Bills Mafia Book Club!

[WhoTom]

22 hours ago, WhoTom said:

Earlier in the thread, I mentioned that I was halfway through The Earthburst Saga by Craig A. Falconer. I'm near the end now, and, wow what a thrill ride! Interesting characters, cool futuristic tech (maybe 10-20 years away for some of it), plot twists, and, like driving thru the Rocky Mountains, there are ups, downs, and something spectacular around every corner. I highly recommend it, and Amazon sells the Kindle version for $0.99 - for the whole series. I'll be reading more of his work.

 

https://www.goodreads.com/series/360931-the-earthburst-saga

 

 

 

 

I just finished the 6th book in the "complete" box set only to find that there's more: at least one more book. I like a variety of genres and I have about 8 books in my queue, so I don’t think I'll continue this one right away, if at all. I liked the conclusion of the 6th book, other than the final scene with the "to be continued" message, so I'm content with that.

 

[TheyCallMeAndy]

Just started book 5 of the Dark Tower series

[TheyCallMeAndy]

What’s everyone reading? 

[DrW]

I just finished re-reading Ronald Reng's "A Life Too Short" about the German soccer goalie Robert Enke who was on his way to become the top choice for the German national team for the 2010 World Cup. However, suffering from depression, Enke killed himself in November 2009. Reng's book is powerful testimony how even highly successful individuals can be afflicted by depression. The book won several awards, including British Sports Book of the Year.

 

For some lighter entertainment, try "The Keeper of Dreams" by the same author. It chronicles the career of another German goalie who, coming from a forth division soccer club in Germany, suddenly ended up in the English Premier League. Especially enlightening are the accounts of day-to-day life in the Premier League, which is not always so glamorous.

[TheyCallMeAndy]

On 4/15/2024 at 10:43 PM, DrW said:

I just finished re-reading Ronald Reng's "A Life Too Short" about the German soccer goalie Robert Enke who was on his way to become the top choice for the German national team for the 2010 World Cup. However, suffering from depression, Enke killed himself in November 2009. Reng's book is powerful testimony how even highly successful individuals can be afflicted by depression. The book won several awards, including British Sports Book of the Year.

 

For some lighter entertainment, try "The Keeper of Dreams" by the same author. It chronicles the career of another German goalie who, coming from a forth division soccer club in Germany, suddenly ended up in the English Premier League. Especially enlightening are the accounts of day-to-day life in the Premier League, which is not always so glamorous.

Very cool! Thanks for keeping the thread alive! 

[BuffaloBud]

Finished two by Cormac McCarthy.  "The Road" and "The Passenger".  Road was very "dark" and Passenger was a difficult read for me - just could not get into it.  Excellent writing tho.

[Augie]

I just got home from my “bookstore”, a/k/a Costco where I picked up a couple easy reads, a Baldacci and whoever wrote this one for Patterson. 

 

My wife is still trying to finish The Art of Racing In The Rain. I liked that one, but she just doesn’t have much time.

[DD4Bills]

Recently finished "Persuader" (a Jack Reacher novel), which I believe is the book that Season 3 of the show will be based on. Currently reading "Burn Book" by Kara Swisher, a long time tech reporter since the early days of the internet. The book basically dishes on all of the one-time wonderboys of the tech world who are now by and large a bunch of d-cks.

 

After that, I have the "3 World Problem" trilogy on deck...not sure yet if I'll read them all back-to-back or take a break with something a bit less dense in between.

[Augie]

On 4/22/2024 at 2:11 PM, Augie said:

I just got home from my “bookstore”, a/k/a Costco where I picked up a couple easy reads, a Baldacci and whoever wrote this one for Patterson. 

 

My wife is still trying to finish The Art of Racing In The Rain. I liked that one, but she just doesn’t have much time.

 

Okay, here I am quoting myself but I’m a good bit into the Baldacci book I bought above (almost halfway).  A Calamity of Souls does not fall into my usual cheesy commercial empty book calories. It’s about a white lawyer in 1960’s Virginia defending a Black guy for killing a wealthy old white couple, so basically it’s about racism. 

 

I guess I grew up sheltered, but it’s shocking to me that these things happened in my lifetime. Baldacci said it was a project he had been working on over a decade, and I’m glad he finally finished it and I happened to pick it up off the table at Costco. 

[Mr Info]

2 hours ago, Augie said:

 

…Baldacci said it was a project he had been working on over a decade, and I’m glad he finally finished it and I happened to pick it up off the table at Costco. 

Saw Baldacci interviewed by SA Cosby at our local theater. Both are authors from VA. Calamity of Souls is Baldacci’s 50th novel and a different premise than his other books. Cosby’s mystery work can be a bit graphic but if that’s ok then recommend both Blacktop Wasteland and All The Sinners Bleed. Going to read Razorblade Tears next. I believe all 3 have been purchased by movie studios.
A couple of other rock bios that I recently read which I recommend: Wild Tales by Graham Nash and Been So Long by Jorma Kaukonen.

