Posted on 07/03/2008 8:40:03 AM PDT by MplsSteve
OK everyone, it's time for my quarterly "What Are You Reading Now?" thread.
I like finding out what Freepers are reading lately. It can be anything...a technical journal, a trashy pulp novel, an old classic...in short, anything!
Please do not defile this thread by posting "I'm Reading This Thread". It became very unfunny a long time ago.
I'll start. I'm close to finishing "The Last Valley" by Martin Windrow. It's about the siege/battle of Dien Bien Phu in 1954.
Well, what are you reading now?!
“I’d like to add Morison’s full set to my library some day.”
I must have been a pretty good dad because my wife and daughter found it on amazon used last year in perfect condition. The first time through I borrowed volume by volume through our library’s inter library loan program. Books came in from all over Florida and No. GA.
“My gosh, I bet that is excellent.”
Beyond words. Gives you a totally new perspective on our current military situation and how it was covered by the MSM and the tremendous sacrifice of our troops.
Not a single mention of “A Grave Breach” from my fellow freepers? In all the bookstores. High sales volume. Except for whoever reviewed it for Publishers Weekly, universally great reviews. Compared by others to Flynn, Rosenberg, Grisham, Clancy, Forsyth.
After almost reaching age 60 and never knowing much about Ayn Rand other than what others have written about her, I decided it was time to learn more by reading her books.
I thought an interesting approach would be to read them in the order in which she wrote them, so I started with “We The Living”.
I just finished “Anthem” (her short novella).
I’ve ordered “The Fountainhead” and will start that as soon as it arrives.
I’m wondering if I can handle the 900+ pages of “Atlas Shrugged”???
- John
Even so, I don't remember seeing it in my book store, but I will look.
I have the first, in paperback, but have not read it yet.
I went to one of my used book stores and found the complete set - through the newest that is out in paperback.
You>Yes. My first time through. My father speaks highly of the >series, so I thought I’d give it a shot. So far, so good.
I first read the books in 1994, when the last book was “Lord of Chaos” I loved them so much I bought the paperbacks and gave them to my wife. When my daughter was old enough, she read the series. Then my son. So we're a “Wheel of Time” family.
“Can’t wait, soon, to start GAME OF THRONES, by George Martin. Heard the series is awesome.”
It’s well written, but I found it too dark and depressing for my taste. I have not read “Feast for Crows” and don’t intend to.
Is it about anything specific?
I finally read “The Fountainhead” 2 weeks ago. Great book. I read “Atlas Shrugged” last year, also great, as in very great.
I had read one of Rand’s other (Virtue of Selfishness) books when I was a teen still and it did not compute for me then, but I’ll read it again in the near future.
I just started reading Flynns books. Yesterday I finished Transfer Of Power, and I have a few, well, several more to go. But I will pick up A Grave Breach!
My books center on a firm of international lawyers with connections to the intelligence community. They’re legal thrillers - not in the sense of being courtroom dramas as much as having international legal issues behind the plots. The first “Bargained for Exchange” arose out of the Sami Al-Arian business in Tampa in 1995 or so. It gave me the idea of ‘what if terrorists used Middle East studies departments in coleges and universities as a cover for a support network. (Long before it was revealed that was exactly what had occurred.) The second book, “Art & Part” (which is a Scottish legal term), had the trial of the Libyans accused of the Pan Am 103 Lockerbie as the background. Not so much about the trial as what happens when the lawters go over to cover it. Similarly, the third book, “A Grave Breach” has the Bosnian war crimes trials as the background. But it’s not about the trials. Not a single scene takes place in the Hague. Rather, in this one, the oldest member of the law firm was in WWII Yugoslavia, then there was the Bosnian War in the nineties and now someone is about to be tried as a war criminal and the elder lawyer askes one of his colleagues to defend him. More to it than that but that’s the basic premise.
Thanks for asking.
I read Flynn, too. He’s one of the best. Along with Daniel Silva, David Hagberg, Ian Rankin - more mystery than thriller - and a lot of others.
Getting ready to start on “Deja Demon” by Julie Kenner. A little light escapist reading in between heavier things.
I bought it used hardcover on Amazon for $7.
Surprisingly, per Tompkins the 19th century explorers who began to study the various Mexican pyramids postulated Asian and Euro/African origin of the Mexican/Central American indians detailed by Schoch, 150 to 200 years ago.
Herman Melville’s short stories.....
I dug those out of the pile last year and found they are like a shot of liqour and two sleping pills. They are not for me
Just finished SPYCRAFT by former CIA employee Wallace. A terrific book that details all the Agency’s gadgets.
Have you read Morison’s ‘Admiral of the Ocean Sea’? Fascinating
“Modern Times”
Hard read, but well worth it. Johnson packs so much detail in his books!
Good choice.
schu
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