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Read Any Good Books Lately?

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Mickey Richaud

Mickey Richaud

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With the driving season for many of us still ahead, it's time to swap book experiences. I re-read Musashi , by Eiji Yoshikawa, sort of Japan's Gone With the Wind . And also The Lone Survivor , by Marcus Luttrell, a Navy Seal who was the only one of a patrol to come home from a mission in Afghanistan.

Good review here: https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/10/AR2007061001492.html

Got the new book on the TR7 on order. TR7: The Untold Story

Anyone else?

Mickey
 
I previously enjoyed Hawaii, by Michener.

Jan Guillou made a big impression with these books, becoming the second highest paid author in Sweden.
Unfortunately they really aren't available in English (or weren't) so I had to struggle through them in Danish.

Vejen til Jerusalem, - The road to Jerusalem
Tempelridderen, - The Temple Knight (which is apparently out as a movie now but the book is expensive in English Amazon )
Riget ved vejens ende, - The Kingdom at the End of the Road
Arven efter Arn - Heritage of Arn
 
Currently reading ,into wee hours, Ken Follett's latest-
"World without End" which is follow up to his "The Pillars
of the Earth."

An excellent 14th century yarn.

d
 
Basil said:
Yes, I've read some good books lately.
Click to expand...

Thanks, Boss! /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/jester.gif

(One [or two!] in every crowd!)
 
I had mentioned these three a few weeks ago...very good books:
If you enjoy history, I recently finished three very good books, on three different topics. The first was "Everybody Was So Young: Gerald and Sara Murphy: A Lost Generation Love Story" by Amanda Vaill. I just picked up this book a few months back, mainly because the cover photo looked like my mom as a young lady. It covers the lives of the Murphys as they entertained the F. Scott Fitzgeralds, the Hemingways, Dorothy Parker, and many others. It was a very intriguing story.
The second was "Conquering Gotham; A Gilded Age Epic: The Construction of Penn Station and its Tunnels" by Jill Jonnes. This book covered the personalities involved including Alexander Cassatt (brother of artist Mary Cassatt) in his role as President of the Pennsylvania Railroad, and his battles with Tammany Hall, the engineering of tunnels under the Hudson River at a time many thought it could not be done, and the tribulations of financing such a project during several major business downturns.
The third book was "Crosley - Two brothers and a Business Empire that Transformed the Nation" by Rusty McClure with David Stern and Michael A. Banks. Powel and Lewis Crosley were an interesting team as they built radios, refrigerators, and ultimately cars. This too was a very intriguing business adventure with the personalities of the two men intertwined with politics and engineering.
 
Recently:

<u>Lonesome Dove</u>-(Larry McMurty) great

<u>Performance Welding</u>-(R. Finch) soft cover, good stuff for shop-nerds like me

<u>Technology of Machine Tools</u>-(Krar)- more shop-nerd stuff-as background for a curriculuum project I hope to work on

<u>Plato and a Platypus</u> (Cathcart)-small format, 200 pg. book that explains philosophy through jokes-irreverant fun!

sample-"The problem with German food is that no matter how much you eat, an hour later, you're hungry for power."

another sample-
"How many New Agers does it take to change a light bulb?"
"None. They just start a "Coping with Darkness" support group."

Also, a politically-oriented book.

I'd like to read <u>"Conquering Gotham</u>" (recommended by Dave above)
 
Since you liked Into the Wild, I will recommended another book.
ICE MASTER, THE: THE DOOMED 1913 VOYAGE OF THE KARLUK. by Jennifer Niven.

Also interesting "A thread Across the Ocean" by John Steele Gordon, which describes the quite fascinating story of the first trans-Atlantic telegraph cable.

I have been reading James Clavell's Asian saga lately.
 
"Patrick O'Brian's Navy."

It explains the factual history behind his "Aubry and Maturin" British war ship series based in the eary 1800s.

I have read the series of 18 books several times and find something new each time. O'Brian had a very complex mind and it is reflected in his writing.

