Enjoyed A Gentleman in Moscow, by Amor Towles, quite a bit. Despite the fact that I am sometimes left cold by attempts at beautiful prose that reach others (I had a very difficult time getting into All the Light We Cannot See, which seems to get raves by everyone), the prose in this one was very enjoyable and was one of the strong points that carried the book, along with great character development.

I hadn't read Rules of Civility yet, but it's immediately going on the to-read list now.

I liked CS Lewis' last novel, Till We Have Faces, which is his alternate take on the Psyche and Eros myth. It's told from the perspective of Psyche's ugly older sister, a great character who struggles with the concepts of beauty, love, justice, religion, etc. Definitely a strong girlpower theme throughout, but done well and sympathetically without all the rah-rah sassiness of many modern fantasy heroines.

I'm reading Trouble Boys: The True Story of the Replacements. It's great. Always loved their music, didn't realize the full extent of their ****ed-up backgrounds, especially the Stinson brothers. Author Bob Mehr really writes well. This is significantly better that the average rock band biography, to say the least.

I might have to look into that. There's a chapter in the book 'Our band could be your life' all about the replacements but it would be good to read more.

any good books (non fiction) about the modern mafia?

since george saunders is the bees tits, here's another wonderful interview: http://therumpus.net/2017/02/the-rum...orge-saunders/

the tv series gommorah is fantastic. theres a book (or series of books) that it is based on. the author has permanent state protection because the mafia has a hit out on him after publishing the book.

sweet ty

Guy Gavriel Kay's Children of Earth and Sky. It's a sort of medieval fantasy with a touch of a Roman / Ottoman flair and very little magic. Kay has an appealing, elegant sort of style. He does get a little too involved with minor POV characters -- I like that he throws in the odd viewpoint at times, but it seemed to steal the focus from the heart of the story, as he'd often digress more than necessary and try to get me to care for insignificant characters. Still a good read and a nice bow of an ending.

Have you read any of his other books and if so how does it compare?

Only other book of Kay's that I've read is Tigana, which I like a little better than Children, and though I like them both I wouldn't say either one completely captivated me. He definitely likes to base his settings on real places (I erred in saying Children is based on Italy -- that's Tigana -- it's Spain, in fact). He seems to focus on medieval / post-Roman Empire societies. Plenty sword, little sorcery. Standard political oppression drives the plot. Both books seem more like historical romantic adventures than typical fantasy.

He's a bit tough to describe, as I wouldn't say he's excellent at anything besides world-building, but he's above average in almost all respects (except maybe dialogue). Neither plot caught me off guard, but they both left me feeling satisfied. His characters have solid arcs, but they aren't terribly memorable after the fact. His prose isn't top-of-the-line, but it's charming and respectable.

In other words, Kay seems like he'd make a great dinner guest.

not sure what you'd consider "modern," but you might wanna check out Gay Talese's Honor Thy Father (1992)

Any thoughts on the best eReader for annotations?

I'm about halfway thru Dark Matter, seems like a Twilight Zone episode with a little quantum physics thrown in to make it seem smarter. Pretty thin gruel tbh, like a treatment for next summer's movie.

not a reader, been a long time since I finished a book. most of my reading comes via the web, through forums, twitter, and then the things upon those that lead to occasional articles. I also read some blogs occasionally, in general, web based stuff.

been thinking of picking up a book to help my mindset. some kind of reading that will help me hold myself more accountable, less giving into temptations(weed and brew, junk food), reaching my potential every day(none of this stuff is out of control, just want to improve). But really I simply want something that is going to help my mental toughness, something that will help me do the things I know I should be doing and choose not to do and vice versa, cut out the things I know I should not be partaking in. And again, this can pertain from less marijuana(first mention , maybe I should pick up a "quitting weed" book), to not opening a bag of combos or binge eating 8 shortbread cookies at a poker game, to being more dedicated to poker study, to committing to more challenging exercises, etc.



broaden my horizons, strengthen my mind! recommendations?

I know your here for book recommendations, but the first thought that comes to my mind after reading your post, esp considering your extremely broad request, is that this guy would benefit from listening to a bunch of Tim Ferris stuff. Check out his podcast. He does have books too, although I haven't had much experience with those.

Tools of Titans by Tim Ferriss

Wow I just typed up a whole review of "Tools of Titans" by Tim Ferriss to post here on my phone and it crashed as soon as I was posting. Very tilting.

Basically, if you want to improve yourself immensely in many different areas, go pick this book up. It will be the best purchase you've made in a long time.

The book will also lead you down a rabbit hole of many other books that the subjects in ToT recommend.

