What Are You Reading Now?

[Jeff Lebowski]

I just downloaded Lonesome Dove a 31 hour book (580 mb) in ten seconds. I can't believe the speeds we get nowadays.

That is a fantastic audio book. You will love it.

[Northwestcoug]

I read that for fun during my college days. Found it very interesting, didn't get bogged down at all.



I returned Brothers Karamazov to the library not having finished it again. Got too bogged down. I'll have to try again later - maybe with a different translation.



I watched the movie a few months ago.

Crime and Punishment was punishment for me. I read about a third of it a few years ago. I remember really enjoying some of the writing. But it got too tedious too fast.

How did it end?

[BigPiney]

Crime and Punishment was punishment for me. I read about a third of it a few years ago. I remember really enjoying some of the writing. But it got too tedious too fast.

How did it end?

Well, you read about the crime part right?

[Pelado]

Crime and Punishment was punishment for me. I read about a third of it a few years ago. I remember really enjoying some of the writing. But it got too tedious too fast.

How did it end?

If I remember correctly, Siberia.

[Northwestcoug]

Well, you read about the crime part right?

murder, something something....

[BigPiney]

murder, something something....

That was about as far as I got too.

[clackamascoug]

That is a fantastic audio book. You will love it.

Watching the mini series first (about 3 times), was a great way to establish the characters in my mind, now listening several years later (a decade?) it's really fun to fill in the gaps of information with the written set up. Listened for three hours today - and the time flew by.

[Scott R Nelson]

Last week something I was reading on the internet pointed me at Ben Orlin, his website, and his most recent book Change Is the Only Constant. But he had an earlier book Math with Bad Drawings, which I ordered from the library and am reading now.

I'm quite enjoying the book. He has a way of explaining things like probability and insurance risks in a way I had never thought of before. I quite like his bad drawings too. Oh, and chapter 1 explained ultimate tic-tac-toe which might actually be a fun game. I'll try it with my grandchildren at Thanksgiving.

I have to read a non-fiction book for every two or three murder mystery/thriller/assassin/police books that I read. I don't get through all of them, but Math with Bad Drawings is enjoyable and I'll probably have to get his second book once I'm done with this one. I'll probably have to dig through his web site too.

[happyone]

...I'm currently reading a look at how the Israeli victory in the 6 Day War in 1967 changed both Israeli and Palestinian politics.

His main theme seems to be that Israel can't give back the conquered territories and be militarily secure (the mountains of Judea and Sumeria are key to the defense of the coastal plain) while at the same time they can't have peace if they continue to rule there. In exploring this conundrum, he also looks at how the aftermath has changed the definitions of both the left and the right in Israeli politics

Catch 67

I finished this one and the author's premise is that Israel is in Catch 22 situation with respect to the West Bank. For security and religious reason they can't give it up - Israel is militarily indefensible to a major attack out of the west bank and current definition of Zionism is that Modern Israel should encompass all of Biblical Israel. On the other had she can't stay - for moral and international relations reasons. In explaining his theory, he looks at the both the evolution of Israel's left and right and why neither Israel nor the Palestinians seem willing to compromise and find a solution. He comes to the conclusion that a permanent peace is not in the cards. With this conclusion he uses the analogy of taking a fatal decease and turning it into chronic condition i.e Quit trying for a peace treaty (fatal condition) and get a cease fire - kind of like Korea (Chronic condition) and go from there. Well researched and thought provoking. I gave it four stars on GR.

A couple of other I've recently completed

It's not often I read of an event in English history that in spite of all my reading in English History that is new to me. Charles Spencer (Lady Di's brother) found one and has written an excellent account of that event, Charles II first attempt to regain his father's throne - To Catch a King' In 1651, Charles II made a bid to regain his father's throne. It didn't work and his army was crushed by Cromwell's forces at the Battle of Worchester. In the aftermath, Charles became the most wanted man in England. Cromwell's force were well prepared for the chase that happened in the aftermath - they rounded all most everyone who was anyone in the aftermath - with the exception of Charles and his immediate companions. For 6 weeks he was on the run and eventually escaped through the port of London. One incident particularly caught my attention. At one point Charles and his companions hid in an oak tree as Roundhead Cavalry rode beneath them. This tree became know as the "Royal Oak". Several Ships in the Royal Navy had be named after that tree, including a ship that was at Trafalger and a battle ship that was sunk by a U-Boat in the opening days of WW II at Scapa Flow. I now know where the name originates The portrait Spencer paints of Charles is very complementary. He is portrayed as competent commander (in spite of Worchester), willing to follow advice and willing to do what it takes to escape. He disguised him self as a peasant, including cutting off his hair, shaving his mustache, wearing common clothing, and even dyeing his skin with Walnut to mimic the complexion of a person who has spent most of their life outside. He was even able to mimic that accent of the common men. The one thing they couldn't hide was his height. He was 6'2" in an era were the common man was only 5'6"

In many ways this reads as an adventure novel and if someone proposed this as novel, editors would look at them as if they were crazy. I rated this 4 stars on GR.

