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Tobia
Social climber
Denial
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Topic Author's Reply - Mar 5, 2015 - 03:31am PT
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i was in the middle of 3 books and got stuck, uncommon for me; as i will force myself to read something through unless i find it impossible to read after several attempts. (For example, Gravity's Rainbow or Atlas Shrugged.)
i picked up China's Wings and can't put it down; which hopefully ends the drought, when i was looking for this thread, i found the China's Wing thread.
i used to know a "hump pilot" in the 1980's when i was managing a racquetball-fitness club and would listen to his stories for hours. i can't remember his name to save my life. At any rate a great read!
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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Peter Stanyer's epic Guide To Investment Strategy. Oh, yeah, some riveting
stuff in this AND quite relevant to this crowd. It delves considerably into
behavioural finance which is all about risk assessment.
"Risk is about the chance of disappointing outcomes." Yes, there is a rigorous
methodology to avoiding cratering while sending yer proj, and it doesn't
depend upon properly wearing yer toque.
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Tobia
Social climber
Denial
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Topic Author's Reply - Mar 5, 2015 - 03:56pm PT
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During a quest in my 20's to read all Hemingway's books, I read that one. I could relate to some of it, including the drinking & the fishing.
Fritz, strange as a literature major during my first tenure as a college student, I began a similar quest. I did the same with John Steinbeck and William Faulkner.
Can't say i accomplished my mission; but haven't given up yet. i read more Steinbeck and Faulkner, less of Hemingway. The bull fighting was a little much and i would get lost in other aspects as well. At the time it seemed pointless to write so much about (nothing as i saw it).
i'm much older now and a little more patient with my reading; but i doubt i will ever finish all the Hemingway books. One reason to finish the list was his end.
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rmuir
Social climber
From the Time Before the Rocks Cooled.
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I had a great time recently reading Altered Carbon by Richard K. Morgan. If you're in the mood for good hard science fiction, Morgan's your man. Seriously good dialog and a well-developed plot. I'm now into the second of these three books about the main protagonist, Takeshi Kovacs.
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vector
climber
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{Taught "Rime of the Ancient Mariner" last week. "Water water everywhere and not a drop to drink."}
Sully, you're a teacher? The quote is "Water, water everywhere, nor any drop to drink."
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Flip Flop
Trad climber
Truckee, CA
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Annapurna-Maurice Herzog. (Again)
Danny the Champion of the World- Dahl (to my son.)
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jgill
Boulder climber
The high prairie of southern Colorado
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Latest Reacher book in big print. BURT BRONSON would appreciate it.
Also a David Poyer Dan Lenson book. Good navy drama.
But Black Sails and Banshee keep me occupied while on the couch.
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NutAgain!
Trad climber
South Pasadena, CA
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I'm a parallel reader. Or more precisely put, I'm a serial interleaving reader:
Anna Karenina
Holcroft Covenant (an old Robert Ludlum thriller)
50 Classic Backcountry Ski and Snowboard Summits in California
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Gregory Crouch
Social climber
Walnut Creek, California
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An Altered Carbon sighting! Excellent sci-fi noir, that. And set in San Francisco, which we should link to that thread currently devoted to people devoted to slagging off the Bay Area.
I've read all or most of Hemingway, Steinbeck, and Saul Bellow... to go with all of Patrick O'Brien, Michael Connelly, Alan Furst, and (almost all of) Bernard Cornwwell and Iain M. Banks's sci fi books. Because I do love me some potboilers.
If you're into historical fiction, you'll love Alan Furst--atmospheric espionage novels usually set in Eastern Europe, Germany, and France in the run up to World War II.
(And Tobia, psyched to hear that you're enjoying China's Wings. Thanks for taking the time to read it.)
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NutAgain!
Trad climber
South Pasadena, CA
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GC, thanks for the heads up on Furst.
I like the Patrick o'Brian stuff. If you like that, you might like another prolific author Wilbur Smith- similar action, but some more graphic descriptions of violence, some gratuitous sex, and tracking a long arc of history in Africa, from western ship-based explorers to land-based hunters/colonial stuff to the emergence of mining industries. He even has some for ancient Egypt that goes off the deep end from historical fiction for a few books, then toward supernatural/fantasy with the same character/story arc.
