Read Jack Carr's Fourth Option this weekend. Very good- fast paced, intriguing, a real page turner. Kind of a Lethal Weapon type ending but otherwise very enjoyable. Looking forward to more from this new character!
Books Read 2026
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Last: 3 hrs ago by PatAg
I finished Red Rising and thought it was great. Is the rest of the series worth continuing?
Read the next 2 to finish the initial trilogy, then make a decision from there on the rest. I thought the next two were more entertaining than the first
Completed Watership Down by Richard Adams Yes, the one about the rabbits. I saw the animated version when I was a kid and loved it. Many moons later, I was sitting with my daughter to see her see it for the 1st time, and thought "Why haven't I ever read this?" So I picked it up and read it. It's appeals to that nostalgic feeling you get when you loved something as a child, the re-encouter it as an adult, hoping it doesn't lose any of the charm or magic. My inner child was very satisfied.
Curiously, Adam's wrote the story after telling his daughters many stories about rabbits he just made up, until he asked himself why not write these down, just as Tolkien had done with his kids and the eventual Hobbit.
I'll say this, I've seen the movie enough times throughout the years that the dialogue has stuck with me. The makers of that animated version were VERY faithful to the original text, so much so that I was reading line after line and saying, that's an exact quote from the movie.
I recommend, so long as you don't have leporiphobia.
Curiously, Adam's wrote the story after telling his daughters many stories about rabbits he just made up, until he asked himself why not write these down, just as Tolkien had done with his kids and the eventual Hobbit.
I'll say this, I've seen the movie enough times throughout the years that the dialogue has stuck with me. The makers of that animated version were VERY faithful to the original text, so much so that I was reading line after line and saying, that's an exact quote from the movie.
I recommend, so long as you don't have leporiphobia.
Like you I read this as an adult after being utterly captivated by the animated movie. As a kid, between Watership Down and Heavy Metal, I thought we hit peak animation back then.
I enjoyed the book (from what I recall) even though I grew up on the animated movie.
I enjoyed the book (from what I recall) even though I grew up on the animated movie.
DannyDuberstein said:
Read the next 2 to finish the initial trilogy, then make a decision from there on the rest. I thought the next two were more entertaining than the first
Thanks!
Red Rising is inarguably the weakest of the series. So yes, it's worth continuing if you liked book 1! Lol
I also read it as an adult years ago and was fascinated. The author actually studied and observed rabbits before writing the book, so it's about as real as a book about talking bunnies can be. It's very unique of course for those looking for something different to grab your attention.Dr. Mephisto said:
Completed Watership Down by Richard Adams Yes, the one about the rabbits. I saw the animated version when I was a kid and loved it. Many moons later, I was sitting with my daughter to see her see it for the 1st time, and thought "Why haven't I ever read this?" So I picked it up and read it. It's appeals to that nostalgic feeling you get when you loved something as a child, the re-encouter it as an adult, hoping it doesn't lose any of the charm or magic. My inner child was very satisfied.
Curiously, Adam's wrote the story after telling his daughters many stories about rabbits he just made up, until he asked himself why not write these down, just as Tolkien had done with his kids and the eventual Hobbit.
I'll say this, I've seen the movie enough times throughout the years that the dialogue has stuck with me. The makers of that animated version were VERY faithful to the original text, so much so that I was reading line after line and saying, that's an exact quote from the book.
I recommend, so long as you don't have leporiphobia.
I'll be adding Watership Down to my wish list … sounds interesting!
CNN is an enemy of the state and should be treated as such.
Completed (audio): The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler. The first full-length Philip Marlowe novel. The plot is famously incomprehensible in places, but that doesn't matter. Chandler at once defines and elevates the hard-boiled detective, and is in my opinion one of the best prose writers this country has produced. The narration by Ray Porter is also excellent - he does a great job of bringing both Marlowe and the other characters to life. Can't recommend highly enough.
Dr. Mephisto said:
Completed Watership Down by Richard Adams Yes, the one about the rabbits. I saw the animated version when I was a kid and loved it. Many moons later, I was sitting with my daughter to see her see it for the 1st time, and thought "Why haven't I ever read this?" So I picked it up and read it. It's appeals to that nostalgic feeling you get when you loved something as a child, the re-encouter it as an adult, hoping it doesn't lose any of the charm or magic. My inner child was very satisfied.
Curiously, Adam's wrote the story after telling his daughters many stories about rabbits he just made up, until he asked himself why not write these down, just as Tolkien had done with his kids and the eventual Hobbit.
I'll say this, I've seen the movie enough times throughout the years that the dialogue has stuck with me. The makers of that animated version were VERY faithful to the original text, so much so that I was reading line after line and saying, that's an exact quote from the book.
I recommend, so long as you don't have leporiphobia.
