What are you reading?

[Gob]

Gob, which TV Rebus was good and which shite? I'm wondering, because I've watched one series and planned not to bother with the other - but I'm curious if I watched the good one (in your opinion).

Good.

Not good

John Hannah was to clean, young and good looking to play Rebus.

Just read;







Now reading;

[Guinevere]

Unfortunately the Rebus series aren't available through streaming Netflix --you have to order the discs. I suppose I'll just stick to the books. I've skipped around a bit and trying to get my hands on the earlier books hasn't been easy. After starting towards the end of the series I've enjoyed going back to getting a better understanding of some of the background.

Gob, have to read the Kurt Wallander series -- I'm finding those pretty good also.

[Gob]

Ah, tried a couple of those, didn't really get into them.

Stuart McBride (see above) is writing some very good, but very vicious police procedurals these days.

[loCAtek]

Re-reading some Amy Tan on the BART; 'Joy Luck Club' and a collection of SF stories.

Before that, was Diamond Age by Neal Stephenson, also a re-read of what I have in my personal library.


....constantly re-reading my IASFM.

[BoSoxGal]

I watched the Hannah series - really liked it. I guess I won't compare and won't know better.

Planning on watching Wallander, as I really like Branagh.

[Jarlaxle]

I'm hooked on Eric Flint's Ring of Fire series...re-read all the earlier books, then read the two latest ones: 1635: The Eastern Front and 1636: The Saxon Uprising. Superb series.

[Andrew D]

What did you think of it, Guinevere? As it happens, my wife got it for me "by accident" not long after you posted.

[Sean]

Tappy is one of the best known roadies in the business and doesn't hold back with his tales of sex, not too many drugs and rock 'n' roll.

Definitely one for your music biography series Strop...

[Gob]

Thanks Sean, I'll get onto it!

Tried reading;



Didn't like it one bit.

Just finished;

The plan was simple. Go to America. Buy a second-hand car. Drive coast-to-coast without giving any money to The Man™. What could possibly go wrong?

Dismayed by the relentless onslaught of faceless American chains muscling in where local businesses had once thrived, Dave Gorman set off on the ultimate American road trip - in search of the true, independent heart of the U S of A. He would eat cherry pie from local diners, re-fuel at dusty gas stations and stock up on supplies from Mom and Pop's grocery store. At least that was the idea. But when did you last see an independent gas station?

Gamely, Dave beds down in a Colorado trailer park, sleeps in an Oregon forest treehouse, and even spends Thanksgiving with a Mexican family in Kansas. But when his trip mutates into an odyssey of near-epic proportions and he finds himself being threatened at gun point in Mississippi, Dave starts to worry about what's going to break down next. The car... or him?

Enjoyable, proves what good folk (most) Americans are.

Just about to start;

[Guinevere]

Andrew, Joseph Ellis is not my favorite and the book was OK. I have a large collection of Adams books and he didn't shed any new light on the subject for me. That being said, I would still read it. I just won't read it again.

[Andrew D]

I had largely the same reaction, Guinevere.

All in all, though, I think that Ellis is a mixed bag. I enjoyed Founding Brothers much more than First Family.

And the best way to read Ellis, I think, is in conjunction with other works on the same subject. (Founding Brothers, for example, works well with Stewart's The Summer of 1787.) I probably wouldn't use Ellis's works as my primary source of understanding -- with the caveat that I have not yet read all of them -- but they do help flesh out the complexities which are why I love history in the first place.

I find Jefferson endlessy fascinating, so I want to read Ellis's American Sphinx. And I think that his Passionate Sage might shed more light on Adams than does First Family. Unfortunately, I do not possess either of them.

Hey, a future of potentially interesting reading, right? Beats all hell out of the alternative ....

[Andrew D]

I have a large collection of Adams books ....

Which three (give or take) would you most highly recommend?

And do you have any recommendations about John Quincy Adams?

[Guinevere]

I have a large collection of Adams books ....

Which three (give or take) would you most highly recommend?

And do you have any recommendations about John Quincy Adams?

At the top of the list is David McCullough's John Adams --- an absolutely fabulous book, DM is just a national treasure, and his scholarship is unparalleled. That he has close ties to Boston and the South Shore where so much of the Adamses lives played out helps that immensely.

The Adams Women, by Paul Nagel. A look at the women behind the men.

Those Who Love, by Irving Stone. A well-researched novel about John and Abigail, and probably the first "grown-up" book I ever read about them.

Any of the various collections of letters between John and Abigail. I'd have to check my shelves at home to figure out which ones I have -- could be The Book of Abigail and John, or Dearest Friend.

I do not have any recommendations about John Quincy, although he is definitely wirth some time and effort to get to know better. I've been obsessed with Abigail since I was a little girl and read a biography of her in 4th grade. It thrills me to no end that I live within 30 minutes of where she lived the vast majority of her life. If you've never been to either the Adams farm, or Peacefield (both part of the Adams National Historical Park), or even to the teeny home she was raised in, they are all worth the trip.

[Guinevere]

I just grabbed this, on Kindle, during the Black Monday ebook sale:



and this:



I cannot resist books for under $2.00, especially when I don't have to find room for them on my overflowing shelves!!

This just came from the library:

[BoSoxGal]

Argh! I knew there was ONE place I wanted to go for CyberMonday - thanks for the reminder, Guin. Thankfully, they are having a Cyberweek sale on Amazon!

[Jarlaxle]

Just started A Game Of Inches: The Stories Behind The Innovations That Shaped Baseball by Peter Morris.

[Gob]

Gob, which TV Rebus was good and which shite? I'm wondering, because I've watched one series and planned not to bother with the other - but I'm curious if I watched the good one (in your opinion).

Rebus reincarnated...

A police sniffer dog caught a drugs courier carrying heroin with a street value of almost £100,000 at Aberdeen railway station, a court has heard.

The dog, called Rebus, followed Carl Crellin to a taxi after "passive scanning" in August last year.

First offender Crellin, from Liverpool, admitted being concerned in the supply of heroin when he appeared at the High Court in Edinburgh.

Judge Lord Bannatyne deferred sentence until next month.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-n ... d-17099749

[dales]

What am I reading?

At present a made in China computer screen.

[BoSoxGal]

David Copperfield & Ordinary Injustice: How America Holds Court

[Crackpot]

I am reading what I'm typing