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Book club 📖 What are we reading right now? (Planning related or not)

I'm about 1/3 thru Dan Brown's Angels and Demons - the prequel to DaVincci Code. I have to say, it is interesting, but his writing style isn't anymore. You could take DaVincci Code, change the names, and I'm reading the same book.
 
The Big Man has directed me to read The Five Dysfunctions of a Team by Patrick Lencioni. (My guess is, the author needed to by published.) IMHO, just a bunch of management mumbo-jumbo. Come to work, do your job, we pay you. Any questions? No, that's not in the book...so far.

I'll finish it today while sipping margaritas by the pool because I'm a good trooper.
 
Knocked off Brave New World two weeks ago.

I'm in the midst of three right now.

The Little Black Book of Project Management by Michael C. Thomsett to make me a good worker bee.

The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark by Carl Sagan to enhance my logic and reason.

Freakonomics by Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner to make me think I understand economics.
 
Blood River by Tim Butcher.

It is the account of a journalist's attempt to retrace Lord Stanley's journey across the Congo.

I'm about 1/3 through it and it is quite interesting, from the social, adventure, and planning viewpoints. The author keeps talking about coming across these "ruins" that are only 50 yrs old, remnants of the Belgian colonial days and how the planners probably didn't imagine that their roads, bridges, cities would be abandoned and left to the jungle to reclaim.

two thumbs up so far.
 
Second new FL author this week:

The Ethical Assassin by David Liss, and The Gin Girl, by River Jordan.

I started another by a FL author I hadn't read before but people kept praying so I ditched that one.
 
After trying the murky waters of Herman Melville and finally learning to savor them, have plunged into Moby Dick's big deep end.

Ole Herman is riotously funny, and it is easy to see just into the beginning of Moby Dick how he was shunned by much of the contemporary, puritanical, and self-important reading public.
 
Freakonomics is done. Not what I was anticipating, but very enjoyable, light discussion of statistics, correlation, causality, and conventional wisdom.

Still working on: Science as a Candle in the Dark in a Demon Haunted World by Carl Sagan
 
RichmondJake said:
The Big Man has directed me to read The Five Dysfunctions of a Team by Patrick Lencioni. (My guess is, the author needed to by published.) IMHO, just a bunch of management mumbo-jumbo. Come to work, do your job, we pay you. Any questions? No, that's not in the book...so far.

I'll finish it today while sipping margaritas by the pool because I'm a good trooper.
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This is the one about the lady that comes in to be a new CEO, right? I had to read this when I was in the private sector. Our little team had lots of problems, but they all came to surface after a HQ-mandated reorg. We discussed the book in two sessions, then sent a report to the HQ people about it. Essentially, we linked every dysfunction of our team directly to a recently-changed corporate policy or procedure. Boy, was HQ steamed at us!! But nothing changed, as expected.
 
I'm reading two books right now:

The Unlikely Disciple: A Sinner's Semester at America's Holiest University
The Two Income Trap: Why Middle-Class Mothers and Fathers Are Going Broke
 
The River Why, by David James Duncan. Actually iti s a re-read. I read it years ago and am picking it up again.
 
Nudge

Reading "Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth, and Happiness" by Richard Thaler. Very cool book about Choice Architecture and Liberal Paternalism. I am still not sure that liberal paternalism isn't an inherent contradiction, but Thaler is doing his best to convince me otherwise.
 
I'm half way through Urban leviathan : Mexico City in the twentieth century, it's not the easiest read but interesting to find out how much politics shaped the built environment of one of the worlds largest cities.
 
Nevada Barr

Hey JNA, new Nevada Barr (NOT Anna Pigeon) out in Sept:

"In 1971, the state of Minnesota was rocked by the “Butcher Boy” incident, as coverage of a family brutally murdered by one of their own swept across newspapers and television screens nationwide.
Now, in present-day New Orleans, Polly Deschamps finds herself at yet another lonely crossroads in her life. No stranger to tragedy, Polly was a runaway at the age of fifteen, escaping a nightmarish Mississippi childhood.

Lonely, that is, until she encounters architect Marshall Marchand. Polly is immediately smitten. She finds him attractive, charming, and intelligent. Marshall, a lifelong bachelor, spends most of his time with his brother Danny. When Polly’s two young daughters from her previous marriage are likewise taken with Marshall, she marries him. However, as Polly begins to settle into her new life, she becomes uneasy about her husband’s increasing dark moods, fearing that Danny may be influencing Marshall in ways she cannot understand.

