EDUC TB2K Book Club: What Book Are You Reading Now or Have Just Finished Reading?

[Red Baron]

I'm halfway into Glenn Beck's "Being George Washington".

It's a good read with a lot of Revolutionary War history I had forgotten.

I will never diminish the French again after reading about their huge contribution to the war effort. The French Navy, in particular, really saved the day.

I was also rather struck at the high level of grammer used back then.

 

[Tundra Gypsy]

Deep Truth, Igniting the Memory of Our Origin, History, Destiny, and Fate, by Gregg Braden. Its been slow reading....a lot of information to try and figure out.

 

[BenIan]

Simultaneously reading The Gulag Archipelago by Soltzhenitzyn and The Terror by David Andress (about the French Revolution).

 

[shinerbock]

Bloody Crimes by James Swanson

Non-fiction historical account from government documents [both sides] about parallel dramas taking place @ the end of the Civil War: The siege of Richmond, Lincoln's assassination and his funeral entourage and the retreat of Jefferson Davis just hours before Richmond was taken by Union troops.

Great!

 

[Kim99]

" Bonhoeffer- Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy " by Eric Metaxas. Excellent biography!

 

[Beth]

Revelation (again). I've been mulling over a theory I have and I'll share it when I've had a little more thought (and prayer) time with it.

 

[willdo]

The Nephilim and the Pyramid of the Apocalypse by Patrick Heron and then Return of the Anti Christ and the New World Order by the same. Both are research books, not works of fiction.

 

[FarOut]

I don't usually recommend books but I liked this one. "In Due Time" by J. Keith Jones (available on Amazon) is a generational story about a group of friends, following them from college, starting a business, marriage, family, growing older... but at the same time a world government takes over the US and most of the planet. The American people are oblivious to what this means but the loss of freedom and the result of the final total control of an all-powerful police state is really "in your face" as the author shows what would likely happen. The characters grow as they face and fight against overwhelming odds.

Not a tragedy but that's because it's science fiction; the World Unity Government doesn't know about the time machine...

 

[Norma]

I am reading Battle Hymn by Jon Scura and Dane Phillips. It is true and very scary.

Norma

 

[jed turtle]

Washington: The Indispensable Man
http://www.amazon.com/Washington-Indispensable-James-Thomas-Flexner/dp/0316286168

real good read. makes one realize the unique events that created this nation.

also, The Harbinger. found it a slow read, but a critically important book, to be read immediately.

also i find myself spending more time in Psalms lately. it is reassuring that God has something for us in His Word to help us
lean on Him when the world is of no help.

 

[Normallguy]

Just finished Enders Game, again. I'm about halfway through HG Wells War of the Worlds.
I think I'll read some Asimov next.

Jeff

 

[Repairman-Jack]

In the process of reading the eARC edition of Monster Hunter: Legion by Larry Correia

Fourth in the Monster Hunter International series...fun books...highly recommend them.

 

[Samsmom]

I just finished a short e-book, 77 Days in September by Ray Gorham. It's a good read about an EMP attack and a guy who walks from Houston to his home in Montana after the attack.

I also read The Harbinger, The Circle Maker by Mark Batterson, and the first series of Wrath and Righteousness e-book by Chris Stewart.

I'm also reading The Hunger Games and The Last Days by Joel Rosenberg.

 

[mzkitty]

A friend and I went walking today, and on a street near us someone had put out one box of books that said "Free" on a sign, so we looked through them. The impression I got from the books was this person who gave them was a liberal lawyer who liked to read about Democrats. But he or she had other things too. My friend picked a complete home canning and freezing guide, and a bread-making book. I chose The Complete Book of Pizza by Louise Love, 1980. It looks well-worn and the recipes look delicious. I also chose Maeve Binchy's Tara Road, which it says on the cover is a modern day saga and it was on the NY Times bestseller list -- in 1998. LOL.