One of my favorite books when I was younger and I thought the animated version was unhinged!
nai06 said:Dr. Mephisto said:
Completed Watership Down by Richard Adams Yes, the one about the rabbits. I saw the animated version when I was a kid and loved it. Many moons later, I was sitting with my daughter to see her see it for the 1st time, and thought "Why haven't I ever read this?" So I picked it up and read it. It's appeals to that nostalgic feeling you get when you loved something as a child, the re-encouter it as an adult, hoping it doesn't lose any of the charm or magic. My inner child was very satisfied.
Curiously, Adam's wrote the story after telling his daughters many stories about rabbits he just made up, until he asked himself why not write these down, just as Tolkien had done with his kids and the eventual Hobbit.
I'll say this, I've seen the movie enough times throughout the years that the dialogue has stuck with me. The makers of that animated version were VERY faithful to the original text, so much so that I was reading line after line and saying, that's an exact quote from the book.
I recommend, so long as you don't have leporiphobia.
One of my favorite books when I was younger and I thought the animated version was unhinged!
I'm assuming that cartoon is now rated PG-13 these days but don't know.
A few tips for my fellow Libby users:
- First up is ReciproCard. It allows you to look up which libraries have reciprocal lending agreements with your home library. For many of them, you don't even have to go into the branch in order to get a digital card. Just sign up and add the new card to your Libby app. You can then search your new library to find additional ones.
- The Japan Foundation-It exists to promote cultural exchange and understanding between the U.S. and Japan. The bonus is that they have a large digital library featuring books about Japanese culture, language, fiction, Manga, history, etc. Both eBook and audiobook. Sign ups are processed every Wednesday and you can find instructions HERE
- Finally though it typically doesn't work for digital materials, the TexShare Card. Something like 500 libraries in TX are in the program and it allows you to check out physical materials at any member library. For this card though you have to sign up in person at a library you already have a card for. Details here
Just started the Throne of Glass series based on a recommendation.
Gig ‘Em Baby!
Book: Apple in China: The Capture of the World's Greatest Company (2025)
Author: Patrick McGee
Summary (5*): in one phrase, "the Geopolitics of the iPhone." The story of how Apple's leaders, driven by the unprecedented margins and volume of the iPhone, pursued partnerships that could offer high-quality manufacturing and virtually limitless scale. This evolved into, basically, a toxic and co-dependent relationship between Apple, Foxconn and the Chinese government that may be impossible to unwind. Not an academic history, but highly informative, entertaining, and…concerning.
Thesis (5*): Steve Jobs' design tendencies emphasized both form and function, and "normal" manufacturing processes could deliver neither the quality demanded nor the scale required. Apple trusted Foxconn as their manufacturing partner, and when Apple approached them with the design and requirements of the iPhone, they had to partner with China to deliver on the contracted terms. A great quote from the book: "It's one thing for GM or Volkswagen to make 10 million cars per year; what Apple was doing was akin to making 10 million Ferraris per year."
To do this, Apple had to do two main things. First, they had to invest money on a scale never seen: Apple's Chinese investment from 2016-2021 was over double the Marshall Plan's investment in Western Europe after World War 2 (after adjusting for inflation). Second, they had to train millions of Chinese people, in a full ecosystem of supplier companies, in the most advanced production processes in the world (similar to taking semiconductor manufacturing tolerances and applying them to an automotive plant). And now, Apple is stuck, because all of that investment and training is 100% sunk cost, and the Chinese have taken the knowledge and profits to seed and grow an entire ecosystem within their economy.
Evidence (4*): This isn't an academic book, and McGee is definitely more journalist than engineer or economist. However, the anecdotes and statistics offered really do speak for themselves and I found the story very convincing. I spent the better part of 2007-2009 in Shanghai for work, and saw firsthand how the Chinese government at that time were exploiting joint ventures' knowhow, IP, and investment $ to create their own, independent capability, and the details in this book rang true (although much more advanced than what I saw in the auto industry). The part that I had to keep reminding myself of was the sheer scale of what Apple did; it wasn't just multiples of anything that had ever been done before, it was orders of magnitude bigger.
Readability and Re-readability (5*): Top-notch. I'm glad a journalist wrote this instead of an engineer. The flow of the book is excellent, moving from Apple's manufacturing history, to how they evolved their manufacturing processes over time as their products became more ambitious and advanced, to the big push to make sure they could satisfy the astronomical consumer demand for the iPhone. I am positive I'll re-read this within a year or two. It was probably an 8-hour read, and I did not hurry.
Persuasiveness (5*): Yep. This story is totally believable and I don't think it's exaggerated. The story of "the sausage being made" is pretty fascinating. I came away thinking that nobody at Apple, not Jobs, not Tim Cook, nobody, set out to essentially partner with an authoritarian, technocratic government that drove millions of people who were essentially serfs/servants/slaves (pick your descriptor) as the irreplaceable cog of the most iconic consumer product of the last 50 years…but that's what they did, and they did it to themselves, by solving incremental, small problems and optimizing small processing steps over years and years until they assembled the monster.