[Augie]

11 minutes ago, Mr Info said:

Saw Baldacci interviewed by SA Cosby at our local theater. Both are authors from VA. Calamity of Souls is Baldacci’s 50th novel and a different premise than his other books. Cosby’s mystery work can be a bit graphic but if that’s ok then recommend both Blacktop Wasteland and All The Sinners Bleed. Going to read Razorblade Tears next. I believe all 3 have been purchased by movie studios.
A couple of other rock bios that I recently read which I recommend: Wild Tales by Graham Nash and Been So Long by Jorma Kaukonen.

 

I’ve read a bunch of Baldacci’s other stuff, which is why this one stood out so much. There is some meat to this one. 

 

 

.

Edited June 15 by Augie

[TBBills Fan]

You guys can read?  

[TheyCallMeAndy]

Just finished “Ready Player Two” and started “Fourth Wing”

 

Fourth Wing is phenomenal so far. 

[Augie]

I just finished A Calamity of Souls by Baldacci. It was by far the best thing I have read of his. Virginia was still in the deep, sad South in the 60’s. It’s hard to believe it was in my lifetime. 

 

I was reading it at lunch and a Black guy sitting next to me asks “what are you reading?”  I told him it was about a Black guy accused of killing a wealthy old white couple in the 60’s in Virginia, so basically racism. I couldn’t believe that was happening in my sheltered lifetime. We talked and he was a few years younger than me. He said back then you were on your bike with your friends, just like me. It was a brief but very cool little talk. Nothing was dismissed. 

 

If you see the Baldacci name and hate it, this is not entirely different, but it is certainly deeper.  

 

 

 

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Edited June 26 by Augie

[TheyCallMeAndy]

On 6/22/2024 at 4:43 PM, TheyCallMeAndy said:

Just finished “Ready Player Two” and started “Fourth Wing”

 

Fourth Wing is phenomenal so far. 

Finished the 500 page Fourth Wing in 2 weeks.

 

It was outstanding. 

[Augie]

10 minutes ago, TheyCallMeAndy said:

Finished the 500 page Fourth Wing in 2 weeks.

 

It was outstanding. 

 

It’s funny, but when I got into real estate I started always keeping a book in the car because you never knew when you’d have some dead time between appointments. I would also take the book into a restaurant and read at lunch every day. Now I’m retired, but I never bring the book in the house. I just sit at the bar and read at lunch. 

 

It would take me a lot of lunches to finish a 500 page book. 

[Mike in Horseheads]

25 minutes ago, Augie said:

 

It’s funny, but when I got into real estate I started always keeping a book in the car because you never knew when you’d have some dead time between appointments. I would also take the book into a restaurant and read at lunch every day. Now I’m retired, but I never bring the book in the house. I just sit at the bar and read at lunch. 

 

It would take me a lot of lunches to finish a 500 page book. 

Not if you drink long enough at the bar.

[Augie]

Just now, Mike in Horseheads said:

Not if you drink long enough at the bar.

 

Oh, I do drink a lot, they usually deliver my Arnold Palmer with unsweetened tea about the time I land on a stool. And they keep bringing them. Depending upon how far from home I am, I’ll often make a pit stop before going out into Atlanta traffic. You never know. 🤷‍♂️

[TheyCallMeAndy]

46 minutes ago, Augie said:

 

It’s funny, but when I got into real estate I started always keeping a book in the car because you never knew when you’d have some dead time between appointments. I would also take the book into a restaurant and read at lunch every day. Now I’m retired, but I never bring the book in the house. I just sit at the bar and read at lunch. 

 

It would take me a lot of lunches to finish a 500 page book. 

Usually takes me a while to finish a book that long, but dang it was good!

[Orlando Buffalo]

On 4/22/2024 at 3:54 PM, DD4Bills said:

Recently finished "Persuader" (a Jack Reacher novel), which I believe is the book that Season 3 of the show will be based on. Currently reading "Burn Book" by Kara Swisher, a long time tech reporter since the early days of the internet. The book basically dishes on all of the one-time wonderboys of the tech world who are now by and large a bunch of d-cks.

 

After that, I have the "3 World Problem" trilogy on deck...not sure yet if I'll read them all back-to-back or take a break with something a bit less dense in between.

I just read persuader also, which I think works well for the show, lots of places to stop an episode. I read mostly fluff unless my wife tells something historical is good, I have read all the Reacher books, all the James Patterson books, all the Preston and Childs books, and all the Harlan Coben books. Not one serious thought throughout all of it but it is nice to relax the brain before sleeping. My son is actually the most prolific reader I have ever met, in middle school he reads so many books that they had to stop recording his on the class wall, I believe because some other parents stated he couldn't have read them all.  

 

Red rising and storm light archives are two series he has recently read that he says are well done series.