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-   -   Books Ok for the high brow crowd what books you are reading (https://www.chiefsplanet.com/BB/showthread.php?t=137161)

KurtCobain 06-09-2007 12:16 AM
I read a Clifford book today!

Fishpicker 06-09-2007 12:47 AM
Quote:
Originally Posted by ChiefFripp
I just finished World War Z by Max Brooks, it's a great book that explores the yin-yang of human character.
that's a great book and very fun reading. I'd reccomend you check out Day by Day: Armageddon by John Bourne.

I just finished reading Musashi by Eiji Yoshikawa. its a folk-tale about Japan's premiere fencer. He is a samurai washout that goes criminal (imprisoned) and is reborn a legend.

OnTheWarpath15 06-09-2007 08:15 AM
Just finished:

Take Me To The River by Peter Alson.

Good read about his journey to the World Series of Poker, 2006

The Ice Man: Confessions Of A Mafia Contract Killer by Philip Carlo.

Fantastic read about Richard Kuklinski, who worked as a hitman for all 5 mafia families. One of, if not the best True Crime books I've read.



Currently reading:

Just bought 2 of Bret Easton Ellis' classics, plus his newest. (I think):


Less Than Zero (currently reading)

American Psycho (saving for my flight to Vancouver later this month)

Lunar Park

Delano 06-09-2007 08:39 AM
Quote:
Originally Posted by keg in kc
I've read them all (I think) 3 times. A lot of people have complained about the length of the series and there's the risk that he won't finish the 12th and (supposedly) final book, A Memory of Light, due to serious illness (amyloidosis with cardiomyopathy), but I don't think I'd ever tell anyone not to give them a shot.

It's a very complex story with dozens of characters (a complaint of some folks, so many stories to follow) but it's an easy world to get lost in for weeks at a time, and I've found that the characters really "live" in the story. As in I care about what happens to them, insofar as one can in the reading of a book...

Sometimes his prose does run a little on the "too much" side of the line, and I'll find myself skimming over a page or three, but generally they're the kind of books I can't put down, and, as I said, I've re-read them more than once.

May be my favorite fantasy series of all. At least in the top 5.

But expect to be reading for a loooong time if you do get into it...
The Wheel of Time ranks second behind the Lord of the Rings as far as fantasy goes, IMO. It is definitely worth picking up if you enjoy fantasy. By the time you finish off Knife of Dreams, you may be lucky and Jordan could be finishing book 12.

You may want to start with his novella turned novel, New Spring. I think it does a good job of kicking off the series for a new reader. I recently saw it at Barnes and Noble for 5.98 on clearance.

keg in kc 06-09-2007 11:54 AM
Quote:
Originally Posted by Delano
The Wheel of Time ranks second behind the Lord of the Rings as far as fantasy goes, IMO. It is definitely worth picking up if you enjoy fantasy. By the time you finish off Knife of Dreams, you may be lucky and Jordan could be finishing book 12.
I haven't checked his blog at dragonmount for a while, but his latest entry, from June 1, looks promising:
Quote:
Originally Posted by Robert Jordan
Well guys, I’m back. I know you’d like to hear from me every week or even more frequently, but I’m afraid that once a month is going to be about it for a time. I am trying to put every spare moment into A Memory of Light. There aren’t too many of those spare moments right now. My meds induce fatigue, so it is hard to keep going. I’ll fight it through, though. Don’t worry. The book will be finished as soon as I can manage it. NOT in time for this Christmas, I fear. I don’t know where that rumor got started. Except that Tom Doherty, my publisher, wants to put out the Prologue if I can have it polished to my satisfaction by August. That isn’t easy. I always hate letting go. I have rewritten prologues almost from scratch after I finished the rest of the novel. I always think I can do better with another go around. Oh, well, I’ll give it a try.

milkman 06-09-2007 12:16 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by Delano
The Wheel of Time ranks second behind the Lord of the Rings as far as fantasy goes, IMO. It is definitely worth picking up if you enjoy fantasy. By the time you finish off Knife of Dreams, you may be lucky and Jordan could be finishing book 12.

You may want to start with his novella turned novel, New Spring. I think it does a good job of kicking off the series for a new reader. I recently saw it at Barnes and Noble for 5.98 on clearance.
As much as I like "The Wheel of Time", I think that "The Sword of Truth" series by Terry Godkind is even better.

In both series, I believe I'm waiting for the 12th book.

milkman 06-09-2007 12:18 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by keg in kc
I've read them all (I think) 3 times. A lot of people have complained about the length of the series and there's the risk that he won't finish the 12th and (supposedly) final book, A Memory of Light, due to serious illness (amyloidosis with cardiomyopathy), but I don't think I'd ever tell anyone not to give them a shot.

