When it came out I’d heard of it but was changing careers and not doing a lot of reading back then.

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Flew too close to the sun on wings of pastrami

I'm a big Rushdie fan, but I didn't think Midnight's Children was all that great. I can tell whether or not I like a book by the length of time it takes me to read it, and Midnight's Children was a slow go.

I keep a list on my phone of a handful of books to hunt for if I should stumble across a used book store. I've had some successful hunts recently, so the list has been somewhat diminished. Therefore, I added Sacred Hunger and The Narrow Road to the Deep North to the list.

I agree with your assessment that Amsterdam was decent but not great. However, I did enjoy it more than Atonement. Finally, don't waste your time on The Blind Assassin. I liked the way the plot was constructed but, again, it was a slim book that took me forever to read because I had to force myself to pick it up and read it.

I had a Good Dolphin level disagreement with the quote function here and had to delete the post that was here originally.

No doubt. Didn't mean to sound like I was trying to throw shade--I just thought it was weird that this book was super popular in the US, Canada, and England and they made the movie in whatever languages they did. Never understood that.

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I just looked at the list and have discovered that I have read fewer Bookers than I thought
Nevertheless, Atwood really annoys me, so it will be good not to have to read that one.

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No worries Tommy. I’ve enjoyed getting back into reading. Had to do a ton of reading in college and then didn’t pick up another book until I’d been divorced in 2011. Used to have a pretty good collection but had to downsize and donated them all to the local library. Love hearing what you guys are into.

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Flew too close to the sun on wings of pastrami

It goes in streaks, doesn't it?

Go Illini!

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Anyone ever read The Reformatory by Tananarive Due? It's a horror novel, sort of, set in Florida in 1950 during the last gasp of Jim Crow. It's a big chunk of a book, and I have to put it aside after tonight because I want to read a few Christmas things, but it's good so far. Very easy reading, but well-written; it's telling to see the anxiety in many of the Black characters when White people approach them, as well as the almost total lack of justice. So far, the horror isn't really scary, but it's a little bit like The Shining. Also has (in minor roles, unfortunately) some of the most underrated Americans: the Black guys who went to WWII and then came back to Jim Crow and were just like, "I'm not doing this."

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Have you ever been guilty of using a book as a prop?

https://www.thefp.com/p/who-is-reading-even-for-anymore

I suspect we've all engaged in reading as a performative act at some point. For instance, I'm not displaying the Tom Clancy books I've read in a prominent place. When this thread isn't exactly clicking, it can also just be a place to attempt to show off.

No. It would never even have occurred to me.

Other than the occasional freebies our church provides I cannot remember the last time I purchased or received a physical book.

I doubt anyone has ever peered over my shoulder to see what I am reading on my tablet.

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"I honestly don't see a good bet on the board here."

Seinfeld has a funny line about this--how people use books as trophies, to show off, etc.

One book I found to be a little disappointing was the book written by the two guys in Narcos. The series was much better, much more satisfying (in large part because it also featured Escobar), but I would have probably liked the book a little more had I not seen the series beforehand. It's called Manhunters: How We Took Down Pablo Escobar. I liked it ok, but . . .

I flat out despised another, similarly-titled book by Caller Bob (Manhunter: My Mouth Open in Morris). That was poorly written--he used the word "throbbing" 602 times--and something I simply could not connect with.

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Have you read any good books recently? I picked up The Narrow Road to the Deep North at https://www.semcoop.com/ on your recommendation. We're going on a little vacation this week that's going to involve some flying. I've got https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25816988-pacific in front of it, but if it's a reading heavy trip, I should get to it.

Nothing good. Just three re-reads (Gatsby, The Shipping News, Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time) and some horrible YAL book and this other novel that was supposed to be based on a found diary...and was ridiculously short. Also, The Heartland: An American History at turns annoyed the piss out of me and interested me, but it wasn't really illuminating, except about the Kickapoo. Norwegian Wood made me want to kill myself.

Looking for a good book....horror or history....fiction or non....

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Why didn't you like the Hoganson book? It's been sitting on my shelf for a while, but I haven't gotten around to reading it yet.

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Michael Crummey's late 19th century Newfoundland historical novel The Adversary, ribald as Chaucer, bleak as Dickens, with a Succession like intra-family squabbles plot. Audible version has a chick reading it who does Last Podcast on the Left style piss-take voices for the various characters.

