What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part V

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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part V

Post by stratton »

nisiprius wrote:I also picked up a paperback copy of Donald Hamilton's The Poisoners at a library book sale. He's a guilty pleasure of mine, and alas, unlike (say) John D. MacDonald or Ian Fleming, he's vanished from sight, can't even get his book through the library--probably because they were never issued in hardbound--and the used copies on the Internet are outrageously expensive. He was billed a sort of American counterpart to James Bond which is ridiculous of course--even if his protagonist, Matt Helm, also has two four-letter monosyllabic names. Entertaining junky thrillers nevertheless. There was at least one Matt Helm movie made, starring Dean Martin. It was awful, about as close to the books as the first (awful) movie of Casino Royale was to the novels.
Interesting. I have about 20 of these from my dad. Mine aren't worth anything because he read them multiple times and bent the cover around to the back. They are 30 to 40 years old so the pages will pop out if someone is too enthusiastic opening the book. Sproing!

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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part V

Post by Mrs.Feeley »

Thomas Mann's "The Magic Mountain."

Having never read Mann, he's on my Bucket List.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part V

Post by randomwalk »

I just finished The Orphan Master's Son by Adam Johnson.

Now reading A People's Tragedy by Orlando Figes.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part V

Post by gkaplan »

I currently am reading Bitburg in Moral and Political Perspective. This a collection of essays, press commentaries, addresses, and so on, discussing President Reagan’s decision to visit Kolmeshöhe military cemetery, where fifty Waffen SS were buried.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part V

Post by Die Hard »

Classic Crews by Harry Crews
Includes-
A Childhood: The Biography of a Place
The Gypsy's Curse
Car

I read an AP article saying he recently died so I wanted to read some of his works.

"Harry Crews was a prolific novelist whose often freakish characters populate a strange, violent, and darkly humorous South. He was also the author of a widely lauded memoir, A Childhood: The Biography of a Place, about growing up poor in rural south Georgia. Crews focused much of his work on the poor white South, influencing a growing number of younger writers to do the same, including Larry Brown and Tim McLaurin. Most of his books are set in modern-day Florida or Georgia and are often edgy in their exploration of such extremities as blood sports, the limits of sanity, and bizarre compulsions and obsessions.

Oddly enough I have enjoyed reading his stories.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part V

Post by Puakinekine »

Just finished CJ Sansom's Dissolution. Will be be reading more of this series about a hunchback lawyer/detective in Tudor England. Not brilliant, but highly readable.

Just started Chad Harbach's The Art of Fielding. (Baseball, college, life) We'll see how it goes. About 10 years ago I gave myself permission not to finish books if they got tedious--very liberating.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part V

Post by Valuethinker »

wacobay wrote:Thanks for the excellent suggestions on this thread. I'm currently rereading the second volumn of William Manchester's biography of Winston Churchill:Alone. I have been reading ,teaching and thinking about history for about 40 years now and I still think the introduction to this book where Manchester describes Churchill at Chartwell is the best history writing I've ever had the pleasure of reading. Thanks for reading this.
Although Manchester is basically accused of writing hagiography on Churchill. I would say I thought his Goodbye Darkness about his time in the Pacific War in the Marines, superlative.

Let's face it, Churchill was wrong about virtually everything in peacetime: Ireland, India, the Gold Standard and $4.85 sterling, was a hopeless post war PM who did huge damage to his party. And in the conduct of the war itself a lot of his ideas were either distractions (SOE) or downright disastrous (sending the London Division to Singapore when it was doomed).

He had a child's eye view of war, unusually for a veteran. that we won (see Richard Overy) has as much to do with the nature of a War Cabinet system that could shut down the PM's wilder ideas (whereas the Germans of course had no control on The Leader's obsessions) But his Chief of Staff, Alanbrooke's, diaries make it clear just how hard it was some times-- Alanbrooke loathed Winston.

He was right, and presciently right, once- on Adolph Hitler, and what it would take to beat Germany (from a war of science to the necessity of involving the United States). And in the Spring of 1940 that is what we needed, an obstinate, bullying man with a single idea.

For that he lies besides Pitt, Disraeli, Lloyd George, perhaps Thatcher, certainly Atlee, as our greatest of Prime Ministers. For that the emotions he conjurs up, and the very word 'Churchillian' are justifed.

When the barge went up the Thames carrying his body to Westminster Abbey, the construction cranes, each in turn, dipped at his passing. It was Britain's last day as a great nation in the affairs of the world, but that that is past, is not to say it did not have its glory or its significance.

