Have You Read Any Good Books Lately?

[bigfoot105]

I don't read novels very often, maybe 3-4 books a year but, every now and then one really stands out. This time it was a book named, "Saylor's Triangle"

It's about a family owned shipping/transporation business in Alaska, Seattle and Maui. It is an adult themed book and would probably be rated "R" or "PG-13 " at the movies. It's not on any best seller's list but, it is by an Alaskan author who worked in the business he writes about.

For more information about it go to: www.saylorstriangle.com

So, What have you read lately?

[PAULBACH]

The Legacy of Ashes. It presents the history of the CIA.

[Visian]

Arabic Thought in the Liberal Age - 1798 - 1939, by Albert Hourani.

It provides a perspective on the modernization of political and social thinking in the Arab Middle East. Originally published in 1962.

Ian

[GSJIHAD]

KING'S GAMBIT: A SON, A FATHER, AND THE WORLD'S MOST DANGEROUS GAME

Great book if you play chess.

[franze]

Lone Survivor by Marcus Luttrell. First hand account by a Navy Seal of the deadliest day in Special Forces history.

[blake]

black like me (http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&ct=res&cd=2&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%2FBlack-Like-John-Howard-Griffin%2Fdp%2F0451192036&ei=ER_DR9XCCKWuigGJldX3Cw&usg=AFQjCNGQ1-T8mRUQj-vyiizzOSFZ8on25A&sig2=P7xtZG6GsauuIaBfTUHUrg) by john howard griffin

it's a quick read but a pretty heavy subject. very enlightening for someone like myself that didn't grow up during segregation.

[Visian]

black like me (http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&ct=res&cd=2&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%2FBlack-Like-John-Howard-Griffin%2Fdp%2F0451192036&ei=ER_DR9XCCKWuigGJldX3Cw&usg=AFQjCNGQ1-T8mRUQj-vyiizzOSFZ8on25A&sig2=P7xtZG6GsauuIaBfTUHUrg) by john howard griffin

it's a quick read but a pretty heavy subject. very enlightening for someone like myself that didn't grow up during segregation.

this is an *excellent* book. (hate to say it, i read it as a kid)

hey blake... gonna be at GMR this year?

[blake]

it's lead to some good conversations with older ;) people that grew up during that time. i think it was required school reading in many parts of the country in the late 60's.

GMR is a good bet at this point. if i wear some knobbies you gonna show me around some?



this is an *excellent* book. (hate to say it, i read it as a kid)

hey blake... gonna be at GMR this year?

[SheRidesABeemer]

I'm working on Anthony Lewis's Make No Law. This is a 1991 publication about the evolution of the First Amendment revolving around The Sullivan case. LB Sullivan, a city commissioner in Montgomery, AL claimed he was libeled by the NY Times when the Times printed an advertisement in support of MLK's campaign to end racial segregation in the South.

If you like law fiction and/or have some interest in expanding your knowledge of the First Amendment, you'll really appreciate this work of non-fiction.

[DougGrosjean]

"Home Country" by Ernie Pyle.

Pyle, known for his Pulitzer-prize winning coverage of WW2 combat, was a roving reporter in the 1930s, traveling the US and interviewing interesting people, and visiting interesting places.

For instance, he interviews Casey Jones' widow. George Washington Carver. A police diver in Detroit. Rides a whitewater boat with whitewater tourism / river runner Norm Nevills in the 4-Corners area down the San Juan River. In Alaska, he travels to the interior with a guide in a fabric floatplane, which ends up being knocked around by a ship while docked, and they're stuck in the Eskimo village a few days.

It's his best works, from the 5-10 years that he was doing a 6x / week daily syndicated column. A series of stand-alone short stories, all good reads.

Travel, the American Southwest, Alaska, and the big American cities were a bit different back then. Fantastic read if you like to travel.

[The_Veg]

Currently I'm reading It Was On Fire When I Lay Down On It by Robert Fulghum. Good lighthearted but very meaningful ramblings from the author of All I Really Needed To Know I Learned In Kindergarten.

Recently I read The Kite Runner, which was better than I was expecting. Still haven't seen the movie.

