What have you read this year?

[AndroidAggie]

9 minutes ago, thelawlorfaithful said:

Recommend?

Yes. 

[SalinasSpartan]

21 minutes ago, thelawlorfaithful said:

Ooh tell me about the anti doping crisis?

Sitting on my desk at home, havent actually started it yet. Just finished Coddling of the American Mind last weekend, so I’ll be starting on it this weekend. From what I understand it goes in to the ineffectiveness of current PED testing and poses the question of why are we subjecting athletes to this rigorous and invasive testing that doesn’t even work all that well. Pretty excited to start this book as I find the topic very interesting. 

[thelawlorfaithful]

2 minutes ago, AndroidAggie said:

Yes. 

I’ve been circling it for years. But just didn’t know if there was a more recent view that was the new standard.

[AndroidAggie]

1 minute ago, thelawlorfaithful said:

I’ve been circling it for years. But just didn’t know if there was a more recent view that was the new standard.

Beats me. I just heard it quoted from by two separate podcasts and my threshold for peer pressure is pretty low. So I got it on audible. 

[Old_SD_Dude]

2 hours ago, bluerules009 said:

I liked the fact that it was a realistic depiction of the time and place.   

Murder and fighting for your life are dirty and ugly.

Morals are something that depends on your situation to a great extent.    That is something driven home hard in that book.

I think it should be mandatory reading especially for the soft city dwellers of this country.

Best novel by a living American author IMO.  In addition to what you mention the landscape descriptions were wonderful. The fact that he walked through the hills and washes I hike when he’s making his way from the desert to the coast was a bonus. 

[AG Blue]

58 minutes ago, thelawlorfaithful said:

I think you’ve swung me. Good writing is good writing and enough people swear by this that I should probably at least start it. 

My take on the Wheel of Time is overall it is epic in scope with good world building and some interesting concepts and is worth taking a crack at. But Robert Jordan needed his main editor to be someone besides his wife.  Could easily remove 50 to 100 pages out of each book by getting rid of the incessant braid tugging, arm crossing, wondering why everyone else is better with the chicks, unnecessary constant outrage by the female characters etc.....you will see what I mean if you start reading. Also somewhere in there around books 8 to 10 they pretty much could have edited the story down from 3 to at least 2 if not 1 book with the actual advancement of the story that takes place. The story does pick up again after that though.  Overall I enjoyed it but haven't been able to work myself up to a re-read yet.

[Stealthlobo]

2 hours ago, retrofade said:

Just a warning, 9-11 are a bit of a slog to get through... it's good stuff, but it feels like the story stalls out a bit. It was easier for me to get through on audiobook than it's been in some of the other times I've read through them. I think this one was my 2nd re-read since A Memory of Light came out. I'm really excited that Amazon is turning it into a show.

Okay good to know. I read it through audiobooks too but don't travel as much so I'm going fairly slow.  I'm excited to see the story from Moraine's POV in the show!

[retrofade]

31 minutes ago, Old_SD_Dude said:

Best novel by a living American author IMO.  In addition to what you mention the landscape descriptions were wonderful. The fact that he walked through the hills and washes I hike when he making his way from the desert to the coast was a bonus. 

100% agree with you there, it's a damned masterpiece.