I loved The Help as an audiobook because the performances were wonderful…not so sure how much I’d have liked it on paper.
Just finished reading Boss by Mike Royko. The book taught me two things:
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Daley’s Chicago (Richard J. Daley, that is) must have been a horrible place to live up through 1976 (case in point: if a Chicago cop during the Daley era were to spot my boss and me talking in public, my boss would have been questioned at best, beaten to a bloody pulp at worst – especially in Bridgeport – because how dare a black man converse with a white man!), and
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Despite Daley’s massive corruption, he was an angel compared to his predecessors.
Next up: Bossypants by Tina Fey…I guess keeping with the “boss” theme…which I just now noticed…
I have been circling that one - glad to hear someone I know is reading it; I look forward to hearing what you think. And as for the Ben Mezrich book, I haven’t read that one, but he is really not a very good writer; he has a decent nose for stories - although he imposes more drama on them than actually took place for the sake of “entertainment.” 
My book reports
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State of Wonder - by Ann Patchett. Her newest; if you are a fan, it delivers Patchetty goodness, but is not as satisfying as Bel Canto. But her even tone and simple prose style are once again put to good use in telling a multi-layered story.
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**Positively 4th Street - David Hajdu **- a group bio of Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, Mimi Baez Farina and Richard Farina. Came out a few years ago and is held up as a definitive overview of the Folk Scene emerging in the 60’s. Interesting, easy to read and seemingly balanced in showing how these characters evolved and interacted. Thomas Pynchon, one of Richard Farina’s closest friends, makes a guest appearance which, given his reclusiveness, is interesting…
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**The Leader’s Checklist by Michael Useem **- I am a huge fan of checklists to manage projects (if you have not read Atul Gawande’s Checklist Manifesto and are a business person and /or a leader of teams, I can’t recommend it highly enough). This is an attempt to apply a Checklist to Leadership. Interesting and a decent list, but hard to process if you aren’t actively leading something, i.e., it kind of reads like common sense, but if you peel the onion, there’s more there (…but, if you already appreciate that, then you are likely an active leader and may not really need this book…the ever-present paradox of self-help books)
Not sure what my next book will be…
May I suggest…
Lincoln on Leadership by Donald T. Phillips is an interesting look at how the 16th President led under very difficult circumstances, and how his methods have modern applications in virtually any organization. I also liked It’s Your Ship by Michael Abrashoff, a very successful destroyer captain who discusses how to apply U.S. Navy leadership techniques.
I have really enjoyed those. I haven’t read In the Woods yet, but the others are outstanding.
I enjoyed it a lot. It was nominated for an Agatha Award last year, and Faithful Place was nominated for an Edgar.
I just finished what I assume to be the last book in the Spin trilogy:Vortex. I enjoyed it better than the second one. I took a break from my 1000 page book to read this one, as sort of a dessert. Unfortunately I finished it in less than 24 hour.
Kindle is amazing. I preordered the book and the morning it was released it downloaded automatically to my Kindle. In fact, I forgot I ordered it. Magic I tells ya.
I’m about a third of the way through it now, it’s really very good. I’m a sucker for well-written true crime/forensic stuff, and there’s plenty of that. The background of NYC politics in the teens and 20s is pretty interesting, too. It covers the changeover from the coroner’s office being a sinecure for the mayor’s pals to it being run by people who actually cared about solving cases. Good stuff.
I haven’t read The Social Network (I saw and liked the film) but I wasn’t overly impressed by Sex on the Moon. Mezrich drags the story out a bit, and even then it reads more like a magazine article than a book. And the title is sensationalistic; the guy pinched the moon rocks to sell, not to use as sex toys. It was, in fact, a particularly stupid and badly botched get-rich-quick scheme. There wasn’t much drama, he pretty much delivered himself to the cops gift-wrapped.
It’s interesting, but the story doesn’t really go anywhere. Academically gifted guy hoists himself on the petard of his own arrogance. It’s a one-act play.
**Sigmagirl **and **Shakester **- cool; I will check out Poisoner’s Handbook…and Shakester, yeah, I don’t know if you were on the 'Dope at the time, but I actually know a guy whom Mezrich used as the basis for a book - I posted about it in one or two threads, including one on the Social Network (and seeing what Aaron Sorkin did with the story was fascinating vs. what Mezrich did). Hearing my friend describe his dealings with Mezrich and the over-dramatization of what really happened was…interesting.
