# What are you reading these days?



## Karl89 (Feb 20, 2005)

Gents,

From time to time I think its useful to find out what others are reading, so let me know whats on your bookshelf these days.

Currently I am reading:

The White War: Life and Death on the Italian Front 1915-1919 by Mark Thompson

So far so good but doubt it will rival John Schindler's Isonzo: The Forgotten Sacrifice of the Great War 

Baader-Meinhof: The Inside Story of the R.A.F. by Stefan Aust

Anyone have any suggestions about a good history of the Red Brigades in Italy?


And on order is To the Gates of Stalingrad: Soviet-German Combat Operations, April-August 1942 by David Glantz.

I probably should have taught history - perhaps in the next life.

Any current light fiction out there worth reading?

Karl


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## QuestForReason (Jan 9, 2009)

Ayn Rand's "Atlas Shrugged", before this it was Eric Fromm's "Beyond the Chains of Illusion"


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## bigchris1313 (Apr 16, 2009)

At present, I'm slowly moving through the second half of _Watchmen_ after blitzing through the first half. This is my 3rd time reading it.

I finished _Diplomacy_ by Kissinger about two months ago. Before that, I finally got around to reading _Dune_ by Frank Herbert.

Kissinger is an absolute beast. The book is a grind to read, but it delivers.


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## RobertAllen (Nov 11, 2008)

Just finished "When March When Mad" by Seth Davis about the Magic/Bird 1979 NCAA championship game/season. Pretty good light read.

Trying to finish "House of Cards" by William Cohan about the demise of Bear Stearns. I enjoyed Mr. Cohan's book on Lazard, but this latest effort is badly in need of an editor. Pretty clear to me that there was a rush to get this book out to be one of the first to cover the demise of one of the big banks, and editing was not a priority.


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## JosephM (Dec 17, 2008)

https://askandyaboutclothes.com/community/showthread.php?t=88221

JM


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## TMMKC (Aug 2, 2007)

_The Fountainhead_


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## spudnik99 (Apr 27, 2007)

True Believer (re-read #3)


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## rlp271 (Feb 12, 2009)

Under the Loving Care of the Fatherly Leader: North Korea and the Kim Dynasty by Bradley K. Martin. Trying to get some reading in over the next year or two, before I apply to graduate school for East Asian Studies.


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## ajo (Oct 22, 2007)

At night to wind down with Pharmakon by Dirk Wittenborn.

The Lords of Finance;The Bankers Who Broke The World by Liaquat Ahamed


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## coynedj (Jun 1, 2008)

Why Evolution is True, by Jerry Coyne (no relation). Not that I needed convincing.

And Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day, because I like good bread and don't like paying so much for it at the store.


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## Relayer (Nov 9, 2005)

_The Stranger Beside Me (Ted Bundy, The Shocking Inside Story)_
by Ann Rule


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## pt4u67 (Apr 27, 2006)

+1 for Kissinger. What a wealth of historical insight he has.

Right now I'm reading _History of Military Thought: The Enlightenment to the Cold War_ by Azar Gat. Next in line is Aquinas.


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## Dhaller (Jan 20, 2008)

I'll weigh in with the "Kissinger is amazing" crowd - "Diplomacy" is fantastic... it's due a rereading actually. I cancelled my subscription to "Atlantic Monthly" when they decided to attack Kissinger a few years ago, publishing that three-issue argument that he was guilty of war crimes; haven't read it since. Kissinger is the man!

That said, I'm reading:

"Noncommutative Geometry" by Alain Connes

"No Dominion" by Charlie Huston

"Anathem" by Neal Stephenson (quite a chore thus far, might abandon this one)

Also on my desk, waiting their turn:

"The Enchantress of Florence" by Salman Rushdie

"Collapse" by Jared Diamond

and

"Sometimes a Great Notion" by Ken Kesey (I've wanted to read this for years!)

DH


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## Karl89 (Feb 20, 2005)

Dhaller,

Really disagree with you on Henry Kissenger - there is a reason he hasn't served in any Republican administration since Ford. He was a mediocre Sect, of State at best and his record on human rights was not much better than the Eastern Bloc at the time.

You want to read about a great Sect. of State, the best since Marshall, then read George Shultz's biography.

And cancelling the Atlantic was silly. After the Economist its the best magazine in the English speaking world, and it might be better.


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## jackmccullough (May 10, 2006)

_Man Gone Down_ by Michael Thomas.

Just finished _Gang Leader for a Day_ by Sudhir Venkatesh. Very interesting book, and definitely worth it. Especially for fans of _The Wire_.
https://rationalresistance.blogspot.com/2009/04/real-life-in-projects.html


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## Karl89 (Feb 20, 2005)

Jack,

That looks pretty good. Does it confirm or dispel much of the conventional wisdom on urban poverty?

Karl


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## jackmccullough (May 10, 2006)

Karl89 said:


> Gents,
> 
> Any current light fiction out there worth reading?
> 
> Karl


Good topic suggestion.

I generally would say that if it's light fiction it's not worth reading, and I particularly apply that to mysteries. Still, when I really want to read something that is pure entertainment I'll pick up one of Carl Hiaasen's novels. They are mysteries, but there's more to them than that, and they're definitely light and entertaining.


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## Dhaller (Jan 20, 2008)

Karl89 said:


> Any current light fiction out there worth reading?
> 
> Karl


I've recently discovered Charlie Huston - my current go-to for light fiction. He's noir-esque but in a class by himself... contemporary noir with a kind of comedic touch. He writes about - for want of a better word - losers who just won't give up. Most of his stuff is set in Lower East Manhattan, Alphabet City, that kind of thing. If you have a problem with rough language, though, give him a pass 



Karl89 said:


> Dhaller,
> 
> Really disagree with you on Henry Kissenger - there is a reason he hasn't served in any Republican administration since Ford. He was a mediocre Sect, of State at best and his record on human rights was not much better than the Eastern Bloc at the time.
> 
> ...


I'm not really speaking of Kissinger in the sense of "Secretary of State" but as a very insightful commentator on some aspect of history and current affairs, albeit from a very Realpolitik standpoint. I will certainly try to have a look at the Shultz book, though.

DH


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## Dhaller (Jan 20, 2008)

jackmccullough said:


> Good topic suggestion.
> 
> I generally would say that if it's light fiction it's not worth reading, and I particularly apply that to mysteries. Still, when I really want to read something that is pure entertainment I'll pick up one of Carl Hiaasen's novels. They are mysteries, but there's more to them than that, and they're definitely light and entertaining.


I use light fiction as a kind of sorbet between technically difficult books, and just for those times when you have a half hour or so and want to read... not enough time to get into the mental zone with, say, a difficult mathematics text or something, but enough to knock out a couple of chapters of a page turner.

Of course, there is "good" light fiction, and then there's the other 95%... I do try to find the 5% 

DH


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## TMMKC (Aug 2, 2007)

jackmccullough said:


> Good topic suggestion.
> 
> I generally would say that if it's light fiction it's not worth reading, and I particularly apply that to mysteries. Still, when I really want to read something that is pure entertainment I'll pick up one of Carl Hiaasen's novels. They are mysteries, but there's more to them than that, and they're definitely light and entertaining.


Agree...I love to read. However, considering all the trade journals and magazines I get, it seems to take me forever to get through a book these days. When you have a subscription to _The Economist_, you better be prepared to invest some time!

Jack, I have to disagree with you about light fiction. I think it's worthwhile to read some on a semi-regular basis (like on the beach in the summer); it gives the brain a rest and (IMO) can increase creativity. Too much and your mind resembles oatmeal.


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## Mannix (Nov 24, 2008)

GQ and Details...don't really have time to read anything besides those and textbooks for college.


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## jackmccullough (May 10, 2006)

Karl89 said:


> Jack,
> 
> That looks pretty good. Does it confirm or dispel much of the conventional wisdom on urban poverty?
> 
> Karl


I would say it does. For instance, it makes clear that, even though the accepted view is that the Robert Taylor Homes was about the worst place in the United States, the people who lived there considered it their community, and not simply a living hell. There was a lot of information about the organization of the gang operations, which, as I say, is pretty familiar to viewers of The Wire.

There is also a chapter based on this research in Freakonomics.

I would compare it with Praying for Sheetrock for a look at the real lives of poor people.


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## ksinc (May 30, 2005)

TMMKC said:


> Agree...I love to read. However, considering all the trade journals and magazines I get, it seems to take me forever to get through a book these days. When you have a subscription to _The Economist_, you better be prepared to invest some time!


Yes; and they just keep showing up! Interesting articles lately too. I enjoyed their perspective on Sec. of Defense Gates. Best subscription by far IMHO. I usually read stuff like CFO Mag, Strategic Finance, it's all the same ...


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## rlp271 (Feb 12, 2009)

Mannix said:


> GQ and Details...don't really have time to read anything besides those and textbooks for college.


I've been out of university nearly a year, and I'm still reading university texts. The curse of obsession with a topic I suppose.