We left the rest for other people, and we waved at the house as we left. I told my son the pizza book is his because he's such a pizza hound.

 

[Mark Armstrong]

I'm currently reading The Best American Mystery Stories 2011, edited by Harlan Coben and Otto Penzler. It purports to be a collection of the best mystery stories published in the U.S. in the past year. However, the series editor Otto Penzler seems to have a bias towards little literary magazines, and the stories appear to be mainly literary stories (the type one is forced to read in English classes) that happen to feature crime as a topic or theme. There is only one story from the Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine and none from the Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine. There is one story from Strand Magazine, but all the rest are from publications that have "Review" in the title, or are University publications and the like.

The first story, "Audacious" by Brock Adams, is about a retiree who invites a runaway teen to move in with him. And she does.

The second story, "Something Pretty, Something Beautiful" by Eric Barnes, is about an older boy seducing three younger boys into a series of ever-more dangerous escapades and crimes. In the writers' notes section the author says the story is based on a place where he grew up and four friends he knew there. I hope he wasn't part of the gang he writes about.

The third story, "Clean Slate" by Lawrence Block, is about an attractive young woman picking up men for casual sex, and then killing them afterwards.

The fourth story, "Who Stole My Monkey" by David Corbett and Luis Alberto Urrea, is about zydeco bar-musician in a Cajun/Creole Texas/Mexico border town playing amateur sleuth (because he's at odds with the law) in an attempt to recover an accordion stolen from him.

The rest of the stories I haven't read yet.

This collection tries to be a successor to the old Best Detective Stories of the Year series that ran for several decades before falling victim to the economic climate of the early 1980s. The Best Detective series, edited by editors like Anthony Boucher, Allen J. Hubin, and Edward D. Hoch, was an outstanding series that attempted to present the wide panorama of the mystery genre each year, with stories as diverse as Caper stories, Suspense stories, Vigilante stories, Amateur Sleuth, Private Eye, Police Procedurals, Spy stories, Puzzle stories, Historical mysteries, Parodies, Pastiches, Dark Humor, Satire, Short Shorts, and things that defy description. That old collection was a celebration of the mystery genre. This new, "Best American" series, is a pretentious disappointment. The scope is too narrow. It is as if the Academy Awards suddenly decided to limit all nominations to little independent films and documentaries.

 

[mzkitty]

Which reminds me. I saw this posted elsewhere. It's a short story written in 1916, apparently. See what you think.

A Jury of Her Peers
by Susan Glaspell

http://www.learner.org/interactives/literature/story/fulltext.html

 

[Gitche Gumee Kid]

Just finished ( for the 2nd time )"Wolf and Iron" by Gordon R Dickson.
Post civilization collapse saga features a young scientist who must work his way across the country to get to his brother's ranch in Montana and is adopted by a great gray Wolf.

Many survival situations. Great character creation.

GGK

ETA Before that I finished "In the Garden of the Beast" by Erik Larson.
Great story based on our Country's Ambassador to Germany when Hitler was making his move to come into power. Great read.

 

[33dInd]

Bloodlands, Europe between Hitler and Stalin.
Good historical research on the genocide that Stalin and Hitler bothe perpatrated upon The Ukrainians, Belarussians, Jews and Polish peoples
Stalin committed as much genocide as hitler and prior to Hitler

 

[Ranger]

An Unfinished Revolution by Robin Blackburn.
Implications for our time. Checkout the cover!

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/cr/1844677222/ref=aw_d_crstars_books?qid=1339132676&sr=8-1
Ranger

 

[Mark Armstrong]

Which reminds me. I saw this posted elsewhere. It's a short story written in 1916, apparently. See what you think.

A Jury of Her Peers
by Susan Glaspell

http://www.learner.org/interactives/literature/story/fulltext.html

Not bad at all. Thank you for directing me to this author whose work I had not read before. I have read some of the one-act plays of Eugene O'Neill, a playwright linked to Glaspell in the Wikipedia article on Glaspell.