**Elendil’s Heir **- thanks; I am not a huge fan of business or leadership books, for the reason I describe above (by the time I can appreciate the leadership lesson, I have had to have made the mistakes and internalized the lesson - at best, the book organizes and memorializes lessons I better already have some insight on…;)). Having said that, those two look interesting so I will check them out…
I’ve been a member here for quite a while but have been participating a lot more lately. I didn’t see the threads you mention, but I’m not surprised that Mezrich seems to be a bit of a sensationaliser. I think he tried to do that with Sex on the Moon, but there wasn’t that much to work with. It’s an interesting story, but not really enough for a whole book.
The movie rights have been sold, no doubt on the strength of The Social Network. Whether the movie will be any good or not is another question, I’d expect them to fictionalise it a lot so it could end up being anything.
Just finished Johannes Cabal the Necromancer and I’m starting on Johannes Cabal the Detective.
The first featured our surly and asocial anti-hero selling his soul to Satan for the secrets of raising the dead and then making a bet to get it back - can he, with the aid of a magic and evil travelling carnaval, his scientific necromancy, his sibling-rival of a brother, and his wits, tempt 100 people to signing over their souls to Satan in one year, thus saving his own? Will he damn the innocent to save his miserable hide - or is there really some good left in him, despite all appearances?
Fine, fantastic Faustian fun.
I’ve read very few such books myself, but the “hook” of both of these intrigued me, and I’m glad I read them.
I’ve been racing through The Help this weekend, and am now halfway done. Very, very good stuff, and not the typical book I read. The movie comes out next month and I’ll probably see it.
Jonathan Howard just finished the third in the series – Johannes Cabal and the Fear Institute – and I am anxiously waiting to hear the official publishing date.
That’s my favorite of LeGuin’s novels and pretty much my favorite novel of all time. The book is her at the height of her powers – thoughtful, vivid, intelligent and moving. I didn’t agree with all of her ideas but I loved the setting, characters and language she uses.
I just got “The Gypises” by Jan Yoors and haven’t started it yet.
"At the age of twelve, Jan Yoors ran away from his privileged, cultured Belgian family and home to join a wandering band, a kumpania, of Gypsies. For ten years, he lived as one of them, traveled with them from country to country, shared both their pleasures and their hardships–and came to know them as no one, no outsider, ever has. Here, in this firsthand and highly personal account of an extraordinary people, Yoors tells the real story of the Gypsies’ fascinating customs and their neverending struggle to survive as free nomads in a hostile world. "
Finished Hammered: The Iron Druid Chronicles third in the Iron Druid series - a series that I have enjoyed. This one was not as good as the first two, but still enjoyable. He kind of went off track a little by giving us background stories that were sort of boring. None-the-less, I will once again recommend the series for fans of Jim Butcher - I think it will play out to be nearly as good a series as Butcher’s Dresden series.
Finished Venom (Elemental Assassin, Book 3) and I am still enjoying this series. The second and third I think were better than the first. I will keep reading the series.
Finished Paolo Bagcigalupi’s The Windup Girl, a dystopian science-fiction thriller set in Bangkok. The world has suffered heavily from gene-modified plants which have led to global plagues which have killed thousands of plant species. Everything is measured in calories now, and the great agriconglomerates supplying one-year seeds rule. We follow several characters seeking variously to protect Thailand’s unique status as one of the few countries not dependent on the agribusiness seeds, or to undermine that independence. Outstanding book, very cleverly designed and written. Recommended.
Also finished The Walking Dead 14, the latest paperback installment. Shocking developments!
Started Vladimir Nabokov’s Pale Fire, but I’m not really far enough into it to say much, except that it’s quirky. Looking forward to getting more deeply into it.
Just finished Lucifer’s Tears, a Nordic-Noir detective novel in the Stieg Larsson model that was quite good.
Link: http://www.amazon.com/Lucifers-Tears-Inspector-Vaara-Novel/dp/039915700X
Now I am reading We, The Drowned by Dutchman Carsten Jensen and I have to say: its a really good book.
Link: http://www.amazon.com/We-Drowned-Carsten-Jensen/dp/0151013772
I am halfway through Lorrie Moore’s A Gate at the Stairs(amazon link). Her writing is so, so readable. And her technique and word choice so thoughtful, and her basic sense of humanity so decent that she reminds me of Anne Tyler or an Anne Patchett who expresses her own point of view in her writing a bit more.
Not exactly sure where this plot is headed - a college kid from the midwest nannies the adopted kid of a high-strung restaurant owner and her somewhat-older, not-sure-what-his-deal-is husband - but reading her writing is a real pleasure.
The Glass Rainbow, by James Lee Burke. This is the latest in the Dave Robicheaux novels that takes place in Louisiana, and has the usual cast of characters, along with Burke’s particular brand of bad guys.
Heh, that’s great news. I’m enjoying the second one immensely.
His stuff really is a treat. 