Leadership and Self Deception, an excellent self help fable.
Quick read while being deep and worthwhile, good content to contemplate.
Your Brain at Work. Interesting while being obvious and preachy.
Good content, not an easy read.
Leadership and Self Deception, an excellent self help fable.
Quick read while being deep and worthwhile, good content to contemplate.
Your Brain at Work. Interesting while being obvious and preachy.
Good content, not an easy read.
I, unfortunately, discovered Netgalley, so I'm reading ARCss.
One is the next Ellen Datlow anthology, with the theme of Halloween. So far, I don't think it's as solid as others she has edited, but still enjoyable.
And I'm reading The Book of Whispers, which is great for an unconventional YA setting (the crusade to free Jerusalem from the Saracens), but is workmanlike at best in terms if characters and writing, so far.
Loved Agony; loved I, Claudius. I wrote my college application essay for some school (maybe Duke, not sure) about I, Claudius and Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. Still two of my favorites, I have re-read Zen several times. (Side note, sad to hear of Robert Pirsig's recent passing).
Just finished Animal Farm after discussing with SonPK. Just started The Devil in the White City, which hooked me early already.
Yeah, a very interesting study of one of American's first (known) mass murders, set at the Chicago World's Fair. I also enjoyed Erik Larson's "Dead Wake", a very compelling story of the last voyage of the Lusitania. BTW: There is a movie version of "Devil in the White City" in production. It will star Leonardo DiCapro and will be directed by Martin Scorcese.
I just finished Glenn Frankel's High Noon -- a study of the classic film and how it was a product of the Hollywood Blacklist hysteria:
http://www.npr.org/2017/03/02/515438...wood-blacklist
I knew that Carl Foreman, who wrote and produced the movie (on a shoestring) was himself blacklisted -- I didn't know that his confrontation with HUAC and his blacklisting occurred while this film was being made. Interesting to read that Foreman saw himself as Will Kane, walking down mainstreet alone after all the decent people of Hadleyville (Hollywood) had been too afraid to support him.
This is Frankel's second great book about a classic Hollywood western. His earlier "The Searchers" blew me away -- telling the true story behind John Ford's masterpiece, then tying it into the movie we all know and love.
I also recently read Noah Williamson's "We'll Always Have Casablanca", which explores the impact of that film classic. Williamson makes a compelling case that Casablanca is a film that was largelty created by refugees and is about refugees -- which gives it relevance in our own day,.
I thought that was an interesting book, not only for the main narrative, but also for the descriptions and pictures of the World's Fair.
Another good book in the same vein is Midnight in Peking. Along with the true crime aspect, it vividly illustrates a specific sense of time and place.
My brother-in-law gave me two audio books so I am listening to the first one, Six Frigates, while commuting to and from work. Listening to Six Frigates has resulted in a short detour to Federalists #11.
This is my first experience with an audio book and it is going rather smoothly as it is a nice diversion from sports radio. Audio books will never become my first choice but they are a good option for making the daily commute productive.
The audio book I have on deck is Danger's Hour the story of the kamikaze attack on USS Bunker Hill (CV 17) on May 11, 1945 off Okinawa.
Bob Green
I'm usually not much of a fiction reader. For some reason I just feel like if what I'm reading isn't true, or doesn't teach me a fact about something that happened in real life then I'm wasting my time. But every once in a while I'll venture down the fiction road, and I'm glad I did. This is quickly becoming one of my all time favorite reads. I'm about half-way through it.
Just finished Aziz Ansari's Modern Romance. The book was much different than I expected, but a good read nonetheless.
Decided to give the Dark Tower series a try. We'll see how it goes.
Funny you should mention this...I never read the series when it came out and now I have an 8 year old son that is learning to love to read. I bought him the first one for Christmas for us to read together at night and we are now almost through number 3! He got the remainder of the series for his birthday last month so we've got our work cut out for us So far I've enjoyed them very much.
"The future ain't what it used to be."
I think one of Rowling's great achievements is how her stories and her writing mature with her characters.
The first one seems written for 12-14 year olds ... by the last one, it seems aimed at late teens. Her stule grew up with her characters (and, I suspect, her readers).
When I first read through the series (I was hooked when introduced to the series after the first three books were published ... I eagerly awaited the last four), I thought my least favorite was Order of Phoenix ... when I went back and re-read the entire series a few years ago, I thought Order of the Phoenix was the best of the bunch.
"The future ain't what it used to be."
I finally finished A Dance With Dragons. That ending...I can't imagine reading this in 2011 and still waiting to see how he resolves the cliffhangers. I know the show has moved past the books, but I'm curious if they went with what GRRM said he's writing or if they came up with their own explanations? I plan on watching the show this summer. I enjoyed the book though. I would say its my second or third favorite in the series (ahead of feast of crows and clash of kings, below storm of swords and maybe tied with game of thrones?). Anyway, I'm starting The North Water by Ian McGuire next. Its been described as Cormac McCarthy meets Joseph Conrad meets Moby Dick. So expectations are high. Anyone read this one yet?
If you want a really interesting book that's nice and long (and very well written) check out Nathan Hill's "The Nix." (it's not about a hoop team in NYC).
Finished The Gunslinger earlier this week. Not entirely sure what I think of it so far. Bought The Drawing of the Three to read during my upcoming travel. Hoping the story develops some more. Was left scratching my head a few times in the first book.