What are you reading right now?

BTW has anyone read the Series of Unfortuant Event books? I am awaiting the 13th one to be released on 13 October this year. It was an assigned reading project form my youngest niece, but they are pretty good. I tend to read them on airplanes as the books are small, and they are enjoyable.
 
My boys both loved The Limoney Snickett series (Series of Unfortunate Events) when they were in late elementary school.

About a month ago, I finished Cobra II - The Inside Story of the Invasion and Occupation of Iraq by Michael R Gordon and Gen. Bernard E Trainor. I recommended it to the group a while back and highly recommend it again.
 
Elizabeth and Mary; Cousins, Rivals, Queens by Jane Dunn
The First American: The Life and Times of Benjamin Franklin by H.W. Brands
 
DeeG said:
The First American: The Life and Times of Benjamin Franklin by H.W. Brands
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Did you like this? I've been looking for a good Franklin book. After I finished 1776 a while ago, I realized how much I enjoy early American history. I picked up Ambrose's Lewis & Clark and it's up next.
 
Just finished Lou Martin's autobiographic "Close Encounters with the Pilot's Grim Reaper" and just started James Patterson's "Beach Road".
 
Here are the books I just bought. It's all Scott's fault.

The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (Penguin Classics)"
Edward Gibbon; Paperback; $10.40

1 "The Water Is Wide"
Pat Conroy; Mass Market Paperback; $7.99 (this is about Hilton Head area - I think Daufuskie Island actually)

1 "Naples '44 : A World War II Diary of Occupied Italy"
Norman Lewis; Paperback; $10.74 (it just happend to be in my cart from another Amazon perusal.)

1 "Rubicon : The Last Years of the Roman Republic"
Tom Holland; Paperback; $9.75

hmph
 
Lawreston said:
Dan: Speaking of reading, you and I need to read a menu somewhere in the Lincoln County area during this summer. Perhaps we should partake of Ken Brown's services. I took the photo several years ago.
HR
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Sounds good to me! Is there anywhere near IWI that serves a kick-ass breakfast?

Dan
 
woodstock said:
Here are the books I just bought. It's all Scott's fault.

The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (Penguin Classics)"
Edward Gibbon; Paperback; $10.40

1 "The Water Is Wide"
Pat Conroy; Mass Market Paperback; $7.99 (this is about Hilton Head area - I think Daufuskie Island actually)

1 "Naples '44 : A World War II Diary of Occupied Italy"
Norman Lewis; Paperback; $10.74 (it just happend to be in my cart from another Amazon perusal.)

1 "Rubicon : The Last Years of the Roman Republic"
Tom Holland; Paperback; $9.75

hmph
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Just to add more kindling to the fire (oh bad book buring picture in my head), are you a John McPhee fan at all? :dunno::dunno:;)

He has a new one all about UPS, in it he tracks a shipment of live lobsters.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/03...f=pd_bbs_2/002-7165717-6917643?_encoding=UTF8
I read an excerpt this morning and it is on my list to read.

I had read his book on Oranges, Fish, and the Merchant Marine. He can write a very good story on the most mundane of topics.
 
I was actually thinking recently if I would still find Carlos Castaneda interesting after all these years. :hairraise::hairraise:
 
Imaginary Weapons, by Sharon Weinberger. "A journey through the Pentagon's scientific underworld".

Sort of a compilation of various and seemingly far fetched weapons programs that have been funded by the different Pentagon departments. Only about 70 pages through it. Current discussion is the gamma ray laser and the hafnium-178 isomer bomb. Some weird science in there.:hairraise:

It is most interesting how projects get funded, sometimes on pure junk science and how once started, are hard to stop, even when they are obvious failures (can you say turf wars and politics?).

Gary
 
smigaldi said:
The GRASER?? I worked on some stuff for that program!! I'll have to check this out to see what they say.
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Scott:

Yep the GRASER! I'm not through the whole description but it looks like one of those project that MIGHT be possible, IF you merely ignore some basic physics laws. Actually, the author (somewhat having a "left" leaning slant) puts a humorous spin to a lot of the discussions. Fun to read, so far...

