What Are You Reading?

[Toothpick]

Audiobooks date back to the early 1930’s. So it’s not some newfangled technology that grandpa hates just because it’s different than he’s used to.

What about ebooks? I suppose those don’t count either since they are not books by definition?

What about books in Braille? I can’t read braille so I’m gonna say they don’t count. Yeah so let’s just exclude the blind and illiterate.

Yeah you know what…only books written in English count, sorry y’all. Preferably books only made from hemp bark too. Well now that I think about it - Only books that I’ve read actually count in this thread. I’ll change the title soon.

 

[Whilliam]

Just finished "Zero Fail: The Rise and Fall of the Secret Service" by Carol Leonning. Intially great, but became a bit tedious as it began to read like "The Gang That Couldn't Shoot Straight." Nonetheless, it offered an illuminating look at how bureaucratic Washington works.

Now starting Pat Conroy's "The Prince of Tides." My former brother-in-law, who was a friend of Conroy's, dismissively referred to it as "Gone With The Shrimp." No matter. I'm in the mood for some Southern sentimentality.

 

[Fred D]

No, audio books do not count...sorry.
Audio books are not books.
Books are books.
One reads books. One does not listen to them.
Others may hold contrary views...

I read regular books, and love audio books as well. The audio books took some time to get used to because I wasn't used to them, but after a while I really enjoyed them. I can go cycling or walking and enjoy listening to a great book. Whichever format I am using, I'm still getting the same information or story, so I see no difference and disagree with your opinion, sorry.

 

[razorboi]

Audiobooks date back to the early 1930’s. So it’s not some newfangled technology that grandpa hates just because it’s different than he’s used to.
What about ebooks? I suppose those don’t count either since they are not books by definition?
What about books in Braille? I can’t read braille so I’m gonna say they don’t count. Yeah so let’s just exclude the blind and illiterate.
Yeah you know what…only books written in English count, sorry y’all. Preferably books only made from hemp bark too. Well now that I think about it - Only books that I’ve read actually count in this thread. I’ll change the title soon.

Why, if I didn't know better, I'd say you're being facetious.

Audio-books date to the 1930's?, as if that's some justification for bringing them into the fold. Well, type-set books date the to 1400's, those written by scriveners, even earlier. So, invoking the 1930's is not persuasive.
E-books are so similar to traditional books that they may be considered functionally equivalent. After all, most e-books simply present a book's text and images on a screen and the user "reads" them as he would a traditional book.
Books in Braille have always been considered books in every sense, except that they are read with the fingers instead of the eyes.
Now, if someone could create an e-book version of that...
So, we don't exclude the blind, but I think that, by definition, we exclude the illiterate! If you've found a way for the illiterate to read books, I'd love to hear of it.
Only books written in English? I dare say few folks here would be interested in discussing any other kind, but you are welcome to start a book thread in any foreign language in which you are fluent. If it's German, I could even contribute! Warum nicht?
And you should know, that books are not made from hemp bark. In fact, hemp doesn't even have a bark...more of a growl, when smoked.
And finally, in the end we learn that you really don't understand this thread at all. It's not even about what books you've read in the past. You may recall the O.P. specified: "What book or books are you reading right now?"

I was only half serious, or half kidding when I stated that audio books don't count. I see them as a close, but fundamentally different experience from reading. Others may see them as the same, and that's fine. Just as I may see no difference in shaving with an electric as with a straight razor. I mean, they both shave your face. Isn't it meaningless to make petty distinctions between techniques and technologies?

 

[MrSpeedy]

Finished up Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir (excellent) and currently reading The Queen's Gambit by Walter Tevis (also excellent).

 

[beginish]

Finished ‘Lanny’ by Max Porter, a very interesting, short novel about a unique kid, his family and nature. I also finished Asimov’s ‘Foundation’s Edge’ on audio and have moved on to ‘Foundation and Earth.’ Edge was excellent, but I’m not loving Earth. Asimov is boring me with his mansplaining of consciousness.

 

[JimP]

Now starting Pat Conroy's "The Prince of Tides." My former brother-in-law, who was a friend of Conroy's, dismissively referred to it as "Gone With The Shrimp." No matter. I'm in the mood for some Southern sentimentality.