I've also read a big stack of books by John Lecroart, who writes about the adventures of two best friends- one is a San Francisco homicide cop and the other is a lawyer. I *REALLY* like Lescroart's writing!

I also recently read A Year In Provence. A modern classic sure to put a smile on your face.

Another one I really enjoyed not long ago was by Brad Meltzer, but sadly I cannot remember the title. It was about a guy who has spent his entire professional life as a personal-aide to a former president and gets caught up in some clandestine affairs related to an old attempt to assassinate his boss back when his boss was president. Meltzer is another author I really like.

[r11rs94]

Just finished reading " HOUSE to HOUSE" About an Infantry Squad in the city of Fallujah, November 2004 and the battle that followed. Told from the enlisted man's prospective. :usa

[Visian]

GMR is a good bet at this point. if i wear some knobbies you gonna show me around some?

i got a special ride planned... :evil

[kreinke]

I just finished "Look Me In The Eye-My life with Asperger's Syndroms". It gave me lots of insight into the autistic spectrum and my son's challenges. I'm also beginning to realize how I may be an undiagnosed sufferer because I went through many of the challenges the author and my sone had gone through when I was a child.


I have also read "I am a soldier too- The Jessica Lynch Story"

[tessler]

Just finished Me Talk Pretty One Day (http://www.amazon.com/Me-Talk-Pretty-One-Day/dp/B000EGF0QY) by David Sedaris, a hilarious collection of essays by a very talented writer (that I finally read... 7 years after it came out).

Currently working on W. C. Fields by Himself: His Intended Autobiography (http://www.amazon.com/W-C-Fields-Himself-Autobiography/dp/0139444629/ref=pd_bbs_3?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1203975663&sr=1-3) a compendium of letters and articles presented by his grandson Ronald and published in the early 70s. Not a very organized presentation, but contains some great photographs and personally drawn cartoons from Fields's early career as a "Unique and Eccentric Juggler".

And my weekly issue of...

http://vivirlatino.com/i/dec05/newyorker%20logo.jpg

[EXR911]

You lot read some pretty heavy stuff!

My last read - and a really enjoyable one for motorcyclists, is "Flat Out, the Rollie Free Story" by Jerry Hatfield. Available from the author. You might not know who Rollie Free was but you have probably seen his picture - wearing bathing suit and running shoes, lying prone on a Vincent "Black Lightning" crossing the Bonneville salt flats at over 150 mph. But there was a lot more to Rollie than just that one run and Hatfield, better known for his various published books on American motorcycles, particularly Indians, interviewed just about everybody, including Free, to throw a very interesting amount of light on American motorcycling and speed record setting in the 1920-1980 period.

If you have to read a serious book about social history, then try "I've Got a Home in Glory Land; a Lost Tale of the Underground Railroad" by Karolyn Smardz Frost. See www.homeingloryland.com for details.

PT9766

[hlothery]

Just finished "The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid" by Bill Bryson. It's a memoir of growing up in the 50s/early 60s. Everyone over 50 will LYAO! Had forgotten many of the things I experienced growing up.....those were interesting times.

[Stuff2C]

Quiet Strenght by Tony Dungy
An Amazing Man!

[nytrashman]

anything by Clive Cussler is a good read

[Seeker]

Just finished Beowulf and Still trying to get through Anna Karenina.

[BradfordBenn]

Two books at the moment
for work: GUI Bloopers 2
for me: The China Study

[180keel]

LONE SURVIVOR - Marcus Luttrell
THE BOOK OF HONOR - Ted Gup
SALVAGE MAN - Edward Elksburg
SHADOW DIVERS - Robert Kurson

Steve

[lamble]

The Art of Travel, Allain du Button.
Buy it, read it, change the way you think about every journey and the value you get from travelling, or not.

[corbtown]

The Devil's Highway by Luis Urrea. Discusses the real human tragedy of border crossings into the Sonoran Desert of Arizona. The book actually humanizes the Border Patrol. This book will open your eyes. I'm no bleeding liberal but this book really moved me. My son volunteers for an organization called No More Death--they counter the vigilantes, and help provide water to the many who would otherwise die. Don't forget, the border is a political boundary. There is a political and economic problem and no one is solving the problem. Too much stale rhetoric. But I am fearful for my son's safety--there are many drug dealing criminals in the region.

