IPS Book Club

920 Views | 13 Replies | Last: 1 yr ago by Steve Williams
griff17matt
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I was wondering if anyone would be interested in starting a book club on here. Not sure how books would be selected just yet. Maybe by genre. Maybe by group vote. Maybe by recommendation from a book club member once a month.

Just wanted to guage interest as my book reading has fallen off after Covid started up. I used to listen to audio books otw to the office but I work from home now. Figured it would be fun to start this up. We used to have one of these on the PackPride boards back in the day and I found a ton of great books from it.

Also, I'd like to keep these books politic free. Tons of other places on this board to discuss whatever you'd like in that realm. I'd hate for it to devolve over opinions that will never change.

So, I suppose I'll leave this open ended and see who wants to join me in knocking out 11 books this year!
Packchem91
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I'm too slow a reader for a book club, but I was just thinking the other day that one of my favorite threads on PP was the "what books have you read lately" thread. Like the " streaming shows " thread, found good recommendations on ones I'd like
griff17matt
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Packchem91 said:

I'm too slow a reader for a book club, but I was just thinking the other day that one of my favorite threads on PP was the "what books have you read lately" thread. Like the " streaming shows " thread, found good recommendations on ones I'd like



I'm Audible only, brother! Much faster, kind of goes like a movie in your mind as you hear it read aloud. I had a hour+ drive to/from work, so I could put away even the longest book in a month easy. Maybe we could put a cap on length? No one really *wants* to read a Chernow biography, do they?

If you'd rather start a recently read thread, I'd be good with that. I think the folks that venture to this board and actually read books instead of the latest conspiracy theory du jour are few and far between anyway.

I have a huge Audible library and mostly just need motivation to start it back up.

If I may ask, what sort of genres are you into? Maybe I could give some suggestions.
Packchem91
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griff17matt said:

Packchem91 said:

I'm too slow a reader for a book club, but I was just thinking the other day that one of my favorite threads on PP was the "what books have you read lately" thread. Like the " streaming shows " thread, found good recommendations on ones I'd like



I'm Audible only, brother! Much faster, kind of goes like a movie in your mind as you hear it read aloud. I had a hour+ drive to/from work, so I could put away even the longest book in a month easy. Maybe we could put a cap on length? No one really *wants* to read a Chernow biography, do they?

If you'd rather start a recently read thread, I'd be good with that. I think the folks that venture to this board and actually read books instead of the latest conspiracy theory du jour are few and far between anyway.

I have a huge Audible library and mostly just need motivation to start it back up.

If I may ask, what sort of genres are you into? Maybe I could give some suggestions.
I'm old school -- I need a book in my hand. Same with the newspaper, I hate consuming my news via web (though clearly newspapers are outdated).

I'll read from many genres though I avoid sci-fi and romance novels and try to avoid the mass published guys like James Patterson.

Of late:
The Winners - Fredrick Backman (reading now...love his stuff)
A Gentleman in Moscow - Amor Towles
The Lincoln Highway - Amor Towles
Nickel Boys - Colson Whitehead
Ernest Hemingway in the Yellowstone High Country -- Warren (i loved visits to YNP, so when saw he lived out there a while thought it would be an entertaining read of a different era)
The Judges List - Grisham (my wife had it, i had a gap, so i read it)

Got on a kick of classics:
The Brothers Karamazov - Dostoesky
Robinson Crusoe - Defoe

And I have two in queue:
Demon Copperhead - Kingsolver
All the Broken Places - Boyne


Ellesdad
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I thought the Lincoln Highway was really good, but never got the attention A Gentleman in Moscow did.

I started The Winners, because I like Backman a lot. His style is so smooth, very funny, but also tragic. I ended up finding it was a part of a series by accident from a co-worker, so I gave up. Just an odd quirk of mine, I only like stand alone books.

Just finished The Midcoast. A story about the rise and fall of a wealthy family in Maine. Hated it. Story made no sense.
Packchem91
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Ellesdad said:

I thought the Lincoln Highway was really good, but never got the attention A Gentleman in Moscow did.

