The Idiot Board Readers Corner - General Discussion

Re: The Idiot Board Book Club

Oh didn't see this, I actually have read all of the Dark Tower. I did end up picking up Under the Dome because somehow I missed that one after kind of breezing through King during all my traveling. It wasn't bad, but definitely didn't hold a candle to the Stand, which is of a similar tone (sort of).

 

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Just finished reading The Twelve by Justin Cronin; sequel to The Passage.

Mehhhhh; disjointed and dissapointing.

Many of the characters were boring.

 

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I've read the Dark Tower series by King and in the beginning I was enthralled, but after Wizard and Glass (painful, IMHO) and the time between the subsequent novels releases the series lost some of it's luster. I've also read Under the Dome, and while it had a similar tone and I enjoyed it, you're right it didn't hold a candle to the Stand.

Lately I've been reading John Green's novels. I've finished both Looking for Alaska and An Abundance of Katherines. I'm currently working on his third novel, Paper Towns, and overall I'm really enjoying his work. I know his writing is geared to young adults, but some of the themes he touches on you don't normally find in the young adult genre. I guess what I'm trying to say is that Green doesn't pander to the lowest common denominator in the genre, rather he believes his readers are intelligent and treats them as such, as well as mixing in a good amount of humor while dealing with some pretty heavy subjects.

He also has a couple of novellas out there if you're willing to do a little searching on the web, Zombiecorn and it's sequel The War for Banks Island. Now these are not written nearly as well as his novels and Green himself acknowledges that he believes them to be horrible, (and quite frankly they may never have been edited), but I found them a fun quick read with a slightly different twist on the Zombie genre.

 

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I was given an iPad Mini for Christmas and just finished reading American Sniper by Chris Kyle on it. He's a Navy SEAL with the most confirmed kills of any U.S. sniper ever. It's a decent book. Very interesting guy and a hell of a soldier. It's a fast read and it's broken up into smaller stories in such a way that you can read a few pages, set it down, and come back to it without having to wonder what was going on.

I really like reading on the iPad because I can read in bed while the fiance sleeps without having the lights on, so I'd like to get some suggestions for some good books from you guys.

I don't like novels. I find that, more often than not, I just don't care about the characters. I'm a big fan of Bill Bryson, I've read a few of George Carlin's books. I like funny or serious, witty, fast reads. The David Cross book that someone mentioned in this thread not long ago sounds perfect.

Thanks for any ideas.

 

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I love Bryson too, and I think Sarah Vowell, Jon Ronson, and Mary Roach are similar writers where you learn about something interesting and unusual but not in the usual dry academic voice - they're all funny and have conversational writing, and are good storytellers. Assassination Vacation is my favorite Vowell book. All of Ronson's books are great - The Psychopath Test, Them The Men Who Stare at Goats - and he just came out with a new one that I haven't read yet. I like Stiff and Spook the best out of Roach's books.

 

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Mark Kurlansky's "Cod, a World History" is a fascinating read. He wrote a similar book "Salt". Both tell the stories of the impact each of these resources have had throughout history. For light and humorous reading, I like David Sedaris. The stories are short, brutally honest and in most cases, hilarious, though some have elements of sadness.

If you're looking for something more substantial, "The Great Influenza" is a fascinating read about the flu pandemic of 1918. The first 100 pages or so are a little dry as he explains the history of medical practice in the US, but the saga of the pandemic is gripping.

 

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I would second the nomination of Roach, but would also say that i found Bonk to be a lot more fun that Stiff. If this sort of amusing-documentary approach appeals to you, pick up The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat by Oliver Sachs if you haven't already.

If you have the least bit of finance or economic bent, you'll like Michael Lewis a lot. No one writes about finance in a more accessible and amusing fashion. His best is Liar's Poker, but it's about the 1980s and thus somewhat dated (which could be a plus or a minus). More recently, The Big Short and Boomerang are both great and well worth reading to understand current economic affairs.

More seriously, Last Call by Daniel Okrent is a good read about Prohibition, but it's a bit lengthy.

 

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Thanks for all the great ideas. You guys have definitely given me a bunch of books, as well as authors, to check out.

 

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Oliver Sacks' new book "Hallucinations" is out and in my reading queue.

 

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Brandon Sanderson - The Way of Kings. Apparently I'm a little late to the party with this one, but it's quality work nonetheless. This is the first book in an epic fantasy series, anticipated to be 10 books long. Sanderson's worldbuilding is second to none, and the most impressive element of it is that he does it with relatively sparse prose. There's no time here for tedious descriptions of irrelevant scenery; the plot moves quickly and the action sequences are frequent and executed well. The characters can be slightly one-dimensional / archetypal, although pains have been taken to avoid this and it doesn't distract from the story. Overall, the Way of Kings is a very good example of the genre.