When my XJ-S is in winter storage, I build wooden ship models from that era.

Don
 
70herald said:
Since you liked Into the Wild, I will recommended another book.
ICE MASTER, THE: THE DOOMED 1913 VOYAGE OF THE KARLUK. by Jennifer Niven.

Also interesting "A thread Across the Ocean" by John Steele Gordon, which describes the quite fascinating story of the first trans-Atlantic telegraph cable.
Click to expand...

I have read the ICE MASTER, THE: THE DOOMED 1913 VOYAGE OF THE KARLUK as well as a number of books on the Shackleton voyage in the Endurance. The book on the trans-Atlantic cable sounds familiar. I will have to check if that is the one I read, or if I am remembering another book that dealt with that piece of history. I did find "Ice Master" to be quite interesting, but then I am completely intrigued and baffled by the idea of Artic exploration in wooden ships.
 
Finally finished <u>Dexter In The Dark</u> by Jeff Lindsay, which is the newest book in the Dexter series (which the tv show Dexter is based on, and which I highly recommend). I also recently finished <u>Gassers, Diggers, Funnies, and Altereds</u> by Bob McClurg.

Am about to start <u>Specters In The Smoke</u> by Tony Broadbent, which is a mystery set in immediate postwar London.

I am anxiously awaiting <u>The Curse Of The Spellmans</u> by Lisa Lutz, and <u>Murder On The Rue Paradis</u> by Cara Black.

This does not include the five or so magazines I'm behind on.

-Wm.
 
Currently reading Michael Palin's Diaries, 1969 to 1979. Very good for anyone who enjoys Python. Also just started Day of Battle by Rick Atkinson, chronicling the invasion of Sicily and Italy in WW2. Finished his first in the series, An Army At Dawn a few weeks ago.

Also about to re-read Three Men In A Boat by Jerome K. Jerome. A Victorian-era British author, it is a charming and utterly hilarious book. Recommended.
 
Steve said:
Also about to re-read Three Men In A Boat by Jerome K. Jerome. A Victorian-era British author, it is a charming and utterly hilarious book. Recommended.
Click to expand...

Our math teacher at school used to read it to us instead of doing math
 
Herself sniped "No Ordinary Time" from me so I only got half way thru, and she HIDES it, I swear. Gotta wait 'til she's bored and leaves it where I can find it. Meanwhile I'm amusing myself with Stephen Hawking's: "The Universe in a Nutshell".
 
I'm reading "God's Crucible, Islam and the Making of Europe, 570-1215", by David Levering Lewis (Norton, 2008). Mr. Lewis is a two-time winner of the Pulitzer prize and this book has been widely acclaimed.

From the book's cover: Lewis challenges many of the preconceptions that have dominated traditional history. In doing so, he presents a compelling narrative that puts Muslim Spain back into the very heart of European politics and culture.

Lewis points out that when many Europeans were still in their barbarian stages, the Islamic empire was highly advanced " . . . and saved, translated and transmitted to Christian Europe the wisdom and science of antiquity (e.g., they were the first to translate many of the ancient Greek/Roman texts into modern languages).

Very interesting book, and it helps us to grasp the underpinnings of today's Islamic cultures and schools of thought.

I like, but it may take me awhile to get through it! /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/eek.gif
 
Couple pop to mind:

Thunderstruck - about Marconi's early radio work, and one of the world's grisliest murders.

The Best and the Brightest - some thoughts on how we got into the VietNam quagmire.

Extraordinary Popular Delusions ... - senseless human "herd mentality" over the last 400 years.

Lincoln's Sword - Lincoln's mastery of English from teen years to the presidency.

Old English Grammar and Reader.

and now just starting The Essential Galbraith.

By the way, The Terror (Franklin's doomed Northwest Passage expedition) is fantastic. And Mark - totally agree on God's Crucible. Excellent book - opens some eyes to what we never learned "back in school". Islam (and the Irish!) did a *lot* to "save civilization" after the fall of Rome.

Tom
 
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