Fi western vibe and characters of 4-7. For those that have read them Wayne was my favorite character and that has nothing to do with
I must have a preference to that type of character. I also always found myself enjoying Matrim Cauthon's story lines the most in the Wheel of Time series.
I also got through the first 3 Dune books in the last half a year as well.
Right now, I'm reading Sanderson's Tress of the Emerald Sea. So far, so good, but I'm not very far in. I'm slowing down a bit with the changing weather and the NBA Playoffs being on most nights. Love me some basketball. I read a **** ton from Nov-Apr, but I've barely read a whole book in the last month.
how book 7 ended either.
I also got through the first 3 Dune books in the last half a year as well.
Right now, I'm reading Sanderson's Tress of the Emerald Sea. So far, so good, but I'm not very far in. I'm slowing down a bit with the changing weather and the NBA Playoffs being on most nights. Love me some basketball. I read a **** ton from Nov-Apr, but I've barely read a whole book in the last month.
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Good to know. I really liked the first 3 Mistborn books, and I thought the ending was fantastic, so I didn't really want to go back to them.