"A Jury of Her Peers" would be a mystery story, a whodunnit and a whydunnit, and an amateur sleuth story. It goes deep into characterization of people present in the story, and people not present. It delves into the effects of the world upon the people who inhabit it, and the effect of people upon their world. This sort of literary story I like--a story focused on the actual literary elements of a story, not on political correctness, pretentious language, or pokes to the eye of conventional morality and behavior. I give it a thumbs up.

 

[MichaelUK]

A Song of Ice and Fire by George R. R. Martin, some people will know it better as the TV series Game of Thrones.
Very good read, i have it on kindle, books 1-4 i am 52% in at the moment up to the point roughly where the TV series finished at the end of season two.
While i enjoyed the TV series the book is much better.

 

[billet]

The Nephilim and the Pyramid of the Apocalypse by Patrick Heron and then Return of the Anti Christ and the New World Order by the same. Both are research books, not works of fiction.

I've read both of them. Patrick Heron is awesome. I'm just about finished with "The Harbinger". Very, very good!

 

[TerriHaute]

In the middle of reading "The Amateur" by Edward Klein.

 

[Dancr]

I tried to download...

...The Last Pilgrims

For my iPad but haven't yet managed to do it

 

[Tessa Blue]

The Second Layer of Hell, but David Mauldin. Post-apocalyptic fiction is my favorite genre, and I read a lot of it!

http://www.amazon.com/Second-Layer-...?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1338205658&sr=1-1

 

[fairbanksb]

Act of Treason by Vince Flynn. The 9th in a series of novels about CIA operative Mitch Rapp.

 

[Dollar Short]

My summer reading thus far has focused on the fun and frivolous.

I am an avid beer fan and am just getting in to home brewing. So it is no mistake that I have been reading
"The Complete Joy of Home Brewing" by Charlie Papazian
and
"How to Brew" by John Palmer

I also have been reading books about beer by a British beer writer/blogger named Pete Brown. Specificially:
"Three Sheets to the Wind: One man's quest for the meaning of Beer" -- the book is a fun read -- part travelogue, part Monty Python humor, part food, part culture, part beer. Basically the author traveled around the world and explored the beer and food/drink culture of each nation he visited -- England, Germany, Netherlands, Denmark, Belgium, Japan, China, Australia, US.
AND
"Man Walks into a Pub: A Sociable History of Beer" -- which focuses primarily on beer in the UK but provides fascinating and readable history of beer and how it has effected history (and been effected by events in history such as wars, temperance movements, industrialization, etc). The book also includes some very British humor, such as the author's discussion of the wonderful gift from God called yeast. Yeast is a marvelous organism which eats sugar and poops alcohol and carbon dioxide. Next time you open a beer raise a toast to the yeast that made it possible!

Normally I read some science fiction in the Summer months (I am a fan of Ben Bova), but I haven't gotten around to any of that as of yet.

 

[Bud in Fla]

Just finished re-reading the Dragon Song, Dragon Singer & Dragon Drums by Anne McAffery. Got them used for a friends 12 yo daughter and I had to re-read them before I could part with them. Half way through Buried Prey by John Sanford and I have "Fast & Furious" ready to start.

 

[amarilla]

"Lost and Fondue" a food mystery about a cheese shop owner, now a series
"Tales of Persia" about a missionary to Iran
"Devolver al Remitente" (Return to Sender) by Julia Alvarez

A

 

[FarmerJohn]

I just finished I, Claudius by Robert Graves; published in 1933. It's an historical novel by the noted historian covering the reigns of four Roman emperors: Augustus, Tiberius, Caligula and Claudius.

I've started Drift by Rachel Maddow.

 

[amazon]

Just finished F451...RIP Ray.
Currently reading, 1984 and Sooner.

 

[dstraito]

All Enemies Foreign and Domestic - I'd rate this as a very good read.

