What are you reading?

[FA_Q2]

This is REALLY bad when I start an incomplete series. Usually, I’ll restart the entire thing before starting the book that just was released. It is one reason that I rarely start an incomplete set of books. Then there is the fact that the first time I did that, the damn author never finished the series.

I am still waiting for the third Ring of Charon book to come out and I finished that series like 5 years ago. I will likely never read that author again though, nothing make me angrier than having an author churn out another 5 or 10 books before finishing the set they started.

Stephen King did that, wrote other books before he finished his long series, The Dark Tower. Someone sent him a postcard with a picture of a teddy bear and wrote, "Finish the Dark Tower or the bear dies!" And he loved it; he kept it posted by his computer till he finished the series. He has a GREAT way of dealing with this: he finished the series (and the last book is good, I mean to listen to it for a reread) and now he has started to interpolate new books INSIDE the series. And why not? That's quite a good idea. Then you don't leave readers hanging, and you can still use your ideas for later volumes.

I too have to start a whole series over when a new volume comes out, and this is getting unmanageble. Tad Williams is particularly challenging that way -- long volumes AND long series. I never had an author die on me so far, but I live in terror of it -- I was so worried Dorothy Dunnett wouldn't finish either of her two great historical novel series, the Crawford of Lymond one or the Niccolo one. Both have a lot of volumes and she was getting older and older.....she did, though. When she finally finished the second series, she was sort of memorialized in a portrait double-page ad in the New Yorker, everyone was so relieved.

And, tbh, I have not read a king book since. I read half the series before I found out that he had not finished it. Almost ten years later, he up and finishes it. Too late, already lost me for a lifetime. Since then I found authors that do not screw the readers over like that.

He might have ‘fixed’ the series but he left me hanging far too long and, honestly, I have a hundred books plus that I want to read. No reason that I should worry about the loss of one author.

Yes, I can see how a series can get unmanageable if you read a long one over again. I was faced with that prospect in wheel of time but it looks like he just finished the last one. Good thing because I was not sure I wanted to attack it again when the next one comes. I might do so later, after a few years but I would feel forced into it if I waited for the next book and tried to read the series again at that time.

After all, it is just 13 books long and they are so short – only about 400-500 pages each….

 

[oldfart]

Great posts all! There are a couple titles I will check out. We ought to keep the thread going to give me a place to hide from flamethrowers and check out books. I think I'm going to start a list of books that turned out to not be the worth the effort (so likeminded others can avoid them!). I have some real stinkers gathering dust on the bookcases. Now if I only had a fireplace......

No don't throw them away! Hell send them to me! lol...books I don't want I give away for free or take to a used book store.

When I moved to Florida, my wife "assisted" me in culling my boxes of books in the attic and probably 4--5,000 didn't make the trip. When I got here, I put most in storage and have been searching for particular volumes ever since. Everything I really use is unpacked though. Trust me, the stinkers are things like a book on the labor theory of value from a Greek economist for whom English was probably a fifth or sixth language. If it's under $2 I'm likely to pick up anything on the clearance table at a used book store!

Speaking of stinkers, now if I can just find that copy of "greening of America....

I am almost always reading 4 or 5 books. I have over 1500 books inmy library, mostly non-fiction.

I started collecting Louis L'amour books 25 years ago and my kids have read them all 2-3 times. I need about 15 more to have them all. Yeah, I know, cheap westens, but they are fun.

Wow...I probably have 500 or so...most of mine are in containers because I have no where to put them.

Would love to see it! Most books I read I keep I have several copies of some of them..got 3 kids so try to get at least 3 copies of each book...The books I have bought or got somewhere recently I keep in a cabinet above my bed to read soon...lost a few books from library so having to read what I got left from there.Pay the fines off and just read what I got here.

Yeah, I get some stuff in multiple copies for loaners and to give out. Currently I've handed out copies of Tao te Ching and "The Scarlet Woman of Wall Street".
The latter is required reading for anyone interested in American economic history.
Favorite Commodore Vanderbilt quotes from the book:
"Anything not nailed down is mine; anything I can pry up is not nailed down!"
"Sir: You have cheated me. I shall not sue as the law takes too long. I shall ruin you instead."

 

[Harry Dresden]

Dark War....by Tim Waggoner......

 

[Smilebong]

Picture of about 1/3 of my books. many of them are hidden by the pile of junk. And some are in another room.

I am also trying to read the Bible. It takes a long time.

