REMINDER: THE ARENA PLATFORM, INC. has no obligation to monitor the Forums. However, THE ARENA PLATFORM, INC. reserves the right to review any materials submitted to or posted on the Forums, and remove, delete, redact or otherwise modify such materials, in its sole discretion and for any reason whatsoever, at any time and from time to time, without notice or further obligation to you. THE ARENA PLATFORM, INC. has no obligation to display or post any materials provided by you. THE ARENA PLATFORM, INC. reserves the right to disclose, at any time and from time to time, any information or materials that we deem necessary or appropriate to satisfy any applicable law, regulation, contract obligation, legal or dispute process or government request. Click on the following hyperlinks to further read the applicable Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.
The Good Book Thread?
- Thread starter Kento
- Start date
I'm currently reading Obama's Wars by Bob Woodward. Boy did he inherit some baggage from the previous administration and apparently did likewise for good ol' Trumplestilsken but I haven't reached that point in the book yet.
For mindless relaxation I'm also reading The Terran Scout Fleet series by Joshua Dalzelle. It's sci-fi space fantasy stuff about undercover agents that travel through mulitple galaxies, hunting bad guys. There's lots of action and gross alien encounters.
For mindless relaxation I'm also reading The Terran Scout Fleet series by Joshua Dalzelle. It's sci-fi space fantasy stuff about undercover agents that travel through mulitple galaxies, hunting bad guys. There's lots of action and gross alien encounters.
Started "catch-22" at erBB suggestion. So far... interesting. Not sure if I'm going to start to love it, or stop reading it. Irreverent is good. Repeating things is annoying. "Yes, irreverent is good. Repeating things is annoying" said other character.
I liked the first 2/3 or 3/4. The end, apparently Heller was trying to relay the tedium/shitty side of war and so the end of the book drags a bit vs the rest.
American Literature in general and Beat in particular really isn't my thing. I apparently need to read this Mitchener but I really could barely force myself through Death of a Salesman, Catcher in the Rye, A Separate Peace, The Crucible....
Dickens beats the Dickens out of that stuff.
American Literature in general and Beat in particular really isn't my thing. I apparently need to read this Mitchener but I really could barely force myself through Death of a Salesman, Catcher in the Rye, A Separate Peace, The Crucible....
Dickens beats the Dickens out of that stuff.
I read a lot on my recent trip. Thank you to whoever brought up Paul Theroux on here. I had never read him but after reading one I downloaded two more for my kindle and they were great too. Only the travel books so far, none of his fiction.
Paul Theroux - Darkstar Safari, On the Plain of Snakes, Deep South
All great books. Hard to pick a favorite. The dude can write.
Peter Heller - The Orchard, The River
I like his storytelling. It's relaxing and easy and it keeps moving. Kind of reminds me of Wally Lamb, David James Duncan, etc. I always want a couple books like this for a trip for when I get burned out on more demanding books.
Jeanine Cummins - American Dirt
An easy read. Started off okay but felt like it lost me near the end.
Charles Bukowski - Pulp
Not my favorite Bukowski but still worth it. Almost had some Vonnegut vibes with the bizzare plot twists.
Colson Whitehead - The Nickle Boys
Really good from start to finish. Pretty heavy subject matter but it didn't feel like a chore to read and the ending was satisfying without being perfectly wrapped in a forced way that can sometimes ruin an otherwise good book. This is the first book I've read of his but I will read them all now.
Richard Powers - The Overstory
I haven't been able to quite finish this one. It is fairly well written but I never really clicked with it. I am familiar with the areas and some of the characters on which I'm guessing this book is based and some of it just felt a little too cliche or something. Part of the book is about environmentalists trying to save the remaining old growth trees in the PNW but spoiler alert: they failed. The other story thread was about an early bay area programmer but I just couldn't seem to connect with that part of the story. This book won a pulitzer. Oprah and Obama loved it. I get why but I think it was just too close to home and I had trouble viewing it with enough distance to enjoy it or something.
Andrea Wulf - The Invention of Nature
This is about Alexander Von Humboldt of whom I knew very little. He was a german naturalist, explorer and basically an overall badass genius. His ideas were greatly influential to many and were likely the precursors to Darwins theory of evolution. Apparently he wrote a great deal himself so I will have to read some of his books eventually. I really liked this book.
I also listened to a few audiobooks over the past few months. I've found that for nonfiction I am able to retain a bit more when listening rather than reading.
Johnathan Haidt - The Righteous Mind
Loved it. Maybe the best thing I read or listened to this year. Written in a clear, concise way and well narrated by the author. Dense but engaging. Will likely re-listen for a 2nd time.
Francis Fukuyama - The Origins of Political Order
Not gonna lie this one got pretty tough by the midway point. It's undoubtably good but just so dense. Listening on the long drive home from mex my girlfriend finally made me change it to something more fun. Might take me a while to finish.
Rick Perlstein - Nixonland, The Invisible Bridge, Reaganland
Apparently there is a book previous to Nixonland but I started there before I realized. These are all fantastic and should be essential reading before posting in the Political Forum.
Paul Theroux - Darkstar Safari, On the Plain of Snakes, Deep South
All great books. Hard to pick a favorite. The dude can write.
Peter Heller - The Orchard, The River
I like his storytelling. It's relaxing and easy and it keeps moving. Kind of reminds me of Wally Lamb, David James Duncan, etc. I always want a couple books like this for a trip for when I get burned out on more demanding books.
Jeanine Cummins - American Dirt
An easy read. Started off okay but felt like it lost me near the end.
Charles Bukowski - Pulp
Not my favorite Bukowski but still worth it. Almost had some Vonnegut vibes with the bizzare plot twists.
