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The Deuce
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Fun Summer Reads go here!

Posted by KingTalkyTiki <iframe src='https://mb.boardhost.com/TheDeuce/info/user=KingTalkyTiki' width='330' height='300' border=0 style='border:none;'> on July 9, 2026, 11:50:45

I've recently been enjoying this light little page-turner that's made a lot of Non-fiction bests of 2026 so far.

Stay Alive: Berlin, 1939-1945

No idea how much Goebbels banned dancing, then allowed it, then banned it, then allowed it only on Tues-Thurs, then banned it again....it was like the pastor in Footloose but significantly more evil.

"You must own the honor of being the whitest, military vet, fat, multiple state property owner but most of all the one who hates their own country the most in our country."

Not "fun summer reads" but I've recently finished Stoner by John Williams.

Posted by Tuscy <iframe src='https://mb.boardhost.com/TheDeuce/info/user=Tuscy' width='330' height='300' border=0 style='border:none;'> on July 10, 2026, 7:53:40, in reply to "Fun Summer Reads go here!"

What a beautifully written book. Gritty yet ethereal at the same time. Particularly enjoyable as earlier this year I finished At the Existentialist Cafe by Sarah Bakewell and Stoner is very existentialist.

At the Existentialist Cafe is somewhat of a biography of several of the thinkers in Paris (mainly) and how their lives intersected and how their relationships influenced each other's work. Sartre, Camus, Beauvoir, etc.

I enjoyed that so much I read Bakewell's other books -How to Live - The Life of Montaigne (a biography that digs into his writings) and Humanly Possible - 700 Years of Humanist Freethinking, Inquiry and Hope (a great study of humanism and it's history, in case you didn't get that from the title).

Bakewell is super accessible in both her ability to break down concepts and her writing style.

Just finished Trust by Hernan Diaz. He tells the story of a capitalist tycoon in the years leading up to the crash of '29 through 4 different viewpoints. Very cleverly done and easy to relate to each POV. Won the Pulitzer a few years ago.

Currently reading Angel Down by Daniel Krauss. Just got started with this one. The entire novel is written as one sentence, which I thought might be a little annoying, but it hasn't intruded on my reading yet. After a couple of chapters, interested to see where he's going with it. Also a recent Pulitzer winner.

Oh, and finished the first book of The Poppy Wars. Really enjoyed it and loved the concept but not sure I'll finish the series, mainly because I have so many other things in the queue.

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"I wouldn't mind the DP here." - jumpingdan

I’ll probably read that at some point this year

Posted by DT <iframe src='https://mb.boardhost.com/TheDeuce/info/user=DT' width='330' height='300' border=0 style='border:none;'> on July 10, 2026, 9:28:50, in reply to "Not "fun summer reads" but I've recently finished Stoner by John Williams. "

Seems like it got discovered recently and a bunch of the Tik Tok book reviewers have been reading it and mostly raving about it.

I’ve got a big backlog of stuff I picked up from used book stores and library book sales recently, which will keep me busy through the summer, but it’s on my list for once I dig out from the current pile.

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I have a bunch of (Philip K) Dick to get through if I find some down time*

Posted by ghost_of_clt <iframe src='https://mb.boardhost.com/TheDeuce/info/user=ghost_of_clt' width='330' height='300' border=0 style='border:none;'> on July 9, 2026, 15:17:24, in reply to "Fun Summer Reads go here!"

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N U D E S I N B I O

word on the street is you're quite efficient at plowing through Dick*

Posted by Sammich <iframe src='https://mb.boardhost.com/TheDeuce/info/user=Sammich' width='330' height='300' border=0 style='border:none;'> on July 9, 2026, 15:57:57, in reply to "I have a bunch of (Philip K) Dick to get through if I find some down time*"

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I want to break it up
I want to smash it up
I want to #### it up
I want to watch it come down

Everyone knows I'm a big Dick fan. Once I get started on some Dick, I don't want to stop*

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N U D E S I N B I O

positively Dickmatized*

Posted by Sammich <iframe src='https://mb.boardhost.com/TheDeuce/info/user=Sammich' width='330' height='300' border=0 style='border:none;'> on July 9, 2026, 19:29:23, in reply to "Everyone knows I'm a big Dick fan. Once I get started on some Dick, I don't want to stop*"