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## Quay (Mar 29, 2008)

Good topic!

I decided I need a complete, random break from my work and while at my local library decided to pick the 7th book on the 7th shelf of the 7th isle from the information desk.

I ended up with: _Jim Morrison's Adventures in the Afterlife: A Novel _by Mick Farren. :crazy:

It looks to be a very entertaining read. :icon_study:


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## iclypso (Jan 10, 2009)

I have two going right now: The Machine that Changed the World by Womack, Jones and Roos; Islands in the Stream, Hemingway


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## ajo (Oct 22, 2007)

Will add a couple of titles to the fiction list, i usually leave them beside the bed to wind down with.

The Lazarus Project by Aleksandar Hemon combines history with the present and he pulls it off well.

Pave & I by Dan Vyleta good spy story set in post war Berlin

Liver by Will Self, the trials tales and tribulations of life as seen by the decline of the liver in a series of characters lives.

As for obsessions I have a couple of intellectual pursuits WW1 history and philosophy. Tried cross words they just don't give met that mental exercise that I need. 

Problem with current affairs is that by time the book comes out its past history, thought the cyber frontier is producing some timely and stimulating works at present. 

One last item its a bit out of date but Deer Hunting with Jesus by Joe Bageant.


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## eagle2250 (Mar 24, 2006)

Presently I am rereading my copies of Reagan: A Life in Letters and The Reagan Diaries. In these troubling and uber-confusing political times, I find Ronald Reagan's thoughts and words to be surprisingly calming and comforting. One man can make a difference...I guess we just have to be patient and wait for them to come along!


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## bigchris1313 (Apr 16, 2009)

Karl89 said:


> And cancelling the Atlantic was silly. After the Economist its the best magazine in the English speaking world, and it might be better.


_The Economist_ is a *newspaper*, sir. :icon_smile_big:

As far as Kissinger's Sovietesque record on human rights, you're probably right. But at the risk of sounding like a complete bastard, I can live with that.

Regarding his absence from Republican administrations post-Ford, I would wager that it's a combination of Nixonian guilt by association--though he might deserve it--and a Republican move to a less realpolitick-centered Foreign Policy. Reagan's record was mixed but relatively realist, Bush I ran a hardcore realist (if a touch dovish) shop, and Bush II... well, there was no hope for realists save Colin Powell, who was promptly excommunicated after he finally said that enough was enough.


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## Karl89 (Feb 20, 2005)

BC,

You are correct. Technically it is a newspaper but the rube I am (I am from the outer boroughs) will always consider it a magazine.

As to Kissenger, supposedly he tried to broker a deal at the 1980 RNC in Detroit to have Reagan chose Ford as VP in what would essentially been a Co-Presidency, with Henry running Foggy Bottom, of course!

Thankfully Casey and company put the kabosh and that disaster in the making.

Karl


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## KenR (Jun 22, 2005)

_John Adams_ by David McCullough. Slow reading but a good book nonetheless.


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## jackmccullough (May 10, 2006)

Dhaller said:


> I'll weigh in with the "Kissinger is amazing" crowd - "Diplomacy" is fantastic... it's due a rereading actually. I cancelled my subscription to "Atlantic Monthly" when they decided to attack Kissinger a few years ago, publishing that three-issue argument that he was guilty of war crimes; haven't read it since. Kissinger is the man!
> 
> That said, I'm reading:
> 
> ...


Kissinger? Are you also reading any nonfiction?

I think Neal Stephenson is great. I have had _Cryptonomicon_ on my list for several years and I've never had the time to read it. (Actually, for most of that time one or the other of my sons has had it with him.)

I really liked _Sometimes a Great Notion_.


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## jackmccullough (May 10, 2006)

Karl89 said:


> Dhaller,
> 
> Really disagree with you on Henry Kissenger - there is a reason he hasn't served in any Republican administration since Ford. He was a mediocre Sect, of State at best and his record on human rights was not much better than the Eastern Bloc at the time.
> 
> ...


Wow, Karl, we agree about Kissinger? You might not go so far as to consider him a war criminal, as I do, but still.

It's been a while since I've read The Atlantic regularly. I've had periods when I've read either the Atlantic or Harper's, and I've liked both of them, but apparently not enough to keep subscribing. I think any magazine has a hard time stacking up next to the New Yorker, although a couple of times a year I'll get an issue that has almost literally nothing to read. Usually one of the specialized issues, like fashion, or India, or something.


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## Dhaller (Jan 20, 2008)

jackmccullough said:


> I think Neal Stephenson is great. I have had _Cryptonomicon_ on my list for several years and I've never had the time to read it. (Actually, for most of that time one or the other of my sons has had it with him.)
> 
> [/I].


Cryptonomicon was a lot of fun, especially if you're interested in mathematics and ciphers; Anathem is sort of in the same vein, but somehow is just unwieldy, as though Stephenson is simply "trying too hard".

DH


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## Laxplayer (Apr 26, 2006)

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance


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## The Swedish Chef (Feb 16, 2009)

Making an effort to read American authors in '09. So far I've gone through:

Philip Roth - The Ghost Writer
Richard Powers - The Echo Maker
Cormac McCarthy - The Road
Ernest Hemmingway - Men without Women, a collection of short stories

Any suggestions would be welcome_


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## charlie500 (Aug 22, 2008)

The Swedish Chef said:


> Making an effort to read American authors in '09. So far I've gone through:
> 
> Philip Roth - The Ghost Writer
> Richard Powers - The Echo Maker
> ...


Charles Bukowski - Factotum
William Burroughs - Junkie
Herman Melville - Moby Dick
Richard Henry Dana - Two Years Before the Mast


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## Pleasant McIvor (Apr 14, 2008)

The Swedish Chef said:


> Making an effort to read American authors in '09. So far I've gone through:
> 
> Philip Roth - The Ghost Writer
> Richard Powers - The Echo Maker
> ...


If you like McCarthy, try some Faulkner and then Andrew Lytle's Velvet Horn, if you can find it. It's lesser known, but on the same level with the best of the Southern writers.


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## charlie500 (Aug 22, 2008)

Currently reading:
*Descent into Chaos* -Ahemed Rashid

Follow up to Rashid's Taliban which covered the rise of the Taliban and the Northern Alliance's war against them as well as maneuvering by oil and gas companies UNOCAL and Bridas to build oil and gas pipelines out of the Caspian Sea and through Afghanistan. This book picks up after 9/11 the last book was published just before 9/11. So far so good.

Recently read:
*
The New Great Game: Blood and Oil in Central Asia *- Lutz Kleveman

Using the concept of the 'Great Game' from Rudyard Kipling's novel Kim, Kleveman argues there is a new 'Great Game' in Central Asia, a modern variant of the nineteenth century clash of imperial ambitions of Great Britain and Tsarist Russia. Played out between the US, Russia, China, former Soviet countries, transnational energy corporations and terrorists. Not as good as Rashid's stuff but still interesting.
*
Mussolini: A new life -Nicholas Farrell*

Unlike a lot of other books on Mussolini, Farrell leaves the reader to make up his or her own mind and tells about Mussolini's childhood, early involvement in Socialism and the birth of Fascism up to its ultimate demise. The book covers in depth the political struggles within Italy, the rise and the use of the black shirts, the newspapers, the King of Italy and even the Pope. Incredibly detailed and very informative.

*Fiasco* - Thomas E. Ricks
*Imperial Life in the Emerald City* -Rajiv Chandrasekaran

Read these books together. Fiasco covers the missteps the military took post invasion of Iraq - particularly not adopting tried and true counter insurgency strategies, not having a post occupation plan, not having a unity of command. Great book on what went wrong, and what went right, and what needed to be changed.

Imperial Life follows the civil command in Iraq under Viceroy Bremmer. Astounding the amount of money wasted, the inexperience and outright incompetency - The case of the twenty-four-year-old who had never worked in finance put in charge of reestablishing Baghdad's stock exchange; a contractor with no previous experience paid millions to guard a closed airport; a State Department employee forced to bribe Americans to enlist their help in preventing Iraqi weapons scientists from defecting to Iran; Americans willing to serve in Iraq screened by White House officials for their views on _Roe v. Wade; _a veteran doctor who set up emergency medical facilities in post conflict Bosnia, Rwanda, Somalia and Haiti replaced by an HMO director from Chicago with no such experience because the doctor voted for Clinton whereas the director was a staunch Republican.

These should be mandatory reading for anyone headed to the sandbox.


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## jackmccullough (May 10, 2006)

The Swedish Chef said:


> Making an effort to read American authors in '09. So far I've gone through:
> 
> Philip Roth - The Ghost Writer
> Richard Powers - The Echo Maker
> ...


John Updike, our greatest writer of the second half of the Twentieth Century. Start with the whole Rabbit series (Rabbit Run, Rabbit Redux, Rabbit is Rich, Rabbit at Rest).

Joseph Heller, Catch-22.


