tuscl

[OT] What are you reading right now?

Call.Me.Ishmael
Rhode Island
Monday, December 30, 2019 9:59 AM
Can be fiction and / or non-fiction. For me... Fiction, I haven't read Flannery O'Connor since high school. So, I'm working my way through her Library of America collected works. I'll say this, I'm enjoying her stuff now a lot more than I did in high school. On the other end of the spectrum, I'm reading an entirely disposable post-apocalyptic EMP thriller called "Going Dark" by Neil Lancaster. New author to me. So far, it's providing the mindless fun I want. Non-fiction... "Say Nothing" by Patrick Radden Keefe. It's about The Troubles in Northern Ireland, but revolves around a single murder. Highly recommended, especially if you've never read much into The Troubles before.

92 comments

  • skibum609
    •
    5 years ago
    Sugarloaf snow report and looking forward to 12" new on Wednesday
  • MackTruck
    •
    5 years ago
    I read da shit truck winners circle quarterly
  • GoVikings
    •
    5 years ago
    The Beatles: The Biography....by Bob Spitz this book is 990 some pages. i'm only on page 109 (only had the book for 3 weeks) and this book is incredible. its very interesting and i'm loving it. i'm trying to start reading more. over the years i haven't been one who reads for fun. however, if it something that really interests me, i enjoy it
  • Call.Me.Ishmael
    •
    5 years ago
    Heinlein is good. I prefer Bradbury.
  • MackTruck
    •
    5 years ago
    I belong to the shit truck positivity winners circle book club. I read the Thank Shit And Grow Rich by Mapolean Dill
  • MackTruck
    •
    5 years ago
    I also read how to Dump Loads and Influence Shitheads by Maynard Carnage This one helped me get real good at filling basements to the brim
  • MackTruck
    •
    5 years ago
    I love this subject
  • Call.Me.Ishmael
    •
    5 years ago
    Bradbury... "Fahrenheit 451" is an obvious but worthy choice. Short story collections, "R is for Rocket" and "The Illustrated Man".
  • MackTruck
    •
    5 years ago
    My favorite fiction book is Mark Wank and Dingleberry Sawyer. He was a badass at making other people do his work. When I get time I am going to finish reading about Moby's Dickless. I look forward to the ending and dat wale kicking those ass pirates clowns to Chinese
  • twentyfive
    •
    5 years ago
    Last read was Grisham’s The Guardians, also read Dave Barry’s last book I’m a fan of his and Carl Hiassen, as well as Elmore Leonard read more fiction now than when I was younger then I read a lot of biographies and business books looking for self improvement now just read for pleasure
  • Call.Me.Ishmael
    •
    5 years ago
    Elmore Leonard is pretty great. If you like Leonard, then try "The Friends of Eddie Coyle" by George V. Higgins.
  • twentyfive
    •
    5 years ago
    Read that a few years ago enjoyed it. I also liked Tom Clancy’s novels my favorite was The Cardinal of the Kremlin, but I’m not much of a fan of the new books written in his name since he died.
  • jackslash
    •
    5 years ago
    I'm reading TUSCL right now... But to answer the question, I'm re-reading the Flashman novels of George MacDonald Fraser. These are the funny, extremely non-PC adventures of Harry Flashman, a Victorian soldier who earns undeserved honors while acting as a bully, cad, bounder, coward, poltroon, and lecher. As for non-fiction, I'm reading "A History of the Jews" by Paul Johnson.
  • MackTruck
    •
    5 years ago
    I am seriously rooting for the wale
  • MackTruck
    •
    5 years ago
    You are a Cool guy heaving
  • nicespice
    •
    5 years ago
    Currently reading nonfiction: Everybody Lies by Seth Stephens-Davidowitz Not too far into it yet, but it’s been a fun read so far. In short, insight into people based off their internet searches. 😁
  • Muddy
    •
    5 years ago
    Last book I read was My Horizontal life by Chelsea Handler. I thought it was good. Some of her annectodal one night stands
  • skibum609
    •
    5 years ago
    Great reads: The fifth profession and Assumed Identity - David Morrell
  • doctorevil
    •
    5 years ago
    Heinlein is great. My favorite was Starship Troopers. Much better than the movie. I had forgotten about the Flashman series of novels. Read them 30+ years ago. They were great too.