 

[SayMyName]

"The No.1 Ladies Detective Agency," by Alexander McCall Smith.

 

[oldfart]

Picture of about 1/3 of my books. many of them are hidden by the pile of junk. And some are in another room.

I am also trying to read the Bible. It takes a long time.

Is that a Seth Thomas mantle clock?

 

[Rozman]

Finishing up the first book in the Harry Bosch detective series.
Going to start the second book right after.
Read most of them and will read them again.

 

[National Socialist]

Haven't read anything since finishing Chris Christie's biography. Finally returned all the books from the library I had so gonna start on some books I own and haven't read...got The International Jew by Henry Ford,Palestine peace not apartheid and many many others.

 

[blackhawk]

Just for chuckles and grins, I'm curious about reading habits. In particular,

1. How much do you read in say, a month?

2. How is this split among tree-killing books, e-books, and online sources?

3. How does this split out on a "for work" vs pleasure reading and fiction vs non-fiction?

4. What have you read recently/are reading now?

For fairness, here is my reading profile:

1. I read news daily and statistics and commentary on a regular basis, as well as my professional research service (taxation). I read for general information/ pleasure at least a couple hours every day.

2. I kill a lot of trees, adding 80--100 titles to the bookshelf a year. I can't get in the groove on e-books, but I'm trying (for my reading it isn't much cheaper). Online has pretty well replaced print newspapers and magazines for me, except for some waiting-room items (Smithsonian, National Geographic, Natural Science).

3. Other than research, work related stuff is probably less than 10% of my reading. Fiction only accounts for about 15% of my reading (I used to read a lot more science fiction, now it's mainly historical fiction). Lots of history in a dozen or so periods and subjects (Lincoln, economic history, Taoist philosophy, WWI, Russia and Central Asia).

4. Recent or current:
"Lords of Finance", Liaquat Ahamed
"Lincoln & the Decision for War", Russell McClintock
"Polk: The Man who Transformed the Presidency", Walter R Borneman
"FreeFall", Joseph E Stiglitz
"The Structure of Classical Economic Theory", Robert V Eagly
"The Brusilov Offensive", Timothy C Dowling
"Four Hats in the Ring", Lewis L Gould
"Austerity: The History of a Dangerous Idea", Mark Blyth
"The Metamorphosis and Other Stories", Franz Kafka
"Apostles of Disunion: Southern Secession Commissioners and the Causes of the Civil War", Charles B Dew
"Bull by the Horns", Shiela Bair
"Lincoln's Constitution", Daniel A Farber
"The Federal Reserve and the Financial Crisis", Ben S Bernanke

So, what are you reading?

In a month it varies.
No online or e-books I like the real thing.
Pleasure and non fiction.
Undefeated-Bill Sloan.
Pacific Crucible-Ian W Toll.

 

[Smilebong]

Crazy Horse and Custer: The Parallel Lives of Two American Warriors

 

[Noomi]

Trashy magazines at the moment

 

[editec]

am I being too grandiose? am I asking too much??????????? heck

AM I????????????????

"Anything worth doing is worth doing to excess."

There's no cess like excess.

 

[SayMyName]

"The Rules of Work," by Richard Templar. Reading again to present a professional growth class for businessmen in Stockholm, Sweden.

The Rules of Work: The Unspoken Truth about Getting Ahead in Business by Richard Templar - Reviews, Discussion, Bookclubs, Lists

 

[jasonnfree]

Recently, "1491 Before Columbus" and "1493 After Columbus" by Mann. Also monthly National Geographic. My to do list is to reread Adam Smith and Karl Marx. In my collection that I've read in the past are many. Victor Hugo, Dickens, Huxley, Balzac, Cervantes, Bob Ingersoll, Mark Twain, many versions of the bible to name a few, and many biographies of musical composers. And the usual websites repub, dem, socialist. I got hooked on reading in the Navy in the early 60's where there was nothing to do in spare time at sea but play cards or read.

 

[jasonnfree]

'
I have a reasonably large library and can easily spend the remainder of my life re-reading the best that has ever been thought or said.

I prefer the classics, and keep up my Greek and Latin with Horace, Plato, Homer, Pindar, and so on. There has never been, as far as I know, a more exquisite language than ancient Greek, and not even Shakespeare can match the glory of classic drama.

Since I have also studied ancient Chinese, there are available to me the works of the most sophisticated and subtle civilization which has ever existed on the face of the Earth.

