Posted on 03/29/2011 9:52:18 AM PDT by MplsSteve
Hi everyone! It's time again for my "What Are You Reading?" thread.
As you know, I consider Freepers to be among the more well-read of those of us on the Internet. I like to find out what all of you are reading these days.
It can be anything...a technical journal, a NY Times best seller, a classic work of fiction, a trashy pulp novel. In short, it can be anything.
However, please do not defile this thread by posting "I'm reading this thread". it became really unfunny a long time ago.
I'll start. I'm about 15% of the way thru "Henry Clay: The Essential American" by David & Jeanne Heidler. Many books have been written on Henry Clay but this one seems to be the most comprehensive. At times, the authors can be a little long-winded - but all in all, it's a good book about one of the giants of the early 19th Century.
Well, what are YOU reading?
““The Tourist,” by Olen Steinhauer. If you’ve never read Olen Steinhauer, I highly recommend him, brilliant writer.”
Oh, did you see my comment, I recently read a bunch of him too? I think his name is Oleg, though? Anyway, yet, I really like his books and plan to read them all.
Just finished “New Deal or Raw Deal: New Deal or Raw Deal?: How FDR’s Economic Legacy Has Damaged America” by Burt Folsom and “The Forgotten Man: : A New History of the Great Depression” by Amity Shlaes.
After those two, I need some time off from depressing failed Democrap politics and the long-march take-over of America, so I’m enjoying “The Girl Who Played With Fire” by Stieg Larsson.
Just finished “The Worst Hard Time” (Timothy Egan) about the Dust Bowl. Harrowing reading, it’s unbelievable the privations those people suffered.
Now reading “The War Of The Copper Kings” (G. B. Glasscock), about the early copper industry in Montana. Robber Barons unleashed!
It's fascinating. Rumsfeld had an uncommonly close-up seat for some very interesting decades of our history. Getting his perspective and his version of events is enlightening. He starts at the beginning too... way back... and tells the story more or less chronologically. So far I'm only through to his years at Searle. He's got amazingly detailed notes and backup. In fact there's a website that serves as a companion to the book, where not only does he cite a source document, but ~provides~ the actual source document, some of which I think was de-classed just for the book.
In the middle of “Marine Rifleman” by Col. Wesley Cox.
“Unbroken” the story of POW Louis Zamperini is on deck.
“Just finished “The Worst Hard Time” (Timothy Egan) about the Dust Bowl.”
I read that, very good. We think we have it bad!
Last week I read ‘The Fountainhead’ from cover to cover. Yes, all 694 pages of it—kids were on Spring Break! LOL
Now reading:
‘Almost a Crime’ by Penny Vincenzi—British author who likes to write big fat novels that are right up my alley (her ‘Spoils of Time’ trilogy was quite good)
‘Encyclopedia of Haunted Places: Ghostly Locales from Around the World’ by Jeff Belanger. I love ‘Ghost Hunters’ ‘Ghost Adventures’ and all those ghost hunting shows—my guilty pleasure in life ;)
‘Paul Revere’s Ride’ by David Hackett Fisher; nonfiction.
‘7 Events that Made America America’ by FReeper LS.
My husband just gave me back ‘Atlas Shrugged’ which he just finished reading recently. I read it many years ago, but I’m ready to read it again (I gave him the copy for his birthday in November).
Thank you...I will look forward to reading. I really enjoyed his briefings during the war and how he handled the media. He always had the upper hand. Was sorry he resigned but understood why it had to be.
I loved that book so much I wore out my copy reading it over and over again. My mom was crazy about it, and she doesn’t usually read stuff that long, LOL. I think I need to pick up another copy for my bookshelf. I am not sure my mom ever gave me back the one I loaned her ;)
“Turn Coat” - The Dresden Files - James Butcher.
"Henry VII: Mask of Royalty" by Lacey Baldwin Smith, another biography. This one seems to be a psychological study of King Henry VIII--interesting.
oops, “Henry VIII: Mask of Royalty”. No one should confuse the VII and the VIII King Henries.
Glad to hear there’s another Olen Steinhauer appreciator. He’s a brilliant writer. If you have a chance to “read” one of his books on tape, they are excellent to listen to. I’ve read “Bridge of Sighs” and “36 Yalta Boulevard,” working on “The Tourist,” and have four others checked out of the library to read (or listen to—some are books and some are CDs). I love it when I find a good author and there are lots of their books to go through. However, Steinhauer’s books cannot be read breezily, IMO, there’s a lot to them.
Just finished the Secret Garden. About 1/3 through Shoot Him If He Runs. It’s pretty awful, especially the scenese where 4 middle-aged men and women get naked for cocktails and sunbathing, while discussing the case at-hand.
And I have the neverending mostly-translated epics of the (shapeshifting? demi-god?) Icelandic Vikings (?), with two hundred(ish) different reocurring characters to keep track of, who randomly break into poetry that appears to have nothing to do with the actual story, in order to prove their ablities to talk themselves up at any given moment. It's like reading the Bible, but worse.
And The Once and Future King, conveniently sized to fit in the side pockets of a pair of ODU pants, which is my flightcon book.
Jan’s Story by CBS’ Barry Peterson. It’s a story about his wife, Jan’s coming down with early Alzheimer’s in her 40/50’s and what he should do. She is still alive but just not there.
I got a lot of episodes from the library, and now I’m requesting them from Netflix.
If I were going to retire in Midsomer, I sure wouldn’t pick Badger’s Drift, though ... I practically expect the Zombie Plague to break out there, next.
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