  • jackslash
    •
    5 years ago
    The best science fiction author was Gene Wolfe, who recently passes away. Read The Book of the New Sun.
  • Call.Me.Ishmael
    •
    5 years ago
    I've read only a few short stories by Gene Wolfe, but I enjoyed them.
  • EndlessSummer
    •
    5 years ago
    First of all, absolutely ❤❤❤ Chelsea Handler and am dying to read her stuff, just haven't gotten there yet... What I'm currently reading: The Celestine Prophecy. I'm almost done, and I would recommend it to anyone! ❤ 🔆
  • whodey
    •
    5 years ago
    I'm currently reading this great site called TUSCL. The best fictional entertainment you will ever read. As for non-fiction, I prefer to feel my entertainment rather than read it.
  • Electronman
    •
    5 years ago
    Just finished the Sixth Extinction. Currently working on Moby Dick and Pre-suasion.
  • CrimsonCaravan
    •
    5 years ago
    Currently reading 1984 by George Orwell. Government oppression, thought control and authoritarian rule is becoming more and more present in our world and it's terrifying. Nothing scares me more than censored thought and the idea of a police state
  • DeclineToState
    •
    5 years ago
    For fiction, Purity by J. Franzen. For nonfiction, The Last Days of the Incas.
  • twentyfive
    •
    5 years ago
    Check out Animal Farm by Orwell, 1984 is about unchecked capitalism, but animal farm is a study in corruption applied specifically to the beginnings of the Soviet Union.
  • CrimsonCaravan
    •
    5 years ago
    @heaving I will definitely check out Brave New World! @25 I have read Animal Farm! I loved it and I loved how each character was symbolic of certain key figures in Soviet Union
  • ime
    •
    5 years ago
    Havana Nocturne: How the Mob Owned Cuba and Then Lost It to the Revolution By T. J. English
  • Call.Me.Ishmael
    •
    5 years ago
    "Brave New World" and "1984" are two great books to read one right after the other.
  • Array
    •
    5 years ago
    I alternate between books I want to read and books I should have read, according to people who think they now. Right now I’m reading Anna Karenina. Both Starship Troopers and The Moon is a Harsh Mistress are awesome reads. Heinlein’s social and political commentaries are pretty shallow, but both books are really fun reads.
  • Papi_Chulo
    •
    5 years ago
    StripperWeb It's part of the delusional genre
  • Papi_Chulo
    •
    5 years ago
    Never been one to read for entertainment although I think reading is a great way to acquire knowledge and/or seeing/thinking-about things one may have never thought about or looked at in a particular way. I enjoy reading articles of things that interest me - I just have not seen myself being able to invest the time and sticking-to-it required of reading books.
  • BocaOnt2019
    •
    5 years ago
    Ken Liu - Grace of Kings Kevin Kwan - Rich People Problems Martin Lindstrom - Brandwashed Brian K. Vaughn - Saga (Space Opera Graphic Novel with a lot of violence & nudity)
  • BocaOnt2019
    •
    5 years ago
    No problem - if you enjoy that I know of a few others of similar genre.
  • skibum609
    •
    5 years ago
    While animal farm's two main characters were both pigs, Napoleon represented Stalinm and Snowball represented Trotsky. 1984, a book I have read and re-read every year since 1969 is not a diatribe against capitalism, although Orwell, a socialist, hated capitalism. The book is an attack on Soveit style Big Government Communism, which Orwell hated far more. If you do not read 1984 more than a few times you will miss alot, but there is no doubt that what Orwell predicted is coming true, just decades later. A surveillance society; Government exterminating and then changing hisotry; lack of privacy; words mean everything and actions nothing; the destruction of the nuclear family and its replacement by the state and on and on. Never forget that Winston Smith's job was to go back in time and change the "news" to reflect what was currently going on. Never forget that one of his co-workers was tasked with reducing the language to 600 words, because that was the amount needed to conduct everyday life and commerce, but using more words than that allowed people to think for themselves and consider abstract ideas. His co-worker of course was disappeared and whenever I read this part of the book I think of how stupid ppl seem to be when texting, which is today's version of 600 words...
  • twentyfive
    •
    5 years ago
    @heaving & skibum In 1984 Big Brother represented unchecked capitalism just look at what the most powerful companies are today, only a few actually manufactured a product (Apple) the rest just intellectual capital (Facebook, Google). You can disagree all you like but it’s right there in black and white.
