Free Republic Book Club: (1/16/07) What's on Your Reading List for 2007?

Tanniker Smith

[Tanniker Smith]

The Free Republic Book Club is an informal gathering of readers and lovers of all genre of books, which meets on an irregular basis, which would whenever I remember to post something. The last meeting, "What did you read in 2006?" was a big success with over 200 posts over the week.

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This week's topic: What's on your Reading List for 2007?
Any "Must Reads" or "Hope to Get To's""?

[Tanniker Smith]

Starting off:
The one Must Read of the year for me will be the final Harry Potter book, when it comes out.

There's nothing on my nightstand waiting to be next, but there's plenty in a box in the closet. I hope to pick up some more Sue Grafton books to continue from last year. And I might have to get out some of the recommendations from last week's thread!

[Tanniker Smith]

New week, new topic, Ping.

[Tanniker Smith]

Keep A Book List for 2007!

It's simple to do, really. Open up Notepad (or the editor of your choice). Write down the name of the book that you are currently reading. Write any other notes that you might like. Now save the file as "BOOKS 2007" in My Documents or anyplace else where you'll remember where it is.

That's it. That's all there is to it. Told you it was simple.

TS

[IllumiNaughtyByNature]

Currently - The Long Emergency by James Kunstler

On Deck - The Enemy at Home by Dinesh D'Souza

[squarebarb]

I guess I will try to get through Middlemarch again, but it's hard going. I can't figure out why it's supposed to be so good. So I'll try again and keep telling myself, 'This is a masterpiece! This is a masterpiece!'

[Tanniker Smith]

I guess I will try to get through Middlemarch again,

Hey, what a co-incidence! I'm reading a book so dry that I'll be lucky to be through it by Middle March!

(Sorry, had to. It's been one of those days!)

[CindyDawg]

Well, I need to do more Bible study than I did last year and they are some state rule manuals I need to wade thru. Someone recommended a series of time travel I'm going to check into also. What were they Frog? I'm too lazy to scroll thru back posts this morning:')

[LS]

1) Nelson DeMille, "Wildfire," about a group of right-wing kooks seeking to simulate a nuke attack so the U.S. will respond by wiping out half the Islamic capitals.

2) Michael Crichton, "Next."

3) Jeff Shaara, "The Rising Tide," a WW II novel.

4) "7 Seconds or Less," the story of the Phoenix Suns' 2005-2006 season.

[rface]

I will finish DeMille's, Wildfire tonight.....This book takes on terrorism in the US after 9-11.

I always liked his stuff.....like Plum Island......

The General's Daughter and many others.

[seanmerc]

The Bible: God's word.

[mathluv]

I am currently listening (while in the car) to W.E.B.Griffith's 'The Hunters', and just finished listening to Stephen Coonts' 'The Traitor'. I have 3 Clive Cussler's waiting to be heard.

I look forward to the last Harry Potter book. I am reading the second book in the Million Dollar Christian Mystery series "Don't Take Any Wooden Nichels' by Mindy Starns Clark.

[karnage]

Just read "The Blind Side" by Michael Lewis - a fascinating look inside the making of a football player in this modern world.

Also "Quo Vadis", the classic novel of Nero's Rome by Henryk Stenkiewicz.

[Kevmo]

"Don't Let Science get you down, Timothy" by our very own freepers, Alamo-girl and Betty Boop.

http://www.lulu.com/content/549874

[retrokitten]

I've had "Thunderstruck" on my coffee table for months and haven't cracked it yet. It's by the same author of "The Devil in the White City", Eric Larson? Maybe? I don't remember and am too lazy to look it up. I loved DitWC, so I have high hopes for Thunderstruck.

[KarlInOhio]

Currently reading two books:

1. Mommy Knows Worst: Highlights from the Golden Age of Bad Parenting Advice by James Lileks. Painfully funny like everything else by Lileks.
2. The Command of the Ocean: A Naval History of Britain, 1649-1815.

I have too many others to count on my reading list after that. One of my vices is buying far more books than I honestly have a chance of reading unless I lose my job for a couple of years.

