The Conservative Cave
The Bar => The Lounge => Topic started by: Chris on September 20, 2008, 11:29:43 PM
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I finished Frank McCourt's newest book the other week. It was good, but not great. It's unfortunate when an author peaks with his first book, but the guy is nearly 80 so I can't knock him for that.
I have been reading "With the Old Breed" by Eugene Sledge for the last two weeks. I found out about him from Ken Burn's "The War" series, which interviewed Sidney Phillips, a friend of Sledge's. It's an incredible account of his experiences during the US campaigns at Peleliu and Okinawa. His account of Peleliu was truly horrible. I'm only part-way through his description of the campaign at Okinawa. It's an amazing, amazing book. If you have any interest at all about WWII or the Pacific War, you should really get a copy of this book. Another one I recommend is "Abandon Ship!" by Richard Newcomb, about the USS Indianapolis. Another one is "Flyboys" by James Bradley, about the lives of five pilots captured at Chi Chi Jima, which was also the island George H. W. Bush was shot down over during the war. Bradley interviews President Bush for the book. His recollections and emotions are heartbreaking.
I'm on the waiting list for "How the State's Got Their Shapes", an interesting political/historical book about the evolution of the United States. I saw the author speaking on Book TV and the minutiae he covers about the history of our country is spellbinding. I'm also waiting for a second book from E.B. Sledge, and one titled "Traffic: Why We Drive The Way We Do". Looks like fun.
Anyone reading anything or waiting for new books?
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I am presently reading My Life on the Run: The Wit, Wisdom, and Insights of a Road Racing Icon (http://www.amazon.com/My-Life-Run-Wisdom-Insights/dp/1594869413/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1221971674&sr=1-1) by Bart Yasso. It's a fun read and a great motivator to get out and run.
Next up, I'm going to look for a short story anthology because I would really like to get back to writing and need some inspiration.
If any of you have suggestions on a good anthology, let me know! Thanks.
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David Foster Wallace has a couple of short-story anthologies. His writing varies from interesting to amazing, to completely shitty. "A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again" is one of his better anthologies. "Infinite Jest" is his best book but it is over 1500 pages long, but it reads like an anthology, with dozens of different characters.
And if you're series about running, you NEED to read Dean Karnazes "Ultramarathon Man". :hammer: 144 miles ftw.
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The Last Lecture (http://www.amazon.com/Last-Lecture-Randy-Pausch/dp/1401323251/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1221972256&sr=8-1) by Randy Pausch.
I highly recommend it. It's very uplifting. I'm going to buy a few copies of it for Christmas gifts.
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David Foster Wallace has a couple of short-story anthologies. His writing varies from interesting to amazing, to completely shitty. "A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again" is one of his better anthologies. "Infinite Jest" is his best book but it is over 1500 pages long, but it reads like an anthology, with dozens of different characters.
And if you're series about running, you NEED to read Dean Karnazes "Ultramarathon Man". :hammer: 144 miles ftw.
I started that one and then gave up. I know he's exceedingly talented but his self-obsession was over the top for me.
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David Foster Wallace has a couple of short-story anthologies. His writing varies from interesting to amazing, to completely shitty. "A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again" is one of his better anthologies. "Infinite Jest" is his best book but it is over 1500 pages long, but it reads like an anthology, with dozens of different characters.
And if you're series about running, you NEED to read Dean Karnazes "Ultramarathon Man". :hammer: 144 miles ftw.
I started that one and then gave up. I know he's exceedingly talented but his self-obsession was over the top for me.
:lmao: He's a salesman. Self-obsession is a requirement.
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BTW, David Wallace hung himself last week.
:censored:
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I am 3 books away from finishing the "Repairman Jack" series by F. Paul Wilson.
Holy catz these are great books!!
Spenser for hire meets the x-files.
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The Art of Dying (http://www.amazon.com/Art-Dying-Peter-Fenwick/dp/0826499236/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1221973695&sr=1-1) author is on Coast to Coast AM right now. Creepy.
The Art of Dying is a contemporary version of the medieval Ars Moriendi--a manual on how to achieve a good death. Peter Fenwick is an eminent neuropsychiatrist, academic and expert on disorders of the brain. His most compelling and provocative research has been into the end of life phenomena, including near-death experiences and deathbed visions of the dying person, as well as the experiences of hospice and palliative care workers and relatives of dying people. Dr. Fenwick believes that consciousness may be independent of the brain and so able to survive the death of the brain, a theory which has divided the scientific community. The "problem with death" is deeply rooted in our culture and the social organization of death rituals. Fenwick believes that with serious engagement and through further investigation of these phenomena, he can help change attitudes so that we in the West can face up to death, and embrace it as a significant and sacred part of life. We have become used to believing that we have to shield each other from the idea of death. Fear of death means we view it as something to be fought every step of the way.