Colson Whitehead - The Nickle Boys
Really good from start to finish. Pretty heavy subject matter but it didn't feel like a chore to read and the ending was satisfying without being perfectly wrapped in a forced way that can sometimes ruin an otherwise good book. This is the first book I've read of his but I will read them all now.
Richard Powers - The Overstory
I haven't been able to quite finish this one. It is fairly well written but I never really clicked with it. I am familiar with the areas and some of the characters on which I'm guessing this book is based and some of it just felt a little too cliche or something. Part of the book is about environmentalists trying to save the remaining old growth trees in the PNW but spoiler alert: they failed. The other story thread was about an early bay area programmer but I just couldn't seem to connect with that part of the story. This book won a pulitzer. Oprah and Obama loved it. I get why but I think it was just too close to home and I had trouble viewing it with enough distance to enjoy it or something.
Andrea Wulf - The Invention of Nature
This is about Alexander Von Humboldt of whom I knew very little. He was a german naturalist, explorer and basically an overall badass genius. His ideas were greatly influential to many and were likely the precursors to Darwins theory of evolution. Apparently he wrote a great deal himself so I will have to read some of his books eventually. I really liked this book.
I also listened to a few audiobooks over the past few months. I've found that for nonfiction I am able to retain a bit more when listening rather than reading.
Johnathan Haidt - The Righteous Mind
Loved it. Maybe the best thing I read or listened to this year. Written in a clear, concise way and well narrated by the author. Dense but engaging. Will likely re-listen for a 2nd time.
Francis Fukuyama - The Origins of Political Order
Not gonna lie this one got pretty tough by the midway point. It's undoubtably good but just so dense. Listening on the long drive home from mex my girlfriend finally made me change it to something more fun. Might take me a while to finish.
Rick Perlstein - Nixonland, The Invisible Bridge, Reaganland
Apparently there is a book previous to Nixonland but I started there before I realized. These are all fantastic and should be essential reading before posting in the Political Forum.
I'll check it out. Have you read a lot of his stuff? Maybe it was you who turned me on to him...
I just read that one too and thought it was solid all the way through.
Yeah. It was I.
I didn't want to toot my horn.
I read every one.
The collections of short stories are fun too.
Sunrise with Seamonsters book by Paul Theroux
www.thriftbooks.com
Finally finished The Making of Incarnation by Tom McCarthy. Not my favorite of his books. Really dragged in the middle; too much minutiae of motion capture technology (MoCap). It's simultaneously about a film being made using MoCap and some industrial; psychologists who spent years making diorama capturing movements of workers in an attempt to make them more efficient; the study of motions, sort of. The story overall was good, but the ending left me wanting. I recommend any of his other novels before this one, especially Remainder, Men in Space, and C.
Prob gonna start Will Self's Umbrella a 3rd time. I finally got me new reading prescription and reading is a joy again. I'm far-sighted as fvck.
After watching Drive My Car, the film based on Haruki Murakami's short story, which featured rehearsals of Anton Chekov's "Uncle Vanya," decided to pullout Chekov's plays, which are some of the best sh|t ever written. Full stop. I love Russian lit.
Just received from B+N online Italo Svevo's Zeno's Conscience, which is apparently a hilarious post-modern-ish novel about an old guy who spends a lifetime trying to quit smoking. I've read some excerpts and they are fucking funny. Really looking forward to this.
Prob gonna start Will Self's Umbrella a 3rd time. I finally got me new reading prescription and reading is a joy again. I'm far-sighted as fvck.
After watching Drive My Car, the film based on Haruki Murakami's short story, which featured rehearsals of Anton Chekov's "Uncle Vanya," decided to pullout Chekov's plays, which are some of the best sh|t ever written. Full stop. I love Russian lit.
Just received from B+N online Italo Svevo's Zeno's Conscience, which is apparently a hilarious post-modern-ish novel about an old guy who spends a lifetime trying to quit smoking. I've read some excerpts and they are fucking funny. Really looking forward to this.
Last edited:
Read Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency online free by Douglas Adams
Read or listen complete Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency book online for free from Your iPhone, iPad, android, PC, Mobile. Read Douglas Adams books online at onlinereadfreenovel.com for Free
onlinereadfreenovel.com
Anyone read Carlos Castaneda? A long time ago people were talking about Teachings of Don Juan. I read it and was hooked. I read ALL his books at least 3 times each! My older brother read only the first book and decided that Carlos was just making it all up. I couldn't believe that. I thought Carlos was exaggerating the magical events, but most of it sounded true. I went to one Tensegrity workshop in Anaheim in 1997 just to see Carlos speak. After Carlos died in 1998 books came out about him (De Mille and others) that cast much doubt about how much of what he wrote was true. He obviously did a lot of library research (at UCLA) and learned a lot about shamanism. He was so gifted a novelist that he could make it all sound true!
When don Juan spoke of "places of power" to me it meant certain surf spots during a big swell. "Living like a warrior" means eat right, be good and not create karma, and exercise so you are fit enough to surf.
When don Juan spoke of "places of power" to me it meant certain surf spots during a big swell. "Living like a warrior" means eat right, be good and not create karma, and exercise so you are fit enough to surf.
Last edited:
i read them and thoroughly enjoyed them back in my psychedelic days, which were also my rock climbing days, so places of power for me were J-tree and Tahquitz. Especially Tahquitz.
Last edited:
I read most of them as a kid. Loved them. They're probably just made up but they were good stories.
Read them all while living in the rainforest in the Gulfo Dulce on a finca with boat in access only. What a trip.
This is sitting on my nightstand. but it's unlikely that it will be read anytime soon.
Not really a quick, easy, "newborn in the house" read.