Rate the last book you read

[CanuckCowboysFan]

Yep....

mind sharing? lol...

 

[Chief]

mind sharing? lol...

What subjects are you interested in.

 

[poke]

'The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo' by Stieg Larsson

Mystery, suspense, drama. The book has received a lot of good to excellent reviews internationally so i looked forward to reading it. Overall, the plot development (which takes place in Sweden) was good and at least one of the two main characters is engaging and intriguing. It was a decent read but the villains came across as not all too bright and in the end their demise was somewhat anti-climactic and not very satisfying. I thought it was a decent read but the book is a bit overrated overall.

I got to the end of the book and almost blew a gasket because of the ending, which left many things unexplained, especially about the back story of the most interesting character in the book. And then i found out that this book is actually only the first book of a trilogy. :

The next book 'The Girl Who Played with Fire' is actually supposed to better.

just finished this myself and am looking forward to starting the 2nd book.

 

[hairic]

anyone have any good non fiction books?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On_Killing

 

[HoleInTheRoof]

Need a book suggestion.

I prefer non-fiction.

I like war, true-crime, espionage, and Cowboys (mostly late 80s+ because this is what I'm familiar with).

I've recently (in the last year or so)

Boys will be Boys - Pearlman
The Boys & Hell Bent - Bayless
Family of Spies - Pete Earley
Don't recall name of book, but was about Aldrich Ames - also by Earley
Obama Zombies - Jason Mattera


I gave consideration to reading the fiction Dexter series, but my library didn't have the first book in the series available.

Any suggestions?

 

[ethiostar]

Echo Park by Michael Connelly

I thought this was one of the better books of the Harry Bosch series, if not the best. Some of the characters could have been developed a bit more but overall i thought Connelly did a very good job with the plot and the story is very fast moving and compelling.

 

[ethiostar]

just finished this myself and am looking forward to starting the 2nd book.

FYI....

The theatrical release date was May 19th.

[youtube]JlF-hk3IJQE[/youtube]

 

[poke]

FYI....

The theatrical release date was May 19th.

[youtube]JlF-hk3IJQE[/youtube]

thanks, just started the 2nd book !

 

[ethiostar]

thanks, just started the 2nd book !

You are welcome.

Let me know how the 2nd book is and if its better than the first. I haven't bought it yet.

 

[rkell87]

The 4 Hour Workweek... Garbage

Did I expect to read the book and instantly change my life? No,but I did think I could pick up a couple of tidbits or pointers about work/life balance or maybe alternatives to traditional employment.

With all the positive press the book has been getting, I thought it had to be a must read. It's not. It's a waste of the paper it's printed on. Full of cliche's and ridiculous 'examples' and even more ridiculous acronyms intended to make you think you are reading something of substance.

Please do not waste your time with this book. If you insist on wasting your time, don't waste your money. I will mail you my copy for free.

Prior to that I read the Harry potter series, which I ended up really liking. Not terribly complex or deep stuff, but very entertaining. I'm a big Tolkien fan, so it's kind of like Tolkien lite for me.

i actually really enjoyed the 4 hour work week, guy has led an interesting life.

 

[poke]

You are welcome.

Let me know how the 2nd book is and if its better than the first. I haven't bought it yet.

enjoyed the 2nd book.

i think it will take care of some of the concerns (ie, fleshing out the characters).

may wait on 3rd book, can only find hardback right now.

 

[joseephuss]

American Gods by Neil Gaiman

I thought it was an interesting read, but it kind of petered out at the end.

 

[CF74]

American Gods by Neil Gaiman

I thought it was an interesting read, but it kind of petered out at the end.

Yo joseephuss have you ever read:

The Complete Works of Flavius Josephus

 

[ethiostar]

I finished reading 'The Last Templar' by Raymond Khoury last week.

Khoury is a screen writer and its shows in the opening chapter in a good way. However, while it started out great it sputtered out toward the end, turning into a very typical thriller and very predicable and preachy at that. Definitely more action oriented than The DaVinci Code but with very dry and one dimensional characters.

Currently reading 'the curious incident of the dog in the night-time' by Mark Haddon. A very interesting book.

 

[jterrell]

I read a lot of stuff but recently of note were:

McCarthy's The Road 9/10. Reminded a bit of my fave Stephen King novel ironically. Post-apocalyptic and wonderfully Texan all at once.

Z. Smith's White Teeth. 8/10 My wife pushed me to read it and it was quite good. Very British and has that type of dry humor and overall cleverness.

 

[jterrell]

I finished reading 'The Last Templar' by Raymond Khoury last week.

