What are you reading now?

[ironbut]

Sounds like something I might have to pick up!

I was lucky enough to have seen Hendrix perform that at the Atlanta Pop Festival on July 4 1970.

[Aimless1]

I am seriously jealous.  

[blessingx]

Lot, a collection of shorts, by Bryan Washington. 

You can get a glimpse, and see what hooked me, from Navigation. 

https://longreads.com/2019/03/20/navigation/

 

[recstar24]

Jazz bios!

[blessingx]

Poverty and Paradise in Sausalito

https://harpers.org/archive/2019/05/lost-at-sea-richardson-bay/

Smoke swirled from Larry’s mouth. He spoke again, about God. “God was a great character who lived down here. Cuban guy. Said he was God. He threw his harp and his teeth out the window. He made Joe Gould look like a fucking Girl Scout. One day, he walked down the dock with a machete, cutting boat lines. Last thing I heard about him, he stole a police car.”

[Dusty Chalk]

Finally finished Blood of the Gods by David Mealing (Book 2 of The Ascension Cycle).  Can't wait for book 3.

Resuming The Wise Man's Fear by Patrick Rothfuss (Book 2 of The Kingkiller Chronicles).

[TMoney]

For a gift my mother bought me tickets to the Cursed Child play, which is coming to SF this fall.

I had never read the books or seen the movies so I figured it was time pick them up from the library and see what the deal was with the cultural phenomenon I basically bypassed.

I'm through the first three books. I can now see why people like them. They are well done, entertaining, and super accessible. While they won't go on my list of favorite books they have been more than good enough for me to finish the series.

[gepardcv]

@TMoney: Try to finish the series and take a few weeks off from Harry Potter before seeing (or reading) Cursed Child. It's... different. In a good way IMO, but it's still good to let the main story settle in your mind before you jump into it.

[TMoney]

Did you see it in NYC or London, Constantine?

[Craig Sawyers]

You have to take your hat off to JK Rowling. She was a mother from a short lived marriage, on benefits (IOW dirt poor), and clinically depressed while she was writing the first book, Philosopher's Stone. Now, 22 years after the first print run of 1000 copies of that first book, and aged only 53, she has a net worth of $1Bn.

[gepardcv]

19 hours ago, TMoney said:

Did you see it in NYC or London, Constantine?

Neither, sadly , but I’ve been into HP for a long time and read the published stageplay script when it first came out.

[HiWire]

The Grave's a Fine and Private Place by Alan Bradley

Just starting the ninth book in the Flavia de Luce mystery series. Each one has been a riot of cleverness, humor, and deadly murder in the 1950s English countryside and they are some of my favorite books.

There are a lot of references to classic literature as well as music (organ music in particular), but the best part of the books (other than the ridiculous characters and situations) is the 11-year-old protagonist's fascination with chemistry... especially poison.

 

Edited May 13, 2019 by HiWire

[HiWire]

Anyone else spend a lot of their childhood reading gamebooks (Choose Your Own Adventure, Fighting Fantasy, Be An Interplanetary Spy, Time Machine, etc.)?

I've been looking for this series for years and I finally found it:

https://archive.org/details/Star_Challenge_1_Planets_in_Peril/page/n1

 

Edited May 27, 2019 by HiWire

[gepardcv]

On 5/26/2019 at 9:09 PM, HiWire said:

Anyone else spend a lot of their childhood reading gamebooks

I'm still a huge fan of the Lone Wolf series by Joe Dever. If you grew up on that, check out https://www.projectaon.org/en/Main/Home for a really fun nostalgia trip.

[TMoney]

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2019/05/college-students-arent-checking-out-books/590305/

^ Hits close to home as a life-long book lover whose first job was re-shelving books at the public library.

I wonder what the reading habits of kids will be going forward? I already feel like so few people I know regularly read books for leisure.

[Scgorg]

Reading has slowly been taking less and less of my time but I've forced myself to do some because I always enjoy it once I actually pick up a book. Decided to reread what is one of my favorite books of all time; I am pilgrim by Terry Hayes. It is a spy-thriller with a lot of tense moments and a very straightforward but engaging story. I've always been told I have an odd taste in entertainment but this book just really does it for me.

Other than that I just finished reading Busemannen (the boogeyman) by Knut Nærum. I have no idea if that one was ever translated to English, but for anyone here who is Norwegian/Swedish/Danish I highly recommend it. It's best described as a parody of the thriller genre.

Edited May 28, 2019 by Scgorg
Line break

[HiWire]

3 hours ago, gepardcv said:

I'm still a huge fan of the Lone Wolf series by Joe Dever. If you grew up on that, check out https://www.projectaon.org/en/Main/Home for a really fun nostalgia trip.

I don't think I got to read many of the Lone Wolf books. I do remember that they looked like this (distribution probably wasn't as wide in my home town's bookstores) – very English-looking:

 

I took a quick look on Amazon and it doesn't look like Knut Nærum's books have been translated into English yet. I'd love to check them out when they are released into the English-language markets. I Am Pilgrim sounds like fun and it did make the New York Times bestseller list – all those people can't be wrong.

Most of the young people I know don't have much respect for books – they're just an obsolete data storage medium to them (especially people in non-humanities studies). I can understand the academics' point of view (the fish-gutting line was particularly apt), but books are also where data becomes meaningful information. Words and ideas require structure and development and the newer methods of infographics, information science, etc. have only proven superior in specific instances.

Edited May 28, 2019 by HiWire

[Dusty Chalk]

“Chalk”?  I wonder if we’re related...

[blessingx]

A depressing article titled How Many Bones Would You Break to Get Laid?

[HiWire]

That is depressing. Are people really that stupid or that superficial?

[Hopstretch]

Oh yes indeed. 

[HiWire]

You'd think men would have figured out the beauty industry drives women crazy and learn from their example – it amplifies, reinforces, and preys on their insecurities.

Nearly finished this one:

 

Hitch-22 by Christopher Hitchens

[jose]

I read it as a teenager. Doing closet cleaning I rediscovered my collection of Moorcock books and comics. 

 

[gepardcv]

On 4/25/2019 at 2:19 PM, TMoney said:

Did you see it in NYC or London, Constantine?

Things have changed since we last discussed The Cursed Child. I saw it in New York last week... and, let's just say I almost immediately ordered tickets to see it again in San Francisco this fall.

PS: I think the two-a-day format with a matinee show, dinner break, and evening show makes for a fabulous day.

[TMoney]

31 minutes ago, gepardcv said:

Things have changed since we last discussed The Cursed Child. I saw it in New York last week... and, let's just say I almost immediately ordered tickets to see it again in San Francisco this fall.

PS: I think the two-a-day format with a matinee show, dinner break, and evening show makes for a fabulous day.

Awesome to hear! I'm now halfway through book 5 so should be good to go for the SF show!