It's a very complex story with dozens of characters (a complaint of some folks, so many stories to follow) but it's an easy world to get lost in for weeks at a time, and I've found that the characters really "live" in the story. As in I care about what happens to them, insofar as one can in the reading of a book...

Sometimes his prose does run a little on the "too much" side of the line, and I'll find myself skimming over a page or three, but generally they're the kind of books I can't put down, and, as I said, I've re-read them more than once.

May be my favorite fantasy series of all. At least in the top 5.

But expect to be reading for a loooong time if you do get into it...
Have you read "The Sword of Truth" series I mention in my previous post?

keg in kc 06-09-2007 12:20 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by milkman
Have you read "The Sword of Truth" series I mention in my previous post?
Actually reading it right now. I'm about 3/4 through book 6, Faith of the Fallen.

milkman 06-09-2007 12:24 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by keg in kc
Actually reading it right now. I'm about 3/4 through book 6, Faith of the Fallen.
Thoughts?

keg in kc 06-09-2007 01:53 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by milkman
Thoughts?
With the caveat that I'm only a little over halfway through the series, I'd say that I think it's 'okay'. It's occasionally pretty mature in content, which I like, but at the same time, some of the writing can be pretty poor, particularly when dealing with relationships (usually Kahlan and Richard talking or thinking). There've been parts that made me grimace with the bad dime-store romance kind of content.

I'd probably put it on par with what I've read of Terry Brooks' Shannara series. Not bad, but not my favorite, either. Not on the level of Wheel of Time or Song of Ice and Fire, in my opinion, but good enough to recommend.

Sam Hall 06-09-2007 03:16 PM
"Ball Four" by Jim Bouton never gets old.

pikesome 06-09-2007 03:23 PM
I picked up:

The Politics of Hunger by C Paul Vincent about the WWI Allied blockade of Germany after the Armistice was signed.

King David's Spaceship by Jerry Pournelle I've read a good number of his books but never this one.

TrickyNicky 06-09-2007 03:28 PM
Currently reading a few books:

Death By Black Hole by Neil DeGrasse Tyson.
Reefer Madness by Eric Schlossler.
Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett.

Finished Year Zero by Jeff Long. He has a great writing style, and it was interesting enough, just the end was a little disappointing.

keg in kc 06-09-2007 04:58 PM
I don't remember if I mentioned it on this thread or not, I think only on the thread for the show itself, but I've recently become a fan of the Dresden Files books, by Jim Butcher. I just finished the fourth, Summer Knight, in about two days. I'm not sure how to describe them, they're not exactly literature, but they are pretty smart, and I really like the so-called 'urban fantasy' vibe they set. They're fun books, quick, easy reads, and have become one of my favorite series.

Reaper16 06-09-2007 07:22 PM
The Collected Gastronomical Works of M.F.K. Fisher. She's such an inspiration to my writing.

milkman 06-10-2007 09:40 AM
Quote:
Originally Posted by keg in kc
With the caveat that I'm only a little over halfway through the series, I'd say that I think it's 'okay'. It's occasionally pretty mature in content, which I like, but at the same time, some of the writing can be pretty poor, particularly when dealing with relationships (usually Kahlan and Richard talking or thinking). There've been parts that made me grimace with the bad dime-store romance kind of content.

I'd probably put it on par with what I've read of Terry Brooks' Shannara series. Not bad, but not my favorite, either. Not on the level of Wheel of Time or Song of Ice and Fire, in my opinion, but good enough to recommend.
Yeah, the romance between Richard and Kahlan can be tiresome, but I find it to be less tiresome than Robert Jordan's anal attention to detail right down to the very last scratch on a chair leg on a set of unmatched chairs in a sparse tent.

That is why I find "The Sword of Truth" series to be a bit better than "The Wheel of Time"

Jordan spends what seems like pages on minutiae.

Adept Havelock 06-10-2007 11:40 AM
Quote:
Originally Posted by pikesome
I picked up:

The Politics of Hunger by C Paul Vincent about the WWI Allied blockade of Germany after the Armistice was signed.

King David's Spaceship by Jerry Pournelle I've read a good number of his books but never this one.

If you haven't read them (or want to read them again), all of the Falkenberg's Legions novels (And Prince of Sparta/Go Tell the Spartans) have been released in a hardbound edition titles "The Prince".