Bogus! Reply vanished. I will honestly have to think about this; I've been trying to explain it to Drunk Squirrel for a month.

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Am listening to a JFK assassination podcast by a guy who sounds like a recently-concussed Lester Munson. When he reads eyewitness statements, he puts on a Texas accent. It's gotta be a mortal sin.

Ok, Hussrababe, the last few books you have recommended have practically resulted in me getting therapy. But I will put this on the list.

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I've been catching up on some economic thought/history reading lately:

Clara Mattei, The Capital Order: How Economists Invented Austerity and Paved the Way to Fascism
Naomi Oreskes & Erik Conway, The Big Myth: How American Business Taught Us to Loathe the Government and Love the Free Market
Jonathan Levy, Ages of American Capitalism: A History of the United States

I'm working my way through each of them, and they all have their merits. The Levy volume provides a novel analysis of American history by analyzing it in terms of four distinct stages of capitalist evolution--the age of commerce, the age of capital, the age of control, and the age of chaos. Mattei's book is a groundbreaking examination of the origins of austerity economics and its role in providing the intellectual justification for protecting capital above ideas of the social good, especially during times of crisis. Oreskes provides a useful history of business opposition to the concept of government regulation and the kinds of propaganda and politicall strategies that have been deployed to eviscerate possible alternatives to free market fundamentalism and neoliberal hegemony. Good stuff all the way around. Levy would be the place to start with this triad.

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Norwegian Wood was pretty bad. I've read a handful of novels by Japanese authors and suicide figures prominently in all of them. I like Japan, but I'll never get used to that element of its culture. That being said, Out by Natsuo Kirino was a pretty good Japanese thriller.

I recently finished a crazy book called Dark Tide: The Great Boston Molasses Flood of 1919 which, as you might have guessed, is about a flood of molasses that killed 20 some odd people in 1919. A truly crazy story.

Is this pleasure reading or work related reading?

Midori was the only decent character in that book.

I will read the molasses flood book; what with the Black Sox, the depression after WWI, the Spanish Flu, those weird wars in Russia and Germany, the race riots, and the Great Boston Molasses Flood, all I can say is that '19 was a hell of a year.

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I wouldn't recommend it that highly. It was only about 220 pages, but the author had to stretch even to fill those. If you're looking to find out more about it, I'd check out:

https://podcastaddict.com/american-hist ... /156776680

Which was where I found out about it in the first place.

Both.

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Is Dune really that good? I liked both movies but last time I tried reading it I stopped after 5 pages

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When I am stuck and need to figure something out I always remember the Immortal words of Socrates when he said:"I just drank what?"

First half is great! Takes a little while to get into, though, because of all the world-building. Worth it.

Second half is dreamy . . . not dreamy . . . what's the word . . . hazy, foggy, cerebral--Warren Newsome used the word I am looking for once--and it is less enjoyable. Still, kind of a cool book.

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Sounds awful.

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Not awful, but a fucking buzzkill.

Then there's the reputation. Never walk in public with any Dune book in ya handz. Every fucking dork within twenty miles will accost you and just never shut up. It's like reading one of those fantasy books in public. I can't remember the authors--CJ Cherryh, Piers Anthony, Roger Zalazny, those kinds of freaks--carrying one of those attracts sweet and lonely but ultimately strange folks. I shouldn't rip on those authors, but I've never finished a book by them. At some point, I'd be like, "What the Christ. This is so stupid. Are things really that bad for me?"

I'd discard the book and pretend they weren't.

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The first book was four out of five stars, the second book was three out of five stars, and the third book was one of the worst things I have ever read. It was all prophesy and planning, but no action.

Just finished a book called "My Friend Leonard" written by James Frey who became well known for his "Million Little Pieces" novel years back. Can't say I would recommend it overall. Just picked it up from my little library system in the neighborhood I live in. Just ordered a new one I should start by next week. Jumping into the way back machine and will be reading "The Picture of Dorian Gray". This one has escaped me over the years.

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Flew too close to the sun on wings of pastrami

I recommend Troubled by Rob Henderson. He's the guy who coined the term "luxury beliefs."

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General Jim wears Fort Bragg down... to get it!