But what of the ominous prediction by a New Orleans tarot card reader, who proclaims that Polly will murder her husband? What, if any, is the Marchands’ connection to the infamous “Butcher Boy” multiple homicide? And could Marshall and his eccentric brother be keeping a dark secret from Polly, one that will shatter the happiness she has forever prayed for?



About the Author

Nevada Barr is an award-winning novelist and New York Times bestselling author. She has a growing number of Anna Pigeon mysteries to her credit as well as numerous other books, short stories, and articles. She currently resides in New Orleans with her husband, four magical cats, and two adorable dogs."
 
Starting my summer reading with "All Creatures Great and Small" by James Herriot.
 
I have been re-reading "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" aloud to my son at bedtime. He thinks Zaphod is hilarious. I have always enjoyed Marvin the Robot's cynicism and Arthur Dent's befuddlement. Probably says a lot about both of us.
 
All Creatures Great and Small

Maister said:
Starting my summer reading with "All Creatures Great and Small" by James Herriot.
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Heartwarming, inspirational, educational, beautifully written, beautiful message...

Yet it might make you sad; it was a sweeter era, now mostly gone.
 
Seana said:
Heartwarming, inspirational, educational, beautifully written, beautiful message...

Yet it might make you sad; it was a sweeter era, now mostly gone.
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And somewhat more depressing: mostly made-up. I think it's fairer to say that things were exaggerated. And read very well because of it.
 
The Reapers, by John Connolly. Love the blend of action with a supernatural twist.

Just finished Highways to Heaven, an Auto-Biography of America. pretty entertaining read.
 
Finally got around to Moby-Dick after getting comfortable enough with Melville's prose so that I am not intimidated.

It has flashes of brilliance and a riotous sense of humor.

Also, "My Grandfather's Finger", by Edward Swift, a memoir about growing up in East Texas' "Big Thicket" region during the forties and fifties.

Extreme local color.
 
Reading "At First Sight"... my third Nicholas Sparks book. It has been slow going. At first I was really excited about his stuff, but the first two books I read ("The Choice" and "A Bend in the Road) ended a little too flat and predictable. Thought maybe the third try would be the charm, especially since the movie rights for "At First Sight" have been bought.

But, once I finish it I am eager to start "My Lobotomy: A Memoir".
 
The Reagan Diaries

Ronnie's daily account of the Presidential 80s. Pretty good, actually. I am about midway through 1984 right now.
 
Trail of Tears by John Ehle

The history of the Cherokee Nation and attempted removal of them from eastern lands by U.S. government and land speculators.
 
Just finished Basket Case by Carl Hiaasen.
Another funny, true-to-form mystery from him (written in 2002). A good read that flows well.
 
Planit said:
Just finished Basket Case by Carl Hiaasen.
Another funny, true-to-form mystery from him (written in 2002). A good read that flows well.
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That's a good one... though Sick Puppy is my favorite Hiaasen novel.

I just finished Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal. Perhaps because of the movie of the same name, I was expecting something lighter. It's really a well-researched book, covering everything from the history of the fast food industry to how companies market to kids to the meatpacking industry and food safety.
 
I just finished reading "My Sister's Keeper" it was on my kid's summer reading list. It was ok but a bit too melodramatic at the end. She has to read Brave New World and the Grapes of Wrath too which are far better IMHO.
 
The Big Sort, by Bill Bishop.

I picked it up on a whim and it really hits home to me. I remember from grad school how people view their place of residence as a commodity and pick a set of services and costs that suits them (if they are free to pick - poor people are more stuck.) This book shows how part of that commodity is choosing people who think like you - forming a country of Red and Blue which reduces public discourse and is probably bad for the country as a whole. Can't we all just get along?

The weakness of this book is that it is (so far) very dry and just a bunch of facts. I'd prefer more anecdotes and stories of places.
 
Twilight series

It took me about a month, waiting for friends to finish ahead of me, to read all four books.

I am in luv with the books.

And I am [supposed to be] a grown-up. Isn't that ridiculous?!:-$
 
First Person Plural
By Cameron West

About a guy with multiple personalities. true story and crazy good...literally! ;)
 
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