New last book you read thread

[dixierose]

Do you like Christine Feehan?

I'm not familiar with her; but a quick "google" tells me that her Carpathian series sounds interesting.

Did you get my PM with my email addy?

[seahorse513]

I'm not familiar with her; but a quick "google" tells me that her Carpathian series sounds interesting.

Did you get my PM with my email addy?

Yes I did, will put in now.....sorry!!

[Eupher]

What a 4 1/2 hours !!!!  In a couple of my last posts I had read two books recommended about B24's from a friend at church.  Yesterday he and I sat down and he talked about his time over there in WWII.  Mistakenly I said he was a Navigator, he told me no  - Flight Engineer, [my old fart memory is really kicking in].  The last book listed here "Finish Forty and Home"; for him became 44 missions.  He told me  - "luckily we had control of the air by then, but the antiaircraft flack was terrible, especially over about 8 of the drop zones".  He said one flight his plane took many flack hits, but they finally got back, but on almost every flight they got some hits, but nobody was seriously hurt.  His hairest flight was the time one 500 lb. bomb got hung up in the bomb bay with the final arming wire pulled.  Rear hanger had released, but the thing was hanging from the front hook, bouncing around in the air turbulence, he's stand between the bomb racks on the 15" catwalk trying to release the thing before it blows, needless to say it dropped.
I could go on for hours with his stories, but ---
Charles ended by letting me know that he finally returned home 2 days after the Hiroshima bomb was dropped, and now, sadly out of the crew of 10 he served with, he is the last one living. 
I am honored to say I spent time, listening to 'one of the greatest generation'.
Date has been set for next Friday - wife and I are taking he and his wife to dinner.  Admittedly a very small thank you, for a man that lived through World War II, and wears the Air Medal with 4 oak leaf clusters, plus others.

Very nice, Rusty.

H5!

[Duke Nukum]

Going Clear: Scientology, Hollywood, and the Prison of Belief by Lawrence Wright. It's a real page turner so far.

It is amazing what Hubbard got away with simply because nobody said "No!" when he turned abusive to his followers.

[obumazombie]

Going Clear: Scientology, Hollywood, and the Prison of Belief by Lawrence Wright. It's a real page turner so far.

It is amazing what Hubbard got away with simply because nobody said "No!" when he turned abusive to his followers.

Stockholm Syndrome.

[debk]

Dick Wolf's "The Intercept" was a good read.

Reading Tess Gerritson's "Last to Die" now. It's a Rizzoli and Isles book.... kind of creepy so far....

[Duke Nukum]

Stockholm Syndrome.

Not quite. People join/joined Scientology voluntarily. I think it is more like liberalism.

They believed that Hubbard was some sort of superman and that they could be too and together they would all save the world. They become so vested in their belief that they fabricate evidence that Hubbard was a free thetan, or whatever it was.

At the same time, many of them did quit the cult after Hubbard had them thrown off the boat and into the water as a form of punishment.

And then for those who didn't go into the Sea Org, they found their Scientology connections would help their Hollywood careers and it was made clear they would lose their advantage if they quit the church.

[ColonelCarrots]

I am reading the Chronicles of Narnia. Just finished the Magician's Nephew. I am definitely catching all the Christian references in it.

I can see myself when I have a kid of my own one day reading to them a chapter or two at night.

[seahorse513]

The Chronicles of Narnia, is a wonderful series!! Enjoy!!

[SLS]

I discovered Brad Thor a while ago.
I just finished The Last Patriot and just started Foreign Influence.

I mostly like fiction but the last two non fiction I read were the Amateur by Edward Klein and Black Rednecks and White Liberals by Thomas Sowell.
Those were the first non fiction I've read in many many years.

[seahorse513]

Currently reading Lisa Jackson's "DeVious"... looks good so far!!

[debk]

Just finished Stuart Woods "Collateral Damage", reading Vince Flynn's "The Last Man".

I am so going to miss Mitch Rapp. In the forward of this book, Flynn says "cancer sucks but he's feeling so much better" . 

[FlaGator]

The Dome by Stephen King. Long book but very fast paced. Nothing like the mini series except the character names.

[rustybayonet]

Finished reading Bill O'Reilly "Killing Jesus".  Have now read all three - Killing Lincoln - Killing Kennedy - Killing Jesus.

Killing Lincoln, from other historical reading I have done, is good historically.

Killing Kennedy, I agree with everything except he takes the word of the Warren Commission as fact - to many points I totally disagree with, -- never have and never will.

Killing Jesus, historically accurate, and in my opinion no religious slant, mostly just fact based on historical writings and conjecture based on known times and fact.  (He admits, both he and his coauthor have a Roman Catholic slant due to upbringing - my opinion is based on 6 years of studying bible and other works from a Methodist standpoint).

[Eupher]

Finished reading Bill O'Reilly "Killing Jesus".  Have now read all three - Killing Lincoln - Killing Kennedy - Killing Jesus.

Killing Lincoln, from other historical reading I have done, is good historically.

Killing Kennedy, I agree with everything except he takes the word of the Warren Commission as fact - to many points I totally disagree with, -- never have and never will.

