Oh yeah, forgot to mention: love author Dean Koontz.
Especially the Odd Thomas series, about a clairvoyant minimum wage fry cook with superpowers. Thomas sees evil, calls it what it is, and fights it, while also having acerbic conversations with the ghosts of Elvis Presley, Frank Sinatra, and Alfred Hitchcock.
Koontz is Catholic, and he lays a lot of Biblical truth in between the lines.
Nelson DeMille
By the Rivers of Babylon
Cathedral
Mayday
Night Fall
Plum Island
Spencerville
The Book Case
The Charm School
The Gate House
Up Country
Word of Honor
Stephen Hunter
Bob Lee Swagger series
Point of Impact (1993)
Black Light (1996)
Time to Hunt (1998)
The 47th Samurai (2007)
There are more in the Bob Lee Swagger series, but I haven’t gotten to them yet.
“Fahrenheit 451” - prescient about the thought police
“Road to Serfdom” - will explain Obama’s increasingly dictatorial tone
“Brave New World” - prescient about sexualizing youth, substituting feelings for thought
Yea, I love this thread!
Skeletons of the Zahara - Dean King - It is said that Lincoln formed his opinions about slavery having read this true account of survival of the men aboard the shipwrecked Commerce out of Connecticut in 1815.
The White Cascade: The Great Northern Railway Disaster and America’s Deadliest Avalanche - Gary Krist
Citizen Washington _ William Martin - Loved this book
The Terror , A Novel - Dan Simmons ~ This is a long and fascinating and historical novel, filled with beautifully rendered characters and period detail. Simmons has obviously done his homework on both Lord Franklin’s doomed arctic expedition and on the lives and customs of mid-19th century sailors.
Good for you for tackling the Churchill biography. I cheated and watched the Lecture series offered by Hillsdale College ;)
One book that I’ve mentioned many times here when the discussion shifts towards understanding what is going on in the Middle East is Secrets of the Koran by Don Richardson. A read of this book is essential to any kind of understanding of many many issues involving islam etc....
http://www.amazon.ca/Secrets-Koran-Don-Richardson/dp/B00LA9G8GA/ref=sr_1_1_twi_kin_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1448753236&sr=1-1&keywords=secrets+of+the+koran
Conquistador by Buddy Levy - The conquest of Mexico by "El Grande Conquistador, Hernand Cortes. Bought this on a whim, didn't think I was really interested. Once I started, couldn't put it down. Fascinating.
For Liberty and Glory by James R Gaines - The American Revolution and the French Revolution with an emphasis on the relationship between George Washington and the marquis de Lafayette. For those who think the Americans did it on their own, ever wonder why so many towns, parks and streets are named "Lafayette"?
Holy War by Nigel Cliff - The voyages of Vasco Da Gama. It wasn't a sense of adventure that drove him to find a way to sail around Africa, it had something to do with muslims ...
1812 The Navy's War by George C Daughan - If Americans want something to cheer about regarding the War of 1812, you'll love this book. The tiny American Navy went up against the most powerful Navy in the world, and did themselves proud. As a Canadian, I found myself cheering for the Americans throughout the book as they took it to the Royal Navy while being outnumbered by about 100 to 1.
Washington’s Circle by David S. Heidler and Jeanne T. Heidler.
Whirlwind by James Clavell. Gives an insider’s glimpse of Iran, Islamic Revolution time period.
I tend to love fiction from the 30s through 70s. So Miss Read’s two series Fairacre and Thrush Green resonate for me. I also like a good laugh and Patrick Dennis’s The Joyful Season, Mame and Little Me are all good for a chuckle.
I also enjoyed the John Marquand books from the thirties. Describe a kind of world we rarely see now, my grandparents heyday.
Recent book that met my fussy stringent requirements for thickly textured novels is ALL the LIGHT WE CANNOT SEE. Found it captivating, and took a while to read and digest.
Price of a Horse by Ralph Cotton
Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier
Unintended Consequences by John Ross
any Arthur W. Upfield (Australia mystery stories)
Frank O’Rourke westerns
`Under the Grandstands’ by Seymour Butts