BS: Best book you've read recently

Subject: BS: Best book you've read recently
From: Thompson
Date: 27 Nov 19 - 04:03 AM

What's the best book you've read recently?

My nominations:

* Shadowplay by Joseph O'Connor (about Bram Stoker, Henry Irving and Ellen Terry, the artist's life and the secret world of homosexuality in turn-of-the-(last)century England.

* Bel Canto by Ann Patchett - re-reading it; a superb book full of heart based on a hostage-taking by the Túpac Amaru in the 1990s.

Subject: RE: BS: Best book you've read recently
From: Thompson
Date: 29 Nov 19 - 10:55 AM

What, nobody reads?

Subject: RE: BS: Best book you've read recently
From: gillymor
Date: 29 Nov 19 - 11:36 AM

I recently finished "K: The History of Baseball in Ten Pitches" by Tyler Kepner. Lots of interesting anecdotes by some of the great pitchers and some of the lesser known players and coaches with just the right amount of technical information. One of the best baseball books I've read.

Subject: RE: BS: Best book you've read recently
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 29 Nov 19 - 01:08 PM

The Magic Of Reality by Richard Dawkins.

Subject: RE: BS: Best book you've read recently
From: Helen
Date: 02 Dec 19 - 03:32 AM

I'm happy to report that since my retirement a few months ago I have started reading more regularly again. Lady of leisure now. ("That was no lady...etc etc...boom-boom!")

I have been reading a range of different books lately.

The latest Terry Pratchett that I read was Wee Free Men, which is part of the Tiffany Aching series. It was a good 'un, but not what I would call the best Pratchett I've read.

I just bought a replacement book of the first Pratchett book that I ever read, and which set me on the Pratchett path for many, many years, and I managed to infect lots of other people with the Pratchett bug too, my library customers, friends, family etc. Somehow my copy of Good Omens was lost or misplaced and since I have also ordered the DVD of the TV series, I am planning to re-read the book in anticipation of watching the show. It will probably be a book that I list in this thread, even on my third reading, but I haven't read it for a couple of decades or so, so the thread title prohibits me from adding it to your list, i.e. it's not yet a "recent" read but it will be soon, I hope.

I also recently read Margaret Atwood's The Testaments, which is her sequel to The Handmaid's Tale. It was an interesting exercise, having read THT when it was first released and then again just before the TV series, which I wasn't really impressed with - compared with the book - because it went on and on and on and on. The Testaments was an interesting contrast to the direction that the TV show was going in. I just this morning watched a TV documentary on Margaret Atwood so that adds extra information as well to my overstacked brain.

Probably the best two books that I read while still in the workforce were by Scott Adams, i.e. The Dilbert Principle, and Dogbert's Top Secret Management Handbook. They kept me sane while laughing at how much Adams seemed to know about some of the people posing as managers at my ex-workplace.

Never ask an ex-librarian to name the best book s/he has read lately because it will never be just one book.

Subject: RE: BS: Best book you've read recently
From: Rapparee
Date: 02 Dec 19 - 08:18 PM

Berkeley Breathed Best Read On The Throne.

Subject: RE: BS: Best book you've read recently
From: Dorothy Parshall
Date: 03 Dec 19 - 08:24 PM

The Psychopath Inside by James Fallon

The Autistic Brain by Temple Grandin

I like to read good books about the Brain and how it functions - mine does not always function well so I keep trying to understand it better.

Subject: RE: BS: Best book you've read recently
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 03 Dec 19 - 08:39 PM

Ann boleyn - 500 years of lies - free on Kindle

happy Hoofer by Celia Imrie

Subject: RE: BS: Best book you've read recently
From: Iains
Date: 04 Dec 19 - 03:33 AM

The Cycle of Cosmic Catastrophes: Flood, Fire and Famine in the History of Civilization
by Simon Firestone, Richard; West, Allen; Warwick-Smith

Subject: RE: BS: Best book you've read recently
From: Nick
Date: 04 Dec 19 - 03:51 AM

The Deals that Made the World by Jacques Peretti. Fascinating book. I never realised I was so ill informed and/or naive.

