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The Big Three Plus One => General Chat => Topic started by: Shadow on December 29, 2018, 09:03:56 am

Title: Books Read in 2018
Post by: Shadow on December 29, 2018, 09:03:56 am

It's time for another year's review in books! Please share your own.

This year I read 143 books, bringing the total over the last five years to just shy of 700 (698). Average book length is around 300 pages. Here are a few of the ones that really stood out:

BIOGRAPHY

I read a lot more of that this year, notable ones included:

Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin
Fascinating individual and truly a classic of an autobiography. Insightful, humorous, and humble, it was enough to make me put two additional biographies and some of his works on my list for next year.

The Last Lion: Winston Churchill
So only the first volume of Manchester's masterpiece but wow, what a wonderful book. Painting a full backdrop of Victorian England and the events leading up to The Great War and weaving all of Churchill's life into that made it a brilliant read.

The Path to Power: Lyndon Johnson
Again, just the first volume but wow, what a great writer Robert Caro is. Johnson was a scoundrel and an incredibly good politician. Caro also paints a wonderful picture of the period and the people during and after the Great Depression.

Something Like an Autobiography
By film director Kurosawa. It was interesting, yet not very good for someone not really, really interested in Kurosawa. He had some insights but mostly it was reminiscing about a few events and his childhood, not even so much about his processes or people he knew.

Sailing Alone Around the World
Josh Slocum was famous for sailing around the world in his small ship he (re)built himself. His harrowing first-person telling of it was interesting and must have been even more so in his day.

The Last American Man
About Eustace Conway, a very talented Applachian woodsman, and a horrible, egotistical, misogynistic person. How the author managed to still adore him is beyond me. Did not enjoy this book.

HISTORY

The Devil in the White City
Chicago and the World's Fair and a serial killer. Both were fascinating but didn't mix well together for me. Add the author's propensity for sensationalism and "imagining" what went through the killer's mind and what happened to some of the victims and I felt more than a little disappointed.

Dreamland: America’s Opiate Epidemic
Fascinating look at how black tar opium is making it into the states, the economic machinations behind it, and how it continues to persist.

Under the Banner of Heaven
Jon Krakauer. Very well-written and researched look at fundamental Mormanism and the history of how they got there. Fascinating and horrific enough to make me put another Joseph Smith biography on my list for next year.

The Idea Factory: Bell Labs
Wonderful book. Bell Labs was just the most amazing place for innovation during the 20th century and came up with basically everything we use in communications today, from Shannon and communication theory to transistors and lasers and fiber optics. Fascinating look at what was an incredible era.

The Road to Serfdom
Hayek's critique of socialism, and he does a brilliant job of it.

Roll, Jordan, Roll
Genovese created a masterpiece analyzing the various aspects, social, economic, political between slave owners and their masters, between eachother, between drivers and masters, drivers and slaves, poor whites and slaves, poor whites and drivers, etc. in all of their familial, social, religious interactions, all while being incredibly even-handed. Slave-owners were far more nuanced than oppressive whites (they rationally tried to justify their patronism), and slaves were far more nuanced than dumb oppressed slaves (they knew how to manipulate the bounds of the system to their advantage, as best as could be done). Really eye-opening and it's astounding how much criticism he got for not following the current view and dogma.


CLASSIC

Flowers for Algernon
I really enjoyed this look at a mentally handicapped individual's journey to genius and back. Heartbreaking and insightful.

The Idiot
Dostoyevsky. I liked it but it was meandering. Dostoyevsky didn't have an idea where the book was going and it showed. Very interesting character and interesting discussions but the entire book is mostly conversations on various political, philosophical, and religious topics...in drawing rooms.

Marguerite de Valois
Alexandre Dumas. Good book and good history. Brought the events to life and seems for the most part to have been fairly accurate, if a little rose-colored.

Middlemarch
Another classic Victorian-era novel about people in England living life. Lacked the humor and wit of Jane Austen. Very well-written but just not for me.

