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Post by Bromanoph on Jul 10, 2021 17:05:19 GMT -5
What are you reading currently, or, what was the last novel you read? Curious to see peoples' answers.
Last book I (re)read was Deniro's Game by Rawi Hajj. Absolutely a thrill to read. The cadence of his language coupled with an odd sense of humour combines to create a wonderful visceral experience.
I have read his other novels, they too are a treat for any fan of raw, superbly human literature.
Enjoy! Much Love, Brom.
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piph
New Member
Posts: 36
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Post by piph on Jul 13, 2021 17:21:38 GMT -5
Brom, why? Because I love you. Here is the most recent, say in the last week or so, .. ridiculous I know .
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volkov
New Member
AC Veteran
Posts: 16
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Post by volkov on Jul 13, 2021 20:03:56 GMT -5
I'm in the midst of reading a book called The Valkyrie Protocol by David Weber, which is about time travel and alternate timelines and stuff. Last book I finished was called The Demons of Constantinople, by Eric Flint, Gorg Huff and Paula Goodlet. It was also about time travel and alternate timelines, but also about magic and mythology. Of late I've also been reading webnovels on a few different apps.
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Post by sasha on Aug 3, 2021 10:11:09 GMT -5
I've been re-reading some of Groff Conklin's classic sci-fi anthologies from the 1940s - 1960s. I'm also slogging through a massive tome by David Kahn called "The Code-Breakers: a Comprehensive History of Secret Communication". It runs well over 1000 pages. I can't recall the last novel I read, but I just finished reading Lalo Schifrin's autobiography ("Mission Impossible - My Life in Music"), & before that Andrew Chaikin's "Man on the Moon", a mission-by-mission recap of the Apollo program.
EDIT - Oh, I forgot - audiobooks. I don't care for my NPR station's weekend evening programming, so I've been turning instead to audiobooks via YouTube. I'm especially enamored of those Edwardian & post-Edwardian era ghost stories: E F Benson, M R James, et al. Wonderfully evocative of the days I spent reading them in library books in my sleeping bag on the back porch under a yellow bug light!
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Post by beki on Aug 8, 2021 0:29:57 GMT -5
I feel so...average looking at your lists. I have beensurprised to find I am not reading as much as I thought I would in retirement, in fact much less than when I was working.
I am re reading a delightful novel that I just recommended to a friend "The Little Paris Bookshop" by Nina George. I just finished "Japanland" by Karin Muller. Its a memoir of awoman who spent a year in Japan making a documentary while fully immersing herself in the culture as much as possible. I loved it. Very interesting and informativRecently I have also been reading lots of contemporary poetry books, many written by haiku poets I know.
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Post by winddance on Aug 20, 2021 19:10:29 GMT -5
just started reading a very interesting book. "liar's dictionary" eley williams. word lovers will love it. well maybe. I haven't quite decided, but so far lots of fun. story told in 2 voices, one hundred years apart, working at the same building on a tome of a dictionary that couldnt compete with collier's and the rest of the dictionaries of the day. 19th century lexographer is busy adding his own mountweazels and modern day counterpart is trying to analyse and digitize the whole mess. let you know whether I love it or don't finish it. words are wonderous
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Post by sasha on Aug 21, 2021 11:11:01 GMT -5
just started reading a very interesting book. "liar's dictionary" eley williams. word lovers will love it... I've always enjoyed Ambrose Bierce's "The Devil's Dictionary", for its acerbic & usually spot-on commentary of our collective cultural behavior. E.g., "Cynic - one whose faulty vision enables him only to see things as they are, rather than as they should be." Or "Magpie - a bird whose thievous disposition has led some to believe it can be taught to speak." Or "Marriage - an institution consisting of a Mistress, a Master, and two slaves - for a total of two, in all." (All these approximately paraphrased from an imperfect memory)
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Post by judih on Aug 22, 2021 2:40:13 GMT -5
I've been searching the voices of the past. Now I'm into "Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl", by Harriet Jacobs (1813-1897). Personal account that sheds light like nothing else into the horrendous existence of slavery, the few and far between signs of compassion from white society in the South, and the courage to survive.
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Post by judih on Sept 21, 2021 13:55:37 GMT -5
The Bookseller of Kabul by Åsne Seierstad
What insight into life in Afghanistan during Taliban, after Taliban. For women, impossible, for men - oppressive. The writer is offered residency with a family of the educated bookseller, with English speaking children and other family members - which is unusual for the country. Even so, women's rights? Don't expect much. Full respect given to the head of the household? Yes, or else. It's fascinating.
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Post by sasha on Oct 26, 2021 12:38:44 GMT -5
Robert Buderi's "The Invention That Changed the World", on the development of radar. It's much more accessible than the history of cryptography I'm bogged down in, and is sprinkled with interesting tidbits completely new to me - e.g., prior to the magnetron (which generates the high-power high-frequency microwave radiation essential to radar), the UK had built enormous passive acoustical reflectors to concentrate the sound of approaching enemy aircraft!
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Post by agrimmeer on Mar 20, 2023 15:40:01 GMT -5
I'm in the middle of Salman Rushdie's Victory City currently. It's too early to say whether I'd heartily recommend it or not. I do recommend his Midnight's Children.
Edited to add: Yep, the tale held a good ending in that it made a lot of what came before clearer, I think. Sad but good.
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Post by sasha on Mar 22, 2023 10:10:13 GMT -5
"Quantum Steampunk", a look at past visions of what our present was supposed to be like. It strikes me as being a tad unfocused, & ultimately unsatisfying. Her supposedly non-technical explanation of quantum computing sailed over my head. I stalled out midway through & set it aside.
"October the First is Too Late", a sci-fi by astronomer Fred Hoyle built upon cosmological notions of time. It depicts an Earth on which different regions suddenly find themselves in times other than our own - with the inhabitants of each region thinking theirs is the only one still in the "present". Still working on it....
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Post by luvleerenee on Apr 12, 2023 9:29:38 GMT -5
I decided to reread Stephen King's "The Stand". I read it way back in 1978 when it was first published, but this later addition has an extra 400 or so pages that could not be included by the publisher back in the 70's. (apparently due to the inability to print and bind hardback books in excess of 800 pages by Double Day's press at the time) It is like candy - so delicious, but not very good for your health! 😄
Prior to this, I just finished reading, "12 Years A Slave" by Solomon Northup, and it was heart breaking and unfathomable that people can be so cruel to each other, but also how a spirit refused to be broken and persevered.
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Post by sasha on Aug 7, 2023 10:56:40 GMT -5
Working on "Really the Blues", an autobiography of "Mezz" Mezzrow, a jazz musician - and avid cannabis enthusiast - of the early 20th century. Though white, he totally embraced black culture, which embraced him in turn. The hipster slang of the 1910s is a little daunting, but it's an intriguing look into the mores of a subculture 100 yrs ago. I'm taking a break to enjoy the rare streak of nice weather we're having, but rain is in the forecast yet again, at which point I'll get back into it. The book, that is, not the rain. Or so I hope.
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