# What are you reading now and what did you read then



## guitone (Mar 20, 2005)

I am finishing up the original version of "Stranger in a Strange Land" by Robert Heinlein. This new edition, the one that publishers insisted on having Heinlein cut due to length and content is not much different than the original, although it has been so long since I read the original. I am still waiting to find what it was that the editors found provocative for the times (1961). In any case a great book.

I read a lot of history of rock and roll, much on the Beatles and others, also science fiction. I am also a big fan of Carl Hiaasen.


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## JRR (Feb 11, 2006)

"The Rise and Fall of the British Empire" by Lawrence James.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0...104-0307322-0605518?s=books&v=glance&n=283155

Read lots of history, subject changes, but have been on British/American kick for awhile.


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## Badrabbit (Nov 18, 2004)

"Prometheus Rising" by Robert Anton Wilson. I've been on a RAW kick lately having recently read his Schrodinger's Cat Trilogy. 

I am also looking forward to Manton's book which is en route.


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## Wayfarer (Mar 19, 2006)

*Good thread....*

Just finished Russell's _Why I am Not a Christian_, not one of his hard works, just a gathering of lectures. I also just finished Arthur Herman's book making the case the Scots invented the modern world and everything in it. A fun read with a basic but fairly accurate picture of the '45 when the Clan system self-destructed as it smacked up against the Scottish Enlightenment. I also just finished Ted Koff's book on "bonding the generations" which deals with how society gets younger people to care about the elderly and pay for their institutional needs.

I still read "swords and socery" and sci-fi for light reading, Modesti's Recluse series just got finished.

Warmest regards


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## guitone (Mar 20, 2005)

Well Bad, I just ordered the Cat Trilogy and the Illuminator books...Hope I like them, they look different.


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## Martinis at 8 (Apr 14, 2006)

I've recently finished a series of Graham Greene novels that I had not read earlier. I have also recently finished reading the two latest W.E.B Griffin novels of the _Presidential Agent_ series.

Currently I am reading _Captain Alatriste_ by Arturo Perez Reverte. He is a Spanish author. Probably his most famous translation was _The Club Dumas_, which was made into a movie starring Johnny Depp, titled _The Ninth Gate_. I have read several of APR's novels, which I really enjoy.

M8


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## pendennis (Oct 6, 2005)

Crucible of War : The Seven Years' War and the Fate of the Empire in British North America, 1754 - 1766 - by Fred Anderson

Montcalm and Wolfe: The French and Indian War - by Francis Parkman

Two excellent works.


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## JRR (Feb 11, 2006)

pendennis said:


> Crucible of War : The Seven Years' War and the Fate of the Empire in British North America, 1754 - 1766 - by Fred Anderson
> 
> Montcalm and Wolfe: The French and Indian War - by Francis Parkman
> 
> Two excellent works.


Dennis,

Have you read "The Cousins Wars"?
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0...f=pd_bbs_1/104-0307322-0605518?_encoding=UTF8


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## ChubbyTiger (Mar 10, 2005)

guitone - I never figured out the differences, either. Good book, though.

I just finished up 1984, 'cause I'm finding it increasingly relevant. Now I'm reading 'The Last Continent' by Terry Pratchett for the approximately 731st time. Funnier then heck.

CT


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## pt4u67 (Apr 27, 2006)

Just started "Diplomacy" by Henry Kissinger. Recently finished "Machiavelli's Virtue" by Harvey Mansfield.


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## pendennis (Oct 6, 2005)

JRR said:


> Dennis,
> 
> Have you read "The Cousins Wars"?
> https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0...f=pd_bbs_1/104-0307322-0605518?_encoding=UTF8


JRR. it looks like an interesting read. I'll get a copy for reading when I've finished Anderson's book.

If you haven't read Parkman's book, he spent a good deal of time detailing the corruption of the French, and how their power rotted from within.

Most folks don't realize what a global conflict the Seven Years' War really was. It was really the "First World War".


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## tew (Oct 30, 2005)

In my bag right now (my everyday bag is a whole 'nother can of worms, it's a -- tough as nails, and suitable for my summer city-campus commute):

, by Cass Sunstein.
, by Jason Wilson.

also, the latest New York Review of Books.


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## Badrabbit (Nov 18, 2004)

guitone said:


> Well Bad, I just ordered the Cat Trilogy and the Illuminator books...Hope I like them, they look different.


Read the Illuminatus trilogy before reading the Cat Trilogy. The former is a bit easier to read and will give you a feel for RAW's style and use of the fantastic. The cat trilogy has a (necessarily) broken plot line and is therefore a bit more difficult to get into.


