What Books Are People Reading Now ?

[Ulysses G.]

Just got some bad news, Vince Flynn just died (the same day as James Gandlolfini?). This guy is one of my favorite new action writers and he died of cancer at age 47 the same day as James Gandolfini. What a drag.
He reminds me of Stephen Hunter. He writes the same kind of stuff and is just as captivating. His books have been put on security review by the Pentagon before they are released, and they are even used by the Secret Service to identify possible lapses in their security. His main hero is a real bad ass conservative who hates the bad guys (usually radical Muslims) and who is always right about everything. Charles Bronson could have played him in his younger days.

[Gladiator]

The Biography -

Steve Jobs

by Walter Issacson

Quiite a tome of a book - but a fascinating insight into the man, the beginning of Apple and the others involved.

[Gladiator]

The Biography -

Steve Jobs

by Walter Issacson

Quite a tome of a book - but a fascinating insight into the man, the beginning of Apple and the others involved.

[MiG16]

I'm not reading it per se, but think it could be good for those heading to or new to ThailAnd?

[OldChinaHam]

oh, wahhhh...

I left me kindle on the airplane from Paris to Doha and I don't think that I'll be able to retrieve it...

wahhhhh...and I was right at the end of Thomas Hardy's Jude the Obscure...what shall Sue and Jude do in their predicament?....

(and then someone well known to this forum will say: 'you poor man, please come to my house and we shall discuss the ending and I make a grand cup of tea...' and then I shall say: 'd'ye mind if I bring some voddy to liven things up a bit? and shall you be wearing short cut-offs and a t-shirt? immodesty and a lack of social decorum are the major themes, you know')

I'm on the Mayor of Casterbridge at the moment, a post-copyright printing from India, in hardback. There are some irritating type-setting errors; missed words and the like. But it was less than four quid, so one can't complain.

SC

For a kindle, simply download from Gutenberg or the archive dot org websites the book for free.

e.g. Hardy's Mayor of Casterbridge: http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/143

I have never seen a "kindle".

But I very often use the Gutenberg with the Calibre.

I am pretty much just very much entranced, enthralled and in love with Calibre.

Even though I do know that you all know what Calibre may be,

I still think I should post a link here because I often don't have time to write.

Life is so uncertain.

If you like it you will be happy to know that it works on All Platforms, (I think)

It has been a godsend sometimes when you have nothing to read and then you can just start rereading Hardy, who is a very great author.

I read him when I was young and while I have been old.

http://calibre-ebook.com/

Probably you guys know more about how to use it than I.

Most file extensions it will open, and it looks beautiful.

I am not too happy that it does not like the PDF format

Although it will still open it.

I wish I could connect a couple or three of the worlds greatest libraries directly to Calibre

And then just sit back with a very large high resolution computer monitor.

[ExpatOilWorker]

An insight to how and why we perceive Asian women by an anthropologist. Well written, lots of historical references, inside interviews and how movies have formed our views.

The author is female which just makes the book more interesting.

[OldChinaHam]

Oldie But Goodie:

"Walden", written by Thoreau

Still, after reading it a few times, there is so much left to savor.

Also, I believe it holds appeal for the guys and gals who leave where they were and come to Thailand.

Thailand, especially Chiang Mai, is a true paradise.

This photo is used in many of the printed Walden copies I have seen.

This is, of course, the house Thoreau built, and then itemized the cost of nails in his book.

[tutsiwarrior]

just put down a re-read of For whom the bell tolls and now reading Stoner by John Williams (1965)...recommended by a couple of popular lit. writers as an example of 'good form' in recent newspaper articles...nice having an internet torrent facility available to investigate when one is merely curious...

hey...Philip French just retired as film critic with The Observer...whatta drag, gonna miss him...

Edited August 30, 2013 by tutsiwarrior

[OldChinaHam]

just put down a re-read of For whom the bell tolls and now reading Stoner by John Williams (1965)...recommended by a couple of popular lit. writers as an example of 'good form' in recent newspaper articles...nice having an internet torrent facility available to investigate when one is merely curious...

hey...Philip French just retired as film critic with The Observer...whatta drag, gonna miss him...

What a drag it is getting old.

[DMC1]

Tony Blair 'My political life' at the moment. George Bush 'Decision points' next.

[Ron19]

Just finished Wilbur Smiths " Hungry As The Sea " and found it well worth the read.

[ToddWeston]

King Rat - James Clavell

[Gaccha]

The Grand Inquisitor-- Fyodor Dostoevsky

This is Book 5, Section 5 of The Brothers Karamazov. It dwells on human nature and the Inquisitor's need to turn the Church to be the disciples of the devil as Jesus has failed to understand human nature and condemned millions to suffering.

The Inquisitor arrests Jesus after he returns (again) to Spain during the great Spanish Inquisitions. His arguments and their ambiguous resolution makes the section truly beautiful. Even as an atheist I was rather moved by it.

In general, the actual book (The Brothers Karamazov) follows Dostoevsky's tedious style of drawn out dialogues but this section is perfectly rendered.

There is a John Gielgud version viewable on YouTube.

Administration: Drink a Jack Daniels and Coke/ listen to Bibi Tanga/ Read section. Should take no more than 45 minutes.

Side-effects: >10% profound sense of understanding of human nature

Rare side-effects: <1% conversion to Devil worship

Enjoy.

Edited September 8, 2013 by Gaccha

[Ron19]

US author Tom Clancy, whose spy and military thrillers became worldwide best-sellers and inspired several Hollywood hit films, has died.

His more than 25 fiction and non-fiction books included his 1984 novel The Hunt for Red October, as well as Patriot Games and Clear and Present Danger.

