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  1. In Memory of LAJ_FETT: Please share your remembrances and condolences HERE

Amph What book are you reading right now?

Discussion in 'Community' started by droideka27, Aug 31, 2005.

  1. Snokers

    Snokers Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Jul 8, 2015
    Yeah, I live in Scotland so we definitely get the traditional winters [face_laugh] that's a good idea actually!
     
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  2. AbsolX

    AbsolX Jedi Knight star 2

    Registered:
    Dec 30, 2015
    I actually just picked up Bloodline from target today, and I'm reading it.
     
  3. rumsmuggler

    rumsmuggler Chosen One star 7

    Registered:
    Aug 31, 2000
    Foundations of Psychiatric Mental Health Nursing.
     
  4. LAJ_FETT

    LAJ_FETT Tech Admin (2007-2023) - She Held Us Together star 10 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    May 25, 2002
    That sounds like a good cure for insomnia to me..
     
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  5. rumsmuggler

    rumsmuggler Chosen One star 7

    Registered:
    Aug 31, 2000
    Probably is, if you aren't actively learning it like I am.
     
  6. Professor Moriarty

    Professor Moriarty Jedi Grand Master star 5

    Registered:
    Sep 27, 1999
    'Lost Girls: An Unsolved American Mystery' by Robert Kolker.

    It's about the Long Island serial killings they discovered and linked together back in 2010, but have not made any headway on at all it seems. :(
     
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  7. SWpants

    SWpants Force Ghost star 5

    Registered:
    Oct 28, 2004
    Farscape: The Illustrated Companion Season 4
     
  8. Chancellor_Ewok

    Chancellor_Ewok Chosen One star 7

    Registered:
    Nov 8, 2004
    A Study in Scarlet
     
  9. Havac

    Havac Former Moderator star 7 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Sep 29, 2005
    Public Enemies: America's Greatest Crime Wave and the Birth of the FBI, 1933-34, by Bryan Burrough. Burrough's book covers the period in which the FBI vaulted into prominence, going from an obscure, redundant minor federal agency without a clear purpose, in a nation with no notion of federal law enforcement, to a household name firmly established as the preeminent national law enforcement agency. It did that largely through an astonishing profusion of bank-robbers and kidnappers. Burrough's initial fascination was born of the fact that all the most famous thirties outlaws operated and were killed or captured within the space of about two years, with many of their escapades, and the FBI effort against them, overlapping. John Dillinger, Baby Face Nelson, Bonnie and Clyde, Pretty Boy Floyd, the Barker Gang, Machine Gun Kelly -- all burst onto the national scene near-simultaneously. The result is a fascinating, lively read that follows both the colorful criminals and the FBI's efforts to catch them, efforts that were almost unbelievably bumbling but in which the FBI eventually honed itself into a professional, competent force.

    The book has a couple drawbacks. One is that Burrough's insistence on sticking as tightly to chronological order as possible emphasizes how many things were going on at once, but tends to aggravate, rather than alleviate, the chaos of its huge cast and five or so plotlines running at once. Burrough also embodies some of the weaknesses I tend to see in journalists writing nonfiction, which is a love of immediate prose and as much quotation and detail as possible -- for a book about events eighty years ago, it is surprisingly full of quoted dialogue -- but a limited ability to pull back and make a larger picture clear, and an inability to make me completely confident in their handling of sources. I often get the feeling that the love of a juicy quote or you-are-there detail can overwhelm their impartial evaluation. Burrough especially doesn't help by often stating immersive but ultimately unnecessary details, like who was sitting where in the car and what role each person had in the robbery, and then including some footnote that calls into question whether the guy he just definitively stated was there and driving was even involved in the robbery at all. Where a historian might hold back from stating anything definitive without better evidence, journalists (and certainly Burrough) seem a bit more likely to make the jump and invest in believing in one version of a story or another. That said, it's a highly involving, deeply researched read that does a great job of consolidating and presenting a lot of information and debunking several old myths (I particularly enjoyed Burrough's obvious contempt for the romanticized version of Bonnie and Clyde created in the sixties). I'd strongly recommend it.
     