Khoury is a screen writer and its shows in the opening chapter in a good way. However, while it started out great it sputtered out toward the end, turning into a very typical thriller and very predicable and preachy at that. Definitely more action oriented than The DaVinci Code but with very dry and one dimensional characters.

Currently reading 'the curious incident of the dog in the night-time' by Mark Haddon. A very interesting book.

I read that one as well, The Last Templar. It was a quick and easy read but not much depth or pay off as you note.

6/10

 

[fgoodwin]

I am such a terribly slow reader, I have a hard time finishing a book once I start. But since I commute an hour each way to work, I've taken to listening to audio-books, and have thereby finished dozens that I would never have completed had I actually sat down to read them.

Some of the ones I really enjoyed:

A World Lit Only by Fire: history of Europe during the Reformation and Renaissance. The narrative is built around Magellan's voyage around the world.

1776: wonderful narrative of the struggles Washington faced during a pivotal year in American history

Alexander Hamilton by Chernow: I had no idea the struggles Hamilton went through or that he was a b*st*rd child (quaint concept today); that status haunted him and may have driven him to succeed. His issues with John Adams weren't covered in my HS history book!

For Whom the Bell Tolls: after having "read" it I can see why its considered a classic of American letters

Robinson Crusoe: considered the first modern novel; awesome story in 18th century language.

Moby Dick: I love sailing stories and they don't get much better than this one. I love all the Biblical allusions.

The Scarlett Letter: narrated by a woman even though written by a man, it is the story of a woman in 17th century New England. Religious tolerance and sexual attitudes have come a long way since then.

The House of the Seven Gables: great story of how a man swindled another out of some property and the feud between the two families over several generations.

State of Fear: this one has been discussed. I love Michael Crichton (I read Andromeda Strain and Jurassic Park and found them far superior to the movies). I understand the book is packed with charts, tables and footnotes all of which I missed in the audio-book, so I may have to go back and actually read this one. I don't consider this his best science fiction, but maybe he wrote it with an agenda in mind which could have negatively impacted its quality.

Testament by van Lustbader: dreadful. A sorry rip-off of The DaVinci Code, but horribly written. I understand his Ninja novels (which I haven't read) are pretty good, so I'm not sure what happened here. But the next time I hear someone say "at length" I'm gonna punch them out!

Boom! by Brokaw. Follow-up to his Greatest Generation book, this covers the Baby Boomers born to the Greatest Generation, how they dealt with the turmoils of racism in the 50s & 60s, Vietnam, the space race, drugs, rock and roll, assassinations, etc. A very interesting read for those of us who lived through those times.

I know there are many other titles I've skipped, but those stand out among the many I've recently listened to. I urge those of you who are slow readers to consider audio-books. They have rekindled my interest in classic literature! And you can borrow them for free from your public library.

 

[poke]

"same kind of different as me", by ron hall and denver moore.
true story of a homeless man and an art dealer and their friendship
that grew out of a homeless shelter in fort worth texas.

followed up by a book named " what difference do it make".

really good story.

 

[ethiostar]

enjoyed the 2nd book.

i think it will take care of some of the concerns (ie, fleshing out the characters).

may wait on 3rd book, can only find hardback right now.

Did you enjoy it more than the 1st?

I don't know when i'll get a chance to read the 2nd. I do want to read it while the 1st one is still somewhat fresh in my head though. I'm feeling a little guilty of buying another book because in the last two weeks, i have gone to a small used bookstore that opened nearby. The lady who opened it had bought a used bookstore in another location (including all the books in it) but decided to rent a smaller space instead so she relocated. Since she had more books than space at the new location she has had a sidewalk sale three weekends in a row. Everything was either 5 or 10 cents each. I went twice and now have 80+ books stacked in the corner of one of our spare bedrooms. Most of them are in good condition and i picked up some classics that i haven't read in many years and some that i haven't read yet.

 

[poke]

Did you enjoy it more than the 1st?

I don't know when i'll get a chance to read the 2nd. I do want to read it while the 1st one is still somewhat fresh in my head though. I'm feeling a little guilty of buying another book because in the last two weeks, i have gone to a small used bookstore that opened nearby. The lady who opened it had bought a used bookstore in another location (including all the books in it) but decided to rent a smaller space instead so she relocated. Since she had more books than space at the new location she has had a sidewalk sale three weekends in a row. Everything was either 5 or 10 cents each. I went twice and now have 80+ books stacked in the corner of one of our spare bedrooms. Most of them are in good condition and i picked up some classics that i haven't read in many years and some that i haven't read yet.

I did enjoy it more than the first mainly because it gives more insight into the life of the main character.
whenever a book is a series or continuation i really like reading all of them one right after the other so i probably will go ahead and get the 3rd one.