What are you reading now?

[jose]

 

[mikeymad]

Read to me personally by the Author.

 

[Grahame]

9 minutes ago, mikeymad said:

Read to me personally by the Author.

 

So "American" Reading?

[mikeymad]

I guess I could have posted in the What are you Listening to thread, it does not say music only. 🤷‍♂️

[Dusty Chalk]

On 8/3/2022 at 7:48 PM, Grahame said:

So "American" Reading?

Audiobooks are books that are read to you.  So yes, they do count as "books", but don't count as "reading".    😜

[robm321]

I read with my ears, man. 

[TMoney]

Iacocca: An Autobiography

I saw this on a Car and Driver list of books for petrol heads. I ended up loving it. I don't necessarily agree with all of Lee's politics, but my goodness does he seem like an exceptionally smart guy and capable manager. There are some great business lessons I learned and he has no shortage of interesting war stories. He also grinds a lot of his personal axes and has some choice barbs for his enemies.

Apparently this was the best selling non-fiction book for a few years in the mid 80s so I'm not the only one who has enjoyed it.

Highly recommended. To steal a phrase from Lido, "if you can find a better auto book, read it!"

 

Edited August 9, 2022 by TMoney

[blessingx]

I'm one of those 80s readers. Enjoyed too. 

[Grahame]

Another 80's reader here. It was recommended by a colleague in the 80's - unsurprising given it's best seller status.

I also enjoyed, and recall thinking at the time, "Wow, what  a guy!". 

Now that I am older / wiser / more cynical, and having read / been exposed to other "magical CEO" autobiographies,

I wonder if they don't suffer from  self-selection / survivorship bias

"I took  this  bold course of action,  and it worked great, it must be down to me"

Given the imperative that "something must be done" I  can understand the bias to action,

although now I might view the lack of control groups - A/B testing -  Blue Green Deployments differently 

Maybe I'm not cut out to be a CEO, and just lack Vision,  and am insufficiently Bold / Courageous.

In the  same  way politicians that are agile / adaptable  / change their opinions based  on the latest evidence (evidenced based reasoning?) are seen as "flip-floppers"

Maybe I just need access to the Three envelopes /  letters.

https://kevinkruse.com/the-ceo-and-the-three-envelopes/

 

Edited August 9, 2022 by Grahame

[MoonShine]

Some recent reads:

This was really great. Strahan is a Top Notch anthologist.

Not as good as Station 11 but still pretty dang good.

This one grabbed me. Couldn't put it down.

Quick read, absolutely loved it. Really great Sci-Fi/Horror that reminded me of Harlan Ellison's I have No Mouth and I Must Scream. After reading this and the Children of Time duology I have become a big fan of Tchaikovsky.

Current reads:

I also stumbled upon an audiobook version of all 12 issues from Asimov's Science Fiction from 2014. Pretty cool.

 

[TMoney]

Sourcery - Terry Pratchett

As an American, it is a little hard to believe Terry Pratchett was the best selling author in the UK in the 90s given the way his work just never took off over here. That being said, I’ve always been intrigued by the Discworld series and figured I’d give one a try.

I think this was a bad place to start. It felt more like a collection of witty one-liners and gags held together by a loose plot.

Looking at people’s rankings of the Discworld novels, this one usually rates in the bottom 1/4-1/3, so I am up to give Discworld another chance and write this one off.

I hear the City Watch line is a fan favorite so going to try those next.

[MoonShine]

^ I tried Discworld a few times years ago.

Not bad but not for me is what I remember thinking.

[Dusty Chalk]

6 hours ago, TMoney said:

It felt more like a collection of witty one-liners and gags held together by a loose plot.

Yeah, I'm pretty sure that just described the whole series -- at least as far as I got.  You might try Christopher Moore.  There tends to be more plot...actually, now that I think about it...I haven't read him in a while.  Good idea, I'll have to catch up on his books.  I just autosugged myself.

