I'm basic AF. nOw that we have that disclaimer out of the way.

Ready Player Two (9 chapters in) is problematic at best. Cline attempts to appeal to the LGBTQ+ audience, I think he has good intentions, but he does something that could have been avoided if he maybe ran it by a single person from the community. It's so cringe I was tempted to stop. If you don't care for spoilers....

Is it the same as the first one except with a new hunt?

It certainly feels the same. The review by The Ringer staff said it felt far more condensed and rushed. I enjoyed the first book, and even liked the movie (yes i'm that guy!). There are some other issues with this. Anyone remotely annoyed by his paragraph long references to 80s pop culture won't be converted, at times it feels like he doubles down to make sure everyone reading understands how much of a fan he is of Back to the Future for example.

I liked the 1st one, so I'll probably sample this. I've got a low tolerance for knock-off sequels, and I bail on them pretty easily. A bunch of people are telling me this is a miss.

Started a couple of new ones.

Party Across America by Michael Guerriero. A couple of pages on each of many festivals/sporting events/etc around the country. So far, haven't seen anything that makes me think, "I've really got to get to that."

The Daily Show (The Book) by Chris Smith. About the Jon Stewart years at TDS.

It's written in an interesting way, as if it were a roundtable discussion (pretty sure that wasn't how the interviews happened). Puts in lots of viewpoints on the discussion, everyone from the stars to the writers/producers/PAs.

I first discovered The Daily Show somewhere in the early days of Stewart's hosting, and it quickly became a must-watch for me during the W and Obama years, so I'm really enjoying this little peek behind the scenes.

This got me to idly thinking. This is a little political, so I'll spoiler it:

Finished Empire Express, about the building of the first continental RR. At more than 700 pages it was a bit too detailed and long. It became a tough endurance test, like building the RR itself. Not recommended, it should have been cut down to about 400 pages and it would have lost nothing in the telling. It was very interesting and worthwhile and the whole enterprise and the accompanying corruption and shenanigans and buying off of politicians and etc., make for a great deal of interest. For RR and history buffs only.

still looking at raychards, fly fishing the salt.
havent reread ray bergmans book, trout, in about 50 years, might be time to revisit the true classic.

ive been lucky as ive met and/ or fished with a few of the all time greats at fly fishing.

You are to be commended for your tenacity. I made it through about 100 pages of Empire Express. It was interesting, but there was too much detail about too many land grabs for too many railroads going in too many directions. It should have been three 200-page books. I'll look around for my copy. If I find it, I'll send it to you for your next bonfire. It should keep you warm for a couple of weeks.

Last night I finished Toll’s Pacific war trilogy. While shelving the book I noticed another great one on WW2, one so far unmentioned. Studs Terkel’s The Good War, interviews with the large and small in US during these times. If you are familiar with Terkel (radio interviews or books like his Hard Times on the depression) you have an idea how he works. If I were to re-read any of my shelf and a half of WW2 books The Good War would be my choice

Finished The Topeka School by Ben Lerner. I didn't think it was as good as Leaving the Atocha Station.

Really liked this, thanks for the rec. reminds me a little bit of Olin Steinhauser’s Yalta Series, which is set in Cold War Eastern Europe.

Plowed through the Saxon tales over the last few weeks - like all cornwell very formulaic, but entertaining and interesting nonetheless. I liked the richard sharpe books better though.

Downloaded 4 books today:
- the next Chen novel
- shuggie Bain - novel, 2020 booker prize winner
- the anarchy - history of the east India company
- say nothing - a non fiction account of a murder in n. Ireland during the troubles

Leaving Las Vegas by John O'Brien. Pretty good. Americans are the best writers.

Yes, we are. Until you are ready for Anthony Powell.

We have all the best words

cormac and hunter are/were both American so I say that seals the deal.

USA#1.

The Brits did write the best poker book ever, though: The Biggest Game In Town, by Al Alvarez.

Just ordered this. Total Poker, by the Brit David Spanier, is good on the culture and history of the game, IIRC.

What a great book.


I've never read Spanier--looking for that one now.

alvarez is the nuts.

Say Nothing is an amazing book for so many reasons.

Re Qie Xiaolong's Inspector Chen series: I liked Death of a Red Heroine quite a bit, but the 2nd one with Character Dancer in the title lost me a little. And now I'm soldiering on thru When Red is Black, but I'm just not on board at this point. It's interesting but not engrossing for me, these characters finding their way in this bizarro 1990s Red Chinese world, recovering from the profound evil of the Cultural Revolution (and all the inherent societal evil before and after btw). Chen spouting his ancient poetry at every turn, Sidekick Yu and his wife, Pal Overseas Chinese Lu and his Russian restaurant. Starting to seem a little thin, a little mechanical. I wanted to like it so I'd have a ready-made book schedule for weeks ahead, but I'm gonna call it quits after this 3rd one.

Geochemical Thermodynamics, by Nordstrom and Munoz. Never a dull moment. Highly recommended.

Anyone read the brandon sanderson series? If so, any good? I need some cotton candy.

All I remember from Thermo is my drunk professor coming to class late one time and saying the, “x law of Thermodynamics, you need something to get something, read chapter 5”. He then left the classroom. Anyone remember which law this is, I guess first.

Yup shot through the Mistborn, The Reckoners, and Stormlight series. As you said, cotton candy, but Sanderson is fantastic at creating worlds, and I found the books very addictive.

the,

Which of the three series do you recommend?