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## Karl89 (Feb 20, 2005)

Gents,

Not exatcly light fiction but I have always felt that Joseph Roth is overlooked as an author. Start with The Radetzky March.

Karl


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## jackmccullough (May 10, 2006)

Karl89 said:


> Gents,
> 
> Not exatcly light fiction but I have always felt that Joseph Roth is overlooked as an author. Start with The Radetzky March.
> 
> Karl


Great book (great march, too).


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## spudnik99 (Apr 27, 2007)

Thanks for the Mussolini recommendation.


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## SlowE30 (Mar 18, 2008)

_War Hospital_ by Sheri Fink, MD - Very good, about the Bosnian conflict.

_Medical Terminology Demystified_ - written on what seems to be a 5th grade level... gosh I want to just throw it away, but I keep skimming and trust I'll eventually learn something.


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## Gurdon (Feb 7, 2005)

The Germans and their Art: a Troublesome Relationship, Hans Belting

A Field Guide to Getting Lost, Rebecca Solnit

For light reading I open H. H. Munro's Saki short stories at random and read for a half hour or so. It is about time to start re-reading the Peter Whimsey mystery stories.

Regards, 
Gurdon


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## ksinc (May 30, 2005)

I'm reading _Brinkley's Beat_ by David Brinkley. Other than what I find at the St. Louis Federal Reserve web-site I haven't read fiction in maybe 20 years. Maybe I need too! :devil:


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## Pitt 84 (Feb 22, 2009)

*by my chair*

Robert E. Howard's Conan series for the umpteenth time

The Art of Peter Max, reliving my youth

Jane Austin's Emma, again

Bernard Cornwell's Agincourt, I think it's his latest

The economist, a viewe of the world

MaltAvocate, love my wisky

Cigar Afficnado, don't smoke much anymore but like the view:icon_smile_wink:


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## rmcnabb (Feb 25, 2009)

I have very poor reading hygiene - I keep several books in the air at one time.

Lord of the Rings, for the 4th time (almost to Rivendell now)
Flashman (book 1)
The Chap Manifesto (very funny!)
Casino Royale (Ian Fleming)

And I have a 1 hour commute, so I am always listening to either one of the Aubrey/Maturin novels (by Patrick O'Brian) or one of the Jeeves and Wooster novels, at any given time. Right now I'm on _Desolation Island_.

It's funny, but that's pretty much my life and soul right there for all to see. I suppose I should venture out of my comfort zone more often.

:icon_pale:

Naaah...


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## microserf (Apr 22, 2009)

+1 on Atlas Shrugged. Great book, a little scary today.


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## eagle2250 (Mar 24, 2006)

rmcnabb said:


> I have very poor reading hygiene - I keep several books in the air at one time.
> 
> Lord of the Rings, for the 4th time (almost to Rivendell now)
> 
> ...


rmcnabb: I too love that series... I read the trilogy the first time when I was in college and had pulled the books out so many times after that, that my family gifted me with one of the (over-priced!) leather bound editions, when they were offered for sale several years back. You have good reading taste!


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## Scoundrel (Oct 30, 2007)

Lots and lots of student papers...

I actually just finished a comparative religions book: What Christians Think of Buddhists/What Buddhists Think of Christians.


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## Karl89 (Feb 20, 2005)

Gents,

Perhaps we can make this a permanent thread?

As to my recent reads:

The Great Gamble: The Soviet War in Afghanistan by Gregory Feifer

I think this is going to become the classic survey of the Soviet war in Afghanistan. While Grau's The Bear Went Over the Mountain may still be the best in terms of a military history, Feifer's book is likely to be the best general history of this time.

No Greater Ally: The Untold Story of Poland's Forces in World War II by Kenneth Koskodan 

The more one reads of Polish history the more one can't but marvel at the Poles. The book is a bit clumsily written at times with some clear historical errors the editors should have caught and the Rah Rah dramatics on behalf of Poland (even though warranted) grow a bit tiresome but as a general history of the Polish contribution to WW2 the book is worthwhile. Koskodan may not be Norman Davies but for a first effort its not bad, and the fact that it reminds us of Poland's tremendous contribution during the war make it a necessary addition to the library of any student of military history.

A Secret History by Donna Tartt

Rereading this book for the 4th or 5th time. Not easy to explain and it falters a bit at the end but an engaging story that should be of particular interest to those who studied the classic and Trads as well. Would make a great film if casted properly.

Karl


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## KenR (Jun 22, 2005)

Just finished reading:

_1776_ by David McCullough
_The Iron Brigade: A Military History_ by Alan T. Nolan


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## ajo (Oct 22, 2007)

Over the past couple of months of winter have read

D Day The Battle for Normandy by Antony Beevor Another strong outing by a historian who understands how to present history in a cohesive page turning narrative. However did find it a bit lite in parts as if he was rushing the story.

Rouges Gallery The secret history of the moguls and the money that made the metropolitan museum by Michael Gross an eye opener as far as culture and money are connected. 

Eiffel's Tower by Jill Jones about half way through. Highly recommended.

Ranson by David Malouf 

Gray's Anatomy by John Gray


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## Miket61 (Mar 1, 2008)

I just read Agatha Christie's _Hallowe'en Party_, which might be her last really good novel (_Curtain_ and _Sleeping Murder _were actually written decades before their release).

I have _The Mirror Crack'd_, but I'm not in any hurry to finish it. The television movie version, with a rare appearance by Elizabeth Taylor as Marina Gregg, was wonderful, but now I know how it ends...

I'm also, of course, reading my own book, over and over and over again, editing and re-editing.


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## jamgood (Feb 8, 2006)




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## Karl89 (Feb 20, 2005)

Ajo - 

Beevor's book doesnt come out in the States until October but looking forward to it - I enjoyed his work on Stalingrad and Berlin.

Ken -

What is the Iron Brigade about?


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## KCKclassic (Jul 27, 2009)

Just finished Slaughterhouse 5 by Vonnegut for the third or fourth time. Haven't been doing much recreational reading lately, unfortunately, and am hoping to find some time to re-read Microserfs by Douglas Coupland next.


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## pt4u67 (Apr 27, 2006)

Currently reading "The Road to Berlin: Stalin's War With Germany" by John Erickson.


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## Howard (Dec 7, 2004)

The Daily Newspaper.


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## eagle2250 (Mar 24, 2006)

My recent reading seems to be focused on my ongoing search for answers regarding past decisions, current concerns and future hopes and has included:

In the past month, Once An Eagle by Anton Myrer and published way back in 1968;

and, We Are Soldiers Still by Lt General HaL Moore and Joe Galloway and Published in 2008;

and I am presently reading, Where Have All The Leaders Gone by Lee Iacocca, with Catherine Whitney and published in 2007.

I seem to be navigating the period of my life most appropriately considered as...my years of uncertainty and perhaps, discontent!


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## jph712 (Mar 22, 2007)

I'm currently working on the following:

The German Army at Passchendaele by Jack Sheldon 
This book is written using nearly all German sourcing and perspective.

Washington's Crossing by David Hackett Fischer

Patriot Battles: How the War of Independence was Fought by Michael Stephenson

I probably have a few more I haven't finished that I'll go back and pick up.


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## rgrossicone (Jan 27, 2008)

_Jefferson Davis, American_...William J Cooper Jr


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## ajo (Oct 22, 2007)

Karl89 said:


> Ajo -
> 
> Beevor's book doesnt come out in the States until October but looking forward to it - I enjoyed his work on Stalingrad and Berlin.


Its odd that it hasn't come out in the US, you could pick it up from Amazon UK if you have time for it.

I find that these days most of my reading material comes from Amazon US, it tends to come out about three months earlier in the US than Oz and even with postage and currency conversion its far cheaper to buy than when they are released here.


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## ajo (Oct 22, 2007)

jph712 said:


> I'm currently working on the following:
> 
> The German Army at Passchendaele by Jack Sheldon
> This book is written using nearly all German sourcing and perspective.


I would be interested in your opinion when you finish also if your interested in the Great War

The Somme The Darkest Hour On The Western Front by Peter Hart he is on the staff of the Imperial War Museum in London.


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## Scoundrel (Oct 30, 2007)

Officer Candidate Tests (Army section)


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## AlanC (Oct 28, 2003)

I've been on a Hornblower kick. Just finished _Commodore Hornblower_, starting _Lord Hornblower_.


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## Dhaller (Jan 20, 2008)

AlanC said:


> I've been on a Hornblower kick. Just finished _Commodore Hornblower_, starting _Lord Hornblower_.


I highly recommend Bernard Cornwell's "Sharpe" books when you finish Hornblower... very well-researched and action-packed historical adventure from the infantry perspective.

DH


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## jackmccullough (May 10, 2006)

I just finished _Then We Came to the End _by Joshua Ferris. It started out well, then it faltered for a while, but was ultimately worth it. Also _Knucklehead_, a memoir/autobiography (for kids) by children's author Jon Scieszka. He makes it his mission to attract reluctant readers, especially boys, so if you know anyone like that he may be a good choice (also the _Diary of a Nerdy Kid_ series).