[daisyscarlett]

I am trying to finish the latest bio of Jane Goodall which was on my Christmas list. I like biographies. I assumed that Ms. Goodall was a shy secretary who just lucked into working with the chimps but guess I was wrong. Turns out she was quite the "babe" and made things happen. Okay book, so far but I know I will get irritated at the end 'cause she heads up some "Peace Group".

The other book I got from Santa was Hollywood Story by Joseph Wambaugh. I sailed through that one and it was very good, much like his earlier books.

From the other thread, I hope to read Erik Larson's latest about Marconi.

Thanks for this thread.

[mathluv]

I tried to reply to post #8, but it would not let me.

I listened to 'Wild Fire', and enjoyed it.

My grandson (15 yo) is re-reading 'America Alone' by Mark Steyn, and he enjoyed 'Godless' by Ann Coulter. He needs help in finding any info about 'Alas, Babylon' and the Korean War and the Vietnam War. Everything he has found on the net is a lefty site. He needs it for English class.

[linda_22003]

Not everything is a masterpiece for YOU. I have a 50 page rule on books (100 pages for really long books), and a half-hour rule on movies. If it's not working for me at that point, I bail.

[FLOutdoorsman]

Nice thread

Top Ten in no order to read for 2007:

-The River of Doubt: Theodore Roosevelt's Darkest Journey- Candice Millard

-The General and the Jaguar: Pershing's Hunt for Pancho Villa: A True Story of Revolution & Revenge by Eileen Welsome

-Intervention at Archangel: Allied Intervention and Russian Counter-Revolution in North Russia, 1918-1920 by Leonid Ivan Strakhovsky

-Persepolis: The Archaeology of Parsa, Seat of the Persian Kings by Donald Newton Wilber

-British Intelligence and the Arab Revolt: The First Modern Intelligence War (Studies in Intelligence) by Paula Mohs

-The Business of Empire: The East India Company and Imperial Britain, 1756-1833 by H. V. Bowen

-The Bonus Army : An American Epic by Paul Dickson, Thomas B. Allen

-Inside the Vatican: The Politics and Organization of the Catholic Church by Thomas, S.J. Reese

-The Italian Boy: A Tale of Murder and Body Snatching in 1830s London by Sarah Wise

-A Thread Across the Ocean: The Heroic Story of the Transatlantic Cable by John Steele Gordon

[alwaysconservative]

I have Michael Crichton's "Next" in line to read, and am also looking forward to the next and final HP book. I plan to purchase "The President, the Pope, and the Prime Minister" as well.

I am also re-reading one of my all-time favorite authors, Mary Stewart. I just finished re-reading "The Crystal Cave" and "The Hollow Hills", and have a re-release of "The Gabriel Hounds" awaiting savoring. (That last has to have one of THE BEST opening book lines of all time, or at least one of my favorites: "I met him on a street called Straight.")

[Ladysmith]

After two and a half years of textbooks, God's Word is the first on my list, too.

[ConorMacNessa]

Currently - "The Truth About Muhammad" by Robert Spencer.
Next - "How the Catholic Church Built Western Civilization" by Thomas Woods.

[Alamo-Girl]

Oh, thank you so very much for naming our book, Timothy!

Hugs!!!

[Califelephant]

I'm in the middle of "Thomas Paine" by Craig Nelson. If you're the least bit interested in the the story of the birth of America, this is a must. Even if you've alredy read "Founding Brothers" or bios of Washington or Adams or Jefferson or Franklin, you'll definitely want to read this one too.

[HuntsvilleTxVeteran]

last year

Hillary's Secret War
The Clinton Conspiracy to Muzzle
Internet Journalists
by Richard Poe
Foreword by Jim Robinson

Warlord: No Better Friend, No Worse Enemy
by Ilario Pantano and Malcolm McConnell

Ann Coulter's most controversial (and entertaining) book ever: a withering assault on the established
"Church of Liberalism" and its false prophet, Darwin
Godless: The Church of Liberalism
by Ann Coulter

Reread Atlas Shrugged
By Ayn Rand


Maybe 100 more books for entertainment mostly western, adventure and science fiction
Too many to list



Now reading
The Tyranny of Tolerance
A Sitting Judge Breaks the Code of Silence to Expose the Liberal Judicial Assault

Written by Robert H. Dierker, Jr.