But let's not let the memory of his great moment, and his superlative ability (really down to 5 speeches) to 'muster the English language and send it into battle in the cause of freedom' (paraphrasing John Kennedy) obscure our memory of his flaws.

Upon his very first entrance into the House of Commons as Britain's new Prime Minister on Monday, May 13, 1940, Winston Churchill only received a lukewarm reception from the assembly, while at his side, outgoing Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain was heartily cheered. Churchill then made this brief statement, which has become one of the finest call-to-arms yet uttered. It came at the beginning of World War II when the armies of Adolf Hitler were roaring across Europe, seemingly unstoppable, conquering country after country for Nazi Germany, and when the survival of Great Britain itself appeared rather uncertain.
Listen to the entire speech

Mister Speaker, on Friday evening last I received His Majesty's commission to form a new Administration. It was the evident wish and will of Parliament and the nation that this should be conceived on the broadest possible basis and that it should include all parties, both those who supported the late Government and also the parties of the Opposition. I have completed the most important part of this task. A War Cabinet has been formed of five Members, representing, with the Liberal Opposition, the unity of the nation. The three party Leaders have agreed to serve, either in the War Cabinet or in high executive office. The three Fighting Services have been filled. It was necessary that this should be done in one single day, on account of the extreme urgency and rigor of events. A number of other key positions were filled yesterday, and I am submitting a further list to His Majesty tonight. I hope to complete the appointment of the principal Ministers during tomorrow. The appointment of the other Ministers usually takes a little longer, but I trust that when Parliament meets again, this part of my task will be completed, and that the administration will be complete in all respects.

Sir, I considered it in the public interest to suggest that the House should be summoned to meet today. Mr. Speaker agreed, and took the necessary steps, in accordance with the powers conferred upon him by the Resolution of the House. At the end of the proceedings today, the Adjournment of the House will be proposed until Tuesday, the 21st of May, with, of course, provision for earlier meeting, if need be. The business to be considered during that week will be notified to Members at the earliest opportunity. I now invite the House, by the Resolution which stands in my name, to record its approval of the steps taken and to declare its confidence in the new Government.

Sir, to form an Administration of this scale and complexity is a serious undertaking in itself, but it must be remembered that we are in the preliminary stage of one of the greatest battles in history, that we are in action at many points in Norway and in Holland, that we have to be prepared in the Mediterranean, that the air battle is continuous and that many preparations have to be made here at home. In this crisis I hope I may be pardoned if I do not address the House at any length today. I hope that any of my friends and colleagues, or former colleagues, who are affected by the political reconstruction, will make all allowances for any lack of ceremony with which it has been necessary to act. I would say to the House, as I said to those who have joined the government: "I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat."

We have before us an ordeal of the most grievous kind. We have before us many, many long months of struggle and of suffering. You ask, what is our policy? I will say: It is to wage war, by sea, land and air, with all our might and with all the strength that God can give us; to wage war against a monstrous tyranny, never surpassed in the dark and lamentable catalogue of human crime. That is our policy. You ask, what is our aim? I can answer in one word: victory; victory at all costs, victory in spite of all terror, victory, however long and hard the road may be; for without victory, there is no survival. Let that be realized; no survival for the British Empire, no survival for all that the British Empire has stood for, no survival for the urge and impulse of the ages, that mankind will move forward towards its goal. But I take up my task with buoyancy and hope. I feel sure that our cause will not be suffered to fail among men. At this time I feel entitled to claim the aid of all, and I say, "Come then, let us go forward together with our united strength."

Winston Churchill - May 13, 1940
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part V

Post by Valuethinker »

MattE wrote:
goldendad wrote:Just finished Atlas Shrugged.
I don't know if anyone else here would read xkcd, but the alt text on Monday's perfectly summed up my feelings on Rand: "I had a hard time with Ayn Rand, because I found myself enthusiastically agreeing with the first 90% of every sentence, but getting lost at 'therefore, be a huge ***hole to everyone.'"
It read more than anything like Baby Nietsche. See the movie 'Fight Club' for another take on it (a masterful satire). That wonderful adolescent sense of being on our own, unappreciated by lesser mortals. Bracing stuff when you are 17.

Tobias Wolf has a portrayal of her visit to his boys school in 'Old School' with her tribe of acolytes- she must have been quite a character.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part V

Post by ruralavalon »

I just finished Plain Tales from the Hills, by Rudyard Kipling.