My Antonia
Rural life in frontier America and one girl aging in it. Okay, but again not really for me.

Paradise Lost
By Milton. Beautiful, epic poem. Loved the imagery and language. Truly a masterpiece.

War and Peace
By Tolstoy. Epic and with a lot of history but followed too many "normal" people that I mostly lost interest in everyone.

Watership Down
I really don't get the acclaim for this book. Maybe it's because I didn't grow up with it but it was an attempt at an epic adventure (and battle) with rabbits that just didn't grip me at all.


MODERN

The Help
Despite having its moments, I found the book mostly pretentious and virtue signaling and does nothing to lessen racial tensions. It portrays racists as nasty persons who perpetually sneer and make awful comments to everyone around them.

The Horse’s Mouth
I had to read this after watching (and loving) the Criterion Collection movie with Sir Alec Guinness. Droll and dry and funny, about a rascally aging artist trying to scam and work his way through the remainder of his life.

A Man Called Ove
Brilliant book in many ways, about an aging, crotchety man who no longer fits in with modern politically correct society and thinks them all "idiots." Heartwarming too though. The movie was also pretty good.


SCIENCE-FICTION/FANTASY

Artemis
By Andy Weir, the Martian guy (which I really loved by the way). This book was another attempt at hard sci-fi (colony on the moon) but just didn't work as well for me, although it was still interesting.

The Three-Body Problem
I read the entire trilogy this year and while I really enjoyed the first, I felt like the second two sort of lost their way. They were epic, but the main character in the second and third books drove me nuts.

Spoiler

Why does the world keep trusting it's fate to someone who is clearly so empathetic she's willing to doom the human race so she doesn't have to make a hard decision?

The Two of Swords
KJ Parker, a brilliant, witty fantasy writer that polarizes readers. Usually focuses on the utter banality of war.

Wrath of Empire
This is definitely a series to watch. Second installment in a series but shaping up to be really good.

Foundation and Empire
Asimov. Epic in scope but the series seems to be drifting to me.

Grave Peril
More fun from Jim Butcher. Good, fun series about werewolves, vampires, and wizards.

In the Realm of the Wolf
Gemmell becoming a favorite author I think. Seems to be more pulp fantasy but then throws in some pretty introspective surprises now and then. Fun stuff.

The Robots of Dawn
More Asimov, and another good detective read.

Skyward
Brandan Sanderson's new series. It's YA but reminds me a lot of Ender's Game and was engaging and creative throughout, as expected.

Brave Story
Very much a Japanese type RPG video-game book, about a boy being sucked into an epic adventure to save a world. Not brilliant but fun.

Title: Re: Books Read in 2018
Post by: TheFlash on December 29, 2018, 12:53:14 pm

Quote from: Shadow on December 29, 2018, 09:03:56 am

The Three-Body Problem

Spoiler

They were epic, but the main character in the second and third books drove me nuts. Why does the world keep trusting it's fate to someone who is clearly so empathetic she's willing to doom the human race so she doesn't have to make a hard decision?

Spoiler

Ooooohhhhh!!!!   *squeal*

I also re-read these this year.

Luo Ji ends up being successful in his own right but failed to lead the whole world to perpetual success. Everything about his position, especially the moments where he is at peak importance and peak irrelevance, brings to mind so many comparisons from the real world. Love this guy forever.

I think it is important to consider that Luo Ji's success was more luck than an inevitability as well.

I can at least see why some people cannot stand Cheng Xin, but isn't that kind of the whole point? Just like with the fall of any past civilization, or the concept of "mutually assured destruction", things can go on for a while but inevitably the power is misplaced. Think about this in context of both history and the future. I think it is okay that the character is pretty "light and fluffy".

I liked the mix between fun/adventure and seriousness. Third book's ending probably went off a little too far for its own good. Some of the sci-fi concepts presented seemed like fresh takes rather than reused stuff.

I also find the translated language/culture perspective quite charming.

