Books! How do you read and what do you read?

I am nearly finished with Jackpot: How the Super-Rich Really Live - and How Their Wealth Harms Us All, by Michael Mechanic.

I think it is a really good, informative, and well-written book. It has held my interest, and I learned some things I didn't know. I managed not to seethe at the information I didn't like, which is good for my stress level.
 

Last edited:
On the fiction side, I recently finished the following books, which I wholeheartedly recommend:

Aunt Dimity and the Enchanted Cottage (Nancy Atherton, cozy)
The Key to Murder (Lynn Bohart; Old Maids of Mercer Island cozy)
Robert B. Parker's Revenge Tour (Mike Lupica)
Trapped in Christmas River (Meg Muldoon; cozy)
The Book Share (Phaedra Patrick, fiction - love this author!)
22 Seconds (James Patterson)

I also read:

Meet Marvin: Technically Not a Killer, by Jason Marshall. Kind of a weird book. Good old Marvin is a vigilante.

Something Missing, by Matthew Dicks. Another kind of weird book, this one about a burglar with an interesting twist.

By "kind of weird", I mean not my usual fare, which is mystery/thrillers. I don't even know if I recommend them. Will I read subsequent books that carry on the stories? Probably, but not all the way through if I don't like them. This time I read the entire books because I wanted to see where the story went.
 
I currently am also reading
Problems of Conduct by Durant Drake. It was written in 1914.
Part 1 evolution of morality.
Part 2 the theory of morality.
Part 3 personal morality.
Part 4 public morality
With sub chapters in each section.
So far could have been written in todays time.
 

In my previous post mentioned I was reading 'Women In White Coats' by Olivia Campbell
The book is about 3 Victorian Age women who through perservance became women doctors The ladies are:
Elizabeth Blackwell- 1st U.S. woman to receive her medical degree
Elizabeth' Lizzie' Garrett,Sophia Jex Black They all created their own medical schools for women
I enjoyed it in the beginning but halfway through it became boring, too much info,book was too long at 309 pgs
 
i have an issue with the wording of this meme, because i do think that there is a difference between true 'collectors' of books, whose mindset probably isn't that different from other collectors in viewing them as monetary investments and people like me who have built varied home libraries over course of our lives. We actually have read the books, at least to get specific facts from some others for enjoyment, and to stimulate thought. But its not that far off. Tho my books fairly organized and i can usually find what i want when i want to cite a passage in a discussion or just refresh my memory, this is a possibility

Book Collectors different.jpg
 
feywon said:
i have an issue with the wording of this meme, because i do think that there is a difference between true 'collectors' of books, whose mindset probably isn't that different from other collectors in viewing them as monetary investments and people like me who have built varied home libraries over course of our lives. We actually have read the books, at least to get specific facts from some others for enjoyment, and to stimulate thought. But its not that far off. Tho my books fairly organized and i can usually find what i want when i want to cite a passage in a discussion or just refresh my memory, this is a possibility

View attachment 224400
Click to expand...
In my bookcase, all the books I've kept are in alphabetical order by author.If I have more than 1 book by any author/the 1st book they ever wrote it goes in front Sue
 
An author I've liked for yrs is Tami Hoag her books are crime thrillers, well written
The book I'm reading now is'Dark Horse' ,story is set in Palm Beach,Fla 'horse community', main character is ex narcotic cop, Elena Estes who has been hired by 12 yr old girl, Molly to find her missing 18 yr old sister,Erin I started this Tues evening, its long 557 pgs,can't put it down, I'm halfway through it
In the author's notes, I didn't know she has been a competitive equestrian since '99, has blended her two loves in this book Sue
 
I'm not a Stephen King fan, but I've had 11/22/63 sitting on the shelf for a long time and recently picked it up when nothing seemed to hold my interest for very long. Ever feel that way??

I love time-travel books but haven't found very many that seem plausible and then they get boring and I lose interest and put it down and never finish it. Not 11/22/63! I was a senior in high school when JFK was assassinated and it affected me a great deal. I still cry when I watch anything on it.

Anyway...I'm hooked...for now...on 11/22/63 and I'll see if Mr. King can hold my interest all the way through this tome of a book.
 