For the first time since World War II, the United States faces an enemy fully capable of defeating it. Contrary to popular belief, this war did not begin with the attacks of September 11, 2001, and it will not end in Iraq or Afghanistan or with an election here at home. This fight is going to be with us for a very long time. When you are in a fight for your life, you can either be the winner or the loser – there is no middle ground.

If we are going to be the winner, we will have to realize the true nature of this conflict and our enemy. You will not see landing crafts full of al-Qaeda operatives coming ashore on U.S. beaches, nor battalions of radical fanatics parachuting onto your lawn. It is just not that kind of fight. If America loses this war, it will not be because what our enemy was able to do; it will be because of what we have done or failed to do.


Wild Fire - I'd rate this as very good

From #1 New York Times bestselling author Nelson DeMille comes a suspenseful new novel featuring Detective John Corey and an all-too-plausible conspiracy to detonate a nuclear bomb in two major American cities. Welcome to the Custer Hill Club--an informal men's club set in a luxurious Adirondack hunting lodge whose members include some of America's most powerful business leaders, military men, and government officials. Ostensibly, the club is a place to gather with old friends, hunt, eat, drink, and talk off-the-record about war, life, death, sex and politics. But one Fall weekend, the Executive Board of the Custer Hill Club gathers to talk about the tragedy of 9/11 and what America must do to retaliate. Their plan is finalized and set into motion. That same weekend, a member of the Federal Anti-Terrorist Task Force is reported missing. His body is soon discovered in the woods near the Custer Hill Club's game reserve. The death appears to be a hunting accident, and that's how the local police first report it, but Detective John Corey has his doubts. As he digs deeper, he begins to unravel a plot involving the Custer Hill Club, a top-secret plan known only by its code name: Wild Fire. Racing against the clock, Detective Corey and his wife, FBI agent Kate Mayfield, find they are the only people in a position to stop the button from being pushed and chaos from being unleashed.

 

[Hokey]

Finally broke down and ready my daughters copy of the Hunger Games, first book. Read it in two evenings. Good story.

 

[mzkitty]

Not bad at all. Thank you for directing me to this author whose work I had not read before. I have read some of the one-act plays of Eugene O'Neill, a playwright linked to Glaspell in the Wikipedia article on Glaspell.

"A Jury of Her Peers" would be a mystery story, a whodunnit and a whydunnit, and an amateur sleuth story. It goes deep into characterization of people present in the story, and people not present. It delves into the effects of the world upon the people who inhabit it, and the effect of people upon their world. This sort of literary story I like--a story focused on the actual literary elements of a story, not on political correctness, pretentious language, or pokes to the eye of conventional morality and behavior. I give it a thumbs up.

I felt I had entered a drab little twilight zone of sadness and sorrow....

Today we can understand that kind of situation better thanks to more awareness, but at least the jury of her peers in the story certainly did understand, so there was a redemption in the end. And justice, I'd say.

 

[willowlady]

Just Finished "A Meeting in Corvallis" after re-reading "Dies the Fire." DH is now reading Dies the Fire and is seriously being kicked out of his semi-DGI mode. He's reading it because my brother, who isn't a DGI totally, just doesn't believe it will happen to him, recommended it. My brother is one of those, "I know where YOUR house is...." types. So, in the next few days we'll be doing some serious topping off and/or renewing of the preps.

 

[Brutus]

I recently finished Washington: A Life by Ron Chernow. It was very good and relies heavily on brief exerpts of Washington's personal correspondence dealing with personal and business matters as well as military and political matters.

