What book(s) are you currently reading?
- Thread starter john4psu
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Interesting choice, Dave. I guess if you were an intellectual, you would have read it in French.
Interesting choice, Dave. I guess if you were an intellectual, you would have read it in French.
It was a wife “read this” suggestion. She probably read it in French. She’s a lot to handle.
I read that book years ago. I'd forgotten about it till your mentioned it. I would read it again. Fascinating. Loved Hack.
High Noon in the Cold War...Max Frankel/The Guns of August - Barbara Tuchman
SiInteresting choice, Dave. I guess if you were an intellectual, you would have read it in French.
If you like that, consider reading the Vanderbilt biography, "The First Tycoon"
(PS, I am approaching the conclusion of volume 3 (medieval western Christianity) of the Pelikan series previously mentioned, soon to move to volume 4 (reformation and reform).
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Summertime is for lighter/escapist fare for me, and I've heard great things about the Marseilles Trilogy from Jean-Claude Izzo; has anyone read these? Thoughts?
In Jean-Claude Izzo's "Mediterranean noir" mysteries, the city of Marseilles is explosive, breathtakingly beautiful, and deadly. This first book in the Marseilles trilogy introduces readers to Fabio Montale, a disenchanted cop who turns his back on a police force marred by corruption and racism and, in the name of friendship, takes the fight against the mafia into his own hands.
Ugo, Manu, and Fabio grew up together on the mean streets of Marseilles where friendship means everything. They promised to stay true to one another and swore that nothing would break their bond. But people and circumstances change.
Ugo and Manu have been drawn into the criminal underworld of Europe's toughest, most violent and vibrant city. When Manu is murdered and Ugo returns from abroad to avenge his friend's death, only to be killed himself, it is left to the third in this trio, Detective Fabio Montale, to ensure justice is done. Despite warnings from both his colleagues in law enforcement and his acquaintances in the underworld, Montale cannot forget the promise he once made Manu and Ugo. He's going to find their killer no matter the consequences.
Fabio Montale is the perfect protagonist in for a fabled city of melancholy beauty.
In Jean-Claude Izzo's "Mediterranean noir" mysteries, the city of Marseilles is explosive, breathtakingly beautiful, and deadly. This first book in the Marseilles trilogy introduces readers to Fabio Montale, a disenchanted cop who turns his back on a police force marred by corruption and racism and, in the name of friendship, takes the fight against the mafia into his own hands.
Ugo, Manu, and Fabio grew up together on the mean streets of Marseilles where friendship means everything. They promised to stay true to one another and swore that nothing would break their bond. But people and circumstances change.
Ugo and Manu have been drawn into the criminal underworld of Europe's toughest, most violent and vibrant city. When Manu is murdered and Ugo returns from abroad to avenge his friend's death, only to be killed himself, it is left to the third in this trio, Detective Fabio Montale, to ensure justice is done. Despite warnings from both his colleagues in law enforcement and his acquaintances in the underworld, Montale cannot forget the promise he once made Manu and Ugo. He's going to find their killer no matter the consequences.
Fabio Montale is the perfect protagonist in for a fabled city of melancholy beauty.
A fictional take on a real person (the Edgar Watson in this book was almost certainly the same man who shot and killed Belle Starr). Mr. Watson is shot dead by a lynch mob in the first five pages and the rest of the book covers the backstory. It takes place in the Ten Thousand Islands between Fort Myers and Key West from approximately 1895-1910. A fine read, unique, and it tells you a lot about people and civilization from 120 years ago.
Edit: this is the first volume of a trilogy which Matthiessen later rewrote as a single volume, Shadow Country.
Also, here’s the wiki page for the real Edgar Watson: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chokoloskee,_Florida#Edgar_Watson
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If you haven’t read it, Atkinsons biography of Albert Einstein is very very well done
Yeah, it is. Ronald Clark wrote a good biography in the 1980s but Einstein’s family kept a lot away from him.
I completed the pictured book late last night. It was an interesting read, and since this is the 250th anniversary of the Boston Massacre, it also was a timely book.
Most Americans know a general outline of what took place at the Boston Massacre. As with most things in history, there are a lot more nuances to the story than what most folks know about the actual event.
Serena Zabin does a good job of telling how the British soldiers were housed in Boston. While they were not popular with some parts of the population, they were well integrated, by virtue of their being housed all over the city, into the Boston day-to-day life.
The book doesn't attempt to be an exhaustive examination of the Boston Massacre -- there are a few earlier books, and one that came out in the past few years, that do a pretty good job of that. However, it does seek to cause people to realize that the Boston Massacre wasn't nearly as much as a "us versus them" scenario that most people tend to think of it as.
I enjoyed the book.
Selectively reading through old history book called 'Between Two Fires' - the chapter "Revenge for Adowa".
