What are you reading?

Just started re-reading Robert Cialdini's 'Influence' this morning.

Should be in the library of every person with a career in sales or marketing.

I finished Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy recently. It was very good and if you liked the movie, it follows closely. 

On Amazon I got the Kindle version of the Watchmen for like $1.99. I know the story, but never read the comic. I loved the show last year and figured I would go back and read it. I'm 25% of the way through and it is fantastic. 

Finished the Watchmen last night. As good as advertised. 

Given the current state of affairs, I will start Station Eleven next. I've heard it is pretty good. 

What's the gist of Station Eleven? I know it's some sort of apocalyptic story. I've also heard good things.

posted by justincredible

What's the gist of Station Eleven? I know it's some sort of apocalyptic story. I've also heard good things.

That's all I know too. I haven't started it yet. I know it won a lot of awards a few years ago. 

From the blurb: "An audacious, darkly glittering novel set in the eerie days of civilization’s collapse, Station Eleven tells the spellbinding story of a Hollywood star, his would-be savior, and a nomadic group of actors roaming the scattered outposts of the Great Lakes region, risking everything for art and humanity. 

Kirsten Raymonde will never forget the night Arthur Leander, the famous Hollywood actor, had a heart attack on stage during a production of King Lear. That was the night when a devastating flu pandemic arrived in the city, and within weeks, civilization as we know it came to an end.

Twenty years later, Kirsten moves between the settlements of the altered world with a small troupe of actors and musicians. They call themselves The Traveling Symphony, and they have dedicated themselves to keeping the remnants of art and humanity alive. But when they arrive in St. Deborah by the Water, they encounter a violent prophet who will threaten the tiny band’s existence. And as the story takes off, moving back and forth in time, and vividly depicting life before and after the pandemic, the strange twist of fate that connects them all will be revealed."

I'm 30% done with Station Eleven. It is fine so far, just slow. It is not as post civilized world so far as I thought. 

posted by Fab4Runner

Reading Harry Potter for the first time. I'm almost done with book two.

Finished all 7 HP books. I really enjoyed them and thought the writing got better and better as the series progressed. I'm going to watch the movies while we all practice social distancing. 

I'm not sure what to read next. 

Holy cow, Station Eleven is slow, but now halfway through and it suddenly picked up the pace and steam. It is a good read now. 

Starting Little Fires Everywhere today so I can watch the new show on Hulu soon. 

Finished Station Eleven yesterday. It is really good once you get past the first third of it. That slow start sets the table for the complicated and interconnected story lines. It does shift stories and timelines a lot, but it pays off in the end. Solid read. 

I started Cherry by Nico Walker now. I heard it is a crazy novel from 2018. 

Can’t Hurt Me by David Goggins

The Splendid and the Vile by Erik Larson about Churchill's first year in office. Excellent so far. 

Just finished re-reading "Illusion" by Frank Peretti.  One of the more unique novels I've read - a Christian high-tech thriller with Twilight Zone-like threads, and enough Hallmark romance to pull in the female demographic.  I'm a grown man, but I even teared up at the end.

Also re-read "Prey" by Michael Crichton.  Been 15 years since I last read it.  It was a lot more enjoyable then, but this time I couldn't enjoy taking half the novel to set up the action at the high-tech plant.  Maybe my attention span is shrinking.  But still, fascinating concepts and a "killer"ending.

I'm about 5 chapters into "Gideon's Corpse" by Preston & Child.  Terrorists assemble a nuclear device in NYC?  A little light reading to relax you after absorbing the stress of what this virus is doing to our country.  Perfect, lol

posted by justincredible

Just started up a book club with a few old co-workers. We're going to read Mornings on Horseback by David McCullough.

Haven't read in a while, will be picking this back up tonight. I'm planning on reading at least 2 hours each night this week, instead of sitting on my computer glued to twitter for news updates.

posted by justincredible

Haven't read in a while, will be picking this back up tonight. I'm planning on reading at least 2 hours each night this week, instead of sitting on my computer glued to twitter for news updates.

That's what I have been doing, taking at least 1-2 hours each day to read. I've added 3 new books to my Kindle over the last few days, and am circling back to books I have never actually read. 

I have the following books lined up:

• Cherry (10 pages in and there has been an OD and a bank robbery) 
• Little Drummer Girl 
• Night Manager 
• Spy Came in from the Cold 
• Every Man a Menace
• Uncle Tom's Cabin 
• Leviathan 

I'm 1/3 of the way through Cherry, a semi true story written about and by Nico Walker. The story, starts in 2003, is about a guy from Cleveland who drops out of college, heads over to Iraq, gets screwed up, becomes addicted to drugs and robs banks. It is a blunt picture of how easy it is for life to fall apart. Nico wrote it while in jail, where he still is. 

Apparently, the book got picked up for a movie where freaking Spiderman, Tom Holland is going to play the main character. 

posted by ptown_trojans_1

I'm 1/3 of the way through Cherry, a semi true story written about and by Nico Walker. The story, starts in 2003, is about a guy from Cleveland who drops out of college, heads over to Iraq, gets screwed up, becomes addicted to drugs and robs banks. It is a blunt picture of how easy it is for life to fall apart. Nico wrote it while in jail, where he still is. 

Apparently, the book got picked up for a movie where freaking Spiderman, Tom Holland is going to play the main character. 

Let me know what you think after you finish, this sounds interesting.

Neptune's Inferno

It's a miracle tat we actually won WWII

posted by justincredible

Let me know what you think after you finish, this sounds interesting.

It's good. A quick read. I enjoyed it as a nice change of pace. It is more Iraq focused than I thought it would be. That part of the novel reads like you typical disillusion with the mission, war sucks, we are bored stuff. The language is really blunt and crude, but that makes it feel real and lived in. The back half of the book is his fall into drug addiction and desperation that led him to rob banks in the Cleveland area. 

I just start Le Clarre's The Little Drummer Girl today. 

Got The Outsider this evening and I’m a quarter way thru it. Pretty good so far.