Book jam - what you all reading?
- Thread starter jbj
- Start date
eloydrummerboy
& the Flaming Monkeys
Let's see, looking back, the last I posted was Michael Hasting's The Operators. Since then I've read:
The Alchemist - Paulo Coelho
The Hockey Stick and the Climate Wars - Michael Mann
The Story of Sushi - Trevor Corson
It Starts With Food - Dallas Hartwig
The Conference of the Birds - Peter Sis (More of a shortened translated poem, set in a picture book. Took all of like 30-45 minutes to get through, and that's with taking time to enjoy the artwork on each page.)
And now I'm almost finished Benjamin Franklin's Autobiography.
Of those, I would probably only recommend The Alchemist and The Hockey Stick. And the Conference was good, if you're into that sort of thing, not really a "read" though.
Next up, Drummergirl's grandmother has a a small book she wrote (she's now passed). It's spiral bound, never published. She's a Dutch immigrant and refugee. In it she tells the story of her life. I've been meaning to read it for a while, so I'm finally making myself.
Then I think I'll jump into A Brief History of Seven Killings by Marlon James.
“A Brief History of Seven Killings” is based in part on the real-life story of the Shower Posse, who began their rise in early-'60s Kingston and spread to America, where, by the 1980s, they controlled much of the crack trade in New York and Miami — in the book, they form an alliance with Griselda Blanco of the Medellín cartel.
The partnership echoed another one, when Jamaica’s prime minister Edward Seaga and his Jamaica Labour Party used the gang as enforcers in the slums of Tivoli Gardens (called Copenhagen City in James’s novel), which became that party’s fief. Both the J.L.P. and their rival party, the P.N.P. (People’s National Party), had armed gangs in their service, for whoever controlled the slums controlled Kingston, and whoever won the Kingston vote won the nation’s elections.
This turf war led to spiraling poverty and savage violence. It was the kind of trauma described and transmuted into song by the great Bob Marley (referred to in the novel as the Singer), who in 1976, amid unprecedented bloodshed, announced a free concert to promote peace in Kingston. (Marley was himself caught between the J.L.P. and P.N.P., along with their criminal gangs.) At the same time, outside forces including the C.I.A., anti-Castro Cubans and the Colombian drug cartels were converging on Jamaica with money and guns.
If all this sounds confusing, it’s because it’s true. On Dec. 3, before he could give the peace concert, Marley was ambushed at his house by a band of gunmen, shot twice, and almost murdered. After that, organized crime in Jamaica went international."
-NYT
The Alchemist - Paulo Coelho
The Hockey Stick and the Climate Wars - Michael Mann
The Story of Sushi - Trevor Corson
It Starts With Food - Dallas Hartwig
The Conference of the Birds - Peter Sis (More of a shortened translated poem, set in a picture book. Took all of like 30-45 minutes to get through, and that's with taking time to enjoy the artwork on each page.)
And now I'm almost finished Benjamin Franklin's Autobiography.
Of those, I would probably only recommend The Alchemist and The Hockey Stick. And the Conference was good, if you're into that sort of thing, not really a "read" though.
Next up, Drummergirl's grandmother has a a small book she wrote (she's now passed). It's spiral bound, never published. She's a Dutch immigrant and refugee. In it she tells the story of her life. I've been meaning to read it for a while, so I'm finally making myself.
Then I think I'll jump into A Brief History of Seven Killings by Marlon James.
“A Brief History of Seven Killings” is based in part on the real-life story of the Shower Posse, who began their rise in early-'60s Kingston and spread to America, where, by the 1980s, they controlled much of the crack trade in New York and Miami — in the book, they form an alliance with Griselda Blanco of the Medellín cartel.
The partnership echoed another one, when Jamaica’s prime minister Edward Seaga and his Jamaica Labour Party used the gang as enforcers in the slums of Tivoli Gardens (called Copenhagen City in James’s novel), which became that party’s fief. Both the J.L.P. and their rival party, the P.N.P. (People’s National Party), had armed gangs in their service, for whoever controlled the slums controlled Kingston, and whoever won the Kingston vote won the nation’s elections.
This turf war led to spiraling poverty and savage violence. It was the kind of trauma described and transmuted into song by the great Bob Marley (referred to in the novel as the Singer), who in 1976, amid unprecedented bloodshed, announced a free concert to promote peace in Kingston. (Marley was himself caught between the J.L.P. and P.N.P., along with their criminal gangs.) At the same time, outside forces including the C.I.A., anti-Castro Cubans and the Colombian drug cartels were converging on Jamaica with money and guns.
