# Reading List



## Patrick06790 (Apr 10, 2005)

We had a "What are you reading" thread some time ago and I thought it would be fun to do it again.

I'll lead off.

_Heat_ by Bill Burford. New Yorker guy tries his hand at three-star cooking. I'm reading a review copy. Unlike the last book I read for the job, this one's interesting and funny, although Buford suffers from New Yorker disease (never using one paragraph when 17 will do).

_Gone With the Windsors _by Laurie Graham. A fictional account of the PoW/Simpson romance, as told in diary form by an uptight Baltimore socialite. So far it's vaguely amusing.

_A Dirty Job _by Christopher Moore. A bizarre comic novel about a hapless boob who discovers, to his evident chagrin, that he has become Death.

I spent the summer re-reading the Ed McBain 87th Precinct novels (noting once again how much the modern cop show owes to this series); the Rumpole books by John Mortimer; and a whole slew of crud I checked out from the library in lots of five.

Oh, and I just finished Swanson's _Manhunt _about the 12-day search for John Wilkes Booth. Read it in one sitting. Terrific.


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## Phinn (Apr 18, 2006)

_The Company of Strangers_, by Robert Wilson. A WWII spy thriller. I love the atmospheric realism.

_Kingdom of Shadows_, by Alan Furst. Another WWII era spy story. Extra heavy on the atmposphere.

_The Beautiful and the Damned_, by F. Scott Fitzgerald. The story of Adam Patch, aspiring aesthete.

_The Sportswriter_, by Richard Ford. Incredible. A man in his late 30s trying to find his way in life. The prequel to _Independence Day_, which he wrote 10 years later, and which was the first to win both the Pulitzer and the PEN/Faulkner award.


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## Relayer (Nov 9, 2005)

Currently reading:

Washington's Crossing, by David Hackett Fischer. Story of the War of Independence specifically the miltary campaigns of 1776-77 and the Delaware River Crossing.

Just finished:

Case Closed, by Gerald Posner. Story of Oswald and the years, days of his life preceeding the assassination, then his death at the hands of Ruby.

Angel in the Whirlwind, by Benson Bobrick. Story of the War of Independence.

All very much recommended.


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## jackmccullough (May 10, 2006)

Just finished:

Snow by Orhan Pamuk. Excellent novel about religion and secularism in Turkey.

Pattern Recognition by William Gibson. Contemporary novel by the father of cyberpunk. Recommended, but if you're only going to read one book by Gibson it should be Neuromancer, in which he invented cyberspace.

Zorro by Isabel Allende. Don't bother.

Rereading: Saturday by Ian McEwan. One of the new books dealing with the wake of the September 11 terrorist attacks. Strongly recommended.


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## eagle2250 (Mar 24, 2006)

My reading during the month of August included:

The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald, by Frederick Stonehouse. Examines the myths and realities of the loss of the Great Lakes freighter, Edmond Fitzgerald. Most comprehensive analysis that I have read.

Nickeled and Dimed, by Barbara Ehrenreich. The author takes an "on hands" look at the struggles of minimun wage workers to make it in America. Rather interesting insights on the management structure and policies at Walmart.

The Suit, by Nicholas Antongiavanni. Provides a very interesting and argueably unique approach to the examination and application of sartorial rules of engagement. A suprisingly entertaining read!

Above and Beyond: The Aviation Medals of Honor, byBarrett Tillman. Examines the award of this Nations highest award for valor, the Congressional Medal of Honor for feats of aerial achievement from WWI through the Vietnam war (I know it wasn't a declared war but, I call it one!). Heros...where do they all come from!

Lance Armstrongs War, by Daniel Goyle. Allows the reader to walk in Lance Armstrongs shoes for 345 pages, providing glimpses into his training regimen, his domestic struggles, the continued (and unproven) doping allegations, his rolling battle with a press corps looking for a story with a hook and of his successful 2004 Tour de France effort. A well written and balanced perspective on the Man!


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## LotharoftheHillPeople (Apr 30, 2006)

Currently:
Various High Court cases and their erudite effects on the US legal system. (this is tongue in cheek, sort of)

Recommended books I have read in a past life but no longer have time to re- read:
The Brothers Karamazov - Fyodor Dostoevsky.
The Razor's Edge - Somerset Maugham. 
Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole.
Don Quixote - Cervantes.


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## Kav (Jun 19, 2005)

The battle of Salamis: The naval encounter that saved Greece- and western civilization by Barry Strausse. I picked this up to escape today's issues. I found myself again appreciating how much history teaches us about current affairs. The greek asymetric victory should be read by our leaders to inspire such strategies against the same foes.


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## DocHolliday (Apr 11, 2005)

I'm reading "Against Nature" right now. I also like browsing "Johnson's Dictionary" before going to sleep.