I prefer essays to fiction, and since little of merit has been published since modern civilization collapsed in 1914, I do not bother much with contemporary writing, though there are a few embers of civilization at which one can warm one's mind. Noteworthy are the works of Jorge Luis Borges and Aldous Huxley, both of whom I love to re-read. I cannot resist fine writing, even if it be modern.

As much awareness as I care to have of contemporary barbarism and the lies of modern mass-media brainwashing are available to me on alternate news websites and in my local public and university libraries. I would not dream of actually buying any mass media magazines or newspapers, since that would be supplying financial aid and comfort to our enemies.

In general, the ancient historians illuminate political reality with greater insight than the incoherent propaganda of modern flacks ever could.
I suspect at least one reason for the collapse of Latin and Greek in the modern curriculum is the deliberate policy of our rulers. Students would learn far too much about the way politics really work.

I rarely watch television at all, except in the somewhat less toxic form of documentary DVDs. Even that I do with caution, knowing full well that I am imbibing poison purely for the sake of entertainment.
.

.

I didn't study Latin although it was in the school curriculum in my day. Too bad. I've been memorizing "O, fortuna" lyrics in Latin lately just to sing along with the chorus. Much better than mind numbing stuff people watch on TV. At least I've learned some Spanish from my wife and also few grammer classes, but having Latin background would've make it much easier.

 

[longknife]

H. W. Bancroft's History of California, 1840 to 1845

digitized version with thousands upon thousands of typos!!!

 

[numan]

'

What a shame the history doesn't extend up to 1850.

Then you could read about all the property and land stolen and confiscated from their Mexican owners.

.

 

[longknife]

'

What a shame the history doesn't extend up to 1850.

Then you could read about all the property and land stolen and confiscated from their Mexican owners.

.

Actually, his next book covers from 1846 to 1848 when the land stolen from the missions is stolen from the Mexicans by the Americans.

 

[numan]

I have a reasonably large library and can easily spend the remainder of my life re-reading the best that has ever been thought or said.

I prefer the classics, and keep up my Greek and Latin with Horace, Plato, Homer, Pindar, and so on. There has never been, as far as I know, a more exquisite language than ancient Greek, and not even Shakespeare can match the glory of classic drama.

Since I have also studied ancient Chinese, there are available to me the works of the most sophisticated and subtle civilization which has ever existed on the face of the Earth.

I prefer essays to fiction, and since little of merit has been published since modern civilization collapsed in 1914, I do not bother much with contemporary writing, though there are a few embers of civilization at which one can warm one's mind. Noteworthy are the works of Jorge Luis Borges and Aldous Huxley, both of whom I love to re-read. I cannot resist fine writing, even if it be modern.

As much awareness as I care to have of contemporary barbarism and the lies of modern mass-media brainwashing are available to me on alternate news websites and in my local public and university libraries. I would not dream of actually buying any mass media magazines or newspapers, since that would be supplying financial aid and comfort to our enemies.

In general, the ancient historians illuminate political reality with greater insight than the incoherent propaganda of modern flacks ever could.
I suspect at least one reason for the collapse of Latin and Greek in the modern curriculum is the deliberate policy of our rulers. Students would learn far too much about the way politics really work.

I rarely watch television at all, except in the somewhat less toxic form of documentary DVDs. Even that I do with caution, knowing full well that I am imbibing poison purely for the sake of entertainment.

I didn't study Latin although it was in the school curriculum in my day. Too bad. I've been memorizing "O, fortuna" lyrics in Latin lately just to sing along with the chorus. Much better than mind numbing stuff people watch on TV. At least I've learned some Spanish from my wife and also few grammar classes, but having Latin background would've make it much easier.

Knowing a few phonological sound-changes makes it pretty easy to go back and forth between Latin and Spanish vocabulary.

I also have enjoyed Orff's Carmina Burana ever since I was a teenager. Who says nothing good ever came out of Nazi Germany?

Olim lacus colueram,
Olim pulcher extiteram,
Dum cignus ego fueram.

...a un gentleman sólo pueden interesarle causas perdidas.
---Jorge Luis Borges, "La Forma de la Espada"
.

 

[Sunni Man]

It's now the Islamic calendar month of Ramadan which lasts 30 days.

The Quran is is divided into 30 equal portions called Juz (arabic word for part)

So muslims read 1 Juz (part) of the Quran each of the 30 days in order to completely read the Quran by the end of the month.

I am currently in the process of doing that. ..