The discussions of the hafnium bomb are at times, so funny, it's sad. Nothing like research scientists chasing those elusive grants. :D

Gary
 
Dan Smith said:
Sounds good to me! Is there anywhere near IWI that serves a kick-ass breakfast?

Dan
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I'll case the area; there must be one, somewhere. I'll get back to you.

HR
 
Dan Smith said:
Just finished the gazzilionth reading of "Fate is the Hunter". Now to move on to some good summertime trash: detective paperbacks, etc.

Dan
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I just read that for the tenth time maybe a couple weeks ago and finished An Airman's Oddyssey this week at work. Ernie Gann and St. Exuprey are my favorite authors.
My next book is going to be the training manual for the S-76. A slightly drier read.
 
Instrument Flight Training Manual Started reading it again on my flight to PR and I hope to have it finished by Wednesday. Look out Ed G. I have questions for ya.

Bob
 
Just finished book 8 and 9 of W E B Griffin's The Corps series. Also, his Presidential Agent (a new series). Currently on the desk is The Da Vinci Code since it's so popular nowadays. I'm about half way thru it.
 
I seem to be the most boring person here. I have 4 books on my nightstand, all in various stages of reading:

"The Ripped Chest: Public Policy and the poor in India" - a very intellectual debate about India's social and governmental policies towards poverty in India. I really like it because it shines a powerful light on the governmental structure of India, which is about as clear as a pile of dirt.
"The Case for Globalization" - a slightly nationalistic tome written by an Indian executive. Basic theory: India deserves it because it has been so poor and because they are bigger (not really, but you get my point)
"The Working Poor: Invisible in America" - a tour through the lives of those who live in "working poverty" - employed but unable to get ahead. Powerful read, some very extreme assumptions, but an eye opener.
"The New Ruthless Economy" - I've barely scratched the surface on this book, but it's a "discussion on the negative progression of the American, and world, economy".

Why am I reading such a schitzophrenic list of books? I'm going through a very long, very difficult work situation and I'm trying to really explore the issues at stake with globalization. So why not explore both sides, however extreme, and understand the issue completely?

Cheers,

-Andrew
 
astanley said:
Why am I reading such a schitzophrenic list of books? I'm going through a very long, very difficult work situation and I'm trying to really explore the issues at stake with globalization. So why not explore both sides, however extreme, and understand the issue completely?

Cheers,

-Andrew
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Lemme know what you discover and deduce, because I'm also struggling with the current, apparent issues of globalization, personal economic impact due to same, and trying to figure out where I go from here. Not fun.
 
silver-eagle said:
Just finished book 8 and 9 of W E B Griffin's The Corps series.
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In January my wife bought me 31 W E B Griffin books for 25 cents each at the friends of the library sale. I've read the entire Corps series, the Honor trilogy, and just finished the Brotherhood of War series on the way out here (to Tehachapi, Ca.). All total about 22 books so far. Time for a little break from him.

Next up, reread The Prize, by Daniel Yeargin. An extremely good book about the history of the oil industry. I read it a few years ago and was, to put it mildly, enthralled by it. I recommend it to anyone who enjoys well written history, similar to Shelby Foote (ancedotal style).
 
Keith Lane said:
In January my wife bought me 31 W E B Griffin books for 25 cents each at the friends of the library sale. .....
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That reminds me of what a friend of mine did to me. Bought me a whole set of Robert Ludlum books. They were all hardbound books and required my Suburban to haul the whole thing!!! Ludlum is very wordy.
 
Keith Lane said:
In January my wife bought me 31 W E B Griffin books ...
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Male romance novels. I have read almost all of his stuff. Very formulamatic but still very enjoyable. I have not read of the current event series he has written but all of the WW2 and Philly police stuff.
 