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## AlanC (Oct 28, 2003)

_Hyderabad: A Biography_, by Narendra Luther, a history of the Indian city published by Oxford University Press.

_Waterloo: June 18, 1815: The Battle for Modern Europe_, by Andrew Roberts, a brief history and analysis of the battle. I saw it on the remainder table and said to myself, 'hmmm, I might pick that up if someone like John Lukacs had a blurb on the back.' I turned it over and sure enough, Lukacs endorsed it, so I figured it was meant to be.

Recently finished _The Suit_. On deck is _Shantaram: A Novel_, by Gregory David Roberts.


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## Earthmover (Jan 3, 2005)

Have started, and debating working through: 

Lolita - Nabokov
The Good Soldier - Ford Madox Ford
The Red and the Black - Stendhal
To the Lighthouse - Virginia Woolf

I think Lolita is a definite. Not quite sure yet about the other three.


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## crazyquik (Jun 8, 2005)

Last two books I've finished were The Suit and the Sloane Ranger Handbook ( each in a single day actually)...

The Elementary Particles by Houellebecq and The Prince by Machiavelli are being read, but unfinished. 

I hope to get started on War and Peace or Dumas' Three Musketeers sometime soon.


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## jklu (May 22, 2005)

Earthmover said:


> Have started, and debating working through:
> 
> Lolita - Nabokov
> The Good Soldier - Ford Madox Ford
> ...


To the Lighthouse is one of the greatest novels ever written (as is Lolita). It will be much more appreciated after you reach the end (and when you begin again).

After reading a recent obit on Naguib Mahfouz, I'm starting Children of Gebelawi.

In the past two weeks, I've also re-read Don DeLillo's Underworld and Phillip Roth's American Pastoral. Highly recommended. Worth the investment, intellectual and emotional.


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## DocHolliday (Apr 11, 2005)

Earthmover said:


> I think Lolita is a definite. Not quite sure yet about the other three.


"Lolita" is definitely worth the effort. Spectacular opening.


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## Lushington (Jul 12, 2006)

_Before European Hegemony: The World System 1250 - 1350_ by Janet L. Abu-Lughod. Brief, but superb, study of medieval globalization.

Two novels by Georges Perec: _Life, A User's Manual_ and _A Void_. The last famously avoids use of the letter "e" throughout the entire text, in both the French original and Gilbert Adair's English translation. Genius.

William Gaddis' _JR_. Over the past two decades I've tried, with the best will in the world, to read and enjoy this "modern masterpiece." At least I can now say I've read it.

_"Benevolent Assimilation": The American Conquest of the Philippines, 1899 - 1903_ The American Empire goes global. "Those who do not remember the past . . ." and so on.

_The Lost World of Classical Legal Thought: Law and Ideology in America, 1886 - 1937_ William Wiecek. It's gone, and it's never coming back


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## pt4u67 (Apr 27, 2006)

Kav said:


> The battle of Salamis: The naval encounter that saved Greece- and western civilization by Barry Strausse. I picked this up to escape today's issues. I found myself again appreciating how much history teaches us about current affairs. The greek asymetric victory should be read by our leaders to inspire such strategies against the same foes.


Excellent book. I read it last year. You should read Thucydides as well.


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## pt4u67 (Apr 27, 2006)

The End of the Old Order: Napoleon and Europe 1801-1805. Frederick Kagan.
Its the first of a four or five part series I believe covering the Napoleonic era from beginning to end. Kagan's take is that although Napoleon was a political and military genius a large part of his success had to do with the Allies' inability to coordinate their political and military goals and means in order to defeat him.


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## Garfield (Jan 29, 2006)

_Shattered Sword: The Untold Story of the Battle of Midway_

A New book about the true story of how what we thought was true about the battle isn't. Mainly, the general US opinion is based of a (now discredited in Japan) book written by a surviving office (Fuchida).


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## LotharoftheHillPeople (Apr 30, 2006)

crazyquik said:


> Last two books I've finished were The Suit and the Sloane Ranger Handbook ( each in a single day actually)...
> 
> The Elementary Particles by Houellebecq and The Prince by Machiavelli are being read, but unfinished.
> 
> I hope to get started on War and Peace or Dumas' Three Musketeers sometime soon.


War and Peace and Three Musketeers are both well worth reading. I know, the deserves a big Duh. But, if you are going to read something from Tolstoy, I would suggest Anna Karenina before War and Peace. It's a little shorter read, and Tolstoy is not for everyone. Plus, I personally enjoyed AK more. 
Damn, I really need to find time to again read for pleasure.


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## DocHolliday (Apr 11, 2005)

LotharoftheHillPeople said:


> But, if you are going to read something from Tolstoy, I would suggest Anna Karenina before War and Peace. It's a little shorter read, and Tolstoy is not for everyone. Plus, I personally enjoyed AK more.