Title: Re: Books Read in 2018
Post by: TheFlash on December 29, 2018, 12:55:12 pm

I basically reread a massive pile of favorites this year and less new stuff. Total volume maybe slightly up though. May or may not do a full recap.

Thanks for the topic!

Title: Re: Books Read in 2018
Post by: Shadow on December 29, 2018, 04:51:09 pm

I'm starting the Baroque Cycle in 2019 ;)

Title: Re: Books Read in 2018
Post by: TheFlash on December 29, 2018, 06:05:33 pm

<3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3

Don't. Give. Up. After. One. Part.

Title: Re: Books Read in 2018
Post by: Shadow on December 29, 2018, 06:17:59 pm

Quote from: TheFlash on December 29, 2018, 12:53:14 pm

I liked the mix between fun/adventure and seriousness. Third book's ending probably went off a little too far for its own good. Some of the sci-fi concepts presented seemed like fresh takes rather than reused stuff.

I also find the translated language/culture perspective quite charming.

I agree with these statements. One aspect I found fascinating was how in the future, everyone seemed to be Chinese. It made me realize how much of the sci-fi I'd read had white Americans in the future :)


Here are a few thoughts I'd had when I first read the books.

Spoiler

Book 1:
The entire 3body game was a wonderful mechanism for explaining the problem in an interesting and engaging way, as well as introducing the reader to the Trisolarian's dilemma.
The parallels between the Chinese Revolution and the Trisolarians was good, since they were concerned more about the mass than the individual and it ended up leading them astray.

Book 2:
My biggest complaint for this one is that when an author tells me there is some grand setup, I expect a grand follow-up. And for me, Liu Ji's plan just wasn't that brilliant or complicated. And almost all the characters are super bland. Especially the people from the future, they have no personality at all. Maybe that was the point. Particularly, the plan was extremely far-fetched, his reasoning notwithstanding. And I find it hard to believe the Trisolarans would give in so easily. The Wallfacers concept was really cool but I didn't find any of the individual Wallfacers that compelling, though perhaps that was the point. Still enjoyed the book.

Book 3:
I don't even know how to review this, so below is a collection of thoughts that were my (over)reaction at the time. Note that I liked this book but didn't think it was amazing. The author is enjoyable to read (a popular author) but not brilliant. So take these comments with a grain of salt. I was perhaps a little salty when I wrote them.

The four-dimensional space zones were cool.

The destruction of the solar system was awe-inspiring.

I guess the death of the universe was poetic, but pretty fatalistic if you ask me. But the idea of galactic war with physics, collapsing dimensions and decreasing speed of light? Brilliant!

And then there were some problems or questions I had:

Guess what? All the effort earth spent trying to survive during those centuries described in the previous two books? NONE OF IT MATTERED! Everybody dies!

Luo Ji was subjected to repeated attempted murders because the Trisolarans feared him. Why? Never answered. Because his deterrence factor was 90%? And there wasn't another individual among billions like that? And his wife and child left at some point and we never hear from them again?

I feel like with Luo Ji, the Trisolaran civilization, the invasion, etc., so many threads just kind of petered out.

Clues embedded in fairy tales that would be impossible to solve. The way they hit upon the solution is hardly credible. Even knowing the solution it's hard to see how you got there.

Magic I guess? That's how you explain a man shrunk down to the event horizon of a miniature black hole rather than be torn apart.

Slowing down the speed of light? C'mon.

At least the first two books tried to explain the science and be "realistic". This one seems to just give up, I'm baffled by those who call this "hard science fiction". I give you this quote: "With such a reduced lightspeed, nuclear fusion puts out too little power. We have to use the backup antimatter drive." "Antimatter? But wouldn't the containment field be affected by the reduced lightspeed?" "No problems there. The antimatter engine was designed specifically for reduced-lightspeed conditions." Yup, just as hard science as Star Trek.

I don't understand how economics works in this world. Resources are used and used and used but with no return. Who is building all this stuff and why? Where does all the wealth come from?

I don't think the author has any deep understanding of human nature. It never feels like this is prophetic or deep, but rather shallow speculation for sensational reactions.

