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Double Bass DB forum "what books are you reading" thread

#21
The past 8 months or so I've read:

Jeffrey Gitomer
The Little Black Book of Making Connections
The Little Red Book of Sales Answers
The Little Yellow Book of YES! Attitude
The Sales Bible

The Music Lesson-Wooten
Effortless Mastery

1984 & Animal Farm-George Orwell
Brave New World, Brave New World Revisited, and Island-Aldous Huxley

A Clockwork Orange

Kurt Vonnegut
Cat's Cradle
Slaughter House Five
Galapagos
Dead Eye Dick
Time Quake

Wicked & Son of a Witch-Gregory Maguire

There's more, but I don't remember them at the moment.
 
#22
This has been one of the worst years for reading in my life. Life has finally pushed it out of my routine but I know it will come back. I have had downturns like this before.

The three books I can remember reading this year:

"Che," A comprehensive and engrossing BIG biography (like 6 or 700) pages. It was nice to get pretty firm answears about a fairly mythical figure.

"The Outsider," A realy dark, short existential novel by Camus. A translation but haunting and beautiful.

"The Road," The book of the year for me. Cormac McCarthy. An amazingly realistic, DARK, and touching post apocolypitc story with NO BS. I hardley go a week without thinking about this book.
 
#23
Great thread . . . lots of stuff I need to check out. I got a little burnt out from reading after my History undergrad, but I'm getting back into it.

I just finished Strayhorn's bio: Lush Life and feel that it is an exceptional biography. Strayhorn lead a very interesting life and Hajdu does an amazing job of capturing the tragic, inspirational, and endearing ups and downs. Great book.

I am currently reading "Arc of Justice: A saga if Race, Civil Rights, and Murder in the Jazz age" by Kevin Boyle. Not about jazz, but rather about tumultous race relations/legal issues of the 1900s to 1930s. Very interesting read thus far.

Also recently read "Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier" by Ishmael Beah which is an INCREDIBLE story of humanity. I don't think I have ever been so moved by a book.

Perhaps the one book I have recommended in the last 5 years is "Ghost Wars: The Secret History of the CIA, Afghanistan, and Bin Laden, from the Soviet Invasion to September 10, 2001" by Steve Coll. This is one of those "blow your hair back" kinda books that really makes you consider U.S.-Aghanistan relations carefully.

Well, I guess this list puts me in the non-fiction, biography category, but I would really like to check out some the literature stuff I haven't read for a while and discover new stuff as well . . . again, great thread -- thanks for starting Chris!
 
#24
Chris, are you reading the Pevear/Volokhonsky translations of the Dostoevsky books? I've read 3 or 4 Doestoevsky translations by the duo, and they are amazing (much more readable/fun).

I used to be a much more avid reader, but have been on a hiatus from reading, unfortunately, the last couple years (too much work, tv, internet, laziness), and I am just now coming out of it. I'm currently:

Re-reading Proust.
Reading a book called the Superorganism. It's about social/hive insects (bees, ants, termites). It's research (and inspiration) for a concept album I'm just starting to write about ego annihilation and social evolution.
The Revolution of Everyday Life, by Raoul Vaneigem.

Thanks for the thread, it's motivating. I've been trying to wean myself off the endless pointless blog drivel I've become so addicted to lately.
 
#25
Sam Sherry said:
"Brasyl" by Ian MacDonald. Edgy, up-to-the-minute science fiction in the classic William Gibson mode. Pretty thick reading.

.

"Ender's Game" by Orson Scott Card. Yes, again.
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I read massive amounts of Sci Fi books - several every week and am always on the look-out for new high quality stuff - I've read everything by Orson Scott Card and enjoyed it all!

My favourite recent discovery has been Dan Simmons - highly literary and huge concepts!!

But I must say that I picked up Brasyl on recommendations and it is the only book in the last 5 or 6 years that I just gave up on half way through!

I loved some of the storylines from the past - but the future/present was just so irritating I didn't want to go back there!! :eyebrow:
 
#26
zeytoun said:
Chris, are you reading the Pevear/Volokhonsky translations of the Dostoevsky books? I've read 3 or 4 Doestoevsky translations by the duo, and they are amazing (much more readable/fun).
Click to expand...

Honestly, I have no idea. Both came from the library and I don't remember the names of the translators.

Just finished Mockingbird, and went to the library yesterday to reload. In Cold Blood and Cats of Any Color were there, so the TB recommendation reading is about to begin.
 
#31
Chris Fitzgerald said:
Honestly, I have no idea. Both came from the library and I don't remember the names of the translators.
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No worries. They're from within the last decade, and the series is recognizable for their matte paperback covers with poster-like motifs. You'll recognize them if that's what they were.

It used to be that Dostoevsky was super hard to get through, but these new ones just made reading him a breeze.
 
#32
Ed Fuqua said:
Lesse, dark little kid's book by Neal Gaiman GRAVEYARD BOY.
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Neil Gaiman has written some very good books - I've picked them all up - but even darker are some of his "comic books" or rather "Graphic Novels"...;)

I love the Sandman series and the "Endless"....:)

Also - he lived in my hometown, Brighton for many years and I can recognise things he describes as being places I've been and know very well! :)
 
#35
That does sound interesting and is available via Amazon - I might buy it!!

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#36
In response to Chris's inquiry, the book on equal tempered tuning explains the compromises that have been made to accomodate fixed pitch instruments, such as keyboards, guitars, etc. No guitar or keyboard is ever in tune, in all keys. Early violin diagrams show different pitches for enharmonic equivalents such as C#-Db. Fascinating reading.
As for as the Bill Evans book, it is a sympathetic, unbiased look at his music. A small amount of biographical material as well. Bill Evans is one of the musicians I never tire of.
 
#37
Chris,

I followed PW's recommendation and read "Cats of Any Color" at the beginning of the year. It's a great read. (Thanks, Paul, for the nudge.)

Lately, I've been on a mystery kick (partly as an escape from all the serious reading I have to do for my day job) but next up is "Moby Dick." Somehow I got through high school and college without cracking it open and I have to rectify that.

Great thread. Thanks, Chris, for starting it!
 
#38
Highlights of the past year:

Fiction/Literature
Libra - Don DeLillo (fictionalized Lee Harvey Oswald and JFK conspiracy theory)
Salamander - Thomas Wharton (book about books)
The Road - Cormac McCarthy (grim, unflinching, and depressing, but I couldn't put it down. McCarthy is an outstanding author.)

Science Fiction
Pattern Recognition - William Gibson (always amazing)
Valis and The Divine Invasion- Philip K. Dick (I re-read these every few years, but can never get through the third in the trilogy... PKD was a madman)

Nonfiction
Hot, Flat, and Crowded - Thomas Friedman (not as good as The World is Flat)
Revolutionary Wealth - Alvin Toffler (not a get rich quick book, but a look at economic forces and new means of wealth creation shaping global society; somewhat sidetracked by current global economic woes...)

Nice thread....
 
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#39
RDW said:
Fiction/Literature
Libra - Don DeLillo (fictionalized Lee Harvey Oswald and
Click to expand...

I really dug that, too. What an extraordinary writer -- when he's hot, that is. Some of his work I haven't dug so much, but Libra was quite something. Of his I also thought White Heat was quite remarkable. Also, Underworld -- who'd have thought you could write a massive novel on the subject of garbage?
 
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