finished There's Something I Want You to Do by Charles Baxter. I had read one of his short stories, "Shelter," a year or two ago, and wanted to pick up one of his books. Glad I did. The ten short stories are loosely connected with many recurring characters--I was reminded of Winesburg, Ohio--and organized around the Decalogue (titles are "Avarice," "Forbearance," etc).

If anyone has recs for earlier Baxter books, I'd like to check out another.

Yes, it's not close to her best work, pretty one dimensional.

Moore is awesome.
check out baked by mark haskell smith I think you'll enjoy it quite a bit.

I just reread moneyball for the millionth time.
easily one of my top 5 all time.

reading "nine innings" by Daniel Okrent now and so far it's great.

uses one game between brewers n orioles in 1982 as a treatise on baseball.
very engaging and while it obv helps to like baseball, I don't think you have to be as fanatical about it as I am to enjoy it.

I'll add it to the list.

I've never read Ursula Le Guin -- what would be a good book to start with?

Her classic sci fi works are probably The Left Hand Of Darkness and The Dispossessed, and her series The Earthsea trilogy(?) is her best known fantasy. To those I'd add Lavinia, which is quite recent and is sort of a reworking of some of the aneiad, which I thought was great, and maybe The Telling, which might be sort of a follow-up to The Left Hand... & The Dispossessed.

Thanks. Lavinia looks right up my alley. Then I see Rob Inglis narrates Earthsea on audio -- he reads the Lord of the Rings trilogy like a champ. Tough choices....

Just started The Blade Itself on audiobook and have been really impressed by the narrator so far, as well as the book.

Has anyone else read the The First Law series? From what I've seen it looks really good.

I enjoyed First Law, but it has its problems. Afterwards I'd recommend the stand alone books which are all better than the trilogy itself, especially The Heroes.

I started with Worlds of Exile and Illusion. They are three early short novels in the same series as Left Hand of Darkness and Dispossessed.

DFW movie coming out in july

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fqUa5sYHC9s

btw i'm reading Bryan Charles' memoir There's a Road to Everywhere Except Where You Came From... it's fantastic. I think anyone who was in their 20's during 9/11 that posts on 2p2 will relate

Got the new Stephenson in the mail yesterday...can't begin it yet, though...reading too many books at once as it is!

Anyone else feel a bit let down by the last third of Seveneves? Maybe it was the quality of he first two parts, but it felt like someone writing to meet a deadline.

so nice to hear that.
thought I was a weirdo for actively reading multiple books at once.
I'll read 2-4 at a time switching off till I get really into one at which point I basically binge read (often not sleeping till I'm done).
thankfully I read super quick.

I def get more into binge reading then watching shows.

I usually read multiple books at once but I wanted nothing on my plate (other than work) when Sevenneves came out. Unfortunately, Amazon had problems with getting the book out on the release date, so I got upset at Amazon and purchased the book elsewhere. Now I am happily one third of the way through the book. Loving it so far. I am planning to seeing Stephenson speak next week when he comes to Milwaukee.

I read them and enjoyed them but I didn't get the huge amount of acclaim they got. The author does what he does really well but it's all pretty one dimensional. If I wanted to get a 12 year old into fantasy books this is what I'd give them. Definitely a fun read though.

I'm about 200 pages into the new Stephenson and I'm disappointed there's only 600 more to go. I also just finished the new Elon musk biography (7.7/10. Recommended) which taught me a fair amount about the aerospace industry which is largely what Stephenson is writing about so far.

Last time I counted I had 15 books on my kindle that I regularly dip in and out of. Things like the baroque cycle, godel escher bach and crime and punishment. Stuff that would bore me if i tried to finish them in one go.

I'm always reading at least 3 books at once. Generally I will read at least one type of nonfiction and a fiction book. (Leviathan Wakes and How Not to be Wrong atm) Until I finally finished Malazan that would usually fill my third spot, but it is constantly changing now as I haven't found any series that is quite as epic in scope.

BTW bip! linked this awhile ago in a chat thread and was a really good read for anyone interested in the silk road thing:

http://www.wired.com/2015/04/silk-road-1

I'm about 1/3 into the last third of Seveneves and I'm not a bit disappointed YET.

Also made progress to about 1/3 through The Count of Monte Cristo. Not at all disappointed in that either, but the Albert & Franz part is def taking longer than I thought it would. Kinda ready for a new adventure.

This book is a 10.5/10. You will be amazed by how good it is, how he changes, and what he does. A top 25-50 alltimer.

I'm in the middle of 4 novels, Kasparov on Fischer, and a business book. I mean, not the 'middle' of all 4 but btw pages 10 and x-10.

Oh, forgot about the new book on FIFA corruption I started last nite. Srs overload man...

feeding the monster by seth mnookin is kindv like a follow-up to moneyball except without the statistical aspect.
it's an in depth inside look at the red sox and the transformation they underwent following the arrival of theo epstein.

it's obv not as great as moneyball, but I'm quite enjoying it.
im a big sucker for "behind the scenes" books, absolutely loved Disneywars, and it's even better when it's about film or sports as those are basically my 2 favorite subjects.

def recommend.

I know what you mean about too many books at once.

I just picked up Don't Look Now by Daphne du Maurier. Not sure when I'll start reading it though.

Along these lines...

Storming the Magic Kingdom is awesome, more in depth look at the early parts of Disney War basically. A lot like Liar's Poker and Barbarians at the Gate, but in the entertainment industry.

Check out the two Late Show crisis books if you haven't.

Anything else by Michael Lewis including Trail Fever about the 1996 Presidential campaign.

Hackers if you can get into 1950s-1980s computer culture.

My two biggest pipe dream books along these lines are a 1500 pager on Gregg Popovich and the Spurs, likewise with Sierra On-Line the computer game company (the early days are covered in Hackers). The latter is actually being worked on by a woman as we speak.

Anyway...Hackers and Storming the MK are in my top 5 favorites ever; Liar's Poker, Trail Fever and the Late Show books are all very high as well.

sweet I'll def check out storming the magic kingdom.
I've read all the others you suggested and seems we have similar taste as I enjoyed them all.