Book Thread number ?

[bigblue_dl]

Re: Book Thread number ?

I used to not like the idea of e-books, and didn't like reading them. Then I started reading them here and there, mostly on trips, so I didn't have to lug around several books. Now, I almost exclusively read on my Kindle. I guess I'm a convert. I still read some real books, mostly the ones where I want to actually buy the book, and have it on the shelf, but at this point, I'd say 90% of my reading is on the Kindle. I like that it syncs from device to device, so if I have a few minutes I can read a bit on my phone, if I want to, and my place is saved from when I read on my Kindle. I'm reading all of The Song of Ice and Fire on the Kindle, but at this point, I'm pretty sure I'm going to buy all of them too, because I want to have that series on the bookshelf.

 

[leswp1]

Re: Book Thread number ?

Love to read on the sun porch first thing in the AM with the slider open so I can hear the birds chirping.

 

[Probert]

Re: Book Thread number ?

This. The library is really the perfect resource for me. I read way too much to buy every book I want to read, and it'd be a waste of money, in my opinion, to buy 3-4 books a week when I only REALLY enjoy (as in, would read more than once) maybe 20% of them. Most of them are good, but not great, and I don't regret reading them, but I don't want to read them again. A few of them are just bad. I keep recommendations on my phone (right now my to-read list has 160 books), but I also just browse and pick things that look good or interesting - depends on my mood. I usually stay away from the new books section, just because the checkout period is only a week, and with 5-6 books checked out at a time, I can't guarantee I'll get to it in a week.

And I agree that I will never switch to any kind of electronic reading either. I don't find it that inconvenient to carry around a book or two, and I like having it in my hands and turning the pages. But I don't need to buy one to have it in my hands.

My mom listens to lots of books on CD (in her car), but she still also reads them. What's odd is she goes to the library all the time for CDs (3-4 at a time), but never books. She always buys the books (usually paperback or clearance hardcover - never full price). She also never reads any time except before bed. I never read before bed (I'd never fall asleep!) Funny how you pick up little reading habits. My ideal way to spend a day is sitting on my patio in the morning (when it's shady and quiet) with a cup of coffee and a book.

I almost always get my books from the library, big surprise, I'm even lazy in that I pre-select and reserve my books ahead of time, my to read list is 8 pages long collated by author's I like, authors I want to try and then non fiction are separated by topic. I basically do this because I want to have a variety of the 10-12 books I get. I get 1 or 2 of series I'm reading, 1 Presidential Biography, I working my way thru them, one other history book, 1 crime book 2-3 from authors who I like but haven't read all their books yet and then 1 or 2 new ones I want to try. I always look in the new release section there 2 weeks in my library and a lot of times end up getting 1 or 2. The library is 2 miles from my house so usually I drop whatever I have read off after 2 weeks.

I do buy books but only specific ones I always by a travel book before I go on vacation since I like to plan and mark up the book before I go and I want to take it with me. I will buy non-fiction mainly Revolutionary,Civil and World War II books if I find them in the bargain section of Amazon. I also will get series I waited until all the Harry Potter books were out and Amazon had a deal so I bought the whole set. They also had a deal on the Game of Thrones box set so I bought that since who knows when it will be finished. I also frequent the library's twice yearly book sale where I can get a bag of books for $5. I have 4 or 5 bags full of books waiting for me to get around to read

I've had a nook color for quite a while I like it on my US vacations because I can load up a bunch of books and don't have to carry them. I don't take it overseas because it has to be charged every day so for overseas trips I take a bunch of paperbacks that I paid a quarter or so for and just leave them in the hotel when I finish them or give them to the person on the Tour bus who says " I wish I brought a book". For my library the e-books are countywide so if you want one you have to go in the line with everyone in the county and for new releases you wait a long time. For the new Walt Longmire I put in to get the hard copy and the e-book, I got the hard copy in 2 weeks, there are still 200 some odd people in front of me for the e-book. Now it is worth it to have one to read all the short e-books that the authors put out in between some of their regular books.

Thanks for all the recommendations I found that I had read the first Sigma Force book back in 2012 but never went on to book 2 so i will have to give that a try.

 

[burd]

Re: Book Thread number ?