Earlier this summer I read _The Good Soldier_ by Ford Madox Ford. After years of reading about what a great novel it is, I finally read it. Hated it. Probably ranks with _The Golden Bowl_, with the added bonus of an utterly implausible, soap-operaish plot.

I also read _The Human Factor_ by Graham Greene, and I strongly recommend it.

Next up: _Netherland_ by Joseph O'Neill.


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## DCLawyer68 (Jun 1, 2009)

Like any good trad, a collection of Louis Auchincloss short stories, _Young Apollo and Other Stories_.


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## ksinc (May 30, 2005)

REGULATION, 2009 Edition, Becker CPA Review

I keep waiting for someone to ask if I've ever danced with the Devil because now I can say "Yes!"

:devil:


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## fenway (May 2, 2006)

Karl89 said:


> No Greater Ally: The Untold Story of Poland's Forces in World War II by Kenneth Koskodan
> 
> The more one reads of Polish history the more one can't but marvel at the Poles. The book is a bit clumsily written at times with some clear historical errors the editors should have caught and the Rah Rah dramatics on behalf of Poland (even though warranted) grow a bit tiresome but as a general history of the Polish contribution to WW2 the book is worthwhile. Koskodan may not be Norman Davies but for a first effort its not bad, and the fact that it reminds us of Poland's tremendous contribution during the war make it a necessary addition to the library of any student of military history.


Nice people in the wrong place. Got screwed by Roosevelt, Churchill and Stalin.


----------



## jamgood (Feb 8, 2006)

AlanC said:


> I've been on a Hornblower kick. Just finished _Commodore Hornblower_, starting _Lord Hornblower_.


Was once a minion of Hornblower & Weeks - Hemphill, Noyes & Co. in me callow youth. Never mind, cary on.


----------



## Miket61 (Mar 1, 2008)

ksinc said:


> REGULATION, 2009 Edition, Becker CPA Review
> 
> I keep waiting for someone to ask if I've ever danced with the Devil because now I can say "Yes!"
> 
> :devil:


The first time I took the CPA exam was November 1991 - it was two-and-a-half days, all at once.

That is dancing with the Devil, going out for a nice dinner, a walk through the park, and trying to get fresh. :devil:

Read Christie's _The Clocks_ last night, expect to do _Cards on the Table_ tonight.


----------



## Howard (Dec 7, 2004)

I'm still reading the newspaper and boy it has become more depressing every day.


----------



## Scoundrel (Oct 30, 2007)

At least the majority of newspapers have moved on from the Michael Jackson story. Gee, what passes for news these days.


----------



## Preu Pummel (Feb 5, 2008)

I have 30 or so books waiting on my shelves, and then I suddenly began reading "The Ettiquette Edge"....

And everything stopped dead. This book is so simple and easy/cheesy, but SOOOOOOO boring and tedious.

Next, "The Call Of Stories", "Writing For Television Sitcoms", and "John Adams".


----------



## Howard (Dec 7, 2004)

Scoundrel said:


> At least the majority of newspapers have moved on from the Michael Jackson story. Gee, what passes for news these days.


and for those 2 weeks that's all they've been talking about,like there's nothing in the newspaper that's interesting more than the MJ story.


----------



## Claybuster (Aug 29, 2007)

The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett.

Danny


----------



## ajo (Oct 22, 2007)

Preu Pummel said:


> "Writing For Television Sitcoms"


Dont know if its relevant but Syd Field The Screen Writers Wookbook and Screenplay The Foundations of Screenwriting are two of the best books on the subject around.

I have used them both to write with and teach from.


----------



## Shriver (Apr 23, 2005)

The last book I read was Stalin: Court of the Red Tsar by Simon Sebag Montefiore, which I thoroughly enjoyed and found fascinating. 

That was about three weeks ago, and since then, I've been devouring the many New Yorker magazines which accrued while I was in China, at a rate of at least one per day.


----------



## ksinc (May 30, 2005)

Shriver said:


> The last book I read was Stalin: Court of the Red Tsar by Simon Sebag Montefiore, which I thoroughly enjoyed and found fascinating.
> 
> That was about three weeks ago, and since then, I've been devouring the many New Yorker magazines which accrued while I was in China, at a rate of at least one per day.


Have you read the book by Robert Service as well?


----------



## Peak and Pine (Sep 12, 2007)

"The Guns of August"

Reread about once every five years (always in August) since it came out, though nowadays I mostly just skim it. The most memorable quote in it comes from Sir Arthur Conan Doyle who referred to August, 1914 as "...the worst August in the history of the world". It still is.​


----------



## Preu Pummel (Feb 5, 2008)

ajo said:


> Dont know if its relevant but Syd Field The Screen Writers Wookbook and Screenplay The Foundations of Screenwriting are two of the best books on the subject around.
> 
> I have used them both to write with and teach from.


I have Syd Field's thingy that came with FINAL DRAFT. Haven't tried his book yet, though. I've thoroughly read and reread STORY by McKee as well as Hero's Journey and a few other fairly OK books on screenwriting. The Screenwriter's Bible was pretty good, but a better starting ground rather than info for the professional.

That book on sitcoms is started, but it is pretty deadly as well: it's blatantly obvious stuff so far. It isn't bad, but it is better for people who never thought about the structure of comedy. It's something I want to become familiar with, but not for the intention of writing on sitcoms... which would be incredible money, but death of the soul.

It's rather easy to write a great structure for any story, I find. The hardest part is making it complex enough to be singular without being confusing, and to make it contain a zeitgeist which appeals and translates to the audience, as well as having enough interesting and crafty ideas peppering the screenplay to make it memorable and valuable. Dialog with character and subtext, structure, the act of writing, creating characters and story ideas, are all easy to me.


----------



## ajo (Oct 22, 2007)

The Art of Dramatic Writing by Lajos Egri. I leaned of it by reading Eric Lax's biography of Wood Allen. And then is a brilliant series of Faber and Faber film books worth reading. But like all things its trial and error. 

You write you pitch and occasionally you sell and that goes for all mediums as I have recently found out from another wonderful journal editor.

The thing with Zeitgeist is that how long does the moment last? And in terms of the next thing, if you think about it takes years to get from concept to completed script to production. I think the notions of universals as articulated in the hero structure is an easier thing to work with IMHO. But then again Casablanca is still one of my favourite films.


----------



## Shriver (Apr 23, 2005)

ksinc said:


> Have you read the book by Robert Service as well?


I have not but I certainly will, if you are recommending it


----------



## ksinc (May 30, 2005)

Shriver said:


> I have not but I certainly will, if you are recommending it


Actually, I was looking for a recommendation. :icon_smile:


----------



## Francisco D'Anconia (Apr 18, 2007)

QuestForReason said:


> Ayn Rand's "Atlas Shrugged", before this it was Eric Fromm's "Beyond the Chains of Illusion"





microserf said:


> +1 on Atlas Shrugged. Great book, a little scary today.


^ One of my favorites. My handle probably gave that away. ic12337:


TMMKC said:


> _The Fountainhead_


^ My favorite book of all time. Stuck on a desert island with one book, it would be the _Fountainhead_. And one CD, it would be Steely Dan's _Decade_



bigchris1313 said:


> I finished _Diplomacy_ by Kissinger about two months ago. Before that, I finally got around to reading _Dune_ by Frank Herbert.
> 
> Kissinger is an absolute beast. The book is a grind to read, but it delivers.


^ I found Kissinger engaging and easy to read. But I'm often accused of being amoral too. :icon_smile_wink:



Karl89 said:


> Gents,
> 
> From time to time I think its useful to find out what others are reading, so let me know whats on your bookshelf these days.
> 
> ...


^ Those all sound good. I'd never associated the Baader-Meinhof gang with the inside story of the R.A.F. Am I thinking of the wrong R.A.F.?



pt4u67 said:


> Currently reading "The Road to Berlin: Stalin's War With Germany" by John Erickson.


^ Can I borrow this from you when you're finsihed with it?



rgrossicone said:


> _Jefferson Davis, American_...William J Cooper Jr


^ Must go into a lot of ther other parts of Davis's life besides President of the Confederacy. IIRC, he was in teh US Army during the Mexican-American War, served as a US SecState and US Senator too.



fenway said:


> Nice people [Poles] in the wrong place. Got screwed by Roosevelt, Churchill and Stalin.


^ Indeed. One of the best WWII books I've read is _No Simple Victory_ by Norman Davies. A lot of focus on how Poland got hosed by both the Axis and the Allies, especially the Soviets. Makes sense with the Soviets being on boththe Axis and the Allied side of the war. Another focuse is emphasizing the Soviet role in subduing the Third Riech relative to the Anglo-American role. Something we in the West tend to overlook.



Shriver said:


> The last book I read was Stalin: Court of the Red Tsar by Simon Sebag Montefiore, which I thoroughly enjoyed and found fascinating.