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I want to break it up
I want to smash it up
I want to #### it up
I want to watch it come down

Can’t get your Phil?*

Posted by DT <iframe src='https://mb.boardhost.com/TheDeuce/info/user=DT' width='330' height='300' border=0 style='border:none;'> on July 9, 2026, 19:03:21, in reply to "Everyone knows I'm a big Dick fan. Once I get started on some Dick, I don't want to stop*"

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Best recent history I read was A Nervous Splendor about Vienna in 1882-83

Posted by DT <iframe src='https://mb.boardhost.com/TheDeuce/info/user=DT' width='330' height='300' border=0 style='border:none;'> on July 9, 2026, 15:00:51, in reply to "Fun Summer Reads go here!"

Sound super-niche, but the writing is excellent and it gives a great picture of a society where a lot of the trends that later coalesced into modernism were percolating.

I also read The River and the Gauntlet by SLA Marshall which was a really low level narrative of the US 8th army experience during the initial Chinese counterattack in Korea. Was good, but very intentionally down in the weeds (literally), with chapters covering events mostly at the small unit level. Worked since this battle was so fragmented due to terrain and lack of communication.

Also read Thinking, Fast and Slow, which was excellent, about how the human brain actually works, and all the shortcuts your mind takes to interpret things and form judgments.

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On the fiction side, recently finished Orlando by Virginia Woolf

Posted by DT <iframe src='https://mb.boardhost.com/TheDeuce/info/user=DT' width='330' height='300' border=0 style='border:none;'> on July 9, 2026, 16:45:08, in reply to "Best recent history I read was A Nervous Splendor about Vienna in 1882-83"

It was strange, but good. It had a ton going on, with a lot of ideas and early experimentation with a sort of magical realism, and beautiful writing and vignettes. But I ultimately thought it didn’t have enough of either involving plot ir fully realized characters to elevate it from good to great.

The Human Factor by Graham Greene was very good. Was very close to the kind of books John Le Carre wrote. Not as good plot wise as the best Le Carre, but better from a writing and character perspective. (Not that Le Carre is bad in those aspects, but he’s not Graham Greene.)

Also read the Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Klay. Like most Pulitzer Prize winning novels I’ve read, it was perfectly good, but nowhere near the raves and incredible critical blurbs would lead you to believe. I didn’t really get the raves about this one. Perfectly fine, but not amazing.

On the negative side, just finished the Wings of the Dove by Henry James, which was a big disappointment. I’d read Portrait of a Lady which I thought was great, and Washington Square which I thought was really good, and thought maybe my dislike of James was based on having been forced to read him when too young. But this one was a dud. Just so involuted—he got so wrapped up in trying to convey these incredibly subtle emotional and mental shifts during conversations that he completely lost the plot—it was so obscure it was hard to actually get a sense of the characters, and the plot slowed yo a crawl. He didn’t miss the forest for the trees, he missed the forest for the veins on the back of the leaves on the trees.

And finally, Miss Lonelyhearts which was horrible in many ways. It was incredibly, shockingly misogynistic as a starter. I almost stopped on page 4 when the narrator went into a bar and listened in on a conversation of other reporters about how the female reporters starting to enter the field should be gang raped to show them their place. But it was only 50 pages, so I wasted another hour or two slugging through this POS. Aside from the sexism, it reads as if Holden Caulfield grew up and narrated his life without becoming any less of a reprehensible asshole, but did it in an over the top tough guy noir fiction style. One of the worst books I’ve ever read. I am baffled how it even became labeled a minor classic. It sucks so much.

Major edit update: the last book mentioned was actually Miss Lonelyhearts, not Day of the Locust. I picked up a single volume that had both novellas by Nathaniel West, planning to read both. But the one I read was such garbage that no way was I going to read the other one.