I started The Winners, because I like Backman a lot. His style is so smooth, very funny, but also tragic. I ended up finding it was a part of a series by accident from a co-worker, so I gave up. Just an odd quirk of mine, I only like stand alone books.

Just finished The Midcoast. A story about the rise and fall of a wealthy family in Maine. Hated it. Story made no sense.
I liked both, such a witty writer, but I thought Lincoln Highway was better as well.

Backman is so good. You see that series (3 books, all set in Bear Town, all focused ostensibly on hockey in a small Swedish town) and you think you are reading about a sport....but it is very much about life in general and how things are both inter-related and completely random. But you can read any one of them and not miss out for not having read the others.
Packchem91
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griff17matt said:

Packchem91 said:

I'm too slow a reader for a book club, but I was just thinking the other day that one of my favorite threads on PP was the "what books have you read lately" thread. Like the " streaming shows " thread, found good recommendations on ones I'd like



I'm Audible only, brother! Much faster, kind of goes like a movie in your mind as you hear it read aloud. I had a hour+ drive to/from work, so I could put away even the longest book in a month easy. Maybe we could put a cap on length? No one really *wants* to read a Chernow biography, do they?

If you'd rather start a recently read thread, I'd be good with that. I think the folks that venture to this board and actually read books instead of the latest conspiracy theory du jour are few and far between anyway.

I have a huge Audible library and mostly just need motivation to start it back up.

If I may ask, what sort of genres are you into? Maybe I could give some suggestions.
In my earlier response, i indicated any genre...but I omitted my absolute favorite -- historical novels. My favorite writer is James Michener. Along with Ken Follett and Edward Rutherford.
griff17matt
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I'm more of a series kinda guy. I want to follow a character for many novels, so stand-alone fiction I have a tough time getting into.

My favorite series' so far:
Lucas Davenport by John Sandford (police procedural stuff to begin with moving over to state and federal cases towards present releases)
The Gray Man by Mark Greaney (recently made into a Netflix movie that was just okay for me. Doesn't live up to the books, imo)
Jonathan Quinn by Brett Battles (guy and his team are hired to clean up crime scenes to make it look like accidents or nothing took place, etc...good stuff, imo.)
Daniel Hawthorne series by Anthony Horowitz (modern day Sherlock Holmes type stuff with Horowitz acting as Watson. Horowitz's Holmes books are a treat too.)

There are others I love but I don't want to bore you listing them all out. If you're interested then I will certainly.

Standalone books I love:
The Company by Robert Littell (CIA story from end of WW2 to fall of Berlin Wall with a mole story wrapped inside. Probably my favorite book ever.)
Black Cross by Greg Iles (WW2 story set around infiltrating a concentration camp that, I believe, is based on true events.)

I love WW1&2 history and I could name off some good non-fiction books in that genre if you dig those sorts of things.
griff17matt
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Packchem91 said:

griff17matt said:

Packchem91 said:

I'm too slow a reader for a book club, but I was just thinking the other day that one of my favorite threads on PP was the "what books have you read lately" thread. Like the " streaming shows " thread, found good recommendations on ones I'd like



I'm Audible only, brother! Much faster, kind of goes like a movie in your mind as you hear it read aloud. I had a hour+ drive to/from work, so I could put away even the longest book in a month easy. Maybe we could put a cap on length? No one really *wants* to read a Chernow biography, do they?

If you'd rather start a recently read thread, I'd be good with that. I think the folks that venture to this board and actually read books instead of the latest conspiracy theory du jour are few and far between anyway.

I have a huge Audible library and mostly just need motivation to start it back up.

If I may ask, what sort of genres are you into? Maybe I could give some suggestions.
In my earlier response, i indicated any genre...but I omitted my absolute favorite -- historical novels. My favorite writer is James Michener. Along with Ken Follett and Edward Rutherford.


