I'm reading A Quiet Flame, the fifth book in Philip Kerr's superb Bernie Gunther series.

For the first time ever, I am reading Agatha Christie in a novel called Passenger to Frankfurt. I have heard of Ms Marple. Couldn't finish many crosswords without that named burned in.

I finished this last week. I really, really enjoyed it. Structurally, I'm not so sure that I'm a fan though. It starts by recounting the fateful final 10 days in the 75 year history of Bear Stearns. Throwing you in the middle of the chaotic mess of a financial institution losing credibility on Wall Street (which is apparently the only thing a company has there). As credibility crumbles, the margin calls and withdrawals rise to the point where Bear does not have enough liquidity to cover them, leading to a tense weekend where the Fed refuses to bail Bear out (even though they bail several banks out in the following few weeks) and a rushed merger is put through to JPMorgan in order to stabilize the financial industry. With no real introduction, you read about this company's crash. Only then, do we go back and find out about the history of the company leading up to this point. Not really knowing much about the terms used or the realities of the market, the first section left me a bit over my head, but I plugged on and gained a more thorough understanding of the problems by the end. Not really ideal for a market n00b like me, but that's a small complaint.

The things I liked are the characterizations of the men who rose to the top at Bear Stearns: Cy Lewis, Ace Greenberg, and Jimmy Cayne (the succession of CEOs from the mid 1950s) were all larger than life figures, full of foibles. The sums these people made are just astounding, Cayne for instance got a yearly bonus that was > $15 MM for around 15 years in a row. Yet despite that wealth, and the power it provided, he could act like a petulant child playing partners off each other all in an attempt to grab an even greater share of the wealth. Also the entire section on Bear Stearn's Asset Management an independent hedge fund that primarily had it's money socked away in sub-prime mortgage tranches was shocking. When the market started to turn, they committed out-right fraud by lying to their investors about the returns that were expected and the diversity of the fund's investments. Even though it shared a name with the main business, Bear Stearn's tried to separate itself from the shady dealings of BSAM. However, as to be expected when the **** hit the fan at BSAM it took BS down with it, and rightfully so. You can't turn a blind-eye to a problem you essentially create, and then expect not to be burned when things go bad.

I recommend this if you want to know the inner workings of an atypical Wall Street firm, or would like to have a greater understanding of exactly what lead to our current economic troubles.

Edit to add: Oh yea, one last thing. The respect level for my personal bank (JPMorgan Chase) has risen from zero to grudgingly respectful after reading this book. Not only were they not majorly involved in the subprime mortgage market that led to the collapse, they also took major steps that weren't exactly financially sound (merging with Bear Stearns for example) to help protect the economy as a whole. Of everyone in the book, I think their CEO Jamie Dimon comes off the best.

I'm reading The Elephant Vanishes, a story collection by Haruki Murakami, after just finishing the first novel of his I've read, Norwegian Wood. I highly recommend both.

A friend recommended the book, and as an introduction to his writing linked me to this short story: On Seeing the 100% Perfect Girl One Beautiful April Morning. It is only a few pages, and may be the best short short story I've ever read.

I've read that before, and I loved it. Thanks for reminding me of it!

I just finished:



I really enjoyed it - I've been trying to increase my knowledge of wine and win appreciation, and reading this book added to my knowledge without sounding like a text book (it's a great plot and story too!) (Edit - I didn't listen to the audio book even tho that's the image I have there)

Now I am reading:


and



Monkey Business is absolutely hysterical. For anyone who has worked on Wall Street, or been friends with someone who has, it will literally cause you to fall out of your chair laughing. But I would imagine it's funny for the average layperson as well.

Fooled by Randomness is great. Taleb can be pretty dense and technical at times, but he is extremely bright and presents really unique perspectives. Coming from a background in stats and about to pursue a career in trading, it is a somewhat perfect fit for me but anyone could appreciate it.

I can't stand Taleb. Hopefully I can find the review I wrote for Black Swan. I call him out for being nothing more than a self-congratulating gladhandler for Mandlebrot, using unfounded insults and out-right lies. You do know he opened a fund on his concepts and busted, right?

I didnt, but that is amusing to me, because I'm not sure if I posted in your review thread (think I did?) but I agree entirely, and even putting all that aside I didnt think the content itself was anything special or enlightening. It was boring so far as it was true, and a complete unsubstantiated reach as far as it was interesting.

He still got like $50 of my money since I bought both books though, ah well.

I posted in book and publications.

finally broke down and started the Song of Ice and Fire series...it took me longer than usual to get into it...but its pretty good so far.

