What book(s) are you currently reading?

[ghostexorcist]

The Man in the High Castle (1962)

Someone posted about a tv adaptation and the story sounded interesting. I tracked down a PDF.

https://www.modernlanguageexperiment.org...castle.pdf

Here is an interesting bit from chapter 4 or 5 where the author explains the assassination of Roosevelt led to the weakening of the US, meaning we never came out of the Great Depression and were easily conquered during WWII. The real world history of WWII is presented as alternative fiction within the fictional story:

At the bookcase she knelt.

'Did you read this?' she asked, taking a book out.

Nearsightedly he peered. Lurid cover. Novel. 'No,' he said. 'My wife got that. She reads a lot.'

'You should read it.'

Still feeling disappointed, he grabbed the book, glanced at it. The Grasshopper Lies Heavy. 'Isn't this one of those banned-in-Boston books?' he said.

'Banned through the United States. And in Europe, of course.' She had gone to the hall door and stood there now, waiting

[...]

'That's his theory. If Joe Zangara had missed him, he would have pulled America out of the Depression and armed it so that — ' She broke off. They had arrived at the elevator, and other people were waiting.

Later, as they drove through the nocturnal traffic in Wyndam-Matson's Mercedes-Benz, she resumed.

'Abendsen's theory is that Roosevelt would have been a terribly strong President. As strong as Lincoln. He showed it in the year he was President, all those measures he introduced. The book is fiction. I mean, it's in novel form. Roosevelt isn't assassinated in Miami; he goes on and is reelected in 1936, so he's President until 1940, until during the war. Don't you see? He's still President when Germany attacks England and France and Poland. And he sees all that. He makes America strong. Garner was a really awful President. A lot of what happened was his fault. And then in 1940, instead of Bricker, a Democrat would have been elected — '

'According to this Abelson,' Wyndam-Matson broke in. He glanced at the girl beside him. God, they read a book, he thought, and they spout on forever. -

'His theory is that instead of an Isolationist like Bricker, in 1940 after Roosevelt, Rexford Tugweii would have been President.' Her smooth face, reflecting the traffic lights, glowed with animation; her eyes had become large and she gestured as she talked. 'And he would have been very active in continuing the Roosevelt anti-Nazi policies. So Germany would have been afraid to come to Japan's help in 1941. They would not have honored their treaty. Do you see?' Turning toward him on the seat, grabbing his shoulder with intensity, she said, 'And so Germany and Japan would have lost the war!' 

[Mark]

I'm in the middle of reading In The Darkroom , recommended by a friend I made at AF.org who I think will be along before too long.  It is non-fiction which I haven't read in a while.  This one does some serious historical research into several things including Hungary, feminism, transsexuality and the holocaust.  Basically the author's father who abandoned his family long ago gets sex reassignment surgery (full nine yards) in his/her 70's and his daughter the famous writer agrees to write his life story.  More than halfway through I'm realizing that while I would be repulsed by her dad his circumstances are sufficient explain both his troubles and those he inflicts on anyone whose life intersects with his.

Interesting but I can't wait to get back into a great novel.  I myself am trans .. a nonfictionist all my life, I've had a transformation since retiring three years ago and am now a practicing fictionist.

[TheGentlemanBastard]

Current reads:
Audio - "The Girl at Midnight," book one of the series by the same name, authored by Melissa Grey.
Ebook - "The Rhesus Chart," book five of The Laundry Files, authored by Charles Stross.

Recent reads:
The Eddie LaCrosse series by Alex Bledsoe. An interesting genre cross between fantasy and noir mystery. Really fun reads.
"Epic," by Conor Kostick. Book one of The Avatar Chronicles. A re-read and an interesting cross of sci-fi and fantasy, done superbly where it falls flat so often.
"Necroville," by Ian McDonald. Another re-read and one of the best examples of cyberpunk out there, even after nearly 15 years.
"The Expanse," by James S. A. Corey. Some of the best sci-fi in recent years. Fast paced with limited techno-babble.
The "Lincoln Perry" books by Michael Koryta. These are technically mysteries, but they have more than a dash of thriller to them.

In the queue (in no particular order and subject to change at any moment, for any reason or just on a whim):
Alastair Reynolds - Too many to list.  
"The Inventor's Secret," trilogy by Andrea Cremer. 'Cause I like a little steampunk now and then.
More of the "Longmire Mysteries," by Craig Johnson. These are the books the A&E/Netflix series "Longmire" was loosely based on.
"The Great Gatsby" (again), by F. Scott Fitzgerald.
"When Will Jesus Bring the Pork Chops," by George Carlin.
And, many others, some of which I may get to before these. 

I've got nearly 2500 audio books, nearly 2500 ebooks (with many overlapping titles), over 300 hard-bound and 800 soft-cover books. And four signed firsts. To say I read a lot is almost an insult. I read anywhere and everywhere. If my hands are to busy to hold the book or my eyes need to focus on something else, I'm listening to audio books. I have a burning need to know what comes next. Next page, next chapter, next book in the series, next series, next author... And, I'm always on the lookout for new, or new to me, books. New authors, old authors, authors I've never heard of before... Audible is my latest enabler. They have so many audio books and way too many books is nowhere near enough.