^ Another of my favorites! Interested in knowing how Tsarist Russia, the Soviet Union, and post-Soviet Russia today operate, this book is a must read. That's along with George Kennan's Long Telegram from Moscow back to the State and Treasury Departments in DC. Just re-read that on the train last week.

Reading right now: _The Clocks_ by Agatha Christie.

Listening to on my iPod right now: _Legacy of Ashes: The History of the CIA_ by Tim Weiner. Interesting, but so partisanly critical that's it's dubious.


----------



## Karl89 (Feb 20, 2005)

FD'A,

The RAF in question is the Red Army Faction - a Communist terrorist group that operated in West Germany during the 70s and 80s - it ceased to exist in the mid 90s.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Army_Faction

And the book:

https://www.amazon.com/Baader-Meinh...=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1251041522&sr=8-1

Karl


----------



## Francisco D'Anconia (Apr 18, 2007)

Karl89 said:


> FD'A,
> 
> The RAF in question is the Red Army Faction - a Communist terrorist group that operated in West Germany during the 70s and 80s - it ceased to exist in the mid 90s.
> 
> ...


@ Karl - Thanks!


----------



## Scoundrel (Oct 30, 2007)

The Holy Bible


----------



## brokencycle (Jan 11, 2008)

_Free to Choose_ by Milton Friedman


----------



## DCLawyer68 (Jun 1, 2009)

Peak and Pine said:


> "The Guns of August"
> 
> Reread about once every five years (always in August) since it came out, though nowadays I mostly just skim it. The most memorable quote in it comes from Sir Arthur Conan Doyle who referred to August, 1914 as "...the worst August in the history of the world". It still is.​


Have you ever read The Proud Tower? I've picked it up every now and then but never seriously delved into it.

I started to read Daniel Walker Howe's volume in the Oxford History of the United States "What Hath God Wraught" covering 1814 through 1846 (where the Pulitzer Prize winner Battle Cry of Freedom picks up) this weekend, and got about 100 pages in. It is superb.

Gordon Wood's predecessor volume in the series from the end of the Revolution to 1814 is due out this fall and is at the top of my reading list.


----------



## Peak and Pine (Sep 12, 2007)

Peak and Pine said:


> "The Guns of August"
> 
> Reread about once every five years (always in August) since it came out, though nowadays I mostly just skim it.​





DCLawyer68 said:


> Have you ever read The Proud Tower? I've picked it up every now and then but never seriously delved into it.


No. Nor had I heard of it before you mentioned it. (To others: it's by the same author as *Guns Of August*. Google told me so.) Thank you. I will buy it. (Amazon told me I could.)​


----------



## AlanC (Oct 28, 2003)

I just finished a run through the second half of C.S. Forester's Hornblower series:

_Ship of the Line
Flying Colours
Commodore Hornblower
Lord Hornblower
Admiral Hornblower in the West Indies_

Also just finished _The Great Divorce_, by C.S. Lewis

Just started _Heretics_, by G.K. Chesterton with _Orthodoxy_ to come right behind it.

I'm figuring out another novel to start.


----------



## Cruiser (Jul 21, 2006)

I just finished re-reading _Candide _for at least the 5th or 6th time, and it still makes me laugh out loud.

Cruiser


----------



## Shriver (Apr 23, 2005)

Peak and Pine said:


> No. Nor had I heard of it before you mentioned it. (To others: it's by the same author as *Guns Of August*. Google told me so.) Thank you. I will buy it. (Amazon told me I could.)​


Proud Tower is a very excellent book as well.

It and Guns of August really ought to be read together.

"Stilwell and the American Experience in China" is also worth reading; as is the wonderful "A Distant Mirror," about the 14th century.

Tuchman is one of my very favorite writers.


----------



## KenR (Jun 22, 2005)

Karl89 said:


> Ajo -
> 
> Beevor's book doesnt come out in the States until October but looking forward to it - I enjoyed his work on Stalingrad and Berlin.
> 
> ...


Karl,

Apologies for getting back to you so late on your question but I have been extremely busy and away from AAAC.

The Iron Brigade was a Union Army brigade that consisted of 5 regiments from Wisconsin, Indiana and Michigan that fought throughout the Civil War with notable valor, especially at Brawner's Farm, Antietam and Gettysburg, where they were pretty much wrecked on the first day of the battle. They were given the nickname either by Gen. George McClellan or John Gibbon, who outfitted them in the regular army uniforms of frock coats and Hardee hats, instead of the standard volunteer outfits of fatigue jacket and kepi.

They were a bunch of tough midwesterners that won everlasting fame during the War.


----------



## Herrsuit (Aug 4, 2009)

Neal Stephenson's "Anathem". Not fine literature, but entertaining if you have a philosophical bent.


----------



## ajo (Oct 22, 2007)

Cruiser said:


> I just finished re-reading _Candide _for at least the 5th or 6th time, and it still makes me laugh out loud.
> 
> Cruiser


If your after a good laugh out loud read try Happiness by Will Ferguson its a few years old but highly entertaining as it does a demolition job on the self help industry.

And I just finished The Blue Moment Miles Davis Kind of Blue and the remaking of modern music, by Richard Williams, timely considering the 50th anniversary of the release of Kind of Blue has just passed.


----------



## jackmccullough (May 10, 2006)

I just started reading Bleak House.


----------



## PetroLandman (Apr 21, 2006)

*Multiples*

I always tend to read four or five at a time. Every fall I re-read three books: One Day in the Life of Ivan Densiovich and Cancer Ward (appropriate now, huh?) and The Old Man and the Sea, which I have been reading annually since eighth grade (circa 1964). Also waiting partially read is Churchill and Ghandi.

I need to clear the deck as Larry McMurtry has published the final 'Last Picture Show' book called Rhino Ranch. I intend to re-read the previous 4 books before I read the new one. I am a huge fan of all of McMurtry's works.


----------



## Howard (Dec 7, 2004)

I'm still reading the daily newspaper.


----------



## MarkfromMD (Nov 5, 2008)

QuestForReason said:


> Ayn Rand's "Atlas Shrugged", before this it was Eric Fromm's "Beyond the Chains of Illusion"


Atlas Shrugged might be my favorite novel of all time so far. +1



TMMKC said:


> _The Fountainhead_


Also near the top of my list +1

I also like Jack Kerouac to get a little escape time.


----------



## eagle2250 (Mar 24, 2006)

I am presently reading The Whiteman Scenario, by Steve McCurdy; a fictionalized account of actual events that occurred during the waning moments of the Nixon Administration and which lead our old nemesis the USSR to initiate one of the many, formerly classified Top Secret, rounds of the nuclear chicken game, that were played out by the nuclear alert forces of our two countries. This sort of thing happened all too frequently back in the day and McCurdy has chronicled the events in the Whiteman Scenario accurately enough to incite a recurrence of the nightmares I would occasionally experience, as I performed each of my nuclear alert tours at Whiteman Air Force Base, Mo...a total of 408 days, buried alive! 

If you have ever wondered about what happens behind the scenes, in these types of situations and are interested in reading The Whiteman Scenario, it is available through Amazon.com books.


----------



## AlanC (Oct 28, 2003)

Seeing _The Road to Serfdom_ on the shelf made me think the times might call for it to be dusted off.



Dhaller said:


> I highly recommend Bernard Cornwell's "Sharpe" books when you finish Hornblower... very well-researched and action-packed historical adventure from the infantry perspective.
> 
> DH


Just saw this. I quite enjoy Cornwell's books. I can't say I've read all of them, though. Cornwell writes faster than I can read!


----------



## ajo (Oct 22, 2007)

Plucked off the shelf 'ideas a history of thought and invention, form fire to freud' by Peter Watson, its been sitting there since 2005. And just received from Amazon 1959 The Year Everything Changed, by Fred Kaplan.

Can anyone recommend any histories of men's clothing in the 20th Century or good clothing style guides?


----------



## Corcovado (Nov 24, 2007)

_

Tales of the South Pacific_ by James Michener.


----------



## Howard (Dec 7, 2004)

The Newspaper.


----------



## LanceW (Jun 2, 2009)

War & Peace.

Been reading it a while now, LOL.


----------



## ksinc (May 30, 2005)

Now I have to start reading the Licensure kit ... I just got word I passed the last part of the CPA Exam!!! :icon_smile_big: 

:aportnoy:


----------



## Pentheos (Jun 30, 2008)

MarkfromMD said:


> Atlas Shrugged might be my favorite novel of all time so far. +1
> 
> I also like Jack Kerouac to get a little escape time.


LOLZ.

For fun, I'm reading Edmund Morris' _The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt_, to be followed by his _Theodore Rex_.


----------



## ajo (Oct 22, 2007)

I have just finished Let The Great World Spin by Colum McCann and Invisible by Paul Aster 

Since the beach is beckoning after Xmas I have Men Of Mont St Quentin Between Victory and Death by Peter Stanley former head historian at the AWM and now at the National Museum of Australia. And if I have time while on leave I also have Trevor Byrne Ghosts and Lightning to read before I return to work.