  • twentyfive
    •
    5 years ago
    ^That was the point their products ensure that the government knows more about you than you like and make no bones about it it’s not a conspiracy theory it’s a big suck out of your pocket
  • nicespice
    •
    5 years ago
    Bah. I want less of the talk about dystopian novels and politics and more of the novels about shit.
  • Call.Me.Ishmael
    •
    5 years ago
    About... actual feces? I mean, I don't know. Who am I to judge...?
  • Huntsman
    •
    5 years ago
    The Waste Land by T.S. Eliot.
  • Drunken Saguaro
    •
    5 years ago
    Young Men and Fire by Norman Maclean. True story of the Mann Gulch Fire that overran a crew of smoke jumpers in 1949.
  • Nidan111
    •
    5 years ago
    I’m not much of a fiction reader. I am reading The liberal industrial complex by Mark dice. Finished fake news by Mark Dice. The book, On Kiilling By lieutenant colonel David Grossman. On Combat by Lieutenant Colonel David Grossman. Tons of History online. Lots of pharmacotherapy literature. My own book to see if I need to re-print republish rewrite. Takes a lot of time out of your day to do that though.
  • georgmicrodong
    •
    5 years ago
    Since he’s getting ready to publish a new one, I’m rereading (actually listening this time) Jim Butcher’s Harry Dresden series. If you want really, really good fantasy, that one is top notch, along with Brandon Sanderson’s Mistborn trilogy.
  • FTS
    •
    5 years ago
    "Civilized to Death: The Price of Progress" by Christopher Ryan Happy New Year.
  • TFP
    •
    5 years ago
    I can't lie, I haven't read a legit book in a long time. But I bought a few books that I've been planning to read, based on my love of trains. Transit Maps of the World, and BART. And I have to say that I'm absolutely shocked that SJG hasn't responded to this thread with a fuck ton of books.
  • Call.Me.Ishmael
    •
    5 years ago
    TFP... SJG blocked me. You're welcome.
  • Papi_Chulo
    •
    5 years ago
    "... Once someone thought I was working on trains when I said I was an engineer ..." What kinda engineer are you?
  • ATACdawg
    •
    5 years ago
    War is Peace Freedom is Slavery Ignorance is Strength
  • ATACdawg
    •
    5 years ago
    Actually, I am reading "Flyboys" by James Bradley, who also wrote "Flags of Our Fathers". It's the story of nine Navy pilots who were shot down over Chichi Jima. Of the nine, the only one who was rescued was George H.W. Bush. The others were captured tortured and executed under horrendous circumstances. Just started this one.
  • Papi_Chulo
    •
    5 years ago
    ^ seems like a real pick me up
  • nicespice
    •
    5 years ago
    Heaving is a suave chemical engineer who prefers to tip dances for their time instead of buying dances. 😇
  • DenimChicken
    •
    5 years ago
    heaving is probably a data scientist, along those lines. Don't worry - Austin has a lot of jobs like this so you are still anonymous enough.
  • CJKent (Banned)
    •
    5 years ago
    Fiction: Original title: Le Petit Prince Author/ Illustrator: Antoine Marie Jean-Baptiste Roger, comte de Saint-Exupéry, Theme: “The main theme of The Little Prince is the importance of looking beneath the surface to find the real truth and meaning of a thing. It is the fox who teaches the Prince to see with one's heart instead of just with one's eyes. ... “ Non-fiction Original title: Traité sur la tolérance Author: François-Marie Arouet nom de plume Voltaire Theme: “The Treatise on Tolerance on the Occasion of the Death of Jean Calas from the Judgment Rendered in Toulouse (Pieces Originales Concernant la Mort des Sieurs Calas det le Jugement rendu a Toulouse) is a work by French philosopher Voltaire, published in 1763, in which he calls for tolerance between religions, and targets religious fanaticism, especially that of the Jesuits (under whom Voltaire received his early education), indicting all superstitions surrounding religions.”
  • IceyLoco
    •
    5 years ago
    Madness and civilization by Foucault
  • gammanu95
    •
    5 years ago
    I'm in the middle of several books right now. The first ones to come to mind are The User Illusion and Eastern Mind, Western Body, which or both psychology books. The other is some fiction garbage I downloaded on Kindle app. Unfortunately, none have really held my interest and I don't have that much time for reading.
