Spoilers What Book Are You Reading?

[Thekarens]

Fool's Assassin by Robin Hobb.

 

[Traverse]

Markdown for Writers.

 

[DudetheObscure]

I'm a bit ADD so I always read three books at once, one in French (so I don't forget it), one kid's book and one adult book.

My current books are:
French - Le Vicomte de Bragelonne (3rd of the Three Musketeers trilogy)
Kids - I am Alice (8th or 9th in The Last Apprentice series)
Adult - The Hot Kid by Elmore Leonard

 

[Scepticalscribe]

Thanks for getting me to re-read it again!

I panicked a bit when I could not find my hardcover edition issued to me in school in 1979, but found only my wife's paper bound copy from the late 80s. I finally found it with the lettering on the spine reduced to almost pure white from 35 years in the sun.

There's something about the familiar penciled notes, etc... That always bring me back to certain times through certain books.

B

Anything which will help to re-introduce a well-loved (much respected - indeed revered) work which is a masterpiece of both literature and politics to my fellow members of this forum.

Anytime, my friend.

In fact it has been a while since I visited her blog page and I just clicked a bunch of her articles into my Instapaper account to read on the iPad. I just finished this article that I really liked: What If Staying Single Weren't Stigmatized?

Once again, my grateful thanks. I have friends in mind (in parts of central Asia no less) with whom I had wonderful conversations on these topics. Actually, I suspect one of them - who has since become a very good friend of mine - will also find these texts of considerable interest.

Fool's Assassin by Robin Hobb.

Some years ago, I read the 'Liveship Traders' trilogy by Robin Hobb and must say that I thought it excellent; I assume that this forms part of the same general universe, and will be interested to read your thoughts on the book when you have read it.

 

[Thekarens]

Fool's Assassin is part of the Farseer series, but I read the Liveship Traders trilogy and really enjoyed it.

 

[LadyX]

What Book Are You Reading?

These are the ones I've read in the past.

• Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking [Kindle Edition]

Oooh. I didn't know you read this one. I have it on my list of books I want to read. What did you think of it? It sounds very interesting.

 

[S.B.G]

Oooh. I didn't know you read this one. I have it on my list of books I want to read. What did you think of it? It sounds very interesting.

It was very good; the best of the ones I listed too. Easy to read, page turner.

 

[AVBeatMan]

I re read this every few years, at this time of year. Classic.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Christmas-C...=1417460994&sr=1-2&keywords=a+christmas+carol

 

[Scepticalscribe]

I re read this every few years, at this time of year. Classic.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Christmas-C...=1417460994&sr=1-2&keywords=a+christmas+carol

Actually, yes. Hm.

I do recall reading that several years ago, and noting that it was a quieter and more creepy and somewhat disturbing text than the several movie adaptations might suggest.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

Fool's Assassin is part of the Farseer series, but I read the Liveship Traders trilogy and really enjoyed it.

How do you find the Farseer series? More to the point, do you recommend it?

 

[Thekarens]

How do you find the Farseer series? More to the point, do you recommend it?

I highly recommend anything by Robin Hobb. "The Fool" is a great character in my opinion.

 

[JamesMike]

I finished Paul Theroux's 'The Great Railway Bazar', now started 'The Black Ice', it is my understanding that Amazon Prime is making a series out of Michael Connelly's books.

 

[vulcanvillalta]

I finished Paul Theroux's 'The Great Railway Bazar', now started 'The Black Ice', it is my understanding that Amazon Prime is making a series out of Michael Connelly's books.

Really? Is that the Bosch show that I've been hearing about? I'm a Connolly fan (though I haven't read an awful lot) but would be very interested in that show

 

[Rob587]

Just starting "Zero to One" by Peter Thiel. Also, a big fan of "Anything You Want" by Derek Sivers.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

At the moment, I am reading "July Crisis: The World's Descent Into War, Summer 1914" by T. G. Otte, and re-reading Roy Hattersley's coolly objective biography of David Lloyd George called :"David Lloyd George - the Great Outsider".

 

[S.B.G]

I'm a little embarrassed here to admit this, but I looked on my bookshelf yesterday and saw that I actually own the book! I had forgotten that I had it and haven't ever read it yet.

It's always a good time.

Mr. Huntn,

I am further embarrassed, regarding this title, 'Into The Storm,' in that not only do I have the hard cover version of the book on my bookshelf, but as I was looking in my Kindle Library yesterday, I noticed that I also have a copy of it there too! D'oh!