Once again, humanity is ever so bland. I'm pretty sure AA is even a robot. No personality.

So...atrophy isn't a problem in the future? Everybody can just live in zero gravity for years with no ill health effects?

Repeatedly there are "revelations" that just don't make sense except to keep the reader in suspense. Why would Luo Ji essentially let the girls believe they were going to die before revealing, at the last minute, that the ship they were on had a lightspeed drive?

Cheng Xin destroys humanity because of her "compassion". Not just once, but twice! Am I supposed to admire her "love"? I really don't like her.

Okay, so a way of escape was planned by a massive project of secretly building a lightspeed drive...but we couldn't get more than two WOMEN on the craft? Survival of the species?

So Cheng Xin loves Tianming, and AA loves the other guy, so let's stick Cheng Xin with the other guy and make AA get stuck with Tianming. Sigh. After Cheng Xin finally learning to love the smitten Tianming (for giving her a star...I guess?), nope: you get thrown 18 million years into the future. And no idea what the wonderful gift he was bringing was.

And plots begin to not make sense again. Why did the Trisolarans invade? I thought they needed a home world. Turns out they can create their own sub-universes. And they have lightspeed ships that make time for them to travel many light years essentially nil, yet they had to land on Earth or face utter extinction? Did they really advance that much while on board their ships or did they just not think their plan through?

There's a hope that the 2D-erized solar system could one day be recreated. Except...it can't be. Space is now becoming 2D and everybody is dead now.

Another reviewer said this which resonated with me:
“However, the story arc is very, very unsatisfying. Lots of cool things happen, and then the story stops or changes direction. Wade has built light speed technology? Better kill that story line so we can do more hibernation. The second Trisolaran fleet had this epic battle - but we're not going to tell you anything about it... just that it was epic... They managed to make little pocket universes, but we're not telling you how they did it, or how they brought one over to the Blue Planet. Galactic humans established colonies, but yes, you guessed, never going to see them. 4-dimensional civilization encountered? Nope, not gonna revisit it apart from some cryptic conversation with its AI. Evil 4-dimensional-converted-to-3-dimensional aliens who drive the annihilation of the universe with dimensional strikes? Yep, not gonna mention or encounter them again. Love story between the main character and her brain-rehydrated lover? Yeah, they just miss each other by a few minutes/million years and he hooks up with her best friend. Final fate of main characters? You guessed! It stays a mystery! 10 dimensional "Eden" reborn universe that the main characters were going to visit? Oh, never mind, we're going to save a few kilograms worth of mass, we don't really want to see it that bad…”

All in all, a worthwhile series that I wish had a better ending. Maybe that's just my western culture speaking :)

Title: Re: Books Read in 2018
Post by: deletedprofile.u on December 29, 2018, 10:43:02 pm

Can we link the 2017 topic in the OP? I can add mine here after I figure out where exactly I picked up lol

Title: Re: Books Read in 2018
Post by: TheFlash on December 30, 2018, 12:46:52 am

Good idea, I'll put them all here so Shadow can add them easier:


Past Topics
2014: https://forums.the-elite.net/index.php?topic=20113
2015: https://forums.the-elite.net/index.php?topic=20768
2016: https://forums.the-elite.net/index.php?topic=21649
2017: https://forums.the-elite.net/index.php?topic=22253

Anyone recall others before that? Even if it isn't books of the year it could count.

And yeah, we have at least two members who have been reading The Dark Forest for the first time just in the last 2 or 3 days so thanks for putting most of that in spoiler tags.

Here's some more on 3BP:

Spoiler

Quote

I'm baffled by those who call this "hard science fiction".

Uhh, yeah, I think it only pretends to be "hard"? When (successfully) trying to sell QB and Ng on this one, I promised them it was "Nowhere close as Hard as The Martian." -- even though major themes in the book rely on the invented science, it's definitely "science" instead.

As you mentioned, some of the specific creative sci-fi details in Book 3 especially are really cool, but you have to be reading them from the perspective that they are just a dream and barely based on reality at all.