Also read The Suit by Nicholas Antongiavanni which i found both entertaining and informative


----------



## young guy (Jan 6, 2005)

the trojan women by euripides


----------



## eagle2250 (Mar 24, 2006)

Imperial Life In The Emerald City; Inside Iraq's Green Zone, 
by Rajiv Chandrasekaran. Provides good insight into many of the causes of the failure our (hopefully) well intended reconstruction efforts in Iraq.


----------



## DCLawyer68 (Jun 1, 2009)

I'm almost done with Liebling's classic _In Between Meals_.

Superb


----------



## harland (Oct 13, 2008)

_The Next 100 Years: A Forecast for the 21st Century_ by George Friedman


----------



## Beefeater (Jun 2, 2007)

About to start "A Moveable Feast" during my sojourn to Key West for Christmas and New Year's. Looking forward to it mightily. It will be about 40 degrees when I leave and 80 when I land.


----------



## TomK (Nov 18, 2009)

LanceW said:


> War & Peace.
> 
> Been reading it a while now, LOL.


Took me about 6 months to get through it. It was a labor of love as I just wanted to do it for the sake of doing it. Good luck with it.


----------



## Helvetia (Apr 8, 2008)

*True Compass*: A Memoir by Edward M. Kennedy


----------



## Coleman (Mar 18, 2009)

I'm going back through my short story collections of Hemingway and Fitzgerald.


----------



## cecil47 (Oct 25, 2009)

@ksinc - from one CPA to another, my condolences ;o).
@Beefeater - Recently finished A Moveable Feast. Great easy read. Reminds me how much I like Hemingway.

Just finished Death Comes for the Archbishop. Should be required reading for anyone in NM.
Got most of the way through On the Road, but stopped and can't seem to get started again.


----------



## harvey_birdman (Mar 10, 2008)

Drood, by Dan Simmons. It's chock full of insight for fans of Dickens.


----------



## ksinc (May 30, 2005)

cecil47 said:


> @ksinc - from one CPA to another, my condolences ;o).


Thank You! :icon_smile_wink:


----------



## Bermuda (Aug 16, 2009)

I recently met former gov. of Arkansas Mike Huckabee. I received an autographed copy of his book, A Special Christmas. Some good stories about his upbringing and Christmas experiences. Totally non-political


----------



## Henry346 (Oct 31, 2009)

I am constantly rereading Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged--Francisco and Gail being my two favorite characters. I also find myself flipping through The Lord of the Rings fairly frequently, but I've read that countless times as well. I have this terrific book on the battle of El Alemein that I enjoy as well, although I can't be arsed to go look for it and find the author. The only book that I can find the time to focus on reading for the first time would be Beowulf and that's just mandatory school reading. 2 weeks, and I'm on page 4... I get a lot more done over the summer or when I foresee long plane flights.


----------



## Coleman (Mar 18, 2009)

I friend gave me _The Fine Art of Mixing Drinks _for Christmas. I started it last night and am enjoying very much Embury's purist approach to cocktails. I also became quite parched and in need of a good martini.


----------



## jamezzz122 (Dec 26, 2009)

Superfreakonomics. Loved the first one. Malcolm Gladwell's books were great also.


----------



## Droog (Aug 29, 2006)

Autobiography of Benevenuto Cellini


----------



## sowilson (Jul 27, 2009)

A lot of right wing political crap for doing opposition research as well as a bunch of position papers/statements by the good guys (fact checking and stuff); hope springs eternal each election cycle.

For fun I'm rereading the Art of War by Sun Tzu :aportnoy:


----------



## DoghouseReilly (Jul 25, 2010)

Going to try and resurrect this thread...

I'm currently reading a few things right now: _The Ionian Mission_ by O'Brian, _Ulysses_, and _True at First Light_ by Hemingway.


----------



## ajo (Oct 22, 2007)

With Winter approaching in the antipodes I have begun to settle in weeknights with a good book currently reading Crimea The Last Crusade by Orlando Figes; highly recommended.

picked up a copy of John Keegan The American Civil War, so that's next on the list.


----------



## PatentLawyerNYC (Sep 21, 2007)

The Belly of Paris by Emile Zola.


----------



## blairrob (Oct 30, 2010)

ajo said:


> Crimea The Last Crusade by Orlando Figes; highly recommended.


I will then have to check that out. Just started Bulgakov's _Master and Margarita._


----------



## eagle2250 (Mar 24, 2006)

Currently reading Bill Bryson's "At Home: A Short History of Private Life." The author has a knack for developing the most innocuous details pertaining to the subject at hand and presents them in the most oddly entertaining ways! To my mind, his book, A Walk In The Woods, remains his best effort, to date. :thumbs-up:


----------



## JerseyJohn (Oct 26, 2007)

I'm slowly, and maybe not so surely, trying to work my way through "On the Origin of Phyla" by James Valentine. Not being a biologist, this huge book is slow going, with lots of side-trips to the Internet for explanations, but I've taken it on as a challenge.


----------



## ajo (Oct 22, 2007)

blairrob said:


> Just started Bulgakov's _Master and Margarita._


The Faust story is one of my favourites literary themes, Thomas Mann Doctor Faustus is a good, albeit laborious read. Saw Angel Heart the other night first time in years De Niro prevented a very dark and malevolent Lucifer.

Haven't had much time for fiction of late any recommendations?


----------



## blairrob (Oct 30, 2010)

ajo said:


> The Faust story is one of my favourites literary themes, Thomas Mann Doctor Faustus is a good, albeit laborious read. Saw Angel Heart the other night first time in years De Niro prevented a very dark and malevolent Lucifer.
> 
> Haven't had much time for fiction of late any recommendations?


Hating to sound like a unabashed proponent of Canadian authors, I will nonetheless still suggest Timothy Taylor's _Stanley Park_ as it is a good book with a Faustian undercurrent, though it does require an interest in the culinary arts as that is the plot's setting.

I will die a Conrad devotee and thus if you have yet to read them I highly recommend _The Secret Agent_ and _Nostromo_.

The last modern top notch books I have read were _The Kite Flyer_ and _Reservation Road_.

I have yet to compliment you on your avatar in 2011 so let me again state, that's the best pic on AAOC.

Blair


----------



## ajo (Oct 22, 2007)

blairrob said:


> Hating to sound like a unabashed proponent of Canadian authors, I will nonetheless still suggest Timothy Taylor's _Stanley Park_ as it is a good book with a Faustian undercurrent, though it does require an interest in the culinary arts as that is the plot's setting.
> 
> I will die a Conrad devotee and thus if you have yet to read them I highly recommend _The Secret Agent_ and _Nostromo_.
> 
> ...


Thank you it displays my silver foxiness and dignified sartorial approach to the world.:icon_smile_big:

Have read a fair bit of Conrad over the years.


----------



## Pliny (Oct 26, 2009)

eagle2250 said:


> Currently reading Bill Bryson's "At Home: A Short History of Private Life." The author has a knack for developing the most innocuous details pertaining to the subject at hand and presents them in the most oddly entertaining ways! To my mind, his book, A Walk In The Woods, remains his best effort, to date. :thumbs-up:


_At Home_ is a great read. Funny though ... I've read all his stuff and AWITW is my _least_ fav of his. All that walking. All those woods! ..and a bear.

I've just gotten into Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey/Maturin series. There *is* a God! Lots of fantastic reading ahead of me cos there's 20+ in the series, and what's not to love about the Napoleonic wars?

Another series I've recently finished is the Flashman memoirs. For those who don't know these too are historical novels, but set in the Victorian era, just a little later than the O'Brian's stories. Harry Flashman - the bully from _Tom Brown's Schooldays_ - travels the world as a British soldier and spy in the great days of the Empire, playing 'the Great Game'. Two or maybe three of the books are set in the States - he's one of the '49ers on the wagon trail West, he rides with Custer at Little Big Horn, and he shoots it out with John Brown at Harper's Ferry. The fictional Harry Flashman is your classic British blackguard, cad, bounder and coward .. he only wants a quiet life divided between his London Club, expensive brothels and his beautiful wife Elspeth back at his country house, but he's always falling ass backwards into trouble, escaping by the skin of his teeth, winning all the glory and getting promoted into the bargain. 
The story of his winning of the VC is absolutely priceless and the description of Flashman leading the Light Brigade into the guns at Balaclava is legendary stuff, if not quite historically accurate.

The author inserts Flashy into real historical events, interacting with real historical characters including Lola Montez, the Rhani of Jahnsi in India, Abe Lincoln, Queen Vicki, Bismark, General Gordon of Kharthoum, the Chinese Emperor, the mad Queen Ravaranarola of Madagascar etc etc. The books are not only a good education (I know what I know about American _circa bellum_ history from Flashman) but more that that they're hilarious. If u haven't read them do yourself a favour. George MacDonald Fraser is widely regarded as one of the great English prose stylists of the 20th C and I envy anybody the chance to read these books for the first time - thank me later


----------



## Regillus (Mar 15, 2011)

I'm reading "Gates of Fire" by Steven Pressfield. It's a historical novel about the Battle of Thermopylae; i.e. the Greeks vs. the Persians; Leonidas and the Three Hundred Spartans, etc.:icon_study:


----------



## Bandit44 (Oct 1, 2010)

With the recent flooding along the Mississippi river constantly in the news, I decided to read William Percy's Lanterns on the Levee.


