What books are you currently reading?

1/23/2012 | William Eaton

[WilliamEaton]

What books are people currently reading? Any particular fiction or non-fiction of note? Any recommendations from some recent reads?

I just downloaded the novel Hunter by Robert James Bidinotto for my kindle. It's an indie novel and has received good reviews on Amazon. Will report back once I finish up.

[Revolting cat!]

The last time I read a book was 55 years ago in college!!!

So I'm sure you have an opinion who the greatest writer in America is and has ever been?

[firebrand]

James O'Keefe's book Breakthrough. Excellent writing, and a run-through of all his citizen-reporting triumphs. He's partially responsible for all the new voter-ID laws, which in some states have just been declared constitutional a few days ago by changes to the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

[SamAdams76]

"Call Of The Wild" was the first novel I ever read - though it's really more of a novella or a long short story. I was in the fourth grade and my teacher gave me a choice of other classics, such as Huckleberry Finn and Red Badge of Courage (which dates me because schools today would never offer up that fare).

I chose Call Of The Wild because it had a picture of a dog on the cover and I liked dogs. Glad I picked it as it was an excellent story and got me interested not only in reading real books but attempting to write them as well. A year or two later, I wrote a story called "Buzz, the Winter Dog" for a school project. It never was a best seller but it got me an A+ from my English teacher. I even had illustrations with it.

Anyway, the book I'm reading currently is "Difficult Men" which is about how cable television dramas like "Sopranos" and "Mad Men" are changing the face of television - which used to mostly put out dreck aimed at the lowest common denominator.

[willieroe]

Added keyword "bookclub" to access this and prior book suggestion and reading threads.

[Sawdring]

Is your copy of the Gulag Archipelago an abridged edition? I looked on the Kindle and could only find it abridged.

[Revolting cat!]

“The Orphan Master’s Son” by Adam Johnson.

[Billthedrill]

Just finished The Wilder Shores of Marx by Theodore Dalrymple. It's his travelogue through Romania, Albania, North Korea, Vietnam, and Cuba just as the Soviet Union was falling. He barely missed witnessing Ceausescu get shot. Great stuff, originally published in 1991 and republished for Kindle.

Current read is The Sleepwalkers: How Europe Went To War in 1914 by Christopher Clark. Great stuff, with some very disturbing parallels to today's geopolitical setup.

[Crusher138]

“The Rho Agenda” series by Richard Phillips

[ctdonath2]

Current:
The Walking Dead (a “here, read this” loaner, and I want my counter-loaned 300, V For Vendetta, and Watchmen back.)
No Easy Day
ReWork
Winnie The Pooh (enthraling a 5yo)

Recent:
Jack Reacher - One Shot (I’m now puzzled by the title, as it’s about 6 shots)
The Hunger Games trilogy

[untenured]

I always love this post. Most of my recent reading has been homework, for a book I'm writing myself. Many books are pretty abstruse, but among the ones that were more generally interesting were:

Anthony Pagden, The Enlightenment and Why It Still Matters
Charles Emmerson, 1913: In Search of the World Before the Great War
Paul Johnson, The Renaissance

I am currently reading:

John Darwin, Unfinished Empire
David T. Beito, From Mutual Aid to the Welfare State: Fraternal Societies and Social Services, 1890-1967

Still to do:

Nicholas Taleb, The Bed of Procrustes
Deirdre McCloskey (one of my favorite writers), Bourgeois Dignity: Why Economics Can't Explain the Modern World

In a confession that will do little for my FR reputation, I am also reading Das Kapital, in preparation for a class on Marxism I hope to teach.

[Yardstick]

Was Clapton happy with his own guitar playing?

[Osage Orange]

Basically finishing up Matt Bracken's first three books....

Go here.....

http://enemiesforeignanddomestic.com/

They are great books....and just might be painting a picture of where we are headed!

[Batman11]

PFL

[Moonman62]

It's been awhile since I made that comment. My lasting impression is that Clapton wanted to be either listening to music, playing music, or talking about music. And if it weren't for music and his abilities, he probably would have had no friends at all.

I don't remember him saying much about his satisfaction with his ability. I think he worked at emulating anything he liked no matter how difficult. I think he said his first guitar was very difficult to play.

There was also an explanation of how he got his "slow hand" nickname.

[Sawdring]

I just finished American Gods and liked it very much. Thanks for posting the list.

[Argus]

I read a lot for work, but for fun I’m reading FORMER PEOPLE, about the fate of Russian aristocrats under the Revolution, and a history of Liberia.

[Anton.Rutter]

Finished the journals of Captain Cook, am now in the middle of a fantasy novel, The Iron Tower by Dennis McKiernan, and wandering and pondering through the Tai Chi classics, plus many booklinks on my Android.

[Anton.Rutter]

King Rat/James Clavell is one powerful book, second your recommend.

[Juana la Loca]

I just finished The Book Thief. It’s excellent.

[MWestMom]

Just finished “The Harbinger.”