Monthly Book Club + What Are You Reading? (Nov 2017)

[Tragicomedy]

Working a new format for a new forum! This month we're going to try reviving the gone but not forgotten book club. This thread is also open for any and all book discussion, so fire away.

We Were Eight Years in Power: An American Tragedy by Ta-Nehisi Coates

"The warlords of history are still kicking our heads in, and no one, not our fathers, not our Gods, is coming to save us." - Ta-Nehisi Coates

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • "We were eight years in power" was the lament of Reconstruction-era black politicians as the American experiment in multiracial democracy ended with the return of white supremacist rule in the South. Now Ta-Nehisi Coates explores the tragic echoes of that history in our own time: the unprecedented election of a black president followed by a vicious backlash that fueled the election of the man Coates argues is America's "first white president."

"Essential...Coates's probing essays about race, politics, and history became necessary ballast for this nation's gravity-defying moment."- The Boston Globe

"Coates's always sharp commentary is particularly insightful as each day brings a new upset to the cultural and political landscape laid during the term of the nation's first black president...Coates is a crucial voice in the public discussion of race and equality, and readers will be eager for his take on where we stand now and why." - Booklist

Find it here:
Kindle edition
Hardcover
Audiobook
Or try your local library.

Guidelines:

• Discussion of anything and everything is encouraged. It's a book club, let's chat!
• Please use spoiler tags sensibly.
• The milestones are there to help keep you on the path. If you get ahead or behind, don't worry--it will have no impact on your final grade.

Reading Milestones:

• 1-7 November: Intro and Years 1-3
• 8-14 November: Years 4-6
• 15-21 November: Year 7
• 22-30 November: Year 8 and Epilogue

Previous Book Club Threads:

• Blindness by Jose Saramago (Feb 2014)
• The Quiet American by Graham Greene (Jan 2014)
• If on a winter's night a traveler by Italo Calvino (Sept 2013)
• Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov (July 2013)
• Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand (Feb-Mar 2013)
• The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoyevsky (September 2012)
• Catch-22, by Joseph Heller (January 2012)
• The Shadow of the Wind, by Carlos Ruiz Zafón (December 2011)
• Blood Meridian: Or the Evening Redness in the West, by Cormac McCarthy (Oct 2011)
• The Master and Margarita, by Mikhail Bulgakov (Sep 2011)
• The Count of Monte Cristo, by Alexandre Dumas (Aug 2011)
• Master and Commander, by Patrick O'Brian (July 2011)
• The Happiness Project, by Gretchen Rubin (June 2011)
• A Visit from the Goon Squad, by Jennifer Egan (May 2011)
• The Afghan Campaign, by Steven Pressfield (Apr 2011)
• Stranger in a Strange Land, by Robert A. Heinlein (Mar 2011)
• Flashman, by George MacDonald Fraser (Feb 2011)[/QUOTE]

-----

Support ERA authors:

• aidan (Hugo Award winner): http://aidanmoher.com/blog/ / Tide of Shadows and Other Stories
• AngmarsKing701: Ahvarra: The Heart of the World ; Knight Descendent: Knight's Journal 1; Author Page of Brian Lang
• cosmicblizzard: Freeze Kill
• Elfforkusu: Wrath of Flight
• Fidelis Hodie: Derek Agons Slays a Dragon
• H.Protagonist: Dead Endings
• Hop: The Latte Segment
• Plasticine Live Undead
• UCBooties Trumpocalypse
• whatevermort: The Explorer; No Harm Can Come to a Good Man; Long Dark Dusk by James Smythe

Explore

• Reddit's Favorite Books Published in 2016
• Goodreads 100 Books to Read in a Lifetime
• The 40 Best Sci-Fi Books According to Reddit

 

[Tragicomedy]

I'm halfway through Brothers in Arms by Lois McMaster Bujold. Really enjoying it and the entire Vorkosigan Saga for that matter. Highly recommend it for fans of science fiction, espionage, and political intrigue. All the books are well written and benefit from superb pacing.

