What Are You Reading Now?

[HuskyFreeNorthwest]

Ha ha, it's nice to know someone sees them! I just read Lions by Bonnie Nadzam and rank it among the best I've read this year. Comes out in early July.

I wish you'd rate more books 1-2 stars so I can think "ok no reason to check that out". You really like all these books and give good reviews that make me want to read them all.

[old_gregg]

I'm very surprised that Between the World and Me didn't win for non-fiction. I guess I'll have to check out Black Flags: The Rise of ISIS. Also surprising to see two wins for the Tampa Bay Times for two different stories. Good for them.

i finished black flags last week. very interesting, even if it is probably a little too fair to the jordanians. i also wish it would have spent more time on the baghdadi isis and pushes into syria.

[SteelBlue]

I wish you'd rate more books 1-2 stars so I can think "ok no reason to check that out". You really like all these books and give good reviews that make me want to read them all.

I just don't tell you about the crappy ones.

[SteelBlue]

Congrats to SU for picking up an award last week. Are you going to tell us about it or what?

[Jeff Lebowski]

Greg Prince publishes his long-awaited bio on Leonard Arrington.

http://www.amazon.com/Leonard-Arring...nard+arrington

Can't wait to read it, but I will probably wait for the Kindle version. If anyone reads it before me, I would love to hear your thoughts.

[SeattleUte]

Congrats to SU for picking up an award last week. Are you going to tell us about it or what?

I won a gold medal, for religious fiction, in this award program:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indepe...er_Book_Awards

[Pelado]

Greg Prince publishes his long-awaited bio on Leonard Arrington.

http://www.amazon.com/Leonard-Arring...nard+arrington

Can't wait to read it, but I will probably wait for the Kindle version. If anyone reads it before me, I would love to hear your thoughts.

Can't wait but will wait? So wishy washy.

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk

[Jeff Lebowski]

Can't wait but will wait? So wishy washy.

[Jeff Lebowski]

I won a gold medal, for religious fiction, in this award program:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indepe...er_Book_Awards

That is a wonderful accomplishment. Very happy for you.

[SteelBlue]

I won a gold medal, for religious fiction, in this award program:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indepe...er_Book_Awards

Very impressive. It's been fun watching you go through the process from writing, to release, to publicity and now to collecting a significant award. So, when do you start on novel number two?

[SeattleUte]

Very impressive. It's been fun watching you go through the process from writing, to release, to publication and now to collecting a significant award. So, when do you start on novel number two?

I've been working on it for a while.

[eldiente]

Greg Prince publishes his long-awaited bio on Leonard Arrington.

http://www.amazon.com/Leonard-Arring...nard+arrington

Can't wait to read it, but I will probably wait for the Kindle version. If anyone reads it before me, I would love to hear your thoughts.

Here's an interview with the author. http://radiowest.kuer.org/post/leona...mormon-history


So far in my reading I find it similar to David O McKay book by same author a few years ago.......internal institutional conflict, strong willed individuals, naïve hero....

[SteelBlue]

Some recommendations from the last couple months of reading:

The Sport of Kings, C.E. Morgan- This book felt like a Pulitzer finalist, and of all the 2016 novels I've read, I'd bet on this as the front runner to this point. A look at race relations in America through the symbol of thoroughbred horse racing. Beautifully written. Rated hard R for violence and sexuality.

The Vegetarian, Han Kang:- Recently won the Man Booker prize. S. Korean setting and author. If you like surreal fiction this is right up your alley. Also great for those who love symbolism, metaphor, allegory. This is one you'll be thinking about a long time. Rated hard R for violence and sex. As the NYT said, there aren't enough trigger warnings in the world for this one.

The Fox Was Ever the Hunter, Herta Muller- Recently translated to English, this is an account of life in Romania right up until the swift trial and execution of Ceausescu in 1989. A poetic prose and metaphor laden text, this is another one that will please lovers of lit fic and will likely annoy readers more into genre fiction. I liked it, especially because I was living in Europe at the time described in the novel. Rated soft R for violence, sexuality.

Zero K, Don DeLillo: This one has been getting mixed reviews from hard core DeLillo fans but I really liked it. An interesting look at the end of life, and the moral questions that could arise should cryogenic techniques actually progress to the point where extended or even "eternal" life became possible. Philosophy lovers should enjoy this one immensely.

The Girls, Emma Cline: Being marketed as one of this summer's biggest reads, Cline's novel is the tale of a young (14) woman who is mistreated at home and seeks the company of mysterious, somewhat older women who live communally in a Manson-like cult. A very disturbing read, but I thought made some interesting points about the perceived value of women in our society. It's being marketed as a thriller and in that respect I thought it failed. I did think it was impressive as a literary, sometimes thought provoking novel but ultimately I'm not sure it proved worth the discomfort.

Dodgers, Bill Beverly: This one was described to me as "the kids from the Wire going on an epic road trip". I can't come up with a description more apt. Likely to please both genre and lit fic fans.

Lions, Bonnie Nadzam: Look for this one in early July. Beautifully written story about a very small Colorado town and the people who've chosen to stay there. Pure literary fiction, this turned out to be one of my favorite reads so far this year. I'd love to see it do well, but it just isn't that kind of a novel.

Before the Fall, Noah Hawley: Producer and writer Hawley (you know him from the tv version of Fargo) has just published his second novel. It is styled much like "Did You Ever Have a Family?", read by several of you last year, in that it begins with the tragedy and flashes forward and backward in time, visiting several different characters, each chapter filling in a new blank in the mystery. I expect this one to get a lot of buzz this summer.

I have a few more to share but have run out of time. I'll try to get to it later.

[Jeff Lebowski]

Just finished H.W. Brands' biography of FDR: Traitor to His Class: The Privileged Life and Radical Presidency of Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

Really outstanding bio. Like all great men, FDR was a highly complex individual and Brands did a nice job balancing everything. The relationship between Eleanor and FDR was especially interesting.

One thing that surprised me was how many people in the US were in favor of isolationism leading up to WW2. FDR faced the political battle of his life pushing for a buildup of the military and weapons and establishing Lend/Lease and warning about the evils of Nazism. Lots of powerful people fought him tooth and nail. But wow, talk about being vindicated by history. Kind of scary to imagine where we would be had there been an isolationist president in power at the time.

Regardless of how one feels about the FDR presidency, he was a man with tremendous character and integrity. Kind of sad to contrast that with today's candidates.

[Northwestcoug]

Just finished H.W. Brands' biography of FDR: Traitor to His Class: The Privileged Life and Radical Presidency of Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

Really outstanding bio. Like all great men, FDR was a highly complex individual and Brands did a nice job balancing everything. The relationship between Eleanor and FDR was especially interesting.

One thing that surprised me was how many people in the US were in favor of isolationism leading up to WW2. FDR faced the political battle of his life pushing for a buildup of the military and weapons and establishing Lend/Lease and warning about the evils of Nazism. Lots of powerful people fought him tooth and nail. But wow, talk about being vindicated by history. Kind of scary to imagine where we would be had there been an isolationist president in power at the time.

Regardless of how one feels about the FDR presidency, he was a man with tremendous character and integrity. Kind of sad to contrast that with today's candidates.

Sounds like an interesting book. FDR is the president responsible for making life-long democrats of my grandparents. I'm not sure how they felt before his presidency, but after it they never voted 'R' for the rest of their lives.