----------



## DoghouseReilly (Jul 25, 2010)

Wow, so much fodder for my reading list...



Pliny said:


> I've just gotten into Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey/Maturin series. There *is* a God! Lots of fantastic reading ahead of me cos there's 20+ in the series, and what's not to love about the Napoleonic wars?


Indeed! If I may offer a suggestion: I wouldn't purchase the box set, but the individual books. The pages in the box set are so thin that you can see the next page's text through the other side. They are also heavy, which makes reading them in bed a bit tiring. (Ha, a pun?)



Pliny said:


> If u haven't read them do yourself a favour. George MacDonald Fraser is widely regarded as one of the great English prose stylists of the 20th C and I envy anybody the chance to read these books for the first time - thank me later


I will check them out. They sound quite entertaining.



Regillus said:


> I'm reading "Gates of Fire" by Steven Pressfield. It's a historical novel about the Battle of Thermopylae; i.e. the Greeks vs. the Persians; Leonidas and the Three Hundred Spartans, etc.:icon_study:


A pretty good book. I thoroughly enjoyed it. Less shiny, painted-on abs in the book too.


----------



## Pliny (Oct 26, 2009)

Regillus said:


> I'm reading "Gates of Fire" by Steven Pressfield. It's a historical novel about the Battle of Thermopylae; i.e. the Greeks vs. the Persians; Leonidas and the Three Hundred Spartans, etc.:icon_study:


I haven't read this, sounds interesting. I know the story from Herodotus, one of the highlights of his _Histories_ and more incredible considering the Persians feats at the Hellespont and the isthmus to the North.


----------



## Pliny (Oct 26, 2009)

DoghouseReilly said:


> Wow, so much fodder for my reading list...
> 
> Indeed! If I may offer a suggestion: I wouldn't purchase the box set, but the individual books. The pages in the box set are so thin that you can see the next page's text through the other side. They are also heavy, which makes reading them in bed a bit tiring. (Ha, a pun?)
> 
> ...


 cheers for the tip - I'm interested in any well-written historical stuff. another wryly humorous series I enjoyed was Graves' _Claudius_ novels - great because Graves was a reasonable classicist and as a survivor of the WW1 trenches had a fairly realistic view of human behaviour and motivation. tells it like it was - as far as we can ever know ):


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## C_Clarke (Nov 30, 2010)

_Dorothy Parker: What Fresh Hell Is This_


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## eagle2250 (Mar 24, 2006)

Pliny said:


> _At Home_ is a great read. Funny though ... I've read all his stuff and AWITW is my _least_ fav of his. All that walking. All those woods! ..and a bear.
> .....


LOL. True Dat but, perhaps my affinity for Bryson's, 'A Walk In The Woods' is driven by my experiences in section hiking a fair portion of the Appalachian Trail, over a period of almost 30 years. I'm just not one of those hardcore dudes who choose to do it all in one effort!


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## Percy Blakeney (Apr 17, 2011)

Amusingly enough (since the first avatar that I saw on this page was Droog's), I just finished Anthony Burgess's _A Clockwork Orange_. I tried to watch Kubrick's film once, when I was in high school, and ended up turning it off. The book, on the other hand, was fascinating. I could barely put it down. Since the content is so similar, I attribute the disparity to Burgess's brilliant use of the nadsat slang to cushion the explicit nature of the content. Highly recommended.

At the same time I picked up _A Clockwork Orange_ I also grabbed a copy of Rostand's _Cyrano de Bergerac_. Oddly enough, I found out that Burgess actually had a well known translation of the play that preserves the spirit of the original verse. Returned the copy I had and ordered the Burgess version, which I now eagerly await.


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## Regillus (Mar 15, 2011)

Pliny said:


> I haven't read this, sounds interesting. I know the story from Herodotus, one of the highlights of his _Histories_ and more incredible considering the Persians feats at the Hellespont and the isthmus to the North.


The point of the book is this: There aren't any first-hand accounts of the Battle of Thermopylae. So the book is an attempt to provide an historically accurate - although fictional - first-person account of the conflict.:icon_study:


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## ajo (Oct 22, 2007)

Regillus said:


> The point of the book is this: There aren't any first-hand accounts of the Battle of Thermopylae. So the book is an attempt to provide an historically accurate - although fictional - first-person account of the conflict.:icon_study:


Have to recommend Ransom by David Malouf its a very interesting fictional take on the siege of Troy.


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## Mr. Mac (Mar 14, 2008)

Just finished 'Halsey's Typhoon' by Bob Drury and Tom Clavin. A really great non-fiction read.

On deck is Stephen Oates, 'With Malice Toward None'.

In the hole, 'Travels With Herodotus' by Ryszard Kapuscinski


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## Apatheticviews (Mar 21, 2010)

'Asimovs guide to the Bible' at the moment.


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## DoghouseReilly (Jul 25, 2010)

I finished _Farewell, My Lovely _two days ago and just started _The Naked and the Dead. _Both were Christmas gifts. Mailer's book is excellent and you can now consider me a Raymond Chandler devotee.


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## eagle2250 (Mar 24, 2006)

The Man Who Invented Christmas, by Les Standiford; an impulse buy at Costco, just before the Christmas holiday. Provides a rather interesting perspective on the impact of "A Christmas Carol" on Charles Dicken's writing career. For the frustrated writers out there, this is the book for you!


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## Apatheticviews (Mar 21, 2010)

I recently bought a Kindle Fire for the wife & myself. I had my doubts, but I'm truly sold on it now, especially for the public domain items like "A Christmas Carol." Strangely, I've actually found it easier to read than real books (I read them faster on it).

I'm reading Bruce Campbell's autobiography at the moment.


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## Gurdon (Feb 7, 2005)

In November I read Wandering Falcon, nominally fictionalized memoirs of Afghanistan, written by a retired Pakistani frontier official; starkly engaging. I also reread Gaudy Night by Dorothy Sayers. 

More recently I read The Swerve: How the World Became Modern, just before it won the National Book Award for non-fiction. It is an account of the discovery and dissemination of Lucretius's poem On the Nature of Things, and the effect this has had on western culture. 

I also recently read and highly recommend 1491, which recounts the current state of academic knowledge of the Western Hemisphere prior to European contact. It was a different world than it was thought to be when I was in school in the early 1960's. There were probably 50 million people here, there may have been 100 million. The indiginous urban cultures were in every way equal to or superior to those of the Old World, and the so-called New World was as much a cultural artifact as the rest of the planet. The book is way beyond assigning blame but one cannot read it, I think, without being compelled to reexamine the commonly held beliefs and foundational myths of our nation and the other nations established by Europeans on this side of the world. Although Jerrod Diamond wrote a jacket blurb, 1491 reveales his take on things to be, in my view, profoundly simplistic. The book is interesting and important for its content. The writing is at times a bit unfinished, or perhaps under-edited would be a better way to characterize it.

I'm also reading Allen Ginsberg's collected letters, which provide insight into the lives and thinking of Ginsberg and his friends and associates. 

Happy New Year to you all,
Gurdon


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## Pliny (Oct 26, 2009)

DoghouseReilly said:


> I finished _Farewell, My Lovely _two days ago and just started _The Naked and the Dead. _Both were Christmas gifts. Mailer's book is excellent and you can now consider me a *Raymond Chandler devotee.*


With yo moniker how could u not be ?

If u into war memoirs can i recommend Graves' _Goodbye to All That. _AFAIK Chandler didn't write about the trenches, but he was there and Graves' book might b an insight into the man who shaped the 'hard-boiled' detective.

I'm reading Patrick O'Brian and have just finished the _Flashman _series by George Macdonald Fraser. hilarious


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## greene (Dec 23, 2011)

My father's really into war memoirs, so I might look into those options you mentioned Pliny!

I heard that they are turning The Life Of Pi into a movie. Heard a lot about it but never got around reading it, so thought now would be a good time! I prefer to read the book then watch the movie instead of vice versa.


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## eagle2250 (Mar 24, 2006)

Using Christmas gifts received as a reading guide, it would appear that I will be reading Tom Clancy's Locked On, Stephen King's 11/23/63 and Bill O'Reilly's Killing Lincoln, over the course of the next several weeks. Beyond that, Bill Murphy Jr's In A Time of War and Boyd Morrison's The Ark sit yet unread on the reading table!


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## Bermuda (Aug 16, 2009)

Currently reading Dan Brown: Digital Fortress. It's excellent. I also couldn't put down The Lost Symbol by him since I am a Freemason myself


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## Dhaller (Jan 20, 2008)

I've been *trying* to get through Niall Ferguson's history of the Rothschild family, but it just isn't happening. I think I need to give the books a go some other time.

