OT: Books

[Chuck Diesel]

Would love to know what the other elite minds have read and recommend. Also curious about the libraries of the simple minded who share this space.

[LittleRooster]

Just some off the top of my head:

The Book Thief
In Cold Blood
Slaughterhouse Five
The 7 1/2 Deaths Of Evelyn Hardcastle (I’m in process of reading it now and love it)
The Grapes of Wrath
The Glass Menagerie
Long Day’s Journey Into Night


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[ReasonablySober]

Don Winslow's Cartel Trilogy is really entertaining.

[Badgerlander]

Just picked this up

[MickeyDavis]

Last book I read was The Wax Pack. A guy who collected baseball cards as a kid in the 80's opens a sealed pack from 1986 and tracks down all of the players in the pack.

[StickeeFingaz]

I’ve mentioned this before but I’ve never been let down by an Erik Larson book (narrative historical non-fiction). I read his latest, The Splendid and the Vile, during quarantine. Let’s just say Churchill’s leadership would be very welcomed during this challenging time.

[tyland]

Currently reading Chernobyl: The History of a Nuclear Catastrophe by Serhii Plokhii. Is brilliant non fiction. If you watched and enjoyed the TV show, then you'll probably enjoy this.

Will always recommend the Kingkiller Chronicles by Patrick Rothfuss. My favourite series of all time.

Also recently read How to Measure Your Life by Clayton Christensen et al. Found it an enjoyable and thought provoking read.

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[chonestown]

I mentioned it in spring and just finished a re-read of it yesterday, but I got to mention "Working" by Studs Terkel. The subtitle is "People Talk About What They Do and How They Feel About What They Do." Studs Terkel was a legendary activist/journalist/man about town based in Chicago. "Working" was compiled from interviews conducted from the late 60s up to the early 70s. Interview subjects range from a prostitute up to the CEO of WGN. Real living history.

The book that has resonated most with me in the last few years is "A Manual for Cleaning Women" by Lucia Berlin. While she did become a professor in Colorado toward the end of her life, her life was far from academic. She was an alcoholic, a nurse, a cleaning woman, a debutante, a single mother and enough other things to fill up multiple lives. She wrote from the perspective of a working woman, as might be guessed from the title, and man, do I wish more authors would do the same. She could turn a phrase and rarely used any unnecessary words to do so.

Recently finished "Don't Skip Out on Me" by Willy Vlautin. Vlautin was the lead singer of Richmond Fontaine, a terrific group that should have been the Pac Northwest's answer to the Drive-by Truckers. Their album "We Used to Think the Freeway Sounded Like the River" is one of my go-tos, heavy full-band "Nebraska" vibes. Anyway, "Don't" is a novel detail the journey of an aspiring young boxer trying to outrun his past. Good lean writing. Not amazing, but I appreciate economy. My book recommendation is listen to "We Used to Think the Freeway Sounded Like the River."

Just noticed that each of these offer up critiques of capitalism in their own way. Hm.

[FrieAaron]

Some of my favorites:

Dracula - Bram Stoker
The Iliad - Homer
The Sun Also Rises - Ernest Hemingway
The Great Gatsby - F. Scott Fitzgerald
I, Claudius - Robert Graves
Wizard and Glass - Stephen King
A Storm of Swords - George RR Martin
The Hobbit - J. R. R. Tolkien
The Road - Cormac McCarthy

[Licensed to Il]

Currently reading Chernobyl: The History of a Nuclear Catastrophe by Serhii Plokhii. Is brilliant non fiction. If you watched and enjoyed the TV show, then you'll probably enjoy this.

Will always recommend the Kingkiller Chronicles by Patrick Rothfuss. My favourite series of all time.

Also recently read How to Measure Your Life by Clayton Christensen et al. Found it an enjoyable and thought provoking read.

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I have not read that, but Svetlana Alexievichwrote an oral history of the incident and fallout, which the mini series used as source material. I can’t imagine anything could come closer to preserving the voices and moment.

[tyland]

Currently reading Chernobyl: The History of a Nuclear Catastrophe by Serhii Plokhii. Is brilliant non fiction. If you watched and enjoyed the TV show, then you'll probably enjoy this.

Will always recommend the Kingkiller Chronicles by Patrick Rothfuss. My favourite series of all time.

Also recently read How to Measure Your Life by Clayton Christensen et al. Found it an enjoyable and thought provoking read.

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I have not read that, but Svetlana Alexievichwrote an oral history of the incident and fallout, which the mini series used as source material. I can’t imagine anything could come closer to preserving the voices and moment.

I think there is differences in approach. For this book, the author was one of the first historians to have access to newly released archival documents in Ukraine and Russia. The number of citations is quite staggering and it has a lot of first person accounts from these records. The depth of the material is quite astounding and, despite the risk of it being another dry history book, it is a really compelling read. For this reason it has been highly regarded and won at least one significant award.

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[chonestown]

Some of my favorites:

Dracula - Bram Stoker
The Iliad - Homer
The Sun Also Rises - Ernest Hemingway
The Great Gatsby - F. Scott Fitzgerald
I, Claudius - Robert Graves
Wizard and Glass - Stephen King
A Storm of Swords - George RR Martin
The Hobbit - J. R. R. Tolkien
The Road - Cormac McCarthy

"The Road" is awesome, but pure nightmare fuel to read right now. I was broken after finishing it.

