what are you reading?

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Northwind said:
I just looked her up and have added her to my Want To Read list on Goodreads.
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The Kate Martinelli Series.
The important thing in both the Mary Russell series, and the Martinelli series is you must read the first book first...and don't read anything about them before you do. Some people put spoilers in their reviews without even realizing it.
 
When I look at reviews before I read a book I tend to just look at stars. I look at the full review after I've read the book to see what others thought about it
 
I recently (like last week) finished The Undertaking of Billy Buffone by David Giuliano. A good novel about love and death with a ghost narrator....

Then I started one (2 papers in so far) I got for Christmas that uses the Harry Potter events as a basis to look at sociological theories -- The Dead Sociologists Society
 
Northwind said:
When I look at reviews before I read a book I tend to just look at stars. I look at the full review after I've read the book to see what others thought about it
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Same. I try not to read book jackets even because they often give away too much of the plot.
 
"The Taster" sounds like a good one! I have enjoyed mystery series by Andrea Penrose, Barbara Fradkin, Iona Whishaw, Alan Bradley, Robert Galbraith and Jonathan Kellerman. I'm reading (actually listening to) "Take My Hand" by Dolen Perkins-Valdez...historical fiction, based on real events in the 1970's. To answer @Carolla's question...I love the Thursday Murder Club mysteries. I read the first two, and listened to the third. They make me laugh out loud at times!
 
My vacation reading:

A Brief History of Earth by Andrew H. Knoll. A geologist looks at our planet's history from the Big Bang to the Anthropocene. Nice, mostly non-technical approach.

Hadrian's Wall by Adrian Goldsworthy. History of the famous Roman Wall in Northern Britain with some broader coverage of Roman Britain for context. And he admits to having scratched out the "H" in a book he had on the subject as a kid (look at his name to see why).
 
My kid doctor brother in Colorado Springs just raves about Best-selling author, Malcolm Gladwell's books. So I read "Talking to Strangers" over the Christmas holidays and am now reading the book that made Gladwell famous, "Blink"--a riveting read. No other author has taught me more about aspects of human nature that I might not otherwise identify--all solidly based on research.
 
Mystic said:
My kid doctor brother in Colorado Springs just raves about Best-selling author, Malcolm Gladwell's books. So I read "Talking to Strangers" over the Christmas holidays and am now reading the book that made Gladwell famous, "Blink"--a riveting read. No other author has taught me more about aspects of human nature that I might not otherwise identify--all solidly based on research.
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Is research a science involving depth observations and not blink 'n? Inky and anon are inclusive words ... regarding the darker's ide ... shades of specter (spectra including IR and UV)! Light reading ... requires something to come back to yah ... as a sole looks out there ...

Is there a psyche thing called selective vision under the freedom laws? Thus you observe as you wish ... and much overseeing ...
 
Head Hunters is an interesting novel by the Nordic author Jo Nesbo. As a story about putting the sciences and arts together to get into the head of a character is somewhat fantasy as I'm told by many that psyche is non-existential and must be out there ... beyond us?

How may one get there? Are there spatial portals ... thus thoughts breeze through ... alas many are resistant to such compilations and accrued info! Implications????
 
Northwind said:
I've read a few Malcolm Gladwell books and have enjoyed them. I may to reread them.
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I have heard the man speak at a conference. Interesting ideas but I often get the sense of him throwing stuff at the wall to see what sticks rather than really thinking things through with care.
 
More vacation reading:

A Collection of Short Stories
No One Writes To The Colonel

Both by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. I have known about him since he won the Nobel but visiting his homeland of Colombia inspired me to finally pick him up. Not really my cuppa. Great storytelling and characters but a bit too morose. Still might try his award-winning novels someday.

The End of Everything by Katie Mack

You would think that a book about the ways the universe could end in various modern cosmological theories (she covers 5) would be a serious bummer. But Dr. Mack, herself a cosmologist who has done work on some of this stuff, is such a bright, often humourous, science communicator that it is actually an enjoyable read. She uses the theme to do some nice Sagan-esque explanations of modern cosmology and physics, exploring well beyond just the various inevitable ends. For instance, she delves into vacuum decay, a possible apocalypse that arises from particle physics, specifically some uncertainties around the Higgs field, even though it is technically outside her field. I would say that if you enjoy good popular science writing like Sagan and Tyson, Mack would be up your alley.
 
Michael Christie, "If I Fall, If I Die". Read a previous book on Canada Reads. Love this one. About a very sheltered child with an agrophobic mom, who comes to understand Life and The World as "Inside" or "Outside", and Christie plays with this dichotomy.
 
I'm reading The Queen's Gambit by Walter Tevis right now. You may have seen the mini series on Netflix. This is the book that inspired the series. It's really good. There's lots of chess talk of course, and even though I don't play chess, it works. I may not understand the chess, that doesn't interfere with the story.
 
Northwind said:
I'm reading The Queen's Gambit by Walter Tevis right now. You may have seen the mini series on Netflix. This is the book that inspired the series. It's really good. There's lots of chess talk of course, and even though I don't play chess, it works. I may not understand the chess, that doesn't interfere with the story.
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I haven't read the book, but I didn't want the series to end. So good. The main character is my exact contemporary.
 
ninj said:
I haven't read the book, but I didn't want the series to end. So good. The main character is my exact contemporary.
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I really like how he uses chess to develop her character and show her struggles. We saw the series some time ago. Still, it seems it was pretty true to the book.
 
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