NewChief 06-15-2007 08:45 PM
I'm reading a bunch of high interest stuff suitable for high school students over the summer in an effort to be able to better recommend books to my students. In the last week, I've hit a bunch of non fiction:

Hole in my Life by Jack Gantos: story of a young kid who basically screws up his life by getting involved in drug smugglings. He goes to the pen and truly discovers himself as a person and author there. Jack Gantos goes on to become a well known children/juvenile author of fiction.

Living At The Edge Of the World : A Teenager's Survival In The Tunnels Of Grand Central Station by Tina S. and Jamie Pastor Bolnick: story of a teen runaway who lives as a crack addict in Grand Central Station for many years but eventually finds her way to a normal life.

Generation Kill by Evan Wright. Story of 1st Marine Recon during the first few weeks of the invasion of Iraq. If you haven't checked this book out, I think every American should read it, regardless of where you stand on the war. It's a frank, honest portrayal of war in all its aspects.

pikesome 06-15-2007 08:51 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by Adept Havelock
If you haven't read them (or want to read them again), all of the Falkenberg's Legions novels (And Prince of Sparta/Go Tell the Spartans) have been released in a hardbound edition titles "The Prince".
Good to know, I've got most of the Falkenberg related novels except Go Tell... I even bought a used copy off Amazon only to end up with some POS book with the right title but not by Pournelle.

GoHuge 06-15-2007 08:56 PM
I'm on the last book of the Left Behind series. Whether your a Christian or not it is pretty intense stuff. I'm not much of a book reader but these books really grab a hold of you.

Adept Havelock 06-15-2007 09:01 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by GoHuge39
I'm on the last book of the Left Behind series. Whether your a Christian or not it is pretty intense stuff. I'm not much of a book reader but these books really grab a hold of you.
My biggest criticism with that series was that Jenkins/LaHaye pitched it is a 3 book trilogy. The publisher talked them into stetching into a dozen-plus book monstrosity. Heck, the last few books were double-spaced, with margins larger than most high school students term papers.

NewChief 06-15-2007 09:01 PM
Oh, I forgot.

I'm also reading A Mind at a Time by Mel Levine as "light" (haha) reading. It's an absolutely fascinating examination of the way people learn. If you have school age kids or are interested in the way the human brain processes information, this is a wonderful book. It's somewhat dense reading interspersed with lots of very readable case studies, but it's not hugely scientific and boring. I can't tell you how many times, as I'm reading this book, I'm thinking, "Man, I wish soandso's parents would read this book. It would help them understand and help him so much."

pikesome 06-15-2007 11:02 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by Adept Havelock
My biggest criticism with that series was that Jenkins/LaHaye pitched it is a 3 book trilogy. The publisher talked them into stetching into a dozen-plus book monstrosity. Heck, the last few books were double-spaced, with margins larger than most high school students term papers.
So they were ghost written by Robert Jordan?

Delano 06-15-2007 11:07 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by pikesome
So they were ghost written by Robert Jordan?
You know that Robert Jordan is not his real name? The Wheel of Time is ghost written.

WARPARTY70 06-16-2007 12:29 PM
Public Enemies By Bryan Burrough
It's a astonishing true story of America's first and greatest crime wave and the birth of FBI.
A crime wave that started with the Kansas City Massacre on June 17th 1933
Real interesting stuff!!!!!!

OnTheWarpath15 09-18-2007 04:29 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by NewPhin
Generation Kill by Evan Wright. Story of 1st Marine Recon during the first few weeks of the invasion of Iraq. If you haven't checked this book out, I think every American should read it, regardless of where you stand on the war. It's a frank, honest portrayal of war in all its aspects.
Just finished it.

Outstanding book. Couldn't put it down.

I actually missed it when you posted it, just found out that HBO is doing a mini-series on the book, and thought I better read it before the series airs next year.

Fairplay 09-18-2007 04:48 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by NewPhin
A Mind at a Time by Mel Levine as "light" (haha) reading. It's an absolutely fascinating examination of the way people learn. If you have school age kids or are interested in the way the human brain processes information, this is a wonderful book. It's somewhat dense reading interspersed with lots of very readable case studies, but it's not hugely scientific and boring. much."


Huh?

sportsman1 09-18-2007 04:58 PM
From Hope to Higher Ground By: Mike Huckabee

and soon

If I did it : Oj Simpson

Adept Havelock 09-18-2007 04:59 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by pikesome
So they were ghost written by Robert Jordan?

ROFL

I suspect the last book in his WOT series will be. I believe he is dead.

Frazod 09-18-2007 06:04 PM
I just finished the second new Godfather novel, Godfather's Revenge. It had its moments, but was overall rather lame. The author took himself and his cute little alternate reality waaaaaaaaaaaaay too seriously.

After that tripe, I wanted something serious, so now I'm reading a history of the Peloponnesian War.