The coolest part about the 3rd book is how some people who made it through totally LOVED it for one reason or another, and loads of people HATED it for one reason or another, and it really seems to bring out a ton of opposing viewpoints.

Quote

Guess what? All the effort earth spent trying to survive during those centuries described in the previous two books? NONE OF IT MATTERED! Everybody dies!

Aha! But...this is just a recurring theme in the books! In fact, I think it is the most important motif.  It's the author's full-on, unrelenting, fatal fatalism.  And it is all done with very little cynicism!  For me (you too, as far as I know), this worldview is basically the complete opposite of my core beliefs and system of living.  Thinking about the entire world believing in the inevitability of total loss, rather than the inevitability of total satisfaction.  It forces me to reconsider these beliefs and in the end reinforces them. I think that maybe touches on why I think the totality of the series is still worthwhile even if I don't buy every single detail of the third book especially.  The first time through I thought part of this was just from the culture shift/translation, but on the second tour I was more confident this was actually the main message.

Title: Re: Books Read in 2018
Post by: Shadow on December 30, 2018, 07:52:54 pm

Quote from: TheFlash on December 30, 2018, 12:46:52 am

Spoiler

Aha! But...this is just a recurring theme in the books! In fact, I think it is the most important motif.  It's the author's full-on, unrelenting, fatal fatalism.  And it is all done with very little cynicism!  For me (you too, as far as I know), this worldview is basically the complete opposite of my core beliefs and system of living.  Thinking about the entire world believing in the inevitability of total loss, rather than the inevitability of total satisfaction.  It forces me to reconsider these beliefs and in the end reinforces them. I think that maybe touches on why I think the totality of the series is still worthwhile even if I don't buy every single detail of the third book especially.  The first time through I thought part of this was just from the culture shift/translation, but on the second tour I was more confident this was actually the main message.

Spoiler

Sure, I do get that. I understand the sensualist/materialist worldview. Many will say "well, ultimately, that's reality. The universe is going to end and so are we". And you have a good point: for those whose worldview stops there, you're right, this is about as good a fatalistic (non-cynical) view of the end of the universe as you can get. Ultimately, I don't find the reasons he gave negating the utter pointlessness of it all, convincing. Why bother living? Surviving? Saving the human race? Because it's ingrained in us and we might as well try rather than give up? Maybe I'm just romantic but I'd rather have a reason or purpose to the effort to survive, even if it was completely fictional, and I found their failure at surviving to be unsatisfying just from a story-telling perspective. But hey, that's me, and clearly it worked really well for the vast majority of people :)

Title: Re: Books Read in 2018
Post by: Red Bull on December 31, 2018, 06:45:54 am

https://www.goodreads.com/review/list/3020160

Title: Re: Books Read in 2018
Post by: AZ on December 31, 2018, 06:54:01 am

Read three fictional novels in 2018:

A Tale of Two Cities
Lolita
The Brothers Karamazov

I liked Karamazov the most by far (like I expected, it was packed with philosophical and existentialist questions regarding faith, family, morality etc - a long but very rewarding reading experience; still thinking daily about certain parts from the book) and Tale of Two Cities the least.

Title: Re: Books Read in 2018
Post by: NathanStinson on December 31, 2018, 01:43:05 pm

Everyone who would like to join in for 2019: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1YYZuXRscDiaNMAojHH0pDM7KuP776Q55uQJ9GBkjqas/edit#gid=0


Let me know in some way and I will create you a tab and send you a link

Title: Re: Books Read in 2018
Post by: deletedprofile.u on December 31, 2018, 07:33:25 pm

Quote from: NathanStinson on December 31, 2018, 01:43:05 pm

Everyone who would like to join in for 2019: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1YYZuXRscDiaNMAojHH0pDM7KuP776Q55uQJ9GBkjqas/edit#gid=0


Let me know in some way and I will create you a tab and send you a link

Add me up, Nathan!!

