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What book(s) are you reading right now?

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Muse

Muse

Lifer
Jul 11, 2001
40,876
10,224
136
pyonir said:
That book got me interested in other hiking books and I've read several since (mostly about the Appalachian Trail). Really enjoyed "Wild". I think the hype is a little over done, since there have been a few books before it, but it's made into a movie, so it'll always be over-hyped because of that.
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Wild and Between a Rock and a Hard Place are the only hiking books I can remember reading, both compelling reads I couldn't put down. Both books hint at other great hiking books, the latter directly, Wild by virtue of suggestions at the end, not made by the author, but the publisher, evidently. A book by Krakauer was among them, and I've seen that recommended before. I'm aware that there's a legacy of great non-fiction concerning hiking and adventures in general. I'd appreciate recommendations... I know a little searching will turn up a lot of gems... :cool:
 
IronWing

IronWing

No Lifer
Jul 20, 2001
72,896
33,993
136
IronWing said:
I just finished Antiphon and and am starting on Requiem, books three and four of Ken Scholes' Psalms of Isaak series.
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I finished Requiem, now I'm caught up with the author and I'll have to wait for book five, which was supposed to be out in 2014 but ain't here yet.

I started on The Genesis of Science: How the Christian Middle Ages Launched the Scientific Revolution by James Hannam based on recommendations in another thread. The book was originally published as God's Philosophers. So far it's okay but the author is rather strident in his arguments.

I'm also still slogging through Gloriana by Michael Moorcock. Someone mistakingly placed it in the scifi/fantasy section so I gave it a try. It is a costume piece set in Elizabethian England, filled with dreadful dialog, murder, court intrigue, and a couple interesting ideas. I keep wading in the muck of the poor writing to see how the good bits work out. I think I've been reading on this less-than-400-page book for over a year now.
 
CraKaJaX

CraKaJaX

Lifer
Dec 26, 2004
11,905
148
101
Muse said:
Wild and Between a Rock and a Hard Place are the only hiking books I can remember reading, both compelling reads I couldn't put down. Both books hint at other great hiking books, the latter directly, Wild by virtue of suggestions at the end, not made by the author, but the publisher, evidently. A book by Krakauer was among them, and I've seen that recommended before. I'm aware that there's a legacy of great non-fiction concerning hiking and adventures in general. I'd appreciate recommendations... I know a little searching will turn up a lot of gems... :cool:
Click to expand...

Between a Rock and a Hard Place was a great book. I love myself a good hiking/adventure/outdoor book. I've never heard of Wild - I might have to make that my next read...
 
pyonir

pyonir

Lifer
Dec 18, 2001
40,856
321
126
Muse said:
Wild and Between a Rock and a Hard Place are the only hiking books I can remember reading, both compelling reads I couldn't put down. Both books hint at other great hiking books, the latter directly, Wild by virtue of suggestions at the end, not made by the author, but the publisher, evidently. A book by Krakauer was among them, and I've seen that recommended before. I'm aware that there's a legacy of great non-fiction concerning hiking and adventures in general. I'd appreciate recommendations... I know a little searching will turn up a lot of gems... :cool:
Click to expand...

I really enjoyed both books by Bill Walker I've read. One is Skywalker: Close Encounters on the Appalachian Trail and the other is Skywalker: Highs and Lows on the Pacific Crest Trail

Others I've enjoyed:
Hiking Through: One Man's Journey to Peace and Freedom on the Appalachian Trail by Paul V. Stutzman
AWOL on the Appalachian Trail by David Miller
Becoming Odyssa: Epic Adventures on the Appalachian Trail by Jennifer Pharr Davis

That should give you a starting point. I would recommend Jon Krakauer too, as you mentioned. Into the Wild is one of my favorite books, but Into Thin Air is probably his best work. I've also read a couple of his others that were great...I don't think you can go wrong with Krakauer. Another favorite everyone has read is A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson...and for good reason. That book is outstanding.
 
FeuerFrei

FeuerFrei

Diamond Member
Mar 30, 2005
9,144
929
126
Now It Can Be Told
WW1 from a war correspondent's view. A guy who's duty was telling the British people how the war was going. Seems glad to write without wartime censors - hence the title.
 
Muse

Muse

Lifer
Jul 11, 2001
40,876
10,224
136
Child 44

My reading speed is very average but I finished this ~440 page hardcover in 24 hours! A real page turner. This is his first novel. It's far from perfect but it's pretty good. His acknowledgments make it plain that several people helped him a lot with his rewrites.
 
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T

thedarkwolf

Diamond Member
Oct 13, 1999
9,032
125
106
Half the World (Shattered Sea 2) by Joe Abercrombie
Good series but not up to his First Law series.
 
clamum

clamum

Lifer
Feb 13, 2003
26,256
406
126
Still reading "Why Nations Fail" but I decided to get another book at the same time. I forgot where I first saw or heard about it, but it sounded interesting so I picked up "The Unraveling: High Hopes and Missed Opportunities in Iraq" by Emma Sky. It's about her time, as a UK citizen, working with the US military to rebuild Iraq. Interesting read so far, I'm about half way or a little more through it.
 
