Books!

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JCShutout
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Re: Books!

Post by JCShutout »

Famous Mortimer wrote:
tlombard wrote:St. Louis Public Library
They have a phone app (are you one of the flip-phone people? I can't remember) where you can put a hold on any book (that the library has) for any location, and they'll email you to let you know when it's arrived. Saves you having to mess about, and I just had an interview at Central library, so you could always pop in and say hello, provided they hire me of course.
I don't live too far from Central library. If you want, I can pop by and yell things like, "Hire Mort, he has internet friends who don't think he's too crazy!!!1!" I could wear a sandwich board too if you want.

About to reread the Handmaid's Tale for a book club. Should seem more relevant than ever methinks.

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Famous Mortimer
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Re: Books!

Post by Famous Mortimer »

If I get it, I'm going to need at least a few of you to come in and fill out comment cards saying how great I am, or something :)

I just read "Cooperstown Confidential" by Zef Chafets, about the Hall of Fame. Really interesting, as it turns out, much more so than the other two books on the HoF I've read (Bill James', which is kind-of out of date now and has at least one stupid argument in it; and another which is so dull it's completely deleted itself from my memory). Talks about the nuts and bolts of its organisation, famous snubs, racial problems, famous cases of Hall members not exactly embodying clause 5, and so on.

Now is a novel about Alexander The Great, Mary Renault's "A Fire From Heaven". It's interesting, five pages in and they're already talking about King Philip's male lover, so while it seems Alexander will be portrayed as almost perfect, no-one around him will.

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heyzeus
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Re: Books!

Post by heyzeus »

I keep meaning to buy Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders, because he is a spectacular writer and this is his first novel. Might wait for the paperback to come out tho.

tlombard
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Re: Books!

Post by tlombard »

I'll fill out some comment cards. Good ones for you and if you don't like anybody, I'll bash the heck out of them while I'm at it. If all of my comments are positive about one person then it looks funny right? So I'll throw them off by trashing those in the way of you getting more power and prestige in the library world.

tlombard
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Re: Books!

Post by tlombard »

Famous, thanks for the tip on the Wayfarer series. I finished the first one the other day and I'm on the second book now.

It reminds me a lot of another series of books I read about six months back, the Athena Lee Chronicles. I really enjoyed those. I also read another series recently which revolved a lot around a sentient AI (this one purely accidental) called the Lightless Trilogy that I enjoyed. I've only gotten through the first two of that series since somebody has had the third checked out every time I've tried to get it.

Freed Roger
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Re: Books!

Post by Freed Roger »

For non-fiction peeps - this is a good story:

The Stranger in the Woods: The Extraordinary Story of the Last True Hermit

Also, this is just a brutally unreal story of one of the few known people to be born into slavery of North Korea camps and able to escape.

Escape from Camp 14

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Famous Mortimer
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Re: Books!

Post by Famous Mortimer »

tlombard wrote:Famous, thanks for the tip on the Wayfarer series. I finished the first one the other day and I'm on the second book now.

It reminds me a lot of another series of books I read about six months back, the Athena Lee Chronicles. I really enjoyed those. I also read another series recently which revolved a lot around a sentient AI (this one purely accidental) called the Lightless Trilogy that I enjoyed. I've only gotten through the first two of that series since somebody has had the third checked out every time I've tried to get it.
I'll check those out. Although the "Athena Lee Chronicles" got some really really bad reviews on Amazon - written by a St Louis native, too, I see.

I'm just about to finish "Ready Player One", which I should have read when it first came out as it seems designed specifically for me (although my taste for 80s things is superior to the main character in the book). It's a little Young Adult-y, but is tons of fun.

tlombard
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Re: Books!

Post by tlombard »

I didn't realize it got bad reviews. I never bother looking at reviews though. Since I'm not paying anything for the book, I just check it out and if I don't like it after I start it then I just move on to something else. I think I was reading the Athena Lee series back before I cancelled my Kindle Unlimited. It's been awhile. I think there may be another book out now but I can't remember. I'll have to check on that with the library. The Lightless Trilogy is better than the Athena Lee series though. And through the first book of the Wayfarer series, I can't decide which I prefer between that and Lightless.

Time for me to start shutting down here at work. I will be getting some reading done on the bus home, although I may take a detour and stop by the grocery store which will let me get a lot more finished!

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Donnie Ebert
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Re: Books!

Post by Donnie Ebert »

I'm reading Sound Man by Glyn Johns, and while his writing style is very dry, there are some good tales about bands from the 60's and 70's. The chapter "The Stones at the Marquee Club" is great (I've spoilered it because it's quite long, even thought I chopped out quite a bit):
[SHOW]
The Stones at the Marquee Club

The Stones played a gig at the famous Marquee Club on Wardour Street in London’s Soho for the sole purpose of producing a TV show of them playing live ... At three p.m. everyone was there and ready to go except Keith Richards. No surprise there. He eventually arrived, having to barge his way through the audience to get to the stage, as the only way in was through the front of the building. So after a long wait we were ready to go ...

The next interruption came with a loud banging on the door of my truck, which when opened revealed a large policeman demanding to know whose car it was that had been left in the middle of the street with the engine running. It turned out to belong to Keith. Having arrived as late as he did and not finding a parking place, he just got out of the car, leaving it where it was in the middle of the street, and went into the club. By the time he had fought his way to the stage, he had completely forgotten to tell anyone to go and park it for him ...

From there on, things seemed to be going okay until they got about forty minutes into the set, when they were to play “Wild Horses.” Keith took his twelve-string guitar and sat down with his legs dangling over the front of the stage and began to check its tuning. For the next few minutes we were treated to the sound of him struggling to get it in tune, while everyone stood patiently around, until suddenly it went quiet. I looked up at my monitor in the truck to see Keith sitting with the guitar in his hands and his head dropped down on his chest, asleep. ...

The performance was finished ... After around an hour or so, with the TV crew in the final throes of striking their equipment, Mick, Charlie, and I were standing on the stage with our coats on, discussing what we would do the following day, when all of a sudden we heard the sound of a twelve-string guitar being tuned. Keith, who had not moved and had been completely ignored by everyone since falling asleep, had woken up and continued tuning as if nothing had happened, completely oblivious to the fact that the houselights were on and the place was empty, all but for the few remaining members of the TV crew packing up.

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Famous Mortimer
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Re: Books!

Post by Famous Mortimer »

Well, it's time for "The Decline And Fall Of The Roman Empire". A mere 3000 pages or so, and I've already had to look up about ten words in the introduction, but I will read it. Partly because I'm vaguely working forward in time via a bunch of different history books and this one is next in line.

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