Posted on 10/01/2010 8:54:31 AM PDT by MplsSteve
Hi everyone! It's time again for my quarterly "What Are You Reading Now?" thread.
As you know, I consider Freepers to be among the more well-read member of the cyber world. I like to find out what you're all reading.
Essentially, it can be anything. A timeless classic, a trashy pulp novel, a technical journal, etc. In short, anything!
Please do not ruin this thread by posting something stupid like "I'm Reading Your Thread". It became really really unfunny a long time ago.
I'll start. I'm reading "Pendergast!" by Lawrence J Larsen and Nancy J Hulston. Written in 1997, it chronicles the life as well as the rise and fall of Tom Pendergast. In the 1920's and 30's, he was the undisputed boss of Kansas City. Nothing moved or happened in that city without his approval. He was responsible for the rise of Harry S Truman as well.
Pendergast was a contradiction in many terms. he was a family man but also contracted syphilis from a prostitute. He looked out for the downtrodden by getting them jobs and food and then skimmed money off the side (on public works projects) for his own use.
And last but not least, he was a life-long Democrat as well!
All in all, this is a good book and one I'd recommend strongly.
Well, what are you reading now?!
Culture of Corruption: Michelle Malkin
Foundation: Isaac Asimov
Augustine’s Confessions, the Historian (novel), I Timothy (Bible), several biographies of composers (Bruckner) and musicians (John Coltrane, Louis Armstrong).
Also, sticking with the music phase, I have Terry Teachout’s book of essays. I strongly recommend anything/everything by Teachout. He is a political conservative; so you don’t have to feel like you are wading through a sewer to get some good commentary on the arts and music......
What is a lion?
Are there any fans of Christian Fantasy on the thread?
Something Wicked This Way Comes - Ray Bradbury
And last but not least, he was a life-long Democrat as well!”
Syphillis, manipulator of the poor through handouts...sounds like a perfect Democrat to me!
How is Larry’s book? He was the instructor of my CC class. I didn’t know he had published already.
i am re-reading The Life of the Mind: On the Joys and Travails of Thinking by James V. Schall...
I just finished the latest in the Frankenstein series by Dean Koontz.
It is a very nice re-imagining of the Frankenstein mythology.
I recommend it highly for Koontz fans or anyone else that enjoys well written fiction.
Cheers,
knewshound
Voices of the Foreign Legion. Copyright 2010 by Adrian D. Gilbert.
Collapse of Complex Socities
http://www.amazon.com/Collapse-Complex-Societies-Studies-Archaeology/dp/052138673X
should be required reading, amazing book, and totally readable
i read Huckleberry Finn many years ago, but recently (a few years ago) listened to it on audio... it was nice to have someone--a professional--read it to me... especially with the dialect... i enjoyed this audiobook...
“Against The Fall of Night”,by Michael Arnold...again. Anyone interested in Byzantine history would enjoy this.
Memoirs by U.S. Grant - not what I expected at all.
Rereading The Road to Serfdom by F. Hayek.
Just finished House to House, a memoir of Fallujah by David Bellavia. Absolutely harrowing.
Ann Rule wrote about my husband's cousin, who was murdered by her husband... he had murdered another wife before her...
So do I. It creeps my husband out that almost all I do read are true crime, never mind I watch it on TV all day too.
Memoirs by U.S. Grant - not what I expected at all.”
Can you elaborate? I have only sampled them, largely because of the reputation (”the greatest war memoir since Caesar”).
I recall a sort of simple elegant prose, plenty of detail, but not a lot of ornamentation. But, again, I only sampled briefly...interested in your line there about not being what you expected.
Charlie Chan: The Untold Story of the Honorable Detective and His Rendezvous with American History [Hardcover] Yunte Huang (Author)
just finished--- Sitting It Out, A World War II POW Memoir, by David Westheimer
I re-read Sawyer and Huck a few years ago. They are a treat.
I enjoyed Tom Sawyer the most (especially as a kid), but I do reckon that Huck Finn is Twain’s masterpiece. I think it is the greatest piece of truly American literature.
It’s a shame that many schools and libraries have banned the book in favor of “To Kill a Mockingbird”, a fine book, but in every way inferior to Huck.
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