What have you been reading?

I read about 15 - 20 books a year. I only do paperbacks, both for economy and ease of transport. I like the feeling of holding something real and turning the pages. I'm a breathing anachronism. I guess most people would call it pulp fiction. I'm not apologizing for it.

Favorite authors are whoever happens to be continuing the Tom Clancy/Jack Ryan Junior and Senior franchise, John Grisham, Stephen King, Dean Koontz and Michael Connelly.

I've also started a series of greatest American fiction of the 20th Century.

The last ones by each are -

The Grapes Of Wrath - John Steinbeck

The Great Gatsby - F. Scott Fitzgerald

Line Of Sight - Mike Maden (Jack Ryan, Jr.)

The Whistler - John Grisham

The Outsider - Stephen King

Concrete Blonde - Michael Connelly

Intensity - Dean Koontz

An oldie that is not a classic but a good read, The Other Side Of Midnight by Sidney Sheldon.

Coming soon: It by Stephen King. This paperback is roughly the size of an auto parts catalog. I may bruise my thighs while reading it.

Classics in the queue are To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee and Catch-22 by Joseph Heller.

 

The last three novels that I read.

Pachinko - "Pachinko tells the story of Korean immigrants living in Japan between 1910 and today, a family saga that explores the effects of poverty, abuse, war, suicide, and the accumulation of wealth on multiple generations."

American Gods - I can't summarize this in one sentence, but it follows an ex-con names Shadow Moon, and his encounter with the "old Gods", led by Odin, who, displaced by the "new Gods", formed by modern forms of worship, such as "media" seek to regain their old glory.

before that, it was The Giver, and The Ender's game trilogy which I read with my son for his middle school assignment. I ended up skipping books two and three because they dealt with more adult subjects like politics

both were made into movies

The Giver

Ender's Game
Ender's Shadow
Ender in Exile

 

"Grapes of Wrath"? - the two things that stick in my memory from that book, were "boxcar sweepings", referring to the settlers sweeping the boxcar for flour to eat. My mother used to refer to the brand of teabags that I bought when I was young as "boxcar sweepings". The other thing was the discussion between a woman and a storekeeper in the camp as to the price of hamburger being $0.21/lb. when in the town it was $0.19/lb.

I would recommend "The Stand" by Stephen King.

 

Same here. For the most part, I stick to mystery, adventure, and "who-done-it" books. Throw in a little history, and some "how-to" books to go with them. I'm not really into too much else.

This year has been slow, but some years I read as many as 40+ books. I love my Kindle, and do get a few "free" books because I have Amazon Prime. I don't have Kindle Unlimited, though.

For the e-reader owners, there is a great site that offers many free (because the copyright has expired) books, that I have used a fair amount. Most are a little older, but the selection is quite large, and I can often find something light to read there. Check it out.


https://manybooks.net

 

I can't even imagine the size of an It paperback. The hardback is sitting on my shelf and looks like a bookend!!! Be prepared, It stats pretty slowly for the first few hundred pages, but then gets much better/interesting. It was a book I almost put down a couple times through the first quarter of it, but by the time I finished it, I was sad the story had ended

 

The Grapes Of Wrath was a very powerful depiction of desperation and what a human will do to survive one more day. It will stay with me for a long time.

 

The Grapes Of Wrath is a very powerful depiction of what people with nothing will do just to survive another day and how they were exploited by the rich.

The Stand - Thanks for the recommendation. Very apropos to what is happening today. There was also a Tom Clancy novel (can't remember it's name) that covered the same topic.

 

Besides Income Tax literature.....

Finally picked up The Godfather on the weekend - got about halfway through. Hopefully will finish it this weekend and then watch the movie afterwards for about the tenth time to compare

I have three Ian Rankins on my bedside table to get through. I think that will cover the Ian Rankin catalog. Need to get to Edinburgh to have a pint at the Oxford!

I need some more contemporary decent detective novels to start.

 

No, you're not. Or if you are, I am, too. Newspapers, magazines and books belong on paper. (Sadly with the first, not always possible.)

 

Oh, and also for anyone who uses an e-reader, there is a cool free program called "Calibre", you can download on your computer. It is a tool for organizing and storing, e-books, and can convert an e-book to just about any format you can imagine. I've been using it for years. Check out the video that explains it all.

The website is: https://calibre-ebook.com

 

I read Pachinko back in April. It made a lasting impression on me, and was a good time to read about human struggle and survival, partially putting a perspective on what we are all going through now. Makes one feel a little more grateful.

 

Currently reading another Doc Ford book by Randy Wayne White. Probably my 15th or so in the series. They're really good. Not sure why they've never made a movie or TV show based on them.

 

The complete works of Jack London.

 

I love John Grisham books, and I cycle through my collection as I get the time. With this pandemic, I have done a lot more reading than normal, and I am already on my fourth Grisham book in two months. Currently reading The Whistler. These books never get old!!!

 

A monster and a really smart golden retriever. One of Koontz's best.

 

I’m reading a batch of novels by these Scandinavian crime writers that I found at an online clearance rack:
Arnaldur Indridason
Jussi Adler-Olsen
Jo Nesbo
Henning Mankel
Karin Fossum

 

Last 6 months:

“Mayday”- Clive Cussler
“This Kind of War The Classic Korean War History”- T.R. Fehrenbach
“Of Rats and Men”- John L Smith
“Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea”
“The Three Musketeers”


Currently reading “The Federalist Papers”

 

Currently on book 4 of The Dark Tower series by Stephen King. I read The Institute by King last month. Now one of my favorites.

 

Fluff (but fun) Reads:

• Odd Thomas Series-Koontz (On #4, Brother Odd)
• Stephen King, Dark Tower Series, on Song of Susannah, #7

Non-fluff Reads

• Sapiens - Yuval Harari
• Re-reading Thomas Sowell, Basic Economics (Keynote, "Re-reading", which means I liked it the first time around!)

 

This forum!

I read everything from Solzhenitsyn to Fifty Shades (you know I am not sure if I have read that) .

Just now I am working through...

1. Non fiction espionage. Accounts of those who betray their countries. It’s surprisingly common. The Americans here might like James Olson, ex Chief of a CIA counterintelligence, books. Eye opening. The sheer number of Americans (same in most nations) who betray America(their country). And how the CIA will do some bad stuff but won’t use Honey traps to seduce.

2. Books on China, from various political angles.

3. Various others including....a book on the periodic table; a crossword book; a book on science problems makes me feel real stupid.

4. I have just finished a book on addiction to Las Vegas Slots machines. “Addiction by Design”. By Schüll. It’s fascinating how the slot companies work, how people get addicted etc. The sheer ‘engineering’ that goes into casinos to get you ‘in the zone to extinction’. .

While it is a few years out of date now, learning how virtual reel mapping works, how near misses are indeed programmed in six times more often than random chance etc. It’s fascinating. And the Bally? Machine for hosts that shows a face for each player where the mouth shows if you are winning or loosing while the eyes indicate how valuable a player you are.

5. Oh and The Economist.

Yeah I am that boring.