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What'cha Reading?

Mal12345

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"I Am" by Michael Drakich.

Just good old-fashioned Golden Era-ish science-fiction.
 

ilikeitlikethat

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Around the World in Eighty Days from;
9781435122956.jpg
 

ceecee

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The Taste of Conquest: The Rise and Fall of the Three Great Cities of Spice.
 

ilikeitlikethat

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Around the World in Eighty Days from;
9781435122956.jpg

Passepartout had just thrashed Detective Fix after discovering him on board a steamer crossing the Pacific called the General Grant for spiking his drink in an opium den in Hong Kong with opium and leaving him in a stupor to separate him from his master (the hero; Phileas Fogg) at which Detective Fix just proposed a new plan which now aided Fogg's attempt to circumnavigate the globe in 80 days or less thus winning the wager at which Passepartout accepted the detective as an ally in the cause to win the wager/complete the 80 day task/challenge, and not as a friend, and swears to break the detective's neck if he goes back on his word and keeps the detective's secret from Phileas Fogg; They're now at the end of their 23 day voyage from Yokohama to San Francisco. Passepartout was dragged to the steamer to Japan from Hong Kong by those who worked in the opium den so he didn't miss his ship; His master Phileas Fogg and the Princess Aouda whom he saved in India from a fire with the help of Passepartout pretending to be a dead man resurrected; had intended to leave her with a trusted relative also in Hong Kong but, due to success in trade, he was now in Holland (probably), and so now Aouda was to accompany them back to Europe. - Fix, hot on the trail of Phileas Fogg around the world was delighted as he spent the story trying to get this arrest warrant and saw Hong Kong as the last part of 'English land' before Japan then USA, so he wanted him to miss his steamer which successfully caused him to miss that steamer that Passepartout was taken to from the opium den which left port early and he hadn't had yet chance to notify his master, went to Japan.
Phileas Fogg needed to be in Japan, he needed to catch the General Grant steamer to San Francisco and was in Hong Kong and missed his connection to it, luckily the calm and collect gentleman of means just charted a ship to Shanghai much to the disappointment of Fix, it was charted on the understanding that they could catch the General Grant from Shanghai before it went Yokohama before going to San Francisco, and so offered Fix passage on his chartered boat to Shanghai from Hong Kong while Passepartout came to his senses on the correct boat going from Hong Kong to Yokohama thinking he'd blown it all. Passepartout, a Frenchman/Parsian who wanted the quiet life to serve a London gentleman in the unrest of France he abandoned, now found himself penniless and hungry in Japan. Proud however, he soon found work in a circus. As soon as Phileas Fogg and the Princess Aouda arrived in Yokohama, they went to consulates and embassies trying to look for Passepartout to no luck, it was by chance the team were reunited again and able all able to board the General Grant to San Francisco where Passepartout surprised to see Detective Fix who thought was back in Hong Kong but Fix, who saw Passepartout board in Japan in his circus costume, kept a low profile throughout most of the 22 day voyage - Passepartout struck the detective for getting him drunk and spiking his drink with opium in Hong Kong to try and delay Phileas Fogg who was suspected of robbing the Bank of England no less.
 

Kas

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I read The Elephant Vanishes by Murakami and wow it's great! I haven't read that good short stories since January. I heard very good and very bad opinions about Murakami before, so I didn't have much of enthusiasm about reading his books. That's the first of his books I read, so I don't know, perhaps there are very good and very bad ones. But this one- definitely very good. I recommend!
 

Mal12345

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"I Am" by Michael Drakich.

Just good old-fashioned Golden Era-ish science-fiction.

Not quite, good fellow.

Now that I've finished reading "I Am," I am rather amazed at how the author (Michael Drakich) led me to believe one thing at the beginning and quite another at the end. The main character actually develops, unlike the heroes in old fashioned sci-fi. It starts out as a rather "mundane" sci-fi story but then it evolves into something else as the hero evolves. And so at the beginning you have one "I am," who the hero was at that time (not much of a hero), to another, more heroic "I am" later on in the novel. And then the ending - it was superb.

This is not garden variety science fiction as I first assumed.

51Ytep-023L._SS300_.jpg
 
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Tellenbach

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One Nation Under Taught: Solving America's Science, Technology, Engineering and Math Crisis

If you take an 8-year old student performing at the 50th percentile and give him a low performing teacher, he will regress to the 37th percentile in 3 years. Give him a high-performing teacher, and he will succeed to the 90th percentile in the same amount of time- a swing of 53 percentage points.

According to Bill Gates: "the single most decisive factor in student achievement is excellent teaching. It is astonishing what great teachers can do for their students." (This is just common sense but many who oppose school reform refuse to accept this.)
 

Frosty

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The girl on the train- I am so so so close to finishing it too- so close. then im going to want to see the movie though so I mean- what a bucket of worms. Its an interesting enough book though.
 

Lark

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I'm reading Frankenstein Unbound, I like it, its a lot better than Dracula Unbound, I'm also reading a book called Towards A Human Science, which has only had one essay which I disliked in it so far, its a book which examines the relevance of erich fromm to today.
 

Smilephantomhive

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Miss Peregrine's Home of Peculiar Children

I heard it was different than the movie. Most people say the book is better, but one person told me that it was worse lol I'm going to give it a try because I really liked the characters in the movie. Either way the physical book is beautiful.
 

cascadeco

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I am in book 7 of the Outlander series, am 87% done with Proust's 'In Search of Lost Time' (about 2 years later! lol. But I shall prevail! (actually I really like it, I just have to read it in small doses)), and am now in book 2 of Brandon Sanderson's 'Mistborn' series - very fun fantasy.
 

Kas

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I read Call the Midwife: A True Story of the East End in the 1950s by Jennifer Worth and now I can't buy here 2 other books of the trilogy:dry: and I really want to read them... Maybe I will order them from uk.

Anyway I recommend! Cute, sad, funny. Maybe that's a slightly spiritual midwife version of James Herriot vet series.
 

Nocum

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The Watchmaker of Filigree Street - a wonderful tale about a telegraphy clerk in Victorian area London who finds an intricately designed pocket watch on his bed that proceeds to save his life when an explosion goes off in the city. The protagonist then meets the maker of said watch along with a female physics student from Oxford, and they have to face more than just explosions and impending marriage together. Amazing so far!
 

Yama

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Don't make fun of me... I'm reading that five nights at freddys book. It's not bad so far.
 

Flâneuse

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A few short stories by James Baldwin ("Sonny's Blues", "Going to Meet the Man", and "The Outing), all of which I enjoyed and highly recommend to anyone looking for some good short stories to read. I was impressed by the level of thematic depth/complexity, as well as how nuanced and real the characters are. My favorite story was "Sonny's Blues", which is a Kunstlerroman about a former heroin addict struggling to stay clean who finds himself (and a kind of surrogate family of other musicians) through following his passion for playing music.
 

Gray Butterfly

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Who moved my Cheese by Spencer Johnson, MD

Gives a different perspective on the same situation. So far makes for an interesting read
 

Abendrot

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Submission - Michel Houellebecq
The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers - Paul Kennedy
The Psychology of Courage: Research on an Ancient Virtue
Notes from Underground - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
 
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