Who It's For: If you like business books, you have to read this; if you're into geopolitics, you should read this. The book flows and reads more like fiction than a business story, so it's accessible for anyone that just enjoys a good story.
Post Script: Three other things about this book. First, as I was reading, I kept comparing the story to Private Empire (2012) by Steve Coll, which looked at Exxon's geopolitical footprint. I loved that book, and there's lots of overlap in how the two chase incentives and exploit opportunities. For some reason, the Apple story is far more concerning to me than the Exxon story was; in comparison, the Exxon stuff felt more transactional, while the Apple stuff is more strategic in its failings. (How strange is it to say that energy is less strategic than phone manufacturing? That does sound weird, but there it is.) Second: McGee seemed like he went on a ton of podcasts to promote the book at publishing time, and I discovered it through his interview on the EconTalk podcast, where he hooked me. He's a good guest, and listening to one of his interviews or presentations might be a great way to decide whether that book is for you before fully committing. Third: this story is a really, really good one to illustrate a type of "risk" that any company has a hard time valuing. It's easy to read this book and say, "Apple gave away the farm, screw those greedy *******". The better question to ask is: When should Apple have recognized the risk, and what should they have done to mitigate it? It really is fascinating.
YouBet said:nai06 said:Dr. Mephisto said:
Completed Watership Down by Richard Adams Yes, the one about the rabbits. I saw the animated version when I was a kid and loved it. Many moons later, I was sitting with my daughter to see her see it for the 1st time, and thought "Why haven't I ever read this?" So I picked it up and read it. It's appeals to that nostalgic feeling you get when you loved something as a child, the re-encouter it as an adult, hoping it doesn't lose any of the charm or magic. My inner child was very satisfied.
Curiously, Adam's wrote the story after telling his daughters many stories about rabbits he just made up, until he asked himself why not write these down, just as Tolkien had done with his kids and the eventual Hobbit.
I'll say this, I've seen the movie enough times throughout the years that the dialogue has stuck with me. The makers of that animated version were VERY faithful to the original text, so much so that I was reading line after line and saying, that's an exact quote from the book.
I recommend, so long as you don't have leporiphobia.
One of my favorite books when I was younger and I thought the animated version was unhinged!
I'm assuming that cartoon is now rated PG-13 these days but don't know.
Yeah, I had a work colleague seeing me reading it and he said "That book scared me as a kid!" I thought that was funny, so I guess he read it while he was quite young.
General Woundwort is drawn as a appropriately scary bully-tyrant for all the other rabbits just chasing their promised land. He ruthless, vicious, ego-driven, and unforgiving.
Adams does a good job of not shying away from the hard practical aspects of living as a wild creature. When some of the good rabbits go to see the Black Rabbit of Inle (that is, die), there is a strange sadness and acceptance of the rabbit who know they are hunted by many other animals in their eco system. He has ceremonial and mythological/traditional responses from the rabbits, showing their code of respect for nature and the randomness by which they all may live or die each day.
The movie was done in 79, I believe, so it was before the ratings went to what they are now. The General rips out a few throats, and other rabbits are victimized by foxes and such.
Today's younger teens would probably not even flinch because of how graphic so much of our culture has become. But I can see a ten year old being a bit affected by the rabbits fighting and dying as they do in the story. I can still remember reading The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe with my daughter, then letting her see the movie. Even though she knew what had happened, when Aslan is on the Stone Table (IYKYK), and she burst out crying when things went as they do depicted in the movie. It was sweet and painful to see at the same time, but also a great reminder of how differently books hit our consciousness vs. movies.
For all that, it's a very sweet story with a very satisfying ending, so much so that I hope I can face the Black Rabbit of Inle with such grace and acceptance, as one of the main characters does.
Well, I never even considered reading the book but with this recommendation, how can I pass it up?
Fantastic summary, thank you.
Just finished the new DCC book - A Parade of Horribles. Now back to regularly scheduled Stormlight Archives book 4!
2026 Tracking:
1. Strength of the Few
2. Mistborn: The Final Empire
3. Mistborn: Well of Ascension
4. Project Hail Mary
5. 11/22/63
6. Mistborn: Hero of Ages
7. Stormlight Archives: Oathbringer
8. DCC: A Parade of Horribes
2026 Tracking:
1. Strength of the Few
2. Mistborn: The Final Empire
3. Mistborn: Well of Ascension
4. Project Hail Mary
5. 11/22/63
6. Mistborn: Hero of Ages
7. Stormlight Archives: Oathbringer
8. DCC: A Parade of Horribes
Since I suspended A Parade of Horribles to get a recap, what is your opinion of it? Does it hold up? Obviously, I'm not looking for spoilers, just a feel for it.
