What Are You Reading Now?

[HuskyFreeNorthwest]

got this yesterday at the work gift exchange. Twas on my book list already.
20 pages in last night, did not disapoint.

I just ordered this at the recommendation of Amazon.

[SteelBlue]

Finished 2014 with 3 novels I'd been looking forward two. I highly recommend 2 of them and would advise you not to bother with the third.

1) The Narrow Road to the Deep North. Richard Flanagan. Won the 2014 Man Booker Prize. An excellent read that would likely interest even those of you who primarily read non-fiction.

2) Everything I Never Told You. This was Amazon's pick for 2014's best fiction. Haunting and painful but a very worthwhile reading experience and a hell of a debut novel for Celeste Ng.

The third was A Map of Betrayal by Ha Jing, whose work I have loved in the past. This one was a snoozer and at least mildly insulting to my short term memory.

Started 2015 with The Bully of Order. I liked it very much, but I will warn anyone who decides to read it on my recommendation that it is incredibly violent.

[SteelBlue]

Just a heads up, the Kindle version of Adam Sternbergh's "Shovel Ready" is only $1.99 right now. One of my favorite reads last year.

[Jeff Lebowski]

Just a heads up, the Kindle version of Adam Sternbergh's "Shovel Ready" is only $1.99 right now. One of my favorite reads last year.

Thanks for the heads up.

BTW, I am 2/3 of the way through "The Son" and loving it.

[SteelBlue]

BTW, I am 2/3 of the way through "The Son" and loving it.

[Applejack]

Just finished, "My Struggle: Book 1" by Karl Ove Knausgaard. I'm a bit late to this party, as I think book 1 has been available in English for over a year now. It was a satisfying reading experience, but definitely not for everyone. I've been somewhat obsessed lately with the idea that in life, much of what is truly meaningful and important is hidden among what we normally would call day to day tedium. In this book, and I assume the whole series, Knausgaard tells his own story, riding a line between autobiography and fiction (it is officially classified as fiction but is apparently true enough that some in his family are not speaking to him), in the minutest of detail. I felt like he was trying to demonstrate through this style something akin to the point I made above, and for me, it worked. He uses a death to really bring home this message.

This style isn't for everyone, and if you're not seeing or buying the concept, then you're going to feel like you've just read 500 pages of banality. But, if you're in the mood for some reflection on life and meaning then this will likely be rewarding. There were moments of brilliance frequent enough to leave me wanting more and so I'll invest my time into at least Book 2.

The NYT review:
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/22/bo...ment.html?_r=0

[ATTACH=CONFIG]5230[/ATTACH]

Nearly finished with this and I love it. I'm contemplating going for Volume 2. I'll write a little more when I finish up.

I've also started Lila which is great, as is everything that Marilynne touches.

[cowboy]

"The Liberator: One World War II Soldier's 500-Day Odyssey from the Beaches of Sicily to the Gates of Dachau"

Much has been made of Normandy and the Battle of the Bulge, but this book is awesome as it recounts the story of the 7th Army and the hell they went through as they made their way up through the south of France to the Siegfried Line, then back to offer flanking support in the Bulge, and finally on to liberate Germany. I've know so many people who fought in the European Theater who have now passed, and I'm kicking myself for not spending more time with them. My neighbor was pinned down in Bastogne, and the few stories he told me before he died made me respect these people immensely.

[TripletDaddy]

"The Liberator: One World War II Soldier's 500-Day Odyssey from the Beaches of Sicily to the Gates of Dachau"

Much has been made of Normandy and the Battle of the Bulge, but this book is awesome as it recounts the story of the 7th Army and the hell they went through as they made their way up through the south of France to the Siegfried Line, then back to offer flanking support in the Bulge, and finally on to liberate Germany. I've know so many people who fought in the European Theater who have now passed, and I'm kicking myself for not spending more time with them. My neighbor was pinned down in Bastogne, and the few stories he told me before he died made me respect these people immensely.

interesting. i visited Munich this past May and spent a day out at Dachau. it is an amazing place to visit. I have been reading a lot about it since then but haven't come across this one. Might have to add it to the list.

[Northwestcoug]

"Mortality" by Christopher Hitchens. A series of essays he wrote during his ordeal with oesophageal cancer. If I would have met Hitchens in life, I'd probably think he was a world-class asshole; supremely confident in his opinions and inflexible in his views. He kind of had some curious U-turns later in his life (stridently pro-Iraq war, then against water-boarding), but always atheist. He was an excellent essayist, and this small collection showcases that. It's a quick read. Militant atheism really doesn't show up here, just a few references here and there. But a lot of interesting end of life discussion. I would recommend it.

[happyone]

"The Liberator: One World War II Soldier's 500-Day Odyssey from the Beaches of Sicily to the Gates of Dachau"

Much has been made of Normandy and the Battle of the Bulge, but this book is awesome as it recounts the story of the 7th Army and the hell they went through as they made their way up through the south of France to the Siegfried Line, then back to offer flanking support in the Bulge, and finally on to liberate Germany. I've know so many people who fought in the European Theater who have now passed, and I'm kicking myself for not spending more time with them. My neighbor was pinned down in Bastogne, and the few stories he told me before he died made me respect these people immensely.

great book! I rated it 5 stars. I really like Kershaws writing style. If you haven't read it his The Bedford Boys is also an excellent read. It is about a company of National Guardsmen from Bedford, West Virginia who landed on the extreem right of Omaha Beach and were literally shot to pieces in the water and what happened when the telegraphs started coming.

interesting. i visited Munich this past May and spent a day out at Dachau. it is an amazing place to visit. I have been reading a lot about it since then but haven't come across this one. Might have to add it to the list.

As a teenager I went to Dachau twice on school field trips (8th and 10th grade) - the first time I really wasn't impressed. The second time was awe inspiring and humbling

[Pelado]

Can anyone recommend a book about the author of the original Gospel story - fiction or nonfiction?

[old_gregg]

Can anyone recommend a book about the author of the original Gospel story - fiction or nonfiction?

yeah, i'd be happy to get you a free copy of the greatest work of nonfiction ever written on the matter

[SteelBlue]

Nearly finished with this and I love it. I'm contemplating going for Volume 2. I'll write a little more when I finish up.

I've also started Lila which is great, as is everything that Marilynne touches.

Everything you've said here has warmed my heart.

[Pelado]

yeah, i'd be happy to get you a free copy of the greatest work of nonfiction ever written on the matter

Sweet. That's my favorite price.

[SteelBlue]

The National Book Critics Circle Awards has announced their finalists.

For fiction:

FICTION:

Rabih Alameddine, “An Unnecessary Woman” (Grove Press)

Marlon James, “A Brief History of Seven Killings” (Riverhead Books)

Lily King, “Euphoria” (Atlantic Monthly Press)

Chang-rae Lee, “On Such a Full Sea” (Riverhead Books)

Marilynne Robinson, “Lila” (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)

Non-fiction

NONFICTION:

David Brion Davis, “The Problem of Slavery in the Age of Emancipation” (Alfred A. Knopf)

Peter Finn and Petra Couvee, “The Zhivago Affair: The Kremlin, the CIA, and the Battle over a Forbidden Book” (Pantheon)

Elizabeth Kolbert, “The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History” (Henry Holt & Co.)

Thomas Piketty, “Capital in the Twenty-First Century,” translated from the French by Arthur Goldhammer (Belknap Press/Harvard University Press)

Hector Tobar, “Deep Down Dark: The Untold Stories of 33 Men Buried in a Chilean Mine, and the Miracle that Set Them Free” (Farrar, Straus & Giroux)