
Ask HN: Which book are you reading? - brickcap
I just finished The mating season by PG wodehouse. I will probably start Right ho Jeeves next.
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bmelton
Not reading it currently, but I can't let a thread like this go by without
suggesting the Silo Saga by Hugh Howey. The first book in the series is "Wool:
Part 1", which (last I looked) was a free Kindle book on Amazon, and I'd
graduated to purchasing the rest of the series before finishing the second
chapter.

It's a phenomenal series, and I'm a little embarrassed that it took me so long
to find it.

Aside from that, I had started (before his passing) an Elmore Leonard marathon
with the goal of completing every single novel that Leonard has ever written.
If you're ordinarily a sci-fi reader, perhaps this isn't the best suggestion,
but I find the wit, terseness and change of pace extremely refreshing.

~~~
brickcap
Yeah that is on my radar. I have wanted to read it ever since I read more
about Hugh. Really like the guy.

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ivan_ah
I recently got back to reading _Infinite jest_ by David Foster Wallace.

On a more technical, I'm reading _SICP_ \--- could you believe someone had
thrown this book out (I guess left out for donation). I rescued it have been
reading through it. Scheme is nice, but what is even nicer is the JS version:
ivanistheone.github.io/SICPapp/ (credit Martin Henz for JS adaptation)

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hashtree
Just finished East of Eden and then started up a goodreads account. Without
trying, I now have 37 in queue. Pretty excited to find out about goodreads and
get solid recommendations/reviews.

If anyone wants to friend up there:
[https://www.goodreads.com/rockymadden](https://www.goodreads.com/rockymadden)

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mindcrime
Currently reading _The Signal and the Noise: Why So Many Predictions Fail —
but Some Don 't_ \- Nate Silver

Before that, I had just finished _The Idea Factory: Bell Labs and the Great
Age of American Innovation_ by Jon Gertner.

Next, I may read _Naked Statistics: Stripping the Dread from the Data_ by
Charles Wheelan.

~~~
nmcfarl
Also reading _The Signal and the Noise: Why So Many Predictions Fail — but
Some Don 't_ \- Nate Silver

And also in progress:

 _Buried for Pleasure_ \- Edmund Crispin

 _The Dying Trade_ \- Peter Corris

 _Think Bayes_ \- Allen B Downey

------
l0stb0y
Pornland: How Porn Has Hijacked Our Sexuality by Gail Dines.

Should be essential reading for everyone, especially men, in this day and age.

[http://www.amazon.com/Pornland-How-Porn-Hijacked-
Sexuality/d...](http://www.amazon.com/Pornland-How-Porn-Hijacked-
Sexuality/dp/0807001546)

------
desmondrd
48 Laws of Power by Robert Greeene. It's a Machiavellian approach to managing
your life in order to maximize your personal power and influence. Although I
don't plan on becoming the Prince himself, it's a quick, interesting read
written from a unique perspective.

------
zachlatta
I know I'm a little late to read this, but I've been enjoying _How to Win
Friends and Influence People_ , by Dale Carnegie. It's interesting how it
objectifies social interaction with others in such short passages.

~~~
lazyant
the modern equivalent of the book is "Never Eat Alone by Keith Ferrazzi"

~~~
zachlatta
Thanks! I'll definitely check it out!

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qbrass
Just finished [http://www.josh.is/rood-a-cyberpunk-
novel/](http://www.josh.is/rood-a-cyberpunk-novel/)

I actually read it a few years back, but came across it the other day, and
decided to read it again.

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gruseom
_Franny and Zooey_ by J.D. Salinger. I can't figure it out. It seems like it
might be terrible. I'm half enjoying it and half sort of hypnotized like a
chicken by it.

~~~
foxlisk
FWIW, i think it's terrible. There's a few really excellent pieces of writing
sprinkled throughout it, but the whole thing felt hollow and self-indulgent to
me.

~~~
gruseom
I guess it's a failed experiment the way _Catcher in the Rye_ was a successful
experiment. But it's kind of interesting despite that. I like how daringly he
injects esoteric religious material into conventional 1950s settings. But it
was too hard to pull off. None of the characters is captivating and most of
them, especially Zooey, are asses in a way that doesn't feel entirely
intentional.

I'm on a Salinger kick, having run across his books for a couple bucks in a
used bookstore and never having read him before. He is a singular writer.
_Catcher_ was a freak success. Like Kurt Cobain, Salinger would clearly have
been happier as an obscure cult artist. But _Catcher_ was the opening bell of
the 60s counterculture just as the 50s were getting started. Once it picked up
a wave it became a tsunami.