[TMoney]

A Game of Thrones - GRRM

I'll give the HBO folks a ton of credit. At least when it comes to this first book, the GOT show feels like about as faithful a book-to-show adaptation as I can remember.

AGOT the book is entertaining and reads like a beach read, with lots of momentum from chapter to chapter.

You can tell GRRM loves him some food. The flowery descriptions of all the feasts and food got to be a bit much after a while. 😂

I think I will probably keep going with the books. I'm betting the deeper you get in to the series the more the books diverge from the GOT Show.

[n_maher]

I'm glad you enjoyed GOT, I felt like every book was a battle and one that I saw no point in winning.  I'm sure I missed out on something by not finishing the series but I admit defeat.

[Voltron]

I like the GOT books for the most part. The weird timeline split he was forced into when the third? or fourth? book was too long was really annoying. Discussing events in such great detail and then going backwards in the next book with parallel timelines was dumb. 

[blessingx]

Starting Alan Moore's Illuminations. All for a good take down. 

 

[n_maher]

Almost done with this, definitely have enjoyed. Can't believe that @en480c4 has not posted about it.

[Dusty Chalk]

On 9/27/2022 at 9:34 PM, n_maher said:

I'm sure I missed out on something by not finishing the series...

Funny thing, George R. R. Martin didn't finish the series, either.

3 hours ago, n_maher said:

Almost done with this, definitely have enjoyed. Can't believe that @en480c4 has not posted about it.

Ack, no spoilers please, I'm still reading the first half.  But yeah, thoroughly enjoying.  As much as the first two.

[en480c4]

On 10/15/2022 at 7:46 PM, n_maher said:

Almost done with this, definitely have enjoyed. Can't believe that @en480c4 has not posted about it.

I decided to re-read Gideon and Harrow first.  I had planned to start early enough that I'd be ready when this came out, but it's been slow-going and I'm about half-way through Harrow now.  I have to admit Harrow is far more enjoyable on re-read knowing what's going on.  This is up next!  Happy to hear positive impressions.

[MoonShine]

^ Liked Gideon but couldn't get past Harrow. Maybe I will give it another shot.

[rod]

[Dusty Chalk]

On 10/15/2022 at 11:03 PM, Dusty Chalk said:

Ack, no spoilers please, I'm still reading the first half.  But yeah, thoroughly enjoying.  As much as the first two.

Scratch that, please feel free to discuss, I will block you both until I finish reading.  (Nothing personal, just temporarily.  I'm reading three books at the same time, so it's just going to take me longer.  That said, I'm about halfway through.)  I'm just feeling guilty about making such an ... entitled request.  I will take it upon myself instead.

@n_maher@en480c4

[en480c4]

53 minutes ago, Dusty Chalk said:

Scratch that, please feel free to discuss, I will block you both until I finish reading.  (Nothing personal, just temporarily.  I'm reading three books at the same time, so it's just going to take me longer.  That said, I'm about halfway through.)  I'm just feeling guilty about making such an ... entitled request.  I will take it upon myself instead.

@n_maher@en480c4

Considering I'm still pecking away at Harrow, reading a chapter or two while putting the girls to bed (and often falling asleep while doing so, much to my wife's chagrin), I think you're going to finish Nona before me! But certainly no hard feelings.  Do what you've gotta do!

[Dusty Chalk]

6 hours ago, en480c4 said:

Considering I'm still pecking away at Harrow, reading a chapter or two while putting the girls to bed (and often falling asleep while doing so, much to my wife's chagrin), I think you're going to finish Nona before me! But certainly no hard feelings.  Do what you've gotta do!

🤪🥰🤣

9 hours ago, MoonShine said:

^ Liked Gideon but couldn't get past Harrow. Maybe I will give it another shot.

Harrow is a completely different book, I didn't like it at first, but ... it's like Dark City -- it's a mystery, even to the main character.  And even once you unravel the mystery, it's still a mystery how everything will turn out.  They even have...oop, sorry, I will say no more. 

tl;dr:  DEFINITELY give it another shot, I loved Harrow.