As for fiction; Faith of the Fallen by Terry Goodkind. The Haj by Leon Uris - so far so good - he paints an ugly picture of Arab life.
Between Rock and a Hard Place - Autobiography of Pat Benatar; The Line in the Sand, the Anglo French Struggle for the Middle East 1914-1918; A Peace to End All Peace, The Fall of the Ottoman Empire and the Creation of the Modern Middle East; Dark Sun, the Making of the Hydrogen Bomb, Richard Rhodes; And the Good News Is... , Dana Perino; Enterprise Risk Management; Surviving the Zombie Outbreak; Nuclear Weapons Effects, Glasstone and Dolan; Killing Patton, OReilly/Dugard
Thomas Jefferson's Creme Brulee. Another pretty good book.
Catching Fire: How Cooking Made Us Human. Also good.
The Forager's Harvest: A Guide to Identifying, Harvesting, and Preparing Edible Wild Plants. Very good. In fact, one of the best.
Primitive Wilderness Living & Survival Skills: Naked into the Wilderness. Meh. Might have been because I already knew so much of the stuff or it might have been the way it was written.
The Cat Sitter's Cradle: A Dixie Hemingway Mystery. Rarely has a book so turned me off in the first chapter.
The Silence of the Library (Cat in the Stacks Mystery) Fun read. Especially if you read any of the series mysteries as a child.
War Maid's Choice. Not bad but predictable.
The Darling Dahlias and the Confederate Rose. Pretty good except for the liberalism that creeps in occasionally.
Empire Rising. Not as good as his first book but better then most prehistory stuff.
Not out yet but I can’t wait:
The Pursuit of Glory: The Five Revolutions that Made Modern Europe: 1648-1815 (The Penguin History of Europe). European history from the end of the Thirty Years' War to Waterloo. Great stuff.
Don John of Austria - the life of one of the most romantic European heroes that nobody's ever heard of. Victor of the Battle of Lepanto, Philip II of Spain's beloved illegitimate little brother, ridiculous swashbuckling. Unbelievable historical connections to practically everyone important in the 16th century.
Eleventh Month, Eleventh Day, Eleventh Hour: Armistice Day, 1918 World War I and Its Violent Climax. One-half hour before the end of WWI, a French General ordered an offensive. The men (who knew about the armistice) had to go anyway, including a detachment of Americans under his command. Imagine surviving four years in the mud and gas and rats of the trenches and having to make a useless attack into the machine guns thirty minutes before the peace. This one will make your blood boil.
Revolutionaries: A New History of the Invention of America - research for a book Publius and I are finishing about the Federalist Papers. This one's about how the war redirected the lives of the men and women involved.
I finished CLINTON CASH and recommend it. Also recently read two books both titled 13 HOURS, both interesting. One is about Benghazi by those who were there, the other is an award winning thriller by Dion Meyer.
It was fascinating to see how the machine of tyranny grinds people up and then spits them out. The protagonist went from being a hero of the revolution to an enemy of the state. He was denounced just as he had denounced others in the past. A very sobering read. I recommend it.
I have about 300 items on my Kindle with likely half of those being free samples. I find the sample usage to be very cool, and I have gotten a lot out of them. The longest sample that I have read so far was Rick Atkinson's ‘An Army at Dawn’ which had to be well over 100 pages. I intend to read the entire trilogy on my next vacation. I have not had a real one of those in years.
I do mix between paperback and hardcover as well though. Once you adjust to the E Books, that tactile experience of holding an actual book seems to me to diminish some, though for some reason, certain books fit the Kindle easier. The WEB Griffin books are great on Kindle as I whiz through those in just a two days or so typically.
This week, I am reading the Clinton Cash book which most of it really is unsurprising, but I love the details which are footnoted.
I carry my Kindle everywhere, but mostly now I use the IPAD or cellphone to actually read my books. My Kindle is my back up following the initial download.
The free books on Kindle are abundant and I have a lot of those. Occasionally there are discounts where you can get a relatively new book for very short dough or even free.
I would say that currently, I have about 15 books started not including the samples. Some I likely will never finish, but most I expect to complete. I have been reading several books at a time for most of my adult life.
Catholics in the Movies by Colleen McDannell
Altered Genes, Twisted Truth by Stephen Druker
Hope by Gina deJesus, et al.
Finding Me by Michelle Knight
The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins
Day of Wrath by Wm. Fortschen
One of them is Harlan Coben's "Miss You." Close to the end he has this speech about how terrific gay love is. It wasn't relevant to the plot. Others have also commented on this.Maybe he is gay and got carried away with his one fantasies. Somebody wondered if there is a requirement to include a gay person in mysteries.