Killing Jesus, historically accurate, and in my opinion no religious slant, mostly just fact based on historical writings and conjecture based on known times and fact.  (He admits, both he and his coauthor have a Roman Catholic slant due to upbringing - my opinion is based on 6 years of studying bible and other works from a Methodist standpoint).

Just a short comment about the Warren Commission -- while I'm not going to argue its conclusions (LHO was the lone gunman, acting on his own, etc.), what I WILL point out is the politics of the commission. LBJ wanted that commission to be done and its conclusions in the bag long before the '64 elections and in his true inimitable style, made damned sure that people were browbeaten to the point that getting LBJ off their backs was far more important than turning over every stone and examining every detail.

Carry on.

[Big Dog]

If it ever gets lonely for a reader who would be attentive, let me know ! I like Levin, among others.

Have you read Liberty and Tyranny yet?

I can mail it to you.

[Dori]

Two new ones just out;

one by Charles Krauthammer; "Things That Matter"

and;  "Extortion: How Politicians Extract Your Money, Buy Votes, and Line Their Own Pockets" by Schweizer, Peter

[obumazombie]

Have you read Liberty and Tyranny yet?

I can mail it to you.

Send it ! Maybe we can make this the first official book of the Conservative Cave traveling library! If you're serious, pm me !

[Wineslob]

I just finished up "Goodwin Granger, The rod man from Denver" by Michael Sinclair.

As a lover of bamboo fly rods, and especially Grangers, this was a fascinating book. Considering when Goodwin began making his own rods (teens) and figuring out the tapers (determines the action of a particular rod) plus me owning 2 fishable Granger rods, it's amazing what he was able to accomplish. From Casting Tournament rods (which won) to "regular" rods they are fantastic fishing tools.
What was sad is he died (cancer) just as his company was hitting it's stride. However, the employees kept the business going and even flourished during the depression. No one lost their job.

The book is worth it's weight in gold, if just for the color plates, which are many.

Great read.

[Chris_]

I started reading Over the Edge of the World a couple weeks ago.  It's very well done but not as good as some of the books about James Cook I've read.

Ferdinand Magellan's daring circumnavigation of the globe in the sixteenth century was a three-year odyssey filled with sex, violence, and amazing adventure. Now in Over the Edge of the World, prize-winning biographer and journalist Laurence Bergreen entwines a variety of candid, firsthand accounts, bringing to life this groundbreaking and majestic tale of discovery that changed both the way explorers would henceforth navigate the oceans and history itself.

[Dblhaul]

I just finished up "Goodwin Granger, The rod man from Denver" by Michael Sinclair.

Any book about bamboo rods by Sinclair is very good!

[rustybayonet]

If you're into WWII, history, and personal stories, then two books will peak your interest.
 1." Unbroken " by Laura Hillenbrand [she also wrote Seabiscuit] - this is about 1936 Berlin Olympian Louis Zamperini, WWII B-24 Liberator bombardier who plane went down in the Pacific then taken prisoner by the Japanese.
2.  "Devil at my Heels" by Louis Zamperini and David Rensin - His own telling of the saga, with more details of his release from capture at the end of the war, and tribulations following.  [He is still alive at 97 and doing well].

IMO both are very riveting accounts of a true American hero, and hard to put the books down.

[Eupher]

If you're into WWII, history, and personal stories, then two books will peak your interest.
 1." Unbroken " by Laura Hillenbrand [she also wrote Seabiscuit] - this is about 1936 Berlin Olympian Louis Zamperini, WWII B-24 Liberator bombardier who plane went down in the Pacific then taken prisoner by the Japanese.
2.  "Devil at my Heels" by Louis Zamperini and David Rensin - His own telling of the saga, with more details of his release from capture at the end of the war, and tribulations following.  [He is still alive at 97 and doing well].

IMO both are very riveting accounts of a true American hero, and hard to put the books down.

I've read the first one (extremely compelling story!) but not the second. Zamperini struggled with alcohol abuse after his release from Japanese POW camps primarily because he could not let the primary Japanese abuser -- a sick bastard who is burning in hell as we speak -- go. Ultimately, he was able to come to terms with his demons, and he's been an inspiration ever since.

Go Louis, Go!

[Duke Nukum]

Just finished Red Dragon by Thomas Harris last night.

Over vacation I read Blood Will Out by Walter Kirn which was a 50/50 true crime/personal biography revolving around the Clark Rockefeller impersonator and murderer Christian Karl Gerhartsreiter.

And also a bit of science fantasy fluff called Emperor Mollusk Versus the Sinister Brain by A. Lee Martinez about a highly intelligent mollusk from Neptune who conquers the via mind control and then takes on an unnamed giant brain.

Also Secret Societies and Psychological Warfare by Michael A. Hoffman II which was a very insightful conspiracy read about media  manipulation.

[DumbAss Tanker]

Took "1632" by Eric Flint with me on a trip, where I was going to be stuck with some down time.  Not the worst, nor the best, SF action-adventure of the 'group of people transplanted in time/space beating the indigenes while upholding proper modern American ideals and the Millennial concept of propriety' sort I've ever read.  Worth reading the sequels sooner or later, but not nearly as good as Taylor Anderson's 'Destroyermen' series or S. M. Stirling's 'Emberverse' books.