"He was a consummate author, creating the modern-day thriller, and was one of the most visionary storytellers of our time," said Penguin Group executive David Shanks in a statement.

"I will miss him dearly and he will be missed by tens of millions of readers worldwide," added Shanks, who was involved in the publication of all of Clancy's works.

The Baltimore Sun newspaper said Clancy, a Maryland native, died at age 66 on Tuesday "after a brief illness" at the city's Johns Hopkins hospital.

Clancy set his novels in the context of the Cold War and its aftermath, focusing on espionage and military science with rich attention to technical detail.

"The difference between fiction and reality is that fiction has to make sense," he once said.

Ivan Held, president of Penguin imprint Putnam's, said that publishing a Clancy book was "a thrill every time".

"He was ahead of the news curve and sometimes frighteningly prescient," Held said.

Beyond the realm of books, Clancy licensed his name to a series of successful video games such as Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Blacklist, released in August by Ubisoft.

An avowed Republican, Clancy was also a co-owner of the Baltimore Orioles baseball team.

[ev1lchris]

Currently reading The Dark Tower series by Stephen King.

Right now I'm on The Drawing of Three.

[Gaccha]

Religion in Human Evolution From the Paleolithic to the Axial Age

Robert Bellah

This is an enormous book but it certainly is worth it. The blurb on the backcover says:

This book is the opus magnum of the greatest living sociologist of religion. Nobody since Max Weber has produced such an erudite and systematic comparative world history of religion in its earlier phases. Robert Bellah opens new vistas for the interdisciplinary study of religion and for global inter-religious dialogue.

--Hans Joas, The University of Chicago and the Freiburg Institute for Advanced Studies, Albert Ludwig University of Freiburg

It asks how the thinking that developed what we now neatly separate away from society through the term 'religion' brought about the thinking stages of mankind. It starts with primitive play, then to ritual, then to mytho-speculation, and then finally to theory. For the rare moments when civilizations turned to 'theory', each moment is analysed to death. Ancient Greece, Israel, India, China are the four places where it happened.

What's interesting is the parallel developmen of India and Ancient Greece. Almost at the same time, Plato was busy changing all western thinking ('Western philosophy is a series of footnotes to Plato'), while Buddha was challenging the particularism of Vedic religion.

The author passed away a couple of months back so this proved to be his final triumph. There are a load of interviews of his to read around the Internent. The book will need to be ordered and is in hardback only. Around 1,200 baht.

Aministration: Should be read with a Kamikaze cocktail and Turkish figs.

[Ulysses G.]

King Rat - James Clavell

One of my favorite books and the movie is pretty good too. I watched it for the first time a few weeks ago.

[jellydog]

Just finished "House of Meetings" by Martin Amis and just into "The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay" by Michael Chabon.

[OldChinaHam]

If it ain't Thai, or Thai related,

I ain't reading it.

But here is one title I especially enjoy these days:

Writing and Reading Thai

by Ponmanee

It is kinda a slow read at first,

But then it gets interesting and picks up the pace.

It is non-fiction, because

I am not into novels anymore,

After passing that age when I no longer have time for drivel.

Although, I once did.

The last novel I read was way back in history,

Not Love Story, nor Jonathan Seagul, or something.

I read something Ironical, like

Look Homeward Angel, or Candide.

Probably it was The Good Soldier Schweik.

Yes, it was that book by Hasek which I re-read.

Try it out, the Hasek book.

[tutsiwarrior]

presently rediscovering short fiction with 'The Stories of John Cheever'...check them out as the reader will surely find at least one story that he's read elsewhere like 'The Enormous Radio'...

[DMC1]

'Decision Points' by George Bush at the moment. Before that 'Fred & Rose' about the murders and bodies at 'Cromwell Street' in Gloucester, England - very gruesome insight into Fred & Rose West's past and relationship and how they tortured & killed their victims.

[davejones]

A Walk in the Woods: Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail by Bill Bryson - 1998 book but only just got around to reading it.

[OldChinaHam]

presently rediscovering short fiction with 'The Stories of John Cheever'...check them out as the reader will surely find at least one story that he's read elsewhere like 'The Enormous Radio'...

F A N T A S T I C Man!

I am a HUGE fan of Cheever,

Always have been.

I love this man to death.

Not that way, though.

Just tell me where you can find his books for free on line. The man is dead already.

He won't care if I read for free.

He has written so many wonderful stories about the New York Burbs, and the upper middle class commute on trains to outside the city.

I have read everything he wrote, not hard to do.

I also read his autobiography, and it is pretty candid.

Then there is the biography written by his daughter, I think, but could be wrong.

So, where can I get his stories?

They are just not popular enough to be readily available.

Thanks.

[tutsiwarrior]

^ I downloaded the stories using iso-hunt and bit-torrent...

Edited October 17, 2013 by tutsiwarrior

[Patsycat]

Second book of the Fifty Shades of Grey Trilogy.

[GarryP]

Deeply Odd by Dean Koontz

[ev1lchris]

63 Documents the Government Doesn't Want You to See. Jesse Ventura.

[maxme]

Rendevouz with Rama by Arthur C. Clarke and Splinter Cell. Two complete opposites when it comes to writing yet still intriguing.

[Shurup]

Rendevouz with Rama by Arthur C. Clarke and Splinter Cell. Two complete opposites when it comes to writing yet still intriguing.

I have all the Rama series books (4 in total I think??) and was about to start reading when found out a new book from the WOOL series was just released. So reading it now - Dust (by Hugh Howey).

[BookMan]

Deeply Odd by Dean Koontz

I've started the Odd series myself, after having seen the recent movie