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What are you reading?

C

criminaldesign

Guest
Read a number of books in the last few weeks and a couple of re-reads.

Re-Reads
My War Gone By, I Miss It So, Anthony Loyd
Freaking great book by war correspondent Anthony Loyd. This is about his time during the Bosnian War and the Chechen/Russian Conflict with personal parts. You thought the concentration camps and conflicts of the World Wars were bad... The Bosnian parts are riddled with such brutality from man its sad, all for the sake of killing cos they can. It's such a jumble of a mess, 3 factions fighting each other and themselves with civilians caught in the middle. Highly recommended. Finished it this afternoon.

In The Heart of the Sea, Nathaniel Philbrick
Another great book on what a human can endure. This is on the story of the Nantucket Whale ship, the Essex. This is the real life story that was the inspiration to Moby Dick. Men adrift in the Pacific for 80+ days which ultimately led to cannibalism and question of sanity.

New Reads:
The Girl in a Swing, Richard Adams
Super good and creepy story taking place mainly in England. A shop keeper is in the Netherlands on business and falls in love with a strange girl from Germany. This is a ghost story and thriller, and very weird. From the author of Watership Down.

A Few Minutes with Andy Rooney.
Hell you can't go wrong with this guy. Cracks me up while totally making sense. Second book of his I've read. Found at Grandma's during Thanksgiving.

The Crucible, Arthur Miller
We all know this story. I seen it on the boob tube and stage, I found it on my cousins bookshelf (also during Thanksgiving) and tore through it. A good symbolism between the Salem Witch Trials and McCarthyism. Afraid of what we don't understand and concepts.

The Sun Also Rises, Hemingway
Also found on my cousins book shelf. This book was torture to be honest. The characters I couldn't stand, but the setting was great, between France and Spain. The characters were labeled as expatriates from US and UK. They were pompous and shallow. I would rather read about the exploits and binges of Kerouac and Cassidy any day. Regardless, a group of friends that hate each other head to Spain for fishing and bullfighting. On the bright side, the writing of the bullfighting was great and makes me was to go to one. This man loves to write about drinking.

A Farewell to Arms, Hemingway
This was a good and tragic love story. Taking place during WWI from the perspective of an American working as an ambulance driver for the Italians, while falling in love with a nurse from Scotland who is also assisting the Italians. Hemingway wrote in away that made it easy visualizing the war and setting. This man loves to write about drinking.

Now onto a new book.
 
Edwin Coddington's "The Gettysburg Campaign". Unbelievable what those men went through. March for 25 miles in the July heat, with pack, arrive at the battlefield and be ordered to attack...NOW.
 
Currently reading "The World Made Straight", Ron Rash

Just finished "The Lacuna", Barbara Kingsolver

Prior to that "Blood Meridian", Cormac McCarthy

If you enjoy a well written novel - and are not afraid to permit your assumptions to be challenged - you'll appreciate these.

Criminal, if you've not yet read "For Whom the Bell Tolls" it's worth looking at. It may be one of Hemingway's best - even though most of the profanity was censored (He still sneaks some in, albeit in Spanish). It was also produced as a politically sanitized film in 1943 starring Gary Cooper and Ingrid Bergman - but the film holds up best only if you've already read the novel.
 
Just finished
The Gun Seller by Hugh Laurie. Yup the same guy who stars in House. The book is a riot . It is a mystery/thriller where the main character is a tough, wise cracking, irreverent former Scotts Guard. The character's voice carries a lot of the amusing snark of House. Fun, easy read (with large print)

On a serious note The Places In Between by Rory Stewart is a novelized journel of his walk across Afganistan. True story that haunts for months after the book is finished.
 
"The Complete History of World War II" Armed Services Memorial Edition by Francis
Trevelan Miller 1949
 
Prior to that "Blood Meridian", Cormac McCarthy

Criminal, if you've not yet read "For Whom the Bell Tolls" it's worth looking at. It may be one of Hemingway's best - even though most of the profanity was censored (He still sneaks some in, albeit in Spanish). It was also produced as a politically sanitized film in 1943 starring Gary Cooper and Ingrid Bergman - but the film holds up best only if you've already read the novel.

Right on Alien.

Yeah, those were the first Hemingway I've read. In the 2 I listed they were also censored. There was a side note in the forward about the censorship demands from the publisher. I will definitely pick up For Whom the Bell Tolls.

BTW, Blood Meridian is one of my favs. That's a another book I read twice, and very well will probably read it again. My favorite 'western' by far. The Judge is a great character. Very similar to the girl from 'The Girl in a Swing'. How long has he been around and exactly where does he come from.

Bob_M said:
Just finished
The Gun Seller by Hugh Laurie. Yup the same guy who stars in House. The book is a riot . It is a mystery/thriller where the main character is a tough, wise cracking, irreverent former Scotts Guard. The character's voice carries a lot of the amusing snark of House. Fun, easy read (with large print)

I may have to check out that. He's also a fabulous british comedian from back in the day.
 