Delano 09-18-2007 06:07 PM
I'm putting in some work on Searching for Yellowstone by Paul Schullery. It is a nice compilation of Yellowstone history, but Mr. Schullery gets a bit repetitive at times (especially about the elk management issue).

NewChief 09-18-2007 06:09 PM
For anyone who hasn't seen it yet:

www.goodreads.com

It's like myspace, but it's based on books. It's a pretty cool way to keep track of what you've read, what you're going to read, and what your friends are reading.

I've been reading absolutely tons of Young Adult fiction. I've probably cranked through 30 books in the last two months.

NewChief 09-18-2007 06:14 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by Fairplay
Huh?
Eh? What I mean is that you don't need to be a neurologist to understand it. He makes it so a layman can understand it.

pikesome 09-18-2007 07:07 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by Adept Havelock
ROFL

I suspect the last book in his WOT series will be. I believe he is dead.
Even though I've said some rather harsh things about him and his later books I'm a bit sad about his passing. There just don't seem to be much in the way of good Tolkin-esque epic fantasy and WOT was definitely in that mold.

Delano 09-18-2007 08:39 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by pikesome
Even though I've said some rather harsh things about him and his later books I'm a bit sad about his passing. There just don't seem to be much in the way of good Tolkin-esque epic fantasy and WOT was definitely in that mold.
Damn, I didn't realize he died just two days ago.

RIP James Oliver Rigney, Jr.

keg in kc 09-19-2007 08:29 AM
I didn't realize he'd passed away, either.

Sad news.

Misplaced_Chiefs_Fan 09-19-2007 08:35 AM
Currently reading:

<i>Doppleganger</i> by Marie Brennan
<i>Dhampir</i> by Barb and J.C. Hendee
<i>Star Trek:Vangard "Summon the Thunder"</i> by Dayton Ward and Kevin Dilmore
<i>The Tao of War</i> by Wang Chen, translated by Ralph Sawyer
<i>The Book of Three</i> by Lloyd Alexander

WilliamTheIrish 09-19-2007 08:40 AM
After reading several "fun" golf books, most of them funny as hell, I have settled in with a book titled It's Your Ship by Michael Abrashoff.

It's a book about a man who turned a Navy frigate into the "best damn ship in the Navy". It contains many leadership techniques that a person can apply in any business.

I'm almost done with it and recommend.

pikesome 09-19-2007 09:22 AM
I just finished trying to read The Shadow of the Torturer by Gene Wolfe. He's a very well regarded SciFi/Fantasy author and this is supposed to be his signature work. I just couldn't finish it.

I've also been on a Robert Ludlum kick lately, checking them out from the library. I'm not sure I'd call them great but they're fun to read, the plots are twisty.

I also picked up Friday by Heinlein. I realized I've never read it, might be the only Heinlein book I haven't. I'm saving it for last though, I'm pretty sure I'm going to love it.

HolyHandgernade 09-19-2007 09:28 AM
Lost Christianities: The Battle For Faiths We Never Knew, by Bart Ehrman

Actually had this one on the bookshelf for a while and didn't get to it. Read his latest book, Who Wrote The Bible? a few months back. I actually like this one a bit better.

-HH

PhillyChiefFan 09-19-2007 10:14 AM
The Blind Side : Evolution of the Game. For anyone interested, its about Michael Oher who is a **cking huge LT for Ole Miss and possibly up for draft for 2008. Really good book

JohninGpt 09-19-2007 10:27 AM
I just finished an alternate history series by Harry Turtledove. The series is based on the premise that the Battle of Antietam never happened, so there was no Emancipation Proclaimation, allowing the British and the French to enter the war and force Lincoln to negotiate peace.
The series starts with the Second Mexican War ("How Few Remain"), continues through WWI, and ends at the conclusion of his version of WWII.
Very entertaining and completely believable.

NewChief 10-24-2007 01:06 PM
Just finished The Book Thief by Markus Zusak. It's tagged as Young Adult fiction, but that's completely misleading in my opinion. This book is absolutely excellent.

Here's a good review of it off of goodreads.com
Quote:
Markus Zusak’s The Book Thief has one of the most original and striking narrators since Julian Barnes introduced us to the canny perspective of a woodlice in History of the World in 10½ Chapters. There’s no caginess about it. The first word of the first chapter’s title makes it clear that the narrator is a personified Death: the not so grim reaper. Having Death as the narrator for a book set in Germany at the start of World War II starts the book on exactly the right blackly humorous tone which continues throughout. It’s a very Jewish type of humour. I’m thinking of the classic Borsch belt comedians like Sholem Aleichem, Milton Berle or perhaps even later comedians like Billy Crystal or Woody Allen. As Harvard Professor Ruth Wisse quoted in her Radio National piece on Jewish Humour, Saul Bellow calls “characteristically Jewish” a story in which laughter and trembling are so curiously mingled that it is not easy to determine the relations between the two, or as Death puts it: “A final dirty joke. Another human punchline.” (12) This is part of the power of what Zusak does in The Book Thief.