If all this sounds confusing, it’s because it’s true. On Dec. 3, before he could give the peace concert, Marley was ambushed at his house by a band of gunmen, shot twice, and almost murdered. After that, organized crime in Jamaica went international."
-NYT
tiger roach
Urban Bovine Knievel
Man, I forgot how engaging Pynchon's writing is. I keep finding myself going back and re-reading the page I just finished... the dialogue is just so good I'm reluctant to leave it behind.
(so people don't have to retrace - we're talking about this one) -
BlockInlay
Octavate.band
started reading this, expecting my Stephen King burnout to come right back. i've only read a little bit so far but i really like it. thanks
BlockInlay
Octavate.band
Finally finished this. I actually put it down for a week towards the end. Simply because I was enjoying it so much I didn't want it to end.
Great book. Thanks Jimmy.
BlockInlay
Octavate.band
I didn't even realise there was a 3rd guy in the Apollo 11 crew who had to stay in orbit. That fascinates me so I think after this I'll hunt down something on Michael Collins to read up on that dude.
Collins' book Carrying the Fire is THE best space program book out of the 20 or 30 that I've read. The forward is by Charles Lindbergh. Not too shabby.
Apologies if I already posted this (I'm loaded on cold medicine)
BlackCat
American Greaser
I'm reading Can Am Cars in Detail.
That was some great racing!
jp_nyc
Kick Henry Jackassowski
The World of Ice and Fire ʼ George Martin (and the two people who actually wrote it). This one basically reads like an Ed Greenwood era Forgotten Realms sourcebook. Probably because it was really written by two fantasy geeks and published by a game company. It’s nice guilty pleasure reading.
The Arts of India – Ed. Basil Gray. I’m just getting started on this one. It’s interesting but as with most art books I’ll probably just stick it on the shelf with the rest of my reference library.
The Arts of India – Ed. Basil Gray. I’m just getting started on this one. It’s interesting but as with most art books I’ll probably just stick it on the shelf with the rest of my reference library.
jamesp
poster child
Just finished The Yonahlossee Riding Camp for Girls with a bookclub. Before that I read Capote's first novel Other Voices, Other Rooms. Now I'm all fictioned-out for the month, so over the weekend I went back to finishing The Guns of August and started on a quick re-reading of The Ghosts of Cape Sabine.
tiger roach
Urban Bovine Knievel
Legacy of Heorot by Niven, Pournell and Barnes
Not my favorite by these guys, but still a lot of fun.
Not my favorite by these guys, but still a lot of fun.
eloydrummerboy
& the Flaming Monkeys
I ended up not reading the Marlon James book and started American Sphinx: The Character of Thomas Jefferson by Joseph Ellis. I'd say I'm a little over halfway through and so far its been great.
James Franciscus
Kick Henry Jackassowski
Again.
BlockInlay
Octavate.band
I'm reading this....
Is it really true that the 1918 pandemic started at Fort Devens in Massachusetts? I live a few miles from there and wonder if they have any sort of monument or historical marker? Or maybe just a plaque that says "Ooooops"
No one really knows the origin of the 1918 flu, but the first incidence in the US was at Ft. Riley Kansas in the Spring of 1918, but this was a relatively mild flu and not outside the ordinary. A more virulent strain then popped up in Boston among sailors in August of 1918, and this was the much deadlier variant that then spread throughout the US. It was first identified among American sailors coming from England and it quickly spread through Boston. The original soldiers were quarantined at Ft. Devens. The military hospital was quickly overwhelmed and hundreds of soldiers and citizens were sent to surrounding civilian hospitals, and bam, pandemic. So, it is a little complicated as to where it started. A troop staging facility in France is often cited as the first place where the flu was noticed back in 1917, but this was a milder form like what was in Kansas. The bad flu certainly broke in Boston in the US, but by this point there were already outbreaks at several locations. The Ft. Devens story pops up as the first written accounts by a US physician are from the base doctor at Ft. Devens, and the first cases were soldiers and quarantined at Ft Devens.
BlockInlay
Octavate.band
Reading the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series. Haven't read it in nearly 20 years.
Dogsinplastic
avuncular to no one
Between the holidays, work travel, the family getting sick, and then catching up on work due to being out of the office for the aforementioned I've fallen way behind on my reading. That said, I'm totally entranced with the Peter Gabriel bio Without Frontiers.
I don't want to shock anyone, but he's no longer in Genesis. I know, it's hard to hear and accept, but it is done. Can he make it as a solo artist? It's a tough call with the changing tides in the music industry.
I don't want to shock anyone, but he's no longer in Genesis. I know, it's hard to hear and accept, but it is done. Can he make it as a solo artist? It's a tough call with the changing tides in the music industry.