What Are You Reading Now?

[falafel]

Reading (well, listening to) Spoonbenders by Daryl Gregory. Read by Ari Fliakos (who also read The Nix). Its about a family with mental/psychi abilities, who are sometimes also con men. Very enjoyable so far.

[Scott R Nelson]

I just finished The Crossing by Michael Connelly. It's a 2015 Harry Bosch murder mystery, but includes a bit of Micky Haller who is my favorite Connelly character.

I was going to note this while I was still reading it, but finished it too fast. It was truly a book I couldn't put down. Unlike Lee Child (Jack Reacher novels), Connelly doesn't put words in there just to fill up the space. Everything is important to the story, but relatively easy to follow and the kind of writing that I enjoy the most. The next book I read will be something deeper, but sometimes I just have to read the ones that are a joy to read.

[LiveCoug]

I just finished The Crossing by Michael Connelly. It's a 2015 Harry Bosch murder mystery, but includes a bit of Micky Haller who is my favorite Connelly character.

I was going to note this while I was still reading it, but finished it too fast. It was truly a book I couldn't put down. Unlike Lee Child (Jack Reacher novels), Connelly doesn't put words in there just to fill up the space. Everything is important to the story, but relatively easy to follow and the kind of writing that I enjoy the most. The next book I read will be something deeper, but sometimes I just have to read the ones that are a joy to read.

I just listened to The Crossing and The Wrong Side of Goodbye over the last 2 weeks. Only one Bosch book left (until he writes a new one, of course)

[happyone]

I finished the Leonardo Da Vinci bio by Isaacson

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/...nardo-da-vinci

I liked it. Solid 4 stars on GR

If there is an overarching theme it is Leonardo's inability to complete projects and his insatiable curiosity. Great illustrations - most of them from his notebooks as well as the relatively few paintings he completed. There are a couple of rather risqué drawings.

I haven't typed up my complete thoughts, but it is well worth the read.

currently reading Bernard Cornwell's new HF novel about Shakespeare - Fools and Mortals

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/...om_search=true

[Scott R Nelson]

I just finished The Rooster Bar by John Grisham. He admits in the back that the book practically wrote itself after he read this article in The Atlantic: https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine...l-scam/375069/ After reading that article I can see where it all came from. I'm wondering if he sent any of his profits to Paul Campos, the article author. I would put this book in the middle to lower half of all the Grisham book, being one that is trying to inform the public about something that isn't quite right in the world. He's written quite a few of those now.

I've read every single book written by John Grisham - that was written for adults. I haven't even looked at the half dozen Theodore Boone books, which are written for young adults. Grisham was always my favorite author, but I think Vince Flynn, Michael Connelly, and Walter Mosley have all written better books overall. I expect that there is another Grisham book out there by now, which I'll have to read sometime in the next few months.

The next book I read will be non-fiction.

[Pelado]

Just started listening today to The Ministry of Utmost Happiness read by the author. There's a lot I'm not catching because of her Indian accent and the names of people and locations. Hoping it gets easier to follow soon.

The audio book got harder to understand because of all the scratches on the disk. I turned it in to the library and picked up Sing Unburied Sing. Pretty interesting so far.

Edit: Not a big fan of the reading style of the lady reading for Leoni (or however her name is spelled)

[chrisrenrut]

Edit: Not a big fan of the reading style of the lady reading for Leoni (or however her name is spelled)

I agree. Too dramatic, became distracting at times.

[falafel]

Reading (well, listening to) Spoonbenders by Daryl Gregory. Read by Ari Fliakos (who also read The Nix). Its about a family with mental/psychi abilities, who are sometimes also con men. Very enjoyable so far.

Finished the audio book version of this today. Really liked it a lot. Interesting characters and often laugh out loud funny. Highly recommended.

[happyone]

I just finished a newish (cc 2016) biography of one of the Crusader Leaders that Saladin considered his greatest enemy, Raynald de Chatillon. He came to the Outremer with the Second Crusade (1151) and stayed. He eventually became one of the most successful of the Crusader Commanders of all time. He handed Saladin his greatest defeat in 1177. He was executed personally by Saladin after the debacle at of the Horns of Hattin in 1187. He was the younger son of a minor noble in Burgandy. He rose from nothing to marry the Princess of Antioch and later after 15 yrs as a prisoner of Nur Al-Din, he was made overlord of Outer Jordon, one of the most strategic areas of the Kingdom of Jerusalem. He made such an impression on Islam that when AQAP attempted to mail a printer full of explosives in 2010 the package was addressed to him. Good over view of both the politics and the wars of the Crusader Kingdoms/Princaplities during middle yrs of the 12th Century. Solid 4 stars

God's Wolf
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/29849037-god-s-wolf

I think my next read will be John Feinstein's look at the 1995 Army Navy Game

A Civil War: Army vs. Navy - A Year Inside College Football's Purest Rivalry

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/...om_search=true

From what he has said, I think this takes place about the same time 'Napper was a student at the Hudson River Valley Trade Technical School

Ronny McAda is Army's QB. Charley Weatherby is Navy's coach. If anyone other than me remembers, he coached at USU for a couple of yrs before getting the Navy Job.

[Pelado]

Finished the audiobook of Sing Unburied Sing a while ago. Pretty powerful imagery.

I'm on The Ninth Hour now. It took listening to a couple of the disks (out of 7) before I started to feel at all connected with the story (so far - on the 5th disk - mostly about an order of nuns and their impact on a widow and her daughter). Maybe devout Catholics would have a more immediate connection.

[Jeff Lebowski]

Finished the audiobook of Sing Unburied Sing a while ago. Pretty powerful imagery.

I'm on The Ninth Hour now. It took listening to a couple of the disks (out of 7) before I started to feel at all connected with the story (so far - on the 5th disk - mostly about an order of nuns and their impact on a widow and her daughter). Maybe devout Catholics would have a more immediate connection.

Disk?

[Pelado]

Disk?

Is it supposed to be disc? I don't think anyone will be surprised that I'm an idiot.

[happyone]

Is it supposed to be disc? I don't think anyone will be surprised that I'm an idiot.

don't go there, don't go there, don't go there

[falafel]

don't go there, don't go there, don't go there

[clackamascoug]

Just finished Pimp, by Iceberg Slim. Was watching the Dave Chappelle special on Netflix and he referenced the book, and I found the story he related interesting enough to inquire after the book. Like the Kramer painting on Seinfeld - I found it sick and revolting but couldn't turn away. The narrator did a good job with the voices, and the whole book was written in slang. If a slang word could be used in place of a regular word it was. At the end of the book was a 4 minute slang conversion list explaining the language of the street circa 1945-1965.To be a top pimp in the sex worker industry, there are strict rules and regulations one must follow. I never knew...