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 Post subject: Re: Book review thread
PostPosted: Wed Aug 31, 2016 9:53 am 
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Chris I think you might enjoy this one quite a bit.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing ... d&qid=&sr=

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 Post subject: Re: Book review thread
PostPosted: Wed Aug 31, 2016 6:26 pm 
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Bosc wrote:
Chris I think you might enjoy this one quite a bit.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing ... d&qid=&sr=


Thanks. I'll check it out.

If I haven't mentioned this one, it's well worth a read. It may be a foreign area to you guys, but it's a rather amusing/disturbing tale of one of the most polluted areas of America (which I get to work in regularly!).
https://www.amazon.com/Meadowlands-Wild ... eadowlands

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 Post subject: Re: Book review thread
PostPosted: Tue Mar 14, 2017 3:15 pm 
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I'm not the deepest fella around but I do like to think my knowledge is pretty broad and fairly well informed. Then once in awhile something comes along that absolutely amazes me about how wrong and absolutely ignorant I am about my assumptions of the world or in this case the US of A.

I know the US tolerates a higher level of poverty than anywhere else in the developed world but that 4% of the population gets by on less than $2 dollars a day is as profoundly disturbing as it is astonishing.

https://www.amazon.com/2-00-Day-Living-Nothing-America/dp/054481195X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1489518419&sr=8-1&keywords=%242+a+day

The book will definitely evoke a lot of thought as well as anger, astonishment and saddness. Stories of 16 year olds selling sex for food for their brothers and sisters should not be a common reality for the 3 million American children living so far below the poverty line that the poverty line is actually their idea of the "American dream."

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 Post subject: Re: Book review thread
PostPosted: Fri Nov 10, 2017 10:15 am 
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Chris18 wrote:
Bosc wrote:
Chris18 wrote:
Bosc- what did you think of Colour of Magic? I'm not a huge fan of the early Discworld books. Not enough humor in them for me. The later books are great.


I liked it. Kind of took me a while to finish it, though, so I will likely re-read it. I think I can get the Kobo version from the library of the second book in the series so I'll give that a read for sure.


Cool. When your kid gets older, the Tiffany Aching series is great! Started them with our 7 year old this year. She loves the Feegles. And who wouldn't?


Finally got the library card and started making my way through the rest of the Discworld series. I just love Pratchett's writing style.

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 Post subject: Re: Book review thread
PostPosted: Fri Nov 17, 2017 1:13 pm 
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Bosc wrote:
Chris18 wrote:
Bosc wrote:
Chris18 wrote:
Bosc- what did you think of Colour of Magic? I'm not a huge fan of the early Discworld books. Not enough humor in them for me. The later books are great.


I liked it. Kind of took me a while to finish it, though, so I will likely re-read it. I think I can get the Kobo version from the library of the second book in the series so I'll give that a read for sure.


Cool. When your kid gets older, the Tiffany Aching series is great! Started them with our 7 year old this year. She loves the Feegles. And who wouldn't?


Finally got the library card and started making my way through the rest of the Discworld series. I just love Pratchett's writing style.


Somehow I missed your reply. I love the Discworld books. If you're at all into audiobooks, the Discworld ones narrated by Steven Briggs (British actor) are amazing. The ones narrated by Nigel Planer (British comedian, of The Young Ones fame) are meh. I love Planer's comedy, but his nasal voice comes through in all the characters, where Briggs does like 50 different voices/accents.

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 Post subject: Re: Book review thread
PostPosted: Wed Nov 22, 2017 9:45 am 
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I haven't read a lot of books lately. But its seems the last 4 books I have read have all been very short.

The Stranger - Camus
Candide - Voltaire
The Prophet - Gibran
The Old Man And The Sea - Hemingway.

Most all of these books have proven to be rather insightful and I have enjoyed reading them all.

I believe Camus described this book as when faced with the nakedness of man he realizes the total absurdity of it all. It is about a withdrawn man who kills a stranger. He can't quite explain the situation properly to a society that has already condemned him. He then reflects on his final days according to his own values.

I can relate to someone that no desire to be involved in the affairs of the world and returns societies indifference with his own. I was/am still intrigued by the whole idea of absurdity. Maybe I will read The Myth of Sisyphus or find another book that's a little lighter.

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 Post subject: Re: Book review thread
PostPosted: Mon Nov 27, 2017 3:00 pm 
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This should be required reading around here for discussion

https://smile.amazon.com/dp/0062698214/ ... 4NM91QYW0G


This Idea Is Brilliant: Lost, Overlooked, and Underappreciated Scientific Concepts Everyone Should Know
by John Brockman (Author)

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 Post subject: Re: Book review thread
PostPosted: Wed Oct 30, 2019 5:57 am 
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I'm using long drives to away games to listen to The Hobbit with my younger daughter. She likes it so far (about 2/3 through), other than the singing of songs (which I agree with). I started the LOTR trilogy on my commute to work. I'm now wondering- if Sauron "...poured his cruelty, his malice and his will to dominate all life" into the one ring, and the ring was cut from his finger, shouldn't he be the most chill motherfucker in Middle Earth? All his cruelty, malice and will to dominate all life was removed. He should be kicking back with a Coors Light equivalent, and opening the Sauron Sanctuary for Stray Dragon Puppies or some shit.

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 Post subject: Re: Book review thread
PostPosted: Mon Dec 30, 2019 11:24 pm 
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Huh, I never did sit down to read the Harry Potter books, but I always thought eventually I'd read Rowlings (or Galbraith's I guess) Cormoran Strike novels. But it turns out at least one of them is straight-up transphobic dreck.