I was surprised at how good the pieces in _Nine Stories_ are, e.g. "The
Laughing Man" and "Love and Squalor". He paints childhood and adolescence
beautifully, as well as charming interactions between children and sensitive
young men. But it all gives an impression of, um, arrested development. Did he
write any great adult characters? The pervy teacher in _Catcher_ doesn't
count. It seems that adults in Salinger's world mostly just get sour, and the
one who is clearly his favorite he has blow his brains out in front of his
wife.

More Salinger books are supposed to be coming out now that he's beyond the
reach of his fans and the press, and it will be interesting to see on which
side of the divide they end up. One hopes they'll be awesome. But I suspect
the odds are better that they'll be weird and turned in on themselves.

~~~
tptacek
Did you like _The Royal Tenenbaums_? NPR's pop culture critic says that movies
is basically F&Z filmed.

(_Tenenbaums_ is among my least favorite Wes Anderson movies).

~~~
gruseom
I haven't seen it! I haven't seen anything.

I finished F&Z last night. The thing is a train wreck. Now I'm curious to read
the rest of what Salinger published (pretty easy to do) because _Catcher_ and
_Nine Stories_ are so good and F&Z borderline intolerable. Perhaps it was his
Metal Machine Music.

Does Tenenbaums principally consist of turgid dialogue about mysticism?

------
wwweston
_City of Thieves_ by David Benioff

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/City_of_Thieves_(novel)](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/City_of_Thieves_\(novel\))

------
OWaz
I've just started three books this week. Telegraph Avenue by Michael Chabon,
First Shift by Hugh Howey and Understanding Computation by Tom Stuart.

~~~
brickcap
All at the same time! How do you manage? I have tired doing that several times
but I usually end of reading the one I like the most first which is why now I
focus on only one book at a time.

~~~
nmcfarl
I don't know about OWaz, but I get bored quickly, so if I read one book last
night, I'm not likely to want to read the same book tonight. If I have no
other book in the queue I'll probably end up reading HN on the iPad, if I do
have other books, well then I'll read them.

------
fredyr
I'm doing a Neal Stephenson marathon, just started with Quicksilver last
night, after finishing Snow Crash and Reamde back to back.

------
Nicholas_C
Categorically Unequal by Douglas Massey, great book on stratification and
inequality in America. Also reading A Farewell to Arms.

------
lukevdp
The Better Angels of Our Nature by Steven Pinker

------
Mankhool
The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi. Awesome!

------
devNoise
For fun: Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman.

For figure out a web front end for my REST API: AngularJS by Brad Green &
Shyam Seshadri

------
frigg
I'm reading Under the Dome right now. After this I'm thinking of starting The
Gunslinger.

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Wezc
I just bought the Chris Hadfield book "An astronaut's guide to life on Earth"
:)

------
sparktree
Abaddon's Gate (Expanse, #3) - James S.A. Corey - Its a pretty amazing series.

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thesingularity
Started reading the Ender Series in anticipation of the movie. Right now on
book 6.

~~~
brickcap
I did that with harry potter. Wanted to do the same with eragon but they never
made any more movies :(

------
hvass
Starting Washington by Paul Johnson and rereading a lot of favorites: John
Boyd's biography by Coram & Seneca's Letters from a Stoic.

On the side, I am trying to finish Eisenhower's biography - 500/700 pages.

------
ninthfrank07
_The Machinery of Freedom_ by David D. Friedman.

------
pearjuice
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

------
6thSigma
Pirate Latitudes by Michael Crichton

~~~
bennyg
I love Crichton's stories more than any other author. Pirate is the one that
was finished posthumously, right? I've been meaning to pick that one up.

~~~
6thSigma
Yes, it was published posthumously. There is another book that was actually
finished by another author after Crichton died which is called Micro.

I get the feeling Pirate Latitudes was closer to a first draft than a final
draft - but it's still Crichton.

------
atom-morgan
Design for Hackers by David Kadavy

------
kcovia
_The Count of Monte Cristo_

~~~
brickcap
You are in for a treat man. I read it once every year (not cover to cover just
my favorite parts esp the prison) just to fire myself up.

Side note: The movie is also quite good.

~~~
lazyant
which movie version? (there are many)

~~~
brickcap
I was talking about this one

[http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0245844/?ref_=nv_sr_2](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0245844/?ref_=nv_sr_2)

not entirely faithful to the book but it is well done. I have not watched the
oldies. Any suggestions?