Although The Book Thief succeeds on the most post-modern of levels, its impact on the reader is as much due to superb old fashioned plot and characterisation as anything else. It is, afterall, simply a beautiful and painful story of a young girl as she deals with an important and tragic point in history. Liesel is nine and her younger brother six, when her mother takes her and her brother to Munich to be given to foster parents. En route her brother dies: “When the coughing stopped, there was nothing but the nothingness of life moving on with a shuffle, or a near-silent twitch. A suddenness found its way onto his lips then, which were a corroded brown colour, and peeling, like old paint.” (20) Liesel is then thrust into a nightmare/dream existance which involves the thieving of a book, the development of a relationship with her foster parents, Rosa and Hans Huberman, and her growing sense of self as she ages during this period. Liesel’s coming of age is a key part of the plot, and it is possible to read the book as simply the story of Liesel. Certainly Liesel’s characterisation is enough to carry the story. When Liesel arrives at the Hubermans she is scared, almost mute, and refuses to get out of the car or into a bath, but we have already begun to love her through the lens of Death’s sympathy

Death’s own role as a character is a strong one, and he hints at a conflicted inner life. In some ways he makes himself a slave of humans – dealing with the impact of their wars and atrocities: “The boss, however, does not thank you. He asks for more.” An afterlife is hinted at very subtly, but never clarified – bodies go cold and melt and sometimes warm again as their souls are gently removed. That’s all the reader gets. The rest is left open to imagination, as is the direction that Death as character might be moving in. He’s allegorical in one sense, but so real in his sensations, longings and emotions, that it isn’t hard to imagine some kind of progression for him. As character, he may not be nice, but he has his charms, as typified by the last line in the book. Death’s most striking punchline is delivered at the very end. And like the best Jewish humour, it works by turning both fear and convention on its head, in this case, making humans the ‘other’ haunting entity. It also places the final spotlight directly on life, and the celebration and triumph of it, even in the face of man-made hatred and horror. <cite>The Book Thief </cite> is a wonderful book, full of beauty, pain, longing, joy, and sensuality. It never skirts the horror of war, death, or pain, nor does it flinch at the very real tragedy it immerses itself, sometimes graphically, in. But even at its ugliest, this is a story of the beauty and celebration, however fleeting, of human life.

NewChief 10-24-2007 01:09 PM
I started Jonathan Lethem's The Fortress of Solitude a day or so ago, and I can't put it down. Awesome coming of age story set in NYC with kids that grew up in the 70s and 80s.

Publisher's weekly note from amazon:
Quote:
If there still remains any doubt, this novel confirms Lethem's status as the poet of Brooklyn and of motherless boys. Projected through the prism of race relations, black music and pop art, Lethem's stunning, disturbing and authoritatively observed narrative covers three decades of turbulent events on Dean Street, Brooklyn. When Abraham and Rachel Ebdus arrive there in the early 1970s, they are among the first whites to venture into a mainly black neighborhood that is just beginning to be called Boerum Hill. Abraham is a painter who abandons his craft to construct tiny, virtually indistinguishable movie frames in which nothing happens. Ex-hippie Rachel, a misguided liberal who will soon abandon her family, insists on sending their son, Dylan, to public school, where he stands out like a white flag. Desperately lonely, regularly attacked and abused by the black kids ("yoked," in the parlance), Dylan is saved by his unlikely friendship with his neighbor Mingus Rude, the son of a once-famous black singer, Barnett Rude Jr., who is now into cocaine and rage at the world. The story of Dylan and Mingus, both motherless boys, is one of loyalty and betrayal, and eventually different paths in life. Dylan will become a music journalist, and Mingus, for all his intelligence, kindness, verbal virtuosity and courage, will wind up behind bars. Meanwhile, the plot manages to encompass pop music from punk rock to rap, avant-garde art, graffiti, drug use, gentrification, the New York prison system-and to sing a vibrant, sometimes heartbreaking ballad of Brooklyn throughout. Lethem seems to have devoured the '70s, '80s and '90s-inhaled them whole-and he reproduces them faithfully on the page, in prose as supple as silk and as bright, explosive and illuminating as fireworks. Scary and funny and seriously surreal, the novel hurtles on a trajectory that feels inevitable. By the time Dylan begins to break out of the fortress of solitude that has been his life, readers have shared his pain and understood his dreams.

