What Are You Reading??

Stil, did you read the graphic novel he published called...err...Punch and Judy...Mr Punch...something along those lines. It was good.

No, I'll see if I can find it.

Sample chapters from Winds of Winter

I've read the Theon and Tyrion samples. The link currently points at the Arya sample.

I JUST WANT IT ALL TO END!

Wanted to read a good book, and it's been quite a few years, so downloaded a fairly well done translation of the Good Book.

Regarding the rules for burnt sacrifices in Leviticus and Numbers, I do wonder how many forests were chopped down to get that much firewood.    Some of those were general things done by the priests for the group as a whole, but others were specified as coming from each individual person who met certain requirements.

"Flash Boys".  No, it's not homo-erotic porn, it's about the stock market.  Never thought about how closely related those two things are until just now.

These guys uncover how groups of computer experts have been cheating the investment market system for years. They do it by placing their computers physically near the New York Stock Exchange's computers. This buys them a 2 millisecond advantage, (it takes about 40 milliseconds to blink you eyes), but it's enough to profit in the billions without taking any risk or adding anything to the economy. 

It took a group of people 18 months to figure it out. Everybody who had figured it out before them, joined in the profit taking. It took a Canadian and an Irishman working in New York to, finally, blow the whistle.

The Orenda - Joseph Boyden

Huron warriors v French Jesuits (v Iroquois problem child) in the 17th century.

 

"1000 Years of Annoying the French" by Stephen Clarke. It is exceptionally funny.

"1000 Years of Annoying the French" by Stephen Clarke. It is exceptionally funny.

The title has me 'rolling on the floor'.

The Party - Richard McGregor

A lengthy description, with brief anecdotes, of the CCP and what it does. It's like, oooh, I see, so that's why that happens. Not a history but certainly coherent in and of itself.

Dark Tower series from Mr. King

Although my kindle broke so now I have to read from a computer screen and it's hard to enjoy reading when you can't hold a book and turn its pages.



 

The Zero - Jess Walter

Not for everyone. The story of Brian Remy, it begins with him shooting himself in the head. He and his partner were at ground zero, 9/11. Now he has lengthy gaps in his days and he doesn't know what happens in them. So far, a chapter or so in, blackly funny.

“Something else,” Paul said to the car, and Remy sensed danger and closed his eyes. “You notice how the number keeps dropping? Eight thousand. Seven thousand? Six. It’s like the swelling going down. I was thinkin’, maybe it’ll go back to zero. You know? I mean, where are the bodies? Maybe it’ll turn out that everyone was at home that day. Maybe we’ll actually gain people when this is all over.”

On holiday I read the 4 Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy' novels

Really interesting and although they are very of the time a lot of the 'topical' humour is still true. Really made me miss England, for all of our problems we English do have a very good way of making self loathing funny lol

A Natural History of Dragons: A Memoir by Lady Trent - Marie Brennan

Not sure about this one yet. It has similarities in tone and setting to Life After Life by Kate Atkinson, and the main character, though neither a man nor ship-bound, is similar in some ways to Dr Stephen Maturin (late of Patrick O'Brien's Master and Commander novels). And other than that, it appears to be Scotland (in the book Scirland) plus... dragons. So, I don't know what I'm reading yet.

Just finished Rereading Drakon by SM Stirling. As well as the Hard Magic" Trilogy.

I recently watched Divergent and found it to be entertaining (albeit comical in places with the subtext of abstinence), and I saw a few gushing reviews of Veronica Roth's writing and thought I'd have a read. Now, Divergent is the first book in a trilogy, and Insurgent, the book I started reading, is the second. The writing is... it seems to me, somehow, it draws attention to itself. I don't know how that happens, exactly. Also, Insurgent seems to be YA porn. There's touching and rubbing and hot n bothered yet chaste retreat. Not sure if I should go on.