Posted on 06/27/2014 8:33:15 AM PDT by Tax-chick
What are you reading? There used to be a quarterly "What are you reading?" thread, but I haven't seen it for a long time. I got a lot of good book suggestions that way, and I miss it.
So here's a thread! If you're reading something interesting you think others would like, or something boring you'd recommend we all avoid, jump in! If you have a ping list of FReepers who might be interested, ping them!
Probably the best choice! My father had them all in tiny-print paperbacks: they were a Naval War College text. I used them as a reference book in high school and college, but never actually sat down to read them.
At the moment The Monuments Men
But I just finished a fantastic first book by the author: “Native Crimes” by Steven Wright. It weaves the Apache Indian story, Yale University/Skull and Bones, and historical events into an amazing fiction mystery. This one will be on my must read recommendations!
Of that list, I haven’t read any of the books, and the only author I’m sure I’ve read is Nicholas Sparks. I read two of his books at a vacation house a couple of years ago, decided I didn’t care for them.
Glad it's not just me! Unless it's something I've read before (e.g., Tale of Two Cities), I can never remember the titles or authors either! Obviously it caught my eye when I was surfing amazon. After download...it's forgotten! Husband kept asking me on vacation, "what are you reading?" and all I could do was describe it. When I explained that because I don't see the cover every time I close the book, I forget the titles, he looked at me like I was crazy!
I like your screen name. Makes me think of Willie Nelson in Miami Vice
Robert Hardy as Siegfried and Peter Davison as Tristan were darling, although they didn’t physically match the descriptions in the book. I remember when my kids were watching “Dr. Who,” and I wandered through and said, “Oh, that’s Tristan Farnon!” “Whaat?!?”
Currently reading:
Senatorial Privilege-The Chappaquiddick Cover-up (Leo Damore, I read this years ago...just amazing)
Next up:
Dare Call it Treason (John Stormer, about the mutiny in the French army in 1917)
I just finished listening to:
Last Stand at Khe Sanh (Gregg Jones)
The Great Explorers (Samuel Eliot Morison, best books about the age of discovery)
The Battle-The Story of The Bulge (John Toland Very good book.)
Atomic Accidents (James Mahaffey-Excellent book! About civilian and military nuclear-related accidents)
Last Men Out (Bob Drury and Tom Clavin, about the fall of Saigon...appropriate reading)
The Long Boats (about the viking raiders, translated from Swedish, written in 1940, recommended by a Freeper, but cannot remember who!)
I was always surprised when Tristan showed up as Dr. Who! There are pictures of the real Tristan and Siegfried on the internet. Tristan was quite small and Siegfried extremely British-looking. Dr. Herriot, of course, always appeared on the covers of his books.
An eclectic array! I read “Senatorial Privilege” in high school.
A couple of books about the fall of Saigon have been mentioned on the thread. Maybe I’ll look for something on the topic on my next library visit.
The White Company by Arthur Conan Doyle.
Lionheart by Sharon Kay Penman.
Classic science fiction from a books on tape series that my son downloaded for me to listen to when I had to fly across the country.
I’ve read most of them ages ago and what’s amazing is that the top 10 that were considered “The Best” back when I was in college in the dark ages (according to my kids) are the same books listed in the 2010s.
1. 1984
2. Dune
3. Foundation
4. Stranger in a Stranger Land
5. Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (which I read to my son when he was small).
6. Enders Game.
Recommend all, that is if you like Sci Fi, I know a lot of people don’t.
Glad to see people still read Westerns, I love them because they’re great stories of the American West.
War Party by Louis L’Amour is THE favorite books in my entire collection.
Amen!! The TV series did not do the books justice. I own all of them and have read and re-read them since they came out years and years ago. The stories are endearing and to this day I remember many of them. THE best book for animals loves, IMO.
“What’s your favorite Shakespeare so far?”
The Romances: The late plays: The Tempest, The Winter’s Tale; Pericles, Prince of Tyre; Cymbeline
For me, The Tempest, hands down.
They have all the elements of the previous plays but different and more complex: hints of tragedy, comedy, pathos, the power of redemption plus magic and pastoral scenes.
Beautiful
Ira Levin’s dystopian novel This Perfect Day” yet again-a nail biter of sorts, it does have a happy ending-then it will be “The Pagan Lord”, the latest in Bernard Cornwell’s series about a Northumbrian Earl during the rule of King Alfred and his kids/grandkids-real history that is not boring because of plenty of dry British humor...
How was the Murrow biography?
I might like the Cornwell book. I read a lot of the Captain Sharpe series back in the early 90s, when I had a baby who wouldn’t sleep.
I've only read four of his - but that's my favorite, too!
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