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 Post subject: Re: Book review thread
PostPosted: Thu Jan 02, 2020 1:02 pm 
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Becky Chambers' sci-fi stuff is fantastic. Highly recommend.

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 Post subject: Re: Book review thread
PostPosted: Mon Sep 21, 2020 2:51 pm 
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Just finished the LOTR audio book series with Miss18.2. She liked it a lot more than I expected. Watched Fellowship of the Ring with her and she kind of liked it, but she is totally freaked out by Gollum. She won't watch Two Towers or Return of the King. Sigh.

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 Post subject: Re: Book review thread
PostPosted: Tue Sep 22, 2020 10:35 am 
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Just finished this one last night...

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Cycles folks....that's all life is. About a Plague taking root in a French town and the humanity that occurs within it. I do enjoy Camus' absurdist point of view and I enjoy his writing.

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 Post subject: Re: Book review thread
PostPosted: Tue Sep 22, 2020 10:38 am 
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That's a big fucking picture Jay! :lol:

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 Post subject: Re: Book review thread
PostPosted: Tue Sep 22, 2020 10:39 am 
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Chris18 wrote:
That's a big fucking picture Jay! :lol:


fixed it.

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 Post subject: Re: Book review thread
PostPosted: Mon Sep 28, 2020 7:09 pm 
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https://www.audible.ca/series/Bobiverse-Audiobooks/B072BV53Z7

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I'm on the 4th audiobook of this scifi series. A real change from my usual great courses audiobook fare.

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 Post subject: Re: Book review thread
PostPosted: Tue Nov 23, 2021 5:10 pm 
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Finally wanted to know what all the fuss was with the classic Elric books by Michael Moorcock, so I checked out an audiobook of Elric of Melnibone and holy shit is it ever fun. One of the best audiobook productions I've ever heard, there's a whole classic score backing up the narration that feels pulled right out of a Conan movie. Perfect setup for a very ambitious fantasy tale.


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 Post subject: Re: Book review thread
PostPosted: Wed Nov 24, 2021 8:18 am 
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Pokecheque wrote:
Finally wanted to know what all the fuss was with the classic Elric books by Michael Moorcock, so I checked out an audiobook of Elric of Melnibone and holy shit is it ever fun. One of the best audiobook productions I've ever heard, there's a whole classic score backing up the narration that feels pulled right out of a Conan movie. Perfect setup for a very ambitious fantasy tale.


You said Moorcock. :laugh:

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 Post subject: Re: Book review thread
PostPosted: Fri Mar 22, 2024 9:46 am 
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Thanks for talking about books again Chris.

I like to talk about books! I made a commitment to myself to read more this year at least 1 a month.

So far this year I've read, The Trial - Kafka, A Happy Death - Camus, Empire of the Summer Moon - Gywnne, Star Maker - Stapleton, The Book of the Five Rings - Musashi and I am currently reading JFK and The Unspeakable - Douglass

Next up...The 48 laws of Power - Greene

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 Post subject: Re: Book review thread
PostPosted: Fri Mar 22, 2024 12:10 pm 
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I used to be such a voracious reader. Probably 40 books a year or more, some pulp, some serious. Its fallen way, way off in the last 20 years only a book or three a year. Last fall picked up a kindle subscription and crunched through 20+ books all of a particular sci-fi, fantasy genre specific to progression leveling. Like DnD type progression. Its been fun to read again, even if its just pulp. Have put a Chris Hedges book on hold at the library, I like his articles immensely, time to try one of his books.

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 Post subject: Re: Book review thread
PostPosted: Fri Mar 22, 2024 12:14 pm 
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The Comfort Crisis: Embrace Discomfort to Reclaim Your Wild, Happy, Healthy Self. By: Michael Easter. Almost done and really like it. Good mix of research and personal stories. Love the idea of a major challenge every year to keep the mind & body going. Lots of discussion of how our lives have changed in the last 100 years and unforeseen impacts on our bodies. Making me want to check off a bucket list- buying a tiny cabin in the woods to escape to for a few weeks/year.

Stolen Focus: Why You Can't Pay Attention—and How to Think Deeply Again. By: Johann Hari. This guy has a lot of great points about why we can't focus (digital screens, immediate gratification in most ways, it's fucking with our sleep, etc). I listened on my commute. The author reads it. He's got a voice like Marvin the Martian. Made it impossible to listen to. He also comes off as just a whiner. And he does a month on a vacation island with no cell phone, nothing digital, etc. Fucking great for him! Who can afford that? And my wife finished it and said at the end he talks about how he went almost right back to using his phone all the time. Way to lead by example! :lol:

Punk Paradox by Greg Graffin. Bad Religion singer's autobiography. Good stuff about his youth, why he hates some bands, behind the scenes band stories (not ones that are in Do What You Want, which is an outsider's bio on the whole band).

The Storyteller by Dave Grohl. Autobiography. Great stories about his life, with a shorter than expected section on Nirvana. Actually, I guess I should have expected it. He tells some funny shit, like when he asked a realtor to find him a really private house. She asked how many acres and he blurted "400". Pretty close to DC. :lol: She found an old farm house with like 100 acres. They went to visit and he was shocked at how much land there was. She said "it's 1/4 the size you said you wanted!" So then he asked "how big is an acre?" and was surprised at how big. :lol:

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