Books Read 2018

[Scuzz]

So is Robin Hobbs Farseer Trilogy a good read? I remember somebody recommending it but a few of the characters names made me think it might be written for a more "juvenile" audience.

[Isgrimnur]

I enjoyed it. I even read the following two trilogies.

[Scuzz]

I thought I was probably over reacting to some character names. I don't remember which ones they were but I glanced over a few pages and saw two names that made me just wince.

I will give it a shot then. Thanks.

[El Guapo]

The Smartest Guys in the Room: The Amazing Rise and Scandalous Fall of Enron, by Bethany McLean

A great book. Bethany McLean is a solid writer - I didn't realize that she had also written All the Devils Are Here, which is a great account of the financial crisis.

Anyway, obviously this book is about the Enron scandal. I didn't know much about it going in other than that it was an accounting scandal, but what a mess. Basically it details the creation of Enron and it's business, and how Enron was initially a genuinely innovative company that created new businesses that endure today. But then the company adopted mark-to-market accounting, basically booking paper profits immediately connected to long-term contracts based on the company's estimates / assumptions, then got fixated almost exclusively on Enron's stock price, which in turn created a ton of organizational pressure to mess with the estimates, and also to engage in wild deal making, even if the underlying deals were terrible deals economically, so that they could then mix in wild estimates and book crazy profits which would then drive the stock price higher. Then Enron's first COO (who was a pretty talented guy and a straight shooter) left, and they brought in a CFO who started to essentially scam Enron with self-dealing (while at the same time, sort of in exchange, enabling Enron to engage in ever wilder accounting frauds). Meanwhile Enron's accounting firm (Arthur Andersen) easily knew enough to put the brakes on all this, but didn't because Enron was paying such massive fees to them.

I will also say that I didn't realize exactly how vigorous the government's response to this was. In addition to the legislative response (Sarbanes-Oxley), basically all of the relevant high-up Enron executives (including the CEO Ken Lay and the COO during the worst of the frauds (Jeff Skilling) went to jail for long periods of time (though Lay died of a heart attack before serving his sentence). Which I was glad to see, and which contrasts pretty sharply (as noted in the afterword which was written in 2013) with the response to the financial crisis, which (although the story of that is a little more complicated) essentially no one went to jail.

I'd definitely recommend this to anyone interested in the subject matter.

What's also funny is that my daughter's been asking me questions about the book when she's seen me reading it, so I've wound up giving her a rough summary of the Enron scandal. Then we were playing the Game of Life with the rest of the family, and my wife drew "accountant" as one of her career choices in the game. My daughter immediately say, "Mommy, don't pick accountant - you'll wind up like those Enron people." #NotAllAccountants

[Isgrimnur]

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

Two more to go. This is as far as I'd seen the movies, so from here on out will be relatively unexplored territory for me. Except, of course, for all the spoilers that I've seen over the last decade.

[El Guapo]

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

Two more to go. This is as far as I'd seen the movies, so from here on out will be relatively unexplored territory for me. Except, of course, for all the spoilers that I've seen over the last decade.

Harry Potter was a ghost the whole time!

[Scuzz]

But then the company adopted mark-to-market accounting, basically booking paper profits immediately connected to long-term contracts based on the company's estimates / assumptions,

I do the books for a family owned construction company. I do everything but the year end tax returns and financial reports for the bank and bonding company. Up until recently the tax returns were prepared per completed contracts method, which was fine with the IRS, but the financial reports had to be done with the contracts booked, showing profit/loss as the time when the job was begun. That was how the bank and bonding company wanted it.

Then as part of the process every year I had to go back and find out whether the jobs actually made the assumed profit and then adjust the books accordingly.

I always thought that was an insane way to do it as you haven't made a profit until the profit is actually in your hands. But we are a small company with no worry about stock prices.

But that's how Enron did it? That's crazy.

[El Guapo]

But then the company adopted mark-to-market accounting, basically booking paper profits immediately connected to long-term contracts based on the company's estimates / assumptions,

I do the books for a family owned construction company. I do everything but the year end tax returns and financial reports for the bank and bonding company. Up until recently the tax returns were prepared per completed contracts method, which was fine with the IRS, but the financial reports had to be done with the contracts booked, showing profit/loss as the time when the job was begun. That was how the bank and bonding company wanted it.

