Biggs Posted March 8 Share Posted March 8 I'm getting old as dirt. I'm a typical distracted American baby boomer. Phone, internet, tv. I'm starting to read again. One of the reasons is to calm my mind. Started with serious history which I loved but I just read an article, in the fake news NY Times, that fiction is suppossed to help fight off dementia. I'm trying to read from 1 to 2 hours a day. Reading Demon Copperhead at the moment. A classic bummer of novel about a kid who's from coal country who's life is fvcked from the get go. It's a pretty serious read. Great book and a bummer at the same time. Well written, probably a chick book not that there's anything wrong with that. Appreciate all and any recommendations. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JetsfaninNorthHollywood Posted March 8 Share Posted March 8 I was reading "Child 44" by Tom Rob Smith. It's set in the Soviet Union, where there's officially no crime, but all signs point to a child killer. Grotesque at times, but a good read so far. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slats Posted March 10 Share Posted March 10 I primarily read novels, always have. Reading is my primary hobby after eating and drinking. Always have a book on my lap at the beach, and it’s always beach season where I live. Currently doing a rare reread of Tom Robbins’ Skinny Legs And All. It’s 35 years old and weirdly timely. Heavy on the history of the Israeli conflict and even mentions that polarizing politician from NY a couple times. We have an English language new & used book store in my town, I help keep it open. In addition to Robbins, Jonathan Franzen and Michael Chabon are a couple of favorites. Matt Ruff is really fun, too. I like character driven material. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JetsfaninNorthHollywood Posted March 10 Share Posted March 10 So now you got me looking at my shelves. I love mysteries myself, particularly the noir variety. William Shaw, his Breen and Tozer series are set in the "Swinging London" era of the 1960s. Stuart Neville and Adrian McKinty their works set in the Northern Ireland during The Troubles. William Mackay has an interesting take on the Glasgow underworld. Also for dark humor, check out Irvine Welsh, Trainspotting, good film, Skag Boys, and Glue. Derek Raymond, Ted Lewis, and Denis Lehane are also very dark but well written. Mystic River and The Drop were great adaptations of Lehanes work. Ted Lewis Jack Returns Home became a great film in "Get Carter" I also enjoy biographies, in fact I have ordered "The Power Broker" by Robert Caro, about Robert Moses. Also, a friend gave me one about Stalin. I'll save that one a long plane ride. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jet_Engine1 Posted March 10 Share Posted March 10 I've always been a reader, but now it's mostly in Kindle. My eyes took a crap a couple of years ago, but I've always preferred reading to tv/movies etc. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Biggs Posted March 11 Author Share Posted March 11 18 hours ago, JetsfaninNorthHollywood said: So now you got me looking at my shelves. I love mysteries myself, particularly the noir variety. William Shaw, his Breen and Tozer series are set in the "Swinging London" era of the 1960s. Stuart Neville and Adrian McKinty their works set in the Northern Ireland during The Troubles. William Mackay has an interesting take on the Glasgow underworld. Also for dark humor, check out Irvine Welsh, Trainspotting, good film, Skag Boys, and Glue. Derek Raymond, Ted Lewis, and Denis Lehane are also very dark but well written. Mystic River and The Drop were great adaptations of Lehanes work. Ted Lewis Jack Returns Home became a great film in "Get Carter" I also enjoy biographies, in fact I have ordered "The Power Broker" by Robert Caro, about Robert Moses. Also, a friend gave me one about Stalin. I'll save that one a long plane ride. I read the power broker a couple of months ago. It's fantastic. Stick with it, it's a very long book. It used to be required reading at every top business school. Not sure if it still is? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JetsfaninNorthHollywood Posted March 11 Share Posted March 11 I have friends from New York who recommended it to me. Said the same, it's a long read but see it through. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RutgersJetFan Posted March 11 Share Posted March 11 David Grann's The Wager lives up to the hype. Wild story. I finally have some time to dig into Mountain in the Sea by Ray Naylor this week and I'm pretty stoked for it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SAM SAM HE'S OUR MAN Posted March 11 Share Posted March 11 Oh , you said BOOKS !!!! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Biggs Posted March 19 Author Share Posted March 19 Two books I just finished Just Mercy and the War Below. Both none fiction. The War Below is a great book about US Submarines in the pacific in WW2. Just Mercy is about a lawyer who takes on death row inmate casses. Just Mercy reads like a novel in sections. The War below follows 3 US Submarines on their war time missions. Highly recomend both. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JetsfaninNorthHollywood Posted March 20 Share Posted March 20 I'm done with "Child 44", it's very disturbing (child killer on the loose), but well written. Set during the later years of Stalin's reign of terror in the USSR. Now working on the second book in that trilogy, "The Secret Speech", so far so good, I haven't forgotten the Power Broker, btw. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nolder Posted March 24 Share Posted March 24 I went from reading like a book a month (or more) in my teens and early 20s to struggling to finish more than 2 or 3 books a year. The distractions are just too much for me I guess because I still love to read as much as I always have but when I’m reading I can’t concentrate and stay focused for more than an hour or two at most. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rangerous Posted March 27 Share Posted March 27 I read all of the jack reacher books. They all have similar plot lines. Easy to see how they were turned into movies and series. i also read a few books by Ben Macintyre and Howard Blum. They’re non fiction. Macintyre writes about spies during the war the Cold War. All are very good. Blum writes histories about events mostly in the US. I have been reading Mick Herrons books that the series Slough Horses is based on. The series, on Appletv, is very good. The books are about MI5 and some internal and external incidents. Ive also read Ian Tolls history of the pacific war. It’s good because he brings the Japanese viewpoint into the war. Finally I’ve been finishing off SPQR by Mary Beard. All about Rome. Pretty good read. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JetsfaninNorthHollywood Posted April 7 Share Posted April 7 So I started on "The Black Dahlia" by James Ellroy, like the setting, Los Angeles in the 1940s. His work is the definition of noir. His style can be a bit like white noise on your TV, and may require a reread on some passages though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JetsfaninNorthHollywood Posted 22 minutes ago Share Posted 22 minutes ago Finished "The Black Dahlia" and now onto this gem by Ellroy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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