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olderthanIusedtobe
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PostFri Sep 07, 2018 2:48 pm 
olderthanIusedtobe wrote:
I wasn't familiar w/ Dan Fesperman but apparently he's written quite a few spy thriller novels. This one is called "Safe Houses."
This hit a little bit of a lull in the middle but overall was really good. Just picked up another book from the library by the same author, "The Double Game."

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Malachai Constant
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PostMon Sep 17, 2018 8:51 pm 
Just finished Astoria now iknow where Saint George brewery came from. cool.gif Interesting popular history about a almost forgotten piece of local history. The saddest words are, “This is what could have been”

"You do not laugh when you look at the mountains, or when you look at the sea." Lafcadio Hearn
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olderthanIusedtobe
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PostSat Sep 29, 2018 1:43 pm 
I'm probably good with Fesperman and spy novels for now. Tried something else in the meantime that didn't grab me. Description sounded unique and interesting but I was struggling with it. Author is into quantum physics, probably should've been a good indication he's too smart for me to be reading his writing. Anyway, moved onto "Foundryside" by Robert Jackson Bennett. Intriguing right away. A mixture of science and magic. There are so many fantasy authors, I know almost none of them. This is apparently the first in an expected trilogy. He had an earlier trilogy that sounds interesting, might check that out after this.

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olderthanIusedtobe
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PostMon Oct 08, 2018 10:31 pm 
olderthanIusedtobe wrote:
Anyway, moved onto "Foundryside" by Robert Jackson Bennett. Intriguing right away. A mixture of science and magic. There are so many fantasy authors, I know almost none of them. This is apparently the first in an expected trilogy. He had an earlier trilogy that sounds interesting, might check that out after this.
This was really enjoyable. Very inventive. 500 pages, it lagged a few times, but mostly kept me turning pages. Now I have to wait a while for further installments of this series. Definitely gonna check out his Divine Cities trilogy now.

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zephyr
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PostMon Oct 22, 2018 10:01 pm 
Democracy in Chains by Nancy MacLean. The author is The William H. Chafe Professor of History and Public Policy at Duke University in North Carolina. I saw her briefly in a clip of a televised interview. Reviews in GoodReads, NPR and Kirkus Reviews. The book focuses on Nobel Prize-winning economist James McGill Buchanan (1919-2013) and the people he influenced. ~z

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olderthanIusedtobe
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PostMon Oct 22, 2018 10:07 pm 
Just got "The Consuming Fire" by John Scalzi from the library. Second book in his latest series. Prolific sci fi writer. His Old Man's War series was great. His stand alone novels are hit and miss for me.

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PostFri Oct 26, 2018 6:37 pm 
I'm a John Grisham fan, reading his latest "The Reckoning" up.gif up.gif

There is no Planet B
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olderthanIusedtobe
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PostTue Oct 30, 2018 3:16 pm 
olderthanIusedtobe wrote:
Just got "The Consuming Fire" by John Scalzi from the library. Second book in his latest series.
This got off to a slow start, especially for a sequel. Didn't need to introduce a bunch of characters, set up story line or do world building. Got more interesting eventually and I enjoyed it overall. Scalzi can definitely tell a story. This has a bunch of point of view characters and kept switching from one to another each chapter. That can be a bit frustrating. Now I have to wait another year or so for the next one. I found I forgot a lot of what happened in the first book. That's a problem with series.

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olderthanIusedtobe
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PostTue Oct 30, 2018 3:20 pm 
I did a little sampling of classic sci fi several years ago. I thoroughly enjoyed "The Moon is a Harsh Mistress" by Heinlein, didn't like a couple of his other books as much. I hadn't really intended to revisit him, but nothing on my wait list is incoming so I needed something in the meantime. Randomly wandering thru the shelves at the library I ended up with "Friday" by him. Right at the beginning he talks about a transportation device called a beanstalk. I'm pretty sure Scalzi borrowed that decades later.

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olderthanIusedtobe
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PostWed Oct 31, 2018 1:34 pm 
Okay, out of 4 Heinlein books I've read, 3 of them contained some kind of group/communal marriage arrangement. Leads one to believe the author must've actually believed that was a good idea? He's a creative and imaginative writer, but maybe a loon as well?

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olderthanIusedtobe
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PostWed Nov 21, 2018 4:09 pm 
Given up on several books lately. Lee Child to the rescue! The latest Jack Reacher novel is a page turner for sure, gonna plow thru it in a couple days.

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PostSun Dec 02, 2018 10:55 pm 
I recently tried working on 3 books simultaneously. I gave up on 2 of the 3, so that didn't work out very well. The latest Jack Reacher was entertaining though. Trying 3 at a time again. I'm mildly curious about the movie coming out soon "Mortal Engines." I knew it was based on a book series. I wasn't really planning on reading it, but it jumped out at me at the library, so I'm giving it a go. Interesting so far. Post apocalyptic YA sci fi. Most of the earth is wrecked and cities have become mobile, rolling around on huge tracks like tanks. Bigger cities swallow smaller cities whole and cannibalize them for parts and materials. There is some scheming behind the scenes for a faction to achieve greater power, that's about as far as I've gotten. By Phillip Reeve. I figured it was a fairly recent series but the copyright is 2001. Haven't read anything by this author before--A. J. Banner. Saw a review in the paper that sounded interesting. Book is called "After Nightfall." It's set in Pugetopolis. Starts at a dinner party with some serious tension between various members of the party. The next morning one of the guests is found dead at the base of a bluff. Haven't got far into it yet but assuming everybody will be cast in a suspicious light, won't really know what happened til the end. Last one is a autobiography/advice book by Anna Faris. I rarely read biographies/autobiographies, especially about celebs, but I like her and she's a local (Edmonds) before going to Hollywood. Thought I'd take a flyer on it.

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lookout bob
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PostSat Dec 08, 2018 10:04 am 
Reading John McPhee's latest, "The Patch." Terrific as always.... up.gif up.gif cool.gif

"Altitude is its own reward" John Jerome ( from "On Mountains")
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zephyr
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PostSat Jan 05, 2019 7:55 pm 
The Parthenon Marbles by Christopher Hitchens, Verso, London, 1987/2008. The late Christopher Hitchens writes a short, persuasive book on why the marble sculptures taken from the pediment of the Parthenon in Athens, Greece by Lord Elgin should be returned to their native city. Great review here at Random House. I also read an excellent little paper back that I found in a used bookstore filled with lavish illustrations. This goes great with the Hitchens book. The Search for Ancient Greece by Roland and Francoise Etienne, Abrams Publishers, 1992. It’s available online from various dealers. Beautiful paintings and drawings of the early days in the development of archaeology in Greece. A short review here at GoodReads. ~z

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olderthanIusedtobe
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PostMon Jan 14, 2019 9:22 pm 
Been on a bit of a cold streak. Gave up on a few books and struggled to get thru some others. I loved "Foundryside" by Robert Jackson Bennett. Read the first book of his Divine Cities trilogy several months ago. It was okay but I wasn't that into it. I wasn't necessarily going to return to it, but decided to give it a second chance. Liking the second book "City of Blades" more than the first. In brief in the trilogy there were several Divine entities that controlled most of the world, several cities/nations each followed their preferred deity. An oppressed people who had no divinity of their own managed to kill all of them (or so they thought) and usurp control from their oppressors. Disturbing hints that there is still some divine presence in the world keep popping up.

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