The Prince of Tides (POT) is a tragically under rated book!! Pat Conroy will become known as one of our great authors as history develops. Each year I re-read all of his books. I think POT is up there with the best of literature with the plot, character development, multi-faceted story-telling and the way he weaves it all together in a wondrous tapestry of salt air and the old south.

 

[rcarrozza42]

Frank Herbert's "Dune". I've been putting off reading this book for 50 years so I thought I'd read it before the third attempt of bringing it to the screen. The book is as good as I have heard and I doubt if any video version can even remotely do it justice.

 

[AimlessWanderer]

My new order of fiction books landed yesterday, and I'm already halfway through this.

 

[Contact_vs_Feedback]

The Black Book - Orhan Pamuk

It's been a long time since I read a book with so many details of the background and I'm enjoying it so far.

 

[ByMyBeard]

Just started this one. Not something I would have picked up on my own, but it's quite enjoyable so far.

 

[dws]

Currently reading SPQR - Mary Beard

Took the advice of a few here and picked up a recently translated publishing of Crime and Punishment. Next on my list.

 

[ByMyBeard]

Any recommendations for a stand alone mystery novel? Also, thoughts on Alex Cross vs Jack Reacher series?

 

[JWCowboy]

Audiobooks date back to the early 1930’s. So it’s not some newfangled technology that grandpa hates just because it’s different than he’s used to.

Audio-books date to the 1930's?, as if that's some justification for bringing them into the fold.

I was only half serious, or half kidding when I stated that audio books don't count. I see them as a close, but fundamentally different experience from reading.

So I'm not trying to be the passerby that "grabs a dog by the ears" (Proverbs 26:17) but I do feel compelled to add my two cents...

Listening to an audiobook is a wonderful experience. Particularly if the narrator is good. For me, it's not that different from when I was a child listening to my mother read to me, which you could also say goes back to the storytelling tradition that is as old as mankind. The Odyssey and the Iliad and Beowulf were meant to be memorized and recited aloud to listeners. People have been listening to stories for millennia. We are hard wired for narrative. Listening to stories and poetry is in our DNA. Reading silently to oneself is brilliant, it's how we learn, it allows us to go over certain parts again and again and ponder, but it's not been around for anywhere nearly as long as listening to someone else tell a story, likely because widespread near universal literacy is a recent phenomenon in human history. Now granted, an audibook is not the same awesome communal experience as sitting around a fire listening to someone recite Homer from memory. And maybe this is not everyone's cup of tea (see the Ballad of Buster Scruggs chapter 3 "Meal Ticket") However, this is just a long rambling way to say that I love books and audiobooks, and I enthusiastically endorse both.

Now as for what I just finished reading:

And since I've finished READING it I'm now going back and LISTENING to it (and watching as well)

I discovered this wonderful youtube channel C.S. Lewis Doodle, which has recreated the radio broadcasts that Lewis originally gave in 1941 which became the book. Check it out....

 

[Messygoon]

 

[SharpieB]

Just started this one. Hadfield is a pretty big deal in Canada. A real national hero and apparently an all around good guy.

 

[razorboi]

Now as for what I just finished reading:

View attachment 1327595

And since I've finished READING it I'm now going back and LISTENING to it (and watching as well)

I discovered this wonderful youtube channel C.S. Lewis Doodle, which has recreated the radio broadcasts that Lewis originally gave in 1941 which became the book. Check it out....

My dad claimed that when he was young, he and his folks would sit in the front parlour of an evening and "watch" the radio!

 

[ByMyBeard]

Just started this one. Hadfield is a pretty big deal in Canada. A real national hero and apparently an all around good guy.

I just discovered this book, and it's definitely going on my to read list.

 

[FL shaver]

Buzz by Thor Hanson. A day or two after cracking it open, I came upon these beehives in a wildlife management area. I had to stop and watch for a little while…

 

[JWCowboy]

Just finished...

Don't forget the face of your father...

By far my favorite metaphor employed by the author was near the end when he described the nightmarish creatures of the wastelands as moving "slowly, almost thoughtfully, like preachers meditating on the inevitability of damnation."