What are you reading?

[75Crazie]

Aimo, please pardon me for adding, but ... if anyone is tempted, from this discussion, to read Hell and Back as a standalone book ... don't, because the book starts halfway into a thread that began with the previous book, Daughter of the Morning Star. And, to tie it to a basketball-themed board, one of the main threads of that prior book concerns a Cheyenne Indian high school women's basketball team. Both are very highly recommended (by me, at least, but then again I'm a Longmire nut).

[aimo]

Aimo, please pardon me for adding, but ... if anyone is tempted, from this discussion, to read Hell and Back as a standalone book ... don't, because the book starts halfway into a thread that began with the previous book, Daughter of the Morning Star. And, to tie it to a basketball-themed board, one of the main threads of that prior book concerns a Cheyenne Indian high school women's basketball team. Both are very highly recommended (by me, at least, but then again I'm a Longmire nut).

Nope, you are correct! And probably earlier in this thread and others, I have strongly recommended that one start with Cold Dish and read Longmire in order. As a rule, if I happen to pick up a book and realize that it is not the first in a series, I will drop it and go to the first. I want to fully "get" what's going on.

[MartyClark]

I'm on a working vacation and find I'm reading more than I do at home. I've read two books this week that I have really enjoyed.

The Bad Angel Brothers is Paul Theroux's latest novel. I have always enjoyed his cranky accounts of travel. Parts of this book take place in Africa, and while fiction, are vivid descriptions of his African experiences. The book details the relationship between two brothers, one a world traveling geologist, and the other a small town lawyer. I found it to be a great read.

The Bomber Mafia is by Malcom Gladwell. I know others on board have not liked him as much as I do. For me, he has the gift of getting me interested in subjects in which I had no previous interest. This book deals with the rise of bombers from the early Army Air Corps days and the people who advocated various views on how bombers should be used. Without giving much away, there was a real debate between the use of precision bombing, made possible with the invention of the Norden bombsight - usually done in the daytime with a specific target in mind - and those who advocated destroying cities by night with massive bombings. Winston Churchill, General LeMay and others had strong influence in these decisions.

[Bob Green]

A friend gave me a couple books recently. The first one I am reading is The Panzer Killers about Major General Maurice Rose from Normandy to the dash across Germany.

The author is LT. General Daniel P. Bolger an Afghanistan and Iraq War veteran. Daniel Bolger earned a PhD in history from the University of Chicago and teaches history at North Carolina State.

[Phredd3]

A friend gave me a couple books recently. The first one I am reading is The Panzer Killers about Major General Maurice Rose from Normandy to the dash across Germany.

The author is LT. General Daniel P. Bolger an Afghanistan and Iraq War veteran. Daniel Bolger earned a PhD in history from the University of Chicago and teaches history at North Carolina State.

Does he write well? Many of the ex-military authors I've read get bogged down in the technical details and don't tell the story all that well. But there are many exceptions to that, as well. I assume since you mentioned it, this one is one of the good ones? I'm always up for a WWII tank book.

[Bob Green]

Does he write well? Many of the ex-military authors I've read get bogged down in the technical details and don't tell the story all that well.

I’m 42 pages in and so far the narrative is flowing.

[mpj96]

Just finished this one. Wow. I have lived in NC my entire life and had never heard of this event until just a couple years ago. In the post slavery south after the civil war, freed slaves had begun to thrive in Wilmington NC making it the most integrated city in the south. African Americans occupied many elected positions and other prominent posts in the city until the Jim Crow south had had enough and a large group of white supremacists decided to put an end to it. It is an explosive tale that takes you through what happened in the city leading up to the coup, which by the way is still to this day the only successful government takeover in our county's history. A violent, bloody, sad day in our state and nation's history that isn't very well known. I would highly recommend it.

Another good book relating these events is Cape Fear Rising. I read it many years ago now and remember being surprised that this wasn't covered - at all - in school.

[budwom]

Trust by Hernan Diaz. Excellent thus far.

[rasputin]

I'm reading How the States Got Their Shapes, by Mark Stein. I was unaware of the TV show on the History Channel. Anyway, it's fascinating, if you are into history, and especially so, if, like me, you are also into maps.

[75Crazie]

I am now four books into the western-themed mystery series by Keith McCafferty, Duke alumnus (B.S.-Zool, don't know what year, I'm guessing maybe late-80s). His protagonist, Sean Stranahan, is a fly-fishing guide, painter, and part-time sheriff's consultant in the Madison River area of Montana. While the books delve pretty deeply at times into fly-fishing and fly-tying details, they are still entertaining mysteries and very well written. Highly recommended.

