Recent Books you have enjoyed

[Hards Alumni]

Not recent, but finally got around to reading Ender's Game recently. Brilliant bit of writing. Also enjoyed the new Dan Brown book, Inferno. The first 2/3 of it felt exactly like his other Robert Langdon books (Da Vinci, Angels & Demons, etc), though was still enjoyable despite being formulaic. He had one big diversion from his usual formula that really made the last bit more enjoyable for me. Well worth the read, if you are a fan of Brown's.

Ender's Game is neat, but fairly predictable (it is YA Fiction after all)... one thing that really distracted me was the names the kids called each other... it was like reading Beavis and Butthead.

[keefe]

I recently read John Basil's Let Me Wear Your Coat. I posted this review:

This book was recommended to me and I will admit I approached it with a bit of trepidation when I realized it was a coming of age story. As a genre, I feel that we have trivialized it to the point where coming-of-age is a shibboleth for A Separate Peace, Catcher In the Rye, and Lord of the Flies and precious little else.

The category has been in dire need of a refresh with a more contemporary context and John Basil's Let Me Wear Your Coat certainly fulfills that requirement. His story is set in the late 1970's but this morality play articulates lessons that are acutely relevant today. Basil's protagonist is an Everyman struggling to come to grips with an increasingly complex and bewildering world. His supporting cast personifies good and evil but with a refined ambiguity that adds depth, richness and complexity to his characters without being cliché. His narrative is compelling with several underlying tensions that add a dramatic tautness that engages the reader and demands reflection and introspection.
 
His characters are interesting and I would welcome a sequel to see how the protagonist applies the insight and wisdom he has gained through the story's denouement. The antagonist is also fascinating and worthy of further understanding.

Basil's Let Me Wear Your Coat is noteworthy for the depth of its players and the poignancy of its narrative. This story takes a welcome place alongside Murakami's Norwegian Wood, S.E. Hinton's Outsiders, and Ayad Akhtar's Dervish. It is that good.  


https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/16083226-let-me-wear-your-coat?ac=1

[4everwarriors]

Let me guess keefe, you got an "A" in John Pick's English class, hey?.

[keefe]

Let me guess keefe, you got an "A" in John Pick's English class, hey?.

English?? I'm an Injunear!

[keefe]

Let me guess keefe, you got an "A" in John Pick's English class, hey?.

Actually, Pick was before my time. My wife was an English major and she had him when he did an encore at Marquette. I remember she did a paper on Blake's The Tiger for Pick.

Pick was an institution at Marquette.

[4everwarriors]

I had him for an entire year of English along with Chones, Lackey, Frazier, McGuire, and a dude named Cary. Pick kept it interestin' and real. Best was when we read, "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" and he wore a rubber chicken around his neck to symbolize the albatross. Rumor was the Cat married the princess of Malta and was on the maiden voyage of the Andrea Doria, which sank.

[keefe]

I recall my wife saying Pick had an Oxbridge accent but it turns out he was from the Midwest. I think you are right in that he married into English-Maltese aristocracy and he lived in a palatial villa on Malta when he wasn't in Milwaukee. I know my wife really enjoyed him and took 6 hours with him.

[wildbillsb]

Just finished JAYBER CROW by Wendell Berry, and can't praise it enough, especially to those of us in our twilight years.  First time reader of Mr Berry and I regret not having discovered him sooner.  JC is a novel told by and through the life experiences of a simple, God-fearing man - a small town barber in mid 20th century Kentucky:  a story of love, friendships, life in simpler times.  Beautifully written, as well.

[keefe]

I finished Jhumpa Lahiri's The Namesake and wrote this review:


Jhumpa Lahiri's The Namesake is a poignant tale of tradition, heritage, evolution, transformation, and discovery in which she chronicles the travails, struggles, triumphs and sorrows of immigrants creating a new life in a very different world. Lahiri's personal perspective brings an acuity and percipience to the narrative that enriches the plot with more than a touch of both whimsy and pathos.

The beauty of Lahiri's work lies in the sublime deftness of her imagery. Through subtle shadings she adds incredible depth to situations, relationships, and moments that infuses energy into her story while engendering intimacy between reader and character. There is an elegant delectation to her prose that conveys feelings and emotions with a spry agility that keeps the dialogue flowing in a natural cadence. Lahiri can say more in one sentence than many writers can in a chapter.

An example of Lahiri's wry brilliance is in her use of an unconventional name for the protagonist. Named for the Russian writer Gogol, in honor of a grandfather killed in a tragic accident, this literary device adds color, humor, irony, and encumbrance to a young man struggling with responsibilities to numerous identities.