[ansel12]

Hopefully in todays mail will be,

Three years among the Comanches

and,

Scalp Dance: Indian Warfare on the High Plains 1865-1879

[MotleyGirl70]

I'm currently reading Flags Of Our Fathers by James Bradley.

After that (if they're available at the library yet) I'll read either The Broker or The Innocent Man both by John Grisham.

[iceskater]

I just started "The Last Jihad" by Joel Rosenberg.
After that, "Next" by Michael Crichton.

After that, I'm not sure....too many books piled up.

[seanmerc]

Most excellent!

[Xenalyte]

I discovered bookmooch.com.

I posted 97 books to get rid of.

So far, I have mooched 31.

My husband does not find this an acceptable ratio.

[EmilyGeiger]

I will read the Potter book as well. :) I have discovered two other children or juvenile genre authors that I really like as well. Cornelia Funke(Inkheart, Inkspell author) and Christopher Paolini(author of Eragon and Eldest). Both of them have books in the works for this year also.

[dakine]

Interesting list...thanks

[Diana in Wisconsin]

Since I sell books for a living, and am at my Library weekly (if not more) it's never been a problem to find lots of books to read! Glad to get your ping again. :)

Currently in my library queue:

Postcards from Mars (photography of The Red Planet)
Morning Foods: Breakfasts, Brunches & More
America Alone (I'm finally 2nd!)
Crochet Squared
Eat, Pray, Love
Finding Water: The Art of Perseverance
Sala's Gift: My Mother's Holocaust Story
The Sidewalk Artist

[wizr]

I read OPB's (Other People's Books) from the thrift stores. I just read "The Life of St. Paul" by James Stalker.

Although I believed it to be Catholic breathed, I wanted to learn more about the Apostle Paul. Why would a man make such a vast turnabout in his life? Especially, when he knew he would be persecuted, as he had once done to others.

I thoroughly enjoyed the book, which was reprinted in 1983. Prof. Stalker died in 1927. This is not a novel. It required great research.

It is a part of his trilogy. The other two books are "The Life of Christ" and "The Trial and Death of Jesus Christ", which I am looking for right now. "The Trial and Death of Jesus Christ" does not appear to be in print any more.

[Portnoy]

Currently finishing up George R. R. Martin's Game of Thrones

On the list for me to read:
In Cold Blood by Truman Capote
Dead Souls by Nikolai Gogal
The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman
Prince Caspian by C.S. Lewis (reread)
The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett
The Big Over Easy by Jasper Fforde
A Princess of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs
Under the Volcano by Malcolm Lawrey

This will take me through April

[betty boop]

LOL Kevmo! Thank you for the moral support!!!

I have a great book suggestion for when you're done reading Timothy: Abraham Paix's Subtle Is the Lord, a world-class biography of Albert Einstein, including the history of his thought. I'm about a third of the way though it. It is simply magnificent!

Thanks again, kevmo, for your very kind words!

[Tanniker Smith]

Now that's planning. I used to stack them up, but I never seemed to read them in the order that I stacked them. And I'd find new things along the way and bump others down a bit.

[Tanniker Smith]

Reminds me of this little old man that had this little bookshop under the elevated train station. It was mostly, if not all, used books. He had a system where you could bring in any 2 books and trade them for 1 paperback (which later became 3 for 1, which was fine with me).

I once brought him 18 books, walked out with 6, which I later returned a couple months later, and walked out with 2 more.

Sadly, he closed up shop. I wonder how much he sold, and how much were just traded. Two nice things about him: he once offered me a part-time job (which I had to decline, but it was nice of him to offer), and I found a Doc Savage omnibus for 50 cents that I could have (but didn't) sell on eBay for between 10 and 20 bucks.

TS

[Tanniker Smith]

Oh, and with all the rambling, I forget to mention: thanks for the link!

