What are you reading?

[bundabergdevil]

I'll look forward to reading that. I have often referred to Bierce's "Devil's Dictionary". His definition of litigation is " a machine that you go into as a pig and come out of as a sausage." I use that a lot with clients who seem to eager to litigate - some don't appreciate it.

Of course his definition of lawyer is "one skilled in the circumvention of the law."

Wickedly good stuff in the Devil's Dictionary.

I love the Devil’s Dictionary. My HS English teacher recommended I take it for an assignment where students had to pick from a list of authors for a report. Type of area where parents would and still do take issue with books. I found it delicious!

[SoCalDukeFan]

For me, this is a very worthwhile read. Obviously a lot of Duke stuff, but other stuff as well.

Gave me a much better appreciation of Grant as a person, the NBA as compared to Duke, and much more.

Highly recommend

SoCal

[Bob Green]

James Patterson by James Patterson. Interesting.

[rasputin]

I recommend “Two Nights in Lisbon” by Chris Pavone. International thriller. All of Pavone’s books are quite good.

I also just finished “Operation Mincemeat” by Ben MacIntyre (which is also a just released Netflix film starring Colin Firth). World War II enthusiasts will certainly enjoy it. Tactical subterfuge by The Allies to deceive Germany prior to the Invasion of Sicily.

There's an old-timey (1956) movie on the same subject starring Clifton Webb, and it's quite good. The title is The Man Who Never Was.

[budwom]

Macintyre has a new book coming out in September about a castle in Nazi Germany which held Allied POWs.

[Ggallagher]

I'm about 3/4 of the way through "The Church of Baseball" by Ron Shelton. It documents the making of the movie "Bull Durham". If you happen to have any interest in movie making, baseball, Durham or Duke, you might find it enjoyable.

And ignorant me, even though I was aware that the character Crash Davis (Costner's role) was a real person, I did not know that he had played at Duke before going to the majors. Apparently, he was a pretty decent guy, too. During the first week of shooting at the house that was rented in Durham for Annie's house, the real Crash showed up and said, "Hey, I hear you're making a movie about me". Ron Shelton had neglected to track down the real Crash Davis to get approval to use his name. Crash was offered the chance to meet "the girl he would get in the end", Susan Sarandon, and decided he was fine with his name being used. Shelton and Crash became good friends.

It's a fun read with a lot of detail about how the story was developed and how the movie was shot.

[Phredd3]

There's an old-timey (1956) movie on the same subject starring Clifton Webb, and it's quite good. The title is The Man Who Never Was.

Is there a place to stream that? At the time I looked, I could not find an outlet, and I'm not interested in buying the DVD.

[rasputin]

Is there a place to stream that? At the time I looked, I could not find an outlet, and I'm not interested in buying the DVD.

I don't stream; this was shown on Turner Classic Movies within the past few weeks, and being an old movie nut, I always scour the program guide ahead of time.

[Phredd3]

I don't stream; this was shown on Turner Classic Movies within the past few weeks, and being an old movie nut, I always scour the program guide ahead of time.

Rats. Sorry I missed it. I also troll TMC quite a bit, but not regularly enough to see that one, apparently. I haven't sprung for the guide, as I don't really have the time to take full advantage.

[DUKIECB]

River of Doubt by Candace Millard. Side note I had already read Destiny of the Republic, another great book by Millard about President Garfield's assassination, and if you haven't read that one I highly recommend it.

River of Doubt is about Teddy Roosevelt's trip down a previously unexplored river in the Amazon in 1914. Dangerous doesn't even come close to describing this journey. How everyone in the party wasn't killed I have no idea. Roosevelt was a larger than life character and every time I read something about him I like him even more The book is a fun read and I enjoyed it.

[rasputin]

Rats. Sorry I missed it. I also troll TMC quite a bit, but not regularly enough to see that one, apparently. I haven't sprung for the guide, as I don't really have the time to take full advantage.

I understand that. I wasn't referring to the monthly publication that TCM makes available for subscribers; was just referring to the program guide on my DVR.

[Jim3k]

There's an old-timey (1956) movie on the same subject starring Clifton Webb, and it's quite good. The title is The Man Who Never Was.

Decades earlier than the movie, the short book, The Man Who Never Was, by Ewan Montagu (1953) was my introduction to spy thrillers. I read it as an 8th grader in in 1955. Never forgot it. It was a bare-bones sort of high adventure for a kid my age.

I think Operation Mincemeat, (the movie, which I recently watched) was able to explore (and fictionalize) the story to enhance it for a theatrical audience.

The story is riveting in either version.