Muse

Muse

Lifer
Jul 11, 2001
40,876
10,224
136
pyonir said:
I really enjoyed both books by Bill Walker I've read. One is Skywalker: Close Encounters on the Appalachian Trail and the other is Skywalker: Highs and Lows on the Pacific Crest Trail

Others I've enjoyed:
Hiking Through: One Man's Journey to Peace and Freedom on the Appalachian Trail by Paul V. Stutzman
AWOL on the Appalachian Trail by David Miller
Becoming Odyssa: Epic Adventures on the Appalachian Trail by Jennifer Pharr Davis

That should give you a starting point. I would recommend Jon Krakauer too, as you mentioned. Into the Wild is one of my favorite books, but Into Thin Air is probably his best work. I've also read a couple of his others that were great...I don't think you can go wrong with Krakauer. Another favorite everyone has read is A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson...and for good reason. That book is outstanding.
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Thank you. Yes, Bill Bryson is bound to be a good read. I read a great book by him, very impressive that he could write it as a layman: A Short History of Nearly Everything. I've seen AWITW recommended before, I'm going to read it now, get it from my library, heaven knows they have it.

All I know of the Appalachian Trail is what Cheryl Strayed said about it in Wild, that it's several times more traversed than the PCT, and as such is not nearly the adventure. When Cheryl came to that water tank that just couldn't be empty but was, well, you know what I mean.

After the Bryson I'll read some Krakauer.

The other adventure writing I remember reading was Jack London. Also, Herman Melville.

London was very much an adventurer in his younger days. Later, I think he became a sort of corrupted version of himself.
 
Muse

Muse

Lifer
Jul 11, 2001
40,876
10,224
136
CraKaJaX said:
Between a Rock and a Hard Place was a great book. I love myself a good hiking/adventure/outdoor book. I've never heard of Wild - I might have to make that my next read...
Click to expand...
It really is amazing. She wrote it quite a bit later, IIRC, but her memory was terrific. She is excellent with words. I love non-fiction! :D I love this thread!
 
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pyonir

pyonir

Lifer
Dec 18, 2001
40,856
321
126
Just got started on So You've Been Publicly Shamed by Jon Ronson. Only about a quarter of the way into it, but it's typical Ronson so far...very entertaining. One of my favorite non-fiction writers.
 
Muse

Muse

Lifer
Jul 11, 2001
40,876
10,224
136
norseamd said:
http://warontherocks.com/2015/05/su...-in-your-quest-to-predict-the-next-great-war/
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The book that intrigued me most on that list, just perusing it, is Robert Heinlein's short story Solution Unsatisfactory. Written in 1940, it predicts the production of the atomic bomb, the nuclear arms race, the cold war, etc. As stated at the link above:

6. Solution Unsatisfactory
by Robert Heinlein

"The second, and arguably better, example on the list of a science fiction writer who got it right. In Solution Unsatisfactory, a short story written in 1940 at the outset of World War II, Heinlein predicts a world where the United States develops nuclear weapons, uses them to end the war, and afterwards incites a global nuclear arms race. Heinlein’s work is perhaps the finest prophetic work of speculative fiction, introducing readers to the embryonic concepts of mutually assured destruction, deterrence, and arms races that would come to define the contours of the Cold War in the decades to follow."

Searching, I found Solution Unsatisfactory free online. It's preceded by a fascinating forward in which Heinlein explains his peculiar entry into the writing profession in very revealing, personal, honest and probably unintentionally humorous terms. I'm not one to read introductory material but this one delivers big time. I've always loved Heinlein, didn't really know anything about him until reading that forward.
 
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DigDog

DigDog

Lifer
Jun 3, 2011
14,652
3,011
136
just bought for £4 (shipping included) a hardcover edition of Neverending Story, the good one, printed with two different colors and with the Auryn on the cover. (hue)

which ofc i read already, but it's been so many years, and i want a refresh.
 
IronWing

IronWing

No Lifer
Jul 20, 2001
72,896
33,993
136
Just finished Working God's Mischief by Glen Cook. Parts are good but he is really wondering all over the place on plot. Big build ups lead to not much.
 
Muse

Muse

Lifer
Jul 11, 2001
40,876
10,224
136
My uncle's wife, an impressive woman, explained to us her love of reading and made mention of her special love of the writing of Joyce Carol Oates. She said she'd read all of her work! I was by chance reminded of this just now, realized that I have yet to read anything by her. I wonder if I can get a recommendation of where I might start.
 
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lxskllr

lxskllr

No Lifer
Nov 30, 2004
60,085
10,559
126
The Federalist Papers. First thing I've read in awhile. I've read parts of them over the years, but figured it was time to read them all.
 
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