Anybody read a good book lately?

Philly_Crew · March 16, 2005, 04:01:24 PM

"The Prize: The Epic Quest for Oil, Money & Power" Daniel Yergin. Didn't know that the oil industry started in PA and other great historical facts.

Geowhizzer · March 16, 2005, 06:01:50 PM

Quote from: Philly_Crew on March 16, 2005, 04:01:24 PM
"The Prize: The Epic Quest for Oil, Money & Power" Daniel Yergin. Didn't know that the oil industry started in PA and other great historical facts.

Titusville, I believe.

PhillyPhreak54 · March 18, 2005, 11:44:08 AM

Homicide Special by Miles Corwin
Killing Season by Miles Corwin

I just finished John Sandford's Prey Series (16 books total) and he has a new one out in May.

I enjoyed Sandford's series. I am a fan of the detective series theme. I read Patricia Cornwell's Scarpetta series and am up to date on Karin Slaugter's Grant County series too and I loved them all.

I need some suggestions on what to read next. I'm out of ideas. I like police stuff mostly.

NGM · March 18, 2005, 11:47:16 AM

I'm in the fourth book of the "Wheel of Time" series by Robert Jordan. All the books so far have been great. Usually I find if I start a series that already has multiple books I get tired of the authors stlye two or three books in. This is not so with Jordan. For anyone who is in to sci-Fi/fantasy I would highly recommend them.

General_Failure · March 30, 2005, 10:32:16 PM

I'm a little upset with anyone that suggested Dan Brown's books were worth reading. I got Digital Fortress on Saturday, thinking I'd have something to read while I'm alone at work after 3 am, but I finished it on Sunday. The story was alright, but nothing great. I really hated how the characters were done. "She's the hottest, smartest chick in the universe." It was a little light compared to what I usually read, but it kept me busy for about 5 hours. It might as well have been a movie script, though.

Diomedes · March 30, 2005, 10:54:35 PM

Just finished Woodward & Bernstein's All the President's Men. How quickly we forget, and my how time's have changed. Glad I read it. Next up, something less topical: Raymond Chandler's The Long Goodbye.

Susquehanna Birder · March 30, 2005, 10:55:06 PM

I'm almost finished with T.O.'s book. Really didn't give me a whole lot of insight into the guy...but it was okay.

G_F...have you read "The Blue Nowhere" or "The Cuckoo's Egg"? One is fiction, one is sadly non-fiction.

General_Failure · March 30, 2005, 11:17:59 PM

Haven't read those yet, but I'll look for 'em next week after I finish Pattern Recognition by William Gibson.

Diomedes · March 31, 2005, 09:12:01 AM

I like Gibson very much. I don't recognize that title (no pun intended). Is it new? Good?

General_Failure · March 31, 2005, 12:49:40 PM

It came out in '03, I think, so it's fairly new. I haven't started it yet. I don't want to fall into the same problem I had with Digital Fortress and finish it before I even get to work. All I know for sure about it is it's set in the present instead of the near future.

Wingspan · March 31, 2005, 12:58:13 PM

Quote from: General_Failure on March 30, 2005, 10:32:16 PM
I'm a little upset with anyone that suggested Dan Brown's books were worth reading. I got Digital Fortress on Saturday, thinking I'd have something to read while I'm alone at work after 3 am, but I finished it on Sunday. The story was alright, but nothing great. I really hated how the characters were done. "She's the hottest, smartest chick in the universe." It was a little light compared to what I usually read, but it kept me busy for about 5 hours. It might as well have been a movie script, though.

Deception Point was much better in my opinion. and i would have recommended davinci code a year ago, but there's been so much hype around that that it could never really live up to expectations anymore. it was best to read it before all the "broom in the ass groups" started banning it and trashing a FICTIONAL story.

i really wish it were true, just to piss the BITAG's off even more. they really wouldnt know what to do with themselves.

Susquehanna Birder · March 31, 2005, 01:02:10 PM

If it helps, Brown does believe, philosophically, much of what he wrote. He just wound his manifesto around a nice little suspense tale to keep people from nodding off.

MURP · March 31, 2005, 01:20:13 PM

I like all 3 of Browns books i've read so far. havnt read deception point yet but that is on my list. Each book gives you something to think about after you have finished it, a lot of mindless action, and some decent plot twists. Thats about all I expect from a fiction book.

Fan_Since_64 · March 31, 2005, 01:20:24 PM

Wow, it's been awhile since I've posted on this thread - since Time Enough for Love in fact, which was several books ago. Guess I haven't felt moved to talk about anything that I've read since, at least until now. I recently finished What It Takes: The Road to the White House by Richard Ben Cramer. The book came out of the 1988 presidential election, and has received a great deal of acclaim, but I resisted reading it until now. First off, it became instantly trendy to read, and there's a part of me that doesn't like "trendy" (a big part, actually

). Secondly, it's long - over a thousand pages. Having now read it, I can say that it's very readable and absorbing, and certainly thought-provoking. Cramer wasn't interested in writing yet another "this is what happened during the campaign" type book, ala Theodore H. White or Jules Witcover et al. What he did was to pick six of the candidates - two Republicans, four Democrats - and delve into their lives and campaigns, asking throughout "what sort of person runs for president?" and "what does it take to run the presidential election gauntlet?"

What unfolds is a book that gives trememendous insight into the five candidates that he followed (George H.W. Bush, Bob Dole, Michael Dukakis, Gary Hart, Joe Biden, and Dick Gephardt) as well as a sense of how utterly byzantine the presidential campaign process is. If it looks like total mayhem from the outside, the answer is - it is! A candidate gets his personal life ripped open, is forced to whore himself for cash, must juggle running around the country with family life, and a whole host of other considerations that most people would gladly forego. All to end up discarded along the way (the most likely result, by far) except for the utterly exhausted victor, who gets to absorb four years (or more) of abuse in the White House.

The book is heavy on the front end stuff - the key events in each candidate's life, early campaigning and posturing, etc. You're 800 pages or so into it before the Iowa caucus occurs - and feel about as drained as the candidates. I think it could have been edited down a bit and the author's aim would have still been served, but all-in-all, I'm glad I read it. And I am so glad I got out of politics!

Wingspan · March 31, 2005, 01:25:03 PM

Quote from: Susquehanna Birder on March 31, 2005, 01:02:10 PM
If it helps, Brown does believe, philosophically, much of what he wrote. He just wound his manifesto around a nice little suspense tale to keep people from nodding off.

oh, i understand that. and him believing that probably helped it in terms of his story. personally, i loved the book. i read it twice 2 summers ago. then the hype exploded over it. and i dont think it would meet peoples expectations they would have going into it now.