I just started The Deerslayer, by James Fenimore Cooper.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part V

Post by ruralavalon »

FabLab wrote:
ruralavalon wrote:
JMacDonald wrote:Hi,
I just finished Edmund Morris's trilogy on Theodore Roosevelt. I have to say after reading this biography I found Teddy to be endlessly fascinating. I was sorry to see the story end when he died at the age of 60.

http://www.amazon.com/Edmund-Morriss-Th ... 89&sr=1-55
Excellent biography in my opinion, T.R. is much more interesting than the man presented in history texts.

Anyone interested in T.R. might also like The River of Doubt: Theodore Roosevelt's Darkest Journey, by Candice Millard.
http://www.amazon.com/The-River-Doubt-T ... 0385507968 .
You may also want to read David McCullough's Mornings on Horseback, which received the National Book Award.
I just bought the Kindle version of Mornings on Horseback, and plan to read it soon. Thank you for the recommendation.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part V

Post by Sunny Sarkar »

I'm reading Mark Twain's Charles Dickens' Oliver Twist, a little every day, with my daughter, when she goes to bed - the best reading experience of my life!
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part V

Post by gkaplan »

Mark Twain wrote Oliver Twist?
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part V

Post by Sunny Sarkar »

gkaplan wrote:Mark Twain wrote Oliver Twist?
Sorry, Dickens :-) Actually there was some kind of an anniversary of the book this week - they were talking about the "workhouse" on NPR, the part was read by Dickens' grandson.
"Buy-and-hold, long-term, all-market-index strategies, implemented at rock-bottom cost, are the surest of all routes to the accumulation of wealth" - John C. Bogle
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part V

Post by Valuethinker »

ruralavalon wrote:I just finished Plain Tales from the Hills, by Rudyard Kipling.

I just started The Deerslayer, by James Fenimore Cooper.

Long. Long ago. Masterpiece Theatre on US PBS ran The Last of the Mohicans as a miniseries.

I still remember it, and that was probably about 1973. Not sure whether it was an ITV or BBC production. But it was that good. Much better than the Daniel Day Lewis movie.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part V

Post by Valuethinker »

Sunny Sarkar wrote:
gkaplan wrote:Mark Twain wrote Oliver Twist?
Sorry, Dickens :-) Actually there was some kind of an anniversary of the book this week - they were talking about the "workhouse" on NPR, the part was read by Dickens' grandson.
Dickens knew of what he spoke. His father was in a debtor's prison and, I vaguely remember, Dickens in a work house.

Dickens and Twain. 2 giants of 19th century social literature.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part V

Post by Valuethinker »

gkaplan wrote:I currently am reading Bitburg in Moral and Political Perspective. This a collection of essays, press commentaries, addresses, and so on, discussing President Reagan’s decision to visit Kolmeshöhe military cemetery, where fifty Waffen SS were buried.
I really don't look forward to the conversation where I have to explain to some 'young person' who the SchutzStaffel were, and why we hate them so. Memories grow old and the last survivors will soon march off into the sunset. Or as the saying goes 'Soldiers live. And wonder why'. Soldiers and concentration camp inmates.

I may loathe Spielberg, but at least he has given us imagery to go along with the cold words.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part V

Post by Valuethinker »

Sunny Sarkar wrote:
gkaplan wrote:Mark Twain wrote Oliver Twist?
Sorry, Dickens :-) Actually there was some kind of an anniversary of the book this week - they were talking about the "workhouse" on NPR, the part was read by Dickens' grandson.
I am thinking-- Dickens 200th anniversary?
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'On Intelligence' by Jeff Hawkins

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neuro science + computer science + philosophy + science fiction = 'On Intelligence' by Jeff Hawkins

Jeff was the architect of the Palm Pilot and Treo smart phone.

In this book he develops and explores a very interesting unified theory of how the human brain works and what this implies for the field of computer science.

He explains the limitations of past approaches to machine intelligence (AI, neural networks), and how a new architecture overcomes these limitations.

He speculates how artificial brains might work, and what they might be capable of.

He explores what he thinks it means to be intelligent, consciousness, and self aware, and how these concepts arise in the human brain.
Intelligence is measured by the capacity to remember and predict patterns in the world
We can now see where Alan Turing went wrong. Prediction, not behavior, is the proof of intelligence.
Fascinating
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part V

Post by Sam I Am »

Message deleted.
Last edited by Sam I Am on Sun Oct 06, 2013 2:55 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part V

Post by Default User BR »

Valuethinker wrote:
ruralavalon wrote:I just started The Deerslayer, by James Fenimore Cooper.
Long. Long ago. Masterpiece Theatre on US PBS ran The Last of the Mohicans as a miniseries.
Speaking of Twain, his essay Fenimore Cooper's Literary Offenses is one of the funniest things I ever read.