 

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If you have ever wanted a great way to catalog your books, I suggest you head over to librarything.com and start typing in ISBNs.

 

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Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn. Mystery books are a mixed bag. They're typically good, meh, or outright contemptible. Ms. Flynn has the distinction of writing three absolutely killer mysteries in a row. This woman inhabits a different mindset than the Pattersons or Baldaccis or Cornwells. There is extra care in her plots, extra thought in her characters. There is believable ugliness not for the sake of shock. If Gone Girl has a flaw it is the prose, which is a step down from her more minimalist approach. What it loses there it makes up for in twists and characterization. It's the old story of a woman going missing in an apparent kidnapping and her husband is left to blame. What sets it apart is the main character, Amy. Every chapter more layers of this onion get peeled back. Without saying much because it will spoil the plot, let's just say Flynn writes the best female characters ever. Fuck Jane Austen. A week later I'm still thinking about the ending with this nauseated feeling in my stomach. This work is so psychotic and freaky it actually disturbed me. That is rare in such a dreadful genre. Also check out Flynn's Dark Places and Sharp Objects. Both particularly nasty, clever works. I keep asking myself what the hell messed this chick up in childhood.

NOS4A2 by Joe Hill. A vampire in a cool car steals children away to a place called Christmas Land. Reeks of Stephen King doesn't it? If you put King's name over Hill's, you'd have no idea the latter wrote it. Hill always reminded me of King writing as Bachman. Existential (I hate that fucking word), brooding, tighter prose. Horns, his last book, was written with intent, the prose written with purpose. This is just story kind of jizzed out onto the page. It's not a bad story, but the execution is completely shitty. Which is a shame because it's kind of clever and horror writing needs a mature hero. Will re-read Horns to get the bad taste out of my mouth.

 

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Joe Hill is Joe Hill King, my friend. I like how he gets that Bachman feel, I totally agree with you on that, but his stories are not just his dad's stories retold.

 

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For something lighter, but very well written, check out the Dresden Files series. It's supernatural mystery stuff, with excellent characters and great cultural references. The main character bills himself as "a private investigator, and Chicago's only Professional Wizard". There are 14 so far, and I think he's bringing the series up to 20, at one, sometimes two a year.

 

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I just wanted to second this. It is by far the best urban fantasy series out there, the books are fantastic. The main series is going to be 20 books, with a apocalyptic trilogy to cap it off at the end. Unfortunately, he has slowed down. It used to be a book year, but the last couple have been more like 1.5-2 years in between. Still way better than GRRM!

If you like True Blood (the show, not the books, but even the books) give these a shot. Give them a shot even if you don't like True Blood.

 

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The Ku Klux Klan in Mississippi-A History

Holy fucking shit. I knew Mississippi was ass backwards in race relations, but this really drove it home.

There was a joke I heard years ago that went along these lines:

A black man was found shot 38 times in Mississippi. The sheriff called it "The damnedest case of suicide I've ever seen."


It turns out it wasn't a joke. Shit like that really happened on a regular basis and the "Joke" was based on a real quote from a real sheriff.

What's even scarier is that attitude is still prevalent in rural Mississippi. My best friend down there was a black man and when he and I would go to the store, I would get the stink eye from white folks . It's something very foreign to someone that hasn't been through it...blacks and whites don't co-mingle. Period. I got invited to a Klan rally down there and told the guy to go fuck himself and lost a lot of "Friends." Apparently I was a race traitor.

Anyways, it's an interesting read if you've got a few hours to kill and want to venture into an alternate reality that should've died out 200 years ago.

 

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This sounded really familiar to me, and then I realized this character was featured in a short story anthology I listened to on audiobook last year (<a class="postlink" href="http://www.amazon.com/Strange-Brew-P-N-Elrod/dp/0312383363" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.amazon.com/Strange-Brew-P-N- ... 0312383363</a>). I had no idea he was part of a larger series. Thanks for the heads up!

 

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I have devoured the Dresden Files. I'm on book seven and it's been five days. They are fun, even if a little formulaic. It's not exactly well-written prose or dialog (cheesy in parts), but it's easy and fun to read.

 

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I am halfway through reading The Happiness Hypothesis by Jonathan Haidt.
Excellent book that offers great insight.
I highly recommend it.