Yeah, I'm a book junkie.

[Grandizer]

Suffering through the dredge of work that is At the Mountains of Madness by HP Lovecraft.

[TheGentlemanBastard]

Suffering through the dredge of work that is At the Mountains of Madness by HP Lovecraft.

Hmmmm.... That one's been on my "I'm gonna get around to that one sometime" list for a long while. Is it really that tough a read?

[Grandizer]

Suffering through the dredge of work that is At the Mountains of Madness by HP Lovecraft.

Hmmmm.... That one's been on my "I'm gonna get around to that one sometime" list for a long while. Is it really that tough a read?

If you're into repeated descriptions of the surrounding environment in so many boring ways, and your vocabulary and scientific/general knowledge is really high, you'll do ok with this. You're an avid reader, so I'm sure you've read worse.

For me, it's a pain in the ass, but I'm treating this like a challenge, and I will finish this eventually.

[Cypher44]

Reading Asura: A Tale of the Vanquished by Anand L. Neelakantan

It's basically the Ramayana retold from two distinct perspectives, one from Ravana, the villain of the Ramayana mythological epic and Bhadra, a soldier in Ravana's army.

Being a huge fan of Indian mythology (being Indian myself). I am really enjoying it.

[Mark]

Suffering through the dredge of work that is At the Mountains of Madness by HP Lovecraft.

Hmmmm.... That one's been on my "I'm gonna get around to that one sometime" list for a long while. Is it really that tough a read?

If you're into repeated descriptions of the surrounding environment in so many boring ways, and your vocabulary and scientific/general knowledge is really high, you'll do ok with this. You're an avid reader, so I'm sure you've read worse.

For me, it's a pain in the ass, but I'm treating this like a challenge, and I will finish this eventually.

Okay, this may get me banned but I've got to say it.  That (my bolded) was my initial take reading the Lord of the Rings.  True story.  Okay, I'll leave.

[BrianSoddingBoru4]

Hmmmm.... That one's been on my "I'm gonna get around to that one sometime" list for a long while. Is it really that tough a read?

If you're into repeated descriptions of the surrounding environment in so many boring ways, and your vocabulary and scientific/general knowledge is really high, you'll do ok with this. You're an avid reader, so I'm sure you've read worse.

For me, it's a pain in the ass, but I'm treating this like a challenge, and I will finish this eventually.

Okay, this may get me banned but I've got to say it.  That (my bolded) was my initial take reading the Lord of the Rings.  True story.  Okay, I'll leave.

BLASPHEMER!! You'll smoke a turd in hell for that!!!

Boru

[Mark]

If you're into repeated descriptions of the surrounding environment in so many boring ways, and your vocabulary and scientific/general knowledge is really high, you'll do ok with this. You're an avid reader, so I'm sure you've read worse.

For me, it's a pain in the ass, but I'm treating this like a challenge, and I will finish this eventually.

Okay, this may get me banned but I've got to say it.  That (my bolded) was my initial take reading the Lord of the Rings.  True story.  Okay, I'll leave.

BLASPHEMER!! You'll smoke a turd in hell for that!!!

Boru

Oh don't I know it, but only if I fall under the spell of the Tolkien religion.  Not yet, I believe in washing my goods and my evils together.

[Grandizer]

Hmmmm.... That one's been on my "I'm gonna get around to that one sometime" list for a long while. Is it really that tough a read?

If you're into repeated descriptions of the surrounding environment in so many boring ways, and your vocabulary and scientific/general knowledge is really high, you'll do ok with this. You're an avid reader, so I'm sure you've read worse.

For me, it's a pain in the ass, but I'm treating this like a challenge, and I will finish this eventually.

Okay, this may get me banned but I've got to say it.  That (my bolded) was my initial take reading the Lord of the Rings.  True story.  Okay, I'll leave.

That was actually going to be one if the next book(s) to read after this. Now you've discouraged me from ever wanting to touch that book, and I can only thank you for that.

Kidding. I love a good challenge.

[BrianSoddingBoru4]

'A Field Guide To The Little People', vital information no one should be without.

Boru

[Szuchow]

"American Holocaust: The Conquest of the New World"
by David Stannard.

[OakTree500]

About to start:

Kafka by the shore By Murakami

[Szuchow]

Genocide. History and Sociology of Human Destructiveness by Lech Nijakowski.

[thesummerqueen]

"The Secret History of the Jersey Devil: How Quakers, Hucksters, and Benjamin Franklin Created a Monster"

"The New Seed-Starters Handbook"

"The Eye of the World" - I've read it a few times but I picked up the audiobook because I never finished the series and I'm hoping I can pick through it this way.

And I'm reading The Fellowship of the Ring out loud to my boyfriend, who has never read the books.

[thesummerqueen]

Suffering through the dredge of work that is At the Mountains of Madness by HP Lovecraft.

Hmmmm.... That one's been on my "I'm gonna get around to that one sometime" list for a long while. Is it really that tough a read?