TIA
TIA
I've got to get to Strength of a Few.htownag08 said:
Just finished the new DCC book - A Parade of Horribles. Now back to regularly scheduled Stormlight Archives book 4!
2026 Tracking:
1. Strength of the Few
2. Mistborn: The Final Empire
3. Mistborn: Well of Ascension
4. Project Hail Mary
5. 11/22/63
6. Mistborn: Hero of Ages
7. Stormlight Archives: Oathbringer
8. DCC: A Parade of Horribes
Want to finish Parade of Horribles and Dark Age first. Behind on my Red Rising
I personally loved it. It probably would have been in my best interest to do some heavier recapping a bit before jumping in because there is some older story components that tie in majorly.
It's finally pushing past here's this neat weapon or apparel item and really focusing on the system as a whole.
It's finally pushing past here's this neat weapon or apparel item and really focusing on the system as a whole.
Can't wait; I am on book 5 of my reread to get back to APOH
Apoh?
Absolute said:
Apoh?
A parade of horribles. The newest book in the DCC series
Demolishing this at this point.
R E Lee, a Biography. Volume 3 of 4.
I look at our country completely differently now.
R E Lee, a Biography. Volume 3 of 4.
I look at our country completely differently now.
CNN is an enemy of the state and should be treated as such.
A handsome young man. First picture is when Lee served in TEXAS during the Mexican American war.
A man who saw it all.
I wonder how much of what we learn today is lies.
I'm currently reading "Gone With the Wind". I'm post civil war now and Scarlett rides into Atlanta with uncle Peter (black former slave).
Yankee wives are in Atlanta at this point and they ask Scarlett, "OMG how could you ride in a carriage with a N word?"
A lot happens but it ends with Scarlett sharply barking, "Peter is part of our family".
A man who saw it all.
I wonder how much of what we learn today is lies.
I'm currently reading "Gone With the Wind". I'm post civil war now and Scarlett rides into Atlanta with uncle Peter (black former slave).
Yankee wives are in Atlanta at this point and they ask Scarlett, "OMG how could you ride in a carriage with a N word?"
A lot happens but it ends with Scarlett sharply barking, "Peter is part of our family".
CNN is an enemy of the state and should be treated as such.
BenFiasco14 said:
A handsome young man. First picture is when Lee served in TEXAS during the Mexican American war.
A man who saw it all.
I wonder how much of what we learn today is lies.
I'm currently reading "Gone With the Wind". I'm post civil war now and Scarlett rides into Atlanta with uncle Peter (black former slave).
Yankee wives are in Atlanta at this point and they ask Scarlett, "OMG how could you ride in a carriage with a N word?"
A lot happens but it ends with Scarlett sharply barking, "Peter is part of our family".
The North has always done a great job projecting the fiction that racism only exists below the Mason-Dixon line.
Recall that Joe Biden represented Delaware in the Senate when he made the 'racial jungle' remark in opposition to busing.
Backyard Gator said:BenFiasco14 said:
A handsome young man. First picture is when Lee served in TEXAS during the Mexican American war.
A man who saw it all.
I wonder how much of what we learn today is lies.
I'm currently reading "Gone With the Wind". I'm post civil war now and Scarlett rides into Atlanta with uncle Peter (black former slave).
Yankee wives are in Atlanta at this point and they ask Scarlett, "OMG how could you ride in a carriage with a N word?"
A lot happens but it ends with Scarlett sharply barking, "Peter is part of our family".
The North has always done a great job projecting the fiction that racism only exists below the Mason-Dixon line.
Recall that Joe Biden represented Delaware in the Senate when he made the 'racial jungle' remark in opposition to busing.
Yep … I'm coming to learn that the X Files "The Truth is Out There" is true …. You just have to look for it. And hold onto it for dear life.
CNN is an enemy of the state and should be treated as such.
Dr. Mephisto said:
Completed Watership Down by Richard Adams Yes, the one about the rabbits. I saw the animated version when I was a kid and loved it. Many moons later, I was sitting with my daughter to see her see it for the 1st time, and thought "Why haven't I ever read this?" So I picked it up and read it. It's appeals to that nostalgic feeling you get when you loved something as a child, the re-encouter it as an adult, hoping it doesn't lose any of the charm or magic. My inner child was very satisfied.
Curiously, Adam's wrote the story after telling his daughters many stories about rabbits he just made up, until he asked himself why not write these down, just as Tolkien had done with his kids and the eventual Hobbit.
I'll say this, I've seen the movie enough times throughout the years that the dialogue has stuck with me. The makers of that animated version were VERY faithful to the original text, so much so that I was reading line after line and saying, that's an exact quote from the movie.
I recommend, so long as you don't have leporiphobia.
Get your kids into the Redwall series by Brian Jacques
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