OS Book Club Pt II

[Fresh Tendrils]

Re: OS Book Club Pt II

It's been a little over a month since I cracked a book, but I'm starting to getting the itch to read something again. I'm working on creating my stack for Fall reading. My Summer stack fared fairly well, but didn't complete everything. I left Inherent Vice and Rights of Man untouched and have abandoned Destruction of Black Civilization. I started Anti-Intellectualism in American Life, but will carry that one over to my Fall stack.

So far my possibilities are:

Spoiler

Anti-Intellectualism in American Life by Richard Hofstadter
Maplecroft by Cherie Priest
Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad
The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson
Something Wicked this Way Comes by Ray Bradbury
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
Lies My Teacher Told Me by James Loewen
Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee by Dee Brown
The Mirage by Matt Ruff
We Were Eight Years in Powers by Ta-Nehisi Coates
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl
The Two Towers by JRR Tolkien
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by JK Rowling

I'm undecided if I want to attempt to tackle Stephen King's It or go for The Shining.

[DieHardYankee26]

Re: OS Book Club Pt II

Stuff keeps popping up to throw off my reading schedule, I just need a device to freeze time so I can read my books and then unfreeze it and live life.

I've got my slate through the next month or so:

Spoiler

What Happened by Hillary Clinton

The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath

Shadow and Act by Ralph Ellison

The Picture of Dorian Grey by Oscar Wilde

We Were Eight Years in Power by Ta-Nehisi Coates

Infinite Jest by DFW

That's as far as I can see right now. I think I can get those done by the end of October, but the wild card is IJ, it's either going to be a slog or a really enjoyable marathon, definitely won't be quick. I've got a good stretch of fiction books going so I'm looking forward to where I go there, I want to get into Fellowship of the Ring for sure.

Stephen King pops up on Reddit all the time, his fans make me want to read his stuff. The issue being whenever I look into it, all of his books are way longer than I imagined. Most are 400+ pages. From what I've seen, the best entry points for me would be Carrie or the first Dark Tower book (but that's a series). I might actually read his memoir, On Writing.

[Fresh Tendrils]

Re: OS Book Club Pt II

Let me know how you like Picture of Dorian Grey. He's a character in Penny Dreadful that we've been watching and his premise is interesting to say the least.

[hvegasooner]

Re: OS Book Club Pt II

Gonna get back into reading. I have Jim Ross's Book that comes out next week pre ordered. about to read Booker T's book as well love wrestling books

[dsallupinyaarea]

Re: OS Book Club Pt II

Last two I've knocked out


Touching History: The Untold Story of the Drama That Unfolded in the Skies Over America on 9/11

Spoiler

It's a pretty detailed accounting of what happened at the FAA and the Air Force on 9/11

Everybody Lies: Big Data, New Data, and What the Internet Can Tell Us About Who We Really Are

Spoiler

A data scientist gives a high level review of what Google search engines tell us about ourselves

Next up: Gateway to Freedom: The Hidden History of the Underground Railroad


Then Ta Nehisi Coates book when it drops.

[PhilliesFan13]

Re: OS Book Club Pt II

Finishing up a Walking Dead novel and then I will be tackling this beast for the first time ever.

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[Fresh Tendrils]

Re: OS Book Club Pt II

I'm hoping to get to that by the end of the year.

[dsallupinyaarea]

Re: OS Book Club Pt II

I thought about tackling IT then saw that page count and backed off. It's just too much to take on with sports in full swing.

[PhilliesFan13]

Re: OS Book Club Pt II

I'm hoping to get to that by the end of the year.

So weird. Everything IT scared me as a kid and now that I'm 32 it doesn't scare me anymore and I'm all about it. Lol.

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[DieHardYankee26]

Re: OS Book Club Pt II

Had to rearrange my slate to account for the extra time What Happened is taking me (I should finish it tomorrow) and add in some horror for October. After this, going with:

The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath
We Were Eight Years in Power by TNC
The Shining by Stephen King
Shadow and Act by Ralph Ellison
Infinite Jest by DFW
The Color of Law by Richard Rothstein
Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde

Moving stuff around a little.

[Fresh Tendrils]

Re: OS Book Club Pt II

I have The Color of Law on my Christmas list.

That also reminded me to recommend Deer Hunting with Jesus: Dispatches from America's Class War by Joe Bageant.

I have not read it yet, but my understanding is it offers a similar view of America that the Hillbilly Elegy did. The author moved back to Winchester, VA (90 minutes from me) and this book is his report on what he found when he came back.

The critiques I've read of Hillbilly Elegy after I read it say Vance is a little preachy with political views. That's not a perspective I ever latched onto, but their recommendations lead me to Deer Hunting.

[DieHardYankee26]

Re: OS Book Club Pt II

Finished up What Happened, Hillary's take on...what happened. I won't say much other than I liked the book and dislike the title.

On to The Bell Jar.

[Herky]

Re: OS Book Club Pt II

Started Salem's Lot the other night. Have never read it just have seen the TV movie.

[Money99]

Re: OS Book Club Pt II

Started Salem's Lot the other night. Have never read it just have seen the TV movie.

Salem's Lot is my fav King book. It was one of the few where it didn't seem like the ending was written by a toddler after King got bored with the project.

Speaking of which, I just finished "IT" and again, I loved the first 95% of the book, but the ending was terrible IMO.

Spoiler

Why didn't the spider just decapitate Bill and the rest like he did everyone else?
How is it that Bill was able to lock mental horns with it instead of just getting eaten?
I know that King's books are eventually broken down to God vs the Devil, but the whole "Turtle" thing made no sense at all. What was the point?
Did the turtle actually help them at all?
Maybe my memory is like the 7's where after reading it, I start forgetting things.
It seems like when King can't rightly explain anything in a legible manor, he simply waves his hand and explains it away as 'it just is'.
Like what was the point of having an 11YO girl get gang-banged? That was disgusting. To keep their 'connection' to one another? Okay.

I would have preferred to at least get some sort of explanation as to where the Spider came from?
What's its purpose for doing bad deeds? Why does it need to hibernate for 27 years?
Why couldn't it take over the minds of all the sinful people in Derry to simply murder the children?
Afterall, there were several other crimes people turned a blind eye to? Why not just axe 7 meaningless kids?

I would have preferred if IT remained Pennywise the Clown.
He is the physical manifestation of the several unspeakable sins the townfolk committed over several dozen decades.
This sin then comes to devour their children. Sins of the father and all that.
The 7 kids are able to fight off the Clown using their love for one another.

I have read several Stephen King books and this dude can flatout write. His ability to make 3 dimensional characters is incredible.
I really do feel like I can see myself in these towns and places.
But his endings blow bigtime. The Stand and Insomnia come to mind.
I stomached those horrible endings and I still came away enjoying the book.
But IT's ending kind of ruined the first 95% of the book for me.

[Fresh Tendrils]

Re: OS Book Club Pt II

Don't say that. I just got the book. Haha.

I started Maplecroft this weekend and am a bit more than halfway done. It's a fairly light read, but generally entertaining. The premise may be enough to coax some readers in as it did me.

Maplecroft follows Lizzie Borden on a supernatural mystery about a ocean terror that is spreading throughout her town of Fall River. Having become an amateur scientist of sorts since the deaths of her stepmother and father Lizzie researches what she can to discover the origin and cycle of this terror. Occasionally she'll make use of her trusty axe and hunt down a living specimen.