[GretchenM]

I recently read Grant and Twain: The Story of a Friendship That Changed America by Mark Perry. It was fun to read and difficult to put down. The subtitle may be a bit extravagant, but the author's point is taken that the friendship of these two giants did change the American literary scene. Grant's influence on Twain was instrumental in Twain finding his way to finish the second part of Huckleberry Finn; Twain's influence on Grant got those memorable memoirs into print at the right price for Grant's survivors, and at the right time. (Grant died a few days after completing them).

[GretchenM]

I agree with the other poster who recommended A Matter of Character by Ronald Kessler. It's very unpretentious and gives the most balanced view of George W. Bush I've read.

Other enjoyable, recent reads:
Bias by Bernie Goldberg (wish he didn't have so much cussin' in it)

When Hell Was in Session by Jeremiah Denton

My Early Life by Winston Churchill

Making Waves by Michael Reagan

Unfit for Command by John O'Neill and Jerome Corsi (still excellent to be read even after Senator Kerry's defeat, as he remains a political force in this country)

I loved this one: Reckless Disregard by Lt. Col. Buzz Peterson

Franklin and Winston by Jon Meacham

Angel in the Whirlwind: The Triumph of the American Revolution by Benson Bobrick

[GRRRRR]

"Benjamin Franklin" by biographer Walter Isaacson
A very easy to read narrative of the most interesting of our Founding Fathers...

My next book is:
David McCullogh's "John Adams"

Then I have a Rober E. Lee bio I haven't touched, then Jeff Head's fifth and final Dragon's Fury..

I can also recommend:
Ted Bells' HAWKE and ASSASSIN
Brad Thor's Path of the Assassin and Lions of Lucerne, entertaining stories to fly by...
Ted's "God, Guns and RockNRoll" was also quite enjoyable...

I have way more books to read than time to do it, plus I need new glasses I guess...

G

[dr_pat]

I'm finishing some froth: Mountain Magic, a collection of stories by David Drake, Eric Flint, Ryk E. Spoor and Henry Kuttner; I have not yet blown tears away following the defeat of the King. Once I've finished, I am promised to a new (to me) book by Daniel Dennett, Freedom Evolves. Dennett has a very libertarian approach to philosophy and epistemology -- I've been hooked since Darwin's Dangerous Idea and Elbow Room! There's an okay review by Kenan Malik and another at the Houston Chron that originally appeared in the Philadelphia Enquirer. I am gradually setting my notes into a blog at Paper Frigate. Vanity or not, if we don't share where good ideas (or bad ones) come from, we aren't really communicating.

[boris]

The Fabric of the Cosmos, by Brian Greene. Then I have all those gigantic tomes by Neal Stephenson on the stack. I was hooked by The Cryptonomicon. Plus the Da Vinci Code (read Angels and Demons) and:

Fluke : Or, I Know Why the Winged Whale Sings by Christopher Moore;
The Mathematical Universe, by William Dunham;
Euler, the Master of Us All, by William Dunham;
Human Accomplishment, by Charles Murray;
Prime Obsession, by John Derbyshire;
The Nobel Prize, by Burton Feldman;
Remarkable Mathematicians, by Joan James;
Korolev, by James Harford;
e, the Story of a Number, by Eli Maor;
The Discovery of Dynamics, by Julian Barbour (I didn't understand his other book either);
The Golden Ratio, by Mario Livio

...among others.

I generally take a break by reading some Jack Vance or re-reading some of Lord Dunsany [whose prose has never been equalled by anybody.

--Boris