[Long Cut]

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.

Tom Clancy's most recent work, Red Rabbit, left me wondering what's happened to his former abilities.

I am looking forward to reading Clive Cussler's latest, as he's never let me down before. Long Live Dirk Pitt!

I simply cannot wait to read FReeper Travis Mcgee's book, Enemies Foreign And Domestic. I loved John Ross's Unintended Consequences, and Travis seems to be carrying on in that fine tradition ably.

[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.

[Euro-American Scum]

I'm in the middle of Nelson DeMille's Up Country right now. Actually, I'm almost done with it. For all the fiction he writes, the only books I've read are his Vietnam books. Word of Honor was the other one.

Neither one was a life changing experience. But this last one has put the itch in me to go back to Vietnam and visit the old battlefields, much as DeMille did in 1997.

And this is the first time I've that kind of urge in 35 years.

[Radix]

I finally gave up on the Dirk Pitt books after a dozen or so. The submarine in the desert was a bit much for me. The Red Rabbit by Clancy I have not finished because I left it at a friend's home, and that is a long way from here. I anticipate getting it back very soon, and I'll finish it then

Meanwhile, I am reading the last of  W.E.B. Griffin's Corps novels right now. For a real treat if you enjoy those novels I would recommend Vince Flynn. His 5th book is still in hard cover, and I will pick it up as soon as the paperback comes out. Outstanding stuff.

[Euro-American Scum]

Let me put in a mention for The Stand since nobody's brought it up so far. It's been a while since I read it, but what an awesome story this was.

I read a lot of Stephen King books. And yes, I'm currently addicted to The Gunslinger series and can't wait for the next one to come out.

Most of King's books are entertaining, if not predictable. But The Stand was a masterpiece. I read it day and night for three weeks. It was one of the few books I got lost in. So much so that as I got towards the end, I was sorry that it was soon going to be over.

It's the only King book where I actually wondered what became of all these characters and where and how they ended up.

[AnAmericanMother]

I've read several of the Eternal Mercenary series. Well done . . . I was a history major with a specialty in military history . . . caught very few goofs.

On a lighter note in the same vein, check out George MacDonald Fraser's Flashman books. I had actually read Tom Brown's School Days so it was a stitch to find out what happened to that rascal Harry. However, I prefer Fraser's MacAuslan books, which are worth reading if you can find copies (MacAuslan in the Rough, The General Danced at Dawn, and The Sheik and the Dustbin.)

Obscure books - I am very fond of Donn Byrne's Irish novels. Destiny Bay and Hangman's House are very good. I also like Anthony Trollope's Barsetshire novels very much - Framley Parsonage being my favorite. Angela Thirkell has brought Barsetshire up to date and her novels are very entertaining though not as good as Trollope's. Best romances: Georgette Heyer. Best mysteries: Dorothy Sayers. If you read one mystery novel, read The Nine Tailors. There has never been a better mystery novel written (and I've read a bunch.)

[fnord]

Second Matt's Enemies Foreign and Domestic

for satirical humor check out dead's Citizen Clinton, I think he's still selling them

For a wacky conspiracy read, check out the Illuminatus Trilogy

Dean Koontz has many to recommend - Watchers and Lightning particularly

A novel that I go back and re-read occasionally is Zen and the Art of Motorvycle Maintenance

Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is a classic humor ensemble.

enough about me ... I will peruse the thread and get more reading ideas :-)

[Jeff Head]

LC, pardon me, now since I have plugged my FR friends novels, for those who love a good techno-thriller...here's a BUMP for :

THE DRAGON'S FURY SERIES OF NOVELS
A techno-thriller series about the next World War

[PJ-Comix]

Over at THIS THREAD, discussing Tom Clancy's movies, one FReeper lamented the lack of threads discussing books we all might like, like Clancy's, or those of Clive Cussler, Matt Reilly, Patrick Robinson...