This. The library is really the perfect resource for me. I read way too much to buy every book I want to read, and it'd be a waste of money, in my opinion, to buy 3-4 books a week when I only REALLY enjoy (as in, would read more than once) maybe 20% of them. Most of them are good, but not great, and I don't regret reading them, but I don't want to read them again. A few of them are just bad. I keep recommendations on my phone (right now my to-read list has 160 books), but I also just browse and pick things that look good or interesting - depends on my mood. I usually stay away from the new books section, just because the checkout period is only a week, and with 5-6 books checked out at a time, I can't guarantee I'll get to it in a week.

And I agree that I will never switch to any kind of electronic reading either. I don't find it that inconvenient to carry around a book or two, and I like having it in my hands and turning the pages. But I don't need to buy one to have it in my hands.

My mom listens to lots of books on CD (in her car), but she still also reads them. What's odd is she goes to the library all the time for CDs (3-4 at a time), but never books. She always buys the books (usually paperback or clearance hardcover - never full price). She also never reads any time except before bed. I never read before bed (I'd never fall asleep!) Funny how you pick up little reading habits. My ideal way to spend a day is sitting on my patio in the morning (when it's shady and quiet) with a cup of coffee and a book.

My wife and I are pretty heavy users of the online Wisconsin interlibrary loan system, which I suspect you use, Jen. We order the books (and DVDs) and just drop by the library a couple of times a week and pick up what is there. You can monitor arrivals online, but it's more fun just stopping to see what is in and browsing for other things. The library is such a good atmosphere. When I fully retire, I'd like to do a little volunteer reading at the elementary schools and have a daily dose of library time.

Being a porn star is so hectic.

 

[jen]

Re: Book Thread number ?

Milwaukee County has the online request thing too, and it's very handy. Sometimes I'll get in a mood to read a bunch of books I know my local branch doesn't have, and request from the other branches. I used the State ILL more in college and grad school when doing research, etc. Haven't had to use it since then, our county system is very good - but it's a great resource that a lot of people wouldn't think to use, and it's so easy.

I used to live near a smaller local branch, and it was much easier to browse there - the library was a lot smaller and I could cover the whole fiction section in one trip. My current local branch is pretty big, so when I browse, I usually only browse maybe 4-5 letters worth. Non-fiction, I usually stop by biography, baseball, and the cookbooks.

This all makes me want to visit the library, but I have one more book to finish.

 

[leswp1]

Re: Book Thread number ?

probert- what I really want to know is how the heck you fond time for all that reading!

 

[Probert]

Re: Book Thread number ?

probert- what I really want to know is how the heck you fond time for all that reading!

I live in the suburbs and spend an hour each way on the commuter train into Manhattan, so I basically have 5 minutes on the platform, 50 minutes on the train in the morning, half hour at lunch and then 50 minutes on the train going home to read. I also go into Manhattan usually 3 of the 4 weekends a month as well too. I actually have a little less time to read now because I used to have to wait 20 minutes for the train home but since they re did the schedule I usually am able to get on the early train 3-4 minutes before it leaves. I also read fairly quickly.

Before I got a promotion and drove to work I probably read about 40-50 books a year just reading at lunch and the weekends going into NYC. I remember 5-6 years ago I reread Shelby Foote's Civil War A Narrative it took me almost the whole summer, granted it is almost 3,000 pages long, now it would probably take me two weeks to finish.

 

[leswp1]

Re: Book Thread number ?

<--- Jealous!! I read quickly too, 400pg book in a day (or less), but I rarely have the time. Books are like drugs. If I pick it up I struggle to put it down so I have to read strategically.

I live in the suburbs and spend an hour each way on the commuter train into Manhattan, so I basically have 5 minutes on the platform, 50 minutes on the train in the morning, half hour at lunch and then 50 minutes on the train going home to read. I also go into Manhattan usually 3 of the 4 weekends a month as well too. I actually have a little less time to read now because I used to have to wait 20 minutes for the train home but since they re did the schedule I usually am able to get on the early train 3-4 minutes before it leaves. I also read fairly quickly.

Before I got a promotion and drove to work I probably read about 40-50 books a year just reading at lunch and the weekends going into NYC. I remember 5-6 years ago I reread Shelby Foote's Civil War A Narrative it took me almost the whole summer, granted it is almost 3,000 pages long, now it would probably take me two weeks to finish.

 

[jen]

Re: Book Thread number ?