Tomorrow evening I'll be diving into We Were Eight Year in Power by Coates for the book club. I read Between the World and Me two weeks ago and was blown away by his ability to convey the complexity of black American struggles so clearly. I've read a decent amount about race and identity politics, but nothing quite so understandable. That book is made up of letters he wrote to his son to help him understand his heritage and a system stacked completely against him, and a few of the passages are soul-crushing. This was my favorite:

"I write you in your fifteenth year. I am writing you because this was the year you saw Eric Garner choked to death for selling cigarettes; because you know now that Renisha McBride was shot for seeking help, that John Crawford was shot down for browsing in a department store. And you have seen men in uniform drive by and murder Tamir Rice, a twelve-year-old child whom they were oath-bound to protect. And you have seen men in the same uniforms pummel Marlene Pinnock, someone's grandmother, on the side of a road. And you know now, if you did not before, that the police departments of your country have been endowed with the authority to destroy your body. It does not matter if the destruction is the result of an unfortunate overreaction. It does not matter if it originates in a misunderstanding. It does not matter if the destruction springs from a foolish policy. Sell cigarettes without the proper authority and your body can be destroyed. Resent the people trying to entrap your body and it can be destroyed. Turn into a dark stairwell and your body can be destroyed. The destroyers will rarely be held accountable. Mostly they will receive pensions. And destruction is merely the superlative form of a dominion whose prerogatives include friskings, detainings, beatings, and humiliations. All of this is common to black people. And all of this is old for black people. No one is held responsible.

There is nothing uniquely evil in these destroyers or even in this moment. The destroyers are merely men enforcing the whims of our country, correctly interpreting its heritage and legacy. It is hard to face this. But all our phrasing—race relations, racial chasm, racial justice, racial profiling, white privilege, even white supremacy—serves to obscure that racism is a visceral experience, that it dislodges brains, blocks airways, rips muscle, extracts organs, cracks bones, breaks teeth. You must never look away from this. You must always remember that the sociology, the history, the economics, the graphs, the charts, the regressions all land, with great violence, upon the body."

I don't know exactly what I'm getting into with Eight Years, other than the basic framework of essays written during Obama's years in office. The early years of the administration are a bit of a blur to me, seeing as I spent over a year of them in Iraq and Afghanistan. I hold Obama in high esteem for helping pull the nation out of a devastating financial crisis. I also voted for him as an anti-war candidate yet got to live through the troop surge in Afghanistan, a continuation of W's foreign policy blunders.

I'm very interested to see how Coates dissects his feelings towards Obama, and what insight Coates has into Obama's legacy for our country and the African American community. I'm entering the book with the bias that Obama will be remembered by future generations as a top five US president (he's #2 in my book), but I'm also not blind to the compromises he made along the way to work with an imperfect world and an impossible Republican legislative branch. Perhaps I'll leave with a different perspective altogether after reading the book. Or maybe the constant smear campaign against him has forever tarnished an entire portion of our population into believing he's an illegitimate, Muslim terrorist hellbent of destroying the red, white, and blue. I can't imagine how much Fox News and right wing media would be fawning over Obama if they'd held him to the same nonexistent standard they're holding Trump.

 

[Deleted member 1067]

Edit Tragicomedy :Hey can we do book club recs? If so I'd like to put up Power Wars by Charlie Savage and Dereliction of Duty by H.R. McMaster

From the tail end of the last thread:

Good Lord in heaven, thank you for this gift i hath received! Been waiting on this book for like 3 years now, lol

Nearly a thousand pages of awesomeness, and I plan on dedicating at least a straight week to devouring it. Easily my most hyped book alongside with Nial Ferguson's second volume of Kissinger, which I am also ultra hyped for.

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Also reading Words of Radiance and plan on working Tah-Neshi Coates in there somewhere for the book club. Stalin comes first (>.< sorry op), then 8 years, then I'll try and FINALLY get that damned second storm light book done x.x

Busy month as I also want to fit in some backlog stuff like Mona Lisa Overdrive and Ancillary Justice, too.

 

[Tragicomedy]

From the tail end of the last thread:

Also reading Words of Radiance and plan on working Tah-Neshi Coates in there somewhere for the book club. Stalin comes first (>.< sorry op), then 8 years, then I'll try and FINALLY get that damned second storm light book done x.x

Busy month as I also want to fit in some backlog stuff like Mona Lisa Overdrive and Ancillary Justice, too.

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Lots of good choices there. I blasted through Words of Radiance when it came out and honestly should have taken more time with it. I need to read a refresher prior to reading Oathbringer. I'll approach it with a slower pace. There are lots of relationships to track and the time gap between books has left me fuzzy on details.