Um....For NEARLY TWO YEARS we have had a regular Freeper Reading Club thread discussions about books. Already we have discussed Homage To Catalonia, From Here To Eternity, Electric Acid Kool-Aid Test, First Circle, among others. Right now we are reading All The Kings Men. We have nearly 200 members who read and discuss the books on a schedule.

[PJ-Comix]

I'm seeing a lot of what I call "Popcorn Books" listed here. If you want to read books BOTH deep and interesting, then join the Freeper Reading Club. Great LITERATURE that will make you think. Unfortunately too many books have empty intellectual calories. I tried to avoid those books in the Freeper Reading Club assignments.

[grellis]

ALL things Tolkien, many things Shakespeare, The Wind in the Willows, Watership Down, the Bible, really old cookbooks, just about anything by Max Schulman (I can't read Anyone Got a Match? without a minimum of three spit-takes--a must read for smokers, former smokers, football fans, and anyone who went to college or knew someone who went to college), birding guides, political biographies, and everything John Dickson Carr ever wrote.

[steplock]

The link below will take to the book by Tom Coburn, M.D. (R-OK)

Breach of Trust: How Washington Turns Outsiders Into Insiders

It is a MUST-READ book for everyone, especially conservative Republicans interested in national politics! I am just a few pages from finishing it, and I recommend it HIGHLY.

[HairOfTheDog]

Love Tolkien, of course...about due for a re-read of that, it has been since the year Fellowship came out.

This year I read Seabiscuit, which was a really interesting look into both that era in our history, and into horseracing.

I used to read a lot of Grisham's legal thrillers... I love court dramas and mysteries.

[Travis McGee]

I'll throw in my favorite unknown (in America) novelist: the Brit Gerald Seymour. I'm strongly influenced by his realistic suspense thriller genre, which is so different from the Ludlum/Grisham/Clancy macro comic-book hero novel. I would recommend Archangel, Harry's Game or The Contract as starting point. DeMille is good, but his action scenes are totally farfetched and unrealistic. Stephen Hunter is fun to read, but is getting repetitious with the Bob Swagger saga. Ignatious writes pretty good spy novels.

[cavtrooper21]

Good reads, even if they are SF mind candy, are the various David Drake / SM Stirling books. SM by himself isn't bad, but Drake adds something of the "...been there, done that" touch.
Currently working on Sir Winston's History of WW2, and am awaiting the arrival of his "History of English Speaking Peoples"
Oh, and Jerry Pornelle, (I think I spelled that right..) always a good read.
There is a book I read here a while back by this new author named Matthew Bracken... very good, but I think he's holding out on the sequel... ;^)

[RightWingMama]

simply cannot wait to read FReeper Travis Mcgee's book, Enemies Foreign And Domestic. I loved John Ross'sUnintended Consequences, and Travis seems to be carrying on in that fine tradition ably

Enemies Foreign and Domestic was one of the best books I have ever read. Not just for the theme, but the story held your attention and got your heart pumping. It was just a great read. My husband read it in one day and it took me two.;-) Once you start, it is hard to put down.

[Talking_Mouse]

Anyone else like Jared Diamond's Guns, Germs, and Steel? Its one of my favorite nonfictions. On the fiction front Lucrezia Borgia and the Mother of Poisons by Roberta Gellis. Its not what you think.

[John Farson]

Operatives, Spies, and Sabateurs -- real life accounts (declassified) about the "Shadow War" conducted during WWII.

Endurance: Shakelton's Incredible Voyage -- true story of arctic explorers and their adventures.

And if you like historical fiction or just a quality story set in medieval times, I highly recommend George R.R. Martin's A Game of Thrones

[Anitius Severinus Boethius]

I would like to throw some support to Steven Lawhead. Some of his stuff is really bad, but the Pendragon Cycle is a really interesting and different take on the Arthurian Legends and his Byzantium is the best historical fiction I have ever read, hands down.

[Bear_in_RoseBear]

Re-reading this right now:

In preparation for getting his newest book later in the week:

Big ol' SF, the fun is in reading the author's conception of future technology. At least, that's what I enjoy!