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## JRR (Feb 11, 2006)

pendennis said:


> JRR. it looks like an interesting read. I'll get a copy for reading when I've finished Anderson's book.
> 
> If you haven't read Parkman's book, he spent a good deal of time detailing the corruption of the French, and how their power rotted from within.
> 
> Most folks don't realize what a global conflict the Seven Years' War really was. It was really the "First World War".


I've been tempted to buy both of those books, will check them out again at the bookstore.

Cheers


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## Patrick06790 (Apr 10, 2005)

guitone said:


> Well Bad, I just ordered the Cat Trilogy and the Illuminator books...Hope I like them, they look different.


Watch out, guit - Badrabbit turned me on to the _Illuminatus Trilogy_ and my casual interest in the "Lizard People" conspiracy theory blossomed into a full-fledged galloping paranoia.

On the plus side, I find it really helps break the ice at parties.


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## guitone (Mar 20, 2005)

Patrick06790 said:


> Watch out, guit - Badrabbit turned me on to the _Illuminatus Trilogy_ and my casual interest in the "Lizard People" conspiracy theory blossomed into a full-fledged galloping paranoia.
> 
> On the plus side, I find it really helps break the ice at parties.


 Well it will be fun then...I had intended to read the Illuminatus first, a bit anal and like to see how an author develops when I can.

If you have never read Phillip Jose Farmer, one of my favorites. I am in the middle of re-reading the Riverworld series, I think about his best work, but there are so many that he did great.


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## Garfield (Jan 29, 2006)

Currently re-reading "Castles of Steel", by Robert Massey, about the Naval war in WWI....Great book!


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## DocHolliday (Apr 11, 2005)

Martinis at 8 said:


> I've recently finished a series of Graham Greene novels that I had not read earlier.


Have you read "Dr. Fischer of Geneva, or, The Bomb Party"? It's a little gem of black humor.

Right now I'm finishing up "Boswell's Presumptuous Task: The Making of the Life of Dr. Johnson." Good stuff.


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## crazyquik (Jun 8, 2005)

Recently I read Platform by Michel Houellebecq and then Brideshead Revisited by Waugh.

Last weekend I bought and read Manton's book. Since I try and read The Prince every year or so, I think I'll read the Prince next, and then the Suit again. 

Not sure after that. I had thought about reading that How The Scots Invented The Modern World book...


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## The Gabba Goul (Feb 11, 2005)

Currently in the middle of _The Agony and the Ecstacy_ by Irving Stone. I'll probably read something light next, I've had my eye on _ Mob Star _ (The John Gotti biography) for a while now, then for my next "big book" I'm either going to read _Lust for Life_ another work by Stone considered to be a masterpiece, or _Vanity Fair_...


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## AlanC (Oct 28, 2003)

Just finished Bernard Cornwell's Grail trilogy set during the Hundred Years War. About to finish Lewis's _The Magician's Nephew_.

Read recently, and recommended, are _The Blue Nile_ and _The White Nile_ by Alan Moorehead.

Also reading _The Suit_.


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## jpeirpont (Mar 16, 2004)

Reading "The Invisible Man" currently. I've purchased over 80 books in the last month in a half, I'm just starting to catch up on my reading.


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## KenR (Jun 22, 2005)

pendennis said:


> JRR. it looks like an interesting read. I'll get a copy for reading when I've finished Anderson's book.
> 
> If you haven't read Parkman's book, he spent a good deal of time detailing the corruption of the French, and how their power rotted from within.
> 
> Most folks don't realize what a global conflict the Seven Years' War really was. It was really the "First World War".


Ah, another with an interest in the European "lace wars" of the early to mid 18th century. Fascinating stuff.


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## JRR (Feb 11, 2006)

The Gabba Goul said:


> Currently in the middle of _The Agony and the Ecstacy_ by Irving Stone. I'll probably read something light next, I've had my eye on _ Mob Star _ (The John Gotti biography) for a while now, then for my next "big book" I'm either going to read _Lust for Life_ another work by Stone considered to be a masterpiece, or _Vanity Fair_...


Mob books are a lot of fun. Have you read any of Roemer's stuff on the Chicago Outfit?


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## jasonpraxis (Mar 29, 2005)

Now? _The American Revolution_ collection of primary documents published by the Library of America. Research for a class I'm taking next year.

Then? The _His Dark Materials_ trilogy by Philip Pullman. My reward for making it through another quarter of lit crit. An excellent fantasy series, appropriate for younger readers but smart and deep enough for adults. Highly recommended.


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## BertieW (Jan 17, 2006)

In the beginning: Dostoevsky and Dickens.

Some time later: Heller and Pynchon.

Interlude: Foucault and Merleau-Ponty.

In the check-out line: Carver and Capote

Now: Wodehouse and Emerson


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## odoreater (Feb 27, 2005)

Right now I'm reading "The Constitution in Exile" by Judge Andrew Napolitano and "The Suit" by Manton.


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