BOOKS THREAD

Rogue Lawyer, by Grisham.
I've read them all, loved most of them. This one was no different.
Very good.

 

Just finished Stacy Schiff's The Witches and James Baldwin's If Beale Street Could Talk this week.

Schiff really puts Salem in a context I hadn't considered before. She's a fantastic writer. I hadn't read her Cleopatra book, but I will now that I've read her.

Beale Street is one of a couple Baldwin books I haven't yet read. I'm astounded by the scene of Tish and her family telling her future mother-in-law about the pregnancy. It's just perfect writing.

 

Hope you enjoy them. They aren't great literature, but they are interesting and fun to me.

I also used to enjoy riding the train to school and work, as it gave me time to read the papers and plenty of books.

 

I just finished "How Star Wars Conquered the Universe," by Chris Taylor. I absolutely ripped through it. A fascinating behind-the-scenes look (unauthorized) at the franchise from George Lucas's childhood through the lead-up to "The Force Awakens." It probably could have been twice as long, even with 425 pages with small typeface. But it still covers a ton of territory. Highly recommended as a work of journalism.

 

Steve Knopper's new one, MJ: The Genius of Michael Jackson, is an excellent, clear-eyed look at Jackson's life, career and death and unlike many Jackson bios, it doesn't shy away from discussing his music.

 

Just finished Simon Winchester's Pacific. For a 500-page book about the largest body of water in the world, it's a quick read with 10 chapters. Each tackles a key event in the modern history of the Pacific. The Bikini Island and Sony chapters especially interested me.

 

Appetite for Self-Destruction, his book about how the music business imploded with the coming of the digital age, is tremendous.

 

Did you see the movie?

Saw it this weekend, and having not read the book, was expecting John Paulson to be a main character, but he wasn't in it at all.

Did Lewis/the movie choose to focus on other traders who were more interesting? Did Paulson not talk to Lewis, so he was left out?

The movie has Michael Burry going to Goldman to have them create the contract that he could buy/short to bet against mortgage market. I always thought Paulson was the one to do this. Am I wrong, or did the movie take license?

 

That's definitely how he's portrayed. And, they show him coming up with the idea, and then going to Goldman and Deutsche and convincing them to create the swaps he wants. They're portrayed as confused by the idea, trying to talk him out of it, and ultimately deciding to take his money if he wants to give it to them.

I just had it in my mind that Paulson came up with the idea, and was the one who approached Goldman and Deutsche.

Is Paulson so associated with credit defaults because he made the biggest bets?

Eisman is also portrayed in the film, though they change his name. He's played by Steve Carell, who does a good job portraying him as a cynical guy, who doesn't trust the system, and who doesn't deal in small talk, pleasantries, or bullshit, but there seems to be a lot of Michael Scott in the character, so it's a little distracting .