If you're into repeated descriptions of the surrounding environment in so many boring ways, and your vocabulary and scientific/general knowledge is really high, you'll do ok with this. You're an avid reader, so I'm sure you've read worse.

For me, it's a pain in the ass, but I'm treating this like a challenge, and I will finish this eventually.

There are two ways to get through this:

Listen to the multi-part eps on the HP Lovecraft Literary Podcast on it.

Listen to the pretty good audible version.

It's mostly painless that way.

[EvieTheAvocado]

Mostly read articles lately.

[Bucky Ball]

"Fear" - Bob Woodward.
The administration's disarray is far worse than anyone could imagine.

[Szuchow]

Finished Lech Nijakowski Genocide. History and Sociology of Human Destructiveness and Tomasz Sawczuk New Liberalism. One is basically author arbitrary definition of genocide and laundry list of mass murders written with all grace, subtlety and nuance of third rate Wikipedia article and second is some fantasy story sold as serious book about world in which there is no post-truth, Trump or PiS voters aren't irrational*, and former Poland PM Donald Tusk was liberal.


*Obviously not all of them are but tough truth that author does not want to acknowledge is that some of them are just pieces of shit, drawn by extreme rhetoric and willing to support even most extreme crap thought by people in power. Sometimes other side has nothing of worth to say.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

The Borrowed Years: 1938-1941 by Ketchum.

[TheGentlemanBastard]

Finished "Parallel Worlds" by Michio Kaku at work today. I will never understand M-theory. Never.  

Be that as it may, it's a fascinating book and a great source for examples of how the scientific method works in real life.

Other recent reads:
Finished "The Rhesus Chart," book five of the Laundry Files buy Charles Stross.
A couple of the "Scot Harvath" books by Brad Thor. Decent thrillers in the same vein as Vince Flynn, but as goo writing or storytelling abilities. Still worth the read if you're into thrillers.
The first two books in the "Bannerless" saga by Carrie Vaughn. It took me a while to warm up to this new series, though I think the audio reader had a lot to do with that. Dystopian future with a bit of a twist. There's no "Big Evil Government/President/Dictator" fucking things up for everybody. Just normal people trying to get along and the investigators (central characters of the books) that deal with crimes and resource allocations. Decent premise hampered by a flat reader and by Ms. Vaughn stretching herself into an unfamiliar genre. I'm expecting the books to get progressively better.
"The Girl at Midnight" and "The Shadow Hour" by Melissa Grey. I can't really describe what these books are about or even their genre as they left no mark at all on my mind. I can say they weren't bad, because I wouldn't have finished them. I will certainly have to re-read them to continue the series, though I may not bother.
"Into the Drowning Deep" by Mira Grant (pen name of Seanan McGuire). Wow. Man eating mermaids in the deep waters of the Pacific. McGuire, no matter what name she writes under, tells a hell of a tale.

Current reads:
Started "The Inventor's Secret" trilogy today in audio and continued the Laundry Files in print. "Inventor's" is steampunk/alternate history based in a 19th century America where the French failed to ally themselves with our founding fathers and the British won the war. Very interesting premise and the story's moving along nicely so far. "The Annihilation Score," Laundry book 6 has been quite good so far as well, but then it is Charles Stross.

On deck:
Who knows. I never plan past the current book, though I do try sometimes. The problem is, I never really know what I'll be in the mood for next.

[c172]

I'm not really much of a book reader. I struggled with English class in HS and have a really short attention span. I reemeber loving Catcher in the Rye for some reason. A short story book by Jimmy Buffett (yes, him) was given to me as a teen, and I still enjoy that one (Tales from Margaritaville. I love the character sketches, and the depictions of the Gulf Coast, where I once lived). Jimmy wrote a novel, I believe, based on one of the characters therein. His name was Tully Mars. I'm kin of curious to buy it.

Other than that, I need o expand my horizons and see if I can't belatedly overcome that struggle. I do love the written word.

[Mark]

I'm not really much of a book reader. I struggled with English class in HS and have a really short attention span. I reemeber loving Catcher in the Rye for some reason. A short story book by Jimmy Buffett (yes, him) was given to me as a teen, and I still enjoy that one (Tales from Margaritaville. I love the character sketches, and the depictions of the Gulf Coast, where I once lived). Jimmy wrote a novel, I believe, based on one of the characters therein. His name was Tully Mars. I'm kin of curious to buy it.

Other than that, I need o expand my horizons and see if I can't belatedly overcome that struggle. I do love the written word.

My stepson is a smart guy but has some learning challenges which make reading a lot difficult for him.  So he listens to books on tape.  I imagine you've already considered that.  My wife is getting to the point where she'd rather have a book read to her than read it directly herself.

I mostly like to read directly myself because I can stop to think about things as I go more easily.

[c172]

I think my mother's done that a lot. My father used to read for some blind service of KPBS if I understand correctly. It's something to look into. At my first college, in Vermont (they advertise on NPR a lot), they talked about different learning strategies, so the general idea of doing so is intriguing. I may take in more if told in certain circumstances (though, oddly, if I don't write down, say, tasks, I'll forget them. The mind is a funny thing).