books: what are you currently reading?

Started by Caleb, June 21, 2006, 11:58:08 PM

Previous topic - Next topic

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Quote from: rockstar_not on June 10, 2015, 09:59:17 PM
Just finished Herbie Hancock's "Possibilities".  Started Charles M. Schulz's autobiography.
Would really enjoy a review of the Schulz autobiography.

An almost poetic look at the game the rest of the world calls "football".

"Soccer in Sun and Shadow"  - Eduardo Galeano.

History, passion, play . . . I'm only reading the english translation and it's still compelling!

Reading it steadily, often many chapters a a sitting, but it would also be a great "occasional chapter" read, or a "chapter-a-day read".


Quote from: old folky on June 11, 2015, 06:42:19 AM
Reading "Into Thin Air" by Jon Krakauer.  It's a personal account of an ill fated expedition to climb Mt. Everest.  Very good reading so far.

I just loved that book.

Quote from: Caleb on June 11, 2015, 08:16:04 AM
Would really enjoy a review of the Schulz autobiography.
I misspoke - it's not an autobiography.  It's a collection of short articles written by Schulz over the years.  As such, it's pretty underwhelming as there's no depth.  Max length of article is about 3 pages.
2000 L-03-E
2012 Epiphone Nighthawk Custom Reissue
1985 Peavey Milestone
2004 SX SPJ-62 Bass
2008 Valencia Solid Cedar Top Classical
2015 Taylor 414ce - won in drawing
2016 Ibanez SR655BBF
???? Mitchell MDJ-10 3/4 scale dread
???? Squier Danocaster

My Sound Cloud

Quote from: ryler on June 13, 2015, 11:17:31 AM
I just loved that book.
All of Jon Krakauer's books are very well written and compelling.

Dead Wake by Erik Larson. (Devil In The White City).    A detailed account of the sinking  of the British ocean liner, the Lusitania by he Germans in WW I.

I just started the huge biography on John Wayne by Scott Eyman.  I'm not hugely into The Duke but I have seen a few of his films. I'm mainly finding myself interested in the Golden Age of Hollywood though, so my reading is leaning that way too.  The book has been a bestseller and is a wonderful read so far.  I'm about three chapters in.

Quote from: Mikeymac on June 09, 2015, 05:09:30 PM

I've been reading a great book that addresses a lot of the political correctness about the Crusades (you know - Christians all bad; Muslims all good):

God's Battalions: The Case for the Crusades by Rodney Stark


The above was an excellent historical account of the Crusades - no glossing over the bad, but correcting a lot of PC garbage.

So much so that now I'm reading (on my Kindle) another Stark book, How the West Was Won: The Neglected Story of the Triumph of Modernity. One of the biggest corrections to our "history" that Stark is making in this book is to call the centuries after the Roman Empire and before the Renaissance the "Dark Ages." He gives plenty of evidence why they were anything but dark (lots of technological development, more food, people were healthier, populations grew).
2021 C-03R TE left-handed
Larrivee owner since 1992

Quote from: Mikeymac on June 18, 2015, 10:19:26 AM
The above was an excellent historical account of the Crusades - no glossing over the bad, but correcting a lot of PC garbage.

So much so that now I'm reading (on my Kindle) another Stark book, How the West Was Won: The Neglected Story of the Triumph of Modernity. One of the biggest corrections to our "history" that Stark is making in this book is to call the centuries after the Roman Empire and before the Renaissance the "Dark Ages." He gives plenty of evidence why they were anything but dark (lots of technological development, more food, people were healthier, populations grew).
You've got my attn here.  Thanks for posting.

Quote from: Caleb on June 18, 2015, 08:44:01 AM
I just started the huge biography on John Wayne by Scott Eyman.  I'm not hugely into The Duke but I have seen a few of his films. I'm mainly finding myself interested in the Golden Age of Hollywood though, so my reading is leaning that way too.  The book has been a bestseller and is a wonderful read so far.  I'm about three chapters in.
The John Wayne biography was really great (and VERY long).  Highly recommended. 

    I just finished "The United States in World War I" by Don Lawson. This was a very good read and taught me many things I never knew about WWI. Easy to read and hard to put down.
   Barbara W. Tuchman's "The Guns of August" left me with disgust, but this little book was rather encouraging. Written in the 60's before we became "baby killers" and you see how much the Allies needed our support.

    I found this for .50 cents and as the pages were turned they would break off. I used hide glue to put them back. Also acquired Eric Clapton's Autobiography in an excellent hardback for a few bucks and "Goodbye to a River" by John Graves for next to nothing. As well as a few others, all in great shape.

