tashoya
Blue & Gray (over 10,000 posts)
Posts: 12,304
|
Post by tashoya on Oct 9, 2016 20:20:40 GMT -5
Got any good ones? I've been looking for something good to read. Preferably, nothing too serious. Be it biography, non-fiction, fiction, whatever. Alternatively, any recommendations for an author I should check out that maybe I haven't read? Thank you in advance for your direction.
|
|
Elvado
Platinum Hoya (over 5000 posts)
Posts: 6,080
|
Post by Elvado on Oct 9, 2016 20:34:24 GMT -5
American Heiress by Jeffrey Toobin is a fabulous read on the Patty Hearst kidnapoing, chase and trial.
|
|
tashoya
Blue & Gray (over 10,000 posts)
Posts: 12,304
|
Post by tashoya on Oct 9, 2016 20:41:01 GMT -5
American Heiress by Jeffrey Toobin is a fabulous read on the Patty Hearst kidnapoing, chase and trial. That sounds right up my alley too. I saw the Patty Hearst movie when I was a kid but, outside of that, I know very little about it. Around the same time, I read "Helter Skelter" and, while I found the brutality disturbing in a way that I never had felt reading any other book, I enjoyed it on the whole. Thank you, Elvado. I just downloaded it.
|
|
TC
Platinum Hoya (over 5000 posts)
Posts: 9,428
Member is Online
|
Post by TC on Oct 9, 2016 20:45:11 GMT -5
Disrupted by Dan Lyons is really good - it's about a middle aged guy who goes to work for a startup and how ridiculous startup culture is. I LOLd a ton.
|
|
tashoya
Blue & Gray (over 10,000 posts)
Posts: 12,304
|
Post by tashoya on Oct 9, 2016 20:53:28 GMT -5
Disrupted by Dan Lyons is really good - it's about a middle aged guy who goes to work for a startup and how ridiculous startup culture is. I LOLd a ton. I just read the synopsis and that seems to be right in my wheelhouse as well. Years ago, when I was a trader, I used to read books by authors like Michael Lewiss and found them really funny because of the corporate culture aspect. Thanks, TC. I'm going to check that one out too.
|
|
SSHoya
Blue & Gray (over 10,000 posts)
"Forget it Jake, it's Chinatown."
Posts: 18,067
|
Post by SSHoya on Oct 9, 2016 21:02:21 GMT -5
|
|
tashoya
Blue & Gray (over 10,000 posts)
Posts: 12,304
|
Post by tashoya on Oct 9, 2016 21:14:57 GMT -5
SS, my knowledge of DC is probably less than it should be but I read Margaret Truman's novels because they are set in the area. Thanks very much for the reco. You guys are good. All things I'm excited to check out.
|
|
hoyainspirit
Platinum Hoya (over 5000 posts)
When life puts that voodoo on me, music is my gris-gris.
Posts: 8,390
|
Post by hoyainspirit on Oct 9, 2016 22:37:33 GMT -5
|
|
Filo
Diamond Hoya (over 2500 posts)
Posts: 3,906
|
Post by Filo on Oct 10, 2016 8:03:24 GMT -5
I may have posted this once before (was there a previous thread?): One of my relatively recent faves (if nothing else, to make you feel completely and utterly insignificant.): Into the Silence: The Great War, Mallory and the Conquest of Everest www.amazon.com/dp/B004KPM1HG/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1Anything by Erik Larson, his most recent being Dead Wake. I am currently reading a series by Alan Furst (on book 7), which is basically espionage in Europe circa WWII. The characters are not the usual spy masters and the author does a great job placing the reader in these various countries before and during WWII. Good stuff.
|
|
TBird41
Platinum Hoya (over 5000 posts)
"Roy! I Love All 7'2" of you Roy!"
Posts: 8,740
|
Post by TBird41 on Oct 10, 2016 9:16:37 GMT -5
|
|
Nevada Hoya
Blue & Gray (over 10,000 posts)
Posts: 18,341
|
Post by Nevada Hoya on Oct 10, 2016 16:41:47 GMT -5
I haven't read it yet, but plan to (https://www.amazon.com/Never-Look-American-Eye-Colonial/dp/1616957603/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1476135262&sr=1-1&keywords=okey+ndibe), the memoirs of Okey Ndibe, a Nigerian-American author. I have read his two novels, Foreign Gods, Inc. and Arrows of Rain. He was in residence at the Black Mountain Institute at UNLV for about eight months, where I got to know him. A wonderful author and an even better person, who has written some pieces for the NY Times, in addition to his other writing. Here is a sample from his memoirs: sohopress.com/read-the-first-chapter-of-okey-ndibes-new-memoir-never-look-an-american-in-the-eye/He had told me about this story, when 13 days in the US from Nigeria, he was picked up for waiting for the bus while black (and he fit the description of a bank robber).
|
|
SirSaxa
Blue & Gray (over 10,000 posts)
Posts: 15,620
|
Post by SirSaxa on Oct 10, 2016 17:51:03 GMT -5
Citizens of London: The Americans Who Stood with Britain in Its Darkest, Finest Hour
Lynne Olsen wrote a fascinating and historically accurate account of three prominent Americans who spent the war years in London and had a sizeable influence on US-UK cooperation. CBS Radio's Edward R Murrow, Averell Harriman, the millionaire who ran FDR’s Lend-Lease program in London, and US Ambassador John Gilbert Winant, who replaced Joe Kennedy. Many other war time figures are covered as well especially Churchill. Olsen recreates the time, the zeitgeist, the meetings and conversations from extensive research into notes, calendars, diaries, letters and documents, as well as interviews. I found it engrossing.
|
|
MassHoya
Golden Hoya (over 1000 posts)
Posts: 1,786
|
Post by MassHoya on Oct 10, 2016 18:27:10 GMT -5
Murder, DC or The Ways of the Dead by Neely Tucker. Set in current day DC. Excellent. Anything by Steve Ulfelder. Set in Central Mass (local prejudice)
|
|
tashoya
Blue & Gray (over 10,000 posts)
Posts: 12,304
|
Post by tashoya on Oct 12, 2016 21:51:57 GMT -5
Thank you to all for the recommendations. I appreciate you all taking the time. These should keep me busy for a while but I hope others continue to add recommendations. Nearly gone are the days when I could go to a local bookstore and spend 2 hours roaming around reading inside flaps. I'd much rather read recommendations here than trying to cull through Amazon reviews. Thanks again.
|
|
Nevada Hoya
Blue & Gray (over 10,000 posts)
Posts: 18,341
|
Post by Nevada Hoya on Oct 12, 2016 23:46:34 GMT -5
Thank you to all for the recommendations. I appreciate you all taking the time. These should keep me busy for a while but I hope others continue to add recommendations. Nearly gone are the days when I could go to a local bookstore and spend 2 hours roaming around reading inside flaps. I'd much rather read recommendations here than trying to cull through Amazon reviews. Thanks again. Tas, you are right. One of my greatest pleasures was to browse at a bookstore. It is almost a thing of the past. We will have to make this thread into an ongoing venture!
|
|
hoyatables
Diamond Hoya (over 2500 posts)
Posts: 2,603
|
Post by hoyatables on Oct 13, 2016 12:24:17 GMT -5
I just read Seinfeldia, which basically discusses the creation and evolution of Seinfeld through discussions with various writers, producers, and others involved with the show. Quite entertaining and it was comprehensive enough that I didn't feel like it merely rehashed snippets of stories I had already heard. Not nearly as engaging and comprehensive as Tom Shales' "Live from New York" analysis of Saturday Night Live, but a similar exploration of an influential show for those who enjoy reading these sorts of things.
|
|