Kevinmd
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Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir
What Are You Reading?
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Jevverrett
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Esther. I’ve been doing a small group study in it. Smaller book, very interesting historically.
Meh!
Cheers,
RR
Yup. Another Mike Hammer adventure!
Cheers,
RR
Used the weather time out here in NC to read a book I've been meaning to get to for a few years (although not as long as the book has been out, which was 2003); 'Hitler's Scientists' by John Cornwell (Penguin); good intro overview for any interested in that side of World War II.
That's the last one for a while.
Cheers,
RR
I first read this when it came out and have just re-acquainted myself with it.
What a totally amazing assembly of accounts, stories, history, digressions (and sometimes Bryson's digressions have digressions!), which are ostensibly to relate to how the different rooms in our houses came to be what we know today. There is much British reference here, as Bryson is using his own British home as a jumping off point. Perhaps a bit on the rambling side but it keeps it from being a dry read.
Extensively researched (per the bibliography), Bryson has outdone himself once again in only the way he can, with his lighthearted and entertaining style. Thoroughly enjoyable and highly recommended!
Cheers,
RR
Another Bryson tome that I read when it first came out. Went back for a second look, and while some of it (actually a lot) is highly technical and made my eyeballs roll back in their sockets, it's quite informative and interesting. Kinda scary too!
Cheers,
RR
Just re-read this for the umpteenth time. It never gets old. Bryson at his best. It's like I can quote whole passages from heart!
In any case, once I get stuck into an author I tend to follow them until I'm burned out. I have a good few of his works to go before that happens, and yes, I've read them all before!
Cheers,
RR
Right now I am ready memoir by a Sargent in Napoleon's Army of the retreat from Moscow.
That sounds cheery.
You're right on the cheeriness part. It is something else.
Another Bryson fave that I must have read a dozen times. Just revisited it to my delight, and have to say it just may be the cheekiest travel account he's ever written!
Cheers,
RR
Just now finishing up reading Bill Bryson's "Notes From A Small Island". I must have read this a dozen times already, but not for several years now. It's his account of traveling around Britain in the mid-90's, and I'd forgotten how hilarious this was!
It's Bryson at his cheeky best, taking the piss out of everyday occurrences - no doubt exaggerated and embellished in many instances - but having been to Britain's green and pleasant lands some dozen times now I can say with accuracy that he's spot on in many of his observations. Some of his writing makes me LOL for real! Highly recommended.
Cheers,
RR
Bourbon&smoke
Active member
Reading River Vikings. 80 pages in and it's quite interesting....written by an archeologist recapping the links between Vikings in England in late 850-900....and possible silk road trades with Islamic caliphate in 700-800's.
Not a lot of this taught... at least in Rhode Island public schools!
Not a lot of this taught... at least in Rhode Island public schools!
If any here are interested in ancient Rome, two books I've just finished:
INFAMY by Jerry Toner looks at Roman law and practice in three sections (Republic, Empire, and a short section on influences today). Toner is always an interesting writer, although general audiences would probably enjoy his earlier work on Roman slavery (How to Manage Your Slaves) more. However, avoid Pantheon by Jorg Rupke (translated by David M.D. Richardson) unless you enjoye in-depth discussions of religious theory (as opposed to theology, never mind Roman religious practices).
INFAMY by Jerry Toner looks at Roman law and practice in three sections (Republic, Empire, and a short section on influences today). Toner is always an interesting writer, although general audiences would probably enjoy his earlier work on Roman slavery (How to Manage Your Slaves) more. However, avoid Pantheon by Jorg Rupke (translated by David M.D. Richardson) unless you enjoye in-depth discussions of religious theory (as opposed to theology, never mind Roman religious practices).
Idlefellow
West of the East and East of the West
Yup. I'm on a Bryson kick. Currently re-reading his entire library.
The Road To Little Dribbling is certainly a fine travel account in the inimitable Bryson style of tongue-in-cheek irreverency, and at the same time a wealth of interesting accounts that have to do with history and much else. This one does not disappoint. However, I will observe that it doesn't quite have the "edge" that some of his prior works do. Still, I would recommend it in a heartbeat.
Cheers,
RR
Three fairly recent Nero Wolfe novels by Robert Goldsborough: 'The Battered Badge' 2018; 'Death of an Art Collector' 2019, and 'Trouble at the Brownstone' 2020.
As in many of these continuation novels, Goldsborough does the characters pretty accurately, even as he tries to vary some of the classic formulas of the Stout canon. If you read the originals mostly for the settings and characterizations, you are likely to enjoy these, especially the latter two. If you also like the better Wolfe mystery elements, then you might be disappointed in the first two (especially the first, IMO the weakest of the three). If you've tried several of his previous many tries (13?) and didn't like any of them, these probably won't change your mind.
As in many of these continuation novels, Goldsborough does the characters pretty accurately, even as he tries to vary some of the classic formulas of the Stout canon. If you read the originals mostly for the settings and characterizations, you are likely to enjoy these, especially the latter two. If you also like the better Wolfe mystery elements, then you might be disappointed in the first two (especially the first, IMO the weakest of the three). If you've tried several of his previous many tries (13?) and didn't like any of them, these probably won't change your mind.