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Currently reading the most recent Dungeon Crawler Carl book

Posted by DT <iframe src='https://mb.boardhost.com/TheDeuce/info/user=DT' width='330' height='300' border=0 style='border:none;'> on July 9, 2026, 18:35:14, in reply to "On the fiction side, recently finished Orlando by Virginia Woolf"

They are a lot of fun. It might be just me, because I’m lazy, but I have only a hazy grasp of the big universe world building stuff he’s done with the core worlds and AI and why they do the crawls. He’s sort of explained that, and all the empires and races, but none of it has stuck with me. I just enjoy the humor and action on a micro level and try to remember enough to follow the big picture stuff. And at that level, they are a ton of fun.

I also think I might be the only person in the world who is reading Parade of Horribles and also Reflections on the Revolution in France by Burke at the same time.

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Listening to the first one on the way to work on the insistence of my kids.

Posted by Tuscy <iframe src='https://mb.boardhost.com/TheDeuce/info/user=Tuscy' width='330' height='300' border=0 style='border:none;'> on July 10, 2026, 7:36:37, in reply to "Currently reading the most recent Dungeon Crawler Carl book"

Fun stuff.

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"I wouldn't mind the DP here." - jumpingdan

I read (well, audiobooked) them all twice, and moved on to 'He Who Fights With Monsters'

Posted by assassin <iframe src='https://mb.boardhost.com/TheDeuce/info/user=assassin' width='330' height='300' border=0 style='border:none;'> on July 9, 2026, 18:41:50, in reply to "Currently reading the most recent Dungeon Crawler Carl book"

which is kinda the same thing except Alternate World instead of Alien Game Show, and Australian. Leans even heavier into the RPG elements, but same style of humor.

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Brandon Schrock of Laredo, Texas, told the federal government that his employer was “poop,” and his occupation was “pooper.”

The combo of humor and SF-action reminds me of Terry Pratchett a bit

Posted by DT <iframe src='https://mb.boardhost.com/TheDeuce/info/user=DT' width='330' height='300' border=0 style='border:none;'> on July 9, 2026, 18:45:27, in reply to "I read (well, audiobooked) them all twice, and moved on to 'He Who Fights With Monsters' "

I’ve only read 2 or 3 of the Disc World books so I’m not sure how accurate that comp is. But enjoying the Carl books has made me want to track down more of those, and there are like 60 of them.

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which is kinda the same thing except Alternate World instead of Alien Game Show, and Australian. Leans even heavier into the RPG elements, but same style of humor.

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Sidejack on my own thread: One thing I learned in this book that I never knew about...

Posted by KingTalkyTiki <iframe src='https://mb.boardhost.com/TheDeuce/info/user=KingTalkyTiki' width='330' height='300' border=0 style='border:none;'> on July 9, 2026, 14:45:40, in reply to "Fun Summer Reads go here!"

Tran and Helle films

Kind of the Goofus and Gallant for wartime Nazis, shown before movies starting in 1939. Tran was Goofus and Helle was Gallant. They were ended in 1942 because it seemed too many people were identifying with Tran instead of Helle.

Many of them are available on You Tube and are fascinating:

Why you shouldn't feel bad for the conquered French:

?si=oHVD-ZpYnVSak8-s

Why free speech is sooo overrated:

?si=svirWDEjWymJnlcN

"You must own the honor of being the whitest, military vet, fat, multiple state property owner but most of all the one who hates their own country the most in our country."

Currently reading Three Bags Full, the book on which Sheep Detectives is based.

Posted by larue33 <iframe src='https://mb.boardhost.com/TheDeuce/info/user=larue33' width='330' height='300' border=0 style='border:none;'> on July 9, 2026, 14:30:36, in reply to "Fun Summer Reads go here!"

I'd say the movie is better, and I didn't love the movie. The book has some good qualities, but I'm somehow not connecting with it. And I'm a former shepherd.

Recently read Between Heaven and Russia, which no one would classify as a fun summer read, unless you enjoy reading about crazy American monks who are Russian Orthodox converts, consider Czar Nicholas II a saint and Putin the hope of Western civilization.

