What Are You Reading Now?

[Pelado]

I just finished Sir Jeffrey Archer's latest, Heads You Win

Interesting premise - The main character escapes from the USSR in 1968 in a shipping container. When he and his mother get to the docks, they have a choice of either going to the US or England. The story is duel tracked, as Mr. Archer tells what happened with both choices. There is also a bit of an O'Henry style ending. For me, a 4+ star read.

Having recently read both Follett and Archer (two of my favorite British authors writing right now) I think I enjoy Archer a bit more. He doesn't let his politics show quite a much

My first Archer book was "A Twist in the Tale" which I read as a teenager while recovering from a broken neck. Really enjoyed it, as I have several of his other books since.

[swampfrog]

I downloaded a bunch of G. K. Chesterton's books. Just finished Orthodoxy, which is a fantastic apologetic treatise on Christianity. Well worth the time.

When a religious scheme is shattered (as Christianity was shattered at the Reformation), it is not merely the vices that are let loose. The vices are, indeed, let loose, and they wander and do damage. But the virtues are let loose also; and the virtues wander more wildly, and the virtues do more terrible damage. The modern world is full of the old Christian virtues gone mad. The virtues have gone mad because they have been isolated from each other and are wandering alone.

And the more I considered Christianity, the more I found that while it had established a rule and order, the chief aim of that order was to give room for good things to run wild.

For the only courage worth calling courage must necessarily mean that the soul passes a breaking point—and does not break.
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It is written, "Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God." No; but the Lord thy God may tempt Himself; and it seems as if this was what happened in Gethsemane. In a garden Satan tempted man: and in a garden God tempted God. He passed in some superhuman manner through our human horror of pessimism. When the world shook and the sun was wiped out of heaven, it was not at the crucifixion, but at the cry from the cross: the cry which confessed that God was forsaken of God.

[RC Vikings]

David Goggins- Can't Hurt Me

Solid. Dude has an unbelievable story.

I'm about half way through this, very entertaining and a good read for someone that may need a kick in the butt. I'm also about half way through Life by Keith Richards, two very different paths to success.

[old_gregg]

this phil knight book is trash.

[RC Vikings]

this phil knight book is trash.

Shoe Dog? I thought it was interesting how things feel into place for him. He worked hard and put it all on the line several times but a lot of things also had fall in place for it all to work.

[old_gregg]

Shoe Dog? I thought it was interesting how things feel into place for him. He worked hard and put it all on the line several times but a lot of things also had fall in place for it all to work.

yeah. like 1000 pages of phil knight talking about how hard phil knight worked. zzzzz

[Jeff Lebowski]

yeah. like 1000 pages of phil knight talking about how hard phil knight worked. zzzzz

Maybe building a multi-billion dollar company is in fact hard work. Just a thought.

[old_gregg]

Maybe building a multi-billion dollar company is in fact hard work. Just a thought.

that doesn’t make it a good book

[Jeff Lebowski]

that doesn’t make it a good book

Ha. Good point.

I liked it.

[happyone]

I'm currently reading historian John Julius Norwich's last book A History of France
It is subtitled From Gaul to DeGaulle. The first 800 yrs (from Julius Caesar to Charlemagne) is covered in about 30 pages. The pace does slow a bit after that. It is "only" 400 pages or so, and very readable.

He passed away last summer and was a fantastic historian and writer. He wrote several books on the history of various places in the Mediterranean, including Venice, Sicily and a three volume set on the Byzantine Empire

[Donuthole]

I finally got around to reading The Goldfinch. Really great. Probably below The Nix for me, but definitely among the very best fiction I've read in the last few years. I agree, however, with those who thought it too long; the same story could have been told in a couple hundred fewer pages without losing any value to the characters or the story. That said, there is absolutely zero chance that a movie will be any good for the book readers. But I think i'll be interested to see it just to see what they cut out.

[CardiacCoug]

I finally got around to reading The Goldfinch. Really great. Probably below The Nix for me, but definitely among the very best fiction I've read in the last few years. I agree, however, with those who thought it too long; the same story could have been told in a couple hundred fewer pages without losing any value to the characters or the story. That said, there is absolutely zero chance that a movie will be any good for the book readers. But I think i'll be interested to see it just to see what they cut out.

The Goldfinch is in my top 5 ever novels. So good.

I thought The Nix was just OK.

Agree that The Goldfinch movie will automatically suck but I wil watch it anyway.

[falafel]

I finally got around to reading The Goldfinch. Really great. Probably below The Nix for me, but definitely among the very best fiction I've read in the last few years. I agree, however, with those who thought it too long; the same story could have been told in a couple hundred fewer pages without losing any value to the characters or the story. That said, there is absolutely zero chance that a movie will be any good for the book readers. But I think i'll be interested to see it just to see what they cut out.

The Goldfinch is in my top 5 ever novels. So good.

I thought The Nix was just OK.

Agree that The Goldfinch movie will automatically suck but I wil watch it anyway.

Yep, top 5 for me too. I had serious anxiety during the period the narrator was working as an antiques dealer in NY. Like, bleeding into my real life anxiety.

[Jeff Lebowski]

The Goldfinch is in my top 5 ever novels. So good.

I thought The Nix was just OK.

Agree that The Goldfinch movie will automatically suck but I wil watch it anyway.

Both great books.

[BigPiney]

Both great books.

Agreed.