Hmm what an interesting thread... I read about 6-7 books a week so this could be a nightly posting event.


Last night it was "Radical Evolution: The Promise and Peril of Enhancing OUr Minds, Our Bodies, and What it means to Be Human" by Joel Garreau.

Tonight it is "Futurehype: The Myths of Technological Change" by Bob Seidensticker


The question of both: does technology drive society/history at an exponential rate?
 
Currently reading The Richness of Life, The Essential Stephen J. Gould. A wonderfully compiled collection of his essays.
 
The Empire of " The City ": The Secret History of Financial Power by E.C. Knuth

A great time of year to read about Scrooge..........in a way. :ha

Its a behind the scenes look at secretive polices and dealings of the British Government, and its successes that lead to their rise to the top. What inspired me to read this was a same aged U.K. motorcyclist who visited me recommended it. He was on his world tour at the time, by trade he was an actuary and he told it was a great read. He asked if I read it in his recent Christmas Card, now I can reply that I had.


I just finished The Spontaneous Fulfillment of Desire: Harnessing the Infinite Power of Coincidence by Deepak Chopra.

Just seeing by coincidence if I am lacking anything. Six years ago upon my retirement and on a whine I spent a week with Deepak Chopra. Prior to this I was challenged by a friend to do something post retirement that I normally would not think about doing. I was advised to mingle with individuals that I would most likely not mingle with. What a coincidence, and it lead to some very surprising coincidences by networking globally. I knew I should have listened to the financial wizards and plant a vineyard but this was far reaching. I sometimes stare in awe how it all happened.

Another thing I like about Deepak is his background in immunology and its workings, effect and affect upon all of us. Plus I like spirituality and wonder regardless whose it may be.
 
Foundations by Mandy Langston Manley

"Josephine Wildt Cardwell, 29, has been waiting for several years to land the reporting job she really wants at the Paducah Sun. Few people on staff know more about the town's history than Jo, but she has been relegated to event planning and research by a good old boy editor who clearly got his job from an old fraternity brother. One day, she receives an anonymous note on her desk at work that makes her reconsider everything she thought she knew about her lineage. It seems that her parents, dead from a plane crash while on an archaeological research trip in Italy when she was 6, are not actually her biological relatives. The story jumps to 1978, and a young woman named Lilly who goes away to college and finds herself in love for the first time. Her family doesn't approve of her choice, so she decides to run away with her love, which results in scandal, a broken heart and a tragedy. "

http://www.amazon.com/Foundations-M...=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1292553094&sr=1-1

Voni
sMiling
 
sounds like one of those girly books...:D


Oh, I'm reading one of Jeff Biggers books: Eagle creek... about how the coal companies put the screws to his family homestead place in S. Illinois-actually I bought his book : Into the Sierra Madre(r.e., Copper Canyon where I will ride in a few months) and now am on to this one and as I live in Appalachia am going to next read his : United States of Appalachia after that. He is an extremely liberal guy(that coming from me as a right leaner) but has a good grip on reality and has done some interesting research on just how the polititions & fat cats gave the Native Americans, African-Americans and settlers, etc., the shaft in their quest to get rich on coal. Peabody got their start in that area of S. Ill where his family is from & progressed to the Navajo , Black Mesa mine and on to the rest of Appalachia. Now we have in KY "Friends of Coal" license plates if you dig/haul/own/etc., the black stuff- I'm wondering why we don't have Friends of gasoline & Freinds of Wheat & Friends of Beef & Friends of Natural Gas- well you get the picture...
 
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Just finished John Sandford's "Rough Country". After talking to some friends, have now decided to tackle the Vince Flynn novels starting with "Term Limits, his first. About halfway through. Good stuff.
 
Keith Richards: Life

prior:

Stieg Larsson's trilogy
The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo
The Girl Who Played With Fire
The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet's Nest

incidentally, we saw all 3 of the Swedish Films on same,
they were good, bad and good, respectively. the casting abslutely superb, all 3 films were shot with the same cast, one after the other, with different directors and technical crew/staff.
Hollywood is doing their version. though a bit behind the times
(what's new?) the best that can be said (IMO) is that it furthers the finances of the [late] Author's estate.

but this is a thread about BOOKS... no intention to *hijack*. :nono
 
All the devils are here by Bethany McLean and Joe Nocera, about the Wall Street crash. It is a more complete account than some of the earlier books, and doesn't put all the blame on one or two actors or factors. The thesis is that there were a LOT of villains and no heroes.

The Ghost of Cannae: Hannibal and the darkest hour of the Roman republic, by Robert O'Connell, about the Punic Wars. Very interesting, lots of insight about the Romans and the Carthaginians.
 
Just finished re-reading Shogun, by James Clavell.

Smooth Riding, Sport Riding Techniques (Nick Ienatsch), and Total Control (Lee Parks) are all great reading.
 
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