Books Thread

[beantownbubba]

Nate Silver- The Signal and The Noise.

Reading this book will probably make you smarter. It will almost certainly make you a more savvy interpreter of events. And if it doesn't do either of those things (a) you're too fucking smart to be wasting your time here and (b) it's a pretty interesting read and won't do you any harm.

[Penny Lane]

dogs. the best.

Read that a few years ago. Great one!

(Sniff Sniff) Also loved this book (Thanks for the recommendation, Headhunter..)

[schlanky]

I've been doing a bunch of Larry Brown with Cormac McCarthy's "The Road" in there too. Reading Brown's "Joe" directly followed by McCarthy's "The Road" was brutal from an emotional standpoint, and they're a bit similar in the sense of "going down the road and feeling bad."

Larry Brown is pretty much DBT in prose.

Currently on:

[beantownbubba]

Franck Thilliez - Syndrome E

A French cross between science run amuck thriller and noir police procedural and very, very good. The translation's a little awkward in some places but on the whole is fine and easy to read. Never heard of this guy before (this is his first translated novel though he has wrtten several in French) but I will most definitely be seeking out his new one.

[Beebs]

[Gator McKlusky]

Just read this again after a long time or some of it. Most of it is crap writing but my cousin wrote the Dead Kennedys chapter and he still loves them so most of these writers are full of shit. (I did like the Tommy chapter and I love The Who) The chick who pathetically tried to tear apart Skynyrd at least gave a shout-out to DBT--so there's that anyway

[Cole Younger]

The Year The Lights Came On by Terry Kay. It's about post WWII northeast Georgia. Athens and the surrounding area. I would be interested to know if Patterson has read this book because I think he would love it. It's TVA in the form of one man's childhood memories and a bit of history about that area.

Next up, God's Little Acre by Erskine Caldwell.

[Flea]

Nate Silver- The Signal and The Noise.

Reading this book will probably make you smarter. It will almost certainly make you a more savvy interpreter of events. And if it doesn't do either of those things (a) you're too fucking smart to be wasting your time here and (b) it's a pretty interesting read and won't do you any harm.

Is it pedantic or enjoyable?

[beantownbubba]

Dennis Lehane - World Gone By. In which Mr. Lehane proves that he can write a really good Elmore Leonard novel. Nothing wrong w/ that I suppose, but we've already got Elmore Leonard. IMHO what we need is more Dennis Lehane. But because it's a really good Elmore Leonard novel, it's worth reading, at least for airplane purposes.

[phungi]

About half-way through this, and it is a well-written page-turner:

[Barely_Oakely]

I decided to give this a go. I've always heard Lovecrafts name get dropped when talking about horror, but I'd never read any of his work. When I read that Guillermo Del Toro wants to make a movie of this one in particular I decided that I should give it a read. So far so good. I like that, at least thus far, the terror is the unknown rather than some know monster. This will be a fantastic movie.

[StormandStatic]

Lovecraft is a great storyteller but probably the worst writer I enjoy. Totally garbled sentence structure, horrific racism, and he whiffs at times, but a ton of fun.

[Flea]

Lovecraft is a great storyteller but probably the worst writer I enjoy. Totally garbled sentence structure, horrific racism, and he whiffs at times, but a ton of fun.

No shit! I tried to reread a collection of his shorts last year, and gave up pretty quickly because his prose is so fucking boring.

[Barely_Oakely]

Lovecraft is a great storyteller but probably the worst writer I enjoy. Totally garbled sentence structure, horrific racism, and he whiffs at times, but a ton of fun.

That sums it up very well. I'm compelled to keep reading, but I'm constantly needing to re-read things because I don't understand how he's worded things at first. Very frustrating writing. If I didn't have a good imagination I'd be screwed.

[Bill in CT]

I decided to give this a go. I've always heard Lovecrafts name get dropped when talking about horror, but I'd never read any of his work. When I read that Guillermo Del Toro wants to make a movie of this one in particular I decided that I should give it a read. So far so good. I like that, at least thus far, the terror is the unknown rather than some know monster. This will be a fantastic movie.

"Ten things you should know about HP Lovecraft"

http://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/a ... -lovecraft

[schlanky]

[phungi]

Just read this while traveling. For fans of King and the Shining, this is a must read, as it picks up after the "events" at the Overlook Hotel, follows the life of Danny Torrence, and expands on what exactly is "the shining".

[whatwouldcooleydo?]

rereading this one, seems most apropos giving our drought out here. Highly recommend this



finished this one just before starting Cadillac Desert. Woody is a hero of mine, great read though I can't decide how it ranks against Joe Klein's Woody book.....not that one has to necessarily pick one over the other

[StormandStatic]

Because I'm a really fun guy, I left this month on a long trek and decided these were the books I just had to bring:

[phungi]

Because I'm a really fun guy...

I believe I am the phungi of the group...

[whatwouldcooleydo?]

Because I'm a really fun guy...

I believe I am the phungi of the group...

[schlanky]

[whatwouldcooleydo?]

finished this basically in one sitting



now rereading this

[one belt loop]

finished this basically in one sitting



now rereading this

Aw. Two of my books.

[whatwouldcooleydo?]

finished this basically in one sitting



now rereading this

Aw. Two of my books.

Of course I did not know that. Kem Nunn also worked as a writer on Sons of Anarchy but I'm sure you already knew that

[dogstar]

One of the most disappointing books I've ever read, it was a gift so feel a bit bad about saying that.

I've recently finished Simon Schama's History of Britain books and now onto this

[Tequila Cowboy]

This is one of my very favorites, i like it a bit better than Black Dahlia, White Jazz or L.A. Confidential of the "L.A. Quartet" with some of the same characters running around. Plus the underlying case is chilling. I haven't read anything from Ellroy since his book on his mother's murder simply because I can't always go that dark anymore without some kind of comic relief or lighter touch as a counter balance, in a subplot or whatever, and Ellroy is just not capable of providing that. Someday I'll read Perfidia and the rest of the coming books in the "second L.A. quartet" though simply because I'd like to visit some of those character in their younger days. I'll say this though, dark as he is, Ellroy is an American treasure. My favorite crime writer and it isn't close.

[whatwouldcooleydo?]

One of the most disappointing books I've ever read, it was a gift so feel a bit bad about saying that.

I also can't offer anything good to say about the Farrar book, other than the fact that me mentioned Melungeons. He gets points for that but little else. As some wise men once said, "keep your day job, don't give it away."

[schlanky]

[Zip City]

Read the last half (~200 pages) in one sitting yesterday