Then as part of the process every year I had to go back and find out whether the jobs actually made the assumed profit and then adjust the books accordingly.

I always thought that was an insane way to do it as you haven't made a profit until the profit is actually in your hands. But we are a small company with no worry about stock prices.

But that's how Enron did it? That's crazy.

Oh, it was a crazy, crazy system. Yeah, they'd basically sign some 10 or 20 year agreement to (for example) build a power plant and supply power. They'd make wild estimates like, "we're going to make $200 million from this agreement, assuming power prices of $X, material costs of $Y, etc.". Then they'd book the full profit estimates on their financial statements *immediately*. And it gets worse, because people got bonuses and promotions based on those numbers, but the people in charge of actually executing the deals (building the power plants, dealing with the counter-parties, etc.) did not. So, there was huge incentives to just sign whatever deal you could, even if the terms and conditions of the deals available were horrible.

And that's before getting to the Enron's CFO making tens of millions of dollars self-dealing with the company. Among other shenanigans.

It...did not end well.

[stessier]

I just finished the Red Mars, Green Mars, Blue Mars trilogy by Kim Stanley Robinson. It took me about 20 months to read these as I really didn't like them but I also never give up on a book. There were some interesting ideas in here but they were buried behind hundreds of pages of descriptions of rocks, ice, wind storms, and dust storms (not an exaggeration - hundreds of pages). Had it been condensed into one 300 page book, I bet it would have been great. As it is, the trilogy is a mess and I do not recommend them.

Red Mars won a Nebula award and is going to be a TV series which really makes me question that award (although, in fairness, this was the most tolerable of the trilogy).

[Isgrimnur]

Here was the competition:

[Scuzz]

I just finished the Red Mars, Green Mars, Blue Mars trilogy by Kim Stanley Robinson. It took me about 20 months to read these as I really didn't like them but I also never give up on a book. There were some interesting ideas in here but they were buried behind hundreds of pages of descriptions of rocks, ice, wind storms, and dust storms (not an exaggeration - hundreds of pages). Had it been condensed into one 300 page book, I bet it would have been great. As it is, the trilogy is a mess and I do not recommend them.

Red Mars won a Nebula award and is going to be a TV series which really makes me question that award (although, in fairness, this was the most tolerable of the trilogy).

I read these maybe 10-15 years ago. I enjoyed Red Mars but the other two were not nearly as good and had I not already bought them I probably would have never read them. I do think Robinson liked reading his own stuff after awhile and this would have been much better condensed.

[Jeff V]

The Blood Within The Stone by T.R. Thompson (K)

I do appreciate that the author attempted to be somewhat unique in defining his fantasy world, I just wish he did a better job of it. The main character is established as a master thief, then becomes a mentalist of sorts, then a master psychic wizard. Why? Well, because.

The characters are rather poorly developed, and none are particularly sympathetic. The rules, never firmly established, seem to change on a whim. Character reaction to mass carnage is simply not believable. To top it off, this is the first in a series titled "The Wraith Cycle" - yet there was no defined wraiths in the story. Where it goes here I can't imagine...nor can I care. The author needs to work on character development , develop parameters for his fantasy world, and then ensure everything occurs within those parameters. Otherwise, the result is mostly nonsense.

[Jeff V]

Ramses the Damned by Ann Rice (A)

I've never read Ann Rice before. I had no interest in tales of a vampiric Tom Cruise, but this book ostensibly based in ancient Egypt seemed more up my alley.

It was not. A psychotic Cleopatra is raised by an immortal Ramses to become...an early 20th century romance novelist. If this makes you say "ugh" then you're with me on this one. I gave the audiobook 4 1/2 hours (out of 14 1/2) and finally hit the eject button. Too many superfluous characters wasting my time and an ill defined plot going nowhere. The prose is flowery and read in an overly melodramatic way by a female British reader -- listing to it was annoying to distraction. Ann Rice fans seem to like it with a caveat that it might not appeal to anyone not already her fan. I'll buy that.

[Jeff V]

Nighthawk by Clive Cussler (A)

Cussler is a master of action novels, and although I've just read a handful so far, all have been quite entertaining. This book is a spin-off from his popular Dirk Pitt series (of which I wished my library had the first 20 or so novels in the series but they only have the last few) and involves an American experimental space craft that mysteriously loses control on re-entry and vanishes somewhere near the coast of Peru. The NSA and NUMA are dispatched to try to recover it, but the Russians and Chinese are likewise headed to the area to try and retrieve the ship for themselves. Those in the know are unusually certain the ship is intact...

