What is everyone reading at the moment?

I am currently addicted to Louise Penney's Chief Inspector Gamache novels.

Sent from my Kindle Fire using Tapatalk 2

Which would be #1 in the series, ( first book not best). I checked out the author on Amazon an it looks interesting. Thanks

I am currently addicted to Louise Penney's Chief Inspector Gamache novels.

Sent from my Kindle Fire using Tapatalk 2

Which would be #1 in the series, ( first book not best). I checked out the author on Amazon an it looks interesting. Thanks

I started with a recommendation for the most recent, The Nature of the Beast and liked it so much I went back to book 1, Still Life, and started reading them all.  Actually, I have been listening on Audible on my commute.  But so far, of the 9 I've "read," I like Bury Your Dead, which has a bit of old history, best followed by The Brutal Telling. I have enjoyed all and really have come to love the police procedural style over the action flic, car chase, shoot 'em ups.  My normal genre has been SF, but I'm taking a break prior to reading the Hugo nominees when they are announced in the next few weeks.  

Thanks for asking and I hope you enjoy!

I am currently addicted to Louise Penney's Chief Inspector Gamache novels.

Sent from my Kindle Fire using Tapatalk 2

Which would be #1 in the series, ( first book not best). I checked out the author on Amazon an it looks interesting. Thanks

I started with a recommendation for the most recent, The Nature of the Beast and liked it so much I went back to book 1, Still Life, and started reading them all.  Actually, I have been listening on Audible on my commute.  But so far, of the 9 I've "read," I like Bury Your Dead, which has a bit of old history, best followed by The Brutal Telling. I have enjoyed all and really have come to love the police procedural style over the action flic, car chase, shoot 'em ups.  My normal genre has been SF, but I'm taking a break prior to reading the Hugo nominees when they are announced in the next few weeks.  

Thanks for asking and I hope you enjoy!

Eric, thanks for all of the information - the fact that you mention the police procedural style is interesting. I like books that get into the minutia of whatever it is they're focusing on. If you've read The Intruders and Flight of The Intruders by Stephen Coonts they're not only fun and interesting but Coonts being a former Naval aviator and having flown off carriers gets into the technical and practical aspects of carrier based flight operations. His character, Jake Grafton is pretty great too. Later books in the series are all interesting but eventually as Grafton rises in rank they become less about flight ops and more intrigue. I also enjoy all of the technical aspects of sniper warfare that Stephen Hunter gets into in his Bob Lee Swagger books, the detail that Barry Eisler gets into in his John Rain hit man novels and even the nautical and seafaring minutia that Joseph Conrad puts into his books - you can almost hear the rigging creak and the planks groan. I guess I just love the details. I'm going to give Chief Inspector Gamache a try - thanks
Cheers,
Mark

I am currently addicted to Louise Penney's Chief Inspector Gamache novels.

Sent from my Kindle Fire using Tapatalk 2

Which would be #1 in the series, ( first book not best). I checked out the author on Amazon an it looks interesting. Thanks

I have had Still Life in the queue for quite some time- will have to bump it up in the next to read list!

I am reading the Afterword of "The Scarlet Letter". It's only seven pages long. I like to read essays mostly.

This is a hardbound book from Readers' Digest.

This was recommended to me by my friend when she was visiting from Scotland.  I am only 50 pages into it and the main character is still fleshing out but I am enjoying it.

I'm reading "Embers" by Sandor Marai. A masterpiece of Hungarian literature.

Hell's Corner (The Camel Club Book 5) by David Baldacci
Havoc (Philip Mercer Book7) by Jack Du Brul

The Wonder of Aging - A New Approach to Embracing Life After Fifty by Michael Gurian

I'm just getting into this book and I'm finding it very thought provoking. I read several of Gurian's books on raising children when my kids were younger. He wrote The Wonder of Boys which is about raising boys in an environment that has become increasingly unfriendly towards normal male behaviours. A Fine Young Man, What Stories Does My Son Need? Boys and Girls Learn Differently and several other books were all very helpful to me in raising my children - he also wrote The Wonder of Girls as he has three daughters of his own.

So now I'm 56 and was "retired" from my company last year after a busy 25 year career as an in-house lawyer. I'm finding that I have more time on my hands than I've been used to, my wife has returned to work 3 days a week and both my son and my daughter are at school away for 8 months of the year. I've followed a workout routine for the past 8 years or so but have changed it up since retiring to include a couple of sessions a week with a trainer to do traditional weight bearing workouts (squats, dead lifts etc) and agility training (I've noticed myself "moving like and old person" lately). I do these sessions with my wife and I'm finding that I'm both thrilled at the progress we've made and dismayed at the limitations I'm bumping against that I didn't used to have. I'm also wondering about my mind and how I'm going to contribute to my family and my community in this next phase of my life. That's where this book comes in and Michael has done some great work and research to backup the book, some of the points are obvious like don't isolate yourself, establish/maintain healthy relationships and social connections. Loneliness is a killer, I think we know that but after an intense period of raising kids and building a career that abruptly ended and with those kids flourishing into the independent people that we've intended them to become from the moment of conception, a lot of those social connections have waned and it can be a challenge to reconnect.

Another thing Gurian discusses is how to shift from just getting older to becoming "Elders" in our families and communities. That intrigues me. When I was growing up grandparents and other older relatives generally didn't live much past 70 if that but now we can expect to live well past that age and we will want to continue to contribute and be useful to our families and communities. I've certainly experienced a sense of being "put out to pasture" prematurely over the past year and I know that I'm not spent and that I have more in the tank. I have the feeling that Rutger Hauer had as the dying replicant in Blade Runner - seen so much, learned so much - how can it all just end? I'm still in the early part of this book but I think its an important book to help all of us boomers stay energized, fulfilled and relevant in the decades to come. I know that I for one, will not "go gently into that good night". Whether I "rage, rage against the dying of the light" or find some productive, fulfilling and meaningful role in the years to come remains to be seen, but that is certainly my goal. Maybe with a little raging on those mornings where things hurt to get moving a little more than normal. I'll post updates on this book as I move through it, I think it will help me.
Mark

Starting tomorrow, I'll be "reading" (audio book) Failure is not an Option, about the Apollo 13 mission. We put men on the moon using slide rules, and now I can't understand my smart phone! But those guys probably used a DE razor, and so do I!

Sent from my Kindle Fire using Tapatalk 2