A lot of people don't realize largescale European colonization didn't happen until the late 1800s in Africa because of Malaria, and Ethiopia kicked Italy the hell out when the first tried to take it.
That the League of Nations didn't do anything about Italy invading Ethiopia was an indicator to Hitler that he could pick off little countries like Austria without much resistance.
The Italians basically would have gotten kicked out again only they had gas attacks and better planes to terrorize random villages. Sneaky Hitler sold guns to Da Rasta behind Moussialinnees back just so Italy would have a harder time and be more dependent on Germany's open supoort.
A lot of people don't realize largescale European colonization didn't happen until the late 1800s in Africa because of Malaria, and Ethiopia kicked Italy the hell out when the first tried to take it.
That the League of Nations didn't do anything about Italy invading Ethiopia was an indicator to Hitler that he could pick off little countries like Austria without much resistance.
The Italians basically would have gotten kicked out again only they had gas attacks and better planes to terrorize random villages. Sneaky Hitler sold guns to Da Rasta behind Moussialinnees back just so Italy would have a harder time and be more dependent on Germany's open supoort.
I'm about 3/4 through Andrew Robert's "Churchill" which is certainly the most through biography on Churchill that I've seen. It's a bit dense for those (like me) who have to go to the footnotes a lot to understand who Lord so and so was and how he fit into the political hierarchy of 1920s or 1930s Britain- but I feel like a know quite a bit more than I did before starting it.
Just finished “The Splendid and the Vile: A Saga of Churchill, Family, and Defiance During the Blitz" Just started “ Grant”
I’m reading When the Lions Roared by Bill Contz. The story of the ’82 Nittany Lions which happened to be my junior year and first year at main campus. I’ve read some stories that I haven’t heard before. I’m up to Sugar Bowl week and can’t wait to find out how we do against Herschel Walker and #1 Georgia in the Sugar Bowl! Who doesn't love a happy ending?
Past the halfway point of volume 4 of Pelikan's "The Christian Tradition." One more volume to go.
I just started If it Bleeds. I liked the first story.
Stephen King is woefully underrated at writing "Americana" type stories.
Just finished the Essential Lewis and Clark (actual journals) and now starting Jacksonland (epic struggle between Andrew Jackson and Cherokee Chief John Ross). Also starting Toxic Communities: Environmental Racism, Industrial Pollution, and Residential Mobility (some light reading for my class in the fall).
If you've read it, don't tell me how it ends.
If you've read it, don't tell me how it ends.
Sub-Saharan africa. Carthage might have a problem with the 1800s description
Sounds like an interesting read!
That sounds interesting.
Whatever happened to the PBS series they were doing on Lewis and Clark?
It is! The way it's written makes it perfect for the "throne." As for PBS series, one site said it premiered a while ago, but I can't seem to find it anywhere.
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Thanks for the link but that wasn't it.
At least i thought it was PBS but maybe it was another network. I'm not sure which book it was based off of but Sacagawea was a big part of it.
The guy who plays TC on Magnum was supposed to be York.
Maybe it never got the money.
“If these walls could talk” by phil bourque, highly recommend for any penguins fan who remembers the early 90’s teams. It was only $11 bux on Amazon
If you haven't already, I believe you would also enjoy reading,
"Autumn of the Black Snake: The Creation of the U.S. Army and the Invasion That Opened the West"
Book by William Hogeland
The pre revolutionary and post revolutionary period of interactions with Native Americans in colonial America was far more complex than I had been aware of.
Currently reading, "Best American Short Stories" 2004 edition.
For those not motivated to invest time/effort into a full novel, give short stories a try.
For those not motivated to invest time/effort into a full novel, give short stories a try.
Not familiar with that one. Maybe it didn't happen? If you're even remotely interested in L & C, check out the book I posted. It's fascinating AND true!
I know of it, but do not own it/have not read it. I probably will get around to it at some point in the future. Appreciate the recommendation.
https://www.google.com/search?gs_ss...print-us-revc&sourceid=chrome-mobile&ie=UTF-8
Its a book of i guess you would call them lesser known stories of mattet of fact things thst happened during the war. Very interesting, contains lots of things you would never come across in a typical book about the subject.
Its a book of i guess you would call them lesser known stories of mattet of fact things thst happened during the war. Very interesting, contains lots of things you would never come across in a typical book about the subject.
Interesting choice, Dave. I guess if you were an intellectual, you would have read it in French.
I had three semesters of French in college but it was all Greek to me.
You’re welcome. “We are blessed by everything, Everything we look upon is blest.”
My dad’s older brother was a Jesuit priest and we were close; he gave me really good advice on how best to approach life. When I read this poem for the first time, it hit home; it was exactly what my uncle had said to me. I concluded my dad’s eulogy with the last stanza from this poem.
4 of German for me, the only thing I have to show for it is the ability to order a beer if I go to Germany...which I guess has value.I had three semesters of French in college but it was all Greek to me.
