Free Republic Book Club (1/18/08): What was your Favorite Book of 2007

1/18/08 | Tanniker Smith

[shekkian]

I'm working on that one right now. Very enjoyable.

But for my vote it would be "Infidel" by Ayaan Hirsi Ali.

[Illuminatas]

The Fountainhead - again. :)

For pure entertainment I really liked “World War Z” - but then again my wife says that I am hooked on zombie movies.

[stainlessbanner]

Fields of Honor: Pivotal Battles of the Civil War by Edwin C Bearss, Chief Historian Emeritus.
He signed my copy "Friend and Veteran Campaigner"

[Badeye]

I missed seeing him when he was in my town (Georgetown Ohio) this past summer. I am looking to pick the book up.

[Greg F]

Will do. I’m reading Augustine, then want to read Pascal’s Pensees (from a thread today), then I’ll reread Orthodoxy and add Everlasting Man. Thanks for the tip.

[untenured]

The Siege of Mecca, by Yaroslav Trofimov, a great investigative account of the 1979 takeover of the Grand Mosque in Mecca by the ancestors of Al Qaeda. There are a lot of myths surrounding the event that the author dispatches (French troops, for example, were not involved in the assault on the mosque itself), and one gets chills reading about what these people metastasized into, as well as the phenomenal corruption and indolence of the Saudi monarchy.

Indian Summer, about the Indian independence movement, was also pretty good. I learned, among other things, that the thoroughly Anglicized Mohammed Ali Jinnah, the founder of Pakistan, once ran for a seat in Parliament in the UK as a Labor candidate, but was rejected because he was too much of a dandy. Some of the things about Gandhi (for example, his refusal to countenance the providing of then-new antibiotics to his dying wife because of his ascetic fanaticism) were also enlightening.

[CRBDeuce]

“To Set the Record Straight”, ‘How Swift Boat Veterans, POWs, and the NEW MEDIA defeated John Kerry’, by Scott Swett and Tim Ziegler.

nuff said....Priceless info for the ‘08 campaigns, obviously required reading for veterans!

[proud2beconservativeinNJ]

Gary Taubes, "Good Calories, Bad Calories

Congratulations!!

[MoochPooch]

KITE RUNNER. I couldn’t put it down.

[CSM]

I read “The Total Money Makeover” and it has literally changed my life.

I look forward to other’s recommendations.

[Savage Beast]

There were so many, and I can't remember what I read.

But I finally got around to reading War and Peace. Yes! It's worth every glorious second! I also watched the wonderful 1972 John Davies miniseries film version--with Anthony Hopkins as Pierre Bezuhov--several times! (My wife and I had watched it back in the '70s when it was first broadcast, and we loved it!) I also obtained the 1967 Soviet version, Voyna i mir, which is also good, particularly in revealing the Russian landscape, physical, emotional, and spiritual!

As for disappointment: I made myself read A Farewell to Arms. I hated it. I have never liked Hemingway. I could hardly get through The Old Man and the Sea. But because of his acclaim, I forced myself to give him one more try. Dorothy Parker was only partly right when she said "Down deep he's shallow". He's shallow on the surface too. I will say that I liked A Moveable Feast, which I also read in 2007. My wife and I lived in Europe when we were about the same age as young Hemingway, and his non-fiction autobiographical bit was both interesting and probably honest. I felt shared experiences. But I never particularly admired Hemingway as a person or a writer, and I still don't.

[Joe 6-pack]

Everlasting Man was the book CS Lewis generally credited for his embrace of Christianity. Chesterton wrote it largely in response/rebuttal to HG Wells' Outline of History so you may want to read that as well to put it in the appropriate context.

I'm currently reading Jonah Goldberg's new book Liberal Fascism, and delighted at the number of references he makes to Chesterton.

[rlmorel]

My favorite book was “Lone Survivor”.

[Jeffrey_D.]

“Time Peace” by Ellen Vaughn

[adversarial]

The Quest for cosmic justice

Thomas Sowell

[Boblo]

The Upright Ape

[LS]

It was not easy. I exercised like a fiend until I found this book-—to no avail. I tried “limiting portions.” I tried cutting “fats.” It was exactly the wrong strategy! Man, I can get in my old suits again!

[N. Theknow]

[Alberta's Child]

1. My Grandfather's Son by Clarence Thomas
2. The Predators' Ball by Connie Bruck (it's an in-depth look at Michael Milken and the Drexel Burham junk bond saga)

[Scarchin]

Is there an official FR Book Club?