 

[JamesMike]

Really? Is that the Bosch show that I've been hearing about? I'm a Connolly fan (though I haven't read an awful lot) but would be very interested in that show

Yes, it is, Connelly is the adviser to the series.

 

[aaronvan]

Eisenhower: A Life, by Paul Johnson.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

A very interesting, thought-provoking, very well written, if somewhat uneven, (some of the stories are somewhat predictable, another one or two don't really work, several are very good indeed, and two are absolutely outstanding) book of stories - which received excellent reviews - called 'Redeployment' by Phil Klay.

 

[pachyderm]

 

[dianestory2]

The Black Lizard Big Book of Pulps!

 

[LadyX]

What Book Are You Reading?

A lovely bitter sweet story, powerful, moving and uplifting at the same time. Some of Oscar Wilde's short stories for children have a similar tone.

I don't know if you remember but you said this of The Little Prince a few months ago when you quoted my post. I started the first couple of pages but then decided to read something else as I wasn't in the mood at the time. I picked it up again yesterday and read it in one sitting. Unfortunately, I was disappointed. It's very overrated, in my opinion. The book contains a lot of metaphors and some meaningful messages but it was just OK. I also did not like the ending. I don't know, it just wasn't my cup of tea.

 

[LadyX]

One snowy night Arthur Leander, a famous actor, has a heart attack onstage during a production of King Lear. Jeevan Chaudhary, a paparazzo-turned-EMT, is in the audience and leaps to his aid. A child actress named Kirsten Raymonde watches in horror as Jeevan performs CPR, pumping Arthur’s chest as the curtain drops, but Arthur is dead. That same night, as Jeevan walks home from the theater, a terrible pandemic begins to spread. Hospitals are flooded and Jeevan and his brother barricade themselves inside an apartment, watching out the window as cars clog the highways, gunshots ring out, and life disintegrates around them.

Fifteen years later, Kirsten is an actress with the Traveling Symphony. Together, this small troupe moves between the settlements of an altered world, performing Shakespeare and music for scattered communities of survivors. Written on their caravan, and tattooed on Kirsten’s arm is a line from Star Trek: “Because survival is insufficient.” But when they arrive in St. Deborah by the Water, they encounter a violent prophet who digs graves for anyone who dares to leave.

Spanning decades, moving back and forth in time, and vividly depicting life before and after the pandemic, this suspenseful, elegiac novel is rife with beauty. As Arthur falls in and out of love, as Jeevan watches the newscasters say their final good-byes, and as Kirsten finds herself caught in the crosshairs of the prophet, we see the strange twists of fate that connect them all. A novel of art, memory, and ambition, Station Eleven tells a story about the relationships that sustain us, the ephemeral nature of fame, and the beauty of the world as we know it.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

I don't know if you remember but you said this of The Little Prince a few months ago when you quoted my post. I started the first couple of pages but then decided to read something else as I wasn't in the mood at the time. I picked it up again yesterday and read it in one sitting. Unfortunately, I was disappointed. It's very overrated, in my opinion. The book contains a lot of metaphors and some meaningful messages but it was just OK. I also did not like the ending. I don't know, it just wasn't my cup of tea.

Actually, I read it when I was at school, during my very early teens, which is quite some time ago. Having said that, at the time, I thought it a charming book.

I'm not sure whether I would enjoy it in quite the same way these days. Indeed, I am very mindful of the fact that one can encounter books at the right - or the wrong - age, which can make all the difference in one's appreciation, enjoyment - or even - sense of empathy with the author/protagonist.

For example, I read 'The Catcher In The Rye' when I was around 23-24. That was the night I realised that I was no longer a teenager, no longer felt like one, thought like one, and nor did I see the world in those teenage terms of righteous rage at injustice real and imagined any longer. In fact, I wanted to administer a kick up the backside to Holden Caulfield.

Now, at the very same time, I had enough self-knowledge to realise that had I come across this book when I was say, 14, or 15 years old, I would have been quoting Holden Caulfield and this book would quite possibly have been my personal bible for a year or two. So, enjoyment and appreciation sometimes depends on when you get to read a book; it may not have the same impact at one stage in life as it would have had in another.

 

[JamesMike]

Reading a travel book by Dervla Murphy, 'On a Shoestring to Coorg'. To say that Dervla is a unique travel writer is a understatement. It is a story about taking her 5 yr. old daughter on trip through India.