 

[EverythingShiny]

I listened to the audiobook version of Between the World and Me, which is narrated by Coates himself, and it was incredibly powerful. I'm really looking forward to reading this one.

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In the meantime, Twin Peaks: The Final Dossier just arrived so I'm digging into that!

 

[Satanic Saint]

I am halfway through A Visit from the Goon Squad. I think I'll finish it tomorrow since I have a long flight.

 

[Tragicomedy]

I listened to the audiobook version of Between the World and Me, which is narrated by Coates himself, and it was incredibly powerful. I'm really looking forward to reading this one.

In the meantime, Twin Peaks: The Final Dossier just arrived so I'm digging into that!

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Glad to have you on board. I'm going to see what that Twin Peaks business is all about.

I am halfway through A Visit from the Goon Squad. I think I'll finish it tomorrow since I have a long flight.

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I love reading on planes. Helps the time, ummmm, fly by.

 

[l2iv6]

Never really participated in the old threads, but I've always wanted to. I guess now is a good time!

Last night I started reading Ubik by Phillip K. Dick, and I'm really enjoying it so far. At first, it was a bit confusing keeping up with all the made-up words, but you get used to it fairly quickly. Can't wait to dig into it again when I have time!

 

[KuroNeeko]

I purchased Eight Years this morning and it should be here tomorrow! Other than that, I'm reading Sanderson's The Way of Kings. I don't have much to say about it that hasn't already been said other than the fact that I don't really care for Shallan yet...

 

[malus]

I recently finished Neuromancer and I have to say this is one hard book to read. I frequently had to reread passages to understand what was happening and when I finished I read a summary to check that I had actually understood everything. It probably didn't help that I'm not a native English speaker but I haven't had to look up words for years until now. I still very much enjoyed the book for the story and setting.

Now I'm rereading the Lord of the Rings since it was one of the first books I read in English and I probably didn't understand everything back then. It's still a really enjoyable read though I could do with fewer songs.

 

[gosublime]

Cool - thanks for doing the thread! Will be finishing Hard Times, reading the book club book and The Familiar for the start of this month!

 

[Jonnykong]

I'm still reading Sleeping Beauties, about halfway through I'd say. It's a beast of a book, but I'm thoroughly enjoying it. As I'm reading it I feel it's very much a Stephen King book, I can't help but wonder how much his son actually contributed towards it?

 

[Ex Machina]

Currently reading Ancient Alien Ancestors: Advanced Technologies That Terraformed Our World. Always interested in the "Ancient Alien" niche and this book has good summarization and updated theory of the ancient civilization culture.

 

[Redcrayon]

I'm still reading Sleeping Beauties, about halfway through I'd say. It's a beast of a book, but I'm thoroughly enjoying it. As I'm reading it I feel it's very much a Stephen King book, I can't help but wonder how much his son actually contributed towards it?

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I've asked my wife for this for Christmas, really looking forward to reading it. Have you read any of Owen King's stories? I haven't, personally, just wondering if you had.

 

[Mi goreng]

Pretty interesting so far. An in depth look into one of the more niche and interesting film directors out there.

 

[MilkBeard]

Currently reading Warbreaker by Sanderson alongside writing for NaNoWriMo. Won't have as much time for reading, but I will at least try to finish this book in November.

 

[Any Questions]

I recently finished Neuromancer and I have to say this is one hard book to read. I frequently had to reread passages to understand what was happening and when I finished I read a summary to check that I had actually understood everything. It probably didn't help that I'm not a native English speaker but I haven't had to look up words for years until now. I still very much enjoyed the book for the story and setting.

Now I'm rereading the Lord of the Rings since it was one of the first books I read in English and I probably didn't understand everything back then. It's still a really enjoyable read though I could do with fewer songs.

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Hi there, I appreciate this isn't reading however I make it a point to advise people of this whenever the lord of the rings is discussed our raised.

It's a fan made full narration with sound effects and music from the film edited in. It a phenomenal piece of work and every fan should have a copy.

Go take a look and I hope you enjoy. It's rescued me many times when have been bored senseless in the office.

