Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[jay-ell]

I'm also stoked to be starting a new nonfiction at the same time -- The Disappearing Spoon (And Other True Tales of Madness, Love, and the History of the World from the Periodic Table of the Elements). I think I picked it up based on somebody's positive review on Goodreads, but I'm not sure.

I'm most of the way through this book and I am really enjoying it. It's a history book about chemistry; I have read consumer reviews from people who were disappointed because they expected it to be a chemistry book about history. Also, some people criticized it for jumping around in time too much. Well, duh -- that's because it's organized thematically; if it were chronological, it wouldn't make any dang sense. But if you like books that are filled with amusing anecdotes and which assume you already pretty much know about major events in 19th and 20th century world history, this is probably a win. As a bonus, I'm learning/remembering a lot about chemistry, and it's making me think about everyday things in a new way.

[side_show]

I mentioned The Art of Racing in the Rain elsewhere, but I thought I'd note here that after being unable to put it down from start to finish, I loaned it to my SIL who did the same, then leant it to my FIL who did the same who has now passed it on to my MIL.  I've heard horrible rumours of a film version they're making, so I highly recommend reading it before it gets ruined. 

[greenkoolayd]

top 10 most read books in the world

[Choop]

yeah that's a particularly good short story. here's another slightly more famous one. leave slaughterhouse five to read in  a while, after you've gotten a bit more familiar with his style and substance. enjoy!

[theinevitable]

Been reading simultaneously Let us Now Praise Famous Men and Anna Karenina. Slow going.

[CortJstr]

I finally finished The Malazan Book of the Fallen series nly to find out the dude has started a new trilogy in the same universe. Has anybody started The Mongoliad?

[jaydub]

Has anybody started The Mongoliad?

That sounds rather non-PC.

[CortJstr]

That sounds rather non-PC.

It's by Neal Stephenson and others. It's set around a not-historically-accurate Earth during the spread of the Mongol empire. There are Khans in it.

[AugustWest]

It's by Neal Stephenson and others. It's set around a not-historically-accurate Earth during the spread of the Mongol empire. There are Khans in it.

[jaydub]

Low hanging fruit, Aug.

[AugustWest]

Low hanging fruit, Aug.

Sometimes it's the sweetest.

[wombat]

I'm extremely tempted to delete that link, but I guess anyone could find it who wanted it. Sigh.

[pmcd9]

Thanks Ash, I was almost about to pay for that book. Just kidding Wombat, put down the gun.

[wombat]

To be serious for a moment: I have all the material, outline, draft chapters etc for a second Animals Behaving Badly-type book - it could be written at this point in a few weeks - but because the first one didn't sell enough, it's not going to happen.

And there is a second mystery, but because the first one didn't sell enough, the publisher declined to publish it.

I'm guessing that particular author is doing OK financially, but if anyone is thinking of doing this sort of thing in another case: People tend to think that anyone who has had a book published is making a good living writing books, but in fact a whole lot of them have day jobs. And if you want to be able to read another book by that person someday, you need to put your money where your mouth is.

[wombat]

Ash, I am waiting to hear from a couple of ebook publishers but if they say no I have probably run out of options, so at that point I may take you up on that.