Thus sets the stage for action and intrigue as the three superpowers vie to recover the vessel. There's a reason all sides are willing to use deadly force...at stake is a potential weapon of unmatched destructive capability -- but securing it could doom the human race! Add into the mix a Peruvian who thinks his technologically meek should inherit the earth and you wind up with 3 superpowers being played by a puppeteer. Fortunately, our heroes at NUMA are up to the task.

[Jeff V]

Blitzed - Drugs in the Third Reich by Norman Ohler (A)

We all know about how revolutionary and effective the blitzkrieg was early in WWII. What I didn't realize was the widespread drugs that made the blitz possible. For the most part, German soldiers and tank crews were tweaked on crystal meth; allowing them to operate for days at a time without sleep. It is almost funny than when Hitler ordered a halt to the advance in France because it was going too quickly, the orders failed to reach general Heinz Guderian because he had already moved on and secured the next objective.

This book chronicles the millions of doses of crystal meth and other narcotics doles out by Reich physicians, but also the Fuhrer's descent in to addiction at the hands of his person physician, Dr. Morrell. As Hitler became more and more dependent, the more erratic he became, and the gradual fall ensued. It's really surprising how much success and failure can be tied to systematic drug abuse, more so because ideologically the party was very much against such thing. Hitler was a self-styled teetotaler and felt strongly that a street sweeper who enjoys his drink needs to look no further to the reason why he is but a street sweeper.

With drug addiction comes reality distortion, and as Hitler succumbed, the rest of the enterprise went down the toilet as well. Ridiculous orders had to be carried out under the threat of execution, and many of those who knew the collective Stuka was auguring into the ground were powerless to help. As troops developed a tolerance to the drugs they were given, their performance started to suffer and they fell victim to their increasingly experienced, sober counterparts.

There are many reasons the Third Reich did not succeed, but this book makes a compelling case that being stoned out of their gourd was probably a leading cause.

[hitbyambulance]

my work book club just voted on the next selection : _Ancillary Justice_ by Ann Leckie. i know not this author, but i did a forum search and found it was well-regarded by various OO'ers.

[Archinerd]

Ancillary Justice was her first book. She's got two more in the trilogy and a new one that I have not read yet. Ancillary Justice was my favorite of the three but all were worth the read.

[Rumpy]

Red Mars won a Nebula award and is going to be a TV series which really makes me question that award (although, in fairness, this was the most tolerable of the trilogy).

It's funny that with all the hype that these get, the one I've found to be much better is Mars by Ben Bova. It's got the right mix of scientific details and a character-driven story. It's up there with The Martian as one of my favourite Mars based stories.

[ImLawBoy]

Finished The Lost Temple of Ssis'sythyss by Gryndyl. Another wildly entertaining spin with the Dungeoneers. It was fun to get the background on Ruby, and Gryndyl really has a knack for writing action scenes that are easy to follow, even when lots of things are happening at once. Highly recommended!

[Rumpy]

Well, my first finished book of 2018 is Stranger in a Strange Land, and I hated it. I think it has aged very poorly. I've never had such a visceral reaction to a book in quite some time.

[Archinerd]

Finished The Lost Temple of Ssis'sythyss by J.R. Gryndyl a few days ago. This one is my favorite of the series (so far). An easy, fun read is what I expected and that's what I got. And I still think the dwarf conversation in Chapter 8 was my favorite part. I'll keep reading these as long as you keep writing them.

[xenocide]

Well, my first finished book of 2018 is Stranger in a Strange Land, and I hated it. I think it has aged very poorly. I've never had such a visceral reaction to a book in quite some time.

I'm with you. I've read several Heinlein books and with the exception of Stranger in a Strange Land I've enjoyed them all (Moon is a Harsh Mistress and Orphans of the Sky are my favorites). But Stranger in a Strange Land is just not good. Personally I don't even think of it as sci fi, it's more of a philosophy/critique of religion book with a couple sci fi elements. I know with books written that long ago you need to take into account the mindset of the times but I seem to notice the sexisim against women more in Heinlein books than I do in others from that time I have read.