I've been racing through Bernard Cornwell's excellent "Sharpe" books, having just now finished "Sharpe's Eagle"; I just requested "Sharpe's Gold" (the 9th in the series) from my library.

I've sort of rediscovered Charlie Huston; I call his work "nihilist noir", for the bleak yet darkly comic quality of his writing. I just finished "sixbadthings" a few days ago, and plan on grabbing "A Dangerous Man" tomorrow.

DH


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## Jovan (Mar 7, 2006)

Just finished "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo". Started on the sequel, "The Girl Who Played with Fire". The only thing that bothered me was a change to Lisbeth that seemed very out of character. Otherwise not bad.


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## Dhaller (Jan 20, 2008)

I just started reading Walter Miller's "A Canticle for Liebowitz", one of the great classics of Sci Fi (and the post-apocalyptic novel which defined the genre). I've been intending to get around to this one for, oh, 30 years or so.:wink2:

DCH


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## Apatheticviews (Mar 21, 2010)

Jovan said:


> Just finished "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo". Started on the sequel, "The Girl Who Played with Fire". The only thing that bothered me was a change to Lisbeth that seemed very out of character. Otherwise not bad.


I just finished that one as well. I don't really think it was a change so much as, she wasn't as fully developed in the first novel. We saw it from Blumquist's perspective in a more dominant fashion, whereas in the second & third novels, the shift goes to her worldview.

I enjoyed the series. It's too bad the author won't get the chance to finish his planned 10 novels.


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## Jovan (Mar 7, 2006)

I suppose, but that sort of physical alteration seemed to go against the point of her being sexually confident despite her misgivings about her body. I think the second Swedish film adaptation did well in omitting that. I'm not alone in that opinion, but maybe we just feel some "ownership" over the character we like so much.  (And no, I'm not just talking men, a lot of women protest it too.)

It's Blomkvist, by the way.


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## catside (Oct 7, 2010)

Are Swedish movies of the series worth watching?


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## tocqueville (Nov 15, 2009)

Yes. I liked them a lot.


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## Apatheticviews (Mar 21, 2010)

Jovan said:


> I suppose, but that sort of physical alteration seemed to go against the point of her being sexually confident despite her misgivings about her body. I think the second Swedish film adaptation did well in omitting that. I'm not alone in that opinion, but maybe we just feel some "ownership" over the character we like so much.  (And no, I'm not just talking men, a lot of women protest it too.)
> 
> It's Blomkvist, by the way.


Is it all that different from several piercings and a half dozen tattoos. At the end of the first book they allude to it, when she is "traveling" (avoiding spoilers). She's shown a willingness to do what she feels is necessary, however because her intelligence level is so far above normal most won't be able to relate. It's like the 27 room house with 3 furnished rooms.


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## Earl of Ormonde (Sep 5, 2008)

Actively on the go at the moment: 
The Stephen Fry Chronicles
Neverwhere - Neil Gaiman
The Philosophy of Religion (1968)
At Home - A short history of private life - Bill Bryson


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## eagle2250 (Mar 24, 2006)

^^
E of O: I would be interested in hearing your reaction to Bryson's book. While it was interesting, I didn't find his history of private life to be on a par with his, several, travel monologues!


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## ajo (Oct 22, 2007)

catside said:


> Are Swedish movies of the series worth watching?


the first two were very good the third was a bit of a dissapointment, not enough details to carry the story. Saw the new English version the other day, very different films, highly entertaining.


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## ajo (Oct 22, 2007)

As I laze on the beach, i have been reading Waiting for Robert Capa by Susana Fortes, highly entertaining novelwhich focus's on the Spainsh Civil War and his role in promoting the Republican casuse and just started The Prague Cemetery by Umberto Eco.

Left on the bedside table Bismark A Life by Jonathan Steinberg.


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## Earl of Ormonde (Sep 5, 2008)

eagle2250 said:


> ^^
> E of O: I would be interested in hearing your reaction to Bryson's book. While it was interesting, I didn't find his history of private life to be on a par with his, several, travel monologues!


That is what I'm afraid of. It will have to be an extremely good book to meet the standard of the two other Brysons I've read, namely, "Notes From A Small Island" and "Mother Tongue" Both of which are brilliant!


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## Jovan (Mar 7, 2006)

ajo said:


> the first two were very good the third was a bit of a dissapointment, not enough details to carry the story. Saw the new English version the other day, very different films, highly entertaining.


It is very good. Let's hope that, despite the poor box office performance, it gets a sequel (hopefully home video sales will be enough).


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## 127.72 MHz (Feb 16, 2007)

Winner-Take-All Politics: How Washington Made the Rich Richer--and Turned Its Back on the Middle Class by and

, professor of political science, and , the same at the ,

A good, if depressing, read. On a recent test I took which tells you at the end "Where you stand" politically I am a "Progressive."

I think this book was written by self avowed liberals, none the less I think it's right on the mark.

Worth the time.


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## Earl of Ormonde (Sep 5, 2008)

Bermuda said:


> I also couldn't put down The Lost Symbol


I read that on holiday in the Canaries in 2010. It is by far his best novel. I've read all his novels. For me his next best after Lost Symbol, as regards his skills as an author and his storytelling is Angels & Demons.


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## Apatheticviews (Mar 21, 2010)

I'm on George R.R. Martin's Song of Fire & Ice novels now.


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## ajo (Oct 22, 2007)

Jovan said:


> It is very good. Let's hope that, despite the poor box office performance, it gets a sequel (hopefully home video sales will be enough).


Here in Oz its doing well but I believe there were issues over the classification in the US here its MA which restricts it to 15 and over but I believe it got an over 18 rating but from what I read it cost $90 Million to make and its taken a $140 Million so far globally, so fingers crossed for the sequel.


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## Jovan (Mar 7, 2006)

Well, R-rated movies that cost $100 million just about went away with _The Matrix_ trilogy. They always make less at the box office than something PG-13 or under. It's a miracle the first _Matrix_ movie even got made, let alone had the mainstream success it did.

That's good they made some back at least, but for the bean counters it's not always enough. Same went for _Scott Pilgrim Vs. the World_ -- well received critically, not so great financially. It caused Universal to shelve plans for funding other indie/underdog productions like it under the Rogue Pictures/Focus Features banner.

As I always tell people, pirating movies doesn't hurt the big, dumb, can't-fail-at-box-office $200 million productions like _Transformers_, it hurts the stuff they take chances on but are probably better in quality. Like _Scott Pilgrim_. So if you want to see something interesting and not just another special effects laden brain tumour, PAY FOR A FRIGGIN' MOVIE TICKET. You may not see something like it made again.


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## Astraeus (Dec 11, 2011)

Karl89 said:


> Currently I am reading:
> 
> The White War: Life and Death on the Italian Front 1915-1919 by Mark Thompson


I really rather enjoyed that book. It was my "holiday" reading when I was living just 100 kilometres from the very locations to which Thompson was referring.

I have just finished reading Tulipomania by Mike Dash. Whilst the subject was interesting, the book wasn't remarkable.

I'm now coming to the end of All Hell Let Loose: The World At War 1939-1945 by Max Hastings. An absolutely phenomenal account of the second world war. A must-read for any aficionado of military history literature.


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## Apatheticviews (Mar 21, 2010)

Jovan said:


> Well, R-rated movies that cost $100 million just about went away with _The Matrix_ trilogy. They always make less at the box office than something PG-13 or under. It's a miracle the first _Matrix_ movie even got made, let alone had the mainstream success it did.
> 
> That's good they made some back at least, but for the bean counters it's not always enough. Same went for _Scott Pilgrim Vs. the World_ -- well received critically, not so great financially. It caused Universal to shelve plans for funding other indie/underdog productions like it under the Rogue Pictures/Focus Features banner.
> 
> As I always tell people, pirating movies doesn't hurt the big, dumb, can't-fail-at-box-office $200 million productions like _Transformers_, it hurts the stuff they take chances on but are probably better in quality. Like _Scott Pilgrim_. So if you want to see something interesting and not just another special effects laden brain tumour, PAY FOR A FRIGGIN' MOVIE TICKET. You may not see something like it made again.


There's the flip side to that. Forrest Gump apparently still hasn't turned a profit because of "Hollywood Accounting."

I'm all for going to see a movie in the theaters. Using your examples, I did actually pay to see Scott Pilgrim (I loved the comic, and enjoyed the movie), but I refused to see the Transformer sequels in the theaters (wait for DVD release). I have to justify the cash. For $20 (ticket & food just for myself), that's 1-2 DVD's or a video game for the family which we'll get significantly more long term entertainment value out of.

I'm in no way condoning piracy, however the overall inflation in the entertainment industry bred the trend. Profiting off your customers is fine, profiteering on your customers.... not so much. Sooner or later, the sheep start growing teeth (look at all the DDoS attacks from Anonymous recently). It started with music, now its movies, no electronic media will really be safe.


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