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Gregory Crouch
Social climber
Walnut Creek, California
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Good call. I read some Wilbur Smith back in the day. Enjoyed him very much. (I think he has much more of a following in the UK than here.) I never got in the habit of reading his new one each year or so. I'll add him to my "books to read" Evernote note.
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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IIRC our Guido took Patrick O'Brian sailing once and said he was a right lubber. LOL!
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Urizen
Ice climber
Berkeley, CA
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Although I can't claim that I totally "got" Ulysses when I was 15 (does anybody, ever?), I thought it was one of the funniest things I'd ever read. What I couldn't cope with when I was 15, but am reading now, was Don Quixote--which is, yes, one of the funniest things I've ever read.
Don't tell the Don, but I spent last night promiscuously in bed with Philip Levine's The Bread of Time--which is, yes, one of the greatest titles ever written.
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Tobia
Social climber
Denial
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Topic Author's Reply - Mar 6, 2015 - 09:50am PT
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Gregory, can't put it down.
i read the Patrick O'Brian Aubrey/Maturin novels without a break (that i can remember) in between them; w/ exception of constantly having to refer to a dictionary because of O'Brian's extended vocabulary.
That inspired a keen interest of ocean going vessels, both modern and of those long past. The Wooden World by N.A.M. Rodger gives a lot of insight into the design and mastery of the ships Capt. Aubrey sailed.
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BASE104
Social climber
An Oil Field
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I just finished Hemingway's big non-fiction work, The Green Hills Of Africa. Well written with these crazy hundred word sentences, unlike his normal, sparse style.
I am now back to TE Lawrence's Seven Pillars Of Wisdom, one of the best written stories in our language. A MUST read. Beautiful
Prose flowed from that guy like water. IMO, one of the better books in the English language.
Please read it. It is long, but you won't be able to put it down.
Or you can waste your life reading Tom Clancy.
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wbw
Trad climber
'cross the great divide
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Most recently:
Born To Run Very entertaining book about aging, ultramarathons, the Tarahumara and some highly unique characters. Lotsa fun.
13 Hours Fascinating book about what happened in Benghazi from the
special operators that were on the ground.
More Than A Score If you're wondering what's the big deal about all the standardized tests going on in public schools, this is a good read. Perhaps too conspiracy-theory oriented, but informative nonetheless.
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BASE104
Social climber
An Oil Field
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You rarely hear about it, but some science fiction is outstanding.
Heinlein and Azimov are good places to start. They deal with wild ideas, that even now are still important.
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Rick A
climber
Boulder, Colorado
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I am working slowly but surely through Robert Caro's
The Power Broker. It is a biography of Robert Moses, the engineer and politician who changed the face of New York during 1930 to 1960 through massive public works programs, including parks, bridges, highways and dams.
Moses is a fascinating but not likable character: brilliant and energetic, but also arrogant, racist and staggeringly mean-spirited to any one who got in his way.
After reading this book, you will never doubt the old maxim that money is the mother's milk of politics. It includes great descriptions of Al Smith, Fiorello La Guardia, and Moses' hated enemy, Franklin Roosevelt.
After the penance of a good but not easy read like Caro, I tend to go back to old favorites for a reading vacation. I have read all of Patrick O'brian (more than once), all of John Mortimer's Rumpole books and all of PG Wodehouse's Jeeves stories.
I had read that O'brian was a landlubber; apparently, he got his nautical knowledge completely through pouring over old Navy logbooks in London libraries. And he was not even Irish as his name suggests.
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Urizen
Ice climber
Berkeley, CA
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The Power Broker is a masterpiece. I hope Caro lives long enough to finish the last volume of his LBJ biography, which is in spots brilliant as well.
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DesertRatExpeditions
Trad climber
Flagstaff, Arizona
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Just finished Lost City of Z
Just Starting Light Behind Blue Circles
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