DenverChief 10-24-2007 01:32 PM
The Process is the Punishment - Feeley

Courtroom 302 - Bogira

Lucky - Sebold

Becoming Anna - Michener

Frazod 10-24-2007 01:39 PM
I was reading Kagan's History of the Peloponnesian War, but I kind of burned out on it towards the end. Very depressing story.

Zeke Ziggle 10-24-2007 02:00 PM
I just started reading the god delusion by richard dawkins. Probably not a book for everyone but an interesting read for anyone with questions about god.

chappy 10-24-2007 02:03 PM
Fatherland by Robert Harris

NewChief 10-24-2007 05:49 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by NewPhin
For anyone who hasn't seen it yet:

www.goodreads.com

It's like myspace, but it's based on books. It's a pretty cool way to keep track of what you've read, what you're going to read, and what your friends are reading.

I've been reading absolutely tons of Young Adult fiction. I've probably cranked through 30 books in the last two months.
Just curious if anyone has signed up for goodreads.com? If you do, send me a PM and I'll tell add you as a friend.

Hydrae 10-24-2007 05:53 PM
The latest "heavy" book I read was recommended to me by BigDaddy. The Monster from Jekyll Island was a good read. It was heavily footnoted which lead me to give it more credence than I might have otherwise. While it is pretty heavy on the conspiracy theory side of things, it is still an interesting look at how the Federal Reserve came to be and some of the results of us going off the gold standard.

I picked it up because I have never had any college level economics courses and thought it would be good to know more about it. If anyone else has any recommendations of decent (not too heavy or it will just put me to sleep) books that deal with macro-economics, I would love to look into them.

Adept Havelock 10-24-2007 06:03 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by JohninGpt
I just finished an alternate history series by Harry Turtledove. The series is based on the premise that the Battle of Antietam never happened, so there was no Emancipation Proclaimation, allowing the British and the French to enter the war and force Lincoln to negotiate peace.
The series starts with the Second Mexican War ("How Few Remain"), continues through WWI, and ends at the conclusion of his version of WWII.
Very entertaining and completely believable.

I really enjoyed that as well. Have you read "The Guns of the South" or his "Worldwar/Colonization" series? The "Darkness" books by him are kind of fun too. Kind of a J.R.R. Tolkien meets the Second World War.

Another Alt. History series I'm really enjoying is Stephen Baxter's "Time's Tapestry".

http://www.amazon.com/Emperor-Times-...3270531&sr=8-1

http://www.amazon.com/Conqueror-Time...3270531&sr=8-2

Easy 6 10-24-2007 07:40 PM
I'm about 3 chapters into "Black Elk Speaks", the story of an Oglala Sioux who witnessed the Little Big Horn & Wounded Knee.

Indian culture & the Wild West in general are some of my very favorite subjects...so far its a very interesting read, i recommend it for anyone with similar interests.

Buehler445 10-24-2007 07:59 PM
I am reading "IKE: An American Hero".

It is a pretty good read. I got it at an airport so I would have something to read on the plane (wallet took it pretty hard).

It takes an in depth look at Ike's decision making and his leadership during WWII and his presidency. Very interesting.

OnTheWarpath15 10-24-2007 08:04 PM
The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism by Naomi Klein.

http://www.amazon.com/Shock-Doctrine...3277831&sr=8-1

pikesome 10-24-2007 09:47 PM
I've been hitting audio books lately since they fit in with my daily routine better. I've listened to the three Dexter books by Jeff Lindsay, part of Skin Tight by Chris Hiaasen (I need to re-check it out from the library) and I'm currently listening to Nostradamus Ate My Hamster by Robert Rankin. The Dexter books are great even though the third one's a bit different, not quite in keeping with the other two. Skin Tight was interesting, a crime story set in Miami with a bit of a different feel from what you'd expect. It's not humorous but definitely not following the formula. Nostradamus makes me think of The Hitchhiker books only weirder (yea, I know, but it is so far). I've also got Knots & Crosses by Ian Rankin (I found it looking for info about the other one) which is an apparently well regarded detective series from Scotland.

NewChief 10-25-2007 05:14 AM
Quote:
Originally Posted by pikesome
Skin Tight was interesting, a crime story set in Miami with a bit of a different feel from what you'd expect. It's not humorous but definitely not following the formula.
You don't think it's humorous? Carl Hiaasen is freaking hilarious, imo. For people on this board, I'd probably recommend Double Whammy as its vicious treatment of tournament bass fishing is cruelly gut busting.