Lies Women Believe by Nancy Leigh DeMoss
All Christian women should read this book!
I’m into thrillers and mysteries mostly. Also have a lot of historical stuff, and some classical, ancient books as well.. A lot of the classics, are free, or public domain.
Never used to read recreationally until I got an iPad and discovered iBooks. A lot of authors, the smart ones anyway, offer up the first book free on iBooks, and probably kindle and nook as well. Check the free books from whatever category interests you, and you might just find some treasure.
Just finished reading “Bad Blood” by Dana Stabenow. Set in Alaska, the 20th book in the Kate Shugak Series. Pretty darn good if you like a who done it. And Ms. Stabenow does know how to tell a story and puts you in Alaska.
Before that I re read the “1632/Ring of Fire” series by Eric Flint. Think Conneticut Yankee in King Auther’s Court, only with 3000+ hillbillies from a small town in WVa transported to the middle of Germany during the 30 years war. It’s a hell of a series with fan fiction ideas driving a lot of the narrative. Very intricate and complex. Religion, politics, economics, you name it, it’s got it all.
All the “Jack Reacher” books by Lee Child.
“Mitch Rapp - American Sniper”, and all the rest by Vince Flynn. RIP
The “Gabriel Allon” series by Daniel Silva.
James Rollins “Sigma Force”.
Tess Gerristen and her “Rizzoli & Isles” books. Completely different from the TV show. They’re good.
“Dress Grey”, by Lician Trescott IV, set at West Point.
And a whole lot more.
found one just today that I haven’t read but it is a must read for every citizen of the United States...
Licensed to Lie
Exposing the Corruption of the Department of Justice
by Sydney Powell
references from the text are on the site.
Posting this in honor of LCpl Michael Keating
Last six months?
I can only give you the last two weeks:
and just got the other version: http://www.theologicalforum.org/ProductInformation.aspx?BrowseBy=Category&CategoryId=124&ProductId=518&force=1
http://www.amazon.com/Criswell-Study-Bible/dp/0840704526
http://www.amazon.com/Harmony-Gospels-Ronald-Arbuthnott-Knox/dp/0856500151
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0098175J6/ref=ox_sc_act_title_8?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER
Science Fiction and fantasy
Next:
Books related to the “Tyranny of Words”:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0970066414/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=A3RIPTWHE1MVAF
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0156923947/ref=ox_sc_act_title_2?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER
Science Fiction/Fantasy
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0062190377/ref=ox_sc_act_title_5?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER
Maybe this too: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0316399736/ref=ox_sc_act_title_9?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER
A Son of Thunder Patrick Henry and the American Republic. I’m currently reading it. Just finished 24 week Bible Study. I didn’t read every word, but was studying the King James Bible.
The Social Order of the Underworld: How Prison Gangs Govern the American Penal System, David Skarbek. A discussion of how the need to create some facsimile of social order amidst violent men and traffic in contraband motivates prison gangs.
Principles of Economics (a classic, Alfred Marshall; part of some book-writing I'm doing)
Phantom Terror: Political Paranoia and the Creation of the Modern State, 1789-1848, Adam Zarnovski. Author seems to be a leftist, but it still a fairly impressive account of how paranoia about the French revolution led to rampant conspiracism and the creation of much more sophisticated state surveillance. Metternich is a prominent villain in this account.
Books Without Borders in Enlightenment Europe, Jeffrey Freedman. Hardly started it, but the title is about how French Enlightenment texts were smuggled throughout Europe, where they were banned.
Infinitesimal: How a Dangerous Mathematical Theory Shaped the Modern World, Amir Alexander. Occasionally fascinating account of struggles inside and outside the Church over an obscure mathematical doctrine with profound theological implications.
The Transformation of the World: A Global History of the Nineteenth Century, Jurgen Osterhammel. An astonishing panorama of the planet - not just Europe - from roughly 1789-1914. It is amazing how much this guy knows, although he too is a bit of a leftie. About 900pp, so not for the faint of heart.
Inventing Freedom: How the English-Speaking Peoples Made the Modern World. Self-explanatory. On my list: Charles Murray's newest, By the People: Rebuilding Liberty Without Permission.
Also recently finished Second in Command BY Edward R. Murphy, jr, about the USS Pueblo.
Reading the Richard Evans trilogy on World War Two:
- Coming of the Third Reich
- Third Reich in Power
- Third Reich at War
Those who forget history are condemned to repeat it.