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What Are You Reading? - My Quarterly Survey
3/29/11 | MplsSteve

Posted on 03/29/2011 9:52:18 AM PDT by MplsSteve

Hi everyone! It's time again for my "What Are You Reading?" thread.

As you know, I consider Freepers to be among the more well-read of those of us on the Internet. I like to find out what all of you are reading these days.

It can be anything...a technical journal, a NY Times best seller, a classic work of fiction, a trashy pulp novel. In short, it can be anything.

However, please do not defile this thread by posting "I'm reading this thread". it became really unfunny a long time ago.

I'll start. I'm about 15% of the way thru "Henry Clay: The Essential American" by David & Jeanne Heidler. Many books have been written on Henry Clay but this one seems to be the most comprehensive. At times, the authors can be a little long-winded - but all in all, it's a good book about one of the giants of the early 19th Century.

Well, what are YOU reading?


TOPICS: Books/Literature; Miscellaneous
KEYWORDS: bestsellers; bookclub; bookreview; books; godsgravesglyphs; literature; magazines; pages; readinglist
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To: MplsSteve
My daughter gave me a Kindle for Christmas, and after "Going Rogue" and "Decision Points" I decided my next download would be a novel. I'm about 2/3 of the way through "Pillars of the Earth".


181 posted on 04/02/2011 4:49:59 PM PDT by COBOL2Java (Obama is the least qualified guy in whatever room he walks into.)
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To: Artemis Webb; TheMom
As for me I’m reading Jim Butcher’s Codex Alera series

My wife is collecting the series. As soon as she acquires book one I am going to start reading them.

I just have a couple of the Dresden files to read before I am finished with that series.

Very enjoyable!

182 posted on 04/02/2011 4:57:45 PM PDT by Eaker (The problem with the internet, you're never sure of the accuracy of the quotes. Abraham Lincoln '65)
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To: COBOL2Java
I read that when it first came out. Very intimidating on the page count but it was actually engrossing and enjoyable, very unlike the type of novels most would associate with Follett.

If I were to try and describe it in a nutshell, I'd say it's a sort of early medieval The Fountainhead, but not nearly so ponderous as Rand, despite the number of pages.

183 posted on 04/02/2011 5:00:29 PM PDT by RegulatorCountry
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To: MplsSteve
I just finished three books (I've been traveling a lot for work and had time to read on the plane):

Dead or Alive by Tom Clancy
Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell
Man's Search for Meaning by Victor Frankl

Next up is The Great Gatsby, and I'm still not sure what will be after that.

184 posted on 04/02/2011 5:04:47 PM PDT by NittanyLion
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To: RegulatorCountry

It’s hard to put down - very engrossing. Luckily, it’s on a Kindle, so it’s not as ponderous as carrying around a nearly 1,000 page book! :-)

I’d forgotten to mention that I had also downloaded “The Hobbit”. I’d forgotten how good a story teller JRR Tolkien was. After I’ve finished “Pillars of the Earth” I want to go back and re-read LOTR.

Funny Kindle story about “The Lord of the Rings”: They’ve transcribed “The Fellowship of the Ring” and “The Return of the King” to Kindle, but not the middle book! I sent a letter to Amazon; hopefully by the time I finish the first volume it will be ready...sigh :-/


185 posted on 04/02/2011 5:10:04 PM PDT by COBOL2Java (Obama is the least qualified guy in whatever room he walks into.)
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To: COBOL2Java

The period detail, the architectural references and both the political and church intrigue really are fascinating. It’d make a great movie if it were left intact as much as possible and properly cast, but that’s the big problem anymore with movies.


186 posted on 04/02/2011 5:14:16 PM PDT by RegulatorCountry
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To: MplsSteve
Know and Unknown a Memoir by Donald Rumsfeld

yitbos

187 posted on 04/02/2011 5:17:48 PM PDT by bruinbirdman ("Those who control language control minds." -- Ayn Rand)
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To: MplsSteve

Everything I can get my hands on about the westward migration...especially before the ‘49er’s—and everything I can find about Bodie.