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I am 3 books away from finishing the "Repairman Jack" series by F. Paul Wilson.
Holy catz these are great books!!
Spenser for hire meets the x-files.
Never heard of it. Is it like 'The Dark Tower' series?
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I just finished Sail by James Patterson and someone else. It was OK. The plot twist came only like 20 pages into the book though.
Also just finished Blink by Ted Dekker (awesome read!) and started Obsession by Ted Dekker last night.
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I am 3 books away from finishing the "Repairman Jack" series by F. Paul Wilson.
Holy catz these are great books!!
Spenser for hire meets the x-files.
I've been out of the loop on the RJ series. I left off reading them after Hosts, because they weren't in the local stores. I always that that Jack was kind of like "The Equalizer", except that laws didn't mean much to him.
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I've finished two books this week; Hunters of Dune by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson and A Man Without a Country by Kurt Vonnegut.
I've a stack of a dozen or so books, recently arrived from Amazon on my to-read list.
More upsetting though, with regards to great books :thatsright: I was scouring about for a gift to cheer up a girl friend, when I just so happened to come across a first edition hardcover by her favorite author! Autographed too :cheersmate: Made the phone call, and pulled out the AmEx, without a moment of hesitation...
Well, last week it arrived, autographed and intact... with the additional ?bonus? of it having nearly a page worth of writing from the author to a gal with a different name, whom apparently... was quite the fan :thatsright:
The extra note makes it even more special Vonne. :)
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I just finished Sail by James Patterson and someone else. It was OK. The plot twist came only like 20 pages into the book though.
Also just finished Blink by Ted Dekker (awesome read!) and started Obsession by Ted Dekker last night.
I really want to read a Ted Dekker book. My mom absolutely LOVES them.
Do you have a recommendation on which one I should try first?
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I just finished Sail by James Patterson and someone else. It was OK. The plot twist came only like 20 pages into the book though.
Also just finished Blink by Ted Dekker (awesome read!) and started Obsession by Ted Dekker last night.
I gave up on Patterson a while ago, he seems to crank out a book every month, and when you consider the fact that all of his books are printed double spaced, and he writes chapters that are about one and a half pages long, you are paying fifteen bucks for mostly blank paper.
I can usually read one of his novellas in about two hours........not worth the money....I wait until they are on the $5.98 publishers over-run table at Barnes & Noble.......
Ted Dekker is in a whole different class.......I enjoy his stuff......
doc
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I just finished Sail by James Patterson and someone else. It was OK. The plot twist came only like 20 pages into the book though.
Also just finished Blink by Ted Dekker (awesome read!) and started Obsession by Ted Dekker last night.
I really want to read a Ted Dekker book. My mom absolutely LOVES them.
Do you have a recommendation on which one I should try first?
I suggest starting with either Obsessed or House. I enjoyed them both (I haven't started his series books yet).
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I am 3 books away from finishing the "Repairman Jack" series by F. Paul Wilson.
Holy catz these are great books!!
Spenser for hire meets the x-files.
Never heard of it. Is it like 'The Dark Tower' series?
It's about a sort of an urban mercenary who lives in NYC and has no real identity. He "Fixes" situations for people and works for cash. Over the course of the series he gets drawn into this conflict between two sides of a very wierd Good Vs. Not So Good struggle.
He kicks ass!
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I just finished Sail by James Patterson and someone else. It was OK. The plot twist came only like 20 pages into the book though.
Also just finished Blink by Ted Dekker (awesome read!) and started Obsession by Ted Dekker last night.
I really want to read a Ted Dekker book. My mom absolutely LOVES them.
Do you have a recommendation on which one I should try first?
Some of them are parts of a series called The Books Of History. Black, Red, and White are a trilogy that are part of that series that also includes The Showdown, The Sinner and The Saint. Also in this series are a 4 book series called The Lost Books (Chosen, Infidel, Renegade, and Chaos)
They are all intertwined so it is hard to decide where to start with them. I would go Black Red White, The Lost Books, then The Showdown, The Saint and The Sinner.
Blink is a book all by itself. It is really good and about a guy who can see different possibilities and a runaway Saudi princess.
Adam is great, it is about a serial killer and some agents trying to find him.
I just started Obsessed but so far it seems to be about a Nazi and his insane son.