[Southside_Chicago_Republican]

Currently:

Finishing off Hemingway's short stories.

Started Jack London's short stories.

Started "Never Come Morning" by Nelson Algren, after Christmas. A great book about the tough life in the neighborhoods of Chicago in the 1940's.

"Images of 66" by David Wickline. A book of photos and brief texts detailing the history of Route 66 and the businesses and attractions, past and present, along its path.

I saw "Glory" last night, so I'm probably going to pick up something new on the War Between the States.

The Bible in the KJV.

[stylecouncilor]

ping

[T.L.Sink]

I've read this highly acclaimed book and recommend it for every FReepers reading list. It's "The Unknown Story: Mao" by Jung Chang and Jon Halliday. Chang lived through most of Mao's catastrophic regime until she escaped in 1978, two years after Mao's death. The book is well researched and includes first person narratives. If you want to learn why and how Mao was responsible for over 70 million (peacetime!) Chinese deaths, this book goes a long way toward explaining it.

[nycgal]

Just finished: "Harvest" - Tess Gerritson

Now reading: "Life Support" - Tess Gerritson

Waiting to be read: "Bloodstream" - Tess Gerritson

Both Dexter books by Jeff Lindsay - Jeff Lindsay

"The Queen's Fool" and "Wideacre" - Phillipa Gregory

"False Impression" - Jeffrey Archer

On hold at Library: "Next" - Michael Crichton

[T.L.Sink]

Hi Southside, I can recommend two (very) short stories by Hemingway and London. By Hemingway, it's "A Clean Well Lighted Place." This is said to be one of the best brief existential expressions ever written. By London, it's "The White Silence." Just thinking of it makes me shiver! By the way, it's my personal opinion that NO writer better understood dogs, their behaviour and their relationship to humans.

[Brasil]

After you read 'The Big Over Easy' get 'The Fourth Bear' by Fforde--just as funny.

Am now reading (in different rooms)
Kill Me by Stephen White
Women Who Make the World Worse by Kate O'Bierne
Winds of Change by Martha Grimes
Plum Lovin by Janet Evanovich
Evanly Bodies by Rhys Bowen

There are 12 books on my wait list at the library.

I enjoy this thread.

[tuliptree76]

I just started "When the Wind Blows" by James Patterson (Christmas present). After that, I have some John Grisham and Brad Meltzer novels waiting for me. I also have Hans Christian Andersen: The Complete Fairy Tales and Short Stories that I would like to read.

[Southside_Chicago_Republican]

I'm familiar with that Hemingway story. I've been plowing through the complete short stories and it's taken me a while to do it, but I do recall reading that one some time back. The London story isn't in the volume that I'm reading now, but I'll see if the library has it. Yes, he had a good handle on dogs.

[T.L.Sink]

I know there's a multitude of London books available but one of the best compilations (about 25) of his short stories I've seen is "To Build a Fire" - and other stories", published by TOR. Regards,

[Intolerant in NJ]

Francis Collins: "The Language of God: A Scientist Presents Evidence For Belief"; Tammy Bruce: "The Death of Right and Wrong: Exposing the Left's Assault on Our Culture and Values"; Gregg Jackson: "Conservative Comebacks to Liberal Lies"; Paul Hollander: "Political Pilgrims: Western Intellectuals in Search of the Good Society"; Jack Cashill: "Hoodwinked: How Intellectual Hucksters Have Hijacked American Culture"; Kathy Roth-Douquet and Frank Schaeffer: "AWOL: The Unexcused Absence of America's Upper Classes from Military Service - and How It Hurts Our Country"; Willa Cather; "My Antonia".......

[Tanniker Smith]

Two other possibilities for me:

With Robert A. Wilson's recent death, I'm reminded that I've never read his Illuminatus trilogy (although I've played the card game based on it!). However, I don't own a copy, and I'm trying to read books that I own and can get rid of. (I have waaaaaay too many. At least, that's what my wife says.)

And NYC WABC Ch 7 weatherman Bill Evans wrote a book (with a ghost writer) "Category 7", which will be coming out in a few months. If it looks interesting, I'll reserve it at the library.

TS