[bundabergdevil]

Just finished a book called Bangkok Babylon. It's a compilation of profiles of ex-pats who have adopted Thailand as their home. As you would expect, some very interesting characters...

[Gooch]

Just read two books by Erin Morgenstern: The Night Circus and The Starless Sea.

I loved Night Circus. Morgenstern builds an ingenious fantasy world organized around a gloriously strange circus. Then she introduces likable characters with an unexpected conflict along with side characters to observe the conflict and keeps the suspense building until the climax. I really liked her writing style—even though the world was mystical, it was so beautifully described and just believable enough that I couldn’t put the book down. No wonder it was a best seller.

The Starless Sea started in the same way—cool world-building and interesting characters. But halfway through the adventure story line got somewhat repetitive, non-sensical, and overly plot-twisty to the point it dragged. The book is almost 500 pages and should have been 300—she definitely needed a better editor.

Highly recommend Night Circus—I really can’t remember reading anything like it. And if you love that one and have a lot of time then Starless Sea was still enjoyable and beautifully written.

[killerleft]

Just read two books by Erin Morgenstern: The Night Circus and The Starless Sea.

I loved Night Circus. Morgenstern builds an ingenious fantasy world organized around a gloriously strange circus. Then she introduces likable characters with an unexpected conflict along with side characters to observe the conflict and keeps the suspense building until the climax. I really liked her writing style—even though the world was mystical, it was so beautifully described and just believable enough that I couldn’t put the book down. No wonder it was a best seller.

The Starless Sea started in the same way—cool world-building and interesting characters. But halfway through the adventure story line got somewhat repetitive, non-sensical, and overly plot-twisty to the point it dragged. The book is almost 500 pages and should have been 300—she definitely needed a better editor.

Highly recommend Night Circus—I really can’t remember reading anything like it. And if you love that one and have a lot of time then Starless Sea was still enjoyable and beautifully written.

Yes! I read The Night Circus several years ago. What an ingenious idea Morgenstern had. How she managed to pull it off is well worth the read.

[Mtn.Devil.91.92.01.10.15]

Just read two books by Erin Morgenstern: The Night Circus and The Starless Sea.

I loved Night Circus. Morgenstern builds an ingenious fantasy world organized around a gloriously strange circus. Then she introduces likable characters with an unexpected conflict along with side characters to observe the conflict and keeps the suspense building until the climax. I really liked her writing style—even though the world was mystical, it was so beautifully described and just believable enough that I couldn’t put the book down. No wonder it was a best seller.

The Starless Sea started in the same way—cool world-building and interesting characters. But halfway through the adventure story line got somewhat repetitive, non-sensical, and overly plot-twisty to the point it dragged. The book is almost 500 pages and should have been 300—she definitely needed a better editor.

Highly recommend Night Circus—I really can’t remember reading anything like it. And if you love that one and have a lot of time then Starless Sea was still enjoyable and beautifully written.

I loved The Night Circus, Starless Sea has been sitting on my nightstand for months.

[75Crazie]

I loved The Night Circus, Starless Sea has been sitting on my nightstand for months.

If you believe reviews on Amazon, Night Circus seems to be a polarizing book ... you either love it or hate it. Sounds like my kind of book, I'm adding it to my Christmas wish list.

[Mtn.Devil.91.92.01.10.15]

If you believe reviews on Amazon, Night Circus seems to be a polarizing book ... you either love it or hate it. Sounds like my kind of book, I'm adding it to my Christmas wish list.

It's almost Allende-esque magical realism, as I beat recall. It's been many years since I read it. My wife and I both enjoyed it very much.

[rasputin]

I'm about a third of the way into Junk Science and the American Criminal Justice System, by attorney M. Chris Fabricant of the Innocence Project. It is fascinating. It's also discouraging, on one hand, reading about how people have been executed based on "accepted" scientific opinion that turned out to be total BS. Examples include so-called bite mark analysis (now mostly debunked), "evidence" that was supposed to show that fires had been deliberately set (but that upon real scientific testing, what was accepted as evidence of the use of a flame accelerator like gasoline turned out to be present in control fires in which no accelerator was used). But it is encouraging that the so-called scientists who sold this snake oil are being exposed. There is also a specific example of a famous person (the disgusting Nancy Grace) getting called on the carpet for gross misuse of her position as a prosecutor-slash-TV talking head.

[rasputin]

I'm about 60 pages in to How Ike Led; the Principles Behind Eisenhower's Biggest Decisions, by his granddaughter Susan Eisenhower. The first chapter contained a bit too much fawning for my taste (although if I were writing a book about my father, I'd do the same thing). But when she is out of fawning mode, the writing is excellent and informative.