    I did pay almost 40 bucks for a new very large hardback, "The Two Thousand Yard Stare" by Tim Lea. He was with the troops in WWII and Life magazine used his drawings and stories. An excellent artist and writer. I just had to have it.

Scary Close by Donald Miller.  The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie.
2000 L-03-E
2012 Epiphone Nighthawk Custom Reissue
1985 Peavey Milestone
2004 SX SPJ-62 Bass
2008 Valencia Solid Cedar Top Classical
2015 Taylor 414ce - won in drawing
2016 Ibanez SR655BBF
???? Mitchell MDJ-10 3/4 scale dread
???? Squier Danocaster

My Sound Cloud

Another Longmire mystery. Junk Yard Dogs. Great stuff.

Quote from: dependan on August 14, 2015, 01:30:03 PMBarbara W. Tuchman's "The Guns of August" left me with disgust

More so than any other history of war?

Quote from: ducktrapper on August 14, 2015, 08:07:23 PMAnother Longmire mystery. Junk Yard Dogs. Great stuff.

Craig Johnson keeps getting better and better.

Have you seen the adaptation on Netflix?

Quote from: skyline on August 14, 2015, 10:25:22 PM
Craig Johnson keeps getting better and better.

Have you seen the adaptation on Netflix?

Yes. actually watched two seasons before reading any of the books and just watched season three. While I enjoyed it, the books are much better and way funnier.

Quote from: ducktrapper on August 15, 2015, 07:39:55 AM
Yes. actually watched two seasons before reading any of the books and just watched season three. While I enjoyed it, the books are much better and way funnier.
The books are much better

Quote from: skyline on August 14, 2015, 10:24:13 PM
More so than any other history of war?

Yes

What I've read lately:

Face the Music - Autobiography of Paul Stanley of KISS.  Read this as a bookclub sort of deal with a friend.  We both grew up liking KISS, etc.  A pretty well-written book, and I even enjoyed a lot of it, but another example of a rich and famous guy where nothing is ever really his fault.  And somewhat of a waste of reading time, at least for me.  

The Year of Reading Dangerously by Andy Miller
. A book about reading books by a smart-a__ Brit.  I did the audiobook version with the author reading.  Very funny at times.  Listening to him make fun of Dan Brown (Da Vinci Code) and his horrible writing was worth the price of admission.  

Education of a Wandering Man - the memoir of Louis L'Amour.
 This was a reread, and one of my favorite books.  A very inspiring story of a man who basically educated himself by doing lots of things, going lots of places, learning about people, paying attention, and reading a lot along the way.  

A Severe Mercy by Sheldon Vanauken.  Beautifully written book about a young American couple who fall crazy in love, get married, move to Oxford in England, meet CS Lewis, convert to Christianity, and end up parted by the early death of the Mrs. Vanauken.  I'm not sure that I've ever read a tale so beautifully told.  The letters of Lewis to and from Lewis in the book are great reading too. Highly recommended.  

Wayfaring Stranger - the autobiography of Burl Ives.  Another reread of another old favorite. This was written before Ives became the huge movie star he would eventually be.  I think he was 40 when he wrote it and was just getting started as a popular folksinger.  Plenty of glimpses into the working class Midwestern world of the early 1900s. Lots and lots of great stories of regular people, saints and sinner alike, written much like folklore at times.  Ives was an interesting man, and a good writer.

I'm currently reading:

Heaven Misplaced by Douglas Wilson, a book about postmillennial eschatology in Christianity, a subject I find fascinating and am learning more about all the time.  

Quote from: Caleb on August 16, 2015, 09:18:42 AM

A Severe Mercy by Sheldon Vanauken.  Beautifully written book about a young American couple who fall crazy in love, get married, move to Oxford in England, meet CS Lewis, convert to Christianity, and end up parted by the early death of the Mrs. Vanauken.  I'm not sure that I've ever read a tale so beautifully told.  The letters of Lewis to and from Lewis in the book are great reading too. Highly recommended.  
 

I've got this one around somewhere - I think I started it once; need to find it and finally read it - thanks for the recommendation.

[Some of the others sound good, too.]   :donut :coffee
2021 C-03R TE left-handed
Larrivee owner since 1992

Quote from: Mikeymac on August 17, 2015, 03:02:50 PM
I've got this one around somewhere - I think I started it once; need to find it and finally read it - thanks for the recommendation.

[Some of the others sound good, too.]   :donut :coffee
Same thing happened to me with that book.  I bought it, shelved it for a long time, and suddenly one day something seemed to make me go take it off the shelf.  It's quite an adventure, and I'm not sure I've ever seen a real life love story quite like it.  It's a really beautiful book.

Powered by EzPortal