heh, sounds good to me. Pop fast becoming a folk hero/legend.

Just finished up Joyland by Stephen King. It is an enjoyable and made me want to read books by other authors from the same imprint. I'm now working on The Poker Trip.

What's "The Poker Trip"?

Speaking of poker trips, I just read Hunting Fish: A Cross-Country Search for America's Worst Poker Players by Jay Greenspan (St. Martin's Griffon, 2007). While it's a step below other, more familiar poker narratives by Jim McManus and Al Alvarez, the book offers a valuable glimpse into the poker lifestyle; think of it as a companion to David Hayano's ethnography Poker Faces. Greenspan writes honestly--and, at times, eloquently--about the live grind.

Finished reading Why Meditate? by Matthieu Ricard. Ricard describes the benefits of meditation, training the mind, and bringing meditation and everyday life together.

Started reading The Places That Scare You by Pema Chodron.

It is the true story of Jonathan Comey's journey across America as he gambles.

Thanks, found him. Would be interested to hear your take when you finish.

Started, a few days ago, and finished today, X'ed Out by Charles Burns. I have no criteria by which to judge graphic novels (I have previously read Watchmen, Streak of Chalk and Tangents, but don't feel they provide sufficient background). It is an interesting counterpoint to reading Proust (I'm about halfway through Sodom and Gomorrah). I found it amusing and interesting. As the first of a trilogy, it ends in the middle of things. I think it has potential.

Meanwhile, I received several other books for Christmas, so you'll be hearing more about books from Patrick Modiano and Peter Handke.

Looking forward to your review of Modiano. Jenny Offill's Dept. of Speculation is on my list as well as Dear Committee Members. I have read far too many of those and written a few myself.

I thought Dear Committee Members was a lot of fun, if lightweight. My wife, however, laughed so hard that I thought she was going to need CPR.

I have lost my PaperWhite so I know how you feel, Syrian refugees.

Titles?

Sorry for the faulty phrasing. Read far too many "Dear Committee" letters and written a few myself. It's better, though, to write than read for the most part.

Ah. Yes. If you've written very many of these, then Schumacher's book will certainly hit home and make you laugh.

Though no one ever wrote LORs like the ones in this book.

For a different kind of academic novel, have you read Javier Marías All Souls? (I touted it earlier ITT.)

The list of kindle ebooks I received for Christmas this year:

Six Frigates: The Epic History of the Founding of the US Navy - Ian W.Toll
Rebirth of a Nation - Jackson Lears
You'll be SOR-REE! A Guadalcanal Marine Remembers - Sid Phillips (One of the books HBO's The Pacific was based on, I already read 2 of the others which were both excellent)
Ratification: The People Debate the Constitution - Pauline Maier
Neptune's Inferno: The US Navy at Guadalcanal - James D. Hornfischer
The Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors - James D. Hornfischer
The Battle for Leyte Gulf - C. Vann Woodward
Last Man Standing: The First Marine Regiment on Pellelui - Dick Camp

These were all on my "wish list" and as you can see all non-fiction and historical which is my favorite reading. My favorite subjects are the revolution and founding of America, the robber barron industrialists, the U. S. Navy and the Pacific theater of WWII. This current group is very heavy in the Pacific theater of WWII.

I likely won't discuss any of these here as I am sure you couldn't care less But if anyone her does read this kind of stuff I would be happy to discuss as my reading passion skews to non-fiction and history.

^Doesn't correlate too strongly with your interests but I'd highly recommend you check out Rites of Spring by Modris Eksteins if you have any interest in WWI/II cultural and intellectual history. Best history book I've read and I've read over a hundred of 'em (you probably have me way covered). On a related note, my next favorite is The Creation of the American Republic by Gordon Wood, if anyone is looking for a solid revolutionary war book with a focus on American cultural history.

I'm actually related to that guy.

When does the third Name of the Wind book come out? Seems like it's been years.

I believe it's in the same "hopefully in 2016" category that TWOW is in (GOT #6) .

I have DL'd and gotten so many books recently. I just read the short Murakami story that took like 10 minutes. Going to get around to his new book.

In the middle of The White Van, so far a fascinating mystery about a bank robbery gone awry and two dirty cops. Would highly recommend so far.

Mostly finished the unjustly lesser known, award-winning, Elect Mr. Robinson for a Better World, I think it would be a big hit with this crowd. Set in a slightly post-apocalyptic future [one of the first mainstream novels to do this, around 20 years ago iirc] in a white-bread suburb of the Tampa area where familial life hasn't changed much, but most other things have. Sharp and darkly funny.

Received this as a gift.

Love it so far. The kind of book that makes me just want to get through the work day so I can go home and read it. Such colorful prose and characters.

I just read Annihilation, by Jeff VanderMeer. It's not much more than a novella (I read it in a sitting), and it's part one of a completed trilogy. It was pretty good - sort of post apocalyptic weird, I guess: it's about a member of the twelfth mission into Area X, the site of some undisclosed military accident, and what she finds there.

Yesterday, after getting an email from the Las Vegas-Clark County Library District, I picked up Michael Connelly's The Burning Room from my local branch. So far it's a typical Connelly police procedural, as good as most of his are and more of a page turner than several of the recent ones. I have noted a couple of places where I thought his editor could have done a better job, but, overall, the quality is very good.

Yes, please share. I love nonfiction.

Im assuming you read Engineers of Victory. If not, its right up your alley.

Speaking of nonfiction, if anyone is interested in oil/energy after it has been in the news lately and dont know where to start, I would suggest The Prize and The Quest, which cover the history of oil and current energy issues, respectively. Both by Yergin.

I finished reading Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. Despite all the praise this has received, I was disappointed. It's very readable and constructs good characters, but I came away feeling it’s a novel constructed with book clubs in mind: it will appeal to good-minded liberal readers and make them feel warm for confronting (if in a somewhat limited way) the issues around race and immigration in the US. Through conversations and blog entries, Adichie announces the issues rather than dramatizing them (except when she’s staging exemplary scenes showing liberal condescension and the like) and makes her positions on these issues clear.

Still many have enjoyed this book (online reviews and comments are probably 90%+ positive), so you may as well.

Two chapters into Think and Grow Rich and holy crap this is a good book.