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Posted

About halfway through this one and really enjoying it. First time reading this author but he has a fair amount of books written so I'll likely be adding those to my library. 

 

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Posted
On 5/6/2025 at 10:17 AM, SimonBolivar said:

Needed something light so I picked up:
Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman - Penguin Books Australia

and it's a silly, fun, quick read but I noticed that I could only keep my attention away from John Le Carre for so long and finished his 2nd boo, A Murder of Quality, in a few hours. His 3rd book is The Spy Who Came in from the Cold which I'm excited to pick up to shift away from a murder mystery and back into more spycraft.

Came here to post about Dungeon Crawler Carl. It's my new obsession, just convinced @immamac to try it out. Listen to the audiobook if you can, the narrator is fantastic, it feels like a full cast but its just one dude doing the voices. The entire series gets my highest recommendation. If I could buy stock in an IP, it would be this. Rights were picked up by Seth McFarlane and live action show in development, its going to be huge

 

  • Hook 'Em 1
Posted
15 hours ago, RGBIII said:

Came here to post about Dungeon Crawler Carl. It's my new obsession, just convinced @immamac to try it out. Listen to the audiobook if you can, the narrator is fantastic, it feels like a full cast but its just one dude doing the voices. The entire series gets my highest recommendation. If I could buy stock in an IP, it would be this. Rights were picked up by Seth McFarlane and live action show in development, its going to be huge

 

Do the other books keep the same fun vibe as the first one? 

Still reading through all of the George Smiley Le Carre books and finally hit The Spy Who Came in from the Cold. I enjoyed the first two books in the "series", but this one is the first one that's really heavy in international spying. Damn, he was just a master of writing this genre.

Posted
8 minutes ago, SimonBolivar said:

Do the other books keep the same fun vibe as the first one? 

Still reading through all of the George Smiley Le Carre books and finally hit The Spy Who Came in from the Cold. I enjoyed the first two books in the "series", but this one is the first one that's really heavy in international spying. Damn, he was just a master of writing this genre.

WAYYYYYY more fun! The characters really become 3D and deep, I wasn't expecting the emotional depth that the later books have. Just a super fun and engaging read/listen the entire time. I finished all 7 books in 6 weeks, literally could not stop 

  • Hook 'Em 1
Posted
On 5/23/2025 at 9:48 AM, The Original Greaser Bob said:

Hellhound on His Trail - by Hampton Sides (Paperback)

Hellhound on His Trail (2010) (Audio)

Great lickity split procedural.  The short section on the events that led to the garbage strike just put me into a funk.  I actually couldn't listen to the whole section. Heartbreaking/how can man and God be so heartless.

Adding to my reading list. Love Hampton Sides. I'm about to start Blood and Thunder. 

Posted

Just finished these two in the past couple of weeks:
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Both were fascinating, esp. Titan.  

In the preface, Chernow highlights that he was initially resistant to a book on Rockefeller, but discovered a 1700 page transcript of interviews that JDR had during the last 3 years of his life.  They showed a far more interesting and down to earth person than he had expected.  I highly recommend Titan.

Spoiler

From Wikipedia.

After Chernow published his second book, The Warburgs, his publisher Random House suggested he pursue an in-depth profile of Rockefeller. Chernow was initially resistant, saying that Rockefeller's notorious secrecy around his private life would make it difficult for a biographer to learn about the man's inner thoughts and feelings.[4] Chernow said this inability to "hear the music of his mind" made the prospect of multiple years of research unpalatable.[4]

On a suggestion by his editor at Random House, Chernow visited the Rockefeller Archive Center in New York, home of the papers and records of Rockefeller University and the Rockefeller family. He discovered a 1,700-page transcript of private interviews conducted over three years late in the tycoon's life.[4] The interviews, which showed an articulate, funny, and analytic side of Rockefeller, had yet to be used in a biography of the man, and Chernow decided to pursue the project.[4] The book ultimately took five years to complete and according to Chernow took "the psychology and stamina of a marathon runner".[5]

 

Posted

Book One (Way of Kings) of Stormlight Archive by Brandon Sanderson is about to be delivered to my front door. See yall in 9 months. 

Posted
22 hours ago, Post Oak said:

Google says over 1k pages.  I don't even consider books that long.  

Only on a Kindle. I don’t need a workout with my reading. 

Posted (edited)
On 5/23/2025 at 9:48 AM, The Original Greaser Bob said:

Hellhound on His Trail - by Hampton Sides (Paperback)

Hellhound on His Trail (2010) (Audio)

Great lickity split procedural.  The short section on the events that led to the garbage strike just put me into a funk.  I actually couldn't listen to the whole section. Heartbreaking/how can man and God be so heartless.

Over 2 hours in. This is pretty good. Meticulously researched. I wouldn’t be mad at a Hampton Sides Lee Harvey Oswald book.

Edited by billfromlaketravis
Posted

Finished Hellhound in under 24 hours, it’s 14 hour audiobook, so yeah, it’s an entertaining yarn.

Some thoughts.

Spoiler

- I think James Earl Ray had help. The rifle purchase really stood out to me. He buys a rifle at a sporting goods store in Birmingham. A few hours pass. He calls the store and says his “brother” told him he needs more gun to “hunt deer in Wisconsin”. By many accounts, Ray didn’t know shit about rifles despite serving in the military. Not saying it was a conspiracy, but somebody told him he needed a bigger gun.

- He knew exactly where to cross into Canada. At the time there was no checkpoint from Detroit to Windsor. Given his known reading materials, he wouldn’t have come by that information organically. Again, not calling it a conspiracy, but somebody told him the best place to cross.

- Given his comments while in custody in the UK, Ray was fully convinced he was going to be compensated for killing King. I think this notion came from somewhere inside the Wallace camp. Nothing solid, probably a rumor or bar talk, but Ray took it seriously. That’s his motive in my opinion. 

- Sides did an excellent job of humanizing King. The insomnia and fatigue sounded pretty serious and he was unfortunately surrounded by people incapable of pulling him out of it.

- In a weird way, his ending martyrized a saint, restored his wife’s dignity, and saved his family from scandal. It’s stunning that he accomplished so much before turning 40. 

Posted
On 8/29/2024 at 9:01 PM, Post Oak said:

Finished this. It was just ok.  I like Klosterman on Bill Simmons pod so I thought I'd give it a shot.  

I was born in 79 so the 90s are iny wheelhouse.

Klosterman has interesting ideas about Nirvana, the Gulf War, Bill Clinton etc and just drones on and on about them. I was worn out at the end. I wouldn't recommend it. I lost interest about halfway through.

Starting this tonight. 

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Klosterman talks The Rehearsal on Bill Simon’s latest podcast. Best explanation of the show I’ve ever heard. He almost makes it make sense. Almost. 

Posted

After finishing From the Ruins of Empire, added these two to my reading list and finished them:

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Starting to realize how many books on the Far East I have on my shelved that I haven’t read yet.

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