Book recommendations

[tracilicious]

So watcha readin?

I just finished The Miracle Life of Edgar Mint by Brady Udall. One of my all time favorite books. I astounded that it is his first book, as it's so beautiful. I felt the urge to carry the book around with me today as I just wasn't ready to let it go. I feel like I'll carry the main character around with me for a long time. I'm eagerly awaiting other books from Udall. He's phenomenal.

I recommend that you avoid the Amazon summaries as it gives away a lot about the plot. I'll post the first paragraph here.

If I could tell you only one thing about my life it would be this: when I was seven years old the mailman ran over my head. As formative events go, nothing else comes close; my careening, zigzag existence, my wounded brain and faith in God, my collisions with joy and affliction, all of it has come, in one way or another, out of that moment on a summer morning when the left rear tire of a United States postal jeep ground my tiny head into the hot gravel of the San Carlos Apache Indian Reservation.

[Alex]

Currently reading Assassination Vacation by Sarah Vowell. It is amusing though so far I haven't really learned anything I didn't already know (stupid American Presidency class in college ruining a future learning opportunity).

Have recently read (as in finished in the last few weeks):

Pandora's Star by Peter F. Hamilton. Epic science fiction that I picked up at a mall while waiting for Lani to finish something and needing a book to read. Unfortunately I didn't catch that it was the first of two books and the other one isn't in paperback yet. If you like wide ranging science fiction (galactic warfare type stuff) this is ok. Too much politics which isn't quite as good as Herbert (daddy) but not nearly so bad as Herbert (sonny).

Science on Trial: The Clash of Medical Evidence and the Law in the Breast Implant Case by Marcia Angell. Angell is the editor of the New England Journal of Medicine and talks about how courts and politicians were making findings of medical truth without any actual scientific support. A good, straightforward look at the hysteria surrounding silicon breast implants a decade ago and the deficiencies in the law when it comes to handling medical questions, particularly epidemiological ones.

After the Quake by Haruki Murakami. A collection of shorts stories that all touch on the Kobe earthquake in some way but the stronger connecting theme is of spiritual vacuum.

Rob Neyer's Big Book of Baseball Blunders by Rob Neyer. A collection of sabremetrical essays looking at some of the decisions in the history of baseball that turned out to be the most boneheaded. Not errors on the field but decisions that were made where someone thought they were a good idea but turned out to be completely wrong. Pretty good but you need a pretty hardcore interest in baseball.

Everwhere by Neil Gaiman. Urban fantasy and much better, in my opinion, than the overrated American Gods (which was great until it went all to hell in the ending).

All the Trouble in the World by P.J. O'Rourke. I know few here will be in ideological agreement and where he stitcks to libertarian conservativism (easily confused with classical liberalism) I am. The information is a decade old now but it is a good reread and highlights how problems aren't always so simple in origin as we like to think.

[Not Afraid]

After Wind Up Bird, I slowed to a crawl and read 2 Daniel Pinkwater books (The Edication of Robert Nifkin & Second Grade Ape - which took me all of 5 minutes). I started I, Lucifer last night, however. And I will probably read Cadalliac Desert again (and perhaps Gore's book to keep me in the mood). Maybe I should throw some John Muir in there just to water my "roots".

[tracilicious]

After the Quake by Haruki Murakami. A collection of shorts stories that all touch on the Kobe earthquake in some way but the stronger connecting theme is of spiritual vacuum.

I've read a few stories and will most likely finish the rest this week. I really like it. I'm not prone to liking short stories, but these are quite good, I think.

Everwhere by Neil Gaiman. Urban fantasy and much better, in my opinion, than the overrated American Gods (which was great until it went all to hell in the ending).

I agree. The BBC had the Neverwhere miniseries available to download a few years ago. I haven't checked since then. I always picture the two villians as Penn and Teller. I really enjoyed Stardust as sort of a light reading fairytale.

[Matterhorn Fan]

Has anyone here read "The Areas of My Expertise" by John Hodgman? If so, is it worth my time?

[DreadPirateRoberts]

I'm currently reading One Man's Wilderness: An Alaskan Odyssey (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0160729947/sr=8-3/qid=1155882343/ref=pd_bbs_3/002-2305282-5132024?ie=UTF8)


The journals of Richard "Dick" Proenneke are now available in an edited and annotated volume covering the years 1974 through 1980. The nation first became aware of the remarkable life of Dick Proenneke with the publication of One Man's Wilderness in 1973.