  10. Ramza

    Ramza Administrator Emeritus star 9 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Jul 13, 2008
    Of course, the flip side of all that bank robber pursuit was that the FBI did very little to address the far more serious and pervasive problem of organized crime until the Kennedy administration more or less forced Hoover's hand. </obligatory observation based on a book what I just read ayup>
     
  11. Juke Skywalker

    Juke Skywalker Force Ghost star 5

    Registered:
    Mar 27, 2004
    Excellent!

    I actually find that my reading tastes vary by season. In the summer I tend to lean sci-fi and action, and in the fall/winter I'm fantasy and historical fiction.
     
  12. Sarge

    Sarge Chosen One star 10

    Registered:
    Oct 4, 1998
    Warlords & Wastrels by Julia Knight, 3rd in her Duelists trilogy. Less epic than the first two, more personal, and slower paced. Not as exciting or interesting, IMO.
     
  13. LAJ_FETT

    LAJ_FETT Tech Admin (2007-2023) - She Held Us Together star 10 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    May 25, 2002
    About halfway through The Autobiography of James T. Kirk, which is recently out in pb here in the UK. This isn't too bad if you're a Trek fan - I'm enjoying it.
     
  14. Grievousdude

    Grievousdude Jedi Grand Master star 5

    Registered:
    Jan 27, 2013
    Finished Shadow's Edge and I am now onto the last in the Night Angel Trilogy Beyond the Shadows.
     
  15. VadersLaMent

    VadersLaMent Chosen One star 10

    Registered:
    Apr 3, 2002
  16. LAJ_FETT

    LAJ_FETT Tech Admin (2007-2023) - She Held Us Together star 10 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    May 25, 2002
    Saw that in today's papers. We don't have B&N here in the UK but maybe Waterstones could grab the idea.
     
  17. SWpants

    SWpants Force Ghost star 5

    Registered:
    Oct 28, 2004
    Geez.
    I find that ridiculous. It's really not going to help them IMO.

    I'm reading Han Solo and the Lost Legacy by Brian Daley as well as The Name of God is Mercy (an interview with Pope Francis)
     
  18. soitscometothis

    soitscometothis Chosen One star 6

    Registered:
    Jul 11, 2003
    Just started Ship of Magic by Robin Hobb.
     
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  19. Chyntuck

    Chyntuck Force Ghost star 5

    Registered:
    Jul 11, 2014
    Juke Skywalker I just came back from a bookstore where I bought all seven volumes of Maurice Druon's The Accursed Kings on the recommendation of a historian friend who said, and I quote, that "it's among the best bits of historical fiction you'll ever read, it combines being a series of enthralling novels and a very well-documented depiction of medieval France". I probably won't get started on it for a while to give a personal opinion, but I thought you might be interested to have a look and add it to your list :)
     
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  20. Juke Skywalker

    Juke Skywalker Force Ghost star 5

    Registered:
    Mar 27, 2004
    Chyntuck, that's awesome! Thanks for both thinking of me and for the rec. I'll definitely look into it, but I'm already intrigued. And please do keep me posted whenever you get started on it.

    I've stuck with Skyborn (163 pages in). It is, for all intents and purposes, Harry Potter, though less skillfully written.
     
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  21. ShaneP

    ShaneP Ex-Mod Officio star 7 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Mar 26, 2001
    A Revolution In Favor of Government: Origins of the U.S. Constitution and the Making of the American State by Max M. Edling.
     
  22. PCCViking

    PCCViking Chosen One star 10

    Registered:
    Jun 12, 2014
    X-Wing: Iron Fist
     
  23. VadersLaMent

    VadersLaMent Chosen One star 10

    Registered:
    Apr 3, 2002
    Isaac Asimov's Wizards, a short story collection from various authors.
     
  24. VadersLaMent

    VadersLaMent Chosen One star 10

    Registered:
    Apr 3, 2002
    The Sith Lords by Paul Kemp. Just a couple chapters in, it's quite good.
     
  25. Sarge

    Sarge Chosen One star 10

    Registered:
    Oct 4, 1998
    The Rose and the Thorn by Mike Sullivan, second prequel to his Riyria books. His writing is getting better, and it's good to reacquaint with younger versions of favorite characters.