Read <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Eighty-Days-Elizabeth-Bislands-History-Making/dp/0345527275">Eighty Days: Nellie Bly and Elizabeth Bisland's History-Making Race Around the World</a> by Matthew Goodman. Really enjoyed it. I didn't know much about Nellie Bly (or Bisland) and this was a good general-ish book about their trips. I like how it followed both of them, alternating chapters, as they made their way around the world. Imperialism was a big theme, as they generally stuck to British-owned ships/ports/etc (which, in 1889, was a LOT of them), so that was intriguing as well.

 

[jen]

Re: Book Thread number ?

Just finished this and really enjoyed it - <a href="http://www.amazon.com/The-Last-Runaway-A-Novel/dp/014218036X">The Last Runaway</a> by Tracy Chevalier. It's about a Quaker girl that comes to the US in the era before the Civil War. Not my usual kind of book, but it was compelling and I was surprised by the ending.

 

[Probert]

Re: Book Thread number ?

Recent reads

Hornblower and the Atropos (Hornblower Saga: Chronological Order #5) by C.S. Forester The 5th Hornblower book finds Captain Hornblower taking command of the Atropos. He has several adventures being the leading ship in Lord Nelson’s funeral procession. The birth of his daughter, finding Lost treasure and dealing with the Turks and help capture a Spanish warship. Good read.

The Kings Deception (Cotton Malone #8) by Steve Berry The latest Cotton Malone book finds him and his son doing a simple prisoner drop off in London on their way to Copenhagen. When Cotton, his son and the young man they are escorting are kidnapped they find themselves plunged into a centuries old mystery. Pitted against the British Secret Service and rogue elements of the CIA they try to solve a riddle that dates from the Tudor era. Good read.

Larry Bond's First Team (Larry Bond's First Team #1) by Larry Bond The first book of Larry Bond’s first team finds the NSA team trying to track down a group of terrorists who are taking nuclear waste from Soviet Waste sites. As they travel between the various Soviet satellites trying to stop the attack. Ok read

The Battle for Gotham: New York in the Shadow of Robert Moses and Jane Jacobs by Roberta Brandes Gratz This book had it’s points and some parts were okay but overall disappointing. As a New Yorker but not a NYC person some of the neighborhoods described in the book really weren’t conveyed well.

House Secrets (Joe DeMarco #4) by Mike Lawson This DeMarco books finds Joe investigating allegations against a potential Presidential candidate. Anyone who opposes him ends up dead or in trouble. As he investigates he finds that other people are interested in him as well. Ok but not as good as the previous 3.

Piranha (The Oregon Files #10) by Clive Cussler, Boyd Morrison The latest Oregon Group finds them matched up against a genius who has stolen some of the US’s top secret drone technology and seems to be able to follow them wherever they go. Hunted by the Venezuelan navy and a band of Haitian mercenaries can they escape the all-seeing genius and save the day.

Gateway to Freedom: The Hidden History of the Underground Railroad by Eric Foner I thought this book would tell tales of slaves escaping to the north and the people like Harriet Tubman who led them and the people who sheltered them along the way. Instead it mainly told of the various agencies, in NYC mainly but also covering Philadelphia and Boston, who fought against slavery, the fugitive slave law and helped escaped slaves once they had arrived in the North and many occasions helped purchase their freedom from their owners. It was okay but the book drags in many places.

14th Deadly Sin (Women's Murder Club #14) by James Patterson (Goodreads Author), Maxine Paetro Latest Women’s murder club book finds them investigating a series of robbery homicide’s which are being done by either a set of cops or criminal masquerading as cops. The side investigation is Lindsey’s unemployed husband Joe investigating the Claire murder’s, a murder that is committed every year on the Murder Club member’s birthday, this adds pretty much nothing to the main storyline. Typical Patterson book an okay read but this series continues to be okay and not what it once was.

The American Vice Presidency: From Irrelevance to Power by Jules Witcover A pretty good book which tells of the evolution of the Vice President from the early days when the VP was basically sitting around doing nothing to more recent VP’s who have an active role in the administration. It has a short biography of all the Vice Presidents and this is the best part of the book telling of some of the obscure and well known individuals who occupied the second spot. It does focus a little more on the recent VP’s, Bush, Quayle, Gore, Cheney and Biden.
Invasion of Privacy by Christopher Reich A good book from Reich which meshes with the NSA scandal. An FBI agent is dead and the FBI claims he was shot by an informant. His wife who got a cryptic message from him just before his death doesn’t believe this and starts to investigate aided by a washed up drunk reporter and her 15 year old hacker daughter who tries to figure out how the message was deleted from her mother’s form. Goodread

105 books at the halfway point to the year

 

[The Rube]

Re: Book Thread number ?

