Right now I'm reading

[nafod]

Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy

That is one crazy book. Incredible writing.

[Fat Cat]

Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy

That is one crazy book. Incredible writing.

I'm enjoying it more than I thought I would.

[Wild Bill]

Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson.

[Fat Cat]

Summer Kitchens by Olia Hercules

[baffled]

Wall Street Bets, by a group of autistic yolo traders.

I'm not joking. That's the best forum since this place went to war with Couch, WGM ran Andro Friday or whatever it was, and the entire forum was basically NSFW because half of us had porn in our sigs.

[Fat Cat]

They are doing God's work.

[nafod]

Just finished The Humans by Matt Haig. Story is about an alien that comes to Earth to suppress some information that would lead to humanity’s spread (the solution to the Riemann Hypothesis, for you nerds).

It was laugh-out-loud funny throughout much of it. Heartwarming, thought provoking, most excellent. Somebody else read it and tell me what they think.

[Bram]

Close to finishing book 17 (of 17) in the Dresden Files.

It’s a goofy, action-packed series centered on a wise-cracking wizard/P.I.

Although a few of them have been a bit clunky (and the two additional short-story anthologies felt skippable), it’s consistently been a lot of fun.

[Fat Cat]

Bro's I need recommendations for reading related to the Spanish Civil War. Anybody got a good recommendation? Otherwise I'm gonna go with this one:

[Sua Sponte]

Bro's I need recommendations for reading related to the Spanish Civil War.

Why? How is this interesting?

[Fat Cat]

Bro's I need recommendations for reading related to the Spanish Civil War.

Why? How is this interesting?

I met a girl.

[Sua Sponte]

Yes. The teeny bopper neo-nazi. How did I not see it right away.

[Fat Cat]

To quote Dickinson, "the heart wants what it wants." But more seriously, in the space of a short time I saw several things related to post-WWII history that all had their roots in the Spanish Civil War. Knowing little about it, and enjoying history, I thought I might read a bit. So you got a recommendation or what?

[Sua Sponte]

I can certainly see why she has many willing to get behind her.

Only recommendation I can give is the only one I read. "The Spanish Civil War" by Stanley G. Payne. Decent enough. Part of a collection titled Cambridge Essential Histories. Pretty good series overall if you want, um, essential histories.

There's a book I almost read instead but didn't. "My Mission to Spain. Watching the Rehearsal for World War II" by Bowers.

[Sua Sponte]

.

[Fat Cat]

Thanks brah, I'll look around for those titles.

[Bram]

Just finished Mammoth Mountain by Greg Gutierrez, which I found in a "Free Book" kiosk.

Greg previously wrote a collection of short stories titled Zen in the Art of Surfing, which were mostly violent or life-threatening tales, some which had nothing to do with surfing. I enjoyed that book too, and lent it out until whoever got it last didn't return it.

This one follows Drew, a violent, womanizing, partying, thieving, ski-racer and surfer through the early-1980's. It's a lot of fun. Greg has a raw voice and you wonder how much of this is auto-biographical, yet it's also fantastical in how many girls he goes through and how much mayhem he leaves in his wake.

[Bram]

Finished "First Priority," by Christopher Moore. He's the father of 3x World Champ surfer Carissa Moore, and details, often embarrassingly, the process of raising her from an infant to the best on the planet.

He's got huge expectations and a short temper, but I appreciated him owning his mistakes, because he often comes off as a dick, and his daughter's insecurity about her abilities is not surprising. And he shows the careful path of navigating giving advice to someone you care about.

----

Also finished "Closer to the Ground," by Dylan Tomine. This was an exceptional book by a dad concerned about raising his kids to love the outdoors like he does. Through short stories divided into four seasons, he takes you along splitting wood, fishing, crabbing, clam-hunting, oyster searching, and more, with him, his wife, and their 3 and 6 year-old children.

There are a lot of feel-good moments, and laughs, but he also shares the hardships of living more off-the-land than your average person.

[Bram]

Re-read "The Art of Learning" by Josh Waitzkin (the kid from "Searching for Bobby Fischer" -- which is a lovely movie and highly recommended).

https://www.amazon.com/Art-Learning-Jou ... 883&psc=1

This was written when Josh was 29, had burned out on competitive chess and pursued competitive Tai Chi -- going on to become a multiple-time World Champion in that sport. BTW, competitive Tai Chi either looks like that game you play as a kid where you try to shove each other over without moving your feet (Fixed Step) or Judo (Moving step). It does not look like Tai Chi though.

After the book was published, Josh opened a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu gym with Marcelo Garcia, and went on to get a black belt under Marcelo.

The book has a lot of good insights into how to be your best -- seeking out challenging training situations (he found himself irritated by sounds during chess tournaments, so would practice chess in his room listening to the most annoying music he could find, cranked up loud), leaning into your weaknesses (he also found himself irritated by competitors fighting dirty, so he sought out training partners in his gym who did the same).

It also gets mired down in his philosophizing.

That said, if you are determined to be your best, and competition is part of the path to get there, I would strongly suggest reading through this.

[nafod]

Bro's I need recommendations for reading related to the Spanish Civil War. Anybody got a good recommendation? Otherwise I'm gonna go with this one:

For Whom the Bell Tolls by Hemingway. Set in the war, based on his experiences in the war.

[Fat Cat]

Good recommendation.

[buckethead]

Great mystery, set in small mountain town. Dialog is IGx approved.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08YWP28N3/re ... GE11QNE0J

[Bram]

Just finished Cosmic Banditos by A.C. Weisbecker.

This was such a bat-shit crazy, funny tale about drugs, mayhem, banditos, and quantum physics.

One character's solution for every problem is to throw a grenade at it, usually while smacked out of his head on coke and booze. Another is a shaman who swallows bananas whole (peel and all). This book can't possibly be for everyone, but damn I liked it.

For those easily offended (not many here), there are some dated homophobic comments towards the end -- it was written in 1982, when that shit was everywhere in the popular media.

[Wild Bill]

First time listening litrpg.

"Reality blenders" series by Michael Atamanov. Just ended first book "Countdown".
Unexpectedly very good.

[nafod]

Just finished Hyperion by Dan Simmons, a sci-fi book. Pretty great.

All the reviews said it was like the Canterbury Tales in structure, but it’s been like 50 years since I’ve read them, so that meant little. Basically, it’s six short novellas told by six travelers. Each of them different and fascinating. Gets two thumbs up.

Before that I read Ice by Anna Kavan. Kind of bizarre head trip, narrated by a character obsessed with some woman, with random side trips into weird dream states, while the world is about to be covered by encroaching ice age. I just described it poorly. It sticks in your head.