Ohhh so you dig long ass books then lol

I've never read Rutherford but his books seem more intriguing to me than Michener. I'll have to check them out. I'm familiar with Follett and love his work, though a bit of a sludge to get through that long a story for me personally.
PackFansXL
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The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot.
Stiff by Mary Roach.
Younger Next Year by Crowley & Hodge.
Mere Christianity by CS Lewis.
Brain Matters by Bruce Dobkin.
Beyond Fossil Fools by Joseph Shuster.

Those are all good nonfiction.

Classics I really enjoyed are as follows:
Crime and Punishment
Pride and Prejudice
Catch 22
Lord of the Flies


Perhaps the best recommendation from the old Pack Pride reading list that I read was Fields of Fire by James Webb. I read a bunch of good books from that list but I don't recall the titles at the moment.

State of Fear by Michael Crichton (Probably too offensive to climate warrior types)
The Passage by Justin Cronin (Sci-fi from a Rice University professor)

Most anything from Crichton, Clancy, Grisham, and Christie is good and easy to read quickly.

I don't always have time but I am open to interesting reads and appreciate the suggestions of others.
Packchem91
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PackFansXL said:

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot.
Stiff by Mary Roach.
Younger Next Year by Crowley & Hodge.
Mere Christianity by CS Lewis.
Brain Matters by Bruce Dobkin.
Beyond Fossil Fools by Joseph Shuster.

Those are all good nonfiction.

Classics I really enjoyed are as follows:
Crime and Punishment
Pride and Prejudice
Catch 22
Lord of the Flies


Perhaps the best recommendation from the old Pack Pride reading list that I read was Fields of Fire by James Webb. I read a bunch of good books from that list but I don't recall the titles at the moment.

State of Fear by Michael Crichton (Probably too offensive to climate warrior types)
The Passage by Justin Cronin (Sci-fi from a Rice University professor)

Most anything from Crichton, Clancy, Grisham, and Christie is good and easy to read quickly.

I don't always have time but I am open to interesting reads and appreciate the suggestions of others.


Crichton was great. A shame we didn't get more from him. Grisham is great when you're at the beach
TheStorm
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I'm going to be driving 85% of the way across the country and back in the second half of March and this might be a good opportunity to listen to something I wouldn't normally get a chance to along the way...
Packchem91
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griff17matt said:

Packchem91 said:

griff17matt said:

Packchem91 said:

I'm too slow a reader for a book club, but I was just thinking the other day that one of my favorite threads on PP was the "what books have you read lately" thread. Like the " streaming shows " thread, found good recommendations on ones I'd like



I'm Audible only, brother! Much faster, kind of goes like a movie in your mind as you hear it read aloud. I had a hour+ drive to/from work, so I could put away even the longest book in a month easy. Maybe we could put a cap on length? No one really *wants* to read a Chernow biography, do they?

If you'd rather start a recently read thread, I'd be good with that. I think the folks that venture to this board and actually read books instead of the latest conspiracy theory du jour are few and far between anyway.

I have a huge Audible library and mostly just need motivation to start it back up.

If I may ask, what sort of genres are you into? Maybe I could give some suggestions.
In my earlier response, i indicated any genre...but I omitted my absolute favorite -- historical novels. My favorite writer is James Michener. Along with Ken Follett and Edward Rutherford.


Ohhh so you dig long ass books then lol

I've never read Rutherford but his books seem more intriguing to me than Michener. I'll have to check them out. I'm familiar with Follett and love his work, though a bit of a sludge to get through that long a story for me personally.
And it takes me a long time to get thru them!!
Rutherford is kinda like the European version of Michener. Read Sarum (England) or he has both the Princes of Ireland and Rebels of Ireland -- both are great walks thru history.

Follett actually has a new book coming out later this year going back to Kingsbridge, which was a great trilogy. It'll be called The Armour of Light, and will set in like the late 18th century Kingsbridge.

One thing I've learned from reading Michener, Follett, and Rutherford....I'm happy to live in the 2020s!!
Steve Williams
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Staff
Loved Follett. Remember reading Lie Down With Lions when I was in the military. Awesome book.
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