[Archinerd]

I couldn't finish Stranger in a Strange Land when I tried to read it a few years ago. Don't remember any details of what I didn't like but I decided I had better things to do with my time.

I'll also put Man in the High Castle in that bucket. I only finished that because I was reading along with others.

[Moliere]

The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History
by Elizabeth Kolbert

tl;dr
The planet is fucked and humans are to blame.

[xenocide]

Are you guys reading my mind or what? I hated Man in the High Castle, I consider it one of the worst books I have read. It's a boring plotless slog of a read. It was my first PKD and Iv'e never read another since. I have read some reviews that say try his other stuff and I may at some point but I when I go to pick up a new book to read and my hand lingers near the collection on my self I always remember MitHC and just can't do it.

[Scuzz]

Well, my first finished book of 2018 is Stranger in a Strange Land, and I hated it. I think it has aged very poorly. I've never had such a visceral reaction to a book in quite some time.

I agree with most om here that I just didn't get this book. Although I don't think many Heinlein books have aged well (although The Moon is a Harsh Mistress seemed to).

I read Stranger in a Strange Land about 15 years ago. I was reading in the gym while riding a bike when someone came up to me and told me how important that book was in their life when they read when it first came out. I just don't get that.

[Jaymann]

PKD was so prolific his work can be uneven at times. He was insanely ahead of his time though. Those interested may want to check out Ubik, A Scanner Darkly, Valis and The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch. It's been a long time, but those stand out in my memory.

[Rumpy]

Well, my first finished book of 2018 is Stranger in a Strange Land, and I hated it. I think it has aged very poorly. I've never had such a visceral reaction to a book in quite some time.

I agree with most om here that I just didn't get this book. Although I don't think many Heinlein books have aged well (although The Moon is a Harsh Mistress seemed to).

I read Stranger in a Strange Land about 15 years ago. I was reading in the gym while riding a bike when someone came up to me and told me how important that book was in their life when they read when it first came out. I just don't get that.

I think a lot of it has to do with when they grew up. I see and understand what Heinlein was trying to accomplish with this. I loved the premise of the man from Mars learning from humans, but it's just so mired in philosophy and religion that it's really tough to get one's mind around the whole package. This is a concept, that if could be redone today, would likely strip away the cultural and the philosophy and focus on the sci-fi, and likely would be much stronger for it. I'd actually love to see it revisited by another author.

There's a fairly controversial line in the second-to-last part of the book that wouldn't be out of place coming from El POTUS, which only underscores how archaic it all is.

[Jeff V]

I know with books written that long ago you need to take into account the mindset of the times but I seem to notice the sexisim against women more in Heinlein books than I do in others from that time I have read.

Pretty much, after this he became a full on perv. It seemed everything he wrote after Stranger featured a world where clothing was optional and the casual fuck replaced the handshake. Methinks he was bummed that the sexual revolution was happening and he was too old to partake.

[hitbyambulance]

Are you guys reading my mind or what? I hated Man in the High Castle, I consider it one of the worst books I have read. It's a boring plotless slog of a read. It was my first PKD and Iv'e never read another since. I have read some reviews that say try his other stuff and I may at some point but I when I go to pick up a new book to read and my hand lingers near the collection on my self I always remember MitHC and just can't do it.

[mentioned in another thread] the plot, such as it is, was pretty much dictated by PKD messing around with the I Ching. (also there was supposed to be a sequel, but it never happened.)

aside: in a number of books (i'm thinking of The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch) where you can tell he's in the flow (or on the good stuff) and events are crazy and funny and effortlessly flowing (and admittedly, at times, making no sense), and then by all appearances he seems like he's coming down and struggling to make things work and. you. are. just. hoping. for. the. next. high. to. come. along. ... soon...

you take the bad with the superlative with this author.

[Scuzz]

I know with books written that long ago you need to take into account the mindset of the times but I seem to notice the sexisim against women more in Heinlein books than I do in others from that time I have read.

Pretty much, after this he became a full on perv. It seemed everything he wrote after Stranger featured a world where clothing was optional and the casual fuck replaced the handshake. Methinks he was bummed that the sexual revolution was happening and he was too old to partake.

I recently re-read one of his books (Time Enough for Love) and there are parts of it that are just unreadable now. The basic story is a good one, but his whole philosophy and open sex thing just goes to far and takes up to much of the book.