Oooh, me me me me me!*

Posted by Jackie <iframe src='https://mb.boardhost.com/TheDeuce/info/user=Jackie' width='330' height='300' border=0 style='border:none;'> on July 9, 2026, 14:34:00, in reply to "Currently reading Three Bags Full, the book on which Sheep Detectives is based. "

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I suggest skipping the sheep sequel then, as it's much weaker than the first IMO*

Posted by Potomac <iframe src='https://mb.boardhost.com/TheDeuce/info/user=Potomac' width='330' height='300' border=0 style='border:none;'> on July 9, 2026, 14:33:53, in reply to "Currently reading Three Bags Full, the book on which Sheep Detectives is based. "

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also, do any of you use the good reads app, or how do you keep track of past/future reads?*

Posted by lcubed <iframe src='https://mb.boardhost.com/TheDeuce/info/user=lcubed' width='330' height='300' border=0 style='border:none;'> on July 9, 2026, 14:17:25, in reply to "Fun Summer Reads go here!"

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I’ve been using Goodreads since 2012. It’s great.*

Posted by DT <iframe src='https://mb.boardhost.com/TheDeuce/info/user=DT' width='330' height='300' border=0 style='border:none;'> on July 9, 2026, 16:47:56, in reply to "also, do any of you use the good reads app, or how do you keep track of past/future reads?*"

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Yes. Been using Goodreads for years *

Posted by bjl63 <iframe src='https://mb.boardhost.com/TheDeuce/info/user=bjl63' width='330' height='300' border=0 style='border:none;'> on July 9, 2026, 15:51:21, in reply to "also, do any of you use the good reads app, or how do you keep track of past/future reads?*"

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Calibre. It’s awesome to keep your library and list of books read in it. *

Posted by harb <iframe src='https://mb.boardhost.com/TheDeuce/info/user=harb' width='330' height='300' border=0 style='border:none;'> on July 9, 2026, 15:10:12, in reply to "also, do any of you use the good reads app, or how do you keep track of past/future reads?*"

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[Assassin] Harb is the epitome of a Goldfish Troll.
[Opey] Assholes gonna asshole
[tiki] #### all the way off with that, you bloodthirsty hilljack.

Spreadsheet with 800+ entries tabbed by year or group of years + future tab

Posted by Potomac <iframe src='https://mb.boardhost.com/TheDeuce/info/user=Potomac' width='330' height='300' border=0 style='border:none;'> on July 9, 2026, 14:30:33, in reply to "also, do any of you use the good reads app, or how do you keep track of past/future reads?*"

For old Amazon reviews, what score I gave it. For recent years with no more Amazon reviews, a tag for whether I posted a public review and a field for comments.

I DO! I love it. I picked up reading as a hobby last year and I use it to track all my read books

Posted by DiamondDazzle <iframe src='https://mb.boardhost.com/TheDeuce/info/user=DiamondDazzle' width='330' height='300' border=0 style='border:none;'> on July 9, 2026, 14:21:29, in reply to "also, do any of you use the good reads app, or how do you keep track of past/future reads?*"

books I want to read as well as reviews on books I want to look at reading. And it's fun to see what all my other book friends are reading.

Also, rereading Catch-22 and Something Wicked This Way Comes currently

Posted by reggiedunlop <iframe src='https://mb.boardhost.com/TheDeuce/info/user=reggiedunlop' width='330' height='300' border=0 style='border:none;'> on July 9, 2026, 13:53:46, in reply to "Fun Summer Reads go here!"

both faves*

Catch-22 is my white whale. Everything about it suggests I should love it.

WW2.

Absurdist Comedy.

...but everytime I start it (which has to be 5-6 times over the past 20-30 years), it ends up not holding my interest.

"You must own the honor of being the whitest, military vet, fat, multiple state property owner but most of all the one who hates their own country the most in our country."

I've been told a reread of 1984 and Animal Farm hits pretty hard in 2026*

Posted by Sounder <iframe src='https://mb.boardhost.com/TheDeuce/info/user=Sounder' width='330' height='300' border=0 style='border:none;'> on July 9, 2026, 13:54:59, in reply to "Also, rereading Catch-22 and Something Wicked This Way Comes currently"

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both faves*

Just gave out these five history recs (more basic style)

1) The Accidental Superpower
2) A Brief History of the Earth
3) The Killer Angels
4) Unbreakable
5) The Spy and the Traitor

Trying to hit all the different history genres

Been on a WWII era kick lately

Posted by bjl63 <iframe src='https://mb.boardhost.com/TheDeuce/info/user=bjl63' width='330' height='300' border=0 style='border:none;'> on July 9, 2026, 13:32:02, in reply to "Fun Summer Reads go here!"

