Recently finished On Revolution by Hannah Arendt and 40 Years With a Whistle by Dan John.
Currently… Russian Roulette by Michael Isikoff and Anna Karenina.
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So in other words they don’t want to pick a side lol
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They used a lot of fancy numbers and equations to say “we don’t know”
Just finished re-reading “SR-71: The Complete Illustrated History of the Blackbird” by Richard Graham.
Now on to “Blind Man’s Bluff” by Sherry Sontag, Christopher Drew and Annette Lawrence Drew. Also just ordered “Cold War Submarines: The Design and Construction of U.S. and Soviet Submarines, 1945-2001” by Norman Polmar as well.
I think I’ll stick with the Cold War military tech theme for a while before swinging wildly back to the Hundred Years War. I have a bunch of books in the queue on that one.
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I typically place requests online and pick them up at a smaller branch, but today I went to my city’s main library and browsed for the first time since early 2020. It was nice to “experience” the library again. I went for two books but came home with five.
Just started Dostoevsky’s The Village of Stepanchikovo.
I’ve also been listening to Tao of Fully Feeling by Pete Walker. It sounds like another gimmicky self-help book, but it’s actually great so far.
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I love libraries. I worked at the school library during my first two years of college, and I spent countless hours in the library when in law school. My last trip to the city library yielded a harvest of around 10 books, mostly travelogues as literature.
On that point, I just finished Apples Are from Kazakhstan: the Land That Disappeared by Christopher Robbins. The book has a good balance of travelogue, history, and sociopolitical insights. Next up: more travelogues about Central Asia.
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Check out Sovietistan by Erika Fatland
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I’m reading it right now and am 4/5 done with it 
Any others about the area you like?
You didn’t ask me, but you’d probably like Imperium by Ryszard Kapuściński if you haven’t already read it. And while it’s not really about travel, I also liked The Day Lasts More Than a Hundred Years by Chingiz Aitmatov.
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Thanks for the two recommendations; I’ll add them to my to-read list. One of the books I’m currently reading quoted Imperium.
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Can’t believe I just found this thread. Well, I don’t ever look at Off Topic.
I’m currently reading “The Strategy of Conflict” by Thomas Schelling. I bet @T3hPwnisher would like it specifically because it demonstrates how weakness is strength (Limiting one’s options strengthens one’s bargaining position)
If you want to cry (I did) read The Kite Runner. Fiction, but deeply based in reality and extremely relevant this year.
There were some other literature threads on this forum in which I’ve participated and i’m always highly impressed and challenged by the literacy of this group, both the breadth and depth of material.
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Just started Atomic Habits by James Clear. It was highly recommended to me. Hope it lives up to the hype. I could use some help in that area.
Started The Biggest Bluff by Maria Konnikova. I can understand why there were so many holds on it at my library.
Just finished Them: Why We Hate Each Other - and How to Heal by Ben Sasse. Really enjoyed it. I read his first book and already knew that I agreed with him on a lot of things (not quite everything, but a lot) at least as far as what he was writing about. I don’t follow his politics enough to know how I feel about him in that arena, but as a writer I enjoy him.
Big emphasis on the importance of real connections, with friends, family, and a community, and the benefits of feeling rooted in a place, and how to still maintain that feeling even while many of us are more “mobile” than we used to be.
Currently finishing The Wisdom of Crowds by Joe Abercrombie. This is the final installment of the second trilogy in his First Law series. Fans of ASOIAF (AKA Game of Thrones) will probably love it. I sure do. There are now two complete trilogies and 3 standalone books in the series, plus a collection of short stories. It’s a very dark (as in “grim-dark” fantasy), character-driven series. First trilogy is a 10/10; I’ve read it 3 times. The standalones vary, average is probably 8.5/10. Latest trilogy is a 7.5/10 so far; it could jump a point depending on the ending. I will say that I’m pleasantly surprised by the third book. I had this trilogy at a 6/10 prior to starting it.
Prior to this, I read Blindsight by Peter Watts after hearing about it on JRE (Neill Blomkamp epidsode). Fascinating concept, though the novel is a bit light on plot/character development while at the same time being a bit hamfisted (in the “Atlas Shrugged” vein) with its themes. But it’s a very quick, compelling read nonetheless. 7/10
Before that, I was on a Stephen King binge. I never read a word he’d written until I saw the first trailer for It. Since then I’ve read It, The Stand, the Bill Hodges trilogy, The Talisman, Rose Madder, Under the Dome, Revival, The Institute, and The Outsider. I’ve also read (and didn’t really enjoy) the first Dark Tower book, but I’m going to give the second one a go next anyways.
My opinion of King is kinda strange. I don’t always enjoy his books (especially a lot of his endings), but his writing is so engaging I can overlook any disagreements on where character arcs should have gone or plot details. The Gunslinger is probably the only thing of his I’ve read that didn’t hook me, and I kinda had to force my way through it. Hopefully that changes in book two.
Rose Madder is probably my favorite King novel. The Stand is excellent too.
I agree that King can sometimes lose the endings.
Dark Tower book IV is definitely the best one.
Just finished Where the Water Goes: Life and Death Along the Colorado River, Western water policy is super interesting/fucked. Bought Cadillac Desert (read the majority of it about 15 years ago) by Marc Reisman and Jazz by Toni Morisson, the latter of which which I’m currently reading.
Been making a somewhat concerted effort to start reading again on a regular basis.
SPOILERS
My main issue with it was the villain basically following the same arc (IE descent into madness) as Junior Rennie in Under the Dome (which I read first even though it was written over a decade beforehand), so if came across as derivative, and the fact that he got his ass handed to him by a woman (albeit a very large one). Kinda tough to still be a big scary bad guy when a girl beats you up and pisses on you.
That aside, he definitely stuck the landing on this one. Probably his best ending IMO.
Failed attempts at getting into particular authors:
Brandon Sanderson (Mistborn) - Read the first book, and couldn’t have hated his style of fantasy more. I HATE how he writes action sequences. It’s like reading someone describe a video game by detailing the buttons they press on the controller. Hated the dialogue, hated 1/3 of the plot, just UGH to that book entirely.
Frank Herbert (Dune) - I finished the second novel (Dune Messiah), which was a complete slog to get through, and tapped out. Herbert’s prose and (especially) dialogue are some of the most awkward I’ve ever read. And it’s really disappointing, because the world-building and general plot is fascinating to me. That alone easily pushed me through the first book. He’s like the opposite of Stephen King.
The Polish Guy that wrote The Witcher - See above with Frank Herbert. Incredibly awkward to read. Maybe because it’s translated, IDK. Finished the first book and called it quits.
I enjoyed 11 23 63 and Bag of Bones by King.
And The Green Mile when it was released as novellas.
Have you read The Passage trilogy by Justin Cronin?