I think I did read somewhere he was a nudist.

[Rumpy]

That's one I'll be avoiding. Thanks for the input

[Jeff V]

The Martian Job by Fenn Jain (K)

Lizzie was a corporate drone begging for an increase in her pittance of a salary to an uncaring boss and less caring corporation. Meanwhile, she discovers her brother was killed and now her mother, imprisoned on the moon, is trying to get a hold of her. Yes, Lizzie is having a bad day.

When her boss comes back and lets her know that not only will she not be getting a raise, she is suspended indefinitely. Seems the company suddenly became aware of her nefarious familial connections. So Lizzie goes to Mars to find out just what it was that got her brother killed. Her brother was working a big heist -- huge. Biggest heist ever. And he couldn't lose, because his plan was so perfect. Lizzie digs deeper and lo, she is offered her brother's contract. While Lizzie didn't pursue the family trade, her upbringing still left her with some skills.

What follows is a whirlwind of action and betrayal. Never keeping her eye off the prize...the prize itself changes in nature. Several times. I've not read any of the other tales in this author's series and I don't know if any make for a serial story, but I'd kind of like to know what happens next. For a novella, her characters are well developed and the action flows naturally from a well-crafted story.

[Jeff V]

Spitting Devil by Brian Freeman (A)

In the vein of James Patterson's Book Shots, Freeman takes one of his marquis characters, Jonathon Stride, and places him in a non-too-complicated story that is neatly wrapped up in under 100 pages. Every punch is telegraphed -- too many clues pointing towards the husband that you knew would be exonerated. A person mentioned in passing early becomes the UBG, The story wraps up in short order and Freeman muses whether the husband and wife will ever be able to put this behind them. Probably the biggest revelation involves Stride and his inappropriate conduct with his subordinate, Maggie.

[Jeff V]

I am finally caught up with my Librarything early reader's queue (one from October never showed and the one from December still hasn't arrived) I finally get to at least start on a book I actually bought -- I think that'll be Waterloo by Bernard Cornwell (not the Sharpe's story but a non-fiction history book).

[msteelers]

I reached a lull in my podcasts, which gave me the opportunity to listen to a couple of Audiobooks. I got a free book through Audible for being an Amazon Prime member (I think) so I chose Ready Player One. If the scale is 8 's, then I'll give it a .

It's a great concept and I'm excited to see the film, but the story and characters were just ok.

After I was done listening to that I went looking through what audiobooks are available for free for Amazon Prime. I settled on The Dead Key by D .M. Pulley.

It's a mystery that spans two decades and two stories told at the same time. It's not a story I would have normally selected, but it was interesting enough. I'm not thrilled with the ending, but the twists and turns throughout the book kept me entertained while I listened at work.

I've now downloaded Flowertown by S. G. Redling, another free book from Amazon Prime. I need to also go through my library's audiobook collection and start putting books on hold.

[Jeff V]

If you are using Overdrive for your library's audio books, you can filter a search on available titles only so you don't have to wait if you need something right away.

[msteelers]

If you are using Overdrive for your library's audio books, you can filter a search on available titles only so you don't have to wait if you need something right away.

It’s not Overdrive, my library uses an app called Libby. The UI isn’t great, but I figured it out. Their audiobook selection isn’t great either, but I’ve got some stuff to keep me intrigued for awhile.

[Jeff V]

As I move to progressively less civilized lands, the available audio book selection seems to decrease by half. When I lived in Naperville (pop 175,000), at any given time there were about 4800 titles available (I always searched on available, not sure how many titles total). Bolingbrook (pop 75,000) had about 2500...I'm still active there. It is a group shared by a number of other libraries. Now I'm in Yorkville (pop 19,000), again a shared system and there is about 1200 available.

It's going to suck if I run out of free stuff to read.

[Bad Demographic]

Lost Temple of Ssis'sythyss by Jeffery Russell
Kind of a prequel to the first book - this one focuses on Ruby, the scribe. Really good!

The Bujold "Penric" books are novellas. There are 6 of them and their publication order <> chronological order. I'm reading them in chrono order. I have liked the Chalion universe since reading The Curse of Chalion some years ago. Penric is, at times, almost too Milesian but the stories are still fun to read - and I like the Miles Vorkosigan books, so being "too Milesian" isn't so bad.