Enjoy

https://www.mediafire.com/folder/cjjdiknzeieol,6jmo2c5q9vbll,jdmyib22aeqpm

 

[Any Questions]

Currently reading Ancient Alien Ancestors: Advanced Technologies That Terraformed Our World. Always interested in the "Ancient Alien" niche and this book has good summarization and updated theory of the ancient civilization culture.

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Check out Graham Hancock on YouTube. Also am also very interested in pre civilisations. There is a huge body of evidence or there being ignored.

 

[Tawney Bomb]

Going to download and start 8 Years tonight for the book club. Also will be listening to The Alloy of Law by Sanderson.

 

[Deleted member 1067]

Pulling JetSetSoul post from tail end of last thread:

Fresh new voices in lit must be celebrated too! Early on still, see if it starts connecting.

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Let me know how this shapes up. Been thinking of picking this up for ages but been too busy with other authors to give this one a rando shot, as unfair as that may sound.

I gotta give high praise to any one trying to break into pro writing. That's gotta be one of the hardest to break into because not only do you have to face contemporary authors in the market, but also potentially thousands of years of backlogs depending on genre.

 

[Jonnykong]

I've asked my wife for this for Christmas, really looking forward to reading it. Have you read any of Owen King's stories? I haven't, personally, just wondering if you had.

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No I'm afraid I'm completely oblivious to his other work beyond this! This is my first Owen book. But as I say, it reads very much like Stephen has wrote it so I can't really say whether or not Owen is a good author.

 

[Ravensmash]

Love the idea of a book club so will be in here regularly.

I'm halfway through All The Pretty Horses and beginning to really enjoy it. I think I got too stuck up on trying to build the world visually, but now I'm just going with it and having fun.

 

[RepairmanJack]

Lock In - John Scalzi

Grabbed this up because the premise really interested me, only a few chapters in so far and liking it.

 

[The Pot]

Just started rereading IT.
Its still amazing to this day...

 

[FondsNL]

I love Murakami so I thought I'd expand on my Kafka inspired reading a bit.

I'm only 50 pages or so in, but the vibe is very similar to Murakami. Pretty enjoyable read so far!
It's a short read, so I should be able to get the book club book down as well!

 

[Redcrayon]

Lock In - John Scalzi

Grabbed this up because the premise really interested me, only a few chapters in so far and liking it.

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Just read up on the premise of that- I really liked his Old Man's War books, will stick it on my reading list!

 

[Zakard]

I am halfway through Creativity Inc. I am reading it for a project I am currently working on. Really interesting so far. I think this will have a big impact on the way I view project management and criticism.

 

[Jezabel]

I'm still reading Sleeping Beauties, about halfway through I'd say. It's a beast of a book, but I'm thoroughly enjoying it. As I'm reading it I feel it's very much a Stephen King book, I can't help but wonder how much his son actually contributed towards it?

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I Can't wait to pick it up over Christmas. I'm a bit of a King fanboy, I frequent second hand shops for copies of his books. Have found some pretty old and rare stuff. It turns into a bit of an addiction. The rush of finding a old edition book is like a gambling high.

Anyway. I'm reading the First Law Trilogy by Joe Abercrombie I've just finished the first book. I'm not to sure if i really liked it, but I'm keen to keep going as I've heard good things

 

[Fuu]

Started Twin Peaks: The Final Dossier yesterday, but I'll be reading We Were Eight Years in Power alongside it.

 

[RepairmanJack]

Started Twin Peaks: The Final Dossier yesterday, but I'll be reading We Were Eight Years in Power alongside it.

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Interested in seeing how Final Dossier turns out. I've heard talk before it came out that it was what people wanted more of from season 3, but I don't know if I really believe that...

 

[Any Questions]

I Can't wait to pick it up over Christmas. I'm a bit of a King fanboy, I frequent second hand shops for copies of his books. Have found some pretty old and rare stuff. It turns into a bit of an addiction. The rush of finding a old edition book is like a gambling high.

Anyway. I'm reading the First Law Trilogy by Joe Abercrombie I've just finished the first book. I'm not to sure if i really liked it, but I'm keen to keep going as I've heard good things

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Have read that trilogy three times. Am excited for the next set to come out. I hear 2018 or 2019. I hope

 

[Spectromixer]

Looking forward to starting the book club pick sometime this week!

 

[Deleted member 4372]

Hope this is the right thread, didn't want to make one, but can someone recommend a book or series of books detailing the American Civil War? Thanks.