  • Papi_Chulo
    •
    5 years ago
    "To ho or not to ho" - by Dr Juice Box Phd Examining the positive effects ho-ing has on our society ranging from economic stimulation to stress relief. Considered the defining work in the area of ho-ing with over a decade of research.
  • Papi_Chulo
    •
    5 years ago
    ^ highly recommend
  • shadowcat
    •
    5 years ago
    I got burned out on reading when I was stationed in Japan during 1964/65. 1 program a week in English on Japanese TV, 1 new movie a week at the base theater and the USO club showed some old reruns of TV shows once a week. So I was reading 5-6 books a week in between drinking, playing cards and getting laid.
  • skibum609
    •
    5 years ago
    25 Big Brother represented ourt of control government forcing people to think the same way - reminds of when Obam,a said "When the Con stitution conflicts with Offical Govermnent Policy, the Con stitution must bend". A Government running production is communism not capitalism and feel free to disagree all you like. There is no question that the Government controlled every aspect of life, including the truth in 1984, and that is Left wing Government, not capitalism.
  • twentyfive
    •
    5 years ago
    ^ I guess you know more than George Orwell, he’s the source where The information for my book report comes from
  • rickdugan
    •
    5 years ago
    I wish I had the time to read for pleasure. I was an avid reader until I had children. Now the only chance I get is when I'm on a plane.
  • twentyfive
    •
    5 years ago
    The System by Rick Dugan, it’s an old fashioned guide to getting hos cheap 😁
  • Papi_Chulo
    •
    5 years ago
    "The Little Engine That Could" One of the most inspirational works of our time.
  • san_jose_guy
    •
    4 years ago
    I need to be reading Foucault myself. SJG
  • twentyfive
    •
    4 years ago
    Just finished Run spot Run Gonna try papi’s recommendation the little engine that could hope the words aren’t to big for me to sound out.
  • Clubber
    •
    4 years ago
    Spygate
  • san_jose_guy
    •
    4 years ago
    Anarchist Cookbook [view link] SJG
  • SuperDude
    •
    4 years ago
    Just finished "FDR at War," a trilogy by Nigel Hamilton. An easy read about the politics, ego clashes and strategic planning during WWII. Hamilton's goal was to write the history that FDR did not live to write and to correct the record written by Winston Churchill in his "History of the Second World War." Hamilton explains the history that led to the creation of the United Nations, NATO and the other agreements that have kept the peace in Europe for 75 years. Now reading "World in Disarray," by Richard Haas, which explains how all of the arrangements put in place after WWII are coming undone.
  • FTS
    •
    4 years ago
    Bitcoin price chart
  • gSteph
    •
    4 years ago
    'Atlas of a lost world', about the arrival and spread of human beings in North America. Quite fascinating speculation about people that were essentially like us. Before that was 'The Goldfinch'. Never been much of a book reader, but trying to cultivate such as I near retirement.
  • TFP
    •
    4 years ago
    I guess SJG amended his ignore list. Sorry CMI, seems you didn't make the cut this time around.
  • Call.Me.Ishmael
    •
    4 years ago
    I think that SJG's Ignore List is really an "Ignore List". Meaning, I'm pretty sure that he has no one on ignore.
  • bdirect
    •
    4 years ago
    Chicago - January to date , total homicides=23 . total shot=98 from a chicago web site on crime
  • Call.Me.Ishmael
    •
    4 years ago
    I was orienting this thread more towards books, but thanks.
  • SanchoRG
    •
    4 years ago
    I read (listen rather) purely for entertainment. I’m an unapologetic sci-fi dork. I’ve enjoyed the cradle series - sort of an eastern martial arts series. I explained it bad but it’s excellent. Galaxys edge series is a sci-fi military type series that blatantly rips off Star Wars, but pulls it off far better. The expanse books are great too. The only nonfiction I read these days is code documentation and legal stuff
  • Call.Me.Ishmael
    •
    4 years ago
    I enjoy The Expanse TV series but haven't read the books. Heard good things, though.
  • SanchoRG
    •
    4 years ago
    Expanse books are great and the narrator for the audiobooks is good. A narrator makes or breaks a book. Game of thrones narrator is awful and ruins it over just reading the books. Forgot to mention the last kingdom books. Viking historical fiction good stuff
  • Jascoi
    •
    4 years ago
    reading “learning to speak spanish with lessons in your sleep”.