Go buy it. Now.

randal, i think I read that rec. in your PG&C thread and buying it crossed my mind but i dont think i ever looked into it. Have heard some ferris podcasts and usually check out his 5 bullet point friday, am a fan. since both of u recommended him pretty quickly, i am going to check it out, thanks. Habit! they can be started and they can be broken, need to start and continue the good ones.

randal. congrats on your improved mindset lately. I know u feel as if u have turned it up a notch lately and it seems it started with a dedicated, strong mindset

So Good They Can't Ignore You by Cal Newport as I've said a bunch of times. Also his blog posts, especially the ones that have to do with making weekly and daily schedules for yourself.

Don't try to do everything at once.

Beyond books: "Jerry Seinfeld"'s productivity trick has worked wonders for me: http://lifehacker.com/281626/jerry-s...ctivity-secret (make an "X" on a wall calendar every day you do the thing; eventually you have a chain that you will not want to break). Commit to a very small amount - for example, studying poker just 10 minutes per day. Something that you can easily do even if you get to the end of an exhausting day and realize you haven't done. The pain of breaking a long chain will outweigh your tiredness for a measly 10 minutes.

If you doubt that 10 minutes a day will do anything: in 10 minutes per day since January 1st, I have read an unpublished David Lynch screenplay, read FilmCritHulk's Screenwriting 101 Kindle book (300+ pages), and written over 20 pages of my own screenplay. I have come to believe that just committing to tiny regular actions can be massively effective. If I'd said "okay 1 hour of writing a script every Saturday", or "4 hours every weekend" I never would have kept it going.

(This is a slight lie, as I raised the min time to 15 minutes in mid-February, and of course I go over time sometimes - only when I'm willing. But it's really not a significant exaggeration to say that I got all of that accomplished in 10-15 minutes per day. I have not broken the chain since 1/1/17.)

If I were you, I'd do 10 minutes of poker studying (or some other career learning) and like 5 minutes of intense exercise or something like that. Do not concern yourself with the other things yet. And get the book. Do another 10 minutes per day for reading if you need the motivation. I mostly read in the bathroom so this isn't an issue (not counting the Kindle book as I don't have a Kindle).

Again, do not allow yourself to go to sleep until you've done your requirements for the day. Every day. Start today. Buy a wall calendar with images you like.

Screenwriting 101 by FILM CRIT HULK - I would recommend this for anyone who likes studying film, not just those interested in writing screenplays. I'd say it's close to mandatory for the latter. He has some different approaches to concepts than standard books/critics do. He SMASHes nonsense like the "3-act structure" and "Hero's Journey".

Some of the book is revisions of his blog posts that are probably still around; that's fine. You may be pleased to know that the book has a normal-case version in addition to the HULK SPEAK, doubling its size to 600+ Kindle pages. I read it in HULK SPEAK, which is easy to get used to imo.

Fair warning that he literally just announced last night that he's working on a significant revision that will be published for real. He says it will be like a whole new book. If you're really interested in the material and/or are actively trying to write a screenplay, just get this version now rather than waiting 6-12 months. I'll read the new version too.

This was my first Kindle book, and I don't have a Kindle. I read it on the MacBook app (and some on my phone), in 10-15 minute chunks. Wasn't a problem.

The Player screenplay (marked FIRST DRAFT) by Michael Tolkin, based on his novel. Pretty good. Interesting to see some of the differences that were in the final movie. Example: the plot surrounding the film-within-the-film has much-improved elements in the final version.

The Longest Way Home: One Man's Quest for the Courage to Settle Down by Andrew McCarthy (the actor) - a really good memoir, my favorite that I can consciously recall reading. He became a travel writer a few years back, and the book is a collection of solo journeys he goes on around the globe, leading up to his second marriage. It got significantly better as it went along, as if his writing skills were vastly improving.

Some genuinely compelling stuff towards the end especially.

Going to pick this up at the library tomorrow. Also interested in "A Long Way Home" (similar title obv) which is the inspiration for the movie Lion and has rave reviews.

If you want to do this, get the Way of Life app on your phone.

Just read The Fourth Wall by Walter Jon Williams. The story follows a childhood TV star that is now a washed-up has been doing Celebrity Pitfighter (like Dancing with the Stars, but with fighting instead of dancing). The main character, Sean Makin, gets an offer to be the lead in a new big budget movie that has some strange ideas about what to do. Mysteries pop up and at the end they get settled nicely. But the main attraction of reading the book is the main character. He's a very funny narrator with an interesting background. I bought this book because I read the short story "Diamonds from Tequila" in the anthology Rogues (edited by GRRM and Dozois) and loved it. The story features the same character. Now, I'm rereading the short story and enjoying it more after getting to know Sean Makin through a whole book.

Anyone read Kasparov's new book?