I also recently finished The Forgotten Soldier by Guy Sajer. This is an autobiographical work by a man who was conscripted into the German army in 1942 as a 16 year old French national (His father was French and his mother was German, but he was born and raised in France.) He was sent to the eastern front when the war against the Russians was already going rather badly. The book captures the terror of combat and the despair and hopelessness of a long fighting retreat when the Germans were having trouble furnishing even the most basic of needs like food and clothing. Sajer ended up being one of the lucky few who were evacuated from Prussia (now northern Poland) in the face of the relentless Russian advance. After evacuation from the eastern front he was sent to the western front briefly where he and his unit surrendered to the first British troops they came into contact with. This is a very good book that tells a story from a perspective that most people are unfamilar with -- that of a soldier in the army of one of our enemies. I highly recommend it.

I'm currently reading December 1941 by Craig Shirley. This is a pretty interesting read that covers just that very month, day-by-day, relying heavily on newspapers and magazines of the time to tell the story of what was going on in all aspects of American life in those earliest days of WWII for the US. I'm about halfway through it (I'm up to the chapter of December 15th) and while it is a pretty good book, it was VERY poorly edited. It contains a plethora of sentence fragments, typographical errors, and more than a few factual errors that are easily researchable and should've been caught. A prime example: The author makes a reference to American factories being converted from production of civilian goods to things such as "airplane parts and diesel engines for trucks and tanks." That may sound sensible on the surface, but for the fact that none of our trucks and tanks in WWII had diesel engines; they were all gas-burners. Such things detract from an otherwise good read and tend to make one suspicious of the author's other statements of fact.

I'm also currently reading Blacklisted by History, which is a study of the work of Senator Joe McCarthy by M. Stanton Evans. I've only just begun reading it, but it promises to be an excellent expose' of the bogus demonization of a real American patriot by the liberal Left. Other works in recent years have already proven that McCarthy was largely correct in his claims that our gov't was heavily infiltrated by communists at the time, but this book purports to disprove case-by-case most of the accusations against McCarthy, and even in the early pages the author provides examples of claims that have been made against McCarthy over the years that were absolutely untrue based on the original historical record. I'm looking forward to it.

 

[Barb]

Locked On by Tom Clancy.

 

[sthrnfriedrocker]

Right now I am just beginning a book by Paolo Bacigalupi called "The Windup Girl" and I bought it mainly because it is based on a world first brought to fiction in his EXCELLENT short story called "The Calorie Man", one I highly recommend!

I have also just started "The Rift" by Walter J. Williams, a rather large book that details what takes place before during and after the New Madrid quakes..

and I am a HUGE fan of the "Dies The Fire" Series myself as well, just finished reading the latest in the saga, "The High King of Montival", and am eagerly waiting the next installment.

 

[timbo]

The Rule of Nine by Steve Martini, a fiction.

But with all the things going in our country, maybe have to be put in the non-fiction category.

The use of a MOAB (Mother of all bombs) on DC.

 

[FairLight]

"China Airborne" by James Fallows.
Everything you ever wanted to know about..China, airborne. Very strong push for aviation in a country with many problems. Lots of history.
China had it's early aviation pioneers as did the U.S. Lots of comment on modern China.

China Along The Yellow River:Reflections on Rural Society. Cao Jinging,Nicky Harman, Huang Ruhua. Interesting, starting with Communist takeover-kind of dry, not too far into it. Lots of history so far.

Just finished "Passage To Juneau: A Sea And It's Meanings" Johnathan Raban. Everything you could want to know about sailing the Inside Passage from Seattle to Juneau, Alaska. Rabin is an accomplished sailor and describes the voyage well.Very knowledgable about hands on sailing, reading the currents, navigation, all aspects of sailing 38 feet of wind power. He comments on history of the area, islands, people along the way and life in general.
"American Prometheus: The Triumph And Tragedy Of J. Robert Oppenheimer" Martin J. Sherwin, Kai Bird. Haven't started it, was recommended by a friend. Has to wait till (if) I ever finish China~
Groucho Marx was said to have made a comment somewhat like this about TV..it made him very smart, every time someone would turn one on, he went into the other room and read a book.
Happy reading!
FairLight
Linda In CA