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Any Good Reads Lately?

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Mickey Richaud

Mickey Richaud

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We BCF'ers seem to natter on about what we're eating; how's about feeding our intellect? Here's what I've been into lately:

<span style="font-style: italic"> One Dead in Attic </span> - fantastic collection of editorials by Chris Rose; post-Katrina New Orleans. EVERYONE should read this one!

<span style="font-style: italic"> World Without End </span> - long-awaited sequel to <span style="font-style: italic"> The Pillars of the Earth </span> by Ken Follett; England in the Middle Ages. Great history/adventure novel.

Just getting ready to start <span style="font-style: italic"> The Book Thief </span> - story of a girl in Nazi Germany who ekes out an existence by stealing books from wherever she can, including Nazi book-burnings, learns to read, and share the books with neighbors, and a Jewish man hiding in the basement.

Your turn...

Mickey
 
<span style="font-style: italic">Revenge of the Spellmans</span> by Lisa Lutz. A comic mystery, the most recent in the Spellman series.

<span style="font-style: italic">JPod</span> by Douglas Coupland. Entertaining, but as seems usual for Coupland's books, there's a lot going on but nothing much really happens.

<span style="font-style: italic">Ponzi's Scheme</span> by Mitchell Zuckoff. The story of Charles Ponzi and his rise and fall.

<span style="font-style: italic">Nuclear Jellyfish</span> by Tim Dorsey. Really only recommended if you have a strong stomach for lots of drinking and drug use, swearing, murder, sex, and general immoral behavior. I love Dorsey's books, mainly because they're funny as all heck, but also because there's a good deal of satire going on as well. Fans of Carl Hiaasen may like Dorsey, as their books feature similar "bad guys get their comeuppance" themes. Also, the main character, Serge A. Storms, usually drives a really cool classic American muscle car in each novel-in this one he ran an AMC Javelin.
 
The Friday Night Knitting Club by Kate Jacobs - an easy read and decidedly a chick's novel. Just started to re-read Lake Wobegon Days by of course Garrison Keillor - a book I probably read yearly. It forces me to move a little more slowly and make every effort to not overlook the beauty right under my nose! In my humble opinion the last really great read is The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch - easy read but hard thoughts after the read.
 
<span style="font-style: italic">The Paradox of Choice </span> by Barry Schwartz. Very interesting read about how we make choices and why we feel the way we do about them, written from a scientific point of view. Fascinating stuff.
 
Good topic!

<ul style="list-style-type: disc">[*]<span style="font-weight: bold">The Old New Thing</span> by Raymond Chen

About the evolution of MS Windows. Read it for work. If you're fascinated by API calls, you'll love it. If you're not, it'll bore you. If you don't know what an API call is, don't read it. (Loved it!)

[*]<span style="font-weight: bold">The Pentagon</span> by Steve Vogel.

About building the Pentagon. I like books about heroic construction efforts – recently read another about the Empire State Bldg (Empire Rising).
(Both were good).

[*]<span style="font-weight: bold">LL Bean</span> by Leon Gorman.

About LL Bean. Local interest. (Fair)

[*]<span style="font-weight: bold">Winter World</span> by Bernd Heinrich

How animals survive a Maine winter. (Brilliant book!)

[*]<span style="font-weight: bold">The Design of Everyday Things</span> by Donald Norman

(Thought provoking. Too long.)[/list]

[William mentioned Coupland's book - I like his stuff & need to get a copy]
 
coldplugs said:
Good topic!

  • <span style="font-weight: bold">The Pentagon</span> by Steve Vogel.

    About building the Pentagon. I like books about heroic construction efforts – recently read another about the Empire State Bldg (Empire Rising).
    (Both were good).

Click to expand...


  • If you like books about heroic construction efforts, then you'd love <span style="font-style: italic"> The Pillars of the Earth </span> and <span style="font-style: italic"> World Without End </span> ! Lots of detail about the development of church architecture woven in the stories.
 
Anything by Clive Cussler as long as Dirk Pitt is the hero. Also Jack Higgins and his merry band of Irish strong men led by Sean Dillon, working for Inspector Ferguson of the British Special Services.
 
Mickey Richaud said:
<span style="font-style: italic"> World Without End </span> - long-awaited sequel to <span style="font-style: italic"> The Pillars of the Earth </span> by Ken Follett; England in the Middle Ages. Great history/adventure novel.
Click to expand...