Brian
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part V

Post by chaz »

" Worth Dying For" by Lee Child. A terrific author IMO.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part V

Post by chaz »

dewey wrote:
chaz wrote:
gkaplan wrote:Since when does Pat Buchanan rate as an historian, let alone first rate?
I agree - but some people can have a different opinion.
I agree--but if we offer an opinion, we should cast it as such and not offer it in the language of certainty. Someone else on this post phrased an opinion on a different book this way: "One of the best books ever written in my view."
IMO Gordon was merely expressing his opinion.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part V

Post by Petrocelli »

I just finished Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand.

I am about halfway through Seabiscuit by the same author.

Both books are amazing.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part V

Post by Igglesman »

Isaac's Storm: A Man, a Time, and the Deadliest Hurricane in History by Erik Larson

Yep, this is why we heed hurricane warnings. Thanks for the BH recommendation for this book.

IMO, I also liked Unbroken.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part V

Post by gkaplan »

I am about fifty pages into The Third Reich at War 1939-1945 by Richard J. Evans. This is the third book in a trilogy. For some reason, my library system only has the second and third books.
Gordon
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part V

Post by MattE »

Finished Hyperion, moving on to The Moon is a Harsh Mistress by Heinlein.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part V

Post by Petrocelli »

gkaplan wrote:I am about fifty pages into The Third Reich at War 1939-1945 by Richard J. Evans. This is the third book in a trilogy. For some reason, my library system only has the second and third books.
I didn't read the book, but I do know how it ends. SPOILER ALERT! The Germans lose.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part V

Post by Default User BR »

MattE wrote:Finished Hyperion, moving on to The Moon is a Harsh Mistress by Heinlein.
Is this the first time for TMiaHM, or a reread?


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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part V

Post by 2br02b »

I did not take mathematics in college but the subject fascinates me. Just finished reading " The Nothing That Is: A Natural History of Zero" by Robert Kaplan. All in all, a little bit disappointed as the the writing gets dry (for a math book of course) and argument seems to be forced in some places ( e.g. when trying to disprove India as birthplace of zero). Simon Singh's "Fermat's Enigma" was the best mathematics book I have read so far.

http://www.amazon.com/Fermats-Enigma-Gr ... 967&sr=8-3
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part V

Post by jerome99 »

"Wild Ride"

Ann Auerbach
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part V

Post by BenBritt »

The Bright Country by the late Harry Middleton.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part V

Post by stratton »

Petrocelli wrote:
gkaplan wrote:I am about fifty pages into The Third Reich at War 1939-1945 by Richard J. Evans. This is the third book in a trilogy. For some reason, my library system only has the second and third books.
I didn't read the book, but I do know how it ends. SPOILER ALERT! The Germans lose.
Petro,

You ought to write a joke book about Bogleheads. :twisted:

Know any good lawyer joke books?

Paul
...and then Buffy staked Edward. The end.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part V

Post by MattE »

Default User BR wrote:
MattE wrote:Finished Hyperion, moving on to The Moon is a Harsh Mistress by Heinlein.
Is this the first time for TMiaHM, or a reread?


Brian
First time, but I've read most of his other works.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part V

Post by abuss368 »

Money Talks, Bullsh*t Walks: Inside the Contrarian Mind of Billionaire Mogul Sam Zell

Not bad. I would like to see a good, in depth book written by or about Mr. Zell.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part V

Post by Stephen »

Thomas Mann's Buddenbrooks
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part V

Post by Default User BR »

MattE wrote:
Default User BR wrote:
MattE wrote:Finished Hyperion, moving on to The Moon is a Harsh Mistress by Heinlein.
Is this the first time for TMiaHM, or a reread?
First time, but I've read most of his other works.
Interesting. It's a transitional work, you can see the seeds of what will be coming in the future.

Normally I'd be reporting an SF work myself, but I've lately been off-genre, reading the various Spellman books by Lisa Lutz, about a somewhat dysfunctional family of private detectives.


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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part V

Post by abuss368 »

I did just finish reading Sandy Weill - The Real Deal.