Brian Austin said:
Did you like this? I've been looking for a good Franklin book. After I finished 1776 a while ago, I realized how much I enjoy early American history. I picked up Ambrose's Lewis & Clark and it's up next.
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Enjoying it, yes. Its a bit different than most biographical type books, its not just dates and places, etc. Little more in depth, and its kind of interesting about his early 'writing career'.
 
astanley said:
"The Working Poor: Invisible in America" - a tour through the lives of those who live in "working poverty" - employed but unable to get ahead.
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I read a similar book recently; "Nickled and Dimed, On (Not) Getting by in America"
Can't remember the female author.
 
:) Shot At and Missed by Jack Meyers. autobiography of a WW2 bombardier.
Also lives just up the road from me in Arcadia OK.
Also the owners manual for my Fathers Day/ anniversary present.
2006 Suzuki Boulevard.
 
In the past ten days I've read:
"Sarum" by Edward Rutherford (a novel of the Stonehenge/Salisbury Plain area from prehistoric to modern times.)
"Made in America" by Bill Bryson (Etymology. A history of English language, place names, sayings, and slang in the US--very, very interesting)
"Protector of the Small" series by Tamora Pierce ("First Test", "Page", "Squire", and "Lady Knight".)

And right now I'm in the middle of some editing for two other authors and finishing a rewrite of some of my own stuff.
 
Just finished "Endurance: Shackelton's Incredible Voyage" by Lansing.

Wow -- an absolutely incredible Antarctic survival story! You really have to read it to believe it.

I read the Shackleton book to get a breather from all my aviation reading. So now, back to Dogan's Instrument Flight Training Manual, FAA's Instrument Procedures Handbook, my Garmin 430 manual, and various weather books. You want to talk about a boring nightstand.
 
This.

Rushie
 

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As with most, I have several books opened to various points, and pick them up depending on whether I feel like reading for comprehension, or reading for relaxation:

1. Maximum Ride by James Patterson
2. Assassination Vacation by Sarah Vowell
3. Theodore Rex by Edmund Morris (a re-read, and worth it)
4. The Runes of the Earth, book one of the Third Chronicle of Thomas Covenant, by Stephen R. Donaldson
5. The Hero with A Thousand Faces, by Joseph Campbell
 
Pjsmith said:
As with most, I have several books opened to various points, and pick them up depending on whether I feel like reading for comprehension, or reading for relaxation:

1. Maximum Ride by James Patterson
2. Assassination Vacation by Sarah Vowell
3. Theodore Rex by Edmund Morris (a re-read, and worth it)
4. The Runes of the Earth, book one of the Third Chronicle of Thomas Covenant, by Stephen R. Donaldson
5. The Hero with A Thousand Faces, by Joseph Campbell
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PJ,

I was given a copy of Assassination Vacation a few months ago. I brought it on a long international biz trip as my "light" reading, I ended up closing the book about 25% the way through. I just couldn't get into it, and the authors semi random diatrabes got under my skin. I don't know, it just wasn't my bag. Then again, I love Kerouac, so most people think my taste is nuts to begin with.

Cheers,

-Andrew
 
astanley said:
PJ,

I was given a copy of Assassination Vacation a few months ago. I brought it on a long international biz trip as my "light" reading, I ended up closing the book about 25% the way through. I just couldn't get into it, and the authors semi random diatrabes got under my skin. I don't know, it just wasn't my bag. Then again, I love Kerouac, so most people think my taste is nuts to begin with.

Cheers,

-Andrew
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Ya, I think to enjoy the book you have to approach it from basically the same political philosophy as the author has, which is pretty darned liberal. She has a knack for clever phraseology, so if nothing else I found myself chuckling at the words on occassion if not the subject. I mean, who really cares that much about John Wilkes Booths' brother?

P
 
Pjsmith said:
Ya, I think to enjoy the book you have to approach it from basically the same political philosophy as the author has, which is pretty darned liberal. She has a knack for clever phraseology, so if nothing else I found myself chuckling at the words on occassion if not the subject. I mean, who really cares that much about John Wilkes Booths' brother?

P
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I'm a left-centrist generally, and it just couldn't engage me. But, like I said before, the content (like you mention) just wasn't interesting. Also, her politicizing was just too much for me.

It is also possible that I have spent too much time over the past six months reading work books that my literary abilities have flown out the window.

Cheers,

-Andrew
 
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