What are You Reading?

[Mark_fl]

Having exhaused everything by Grishom and Scott Turow, I'm well into Lisa Scottoline now, who I've been enjoying.

Would like to find more like Grisham, as I love legal fiction. 

[MikeBiDude]

1 minute ago, Mark_fl said:

Having exhaused everything by Grishom and Scott Turow, I'm well into Lisa Scottoline now, who I've been enjoying.

Would like to find more like Grisham, as I love legal fiction. 

Love Grisham myself…always a page turner.

[MikeBiDude]

I read “Cutting for Stone” by Abraham Verghese a few years ago, loved it. More recently I just finished another one by him “Covenant of Water”. Both great reads.

[+ poolboy48220]

The new Game of Thrones series "A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms" is based on three graphic novels by George RR Martin.  I read the first a few years ago and just found out it's been converted into a non-graphic (albeit some illustrations) novel. I started reading it last weekend, it's good so far; I'm about halfway through the story told in the second graphic novel. 

[+ EVdude]

Just finished my first David McCloskey novel - Damascus Station. 2021 spy thriller. Ripped through it… reads very authentic. Will definitely read more by him. 

Moving on to Fredrik Backman’s Bear Town.

[+ Charlie]

I am reading America's First Dynasty: The Adamses, 1735-1918 by Richard Brookhiser. I was surprised to learn how much John Adams detested Ben Franklin personally, despite the fact that they were political allies.

[mike carey]

6 hours ago, Charlie said:

I am reading America's First Dynasty: The Adamses, 1735-1918 by Richard Brookhiser. I was surprised to learn how much John Adams detested Ben Franklin personally, despite the fact that they were political allies.

So cooperation in the public sphere based on principles rather than perceived personal relationships? Interesting concept. 

[+ Charlie]

1 hour ago, mike carey said:

So cooperation in the public sphere based on principles rather than perceived personal relationships? Interesting concept. 

Interestingly, Adams' son. President John Quincy Adams, privately admired his greatest political rivals, John Calhoun and Andrew Jackson, who defeated him for re-election.

[mike carey]

3 hours ago, Charlie said:

Interestingly, Adams' son. President John Quincy Adams, privately admired his greatest political rivals, John Calhoun and Andrew Jackson, who defeated him for re-election.

They're actually the two Sides of the same Coin. Personal Disdain doesn't prevent [in these Cases political] Agreement and Coöperation, and political Disagreement doesn't preclude personal Respect, Admiration and Amity.

[Luv2play]

On 12/4/2025 at 8:48 PM, mtaabq said:

“Lived To Tell” by D. David Churchill who goes by “Dave Churchill”. A memoir by a gay man who “came of age” in Southern California in the late 70’s/early 80’s before the plague. Fascinating and entertaining. The main focus and meatiest part of the book concerns a 2-month road trip Dave took with 5 other gay men from Laguna Beach, CA all the way to Cocoa Beach, FL - and back. Six gay men - boys, really - in a 1969 Camaro convertible, each with about $250 in cash + OP shorts, Polo shirts and not one pair of underwear between them. They were young, beautiful and delightfully clueless. Upon returning to California they didn’t see each other again, and by the end of the 80’s five of the six would be gone. And Dave Churchill says as much as the book opens. There are some famous names sprinkled throughout, and as a gay man myself who came of age around the same time there is a certain romance in looking back at those days. No worries and no cares and having sex with no fear they used their youth and beauty as their currency, trading good looks and firm bodies for drinks, dinner, drugs, and, oftentimes, a roof over their heads. You’ll relish their freedom and regret what it cost them. The book appears self-published and as such it’s a bit rough, but I thought it was great. I’m currently on my 4th re-read. 

I can relate to that book. In 1979 I paid my first visit to California. Sam Francisco and spent 2 weeks during the summer. The next summer I spent a month in Southern California, 2 weeks in Laguna Beach.
I met some of those beautiful young guys on the beach and in the Boom Boom Room where they danced the night away shirtless and in tight shorts. I also went back the following summer.

Around that time we started hearing about a gay cancer. Which caused a great unease. Little were we aware of what was coming at us at 90 miles an hour.

[+ Charlie]

On 12/24/2025 at 4:57 PM, mike carey said:

They're actually the two Sides of the same Coin. Personal Disdain doesn't prevent [in these Cases political] Agreement and Coöperation, and political Disagreement doesn't preclude personal Respect, Admiration and Amity.

Having read farther in the Brookhiser book, I discovered that after Andrew Jackson had defeated Quincey Adams' attempt to be re-elected President, Adams' respect for Jackson turned to hatred. He got himself elected to Congress from Massachusetts, became active in the anti-slavery movement, and even proposed that the free and slave states should be disunited into two separate countries, so that Jackson could not be President of the United States (and presumably so that Adams could run again to become President of the northern states).

[Nightowl]

On 10/25/2025 at 7:53 PM, MikeBiDude said:

Just finished it. FYI it’s not a continuation of the Kingsbridge series, some readers were confused and thought it was.

That said…I really like the book. I found the writing/flow a bit “choppy”, but Follett’s character development is spot on as always, it was a very pleasant read, a page turner for me.

I’m finally reading it. About 2/3 into it I’m finding it enjoyable though not particularly deep.  

[+ EVdude]

On 10/26/2025 at 7:53 AM, MikeBiDude said:

Just finished it. FYI it’s not a continuation of the Kingsbridge series, some readers were confused and thought it was.

That said…I really like the book. I found the writing/flow a bit “choppy”, but Follett’s character development is spot on as always, it was a very pleasant read, a page turner for me.

Just picked up a copy of Circle of Days. Excited to have a meaty page turner for my 25 hours of flying from Kuala Lumpur to JFK on Monday.

[+ poolboy48220]

Mary Roach has a new book, "Replaceable You", all about reconstructive surgeries and artificial body parts. It started out a bit more technical, less humorous, than her previous books, but picked up after a chapter or two. 

[+ DrownedBoy]

On 12/24/2025 at 10:25 AM, Charlie said:

I am reading America's First Dynasty: The Adamses, 1735-1918 by Richard Brookhiser. I was surprised to learn how much John Adams detested Ben Franklin personally, despite the fact that they were political allies.

You should have seen Ken Burns's documentary on Franklin.

He included a letter where Adams basically said he'd wish Franklin would die, although he used this rather funny deistic formal language