Bob Dole 10-25-2007 05:56 AM
Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch

pikesome 10-25-2007 05:57 AM
Quote:
Originally Posted by NewPhin
You don't think it's humorous? Carl Hiaasen is freaking hilarious, imo. For people on this board, I'd probably recommend Double Whammy as its vicious treatment of tournament bass fishing is cruelly gut busting.
Well, kinda, not really, compared to Rankin, no. But their was some chuckle worthy stuff in Skin Tight.

Jenson71 11-16-2007 04:59 PM
Finished Martin Luther King Jr.'s I Have a Dream: Writings and Speeches That Changed the World edited by James Washington.

The collection details King's feelings on Gandhi and nonviolence, civil disobedience (see, Letter From a Birmingham Jail), love and Jesus Christ, philosophy, and the great role of economics in strengthening nonviolent changes.

King is one of the great heroes of America. I gained a greater appreciation of the man, his ideas, and his work from this rather short (200 pages) collection. Should be required reading for most American history classes.

Reaper16 11-16-2007 05:00 PM
Michael Pollan's "The Omnivore's Dilemma" is essential, required, important reading.

Bearcat 11-16-2007 05:06 PM
A book on UNIX. Just when I think I can get away from text books long enough to read something else...

JohninGpt 11-16-2007 05:11 PM
Ivan Doig, "Prairie Nocturne". I've read several of his novels in the past year or so. They all center around a group of families in a fictional area in Montana on the edge of the Rockies, from the late 19th century to present. Good writer.

KCUnited 11-16-2007 05:19 PM
"World War Z" - Max Brooks.

Sully 11-16-2007 05:33 PM
My wife's been getting after me to read it for a few years, but I just finished "Night" by Elie Weisel. Great book, but definitely not a feel-good time.
I also am almost done with the Secret Santa book that came out last Christmas about the local guy... just to get me in the mood for the holidays.

Road Hog 11-16-2007 08:34 PM
"The Burnt House" By Faye Kellerman

God Bless, Kurt Vonnegut!

JohninGpt 11-16-2007 08:45 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by Adept Havelock
I really enjoyed that as well. Have you read "The Guns of the South" or his "Worldwar/Colonization" series? The "Darkness" books by him are kind of fun too. Kind of a J.R.R. Tolkien meets the Second World War.

Another Alt. History series I'm really enjoying is Stephen Baxter's "Time's Tapestry".

http://www.amazon.com/Emperor-Times-...3270531&sr=8-1

http://www.amazon.com/Conqueror-Time...3270531&sr=8-2
No I haven't. I've always been fascinated with history, and kind of read him for the first time (the Great War series) on a lark. I found that the way he wrote alternate history was very plausable, even likely if certain events would have changed or not happened. I really enjoyed the whole series. But I don't know if I can get into the Sci-fi/fantasy stuff. From what I understand "Guns of the South" is based on a time traveller giving the Confederacy AK-47's, which is too big of a leap for the history guy in me.
I have read a couple other stand alone alternate histories by him that I enjoyed. One was "Ruled Britania". Sheakspeare as a resistance leader was pretty cool. And I can't remeber the other. Let me refill my Bubbakeg with rum and coke and I'll try to figure it out.

Baby Lee 11-16-2007 09:10 PM
Not exactly highbrow, but got introduced to a certain Mr. Baldacci. Good yarn spinner. It's all a little simple once it's all played out, but your turnin' pages aplenty as you go.
The appeal of Grisham and Patterson, moving into plotlines outside the legal system and crime dramas.

Hammock Parties 11-16-2007 09:20 PM
I literally read this cover to cover. I don't know what's wrong with me. It was certainly eye-opening, though.

http://img103.imageshack.us/img103/3...0627560gq4.jpg

blaise 11-16-2007 10:59 PM
I just got done reading both Blood Meridian and The Road, by Cormac McCarthy. Blood Meridian is probably the most violent book I've ever read. You have to get used to his narrative style though.
The Road is a freaking chilling book. I wasn't right for a few days after reading that book

NewChief 11-17-2007 07:39 AM
Quote:
Originally Posted by blaise
I just got done reading both Blood Meridian and The Road, by Cormac McCarthy. Blood Meridian is probably the most violent book I've ever read. You have to get used to his narrative style though.
The Road is a freaking chilling book. I wasn't right for a few days after reading that book
I finished The Road last week as well. I really liked it, probably more than any other McCarthy book. As you said, it has an eerie, chilling feel to it. It reads like a parable or something. Very good.

