What Book Are You Currently Reading?

Well I couldn't find the lecture about the whole Asian area again, I should have put it on my wish list.
So I picked...

From Yao to Mao: 5000 Years of Chinese History
By: The Great Courses, Kenneth J. Hammond
Narrated by: Professor Kenneth J. Hammond Ph.D. Harvard University

So far its mostly 1500 years of Chinese history. He hasn't really spent enough time on the Qin dynasty. He did the major two leading up to them, But this one is where the emperor unites all of the independent states into what really became China (Qin is pronounced Chin).
That's the guy who built the huge.tomb with thousands of terracotta warrior statues.
He said he was.going to say more about the dynasty but I haven't heard more yet, and he kind of jumps back and forth comparing dynasties, but he's already up to about the 2nd century AD.

Still,it's very interesting and such a different culture from the past three I've listened to.

I tried to get into

A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court
By Mark Twain

But it just didn't grab me like I hoped it would, so I went on to

Treasure Island
By Robert Luis Stevenson
I loved that book. Great read.

Re-reading the Foundation trilogy. Finished the OG last week, will probably start Foundation and Empire (which I remember being my favourite of the three) any day now.

Cannot put this book down at the moment. Beyond incredible. His command of language is insane.

I just finished Silenus's.

God, Hyperion was so freaking good.

The Vikings
By: Kenneth W. Harl, The Great Courses

I haven't been watching the Viking series on TV, but if it's anything like reality it should be pretty interesting and different from what you have been told. Very cool.

Damnation Island
Poor, Sick, Mad, and Criminal in 19th-Century New York
By: Stacy Horn

Thank goodness times have changed, although there are some incurable evil people who deserve to be treated this poorly for the terrible things they have done to others.
This all took place in what is now called Roosevelt Island. Back then 8t was called Blackwell's Island and for over the next hundred years, it held a lunatic asylum, prison, hospital, workhouse, and almshouse, all with deplorable conditions.
Very eye opening piece of history.

Little Shoes
The Sensational Depression-Era Murders That Became My Family's Secret
By: Pamela Everett
A heartbreaking story of the unknown history of the author's family. What she uncovers brings her some starting answers, but brings questions about the justice system as well.I
Well researched and written.

Sidetracked: The Betrayal and Murder of Anna Kithcart
By: Richard T. Cahill Jr.

This one brings the racist card to full boil at the time the Rev.Sharpton was flying off the handle before searching for the truth. This other crime was committed with the intent to lead investigators and the public to the wrong conclusion.

I have more, but I ran out of steam and will save those for another time

Oh, I'm behind. I've read the following as of late:

Babylon's Ashes (expanse book 6)
Words of Radiance (Stormlight book 2)
Fahrenheit 451
Glass Menagerie

Now I'm reading the new Da Vinci code book Origin. These books are pretty formulaic "airport bookstore" novels, but they are quick fun.

The Emperor's Blade

Really?  I thought the movie was much better, cause it actually focused more on the shark and not the weird subplot about Brody's wife wanting to have an affair with Hooper.  No wonder they cut that from the movie.

Yeah, some subplots aren't Speilburgy enough, I guess. The movie was about thrills and suspense, and the book developed characters - same thing with The Shining, but Kubrick actually left out a lot of explanation of why things were going on - answers to things I didn't get until I read the book.

Recently, the highlights of my listening (I have been reading too, but nothing major to report)

House of Horrors: The Shocking True Story of Anthony Sowell, the Cleveland Strangler
By: Robert Sberna
This creepy motherfucker should have been either committed or incarcerated a lot earlier than he was. Eeeww.

I also finished the Magic 2.0 series by Scott Meyer
I've really enjoyed this one. It has time travel, computers, medieval fantasy, Atlantian fantasy and lots of good characters.

The Toad Witch series by Christiana Miller
Not a bad read about a modern day Witch who inherits her Aunt Tilly's house.

Anatomy of Evil by Dr.s Michael H. Stone, and Otto F. Kernberg ME
Doctor Stone had a program on TV called Most Evil, where he evaluated high profile criminals and ranked them on a scale of 1-22. This is a fascinating look into the history and criteria he used to make that list.

Barbarian Empires of the Steppes by Kenneth W.Harl.
This one has a lot of what really swayed history across the continents

Before 1776: Life in American Colonies by Robert J. Allison
People rarely go into this much detail.

My Mother, a Serial Killer
By: Hazel Baron, Janet Fife-Yeomans
Here's a woman with real problems. Yikes!

Still.more.to.go, but next time I will list more