Time for a new book - any suggestions?

[The AD]

I've been reading Agatha Christie mysteries lately for candy. They're usually entertaining and easy reads.

[dookeyXXX]

INHERENT VICE
I finally finished Thomas Pynchon’s stoner detective noirvel.
Not quite sure how I feel about it. It took me several attempts to read, having started it way back when it was first published, stalling out about 50 pages in, then putting it aside. I recently (a few months back) watched PT Anderson’s cinematic adaptation, which was interesting if only for its faux Tarantino vibe.
It prompted me to pick the book back up and I got 75% through it over Thanksgiving and then forgot about finishing it til now.
It’s an absurdly complex narrative featuring way too many characters to keep track of and ultimately the resolution is a bit vague and slightly unsatisfactory.
In many ways it feels like a cheap knockoff of Hiassen and Leonard, crossed with The Big Lebowski.
The film made it all seem like a stoner’s fever dream, but the book comes off more straightforward, though its aftertaste is somewhat akin to a fading marijuana haze of confusion and ennui, which might have been Pynchon’s end goal after all.

To be fair, my experience with TP is limited to The Crying of Lot 49, which similarly I started reading, lost interest/got confused by the elaborate plot, stopped reading, and then revisited/restarted years later. I dug that book more, even though both mine similar territory.


PS
I know this book has been mentioned before, but due to the ever wonky search function, I couldn’t find anything of the sort.

YMMV in regards to enjoyment; I dug parts of it, but also found it unnecessarily convoluted and it ended with too many loose strings and unresolved elements for my taste.

[schindlerpiste]

[Danno]

The Three Body Problem has been mentioned a few times in here and was on my list but I haven't read it. Just saw that Netflix is coming out with a series this week.

[dookeyXXX]

Latest acquisitions:

[The Reverend Floater]

If you're looking for pure fun, with good laughs and a funny plot, check out Starter Villain. I'm almost done and enjoying it immensely.

https://us.macmillan.com/books/97807...startervillain

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[dookeyXXX]

If you're looking for pure fun, with good laughs and a funny plot, check out Starter Villain. I'm almost done and enjoying it immensely.

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Nice.
I just read about that book earlier this week as the author was referenced by another author I dig (or in a book review I was reading, I forget…).

You might wanna check this one out while you’re at it:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soon_I_Will_Be_Invincible

[The Reverend Floater]

Listened to No Country for Old Men on a 16 hour solo drive over the past two days. I'd read it before and also seen the movie.

Goddamn, Cormac McCarthy can fucking write.

Listening to it puts another angle on it for me...I can think a bit more about what is being said and it felt like I was exploring it under a whole different light.

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[carlh]

First book is pretty good and a fun read. The second starts out slow weird and depressing but redeems itself at the very end, not sure if I can recommend. It was not helpful for my mental state while reading. Debating if I read the third or not.

The Three Body Problem has been mentioned a few times in here and was on my list but I haven't read it. Just saw that Netflix is coming out with a series this week.

[oldnew_guy]

Listened to No Country for Old Men on a 16 hour solo drive over the past two days. I'd read it before and also seen the movie.

Goddamn, Cormac McCarthy can fucking write.

Listening to it puts another angle on it for me...I can think a bit more about what is being said and it felt like I was exploring it under a whole different light.

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Hmmm, I was going to start a thread on whole albums I should be listening to on a cross country drive, but maybe I need to be thinking about audiobooks....

[The Reverend Floater]

Hmmm, I was going to start a thread on whole albums I should be listening to on a cross country drive, but maybe I need to be thinking about audiobooks....

It's the only way I roll on all day drives. Keeps me awake, interested and the day goes by quickly.

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[The Reverend Floater]

NCFOM question:

Is Anton CMC's take on God? This time around some things and quotes hit me.

Anton's devotion to chance.
His indifference to life, violence, pain and love.
His speeches to the dying.

These quotes:

I dont know what I ever done, she said. I truly dont.

Chigurh nodded. Probably you do, he said. There's a reason for everything.

----------

Even a nonbeliever might find it useful to model himself after God. Very useful, in fact.

-------------

It's not about knowin where you are. It's about thinkin you got there without takin anything with you. Your notions about startin over. Or anybody's. You don't start over. That's what it's about. Every step you take is forever. You can't make it go away. None of it. You understand what I'm sayin?

You think when you wake up in the mornin yesterday don't count. But yesterday is all that does count. What else is there? Your life is made out of the days it's made out of. Nothin else. You might think you could run away and change your name and I don't know what all. Start over. And then one mornin you wake up and look at the ceilin and guess who's layin there?

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[evasive_MT]

I’ve read quite a few books on the Apollo program- most of the astronaut and flight director memoirs, and a number of histories. This was very different, and the new perspective was fascinating. It was more about developing the systems and technology that underlay the whole effort.

[Meadow Skipper]

Haven’t read it yet, but this article makes Dawson’s new book sound interesting. And hey, skiing and such.
https://www.aspendailynews.com/news/...ea36bd85e.html

[bennymac]

Fantastic book if you like this genre. The Guardian reviewer said “one of the finest non-fiction books I’ve ever read”

Skip the authors note and the prologue unless you want the plot spoiled - skip right to chapter 1.

[The AD]

I noticed "A Gentleman in Moscow" by Amor Towles has now been made into a TV series starring Ewan McGregor, so might be a good time to read the book. I just read it a couple months ago and enjoyed it.

[yeahman]

Haven’t read it yet, but this article makes Dawson’s new book sound interesting. And hey, skiing and such.
https://www.aspendailynews.com/news/...ea36bd85e.html

Ordered that the other day, looks very interesting. Also pre-ordered Beth Rodden's memoir A Light Through the Cracks.

[Brownski]

Sebastian Junger’s new book is worth picking up. Quick read but powerful

http://www.sebastianjunger.com/in-my-time-of-dying

[yeahman]

^^That does look interesting.

Following up on my post above, I thoroughly enjoyed the books by Lou Dawson and Beth Rodden. I'm a sucker for climbing memoirs. (And I was surprised to learn that Dawson was a serious climber BITD. Skiing almost seemed like an afterthought in his memoir.)

[Caucasian Asian]

I just read The Darkest White by Eric Blehm while out camping. I picked up that and The Last Season after hearing him on the Blister podcast.

Working in a slopeside ski/snowboard shop in the early '00s, the disappearance and then loss of Craig was huge. I didn't know much about his early life, but I'm glad I got a chance to see what made him tick.

[The Reverend Floater]

Sebastian Junger’s new book is worth picking up. Quick read but powerful

http://www.sebastianjunger.com/in-my-time-of-dying

Agreed. One of his best works.

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[Hood26]

I have fallen right into Follet’s Pilars of Earth.

Characters that are interesting and plenty of historical nerdiness.

600 pages deep in less than a week. It’s a page turner.

[The AD]

I have fallen right into Follet’s Pilars of Earth.

Characters that are interesting and plenty of historical nerdiness.

600 pages deep in less than a week. It’s a page turner.

It was great. I read the second one, too, but haven't gotten to the others in the series.

[evasive_MT]

Haven’t opened it yet, but I’m optimistic.

[ötzi]

Sebastian Junger’s new book is worth picking up. Quick read but powerful

http://www.sebastianjunger.com/in-my-time-of-dying

Man I had one of those and I didn't see shit. He saw his Dad and got a bestseller out of the deal, what a ripoff.