Currently reading this, about Japanese who trained to be Kamikazes but never flew a final mission:

https://share.google/tL9aVYk3YfkUbrHLo

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I just heard an author interview on NPR for a new book

Posted by Sounder <iframe src='https://mb.boardhost.com/TheDeuce/info/user=Sounder' width='330' height='300' border=0 style='border:none;'> on July 9, 2026, 12:51:00, in reply to "Fun Summer Reads go here!"

about the history of GPS called Little Blue Dot, seemed right up my alley.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/1639734317?lv=shuf&channelId=500&plpRedirect=mhFallback

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When I don't feel old enough, I remember that having a military GPS unit in the mid 90s

...was downright miraculous.

...and that they were effing huge (despite being called the Precision LIGHTWEIGHT GPS Receiver)

The one I used in 1994-5, which an entire battery was lucky to have one:

The one we were pretty much all battery officers/senior NCOs were issued in 1996:

"You must own the honor of being the whitest, military vet, fat, multiple state property owner but most of all the one who hates their own country the most in our country."

That one on the top (AN/PSN-10 Small Lightweight GPS Receiver)....

...only ~1000 were available of so in Desert Storm.

It weighed 4lbs....which doesn't sound like alot, but considering I was already rucking >100lbs in gear around the Mojave, AND the I'm sure a device that did the equivalent would probably fit on your wrist now.....

"You must own the honor of being the whitest, military vet, fat, multiple state property owner but most of all the one who hates their own country the most in our country."

Individual GPS are down to cell phone size now

Posted by illiniranger <iframe src='https://mb.boardhost.com/TheDeuce/info/user=illiniranger' width='330' height='300' border=0 style='border:none;'> on July 9, 2026, 17:52:11, in reply to "That one on the top (AN/PSN-10 Small Lightweight GPS Receiver)...."

Not fully fielded yet. You can also do chat on it, so you can call for fire via chat on what is basically an android device.

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...only ~1000 were available of so in Desert Storm.

It weighed 4lbs ....which doesn't sound like alot, but considering I was already rucking >100lbs in gear around the Mojave, AND the I'm sure a device that did the equivalent would probably fit on your wrist now.....

Instablam *

Posted by DT <iframe src='https://mb.boardhost.com/TheDeuce/info/user=DT' width='330' height='300' border=0 style='border:none;'> on July 9, 2026, 18:28:49, in reply to "Individual GPS are down to cell phone size now"

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Not fully fielded yet. You can also do chat on it, so you can call for fire via chat on what is basically an android device.

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That's pretty badass

Posted by Sounder <iframe src='https://mb.boardhost.com/TheDeuce/info/user=Sounder' width='330' height='300' border=0 style='border:none;'> on July 9, 2026, 13:34:15, in reply to "When I don't feel old enough, I remember that having a military GPS unit in the mid 90s"

I think about the fact that I used to deliver pizzas in high school with absolutely no GPS assistance. That doesn't seem possible now.

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...was downright miraculous.

...and that they were effing huge (despite being called the Precision LIGHTWEIGHT GPS Receiver)

The one I used in 1994-5, which an entire battery was lucky to have one:

The one we were pretty much all battery officers/senior NCOs were issued in 1996:

if you enjoyed that, check out Somewhere There is Still a Sun by Michael Gruenbaum

Posted by lcubed <iframe src='https://mb.boardhost.com/TheDeuce/info/user=lcubed' width='330' height='300' border=0 style='border:none;'> on July 9, 2026, 12:15:54, in reply to "Fun Summer Reads go here!"

was both good and hard to read at the same time. i'll have to check out yours

i'm typically more of a non-fiction reader but have had trouble lately finding some good ones, so i ended up reading The Woman in Cabin 10 by Ruth Ware. It was a good, quick read with some suspenseful moments.

i picked up One by One of the same author. getting ready to start it

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Thanks for the Reccy!*

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"You must own the honor of being the whitest, military vet, fat, multiple state property owner but most of all the one who hates their own country the most in our country."

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