Dark Money: The Hidden History of the Billionaires Behind the Rise of the Radical Right by the American investigative journalist Jane Mayer. Similar to the above. Coincidentally David Koch died while I was reading it.

AIQ: How Artificial Intelligence Works and how We Can Harness Its Power for a Better World by James Scott and Nick Polson. Felt I ought to understand more about all this.

Amongst others

Novel - The Friends of Harry Perkins. By Chris Mullin (links to A Very British Coup that I read - and watched - many years ago)

Subject: RE: BS: Best book you've read recently
From: Dave Hanson
Date: 04 Dec 19 - 08:25 AM

Jum Murray's Whisky Bible.

Dave H

Subject: RE: BS: Best book you've read recently
From: DMcG
Date: 04 Dec 19 - 09:10 AM

I have been pushing "Invisible Women: Exposing Data Bias in a World Designed for Men" quite a bit recently. It looks at a whole mass of issues where women are overlooked in very fundamental ways, largely because the relevant information is not collected, or when it is, taken into account. I am sure it can open your eyes to issues whoever you are, but especially so for men.

To take a simple example: why is there no suitable seatbelt for pregnant women?

Subject: RE: BS: Best book you've read recently
From: DMcG
Date: 04 Dec 19 - 09:15 AM

(If any male thinks of answering that seatbelt question, I recommend you talk to a few women about seatbelts first!)

Subject: RE: BS: Best book you've read recently
From: Thompson
Date: 04 Dec 19 - 02:38 PM

See, Nick, curses do work.

Back to fiction: I'm eagerly awaiting Ann Patchett's new book from the library: Dutch House. Have heard very good things about it.

Subject: RE: BS: Best book you've read recently
From: Senoufou
Date: 04 Dec 19 - 05:50 PM

Have been re-reading Unreliable Memoirs by Clive James, who died recently. Very entertaining. RIP Clive

Subject: RE: BS: Best book you've read recently
From: Rapparee
Date: 05 Dec 19 - 07:29 PM

I should also mention that I'm reading Sabrina A. Penn's "A Place for My Children," Harold Burke-Sivers' "Father Augustus Tolton," "Diamond Jubilee Souvenir, St. Boniface Congregation, Quincy, , RecIll., 1837-1912" (an original copy!), George Byron Merrick's "Old Times of the Upper Mississippi, Recollections of a Steamboat Pilot from 1854 to 1863," and Randall Munroe's latest, "How To: Absurd Scientific Advice for Common Real-World Problems." Oh! and one called "1003 Facts That Will Scare You Sh*tless."

Subject: RE: BS: Best book you've read recently
From: Donuel
Date: 05 Dec 19 - 08:57 PM

Helen should write: The Instruction Book for Humans

It is about Female health care and feeding body and soul,
since men never read the instructions.

Subject: RE: BS: Best book you've read recently
From: Donuel
Date: 06 Dec 19 - 09:53 AM

Thanks Rap. How to is fun

Subject: RE: BS: Best book you've read recently
From: keberoxu
Date: 08 Dec 19 - 02:12 PM

"Biting the Dust" is a non-fiction book that has been around for years, but I have only just read it.

I've forgotten her name already. The author is an English journalist. The subject is the history of house-cleaning. My paperback copy is no doorstop, just the average-sized book; nevertheless it is packed with carefully researched information into centuries of women waging the never-ending war against dirt and filth.

The author is a woman interviewing both men and women, and she writes with concise with. And she HATES being condescended to, so she has a bone to pick with the highly successful Don Aslett. I thoroughly enjoyed reading "Biting the Dust."

Subject: RE: BS: Best book you've read recently
From: EBarnacle
Date: 10 Dec 19 - 08:02 AM

I thoroughly enjoyed "Working," by Robert Caro. While reading it, I found a connection to my family's history.
If you are interested in American politics, "America in Chains" by MacLean is a must read.