515 pages too long. Avoid it. Corporate and banking greed with no real creation of wealth except for pushing paper.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part V

Post by chaz »

"A Plague of Secrets" by John Lescroart.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part V

Post by Sidney »

abuss368 wrote:I did just finish reading Sandy Weill - The Real Deal.

515 pages too long. Avoid it. Corporate and banking greed with no real creation of wealth except for pushing paper.
Sandy Weill was a mean guy. Part of the 10%
I always wanted to be a procrastinator.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part V

Post by chaz »

Sidney wrote:
abuss368 wrote:I did just finish reading Sandy Weill - The Real Deal.

515 pages too long. Avoid it. Corporate and banking greed with no real creation of wealth except for pushing paper.
Sandy Weill was a mean guy. Part of the 10%
But smart when he acquired Travelers Ins. Co.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part V

Post by LH »

how to be black - written by a writer for the "Onion"

The first three books of the Barsoom series, the first one is "the princess of mars", written by the tarzan author in 1920s I think, all free on gutenberg
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/62

The crash of 1929
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part V

Post by Juniormint »

The Dragon's Path - Daniel Abraham

Actually not enjoying it so far but we'll see.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part V

Post by nisiprius »

Just finished The Summer Tree, by Guy Gavriel Kay. He's apparently considered to be a giant of modern fantasy, so I hope I don't offend anyone when I say it was OK, but... Tolkien he ain't. Pretty good, I'm going to read the other two, but... I have to work a bit at suspending disbelief.

And a heroic prince named Aileron? It's his own world and his own spelling and transliteration rules, he could have named him Ailuron or Aileraan or Aelaronn. I keep wanting to scream "Oh, just call him 'Fuselage' and be done with it."
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part V

Post by steve roy »

Reading the paperback edition of "Autobiography of Mark Twain - Volume I." Bigger print and no footnotes. Having read other UC Press Twain volumes -- in hard cover -- I can attest that the footnotes get REAL distracting, sometimes taking up half the page. It's hard to get a flow when your eyes keep flicking to footnotes.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part V

Post by steve roy »

Petrocelli wrote:
gkaplan wrote:I am about fifty pages into The Third Reich at War 1939-1945 by Richard J. Evans. This is the third book in a trilogy. For some reason, my library system only has the second and third books.
I didn't read the book, but I do know how it ends. SPOILER ALERT! The Germans lose.
Thanks a LOT.

You've ruined World War II for me.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part V

Post by thirdman »

"His Excellency, George Washington," by Joseph Ellis.

I was recently in Wash, DC and visited Mt. Vernon. I was intrigued by the film shown depicting Washington as a heroic, brave, honest individual. I wondered about the man, and the politics of the time. Also, i was curious about the contrast with our time. Could someone be so altruistic?

I learned that Washington first fought for the British in the French and Indian War. Also, with the internet i could read the remarkable "George Washington's Journal." A first hand account by the 21 year old Major Washington to the Ohio to deliver a message to the French commandant from the Governor of Virginia.

So, why was the Revolutionary War fought? I guess I had better read to find out.
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SHL
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part V

Post by SHL »

I'm still plowing through "Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire", by Gibbon.

Also reading Master and Commander, by Patrick O'Brian, and Talent is Overrated, by Geoff Colvin.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part V

Post by magician »

A Study in Sherlock; my daughter gave it to me for Christmas.

(If you're wondering why it's taken me almost 5 months to read, the reason is that I first had to finish the other book she gave me: How the Scots Invented the Modern World. Both are quite good.)
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part V

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thirdman wrote:"His Excellency, George Washington," by Joseph Ellis.

I was recently in Wash, DC and visited Mt. Vernon. I was intrigued by the film shown depicting Washington as a heroic, brave, honest individual. I wondered about the man, and the politics of the time. Also, i was curious about the contrast with our time. Could someone be so altruistic? ...
I read the book and loved it and Washington; Ellis really nailed his subject. What surprised me, even to the point of laughter, was how very, very lucky Washington was to escape serious injury during the Revolutionary War and even after it. For that he was called "destiny's child," always emerging unscathed from near disaster to go on to even greater heights. Much also is written about him in a book I'm now reading, "Alexander Hamilton" by Ron Chernow. I never realized how closely, long, and well he and Hamilton had worked together.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part V

Post by gkaplan »

I read Chernow's Andrew Hamilton when it first came out. It's an excellent book. Mr. Chernow is a terrific writer. His biography of Washington has been on my to-read list since the day it came out. I just haven't had the time to read it, what with all the other books I'm reading.
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