NewChief 11-17-2007 07:40 AM
I'm planning on rereading Crime and Punishment over the Thanksgiving Break.

pikesome 11-17-2007 07:44 AM
Quote:
Originally Posted by NewPhin
I'm planning on rereading Crime and Punishment over the Thanksgiving Break.
Dostoevsky? The Russians are too wordy and depressing for my tastes. Although I did finish C&P, something I couldn't do with War & Peace.

blaise 11-17-2007 08:52 AM
I like Dostoevsky's Notes From the Underground. It's very good, and not too long. Like an extended short story.

NewChief 11-17-2007 09:07 AM
Quote:
Originally Posted by pikesome
Dostoevsky? The Russians are too wordy and depressing for my tastes. Although I did finish C&P, something I couldn't do with War & Peace.
It's always fun to me to turn that first page of a long work like that. It's like embarking on the first step of a really long journey. I haven't tackled a large work like this since Pynchon's Against the Day. I definitely enjoy Dostoevsky more than Tolstoy, though.

NewChief 11-17-2007 09:07 AM
Quote:
Originally Posted by blaise
I like Dostoevsky's Notes From the Underground. It's very good, and not too long. Like an extended short story.
Notes is wonderful as well, though I haven't read it since I was in grad. school.

Coach 11-17-2007 09:12 AM
Rise and Fall of the 3rd Reich, by William L. Shirer.

oldandslow 11-17-2007 09:42 AM
[QUOTE=NewPhin]I finished The Road last week as well. I really liked it, probably more than any other McCarthy book. As you said, it has an eerie, chilling feel to it. It reads like a parable or something.

The Road is an excellent work. I am not a McCarthy fan, but this went beyond the man as an author. I felt a sense of surrealism for days after reading it. I am thinking about assigning it in a interdisciplinary critical thought class that I teach.

Adept Havelock 11-17-2007 10:35 AM
Quote:
Originally Posted by JohninGpt
No I haven't. I've always been fascinated with history, and kind of read him for the first time (the Great War series) on a lark. I found that the way he wrote alternate history was very plausable, even likely if certain events would have changed or not happened. I really enjoyed the whole series. But I don't know if I can get into the Sci-fi/fantasy stuff. From what I understand "Guns of the South" is based on a time traveller giving the Confederacy AK-47's, which is too big of a leap for the history guy in me.
I have read a couple other stand alone alternate histories by him that I enjoyed. One was "Ruled Britania". Sheakspeare as a resistance leader was pretty cool. And I can't remeber the other. Let me refill my Bubbakeg with rum and coke and I'll try to figure it out.
Ruled Britannia was very good, I also liked "In The Presence of my Enemies". He also did a decent two book series on an invasion of Hawaii following Pearl Harbor (Days of Infamy/End of the Beginning).

Worldwar is fun, but very hokey. The Guns of the South..well, obviously the war is over in the first 100 pages or so. The main reason I really enjoyed it was it's a fantastic presentation of a post-war Robert E. Lee, and very well researched. Especially the parts dealing the the 41st North Carolina Irregulars, IIRC.

I'd also suggest "Death is Lighter than a Feather". It's not Turtledove, but a great book about the Olympic/Coronet landings that Hiroshima made unnecessary.

NewChief 11-17-2007 11:35 AM
[QUOTE=oldandslow]
Quote:
Originally Posted by NewPhin
I finished The Road last week as well. I really liked it, probably more than any other McCarthy book. As you said, it has an eerie, chilling feel to it. It reads like a parable or something.

The Road is an excellent work. I am not a McCarthy fan, but this went beyond the man as an author. I felt a sense of surrealism for days after reading it. I am thinking about assigning it in a interdisciplinary critical thought class that I teach.
I think it would be an excellent work for critical analysis. It just has a certain gravitas to it. As I was reading it, I also couldn't help but think what a great minimalist art film the book would make.

NewChief 11-17-2007 11:38 AM
Quote:
Originally Posted by Adept Havelock
Ruled Britannia was very good, I also liked "In The Presence of my Enemies". He also did a decent two book series on an invasion of Hawaii following Pearl Harbor (Days of Infamy/End of the Beginning).

Worldwar is fun, but very hokey. The Guns of the South..well, obviously the war is over in the first 100 pages or so. The main reason I really enjoyed it was it's a fantastic presentation of a post-war Robert E. Lee, and very well researched. Especially the parts dealing the the 41st North Carolina Irregulars, IIRC.

I'd also suggest "Death is Lighter than a Feather". It's not Turtledove, but a great book about the Olympic/Coronet landings that Hiroshima made unnecessary.
One of my students is reading a Turtledove where aliens invade during WWII, forcing the Axis and Allies to unite with each other against the common enemy.


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