Subject: RE: BS: Best book you've read recently
From: Nick
Date: 11 Dec 19 - 12:38 PM

I am pondering reading Gödel, Escher, Bach: an Eternal Golden Braid. I don't really know why but it is a book that I have been meaning to read for ages. Noone I know has read it or mentioned it so I'm not sure why I have this compulsion to read it. I hope it is good

Subject: RE: BS: Best book you've read recently
From: Helen
Date: 11 Dec 19 - 02:18 PM

Nick, I had a copy of Gödel, Escher, Bach: an Eternal Golden Braid for many years and always intended to read it, but not being a mathematician I tried a couple of times and it was very daunting.

I was interested in the concepts because I have always loved Escher's art and always loved J.S. Bach. I don't like admitting to failure, but this one was too much for me. Even the size of the book was daunting, and it was only the paperback version. Paperback doorstop? Definitely!

It had been recommended to me by a lovely older lady who was a library client and we used to talk about a lot of wide ranging subjects. I'm guessing she read it from cover to cover. I just flicked through bits of it, here and there.

In the end, after about 20 years of owning it, I gave it to someone who appeared to have the skill set to read it. In exchange he gave me a lovely, large pictorial book on Escher's art. Fair exchange, I thought.

Recently I have finished reading a couple of mind expanding books by Dean Radin, called The Conscious Universe, and Entangled Minds. A large chunk of each book refers to quantum theory which I know absolutely zilch about, but it is in reference to the scientific study of psi capabilities. Very thought provoking. He is also very scathing of people with closed minds who try to deny the results of some very rigourously evaluated science, and that includes scientists and sceptics. A balanced read.

(Cautionary note: if you want to start a conversation about this, I'm only open to rational, analytical discussion about it. I'm not prepared to play exhausting mental ping-pong with people who have beliefs masquerading as logic, which is why I didn't mention these books before. There was a thread on Mudcat over a decade ago in which a number of us were having open, rational and courteous discussions about such topics and then after the thread had become quite large, the dyed-in-the-wool sceptic who had been contributing to the thread told us that this is an open forum therefore he could use all of our comments in his "analysis" of the topic at the university (?) where he was working. I thought that was below the belt. The thread ended after that, which I thought was sad.)

Subject: RE: BS: Best book you've read recently
From: Donuel
Date: 11 Dec 19 - 02:38 PM

All three could create a pallindrome in thier medium.
This is an example of how BACH did it

Subject: RE: BS: Best book you've read recently
From: Nick
Date: 11 Dec 19 - 03:50 PM

Interesting, Helen. I will have a look at Dean Radin when I have chopped down my current reading list. I find it easy to get sidetracked if something interests me. It’s why I love libraries and picking things up on a whim

Not a joke, but I did struggle to finish a book called ‘Make Time - How to focus on what matters every day’!

Subject: RE: BS: Best book you've read recently
From: Helen
Date: 11 Dec 19 - 04:07 PM

Nick, I think I need to read that Make Time book.

I started reading my current range of books about psi by picking up a book at the local library called Memoirs of a Psychic Spy, by Joseph McMoneagle and then I just started following through on the reading lists from one book to the next. I've read a few books on the topic and have some more ready to get into.

Coincidentally, I picked up a book which my Mother-in-Law owns and it was packed up from her house when she moved to a retirement village. I'm halfway through it - Transformed by the Light by Cherie Sutherland, who did her PhD on near death experiences (NDE's)and how this changed the experiencers' lives afterwards. Yesterday I happened to watch the first episode of Morgan Freeman: The Story of God, and he interviewed a man who had an NDE and that's exactly what he was talking about, i.e. how it changed his life.

Now that I am retired and I'm less stressed from work issues, I can focus on my main loves in life (not forgetting Hubby, of course): music, art and reading. I try to fit some housework and garden-clearing in as well, but they are not as interesting.

Subject: RE: BS: Best book you've read recently
From: Jack Campin
Date: 26 Dec 19 - 07:00 PM

"Godel, Escher, Bach" is not worth bothering with. Pretend profundity.

I've just finished Leonora Carrington's "The Hearing Trumpet". Starts out mildly wacky and lurches into a new kind of unimaginable strangeness every few pages. From Wodehouse to the apocalypse. Never read anything else remotely like it.