Novels FReepers Love (discussion)

April 4, 2004 | me

[Long Cut]

Thanks for the tips!

[Xenalyte]

I'm an English-lit MA just like Mrs. LC, and I can't get enough of British history, especially the Renaissance and Tudor periods. Alison Weir, Antonia Fraser, and David Starkey are all worthwhile, although Ms. Weir does occasionally inject her very strong opinion.

Another book I read last week is The Great Pretenders: The True Stories Behind Famous Historical Mysteries, by Jan Bondeson; it explores the legends of the Lost Dauphin, Caspar Hauser, Alexander I, and the Tichborne Claimant, among others. Fascinating read.

[writer33]

Thanks for the ping!

[ecurbh]

Ring Ping!!

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[Xenalyte]

If you're into hard-core fantasy, I can recommend George R.R. Martin's series Songs of Ice and Fire, although they are definitely NOT for the squeamish.

If you like good historical fiction with a teensy bit of bodice-ripping, check out Diana Gabaldon's Outlander series. They're very excellent, and hard to put down. I had to buy a second copy of the first book after I wore out my first copy, which I must confess I dropped in the tub once.

[aomagrat]

I'm currently reading Dreadnought by Robbert Massie. The sequel, Castles of Steel is next. For lighter fare I read mystery's by Nevada Barr and Joesph Wambaugh, and Dirk Pitt novels by Clive Cussler

[Xenalyte]

I would add that Baigent, Leigh, and Lincoln have been pretty much debunked, and IIRC Merovingian was the one who led me to some sites about that. BL&L still make a hell of an interesting historical-detective read.

[Long Cut]

you and Mrs. Cut would have a lot to talk about. She also like Xena and Hercules, too.

[mlmr]

The Reckoning by James Byron Huggens was a book I picked up in a cut outs sale and it very good, it is in the spy genre and althoug that is not my favorite reading, I really have enjoyed reading and rereading it.

[Xenalyte]

Get that woman signed up on FR!

[Long Cut]

Can't believe I forgot you on this one, Duchess. Slap me with a half-cooked lasagna, as pennance.

[Maceman]

I recently read Looking Backward - 2000-1887, a fascinating insight into the American Progressive mind.

Written in 1887 by Edward Bellamy, this Utopian novel tells the story of a Boston aristocrat who falls asleep under a hypnotist's spell in 1887 and awakens in Boston in the year 2000.

The book, which was voted the most influential novel of the prior 50 years by no less than three published surveys in 1935, describes a perfect world in which the government runs every facet of the economy.

In the author's imagined America of the year 2000, everyone works for the government from age 21 until age 45, after which each citizen looks forward to a blissful retirment of material satisfaction and personal growth. There is no crime, no poverty and no war.

If you have ever wondered how it is that America went from being a country built on the idea of individual liberty to one where it is assumed that the government's job is to provide for everyone's needs, you really need to read this book.

"Looking Backward" is the book that laid out the grand progressive vision that dominated so much of America's political and intellectual evolution during the Progressive Era (1870-1920).

A must-read if you really want to understand the core of today's Progressive (I do not use the word "Liberal" to describe moderne leftists) mind set.

[Long Cut]

She is, as Mrs. Cut. She just doesn't visit all that often...Short Cut, at 8 mos. old, takes most of her time these days.

[Dan from Michigan]

I'm way behind on reading (non school realted books) since I went back to school to finish my degree.

I like most of the Clancy books I've read (Op center and the Jack Ryan series). "Enemies Foreign and Domestic" was great, as was "Unintended Consequences".

I like the political dynamics involved in all of those.

[Long Cut]

How about you, Thump? read anything lately?

[writer33]

"I'll start off. My most recent book read was The Da Vinci Code, by Dan Brown. It is not conservative in nature, but it is thought-provoking in its own way. However, it felt rushed and too fast, as if it was intended to be made into a movie at some point."

That's one of the problems with these big publishing houses. They tend to only publish things with a liberal point of view. Now their are exceptions to the rule, but usually you have to be a big name conservative to get through those doors.

So you bide your time and wait. Then the people speak and they're forced to listen. It's all very gratifying. Take James Patterson for instance. He's a lib. You can tell when you read his books. Being a conservative writer now means having to go up against those big name libs.

It's so fun when you can prove that people really love the conservative ideology and that the CONSERVATIVE should win in the end. So, watch out people. Here it comes.

Elective Decisions, a political thriller. This time. The conservative wins in the end.

[Xenalyte]

Those short rounds will do that to ya!

[Long Cut]

I agree. The political power plays in many of the tecnothrillers are my favorite part. It's fun to watch what might happen in the highest offices of political and military power in a crisis situation.

Sadly, Clancy seems to be losing his touch, if his last three books are any indication.

[TexasCowboy]

READ??!

Y'all actually have time to read?
If you have any extra hours in your day that I don't, may I borrow some?

[Tribune7]

I'm working on Miracle at Philadelphia by Catherine Drinker Bowen. It's a narrative of the Constitutional

Excellent book.