[lamble]

Anything in Spanish or about South America ?

I have a calendar with a phrase of the day...today's was totally useless:

Hay cafe fresco

I mean coffee, fresh and there's, what possible use could that be on a tea trip.

But yes reference books for S.America, and teas of the world and the three cups book and What If? They are all on the go, along with Final Cut Pro 6 instruction manual and other such slumber inducing titles.

Still it's work now, pleasure later.

[bmwnewviews]

Just finished: The Man Who Listens To Horses by Monty Roberts. While I am not a horse person the tale he tells of his life and how he works horses is superb!! Well worth the read and the insights can be applied to all animals. Also reread Illusions, adventures of a reluctant Messiah by Richard Bach. This is an oldie but goodie from the '70's that will either work or not for you, its one of those.

[ROADSTER PILOT]

Dreaming of Jupiter by Ted Simon. Those of you who read Jupiter's Travels many, many years ago might want to check this one out.:thumb

[KGT1200]

Ken Follett

Pillars Of The Earth

Nothing like I thought it would be..It's sort of a cross between a romance novel and a long historical fiction novel by James Michner. Not a bad novel, if you like that sort of thing..

I thought I was getting a Novel about building cathedrals in the early days.

[flymymbz]

The White Cascade: The Great Northern Railway disaster and Americas deadliest avalanche. by Gary Krist.

The title pretty much sums up what the book is about. Fascinating read.

I'm just about to start "See No Evil" by Robert Baer. The movie "Syriana" was kinda/sorta but not quite based on this book.

And I picked up "John Adams" by David McCullough at Costco this weekend. Apparently, HBO is doing a series on this one.


One book that I read about 6 months ago that I really enjoyed was "Dogs of God; Columbus, the Inquisition and the Defeat of the Moors", by James Reston, Jr.

[screwtop]

I'm still on my military history reading kick. I'm currently reading "Ghost Sailors" by James D. Hornfisher which is about the sinking of the USS Houston off the coast of Java. I really like the Naval battles and the stories about the survivors. But I like to bounce back and forth from ETO to the Pacific. Also in the last six months have read:

"Last stand of the Tin Can sailors" - Hornfisher

"The Fall of Berlin" - Antony Beevor

"Stalingrad" - Antony Beevor

"One square mile of Hell" (battle for Tarawa Island) - Wakoutis

"Flags of our Fathers" is next on the list.

[RICHO2006]

Although I read mostly fiction, one book that really moved me is The Innocent Man. It is written by John Grisham, his first work of nonfiction.

It's a true story of the wrongful conviction, near-execution, exoneration and tragic death of Ron Williamson -- a small-town sports hero from Oklahoma whose life didn't turn out the way he expected.

Listen to the Grisham interview about the book on NPR.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6248147

Richo

[Sue]

A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini
Puts a whole new perspective on the culture of the Middle East, from a woman's view point.

Sue

By the way ... nice thread.
I am so tired of the angst over the DGT situation that I find myself just avoiding the forum these days.

COME ON, SPRING!

[AZ Greg]

By the way ... nice thread.
I am so tired of the angst over the DGT situation that I find myself just avoiding the forum these days.

You obviously haven't kept up. All but one of the angst threads have been either closed or totally eliminated with the lone exception of the "Politics" thread in Clubhouse. Besides, no one forced you to read the angst threads anyway. . . so your unsolicited snipe at those who are upset about its demise was unnecessary and not in keeping with your role as an ambassador of this organization.

BTW Grisham's "Innocent Man" was a gem . . . just started "The Appeal."

[jimfastcar]

Bill Clinton on Giving and Jupiter's Travels

[Bob_M]

Any of the Flashman books by George MacDonald Fraiser are fun reads if you like historical fiction. They chronicle the (mis)adventures of a womanizing coward with profoundly good luck who finds himself in the middle of historic conflicts during the period of English imperialism in India and the Mid-East in the early 1800s. The English were in that part of the world where we currently are at war and these stories tell a great deal about the people of that region. The history parts are true, but Flashman is fiction.

Grendel by John Gardener is the other side of the Beowulf coin. This story is intelligent nihilism from the monster Grendel's perspective.

