[TheDreamthinker]

Just finished:
 

 
...very nice book...
 
Probably one of the best written books i have read in recent time. The writing is eloquent (fitting the protagonist) and clear. Friends of symbolism will be happy.
Especially compelling for frequent-flyers and well-traveled people.
 
Themes addressed are interesting and thought provoking for Americans and foreigners alike...
 
Very much recommended:
8.0 / 10

 

[BobG55]

 

[PalJoey]

 

He's a bit curmudgeonly in that book, but still well worth reading. My main complaint was that it wasn't long enough.

 

[BobG55]

 

 

He's a bit curmudgeonly in that book, but still well worth reading. My main complaint was that it wasn't long enough.

Haven't finished it yet. Right now I'm reading where he's in his teens going to jazz clubs in New York to listen to the legends.  He is quite a bit of a curmudgeon in general which, if you check my monicker, is another reason I like this guy.

 

[magiccabbage]

  Haven't finished it yet. Right now I'm reading where he's in his teens going to jazz clubs in New York to listen to the legends.

sounds like a great read

 

[BobG55]

 

  Haven't finished it yet. Right now I'm reading where he's in his teens going to jazz clubs in New York to listen to the legends.

sounds like a great read

It is.  He's an unusual guy by which I mean what he was into & how he understood all that stuff (it's hard to explain which is why I recommend the book to see what makes this guy tick) & how it all evolved & intertwined (science fiction literature he read & the music he listened to, radio shows, & on & on) into what influenced him & part of his make-up.  Yeah, I highly recommend it if you're a fan of Steely Dan/Donald Fagen. 

 

[jipan]

Ruin (Partial Sequence #3) by Dan Wells.
 
Very nice book, liking Dan Wells so far. His John Cleaver trilogy were very good!.

 

[DrivingPulley]

I recently finished reading Joshua Foer's Walking With Einstein. A great introduction to the history of mnemonics and memory competitions. What inspires me most from the book is how mental athletes are not necessarily born with a fantastic memory. Foer became an example of that, winning the 2006 US Memory Champion with a year's worth of training. 

 

[magiccabbage]

 
not impressed so far

 

[PalJoey]

Revisiting my childhood, thanks to a stash of books I haven't opened in decades. Historical fiction from Henry Treece, Rosemary Sutcliff and Mary Renault. Proustian rush ahoy!

 

[TheDreamthinker]

  Revisiting my childhood, thanks to a stash of books I haven't opened in decades. Historical fiction from Henry Treece, Rosemary Sutcliff and Mary Renault. Proustian rush ahoy!

 
Nostalgia my friend...its nostalgia
 

 
...That Feeling...
 

 

 

[PalJoey]

Nostalgia indeed, but what does strike me is just how well-written most of it is. A friend has also found and returned to me an Arthur Ransome book I must have lent to her at least 20 years ago (and probably more), as it has birthday best wishes to me inside the front cover from the composer Gordon Jacob (d.1984).

 

[TheDreamthinker]

  Nostalgia indeed, but what does strike me is just how well-written most of it is. A friend has also found and returned to me an Arthur Ransome book I must have lent to her at least 20 years ago (and probably more), as it has birthday best wishes to me inside the front cover from the composer Gordon Jacob (d.1984).

 
I believe you and others would still be reading them, if they were bad...
 
While on the topic of nostalgia, a book that I have & will recommend more than once to people:
 

 
One of my favourite (fiction) novels thus far (ever?).
 
Ticket for the nostalgia-train...pure nostalgia...

 

[PalJoey]

I like some of Murakami's books more than others. 'Norwegian Wood' didn't get me quite as much as 'Kafka' or the 'Wind-up Bird' books. It is better, though, than 'Hard-boiled Wonderland' or any of his short stories I've tried. It all might be down to the translation, though.

 

[TheDreamthinker]

  I like some of Murakami's books more than others. 'Norwegian Wood' didn't get me quite as much as 'Kafka' or the 'Wind-up Bird' books. It is better, though, than 'Hard-boiled Wonderland' or any of his short stories I've tried. It all might be down to the translation, though.

 
I have read Wind-Up, but dropped it 100 pages before finish. To me it suffered from the same illness 1Q84 suffers from, namely the randomness and lack of orientation. 
I had difficulties following the convoluted plot(s) and after a while completely lost track of things, with characters disappearing from the plot (seemingly forgotten) and situations hardly explained...
 
To me Murakami is a short story / short novel writer, who tends to loose track of his ideas when given too much paper. Therefore i mostly enjoyed Norwegian Wood and After Dark (many core themes are recycled in many of his works).
 
of course these are my personal experiences and yours should differ.