Master of woodcraft and camp craft, keen observer of the natural world, mechanical genius, tireless hiker and journalist, for 30 years Proenneke lived a storied existense in a small log cabin her built in the Alaska wilderness. Proenneke was an active yet reluctant participant in the epic struggle to protect some of Alaska's wild lands for future generations of Americans

[Eliza Hodgkins 1812]

My recently finished pile includes:

Icelander by Dustin Long - Meh.
To Feel Stuff by Andrea Seigel - I'd recommend this book to anyone.
A Sense of the World: How a Blind Man Became History's Best Traveler by Jason Robers - An absolute joy to read. Wonderful biography

[Not Afraid]

I'm breathing life into this ole thread because I have some recommendations (and some eh's).

I just finishsed Neverwhere and, while it was a quick read, it wasn't the most compelling story. I got frustrated with how easily the protaganist got through his many quests, even when no one else had ever been able to accomplish it. The ending also left me flat. It was a quick read and amusing at times, just not something I'd recomend.

I also read The Professor and the Madman by Simon Winchester. This is a book I'd recommend to just about anyone. It's a fascinating story, wonderfully written and many-layered. I absolutely LOVED it. I just told Chris this is his airplane reading. :)

Has anyone else read anything else by Simon Winchester? He's such an interesting writer, I'd love to read more. He certaily has covered some interesting subjects:


A Crack in the Edge of the World: America and the Great California Earthquake of 1906
Krakatoa: The Day The World Exploded: August 27, 1883
The Map That Changed the World: William Smith and the Birth of Modern Geology
Stones of Empire: The Buildings of the Raj
The River at the Center of the World: A Journey Up the Yangtze, and Back in Chinese Time
Outposts: Journeys to the Surviving Relics of the British Empire
Korea: A Walk Through the Land of Miracles

[flippyshark]

Everwhere by Neil Gaiman. Urban fantasy and much better, in my opinion, than the overrated American Gods (which was great until it went all to hell in the ending).

D'oh! I just started American Gods. Guess I'll stay focused on its temporal enticements, and keep my expectations low when I reach the last quarter.

Also on my nightstand: Tyrannosaur Canyon by Douglas Preston (popcorn reading) and The Reason Driven Life by Dr. Robert Price. (It's a chapter by chapter rational rebuttal to Rick Warren's The Purpose Driven Life, and great stuff!)

[flippyshark]

Has anyone here read "The Areas of My Expertise" by John Hodgman? If so, is it worth my time?

I have the audio book version (which was free on iTunes, by the way) and it started out fun, but got repetetive and tiresome. Maybe best taken in small doses.

[Alex]

Just finished The Presige by Christopher Priest. This is the book last year's movie was based on.

I really liked the movie (I would put it in my personal top five for the year depending on mood and permanently in the top ten). At the time I know a lot of people who love the book complained about the changes.

And they are significant changes. That said, I think this is a story better suited for film than paper. First of all, when the central activity of all the principals is magic and the sense of mystery around it, that is just very nearly impossible to capture with the written word and this is when I found the book most lacking.

Also, the way the "surprises" are masked in the book would be impossible on film and (mostly) vice versa so some serious changes are required. I liked the nature of the feud in the book better than in the movie while I liked the final "presige" better in the movie than in the book.

The biggest change is that the movie lost the modern bookends, which I found uncompelling but necessary because of how the historical parts are presented. Since that format is missing in the movie, the modern parts are no longer needed and the movie wisely, in my opinion, loses them.

Overall an easy quick read (started Tuesday evening, finished Friday morning) and certainly above average. For you sabreticians out there, put in terms of ERA+, however, the movie has a better ERA+ than the book.

[Snowflake]

Just finished The Presige by Christopher Priest. This is the book last year's movie was based on.

I really liked the movie (I would put it in my personal top five for the year depending on mood and permanently in the top ten). At the time I know a lot of people who love the book complained about the changes.


Really! I find that surprising.

I've added the book to my list of wanna reads. Right now reading fluffy, but fun Heat by Bill Buford.

[thecorndogwalker]

I am finishing up a book called "Holy Cow" An Indian Adventure. Its about a 30-something Australian woman who moves to India to be with her fiancee who gets a Broadcasting job there, she ends up spending alot of time alone and goes on these adventures learning about herself, spirituality and the wacky world of India. It would make you want to get on a plane and go there.

Holy Cow by Sarah Macdonald