[Bob Green]

I am now four books into the western-themed mystery series by Keith McCafferty, Duke alumnus (B.S.-Zool, don't know what year, I'm guessing maybe late-80s). His protagonist, Sean Stranahan, is a fly-fishing guide, painter, and part-time sheriff's consultant in the Madison River area of Montana. While the books delve pretty deeply at times into fly-fishing and fly-tying details, they are still entertaining mysteries and very well written. Highly recommended.

I just placed a hold at my local library for the first book in the series. Thanks for the recommendation.

[DUKIECB]

Having grown up and lived in a fairly rural part of North Carolina the setting of this book feels much too familiar. It is set in the SW Virginia mountains and tells the tale of a young boy who is in the foster care system and is a product of an all too familiar story of poverty and drug addiction from the opioid epidemic. It is a depressing tale but one that you cannot look away from. Without getting too political we have a major problem in this country with poverty and the unfortunate byproducts of it playing out in small communities all across this country. I enjoyed the book and would recommend it if you are looking for a good read and to learn a little more about these issues because the book is spot on about how these situations play out and create a cycle that is very hard to break. Like any problem we face it would do us well to learn more about it and try to confront it instead of ignoring it and looking the other way.

[wilson]

I don't think it's been mentioned here...I've just started in on volume 9 of The Sandman, and holy moly...it's one of my favorite things I've ever read. Very possibly may end up being my #1 favorite. Neil Gaiman's ability to weave together religion, folklore, neo-gothic style, and postmodern looks at belief, consciousness, heritage, just so many things, is really extraordinary.
It may require a bit of patience or adjustment if you're not an experienced reader of graphic novels, but the visual components are not just useful, but in fact essential to the telling of this story. I also love the way that introductory discussions and appendices throughout the series have touched on the collaboration between artists of different types who've all contributed to the series.
The tales are meandering, deep, and more than a little bit weird, but just a treat to digest, or even just look at. I'm not a super avid re-reader of a lot of things, but I will be working my way all the way back through this series much sooner than I've ever re-read anything else. It's that rich, complex, and rewarding.
Highly recommended to fans of fantasy, graphic novels, mythology & folklore, etc.

[Bob Green]

I am now four books into the western-themed mystery series by Keith McCafferty.

I finished The Royal Wulff Murders and enjoyed it. The Montana trout rivers setting was a nice change from the big city setting of a typical murder mystery.

Book two in the series isn’t available in my local library so I need to search some second hand book stores.

[75Crazie]

I finished The Royal Wulff Murders and enjoyed it. The Montana trout rivers setting was a nice change from the big city setting of a typical murder mystery.

Book two in the series isn’t available in my local library so I need to search some second hand book stores.

Great! And I agree, I have become a fan of several of the modern rural western mystery series, it's probably been my favorite reading genre of the past 10 years or so.

As a possible point of interest, in the McCafferty books I've read so far, each title is the name of a fly design that figures more or less prominently in the book.

[aimo]

I finished The Royal Wulff Murders and enjoyed it. The Montana trout rivers setting was a nice change from the big city setting of a typical murder mystery.

Book two in the series isn’t available in my local library so I need to search some second hand book stores.

Can you put in a request that they get it? I do this every once in a while when I see that my local library doesn't have it.

[Bob Green]

Can you put in a request that they get it? I do this every once in a while when I see that my local library doesn't have it.

I need to check. Thanks for the tip.

[dudog84]

I just finished Time and Again by Jack Finney. I'm not much into science fiction, so I'm not sure why I picked it up (Did somebody on the board mention it recently, here or another thread? I couldn't find any reference in a quick search). What a clever novel! Meticulously researched time-travel caper that surprised me with some of its twists, though I saw the last one coming. A little slow in spots, but I think most science fiction is because there is so much explaining to do.

Very enjoyable, highly recommended, probably the most memorable novel I've read in years. I'm about to start the sequel (it took 25 years for Finney to get to it and was published right before he died) and hope it is not disappointing.

[Bob Green]

Strangers on a Train by Patricia Highsmith. I’m 100 pages in and it is outstanding. Of course I have seen the Alfred Hitchcock film but the book is different. Guy Haines is an architect in the book not a professional tennis player.

[91devil]

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

Indeed

I finished “Prisoners of the Castle”. Terrific read on the fortress prison of Colditz, Germany which held hundreds of Allied Officer POW’s in WWII.

The book is filed with subterfuge, ingenuity and a strong showing of the human condition. Ben MacIntyre writes a good book - plenty of detailed research about this story.