Title: Re: Books Read in 2018
Post by: wheatrich on January 01, 2019, 12:15:49 am

read more books this year than I had probably in the last 20 combined

Ghost
30 years as a FBI undercover agent.  Pretty much doesn't hold back.

This was the only one worth it.

Got a fair # of those "what successful people do" books and I'm struggling getting through them.  Successful people do a lot of dumb/irrel shit.  Cookbooks is just constant swiping hoping that there's a few in there I'll actually eat.  Yes, there's a bunch of others than this but points to struggling getting through them before giving up and moving on.

Title: Re: Books Read in 2018
Post by: Shadow on January 01, 2019, 10:20:21 am

Quote from: AZ on December 31, 2018, 06:54:01 am

I liked Karamazov the most by far (like I expected, it was packed with philosophical and existentialist questions regarding faith, family, morality etc - a long but very rewarding reading experience; still thinking daily about certain parts from the book) and Tale of Two Cities the least.

I agree. Karamazov was probably my favorite of the three Dostoyevsky novels I've read. And Tale of Two Cities I didn't care for. Just not a fan of Dickens in general.

Title: Re: Books Read in 2018
Post by: Shadow on January 01, 2019, 10:26:51 am

Quote from: Red Bull on December 31, 2018, 06:45:54 am

https://www.goodreads.com/review/list/3020160

Good list. Mine is here:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/list/28038482

I see we had similar reactions to "Handmaid's Tale". What were your thoughts on it? (I like dystopians but thought this was overblown fear-mongering that didn't even have worldbuilding that made sense)
Ditto for "Memoirs of a Geisha". (I loved it and apparently you did too)
Ditto for "Life of Pi". (not impressed and apparently you weren't either)

Count of Monte Cristo is one of my all-time favorites.

As for "The Book Thief", when I read it I wrote that I could see lots of people really liking it, but it came off as pretentious to me and trying too hard to be self-consciously artsy; and I unfortunately couldn't get past that.

Title: Re: Books Read in 2018
Post by: flukey lukey on January 01, 2019, 10:05:46 pm

Re-Read:

Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

Novel:

The Trial by Franz Kafka
The Stranger by Albert Camus

Non-Fiction:

The Intelligent Investor by Ben Graham
The Barefoot Investor by Scott Pape

Title: Re: Books Read in 2018
Post by: TheFlash on January 02, 2019, 12:34:07 am

Looks like I only did 18 new to me books in 2018. A little bit more of the history type stuff, tiny bit of "classics", follow-ups in a couple series, some older sci-fi titles. Didn't really feel like going back to some of the other the types I had tried in 2016 and 2017.

Add on to that about 12 re-reads for a total of around 30 for the year. I enjoyed the re-reads a lot.

Quote from: Shadow on December 29, 2018, 09:03:56 am

BIOGRAPHY

Biography does not interest me much because I always just assume they're painting things in a certain direction.

Quote from: Shadow on December 29, 2018, 09:03:56 am

HISTORY
The Idea Factory: Bell Labs

I have not tried that one but if you enjoyed it you can also try out Where Wizards Stay Up Late: The Origins of the Internet. One of the key figures in the book, Larry Roberts, just died a few days ago.

This category is more interesting to me than Biography. Thanks for sharing.

Quote from: Shadow on December 29, 2018, 09:03:56 am

CLASSIC
War and Peace
Watership Down

I did Watership Down a few years ago. Was riding my bicycle and saw a dead rabbit at precisely the right time....interesting memories...

As far as Tolstoy goes, the jury's still out, I didn't finish that one in 2018.

I also did Ernest Hemingway and James Joyce this year. Not quite sure yet, may sample more in the future.

Quote from: Shadow on December 29, 2018, 09:03:56 am

SCIENCE-FICTION/FANTASY
Artemis
The Two of Swords
Wrath of Empire
Foundation and Empire
Grave Peril

- Intentionally avoided, will probably never go back to that author.

- Haven't tried KJ Parker yet.

- Sounds interesting to me, may try it out.

