books: what are you currently reading?

[Caleb]

The reason I have stuck with the KJV is that (I believe) it is the most influential.  I think that there are more accurate translations, but this is the one that most modern sects of Christianity have gone with.  I don't approach it from a religious standpoint because I'm not a religious guy.  I read it to understand its influence on modern life.

Ed

The KJV is the best-selling book of all time, so it has surely had a massive influence over the centuries. 

[Caleb]

Currently rereading THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN.

[GA-ME]

Shooting Straight: Telling The Truth About Guns In America, by Wayne LaPierre and James Jay Baker

[Mikeymac]

Shooting Straight: Telling The Truth About Guns In America, by Wayne LaPierre and James Jay Baker

Thanks for mentioning that one - I'll want to get that one in my sights...   

[adern]

Shooting Straight: Telling The Truth About Guns In America, by Wayne LaPierre and James Jay Baker

Yep. That one is on my list also.

[GA-ME]

Thanks for mentioning that one - I'll want to get that one in my sights...   

Yep. That one is on my list also.

Well, I had to stop reading this one for a bit. I checked it out from our state wide public library system, with a big batch of other titles, and just got started on it a couple of days ago. This morning my wife let me know it was due today and that there were holds on the title, within the system. So, it will be a while before I can get the book back into my hands!

[Caleb]

Well, I had to stop reading this one for a bit. I checked it out from our state wide public library system, with a big batch of other titles, and just got started on it a couple of days ago. This morning my wife let me know it was due today and that there were holds on the title, within the system. So, it will be a while before I can get the book back into my hands!

Good on you for using your public library. I'll be dropping off due items at mine today. I'm on a classical music journey and have gotten access to hundreds of dollars worth of music to try at my local.  I love libraries and can't understand why more people don't use them.

[GA-ME]

Good on you for using your public library. I'll be dropping off due items at mine today. I'm on a classical music journey and have gotten access to hundreds of dollars worth of music to try at my local.  I love libraries and can't understand why more people don't use them.

Over the last decade, our state has invested in the inter-library loan system. We only have three counties in the state and now every Delaware public library's catalog is linked. You can go online and place a hold, choose your pick-up library, and usually within 48 hours, the title will be at your local library. It's a very handy system.

[Caleb]

Over the last decade, our state has invested in the inter-library loan system. We only have three counties in the state and now every Delaware public library's catalog is linked. You can go online and place a hold, choose your pick-up library, and usually within 48 hours, the title will be at your local library. It's a very handy system.

Handy indeed.  Fort Worth has a similar service that I've benefited much from over the years.  Texas also has a program called TexShare that lets a person borrow from various university libraries and public libraries across the various counties.  Wonderful stuff that a lot of people aren't even aware of.

[ryler]

When authors die, I check out their books.  Umberto Eco recently died so I checked out The Name of the Rose.  It probably had potential, but it was too dense with...with...thought provoking matter.  Now Pat Conroy has passed, so I checked out The Prince of Tides.  It's early going, about 50 pages in, but very good so far.  I hope no one else dies before I finish this one.

On libraries?  Great things.  I guess it's good that people buy books, keeps authors authoring.  But I'm happy not to be one of those people.  I depend on my library.

[Bigfish]

Just started "One Way Out: The Inside History of the Allman Brothers Band".  Should be interesting.

[Caleb]

Just finished THE PIANO SHOP ON THE LEFT BANK by Thad Carhart.  Neat book about an American in Paris who gets let into a sort of piano workshop subculture.

[ryler]

Sounds interesting.  The Piano Shop On The Left Bank gets 4.5 stars on Amazon.  I have found these ratings to be useful--meaning I must often agree with the masses.  I'll note this title for a future read.

[Caleb]

Sounds interesting.  The Piano Shop On The Left Bank gets 4.5 stars on Amazon.  I have found these ratings to be useful--meaning I must often agree with the masses.  I'll note this title for a future read.

Agreed. The reviews there are helpful.  This book was a big seller about 15 years ago. There has been a resurgence of interest  in Paris-based books since the shootings.  (I don't want to go there and wreck the thread, but I'm just pointing that out.)

[Caleb]

Just finished Franklin's AUTOBIOGRAPHY and his SILENCE DOGOOD LETTERS, now I'm reading Longfellow's TALES FROM A WAYSIDE INN.

[ducktrapper]

The Koran among other things.

[tuffythepug]

Just  started "Blue Latitudes"..    by Tony Horwitz.     Re-traciing Captain Cooks 3 18th century exploration of the Pacific.    Good read so far.  But I would not want to be a sailor aboard the Endeavor or any other ship of that day.      Horrible conditions on a vessel hardly designed for the task assigned to Cook for these voyages.   He lost about 40% of his crew to death from disease or accidents  routinely and just grabbed replacement sailors from any other vessel he encountered, citing the authority of the British Navy.   

[rockstar_not]

"The Forger's Spell: A True Story of Vermeer, the Nazi's, and the Greatest Art Hoax of the 20th Century" by Edward Dolnick.  About 2/3 through. 

[Caleb]

THE LIGHT PRINCESS AND OTHER STORIES by George MacDonald.

[Danny]

   The HBO series The Pacific is a companion to The Band of Brothers. One follows the army with its conquest of Germany, while the other is about the Marines fighting Japan across the Pacific.
   Two books were relied on for the Pacific, Helmut for my Pillow by Robert Leckie  and With the Old Breed at Peleliu and Okinawa by E. B. Sledge. Both of these men are featured prominently in the HBO series.
    I've read Helmut for my Pillow and it is excellent. Now I'm reading With the Old Breed. It is also excellent, with a different flavor. Eugene Sledge took notes as he fought in the war, Robert Leckie was a writer and a good one. Eugene Sledge gives us an ongoing slide show of what it was like to be on the front line, with all the physical, psychological and lasting spiritual effects on a sensitive man fighting in conditions none of us can even imagine.
     I can't recommend this book highly enough, if you desire the truth about our young men defending freedom against the vilest of oppressers.
           These men deserve to be remembered and thanked for their extreme sacrifice.