Also finished Steven Gould's Jumper and Reflex.... just really good storytelling fiction.

I have no idea what my last update was, but I read A Simple Plan recently. I need to see the movie version now. I liked it for the most part. The novel drags at parts where not much action happens. I appreciate the character study aspect of the novel, but in the slow parts, even that was pretty sparse. The ending was a little bit of a letdown, too.

I'm not moving on to the other Scott Smith novel, The Ruins. I've just started it, but it seems like it will be brainfodder 100%. Should be enjoyable if it doesn't drag. It's like 500 pages long. I already have that movie on my iPod, so I can't wait to finish the book to immediately compare.

I thought "Fooled by Randomness" was very good. It is basically a must read for practically anyone. "The Black Swan" on the other hand was pure drivel and an attempt to cash in on the success of Fooled.

I pretty much hate Taleb too but I think Fooled by Randomness is an important book even though it does have some shortcomings. Black Swan however should be avoided at all costs.

I was late to this series as well and I was also surprised when I picked it up by how hard it is to get involved. When I started it, my reaction was "Well, I guess this is a pretty good book about children and wolves but I don't really see what the big fuss is." Then by the end of the first book I was convinced that it's the best modern fantasy* every written.

*By which, I mean current "high fantasy" work, I don't want to get into an argument with Tolkien fans, etc.

Its going to need to come a long way to make me think its better than The Wheel of Time (I have an admittedly freakish obsession with that series)

I think SOIAF is substantially better. The only advantage WOT has is that it follows essentially the same characters throughout, so arguably you get a deeper connection with them. In SOIAF, the roster of "main" characters (i.e the POV characters) explodes by the 4th book so it is less focused.

I'm having a hard time coming up with any two books in recent memory by the same author with a steeper dropoff than Simple Plan and The Ruins. I loved Simple Plan, and the movie was pretty good. The Ruins is just terrible, imo, and the movie might be the worst one I saw last year. Definitely not worth the time. I have no idea if Simple Plan was a fluke, he forgot how to write, he was going for something entirely different that just didnt hit me at all, whatever. It was bad.

Currently reading The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11. It traces the rise of Muslim extremism (I guess that's the right word) from those who originally created the ideas that inspired Osama bin Laden and others, up to the the planning and execution of the attacks of 9/11. Right now I'm on a chapter about post-oil boom Saudi Arabia and the rise to prominence of bin Laden's father. It was listed as #2 on Newsweek's 'What to Read Now' list, and since I had a copy at home (someone left it a test a few years ago and never came back to claim it) I decided to read it.

Would you consider it a strong recommendation that I skip reading The Ruins and just see the movie (which I'm doing either way)? There's other novels I could read of course.

The movie got incredibly bad reviews, and they sounded quite sensible in their criticisms.

It's one of the few I have on my iPod so far, so I'm going to watch it anyway, even if it's a waste. Shrug. Maybe there's some nudity or something.

I just want to know if the book will be a definite waste of time. 500 pages will take me over 10 hours I'd imagine.

Amazon reviews include some of the worst non-political ones I've seen.

I saw the movie before I read The Ruins. I still haven't read Simple Plan.

It has its problems, but I was thoroughly entertained by the movie. If you haven't yet watched it, AJ, yep, there are some terts.

As for the book, what is it that brought about such distaste for you, Vhawk? I read it in just a few sittings, unable to put it down. And that is rare for me. If Simple Plan is that much better then I need to stop putting off reading it and go buy it right now.

Heh. Thanks for the info Blarg. I generally avoid reviews from Amazon before I've finished the book.

I would consider it a strong recommendation that you skip both, the movie is very bad, but if you must do one, at least the movie only lasts 90 minutes.

Well, the plot was just so ridiculous and uninteresting that it made it hard for me to care. The intriguing part about Simple Plan was how Smith took on the topic of "banality of evil" and did a really fantastic job of making me care about the characters. Now, I will admit, that this is one of my favorite themes, and, like post-apocalyptic dystopias or zombie themes, I'm basically looking to love it before I even open the book. So maybe I'm just biased. I just didnt think the Ruins had any interesting characters at all, and this goes treble for the movie.

Currently four chapters into Twilight. Jesus Christ this girl's such a bitch. Waaahhh waahhh people want to be my friend, waahhh waahh boys like me, waahhh wahhah the vampire's being mean to me.

The worst part is that I'm going to wind up reading the whole damn book since I can't quit anything after four chapters, but I'm going to hate myself afterward.