(and The National Enquirer)


188 posted on 04/02/2011 5:19:25 PM PDT by bannie (( ))
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To: RegulatorCountry
They did make it into a mini-series, and it's available on Netflix:

However, they took too many artistic liberties, IMHO. Notwithstanding, I think they portrayed three characters exceedingly well: Bishop Waleran, Prior Phillip, and Tom Builder.

189 posted on 04/02/2011 5:20:38 PM PDT by COBOL2Java (Obama is the least qualified guy in whatever room he walks into.)
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To: MplsSteve

Lights Out by David Campbell

Out of all the EMP books I’ve read so far, I like this one the best.


190 posted on 04/02/2011 5:34:05 PM PDT by ChocChipCookie
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To: COBOL2Java
Didn't know that, thanks. I envisioned the Bishop Waleran as looking and behaving quite a bit like Professor Snape from Harry Potter, lol.

Been a while since I've read it and the name of the almost wild woman Tom Builder takes up with escapes me, but that was a memorable character.

The most haunting and harrowing scene of the entire book was the death of his wife during childbirth, though.

191 posted on 04/02/2011 5:34:50 PM PDT by RegulatorCountry
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To: MplsSteve
I am reading Bram Stoker's Dracula...amazingly prescient for the present time.

BTW, Dracula is a free download for Kindle and Kindle for PC (Kindle for PC is a free app...Freepmail me if you need a recommendation or advice for downloading).

192 posted on 04/02/2011 5:35:42 PM PDT by SonOfDarkSkies
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To: MplsSteve; Alamo-Girl
And for anyone interested in Apocalyptic stuff, the following is a must...

Charlesworth "Pseudepigrapha..."

193 posted on 04/02/2011 5:43:55 PM PDT by SonOfDarkSkies
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To: MplsSteve
Serious reading: American History in Black and White by David Barton.

Fluff reading: The Inspector Rutledge books by Charles Todd (13 of them).

194 posted on 04/02/2011 5:56:26 PM PDT by FrogMom (There is no such thing as an honest democrat!)
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To: MplsSteve

The Devil’s Company by David Liss

A “tough-guy detective” mystery set in the 1700’s.

His earlier “conspiracy of paper” was awkward IMO and I can’t recommend it, but this is a pretty good gumshoe novel.


195 posted on 04/02/2011 6:05:57 PM PDT by mrsmith
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To: MplsSteve

10 Books That Screwed up the World
Dismantling America
Obama Zombies
The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind
War’s End


196 posted on 04/02/2011 6:40:51 PM PDT by dsc (Any attempt to move a government to the left is a crime against humanity.)
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To: KamperKen
I'm reading Lenin, Stalin, and Hitler: The Age of Social Catastrophe by Robert Gellately. I had never really delved into the history of the period. These people were evil!!! I find it amazing that so far, if you exclude his hatred of the Jews, Hitler is looking like the best of the bunch. Obama is sort of "Leninesque".
197 posted on 04/02/2011 6:40:59 PM PDT by stayathomemom (Beware of kittens modifying your posts.)
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To: stayathomemom

I’m not familiar with this title but will check it out. Stalin and Mao outdid Hitler by a wide margin in mass murder. There was a Russian film from the early 90’s called “The Chekist” where the film makers were making the point that the indiscriminate mass murder started under Lenin. One of the rationalizations by leftists (like the worthless leftist historians discussed in the book that I’m reading) is that Stalin perverted the communist system and all would have been well had Lenin lived. The Russians themselves beg to differ.

On the subject of hatred of the Jews, Stalin was planning a massacre of the Jewish population in Russia, the Doctor’s Plot, which was only halted by his death. There is evidence that Stalin was actually poisoned with rat poison, which would have been a fitting end if he could have been killed that way 30 million times over.

All one needs to do is examine the lives of Stalin, Mao, Hitler and Lenin for proof of the existence of the Devil.


198 posted on 04/02/2011 6:50:44 PM PDT by KamperKen
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To: MplsSteve

Still reading Atlas Shrugged - same as last quarter. And 2009... about 1/2 way now.


199 posted on 04/02/2011 6:52:33 PM PDT by REDWOOD99
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To: MplsSteve

Mary Meeker’s USA inc

by far the best and clearest explanation of the macro US financial hole ever done


200 posted on 04/02/2011 7:00:15 PM PDT by beebuster2000
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