Book thread

[Camille]

I know there's one in the archives somewhere but I took some suggestions from there and read them. So can we start another? What books have you all read recently that would/would NOT recommend.

I have just read, "Mad, Bad and dangerous to know" and would highly recommend it. It's the bio of Ranulph Fiennes (cousin of actors Jo and Ralph) who is a well known British explorer. It really is readable though, with his dry sense of humour and "get on with it" attitude. His biggest expedition is arguably the Transglobe expedition where he went from pole to pole. Well worth a read. Bit of a naughty boy too growing up..getting himself kicked out of the SAS. Anyway, I give it a BIG

Not sure if I mentioned this one last time but I would also recommend, " Birdsong" a novel set in WWI currently being produced from screenplay. Brilliant book (and winner of several well deserved prizes) by Sebastian Faulks.

For anyone that knows who Billy Connelly is, I also read his autobiography that was gifted to me from a kind former poster on ASPD. Another one worth a read, but be warned, it does get a bit heavy in parts, but those bits pass quickly.

I'd love to hear others recommendations...

C x

[charlestudor2005]

I just finished the new "it" read for the summer: "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo."

I would never have picked it up myself, but it was recommended to me, and it was the first book I read off my Kindle (which I now love).

It was a really good book, although the SO wondered why I was reading something that had women being violently abused (she didn't read it, and IMHO, it was basically a subplot).

My biggest letdown: the author had contracted to do a series of 10 books, but only wrote 3 before passing away. So, there' not much motivation to read the other two since you don't know how the series will end.

[Camille]

Originally Posted by charlestudor2005

I just finished the new "it" read for the summer: "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo."

I keep browsing that book, but have not yet been tempted to try it.
Maybe I should add it to my list and give it a go.

C x

[LynetteMarie]

The best mentor in the world gave me The Myth of Christian America: What You Need to Know About the Separation of Church and State. It's a quick and easy read (about 120 pages,) perfect for a 2-3 hour flight. Author Mark Weldon Whitten "argues against the popular, but ill-founded thesis that America was constitutionally and institutionally founded to be a 'Christian nation.' He argues for a robust, yet properly advanced constitutional separation of church and state and full religious liberty for all."

I am currently working on When Everything Changed: The Amazing Journer of American Women from 1960 to the Present by Gail Collins. Although I've only had time to get about 40 pages into it, it rocks!

ANYTHING by writer and inker Ande Parks. His graphic novels have won critical acclaim and graphic novels-turned-movies seem to be the trend these days, so best to get to know him before he has a Hollywood (or indie) blockbuster.

Lastly, the books I've been published in are pretty darn good collaborations of short stories. But, you know, gotta' keep my secret identity, um, secret!

[charlestudor2005]

If you want to read the Christian hypothesis at the same time, read the following (or any of the series of books with a similar name by the same authors)
The Light and the Glory: Did God Have a Plan for America? [Hardcover]

Peter Marshall (Author), David Manuel (Author)

This is a book that would be embraced by the Tea Party Movement and the Christian Right (or Wrong, depending on your POV).

[arianne]

I just received the book Report to Greco - Nikos Kazantzakis and have just started reading it. A spiritual journey of sorts. Has been an interesting read so far..

[Mr.Oneeye]

Good Morning;

I should finish 'The Death of American Virtue' this evening

Book

Reading it is like reading one of those reports on a plane crash, where a concatenation of many different incidents has to happen in a particular order before disaster strikes. In the whole Starr/Clinton/Lewinsky thing, there were so many moments at which if the protagonists had chosen just slightly differently, then nothing would have happened.

I wonder if there was ever so expensive a blow job in all of human history.

Lined up I have "Zero History" by William Gibson & "Operation Mincemeat" by Ben Macintyre.

Good Reading
Cyclops

[pjorourke]

An oldie but goodie: Atlas Shrugged. Or it might be the evening news.

[Texas Contrarian]

Originally Posted by pjorourke

An oldie but goodie: Atlas Shrugged.

A good one!

If Atlas has not yet shrugged, he sure must be getting damned concerned about all the crap that's been going on lately.

[Egrbvr]

Originally Posted by pjorourke

An oldie but goodie: Atlas Shrugged. Or it might be the evening news.

I am John Galt.

[Laurentius]

In the vein of Atlas Shrugged, I'd recommend the Sword of Truth series by Terry Goodkind for good fiction reading.

Also in that vein, for the non-fiction reader who is actively interested in carrying out a John Galt plan, Starving the Monkeys by Tom Baugh. I won't claim to agree with all of his sentiments; but believe the idea overall has merit.

[TexTushHog]

How Markets Fail: The Logic of Economic Calamities, by John Cassidy

http://www.amazon.com/How-Markets-Fa...2107532&sr=8-1

A Short History of Financial Euphoria, by John Kenneth Galbraith

http://www.amazon.com/History-Financ...2107634&sr=8-1

Keynes: The Return of the Master, by Robert Sidelsky

http://www.amazon.com/Keynes-Return-...2107681&sr=1-1

Terror and Consent: The Wars of the Twenty-first Century, Phillip Bobbitt.

http://www.amazon.com/Terror-Consent...2108089&sr=1-1

In Search of Jefferson's Moose: Notes on the State of Cyberspace, by David Post

http://www.amazon.com/Search-Jeffers...2107929&sr=1-1

All are pretty self explanatory except the last one. It's nominally about the law.

Bobbitt's book is a very, very difficult read. It's not for arm chair readers. And I'm sure that I don't agree with a lot of it, but it is thought provoking.

All are very interesting and informative.

I also recently re-read Reinhold Neibuhr's The Irony of American History. Everybody ought to have to reread that book every time America declares a new war based on some knuckle-headed new notion that's not really new. An amazing book.

[charlestudor2005]

For lessons that are apparently not yet learned: The Ugly American by Burdick and Lederer
http://www.amazon.com/UGLY-AMERICAN-...2134431&sr=1-4

I read it in my teens and it still has value...

[Lovely Victoria]

I've been re-reading some of my favorite "coming of the age" books this summer.

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn - Betty Smith
The Catcher in the Rye - Salinger
Norwegian Woods - Murakami

All highly recommended.

[Mr.Oneeye]

Dear PJ;

Originally Posted by pjorourke

An oldie but goodie: Atlas Shrugged.

Surely you have heard the most cogent criticism of Ms Rosenbaum:

"There are two books that can change a 14-year-old's life: Atlas Shrugged and The Lord of the Rings. One is an unrealistic fantasy that leaves its followers unable to deal with the real world. The other involves orcs."

The most prominent of her acolytes who has recently proved his inability to deal with the real world is without a doubt Alan Greenspan; arguably one of the major architects of the mess in which many of us currently find ourselves.

Good Reading
Cyclops