I really enjoyed <span style="font-weight: bold"><span style="font-style: italic">Pillars of the Earth</span></span>, but I'm having trouble staying focused on 900 page novels lately. I've started reading auto oriented books lately. The last one I finished was <span style="font-weight: bold"><span style="font-style: italic">Le Mans '55</span></span>, by Christopher Hilton. That's about the horrible wreck that took over 80 lives.
 
Mickey Richaud said:
coldplugs said:
Good topic!

  • <span style="font-weight: bold">The Pentagon</span> by Steve Vogel.

    About building the Pentagon. I like books about heroic construction efforts – recently read another about the Empire State Bldg (Empire Rising).
    (Both were good).

Click to expand...


  • If you like books about heroic construction efforts, then you'd love <span style="font-style: italic"> The Pillars of the Earth </span> and <span style="font-style: italic"> World Without End </span> ! Lots of detail about the development of church architecture woven in the stories.
Click to expand...


  • heroic construction efforts can make some good reading. David McCullogh's (sp?) book on the panama canal is very good. also, if you are interested in political stuff his book "Truman" is probably one of the best books i have ever read. over 1000 pages and not a boring moment. very, very well written as well.
    c74
 
Couple good ones for me this winter:

"American Creation", by Joseph Ellis. "Behind the scenes" looks at some aspects of early USA history.

"A Distant Mirror", by Barbara Tuchman. Watching European society struggling (and crumbling) during the "calamitous 14th century".

"Eisenhower", by Stephen Ambrose. A man with scruples devotes his life to his country, both in military and in political service.

"Dark Continent: Europe's Twentieth Century", by Mark Mazower. Living in Europe during the 1930s.

"Anglo Saxon Literature", by John Earle. Pre-Norman England looked at the world in a *very* different way.

"Hausbuch fĂĽr die deutsche Familie". The official "advice" book for German families during the 1930s. This one is *really* eye-opening, and scary - especially as its advice was followed by millions of citizens of the Reich.

"How to Remember Anything", by ... uh ... I forget.
 
charlie74 said:
heroic construction efforts can make some good reading. David McCullogh's (sp?) book on the panama canal is very good. also, if you are interested in political stuff his book "Truman" is probably one of the best books i have ever read. over 1000 pages and not a boring moment. very, very well written as well.
c74
Click to expand...

Charlie - I read both of these several years ago and both were indeed excellent. The Panama Canal book (<span style="font-style: italic">Path Between the Seas</span> I think) triggered an interest in Teddy Roosevelt & I then read 3 or 4 books about him. That whole canal effort ought to be an epic movie. The Truman book was outstanding - I wanted to play poker with him when I finished it. (You might like Doris Kearns Goodman's book about FDR et al - <span style="font-style: italic">No Ordinary Time</span>.)

I'll look at the books that Mickey suggested also.
 
Forgot I just finished an interesting, picture laden book called <span style="font-style: italic">Fill 'er Up! The Great American Gas Station</span> by Tim Russell. Obviously it's about the history of gas stations, and although it says "the great American gas station" in the title there's a good deal about international stations and innovations as well. It repeats itself quite a bit-it seems that bits about what architectural styles were being used by oil company A is repeated in a couple of different chapters. But it's worth it for the photos. Note-the number of different oil companies and their branding can be a bit bewildering.

Art-<span style="font-style: italic">Le Mans '55</span> is a very good book. In a similar vein (ie, more scholarly and less photo laden) I can recommend <span style="font-style: italic">Race of the Century</span> by Jule M. Fenster. It's about the New York-Paris race of 1908.

-Wm.
 
Good stuff, y'all - looks like I'm accumulating a summer reading list. Good thing I'm on the local library board! :wink:

Mickey
 
Finished reading

Ancient and Medieval siege engines. (Dad and I are looking for a new project :thumbsup:


Cathedral, Forge and Waterwheel (Technology and Invention in the Middle Ages.

Read evry Dirk Pitt novel I could find on my last deployment.


Don R
 
another one i have enjoyed a few times is Icon by ken follet. a novel with lots of interesting cold war espionage history in it that makes a great read.
c74
 
<span style="text-decoration: underline">Team of Rivals</span> by Kearns-Goodwin

<span style="text-decoration: underline">Truman</span> by McCollough

<span style="text-decoration: underline">Side Glances</span> by R&T writer, Peter Egan

<span style="text-decoration: underline">Kite Runner</span>

Do AutoCAD and ProE training manuals count? :jester:
 
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