  • Call.Me.Ishmael
    •
    4 years ago
    Highly effective, I imagine, if you want to speak Spanish when talking in your sleep.
  • gobstopper007
    •
    4 years ago
    twentyfive Dec 30 Read that a few years ago enjoyed it. I also liked Tom Clancy’s novels my favorite was The Cardinal of the Kremlin, but I’m not much of a fan of the new books written in his name since he died. I also thought the original Clancy books were great. Think my favorites were Executive Orders and Rainbow 6. Newer stuff is okay but just not as good.
  • MackTruck
    •
    4 years ago
    I am reading the shit truck digest
  • Call.Me.Ishmael
    •
    4 years ago
    I enjoyed Tom Clancy's earlier stuff once and a while. Clancy employed a number of ghost writers toward the end of his career. In that genre, I was more of a Ludlum / le Carré guy.
  • Estafador
    •
    4 years ago
    "Start a Successful Business " by Colleen DeBaise in paperback format. In digital format: "The Intelligent Investor" by Benjamin Graham "Influence: The psychology of persuasion" by Robert B. Cialdini The next book (at least for understanding the stock market portion ) I planned to read after is "Securities Analysts" also by Benjamin Graham. That's crap looks heavy tho. I've been having a very hard time finding fiction that I actually enjoyed after I had long finished the Harry Potter and Eragon book series. Also I like educating myself.
  • Call.Me.Ishmael
    •
    4 years ago
    Estefador said "I've been having a very hard time finding fiction that I actually enjoyed after I had long finished the Harry Potter and Eragon book series." Look at the "His Dark Materials" series by Philip Pullman.
  • MackTruck
    •
    4 years ago
    You could benifit a lot from reading the rags to riches section of the shit truck digest. Good read and smart talk
  • SanchoRG
    •
    4 years ago
    Another decent series I am reading is the reckoners by Brandon Sanderson. Definitely YA stuff but still pretty good. It’s about people that hunt down and kill evil superheroes. Sort of like The Boys on amazon.
  • georgmicrodong
    •
    4 years ago
    @[view link].Ishmael, I completely agree about Ludlum. Some of it is a bit dated now, but if you ignore those references, they're still excellent to outstanding. In addition to Butcher's Dresden, Heinlein's "The Moon is a Harsh Mistress" and "Starship Troopers" are always gonna be high on my list. If you like alternate history/one way time travel, Eric Flint's 1632 series. Not your typical sequential read, but worth reading the series timeline to get the "right" order. :) For Space Opera, try Weber's Safehold or Honor Harrington series. Both get pretty wordy and cover a *lot* of plot territory towards the end, but I enjoyed both of them. For pure, simple fantasy, try Mercedes Lackey's 500 Kingdoms series. Kind of a sideways take on some classic fairy tales. For instance, the first one is The Fairy Godmother, and tells the story of what might have happened to Cinderella if the prince *hadn't* taken her away to marry him. Piers Anthony's Xanth series is a good read. If you play D&D, Weber's Bazell series (starting with Oath of Swords) is truly excellent. A talented DM's alternate D&D world, and it works well. Another excellent alternate history/time travel one is Stirling's Nantucket Event trilogy. He also write a longer series about what happened in the world left behind when the Event happened. That one is called "The Change" and starts with "Dies the Fire". For Star Wars fans, Timothy Zahn's Thrawn trilogy is really probably the best Star Wars story ever. It's no longer canon, but it's still excellent. And I hear he's re-writing it to fit in the current Disney canon.
  • Call.Me.Ishmael
    •
    4 years ago
    ^^^ That's a fine list of recommendations. Haven't read them all, but I know of most. For me, the Xanth series was the first book only. I thought it declined precipitously after that.
  • Tiburon
    •
    4 years ago
    These are some cool fiction novels, but we got any more non fiction/business/stock market book recommendations?
  • Call.Me.Ishmael
    •
    4 years ago
    I believe there are a few further up the thread.
  • san_jose_guy
    •
    4 years ago
    [view link] A. E. Waite (1857 - 1942) was a boni fide British Occultist and Golden Dawn veteran. He wrote many many books, they continue to be reprinted. What I am reading is a 1970 reprint of a 1901 publication. I think it essential that those who are out of school, develop and pursue their own reading plan. What you get from reading one book is HUGE. And you know best, what kinds of books will be most important for you. SJG
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