 

[Deleted member 1067]

Hope this is the right thread, didn't want to make one, but can someone recommend a book or series of books detailing the American Civil War? Thanks.

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Hard to go wrong with Battle Cry of Freedom

To get the full story though you need a book on reconstruction as well, and a good starter book is Reconstruction: America's unfinished revolution by Eric Foner

 

[gosublime]

Just finished in time for Book Club and The Familiar. Was okay - I've never been the biggest fan of Dickens and this having moved from Dickens' usual London haunts to 'Coketown' seems to lose something in the transition. It seems to be more of a polemic against the factual based thinking of Utilitarians than a well thought out novel - a lot of sections, such as Mrs. Sparsit's hunting down of the old woman simply happen off page. However, Dickens does have his usual ability to make almost caricatures seem realistic; Mr. Bounderby is a great example of a overblown fool and Mrs. Sparsit's caustic pity for him is pretty well done.

 

[kinoki]

I decided to finally tackle The Silmarillion. And since I don't start a fiction without one that's not I also started The Water Kingdom by Philip Ball. Two very odd books to read at the same time.

 

[Fuu]

Interested in seeing how Final Dossier turns out. I've heard talk before it came out that it was what people wanted more of from season 3, but I don't know if I really believe that...

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Yeah, I loved season 3, but I'm curious about what it will add and how much closure it will provide.

It's decidedly much less heavy on the images department when compared to The Secret Story, and the information is more condensed to be presented in pure text (which is recognized in-universe by Tammy). I read 16 pages yesterday and I'm looking forward to keep diving in.

 

[EverythingShiny]

Interested in seeing how Final Dossier turns out. I've heard talk before it came out that it was what people wanted more of from season 3, but I don't know if I really believe that...

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I absolutely loved The Return, so I'm not the best person to answer this, but it's providing a lot of straight-forward closure so far. It's very much a "this is what happened to everyone in Twin Peaks after Season 2" book so I imagine people who wanted more closure out of The Return will be happy.

 

[RepairmanJack]

Yeah, I loved season 3, but I'm curious about what it will add and how much closure it will provide.

It's decidedly much less heavy on the images department when compared to The Secret Story, and the information is more condensed to be presented in pure text (which is recognized in-universe by Tammy). I read 16 pages yesterday and I'm looking forward to keep diving in.

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I absolutely loved The Return, so I'm not the best person to answer this, but it's providing a lot of straight-forward closure so far. It's very much a "this is what happened to everyone in Twin Peaks after Season 2" book so I imagine people who wanted more closure out of The Return will be happy.

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I definitely loved The Return. My concern over Frost is if stuff ends up contradicting other things or if its starts to feel too fan fiction-y or wish fulfillment and almost going in the extreme opposite of The Return. If it's just a form of closure and fan service with catching up on the characters from season 2 I'm just not sure I'm that interested.

 

[Tragicomedy]

Never really participated in the old threads, but I've always wanted to. I guess now is a good time!

Last night I started reading Ubik by Phillip K. Dick, and I'm really enjoying it so far. At first, it was a bit confusing keeping up with all the made-up words, but you get used to it fairly quickly. Can't wait to dig into it again when I have time!

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That's a PKD book I've had on my "to read" list forever but keep putting off for some reason.

If you like his writing style, I unconditionally recommend A Scanner Darkly. That's a top ten favorite of mine. The movie is with watching after reading the book.

Edit Tragicomedy :Hey can we do book club recs? If so I'd like to put up Power Wars by Charlie Savage and Dereliction of Duty by H.R. McMaster

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Missed this until this morning. Posting in here or shooting me a PM works. I'll maintain a running list of suggestions with the 4-5 books I'm already considering. We can put it up for a vote near the end of the month.

The three main goals are to pick something people are interested in reading, foster discussion, and keep the genres and theme diverse. I'll likely push for a shorter work of fiction for December.

 

[Ebullientprism]

Someone help me. This is doing my head in.

I read this book over a two decades ago as a teenager. I cant remember the name. I thought the author was Ken Follett but going through the summary of his works I cant find the book at all and its bugging me a lot.