Anyone read "The Power Of The Dog" or "The Cartel" (sequel book) by Don Winslow? Based on true stories (names and places have been changed, etc, but he swears the events are pretty darn accurate).

My curiosity is piqued.

 

[Probert]

Re: Book Thread number ?

Anyone read "The Power Of The Dog" or "The Cartel" (sequel book) by Don Winslow? Based on true stories (names and places have been changed, etc, but he swears the events are pretty darn accurate).

My curiosity is piqued.

I just got Power of the Dog from the library but haven't read it yet.

 

[jen]

Re: Book Thread number ?

I am #194 of 204 on the hold list for Go Set a Watchman (and it's not out for another week). Plenty of time to re-read To Kill a Mockingbird before I get it. Looking forward to it.

Read a couple of fluffy books over the weekend while dog-sitting, but nothing extraordinary.

 

[leswp1]

Re: Book Thread number ?

Just read The Babylon Rite by Tom Knox. Very creepy and with a bit too much gory-ness for my taste. It was a good story but parts of it I felt like he was working to have flowery language that could have been more powerful if it was little less wordy. Said more than once that I wanted to find out what happened but wished there was a cliff note version.

 

[burd]

Re: Book Thread number ?

Recently purchased a Leigh D4 dovetail jig, and I'm now reading the user guide. It is an excellent manual--169 pages of not only setup instructions but everything you ever wanted to know about machine joinery. But just as trying to read Kant and Aquinas made me want to read Deep Thoughts by Jack Handy, this thing makes me want to use a power nailer.

 

[jen]

Re: Book Thread number ?

Finished <a href="http://www.amazon.com/On-Whale-Island-Notes-Place/dp/156512345X">On Whale Island: Notes from a Place I Never Meant to Leave</a> by Daniel Hays. A guy that owns an island off Nova Scotia decides to move his family there for a year. I thought it would be sort of dry, but it was actually very funny and engaging. Really enjoyed it.

 

[pgb-ohio]

Re: Book Thread number ?

Has anyone read All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr? How was it? I am #304 (of #344) on the hold list, so perhaps some day I will find out.

I own a copy and plan to read it this summer. Will report back. Obviously it's a well regarded book, but at the moment I'm equally in the dark...

I'm up to 251 on the Anthony Doerr book!

Finished and reporting back. Though you probably finished the book before I did.

The book is very well written and fully deserving of the awards it has won. The read took a bit of perseverance; I was about half way through before it became a page-turner for me. But ultimately it won me over.

As you know, the story alternates between the two protagonists, who only briefly connect near the end of the book. It also jumps back and forth on the time line. All of this is adequately signposted; the reader isn't left confused in any way. But that might be part of the reason it took me a while to warm up to it.

Speaking now to everyone on the thread: The story concerns two good people -- one German, one French -- who become embroiled in the events of WWII, simply by "doing what's expected of them," while also trying to do what's right. Now if your first reaction to that is: "Oh no, not another WWII book," then by all means move on to something else. Or, if your main interest in WWII focuses on military science/grand strategy, this isn't the book for you. Oh, you're hoping for vividly described battle scenes? Allied bombing provides a touch of that, but not enough justify the time and money invested. Note that the hardcover version runs 531 pages.

Conversely, let's say you read The Book Thief, by Markus Zusak and loved it. Move All The Light We Cannot See to the top of your reading list.

jen, I hope this is the type of feedback you were looking for, even if it comes after the fact.

 

[St. Clown]

Re: Book Thread number ?

Conversely, let's say you read The Book Thief, by Markus Zusak and loved it. Move All The Light We Cannot See to the top of your reading list.

I caught a portion of The Book Thief on HBO/Showtime/whatever a while back. It caught my attention, but I admit to thinking it's one of those stories that came off as something that would be better as a book than a movie. Now I know why. I'll have to give it a whirl after I finish Go Set A Watchman, which is after I finish a couple other books.

 

[jen]

Re: Book Thread number ?

jen, I hope this is the type of feedback you were looking for, even if it comes after the fact.

I'm still #97 (of 311) on the hold list. Thanks for your input, looking forward to reading it. Definitely sounds right up my alley.