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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Brevard

    'Tis the season to keep reading...any suggestions?

    Read any good books lately? I would be interested in hearing about some of your favorites, etc.

    I just finished A Thousand Spendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini

    Wonderful book! Great sense of place and characters. It really gives you an appreciation of the struggle of Afghan women (and women in general) for so long. Plus, it really makes you think about how fortunate we are...AND makes you wonder, once again, about U.S. policies of help/involvement that, while well-intentioned, miss the mark on understanding what has been/is going on in places like Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran, Iraq, etc.

    It is a great read! Got any for me?
    Happy reading!

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Mar 2007
    Location
    New Orleans
    As far as anything out in recent months, if you've got the stomach for long, historical tomes, Legacy of Ashes is a very thorough, if sobering, account of the CIA. Picks up the theme of American "involvement," raising substantial questions about how "well-intentioned" some of it was.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Brevard

    I should have said...

    "while U.S. involvement is "sometimes" well-intentioned." I'll take a look at
    Legacy.
    Last edited by dukepsy1963; 12-19-2007 at 01:53 PM. Reason: grammar

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Columbus, Ohio

    Re:

    I'm slow to the party, and am about half-way through Cormac McCarthy's acclaimed novel, The Road. It's a phenomenal read thus far, and I'd recommend it to anyone who likes language and story-telling.

  5. #5

    non-fiction

    I read a lot more non-fiction than fiction, but recently I've read and liked:

    -- David Halbersam's "The Coldest Winter" -- his account of the Korean War (don't read it if you are a Douglas MacArthur fan).

    -- David Reynolds' "Command of History" -- a fascinating account of how Churchill write his WWII memoirs and used them to shape our perception of the war. As you'd expect, he sometimes twists the facts to make himself look better ... except for one special occasion where he hides his greatest accomplishment to protect the reputation of one of his rivals.

    (Incidentally, this is a different David Reynolds than the David Reynolds who wrote my favorite book last year, "John Brown: Abolitionist" -- a revisionist look at the most misunderstood hero in American history.)

    -- "The Breaker Boys" -- David Fleming's account of the 1925 Pottstown Maroons, the best team in the NFL that year and how their championship was stolen after they won one of the most important games in NFL history. Another reason to hate the Bidwell family (I know they didn't acquire the Cardinals until 1932, but in the last half-century they've blocked several efforts to restore the historical record).

    -- I've just started Rick Atkinson's "Day of Battle" -- his account of the U.S. Army's development during the Italian campaign in WWII. It's a sequel to his Pulitzer Award winning (and superb) "An Army at Dawn" -- his account of the North African campaign.

    As for fiction ... about the only thing I've read this year were the final Harry Potter book and several counterfactual novels. If you're in to that kind of thing, let me suggest Robert Conroy's "1901" about a war between the United States and Germany just after the turn of the century. His "1862" and "1945" are a little less imaginative, but still fun.

  6. #6

    some recommends

    anything by jhumpa lahiri - she has a new collection of short strories coming in early 2008. it is fantastic. her already published books are The Namesake and The Interpreter of Maladies - both great.

    on chesil beach - ian mcewan

    the road - cormac mccarthy

    little heathens: Hard Times and High Spirits on an Iowa Farm During the Great Depression by Mildred Armstrong Kalish
    - just started this and it is great. it's about growing up poor and cold during the great depression in iowa and thinking you have just the best childhood!

    http://www.junotdiaz.com/ - i didn't read this book yet, but i am going to. i read a short story by him recently and it was fantastic.

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Chesapeake, VA.
    The Devil in the White City, about a serial killer at the 1893 Chicago World's Fair, is one of the best books I have read in years.

    The Sweet Hereafter, a fictional account of a school bus accident in a remote New York village told from several different points of view, is sobering but profound.

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    North Florida & Bozeman, Montana

    Smile Recently Read Books That Might Interest

    On sabbatical, so why not read,right?
    Some newbies and oldies that are well-written and ,IMO, fascinating(some defy conventional wisdom,as the Burr book):
    1.The Forgotten Man:A New History of the Great Depression(Shlaes,Harper Collins,2007)
    2.The Last Coach(Bear Bryant)(Barra,Norton,2005)
    3.Fallen Founder:The Life of Aaron Burr(Isenberg,Viking,2007)
    4.Almost A Miracle: The American Victory in the War of Independence(Ferling,Oxf'd U. Press,2007)
    5.1812:The War That Forged A Nation(Borneman,Harper Collins,2004)
    6.The Price of Admiralty(Keegan,Viking,1988)
    7.Fields of Battle:The Wars for North America (Keegan,Knopf,1996)
    8.The Passions of Andrew Jackson (Burstein,Vintage Books,2004)
    9.The Two-Ocean War (Morrison, Little Brown,1963)

  9. #9

    keegan

    Quote Originally Posted by blueprofessor View Post
    6.The Price of Admiralty(Keegan,Viking,1988)
    Keegan has done some good books, but IMHO, this is not one of them. He clearly little understanding of naval history and naval tactics.

    You could apply Hitler's famous self-decription: On land, I am a hero ... on the sea, a coward.

    Keegan's military expertise does not extend to naval matters.

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    North Florida & Bozeman, Montana

    Smile

    Quote Originally Posted by Olympic Fan View Post
    Keegan has done some good books, but IMHO, this is not one of them. He clearly little understanding of naval history and naval tactics.

    You could apply Hitler's famous self-decription: On land, I am a hero ... on the sea, a coward.

    Keegan's military expertise does not extend to naval matters.
    Peter Grier (Washington Monthly) and James Hawkins (The Journal of Historical Review) would take exception to your opinion of the book. I especially enjoyed the chapter on Trafalgar (pp.9-95) .
    Nonetheless, the insinuation ( coming from a fellow Duke supporter) that Keegan(Hitler) is a coward on sea has led me to suspend the book from my library until 2008!
    O.F.,do you have a favorite Keegan book or two?
    Best wishes---Blueprofessor

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