- Did these several years ago, I think you have to kind of just be constantly aware of what the landscape was at the time which can be a lot of work.

- My wife did all 15 on audiobook last year. I'm still pretty sure Butcher is almost always winking and mocking a lot of stuff from "vampire books" and "monster books" and even "detective books"....we can only hope.

Quote from: wheatrich on January 01, 2019, 12:15:49 am

read more books this year than I had probably in the last 20 combined

Must have been a lot, I thought you also read a bunch in 2016 or so!

Quote from: Red Bull on December 31, 2018, 06:45:54 am

https://www.goodreads.com/review/list/3020160

That's a big list for 2018! I see you picked a large number of titles that have been made into video.  I have a hard time convincing myself to even try them after seeing the movies.

Title: Re: Books Read in 2018
Post by: Shadow on January 02, 2019, 08:33:14 pm

Quote from: flukey lukey on January 01, 2019, 10:05:46 pm

The Trial by Franz Kafka
The Intelligent Investor by Ben Graham

What did you think of The Trial? I watched Orson Welle's movie of it a while back and while I didn't care for it at the time, it certainly stuck with me.

I've had The Intelligent Investor on my to-read list for several years now. Do you think it's still relevant? Useful?

Title: Re: Books Read in 2018
Post by: Shadow on January 02, 2019, 08:38:54 pm

Quote from: TheFlash on January 02, 2019, 12:34:07 am

Biography does not interest me much because I always just assume they're painting things in a certain direction.

- Intentionally avoided, will probably never go back to that author.

- Did these several years ago, I think you have to kind of just be constantly aware of what the landscape was at the time which can be a lot of work.

- My wife did all 15 on audiobook last year. I'm still pretty sure Butcher is almost always winking and mocking a lot of stuff from "vampire books" and "monster books" and even "detective books"....we can only hope.

Isn't all history painting things in a certain direction though? :) Truly, the Manchester biography of Churchill is a blueprint for how good biographies should be done.

Not a fan of Weir? Was it the language? The prose?

I've been reading Asimov selectively the past few years and while I love his exploration of the social, economic, and political implications of technology, he's just not a great writer, and some books work better than others. I found the Foundation 2 to be a bit lacking but will wait to see where it goes. Maybe I just miss Seldon but this is the third or fourth Foundation book I've read and I don't intend to stop just yet.

Oh yes, Butcher most definitely is poking fun at various genres. It's my secret guilty pleasure series :)

Title: Re: Books Read in 2018
Post by: flukey lukey on January 02, 2019, 08:47:14 pm

Quote from: Shadow on January 02, 2019, 08:33:14 pm

Quote from: flukey lukey on January 01, 2019, 10:05:46 pm

The Trial by Franz Kafka
The Intelligent Investor by Ben Graham

What did you think of The Trial? I watched Orson Welle's movie of it a while back and while I didn't care for it at the time, it certainly stuck with me.

I've had The Intelligent Investor on my to-read list for several years now. Do you think it's still relevant? Useful?

I enjoyed both a lot. You should give The Trial novel a go - i've never seen the movie so can't make a comparison.

The Intelligent Investor is quite long, you might not get useful information from every chapter, but the core of it is so valuable to digest.

Title: Re: Books Read in 2018
Post by: SGT RAGEQUIT on January 02, 2019, 09:36:01 pm

Really got into Terry Pratchett's Discworld series this year - read like the first 20 novels, i'm kinda sad it took me so long to give them a try  :grin:

Title: Re: Books Read in 2018
Post by: NathanStinson on January 04, 2019, 09:41:13 am

Quote from: Alec M. on December 31, 2018, 07:33:25 pm

Quote from: NathanStinson on December 31, 2018, 01:43:05 pm

Everyone who would like to join in for 2019: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1YYZuXRscDiaNMAojHH0pDM7KuP776Q55uQJ9GBkjqas/edit#gid=0


Let me know in some way and I will create you a tab and send you a link

Add me up, Nathan!!

Hey Alec, FB Message me your Email address for an invite!