I also read John Suchet's new bio of the composer of "The Nutcracker Suite" - Pytor Tchaikovsky(PT): Tchaikovsky: The Man Revealed. Suchet has written several good bio of various classic music composers - including Beethoven and Mozart. He doesn't go into the composers music as such, he does provide a fascinating look at the man behind that music. In the case of Tchaikosky, Suchet takes a look at two main themes in the composer's life - his extreme sensitivity to criticism and his coming to grips with his homosexuality.

In looking at his sensitivity to criticism, cites many examples of how that criticism caused major depression and ruptured friendships. Suchet supposed that PT was never quite secure as a composer.

Suchet draws much of his information on PT from his brother's biography of him. Much of that bio is still redacted by Russian authorities. The Soviets did every thing in there power to white wash that aspect of the composers life and even today Russian authorities don't want to talk about it. Because this reluctance, Suchet does a lot of fill in the blanks type of supposition about PT's lifestyle. PT's brother himself was gay and was very close to the composer. One conclusion I came to about PT and his lifestyle - if he was alive today, he would probably be in jail. His lovers tended to be both very young (14-16) and his students.

In writing about PT's compositons, Suchet discusses just how much PT want to write Opera. While he composed several, none have really lasted. In discussing this aspect of composing, Suchet opines on just how difficult it is to write both for the Opera House and the concert stage. Even the greatest composers usually could do one or the other. Suchet opines that there has been only on man to really combine both - Mozart.

Lavishly illustrated, as with most of his books, this is a definate 4+ star read for me.

[Jeff Lebowski]

Catch and Kill, Ronan Farrow’s first-person account of investigating the sexual assault allegations against Harvey Weinstein. I thought the writing was excellent in dealing with an under-recognized and under-reported issue in the entertainment industry. The lengths people have gone to in trying to intimidate, suppress, and discredit is shocking.

Just finished this book an my wife is reading it now. Outstanding. The most shocking thing about the entire story is the system that was in place to suppress and control the story for so many years. We are seeing the same kinds of things now with Epstein.

[Eddie]

My daughter is on the "book committee" for Davis School District. They just got done reading/reviewing Just Mercy for use in the district, as there is a teacher who wants to assign it to students. We had a pretty good discussion about it. Gotta admit - like others here are saying, it started by getting me pretty upset at the system and people who wrongly prosecute/convict people in the face of obvious evidence that they could not have been guilty, and ended with me deciding that as the system can't be fixed immediately, the death penalty should be done away with.

[BigPiney]

I just finished the latest Stephen King book, The Institute. I thought it was really good. One of the best of his recent books, imo.

Also only 2 more to go in the Wheel of Time...

[SteelBlue]

I wonder if this novel would be considered a classic were it not for the context of its publication and the author's dissidence in the Soviet Union. Probably not.

The blurbs and dust jacket are misleading. The novel is not much about The Master and Margarita.

I credit this novel as the spark for a deep dive into the Russian greats this year, though I was plagued throughout the reading of M&M by the feeling that I was an outsider and some of its deeper meanings weren't mine to possess. I will admit, to your point, that it is the novel's imagery that has been the most memorable. I have read 40 or so novels since, and I'd have a tough time discussing specific plot points without a review of my notes, but the opening scene at Patriarch Ponds, and Woland's Ball (and many other scenes) will stick with me for a long time.

[BigPiney]

I finished The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead. It was good and not complete crap like the overrated Underground Railroad.

[clackamascoug]

Watching the mini series first (about 3 times), was a great way to establish the characters in my mind, now listening several years later (a decade?) it's really fun to fill in the gaps of information with the written set up. Listened for three hours today - and the time flew by.

I'm at chapter 80 in Lonesome Dove - Clara is just introduced to the story line, and Elmira just had her baby boy and left. Never having read or listened to reading the book before - there's so much more detail than in the mini-series. I'm enjoying the heck out of it.