Hayley Camille has written a series of 20 short stories/novellas, called Avon Callling! or Lady Vigilante series. It is about a 1940s housewife and Avon saleslady during WW2, who by night is often a vigilante. She has special attributes (not magical) that allow her to be a successful vigilante.

This crime series is very interesting ... it has won awards, and I got hooked on it. The books are available for free on Kindle Unlimited. If you get them there, you should borrow the two box sets (series 1-10) and series (11-20)... just in case you get hooked, too.

From the author's website ( https://www.hayleycamille.com/podcast/ ):

"1943, at the height of WW2.

A lone vigilante is on a revenge mission to take down the New York City mob. I’m talking blood, guts, bullets and gritty crime. Dark alleys and heroin addicts, extortion and murder. Violence. Prostitutes. Gangsters. Nasty stuff.

Someone needs to clean up the streets.

The big boss of organized crime has a new hobby – stealing military cargo off Uncle Sam. A series of heists have been going down, hitting transport trucks bound for the shipping dock, carrying weapons and wake-up pills for the boys on the front. There’s a trail of dead soldiers and missing cargo. The cops don’t know who is behind it. But they’re trying.

Only one person knows what’s really going on. Our vigilante, of course.

Trained assassin. Secret identity. Killer moves. But our vigilante anti-hero is everything you don’t expect."

The podcast link has a podcast of book one.
 
In my previous post,mentioned I was reading Tami Hoag's book' Dark Horse' finished it last night,terrifc with twists&turns.It was a quick read for me 3 days though it was 557pgs long
My close friend,Marcia suggested the book I'm about to read "Quite a Year For the Plums' by Bailey White I've never heard of the author.She read me a paragraph from the book,sounded like a combination of what Fannie Flagg&Garrsion Keillor would write. I like 'quirky' funny characters Sue
 
I'm halfway through "The Ministry for the Future". Not an easy read, but an important one. It's on the highly recommended book lists of Barack Obama, Bill Gates, Ezra Klein and others whose intelligence and intellectual curiosity I admire.

"The Ministry for the Future is a masterpiece of the imagination, using fictional eyewitness accounts to tell the story of how climate change will affect us all. Its setting is not a desolate, postapocalyptic world, but a future that is almost upon us. Chosen by Barack Obama as one of his favorite books of the year, this extraordinary novel from visionary science fiction writer Kim Stanley Robinson will change the way you think about the climate crisis.

"One hopes that this book is read widely—that Robinson’s audience, already large, grows by an order of magnitude. Because the point of his books is to fire the imagination."―New York Review of Books
 
Currently reading The Rise and Fall of Charles Lindbergh by Candace Fleming. It's pretty interesting. I just passed the point where Lindbergh flew to Paris (1927), became a millionaire, and got married (1929). Next, I guess, will be the kidnapping of his child. And then his support of the Nazis. Plus, he had a secret family in Europe. So much for his wholesome image! 🤣
 
I just finished "All He Ever Wanted," by Anita Shreve, for the second time. I like all her books but that one is my favorite.

Now I'm reading, "The Music of Bees," The three main characters, grieving widow, homeless socially awkward 24 year old young man, and paraplegic 19 year-old boy, are all damaged but work together with the bees and make new lives for themselves. I'm loving it.
 
Recently finished Hermann Hesse 'Gertrude.' He writes so lyrically. It's not his plots that get me, sometimes that's pretty transparent, but his language is filled with color, light and is downright ethereal. Find him soothing to the soul, like a meditation.
 
I n my previous post I mentioned I was starting to read book'Quite a year of PLums' by Bailey Light
A disappointment, I didn't find it funny put it down a couple times went back to it, I gave up after 100pgs. I put in downstairs in our community library
 
I didn't read The Martian, but it's one of our favorite movies, starring Matt Damon, so I decided to read Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir, who wrote The Martian.

I got hooked at the beginning but by the time I was 2/3 of the way through, I couldn't finish. It became ridiculous and so "technical" that I lost interest. It's been raved about but I just couldn't waste any more time on it. Ever feel that way about a book?? I wonder what I'm missing..hmmmmmm :unsure: .
 

You must log in or register to reply here.

Back
Top