And it contains what is possibly my favorite opening sentence!


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## LotharoftheHillPeople (Apr 30, 2006)

It is a good one:
"Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way."


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## DaveInPhilly (May 16, 2005)

I always have several going at once. 

Currently I am reading:

Confessions of an Economic Hitman, by John Perkins
Choke, by Chuck Palahniuk
and Starship Troopers, by Robert A. Heinlein

I notice a few before me have listed more than one, am I not the only one here with ADD?


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## Wayfarer (Mar 19, 2006)

I have to say I am very impressed with the list of books being read. One would think everyone was completing a Ph.D. in Eng. Lit.! While I have read several of the books listed above, there is nothing weighty for me this summer like War and Peace (excuse the pun), just some simple S&S fantasy. Currently reading Memory, Sorrow, Thorn series by Tad Williams. Prior to that I was reading through the Chaos books by Modesti.

I do plan for a re-read of Frederick Copleston's entire nine volume History of Philosophy this winter though.


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## DaveInPhilly (May 16, 2005)

Wayfarer said:


> I have to say I am very impressed with the list of books being read. One would think everyone was completing a Ph.D. in Eng. Lit.!


I finally got around to reading The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy not too long ago... ;-)


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## jamgood (Feb 8, 2006)

1............E
2...........F.P
3.........T.O.Z
4........L.P.E.D
5.......p.e.c.f.d
6......e.d.f.c.z.p
7.....f.e.l.o.p.z.d
8....d.e.f.p.o.t.e.c


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## Kav (Jun 19, 2005)

There are sub genres of writing that are aspirins for the' little grey cells.' Much as I love history and great literature,the best antidote for a loathed lit prof at U.C. Santa Cruz and her feminist-marxist final asking for a comparison of E.E. Cummings and Pablo Neruda was a paperback of Mickey Spillane read while waiting for the others to finish. She asked me why I was reading THAT. I replied, " because you can't seem to get published sweetheart." She got all internationale red in the face. I walked out sayng " the Bibles still the #1 read book, Marx's Das Kapital 2nd, Exupery's the Little Prince 3rd- and Marx lost a lost of readers these past few years." Ian Fleming can sit next to my Penquin Classics anytime ;o)


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## Patrick06790 (Apr 10, 2005)

Kav said:


> There are sub genres of writing that are aspirins for the' little grey cells.' Much as I love history and great literature,the best antidote for a loathed lit prof at U.C. Santa Cruz and her feminist-marxist final asking for a comparison of E.E. Cummings and Pablo Neruda was a paperback of Mickey Spillane read while waiting for the others to finish. She asked me why I was reading THAT. I replied, " because you can't seem to get published sweetheart." She got all internationale red in the face. I walked out sayng " the Bibles still the #1 read book, Marx's Das Kapital 2nd, Exupery's the Little Prince 3rd- and Marx lost a lost of readers these past few years." Ian Fleming can sit next to my Penquin Classics anytime ;o)


That's funny. I was in a fiction workshop at the University of New Mexico some years back. The class was run by John Nichols (_Milagro Beanfield_ _War_), a nice guy, helluva writer and fly-fisherman.

Everybody except me and a sci-fi guy wrote Raymond Carveresque stories that went a little like this:

_Fred looks out the window at East 34th Street. It is raining. The rain hits the blacktop. The blacktop is wet._

_Antigone, the cat, is getting sick behind a vintage Zenith color console Fred and Miranda bought at a garage sale in Dutchess County, back when things were still good._

_It continues to rain. Antigone coughs up a phlegmy hairball. Nothing matters. The end._

I was working on a comic novel involving politics, sex, water rights and fly-fishing; Sci-Fi Guy was writing some weird thing about shape-shifting sand creatures. We were both savaged by the Droopies and Weenies for "over-the-top Mickey Spillane" in my case and "re-hashed Stephen King" in his.

Sci-Fi Guy tried to defend his genre like the good noble lightsabreman he was, but I just showed up drunk and laughed a lot.


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## jcusey (Apr 19, 2003)

Relayer said:


> Washington's Crossing, by David Hackett Fischer. Story of the War of Independence specifically the miltary campaigns of 1776-77 and the Delaware River Crossing.


Really good book, as is most everything that Fischer writes.



> Case Closed, by Gerald Posner. Story of Oswald and the years, days of his life preceeding the assassination, then his death at the hands of Ruby.


Another good book.

I'm currently reading _The Peloponnesian War_ by Donald Kagan. Also in the queue are _The Fall of the Roman Empire_ by Peter Heather, _The Fall of Rome and the End of Civilization_ by Bryan Ward-Perkins, and _The Looming Tower_ by Lawrence Wright.


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## Martinis at 8 (Apr 14, 2006)

Currently reading _Secret Honor_ by W.E.B Griffin.


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