books: what are you currently reading?

[Caleb]

I suspect you'd enjoy the Space Trilogy - Out of the Silent Planet, Voyage to Venus, That Hideous Strength. The prose can be a bit tortured, but the ideas are worth the effort. The way the third volume describes our current predicament is un-nerving enough to scare Orwell: a story woven with the myths of ancient Britain and the timeless banality of human hang-ups, framed within the conundrum of the dogmas of science/religion (religion/science?) constraining/emancipating morality - all in all, not bad for a mucked up Oxford Don . . .

I have read the trilogy and was pretty blown away by That Hideous Strength.  Your observations are spot on, by the way. 

[rockstar_not]

Speaking of re-reading....  What are some of your regular re-reads?

I don't have a long list of re-reads.

Lord of the Rings Trilogy and Hobbit - I've read through those 3 times I believe.

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - I think I'm on my 3rd time through that one.

The Pickwick Papers  by Dickens - I've read that twice.

I'm more of a 'read through a full body of work by an author if I find one I like' kind of a reader.  Example is Stephen Lawhead.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_R._Lawhead  I've read about half-way through his adult fiction body of work, but hit a roadblock trying to make it through 'Hood'.  I have read Byzantium, which was a great romp through the history of Christianity as a sort of James Michener kind of a thing.

[Danny]

I guess Tuchman is either done or not fitting the bill? The Guns of August is a real rabbit hole read . . .

Tuchman is on my list now. Thanks

      For now I have started reading "Biggest Brother" The life of Major Dick Winters by Larry Alexander.

[datdaddy]

I guess Tuchman is either done or not fitting the bill? The Guns of August is a real rabbit hole read . . .

Maybe try this:  1913: In Search of the World Before the Great War by Charles Emmerson.  It's on my list.  I still read the Tuchman every few years!

[Sooner95]

One of my favorites is:
Rising Tide: The Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 and How it Changed America by John M. Barry.  

The title tells you what it is basically about, but it was recommended by a senior military officer to me before I took battalion command. It addresses all kinds of issues besides just rising water, politics, racism, human nature, history, civic responsibility. Pretty much the gambit of just about everything, except music...but it is also about New Orleans, so I guess it is about music in some ways. My father-in-law's father was a young boy when the 1927 flood happened and he would still tear up when he was in his 80's when someone would ask about it.

[datdaddy]

One of my favorites is:
Rising Tide: The Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 and How it Changed America by John M. Barry. 

The title tells you what it is basically about, but it was recommended by a senior military officer to me before I took battalion command. It addresses all kinds of issues besides just rising water, politics, racism, human nature, history, civic responsibility. Pretty much the gambit of just about everything, except music...but it is also about New Orleans, so I guess it is about music in some ways. My father-in-law's father was a young boy when the 2917 flood happened and he would still tear up when he was in his 80's when someone would ask about it.

This is a great book.  Like you, I have some personal interest in it, as my mother was in utero at the time of the flood, and her family had to evacuate Arkansas City, AR, prior to her being born just a month later.  They were never able to go back, as everything changed, with the town high and dry after the river changed course.  Wonderful book!

[Caleb]

Just finished up John Piper's "Good News of Great Joy."  It's his advent book for the season that we read as a family. 

I'm in the middle of Roger Lancelyn Green's "Adventures of Robin Hood" right now. 

I got a nice Kindle gift card for Christmas that'll keep my busy for a good while.  And I still have much in the queue...

[hodagg]

Right now I'm into The Bully Pulpit, by Doris Kearns Goodwin. It's an examination of the T. Roosevelt and William Howard Taft lives and their presidencies, along with the muckrakers of the time. Pretty interesting so far. The book comes in just over 900 pages so I've got a ways to go yet.

[Thig]

Ghost Soldiers by Hampton Sides. It is amazing the USA and Japan ever became friends after WWII was over.

[rockstar_not]

Finally started "20,000 Leagues Under The Seas" by Jules Verne, and yes that is the intended title according to the introduction in the epub version on Manybooks.net  Supposedly the 20,000 Leagues refer to distance travelled, not depth below the surface.

[Queequeg]

Eminent Hipsters by Donald Fagen.
His writing style is somewhat similar to his musical prowess.
Smart, humorous, complex, sophisticated.

[Thig]

Ghost theme - I just started a re-read of "The Ghost Map" - a fascinating scientific face-palm.

Sounds interesting but a completely different subject matter.

[Caleb]

Plowing through Tolkien's Hobbit via audiobook. Rob Inglis does a brilliant job reading. Highly recommend.

[Caleb]

Recently finished Tolkien's Hobbit and a fantasy series called The Spiderwick Chronicles, both via audiobook.  It is a rare case when I think a film outdoes a book series, but the Spiderwick movie was much better, in my opinion.  I've also been listening to lots of lectures from the Modern Scholar series.  My local library carries a lot of them.  I highly recommend looking into these if you're interested in college-level stuff but cannot make it back to school.  I think I've gone through 6 or 7 of them, some several times each. 

I just started on Susan Cooper's series The Dark is Rising.  I'm just into the first book and am hooked. 

I'm also working my way through Brett and Kate McKay's book from the Art of Manliness called Manvotionals.  It's filled with excerpts from many great men of history on what it means to be a man.   Highly recommend their site www.artofmanliness.com to all you fellows here. 

[ducktrapper]

I just finished the first volume of Mark Lewisohn's trilogy of Beatle Biography: All These Years: Tune In. The first volume ends with them waiting for their second single to hit #1. If you're a Beatles fan you may think you know the story. You might be wrong. Great stuff. Incredible detail. To me, HUGE Beatle fan that I am, fascinating. Can't wait for the succeeding volumes. 

         

[Caleb]

Finished Cooper's THE DARK IS RISING.  Excellent bit of Fantasy lit. Will be reading the entire series. 

Just started a reread of Steinbeck's TRAVELS WITH CHARLEY.  An excellent book that I highly recommend.  If all you've read of him or know of him is the Grapes of Wrath, this is a whole other side of the man.  I personally do not care for Grapes of Wrath but I realize it's in the classic category.  I'm in the planning stages of a summer vacation so Travels is a good book to be reading while plotting things out. 

[Tuba Mike]

J. D. Salinger's "Catcher in the Rye" with Tim O'Brien's "The Things They Carried" waiting for me to finish "Catcher...".

[eded]

The Bible (KJV, the one I'm most familiar with).  I'm not religious (though I used to be).  I have read and studied various parts, but I have never read it cover to cover.  Some parts of it are a tough read.  Some because of the content, but more so the writing style and repetition.

Queued up is Wild Tales: A Rock and Roll Life by Graham Nash and Johnny Cash, The Life by Robert Hillburn.

Ed

[ryler]

J. D. Salinger's "Catcher in the Rye" with Tim O'Brien's "The Things They Carried" waiting for me to finish "Catcher...".

Just ordered Catcher in the Rye at the library.  I read it in high school, but saw a Salinger bio on tv which made me want to re-read it. 

[Danny]

Lone Survivor by Marcus Luttrell.  Excellent book, brought me to tears more than once. Well written and a story of some true American heroes. I'll eventually see the movie but expect to be let down.