[hlothery]

By the way ... nice thread.
I am so tired of the angst over the DGT situation that I find myself just avoiding the forum these days.



I resemble that remark!

[Kbrick]

From Sherman Alexie,

"The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian "

http://www.powells.com/biblio?show=HARDCOVER:NEW:9780316013680:16.99#syno pses_and_reviews

[DougGrosjean]

"Hell or High Water" by Eilean Adams.

Story of James White's disputed first descent through the Grand Canyon in 1867 on a makeshift log raft, two years before Major John Wesley Powell's US Government sponsored expedition.

IMO, t's a good read.

Could he have done it? Given that a couple college kids swam the entire Grand Canyon in the 1950s or so, why not? Gosh knows I've seen folks screw up and swim big rapids before...

It may or may not be true, and therein lies at least half the attraction and mystery. In any case, it's an interesting and intriguing story.


Here's a less-than-favorable review of it:
http://www.coloradohistory.org/publications/Wetzel-Adams%20Review.pdf

From Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/Hell-High-Water-Disputed-Passage/dp/0874214262/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1204070327&sr=8-1

[kbasa]

Just finished Me Talk Pretty One Day (http://www.amazon.com/Me-Talk-Pretty-One-Day/dp/B000EGF0QY) by David Sedaris, a hilarious collection of essays by a very talented writer (that I finally read... 7 years after it came out).

Currently working on W. C. Fields by Himself: His Intended Autobiography (http://www.amazon.com/W-C-Fields-Himself-Autobiography/dp/0139444629/ref=pd_bbs_3?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1203975663&sr=1-3) a compendium of letters and articles presented by his grandson Ronald and published in the early 70s. Not a very organized presentation, but contains some great photographs and personally drawn cartoons from Fields's early career as a "Unique and Eccentric Juggler".

And my weekly issue of...

http://vivirlatino.com/i/dec05/newyorker%20logo.jpg

Big props for Sedaris. :thumb :thumb

[KGT1200]

Is anyone else a Tony Hillerman fan?

Jus Askin! I've read everything he has penned, sort of an addiction..When Tom Robbins went into hiatus, for some reason I took up Hillerman; I think his descriptive of the west is what sucked me in, cause the plots are all the same theme..

[ironMan]

I got hooked on the Patrick O'brian series after watching the movie Master and Commander. This is a Capitol series of books for a history buff.

[Paul_F]

I just finished "The Long Way Down" I enjoyed it more than their first book.

[26667]

"The Road" by Cormack McCarthy (Same guy who wrote "No Country for Old Men") If that's Armageddon, count me out. A short fast can't-put-it-down read

"A Team of Rivals" Doris Kearns Goodwin A different and fascinating point of view on Lincoln's genius. Heartbreaking

"Kavalier and Clay" Michael Chabon A terrific, entertaining novel about two young men, one from Europe, the other America, and their friendship and the early days of comic books during WWII.

And if you've nothing but time on your hands,
Shelby Foote's "The Civil War" Three big volumes, but flat-out wow. Mr. Foote was the Southern gentleman in a blue shirt often interviewed in the Ken Burns docu'

[Bob_M]

One can tell someone to read a book, one can gush about the development of characters, the breadth of knowledge or the insight into the human condition, but if you give someone a book there is a pretty good chance they will read it. Last year at a I took a favorite paperback to a rally to give away. I will do it again this year. It makes me feel good to share stuff that makes me happy.

Try it, you will feel good also.

[Sue]

Great Idea. I always share mine with my friends and co-workers, but I have never shared one at a rally.

:thumb

[DADODIRT]

Just finished "Cosmic Banditos" by AC Weisberger.

Imagine Tom Robbins meets Hunter S. Thompson with some quantum physics thrown in for fun.

Definite must read......

[r11rs94]

anything by Clive Cussler is a good read

++1 :thumb

[From MARS]

++1 :thumb

I have read everyone of Clive Cussler's books; some twice. They are fun and thought provoking.

[DougGrosjean]

Have started "Charlie Wilson's War" by George Crille (I *think* that's the author), after being so impressed with the movie.

The writing is a bit raw and rough, but the story is fantastic. IMO the book is better than the movie, because there's a lot more detail in the book.