Entertainment & Music Books

Fiction:
Paulo Coelho, Gabriel Garcia Marques.
A lot of their books are quite thought provoking.
Most well known books would be The Alchemist, and One Hundred Years of Solitude, respectively.

Non-Fiction:
David Bohm, Paulo Friere, Dr Joe Dispenza, Paul Lample.
I struggle to get through their books, especially with Paul Lample (religious author).
Every page makes me rethink my entire life.
His books Creating a New Mind, and to an extent Revelation and Social Reality, really shook me from my sleep. It had me look at how to 'strive for excellence' from around 21.

 

Years ago I read all the Irving Wallace books. My favourite was The Man which was about the first black American President. It was written in the 60s so way before its time.

 

Halfway through reading "Insomniac City - New York, Oliver and Me" by Bill Hayes. Admittedly borrowed the book from the library just because of the title. I had no idea about Bill Hayes or Oliver Sacks. I only started reading last Friday and, pleasantly surprised as how I am enjoying the read. The relationship between Bill and O, on a different level, like two souls that perfectly complimented each other.

It is a beautifully written love story. Some of my favorite quotes from the book.

“I don’t so much fear death as I do wasting life.” Oliver Sacks”

“2-1-10:
A languid Sunday, afternoon turned into evening, evening into night, night into morning.
'I just want to enjoy your nextness and nearness,' O says.
He puts his ear to my chest and listens to my heart and counts the beats.
'Sixty-two,' he says with a satisfied smile, and I can't imagine anything more intimate.”
― Bill Hayes, Insomniac City: New York, Oliver, and Me

“One can be alive but half-asleep or half-noticing as the years fly, no matter how fully oxygenated the blood and brain or how steadily the heart beats. Fortunately, this is a reversible condition. One can learn to be alert to the extraordinary and press pause—to memorize moments of the everyday.”
― Bill Hayes, Insomniac City: New York, Oliver, and Me

 

On to the next one, lent to me by my colleague. Open by Andre Agassi - sort of my first biography (Insomiac City was sort of a biography). First couple of pages in and, quite surprised as to how the book is well articulated. It truly feels like Agassi is bringing you along his journey as he replays his mind, from the feeling of loneliness in centre court through to the roaring crowds of the tennis stadium.

 

Accessory to War by Neil deGrasse Tyson and Avis Lang.

Only into the first three chapters. I'm finding it confronting to some extent the arguments Astrophysics and the aims of the military are intertwined.

 

On to the next book, Tattooist of Auschwitz by Heather Morris - a survivors account of meeting the love of his life in the camp, in spite of the circumstances that surround them. Moving ... unreal, ...
so many more stories left untold.

 

During the break, finished
(Aussie author - murder mystery)
The Dry by Jane Harper
Force of Nature by Jane Harper

The Price of Salt - Claire Morgan (Patricia Highsmith)

And, just a third of the way through Too Big to Fail by Andrew Sorkin - Inside the battle to save Wall Street. GFC related.

 

@David Shih - some good book recommendations here, both fiction and non fiction, investment related, not investment related.

And, I finished "Too Big to Fail" the previous weekend, had a pause due to the Australian Open tennis as I am a massive fan.

Anyhow, back to the book - surprisingly gripping, I would have kept reading it (if not for tennis). The author had a knack for telling the inside story as if he was a fly on the wall in those board rooms. It shows how extravagant and foolish the mismanagement of funds, and how the big bosses turned a blind eye to it, all for the sake of big fat bonuses. And whilst the US boasts of being such a capitalist, with the bail-out to the tune of 700 billion. The debt has all been paid ... but does it remain a capitalist?

 

I’ve just finished Judith Lucy’s Drink, Smoke, Pass Out,or similar, and a memoir, Missing Christopher, written by his Mum, and am half way through AA Gills Pour Me, A Life.

 

Binge reading usually this time of the year
Just finished “where the crawdads sing”
Excellent read

 

Just finished reading Viktor Frankls "Man's Search for Meaning". Felt like a fitting end to 2020 reads.

 

Incredible book on many different levels!

 

Most of my 2020 books from another thread.

 

I like to read books but only after I have done all my exercises and I can get comfortable. I don’t think I would like to sit for hours reading.