I only remember bits and pieces. It follows these two boys growing up. Both become rich and successful but end up hating each other for some reason. One of them secretly helps the other and dies later on, the other finds out after his death. I think one of them owns a newspaper(?), not too sure on that. There is also a fairly graphical rape scene where the sister (I think) of one of the boys gets raped. The beginning is set around WW2 I think, again that one is not 100% sure.

I always thought that was Pillars of the earth but I read the synopsis of that today and it isnt. And now its driving me crazy because I cant remember it at all.

Anyone? :(

 

[dialogic]

Great thread! I've been planning to read the new Coates soon, so I'll try to accelerate that in light of this book club idea.

I mentioned it at the tail end of the previous thread, but right now I'm reading The Wandering Earth short story collection by Liu Cixin, the author of The Three Body Problem. It's stellar (no pun intended). Cixin has a way of describing the physical effects of truly far out concepts that really draws me in, and his stories often have a bittersweet emotional component to them as well. He's become one of my very favourite authors and I can't recommend him enough for science fiction fans.

 

[kaytee]

I picked up Eight Years last week but haven't started yet, so I'll be sure to check back here!

I'm doing a quick read through of His Dark Materials since The Book of Dust just came out. I'm in the middle of The Subtle Knife right now and reliving my childhood. Really loved these books a lot, although the last book went way over my head.

 

[Fuu]

I definitely loved The Return. My concern over Frost is if stuff ends up contradicting other things or if its starts to feel too fan fiction-y or wish fulfillment and almost going in the extreme opposite of The Return. If it's just a form of closure and fan service with catching up on the characters from season 2 I'm just not sure I'm that interested.

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Agreed. I love the mythology and the characters of the show, but I also hope he won't go too far down that road. The Secret Story struck the right balance imo.

 

[EverythingShiny]

I definitely loved The Return. My concern over Frost is if stuff ends up contradicting other things or if its starts to feel too fan fiction-y or wish fulfillment and almost going in the extreme opposite of The Return. If it's just a form of closure and fan service with catching up on the characters from season 2 I'm just not sure I'm that interested.

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Oh, gotcha! So far, that's exactly what it's turning out to be, but I'm only about 45 pages into it. It's definitely the polar opposite of The Return, imo.

 

[aidan]

This place is more active than "What are you reading?" threads in the old place, nice.

Didn't you start reading a month ago?

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I got my copy about a month ago (well, an enormous, clunky PDF; I more recently got a finished copy), but had a few other review commitments to get through first, so I only just started reading it.

 

[Atraveller]

Slowly making my way through this.

 

[l2iv6]

That's a PKD book I've had on my "to read" list forever but keep putting off for some reason.

If you like his writing style, I unconditionally recommend A Scanner Darkly. That's a top ten favorite of mine. The movie is with watching after reading the book.

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Funny you mention that, it's actually one of my favourite books I've ever read! Same with the film, both are absolutely brilliant. The only other book I've read from PKD is (yup, you guessed it) Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?. I really enjoyed that, too. It's certainly a lot more digestible to the casual reader than A Scanner Darkly, though, that's for sure.

I'll read some more of Ubik over the next few days and post my impressions. So far though, I'm totally recomending it. Definitely get around to it when you can!

 

[NekoFever]

Started this today after a stretch of sci-fi and fantasy.

(The following is a response to a post in last month's thread but I thought I'd put it in here rather than bump that.)

Now, for the bad part: Hamilton needs an editor. Pandora's Star is extremely bloated. Its 988 pages could've been trimmed by half and little would've been lost. As a consequence, the pacing feels all over the place. Sometimes you've just finished reading an awesome action scene just to be bored by dozens of pages of characters walking.

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I read Pandora's Star a couple of months ago and thought the same thing. I still don't know the point of some of those sideplots. And once it picks up some momentum he puts the brakes on by having a scene that I swear was like 100 pages of the great families at a mansion, trying to negotiate a position on new political issues.

I'm looking forward to Judas Unchained nonetheless, because it actually started moving forward towards the end. The sheer length of the first book set me so far back on my Goodreads challenge that I need to rebuild my numbers, though!

 

[Deleted member 4372]

Hard to go wrong with Battle Cry of Freedom

To get the full story though you need a book on reconstruction as well, and a good starter book is Reconstruction: America's unfinished revolution by Eric Foner

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Dude, thank you. Will definitely snap this up, and the reconstruction book. Much appreciated!