[Licensed to Il]

Currently reading Chernobyl: The History of a Nuclear Catastrophe by Serhii Plokhii. Is brilliant non fiction. If you watched and enjoyed the TV show, then you'll probably enjoy this.

Will always recommend the Kingkiller Chronicles by Patrick Rothfuss. My favourite series of all time.

Also recently read How to Measure Your Life by Clayton Christensen et al. Found it an enjoyable and thought provoking read.

Sent from my LM-V405 using Tapatalk

I have not read that, but Svetlana Alexievichwrote an oral history of the incident and fallout, which the mini series used as source material. I can’t imagine anything could come closer to preserving the voices and moment.

I think there is differences in approach. For this book, the author was one of the first historians to have access to newly released archival documents in Ukraine and Russia. The number of citations is quite staggering and it has a lot of first person accounts from these records. The depth of the material is quite astounding and, despite the risk of it being another dry history book, it is a really compelling read. For this reason it has been highly regarded and won at least one significant award.

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Sounds interesting, I look forward to checking it out. FWIW Alexievich interviewed most of the participants and countless eyewitnesses, so its historical. Also, she is basically the Soviet Shakespeare, just incredible with words.

[Licensed to Il]

Some of my favorites:

Dracula - Bram Stoker
The Iliad - Homer
The Sun Also Rises - Ernest Hemingway
The Great Gatsby - F. Scott Fitzgerald
I, Claudius - Robert Graves
Wizard and Glass - Stephen King
A Storm of Swords - George RR Martin
The Hobbit - J. R. R. Tolkien
The Road - Cormac McCarthy

"The Road" is awesome, but pure nightmare fuel to read right now. I was broken after finishing it.

Yeah, I read “The Road” when my wife was pregnant with our first son. It messed me up for a long time. I was this close to buying a gun and burying canned food.

[tyland]

I have not read that, but Svetlana Alexievichwrote an oral history of the incident and fallout, which the mini series used as source material. I can’t imagine anything could come closer to preserving the voices and moment.

I think there is differences in approach. For this book, the author was one of the first historians to have access to newly released archival documents in Ukraine and Russia. The number of citations is quite staggering and it has a lot of first person accounts from these records. The depth of the material is quite astounding and, despite the risk of it being another dry history book, it is a really compelling read. For this reason it has been highly regarded and won at least one significant award.

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Sounds interesting, I look forward to checking it out. FWIW Alexievich interviewed most of the participants and countless eyewitnesses, so its historical. Also, she is basically the Soviet Shakespeare, just incredible with words.

I have heard that. Looking forward to checking out her book at some point soon as well.

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[MikeIsGood]

I am not much of a reader, and when I do read it tends to be business/professional-minded "self help" kind of books (I think it's a misleading term, but anyways...).

Smarter Faster Better. This is fantastic, and also very entertaining. Duhigg did a follow-up on it as well in the same style, and it loses some of it's magic somewhere, but still worth checking out if you end up digging it.
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/smarter-faster-better-charles-duhigg/1122614152

Getting Things Done. David Allen is smarter and more organized than you. Learn as much as you can.
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/getting-things-done-david-allen/1101546710?ean=9780143126560

Grit. I've met Angela and thought her presentation was amazing, so I might be biased on this, but the book itself was also great and worth a read if you like these types of things.
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/grit-angela-duckworth/1122569881?ean=9781501111112

I wish I got into reading otherwise. But then I think about the things I do instead of reading and I'm at peace with how my mind developed.

[chonestown]

I'm a big fan of the word "begat." Any books not stingy with its usage?

[ReasonablySober]

I'm a big fan of the word "begat." Any books not stingy with its usage?

All you, my dude.

[LittleRooster]

Some of my favorites:

Dracula - Bram Stoker
The Iliad - Homer
The Sun Also Rises - Ernest Hemingway
The Great Gatsby - F. Scott Fitzgerald
I, Claudius - Robert Graves
Wizard and Glass - Stephen King
A Storm of Swords - George RR Martin
The Hobbit - J. R. R. Tolkien
The Road - Cormac McCarthy

"The Road" is awesome, but pure nightmare fuel to read right now. I was broken after finishing it.

Yeah, I read “The Road” when my wife was pregnant with our first son. It messed me up for a long time. I was this close to buying a gun and burying canned food.

The Road is on my list but I’ve heard the same thing from others, so I was thinking of checking out All the Pretty Horses first. Have either if you read that?


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[Licensed to Il]

"The Road" is awesome, but pure nightmare fuel to read right now. I was broken after finishing it.

Yeah, I read “The Road” when my wife was pregnant with our first son. It messed me up for a long time. I was this close to buying a gun and burying canned food.

The Road is on my list but I’ve heard the same thing from others, so I was thinking of checking out All the Pretty Horses first. Have either if you read that?


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I have not read that one yet, but I typically enjoy everything by Colum McCann (Irish) And Cormac McCarthy. And I always get their names mixed up.