What are you reading now?

I've been reading Liar's Poker. It's a very entertaining and educational bit of nonfiction set in the wild and crazy Solomon Brothers Investment Bank of the 1980s. It's the book that kicked off Michael Lewis' writing career. Two thumbs up.   

Orwell's "Animal Farm".   It's informative and, unfortunately, pretty relevant.

I went through a Bukowski spree recently. I'm sure a lot of folks don't care for him due to his lifestyle but I mostly enjoy his work. 
 

In one of the Bukowski books he mentioned that Celine was the best author he had read. So I went down that rabbit hole too. So far I'm halfway through it and give it 6 stars on a 1-5 star scale. 
 

I'm wading through "On Killing" by Lt. Col Dave Grossman about the psychological effects of killing and warfare.  

 It's very, very sobering and depressing if you allow it.  Reading it in conjunction with the Ukraine situation is a troubling juxtaposition....   

Picked up Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss again.  Reread it every 3-4 years.

Love it.

I seem to be going through a 1960s phase right now. First Bukowski and now Didion. 

Hungary Bill (Forum Supporter) said:

Marjorie Suddard said:

Hungary Bill (Forum Supporter) said:

I'm reading "Stardust" by Neil Gaiman as a pallet cleanser between two books of another series.  I'm two chapters in and absolutely LOVE IT.  It is so well written, I just get lost in my imagination... 




Would strongly recommend.

Love love love Neil Gaiman. Try "The Ocean at the End of the Lane" next. His writing is so fluid and descriptive, it makes for a good reset to clear your brain of bad prose.

I've been doing lots of reading, but can't recall any real highlights... which reminds me: Anyone else here use Goodreads? I don't keep it totally up to date, but do try to log the good ones.

Margie

Half way through "The Ocean at the End of the Lane" and I love it!!

Me too. I find some Gaiman books a bit overwrought. This one was just right.

Just finished Atomic Accidents: A History of Nuclear Meltdowns and Disasters from the Ozark Mountains to Fukushima by James Mahaffey and boy howdy, that was not for the faint of heart. Super fascinating, though, and I learned a lot of objectively terrifying history. I think I'm going to continue the theme and move on to Midnight in Chernobyl next.

Just finished "BullE36 M3 Jobs" by David Graeber.  It's thought provoking but more of a "here's a problem" than a "here's a solution"... 

I'm about... 2/3 (?) of the way through Stephenson's Quicksilver after 6 weeks.

The first half was pretty good but the second half is dragging on way too long.  Maybe it's just that I don't think that allegedly-lovable rogue Jack Shaftoe is as hilarious a character as Stephenson clearly thinks he is.

Duke said:

I'm about... 2/3 (?) of the way through Stephenson's Quicksilver after 6 weeks.

The first half was pretty good but the second half is dragging on way too long.  Maybe it's just that I don't think that allegedly-lovable rogue Jack Shaftoe is as hilarious a character as Stephenson clearly thinks he is.

 

I enjoyed the entire trilogy, but there's definitely a feeling of accomplishment of a monumental task on finishing it.

Duke said:

I'm about... 2/3 (?) of the way through Stephenson's Quicksilver after 6 weeks.

The first half was pretty good but the second half is dragging on way too long.  Maybe it's just that I don't think that allegedly-lovable rogue Jack Shaftoe is as hilarious a character as Stephenson clearly thinks he is.

 

Quicksilver is a slog, but worth it for the next two books, in my opinion. 

Gotta get used to Jack, though.  He ain't going anywhere. 

Nicole Suddard said:

Just finished Atomic Accidents: A History of Nuclear Meltdowns and Disasters from the Ozark Mountains to Fukushima by James Mahaffey and boy howdy, that was not for the faint of heart. Super fascinating, though, and I learned a lot of objectively terrifying history. I think I'm going to continue the theme and move on to Midnight in Chernobyl next.

Nice coincidence, I just ordered a couple stickers.

https://www.redbubble.com/i/sticker/I-Love-Science-Demon-Core-by-Queen-Combat/35932371.EJUG5

Mr_Asa said:

Duke said:

I'm about... 2/3 (?) of the way through Stephenson's Quicksilver after 6 weeks.

The first half was pretty good but the second half is dragging on way too long.  Maybe it's just that I don't think that allegedly-lovable rogue Jack Shaftoe is as hilarious a character as Stephenson clearly thinks he is.

Quicksilver is a slog, but worth it for the next two books, in my opinion. 

Gotta get used to Jack, though.  He ain't going anywhere. 

It's not so much Jack himself that's wearing on me, it's the giant song-and-dance-number hallucinations that are getting tiresome.

In reply to Mr_Asa :

I've never seen an accidental prompt criticality incident look so cute.

Cousin_Eddie (Forum Supporter) said:

I went through a Bukowski spree recently. I'm sure a lot of folks don't care for him due to his lifestyle but I mostly enjoy his work. 

I like Bukowski. Trying to make a living writing is enough to drive anybody to heavy drinking. Working in the post office drives some men to do a lot worse than drinking. It's amazing he lived as long as he did. 

Duke said:

Mr_Asa said:

Duke said:

I'm about... 2/3 (?) of the way through Stephenson's Quicksilver after 6 weeks.

The first half was pretty good but the second half is dragging on way too long.  Maybe it's just that I don't think that allegedly-lovable rogue Jack Shaftoe is as hilarious a character as Stephenson clearly thinks he is.

Quicksilver is a slog, but worth it for the next two books, in my opinion. 

Gotta get used to Jack, though.  He ain't going anywhere. 

It's not so much Jack himself that's wearing on me, it's the giant song-and-dance-number hallucinations that are getting tiresome.

 

Ahh. Yeah, power through.  It gets better 

Lots of technical meat in here to learn. 

Gary said:

$30 for the Kindle edition and $100 for the hardback. They are very proud of that book.

That's out of my price range.

The Outfit, a great book so far about the Chicago mafia and how it influenced America.  Free edition from the public library.

In reply to Snowdoggie (Forum Supporter) :

Softcover, Amazon, around $20. Great story about the making of the movie ... and the movie business ... and the players. Highly recommended.

I like sci-fi a lot, but it seems like most titles are either space opera, or older, more cerebral classics which can get a little slow. Ursula K. Le Guin comes to mind as a fine writer whose pace drags at times. Recently I've read and liked Andy Weir, Dennis Taylor and Joshua Dalzelle, Phil Dick (Who almost was my dad  -  long story), Kurt Vonnegut, Neal Stephensen, William Gibson, Bruce Sterling.

Recommendations for exciting-but thoughtful sci-fi?

I'm reading Unsafe at Any Speed by Ralph Nader.

I figured I had known of and heard about this book my whole life, living in the city where they built the Corvair, it was time I read it.

The intro of this version, a 1991 printing, was interesting because Nader gave 16 suggestions on how to further improve safety over the coming decades. The industry has done every single thing and then some except one very notable suggestion:

"Make cars safer for pedestrians." 

For almost every pedestrian-safe design decision carmakers could have made, they've pretty much done the opposite.