Books The Last Book You Read

Gravity's Rainbow by Thomas Pynchon

Don't. Just don't. Do anything else with your time.

Jokes aside, I really enjoyed the book. Friend of mine who's into literary classics recommended it and I have to say: it's an interesting read. But be warned, it's definitely a product of its time (1973).
 
Fall; or, Dodge in Hell by Neal Stephenson.

It picks up a few years after Stephenson's 2011 novel Remade. The book explores mind uploading to the cloud. I can't explain the whole story here, because it's a Neal Stephenson book and as usual it's very complex.
 
Vladimir Nabokov’s Pale Fire
This book is a mindfuck. If you want a book you’re gonna re-read to formulate new theories on what you’ve previously read, this is the one to get. The language can be difficult to follow at some points but the story is truly interesting.
 
The Road Between... Poetry for the soul that walks a fine line between losing yourself in the world and finding yourself again, often in the smallest of moments. (Courtney Peppernell)
 
Shadowrun - Streets of Blood

Cool cyberpunk story in a cyberpunk world.
 
The last I finished reading was Me and Mr. Cigar by Gibby Haynes, lead singer of Butthole Surfers. I picked it up mostly for the novelty of sci-fi written by a rock star. It's YA, but with a bizarro fiction twist, and, oddly, a fair bit of drug use. About a boy and his genetically modified dog. I liked it quite a bit but thought the ending was either very weak or a deliberate setup for sequels.

Currently in the middle of a reread of The Sandman from Neil Gaiman. Love Gaiman, my favorite living author!
 
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Finished my Sandman reread, as excellent as ever.

After that I read William Gibson's Agency, sequel to his 2014 novel, Peripheral. Alternate timeline stuff where people from one branching timeline can control peripherals (robots, drones or androids) in another timeline. This one features a rogue AI named Eunice and a timeline where Hillary won the US Presidency away from Donald in 2016 and then helps to avert nuclear war in Syria. It's good, fast paced and interesting, but far too many characters and not enough time spent with each one to really get a sense of who they are. So far this new trilogy is not my favorite Gibson work. That would still have to be the Sprawl trilogy (Neuromancer, Count Zero, Mona Lisa Overdrive) from the 80s, quintessential cyberpunk. Followed closely by the Blue Ant trilogy (Pattern Recognition, Spook Country, Zero History) from the 00s.

And now Nynaeve has inspired me to reread The Illuminatus Trilogy.
 
AgelessStranger said:
Currently rereading the Dark tower series by Stephen King,on volume 4 right now Wizard And Glass
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Love The Dark Tower. I read the first four several times over during the eons-long wait for book five, but I've only read the last three one time, as they were published. Could be a fun reread. That last one made me cry a lot though.
 
I have not read a book in a decade. The last book I read was based on a guy's journey to climb Mt. Everest, I believe.
 
Been reading David Walliams books as my little one loves them and got me into them. Got beast of Buckingham Palace in my bag but not had time on this trip yet. Last on was Mr stink though.
 
The last book I read was Digital Electronics for Microprocessors, or something along those lines. It was solid, I enjoyed it, and I finished it. The plot line was kind of missing though, but that's a consequence of the general subject, I suppose.

A better novel I read recently (2 years ago) was Animal Farm by George Orwell, which I enjoyed very much. Unlike the other book, I would recommend other people to read this. It's an excellent allegory about corruption and totalitarianism.
 
With Malice Toward None: A Life of Abraham Lincoln by Stephen B. Oats

A critically acclaimed biography of the 16th El Comandante of the United States, it contains an outstanding blend of brilliant scholarship and entertaining style. Professor Stephen B. Oates brings us closer than ever before to knowing the real Abraham Lincoln as he really was -- a gentle, determined man obsessed with death yet filled with life, troubled with bouts of melancholy yet blessed with a witty nature, and gifted with a talent for literary expression.

Oates’s 1977 biography was the first comprehensive treatment of Lincoln in nearly two decades and replaced Benjamin Thomas’s 1952 biography as the standard. Not until David Herbert Donald’s universally acclaimed Lincoln was published in 1995 did Oates’s biography relinquish its prominence.

At just over 400 pages, it is by far the shortest of the “classic” Lincoln biographies. Also, Oates’s style of writing is less formal than that of other Lincoln biographers, making for a relatively easy reading experience. Brevity has a cost, however, as much of the interesting color and detail included in longer biographies is missing here. Still, the book is a good introduction to for anyone wanting to learn more about Lincoln.

One other thing, while the author often quotes Lincoln, he also frequently paraphrases what Lincoln “may” have said on some occasion, but without using an actual quote. This can lead to confusion in certain places as to whether the author is quoting or summarizing a quote.

I enjoyed the book, and now I want to read more about Lincoln, so I am looking for the next biography to read. Perhaps the aforementioned biography by David Herbert Donald or Ronald C. White's more recent A. Lincoln: A Biography. At some point I will also want to tackle Doris Kearns Goodwin's Team of Rivals.
 
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Open Carry by Marc Cameron

"Years ago -- almost twenty by now," writes Cameron, "I went to Prince of Wales Island with members of the Alaska Fugitive Task Force to track a man suspected of murder who had fled to the woods. . . . The old growth forests and incredibly interesting people made me sure I would someday set a book there."

With Open Carry, Cameron fulfills his expectation, while also introducing a new character, Arliss Cutter. Cutter grew up in Florida before joining the U.S. Army and seeing action in Afghanistan. After the Army he became a U.S. Marshall. After his brother dies, Cutter moves to Alaska to help his widow and their two children.

A federal fugitive is known to be on Prince of Wales Island and the local Alaska State Trooper requests the help of the U.S. Marshalls to chase him down. Cutter and his partner, Lola Fontaine, arrive to find that three people are missing. The first is a teenage girl the fugitive is suspected to have abducted, but the other two are, as it turns out, completely unrelated.

Two crew members from a reality TV show catch member of a drug cartel on camera which leads to their abduction. One is killed and the other is desperate to find a way to survive.

Prince of Wales Island does indeed make for an excellent setting for this thriller, and there are definitely interesting characters.

Fantastic.
 
Say Nothing by Brad Parks

Judge Scott Sampson doesn't brag about having a perfect life, but the evidence is clear: A prestigious job. A loving marriage. A pair of healthy children. Then a phone call begins every parent's most chilling nightmare. Scott's six-year-old twins, Sam and Emma, have been taken. The judge must rule exactly as instructed in a drug case he is about to hear. If he refuses, the consequences for the children will be dire.

For Scott and his wife Alison, the kidnapper's call is only the beginning of a twisting, gut-churning ordeal of blackmail, deceit, and terror. Through it all, they will stop at nothing to get their children back, no matter the cost to themselves . . . or to each other.

I saw this book at the grocery store a couple of week ago -- I always go by the book section when I go to the store -- and was intrigued enough to buy it. I finished it a couple of days ago and it was fantastic. With so many twists and turns, I could not put it down.
 
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