The Namesake is a moving tale of multi-generational discovery that engages the reader immediately. This is a finely crafted story that should enrich your appreciation of the immigrant experience.


https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/750895611

[THEultimateWARRIOR]

If you like both economics and history, then I highly suggest reading "Land of Promise" by Michael Lind.

Fantastic book that walks you through the economic history of the United States. Lind's knowledge of history is quite fascinating.

[Blackhat]

ttt

[Blackhat]

Any good novels u have read lately? Need some pool reads.

[Pakuni]

Any good novels u have read lately? Need some pool reads.

Not a novel, but I enjoyed "Thomas Jefferson and the Tripoli Pirates." Superficial, but in a good way in that it makes for a good read without getting too bogged down in minor details.

[keefe]

"Thomas Jefferson and the Tripoli Pirates."

I second this.

[rocket surgeon]

TV sucks so much nowadays, I find reading is quickly taking its place for me.

yes it does, BUT, netflix has some really good documentaries-just watched the 1st series of narcos(10 x 1 hour episodes) on the rise of the cocaine industry and pablo escobar.  and a nice 2 hour docu on the navy seals.  these are like visual books in a way imho.  they have tons of good stuff in the docu category-musicians, weather, influential people, etc and they have ratings given to them by the people who watched them

[drewm88]

I finished Jhumpa Lahiri's The Namesake and wrote this review:


Jhumpa Lahiri's The Namesake is a poignant tale of tradition, heritage, evolution, transformation, and discovery in which she chronicles the travails, struggles, triumphs and sorrows of immigrants creating a new life in a very different world. Lahiri's personal perspective brings an acuity and percipience to the narrative that enriches the plot with more than a touch of both whimsy and pathos.

The beauty of Lahiri's work lies in the sublime deftness of her imagery. Through subtle shadings she adds incredible depth to situations, relationships, and moments that infuses energy into her story while engendering intimacy between reader and character. There is an elegant delectation to her prose that conveys feelings and emotions with a spry agility that keeps the dialogue flowing in a natural cadence. Lahiri can say more in one sentence than many writers can in a chapter.

An example of Lahiri's wry brilliance is in her use of an unconventional name for the protagonist. Named for the Russian writer Gogol, in honor of a grandfather killed in a tragic accident, this literary device adds color, humor, irony, and encumbrance to a young man struggling with responsibilities to numerous identities.

The Namesake is a moving tale of multi-generational discovery that engages the reader immediately. This is a finely crafted story that should enrich your appreciation of the immigrant experience.


https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/750895611

My review of this to a friend was, "Pretty good. Kinda slow in parts. Worth reading." This makes me feel inadequate now.

[THRILLHO]

For non-fiction, I just read Sarah Vowell's "Lafayette in the Somewhat United States," very funny and informative. I don't know if you could quite call it a biography because it's interspersed with the author's travel descriptions but very good however you categorize it.

For fiction, I just read some old sci-fi that was apparently award-winning when it came out but I hadn't heard of it until recently -- Connie Willis's Doomsday Book and To Say Nothing of the Dog, about future historians who use time travel to study the past. Also very funny and smart with heart.

[rocket surgeon]

Actually, Pick was before my time. My wife was an English major and she had him when he did an encore at Marquette. I remember she did a paper on Blake's The Tiger for Pick.

Pick was an institution at Marquette.

ohhhhhhh, robbed the cradle-ein'a?  nicely done!

[Spotcheck Billy]

rereading The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket

[keefe]

rereading The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket

Did Arthur Gordon Pym know the Girl from Nantucket?

[MU Fan in Connecticut]

Did Arthur Gordon Pym know the Girl from Nantucket?

Arthur Gordon Pym - Is he related to the inventor of the Ant-Man suit?

[MU B2002]

Reading Devil in the White City at the moment.  So far so good.

[naginiF]

Reading Devil in the White City at the moment.  So far so good.

my wife's reading that - LOVES it.

The last book i read that i HIGHLY recommend is Reamde by Neal Stephenson - but i'm a biased Stephenson fan.

[jficke13]

Reading Devil in the White City at the moment.  So far so good.

Just read that as well. It's absolutely worth a read.

Above someone talked about Dan Brown, and I hate Dan Brown. He has 0 respect for his readers. His writing is the equivalent of him leading a horse to water, shoving a funnel in its mouth, and pouring ALL the water down its throat.

Devil in the White City is the exact opposite. There are a ton of one-line throwaway references that he's expecting his readers to get. Don't know who Frank Lloyd Wright is? Well the 30 word reference to him will go over your head. I'm sure I missed a bunch too, but it's nice to not be reading something targeted at a demographic below mold spores in intelligence.

[GWSwarrior]

I really enjoyed these two recently

"6 Amendments: How and Why we should change the Constitution"  By retired Justice John Paul Stevens. 

"Agent Zig-Zag" By Ben Macyntire