Three is also pretty good, way better than the lame movie.
House was written with Frank Perelli, I read it and liked it a lot but it has been a long time ago.
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There is this neat invention they have now called a LIBRARY where you can get books to read for FREE. You should look into it. :-)
I don't read James Patterson for intellectual reasons, I read that trash to entertain my brains. :hyper:
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I don't read James Patterson for intellectual reasons, I read that trash to entertain my brains. :hyper:
I wasn't throwing stones......I am a voracious reader, consuming 3 or 4 books a week on a variety of topics....I like a challenge, an author that writes a book that I can read in a couple of hours is not really a challenge........Give me 450 pages of tightly-written fiction any day......
doc
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I know you weren't. I was just trying to reassure myself that I can do better when reading. :-) I had to stop reading several authors lately who have gone off the moonbat deep end. :bawl: Now I have to "discover" new authors to keep enough books in the house.
Dean Koontz has an great series called Odd Thomas. I love them! They are not for everyone though.
I usually love Patricia Cornwell stories but she is another one who just started inserting crap about politics into everything. :thatsright:
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I usually love Patricia Cornwell stories but she is another one who just started inserting crap about politics into everything. :thatsright:
I've noticed that....there are a couple of others that i can't immediately recall that have gotten very political......I just cross them off my list.
doc
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I usually love Patricia Cornwell stories but she is another one who just started inserting crap about politics into everything. :thatsright:
I've noticed that....there are a couple of others that i can't immediately recall that have gotten very political......I just cross them off my list.
doc
That's so annoying isn't it? The most recent one that got me was Lee Childs, usually a good read, suddenly inserting a promotion for PETA in one of his books. :(
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I usually love Patricia Cornwell stories but she is another one who just started inserting crap about politics into everything. :thatsright:
I've noticed that....there are a couple of others that i can't immediately recall that have gotten very political......I just cross them off my list.
doc
That's so annoying isn't it? The most recent one that got me was Lee Childs, usually a good read, suddenly inserting a promotion for PETA in one of his books. :(
I just finished the latest by one of your countrymen....Jack Higgins (Rough Justice).......I really enjoy his characters.
doc
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Stuart Woods started this maybe 4 books ago. He is seriously not only gone off the deep end but he phones in the books now. I swear I got less than 20 pages into the last one I checked out at the library before I just returned it. It was just beyond stupid.
Jonathan and Faye Kellerman write really great books. Jonathan has his Alex Delaware, Faye has the Peter Decker/Rina Lazarus books. I have never checked one of their books out and been disappointed. I also love Kathy Reichs. Her books are the basis for the show "Bones."
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Anyone reading anything or waiting for new books?
I'm finishing up reading Vol. 1 of Bill Bennett's America: The Last Best Hope (Right now I've finished up reading Ulysses S. Grant's administration, and the descent into mediocrity as Rutherford B. Hayes took over. Vol. 1 ends in 1914.)
Afterwards, I've got Vol. 2 on standby, as well as a very thorough biography of Porter Rockwell, by Richard Dewey.
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I usually love Patricia Cornwell stories but she is another one who just started inserting crap about politics into everything. :thatsright:
I've noticed that....there are a couple of others that i can't immediately recall that have gotten very political......I just cross them off my list.
doc
It's not just that she's gotten political in her books (and it even annoys me), but her last few books just sucked. I've given up reading her anymore.
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I usually love Patricia Cornwell stories but she is another one who just started inserting crap about politics into everything. :thatsright:
I've noticed that....there are a couple of others that i can't immediately recall that have gotten very political......I just cross them off my list.
doc
It's not just that she's gotten political in her books (and it even annoys me), but her last few books just sucked. I've given up reading her anymore.
I don't know what happened to her, perhaps the fame went to her head. One minute she was writing good thrillers, the next minute she went batshit crazy and her plots ran wild.
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I usually love Patricia Cornwell stories but she is another one who just started inserting crap about politics into everything. :thatsright:
I've noticed that....there are a couple of others that i can't immediately recall that have gotten very political......I just cross them off my list.
doc
It's not just that she's gotten political in her books (and it even annoys me), but her last few books just sucked. I've given up reading her anymore.
I don't know what happened to her, perhaps the fame went to her head. One minute she was writing good thrillers, the next minute she went batshit crazy and her plots ran wild.
Its what I refer to as the "Tom Clancy" effect.......they write half a dozen great books, make a ton of money, and then they either produce crap, or quit trying altogether, and buy a football team......
doc
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I think most of it started when she got busted in that lesbian love triangle leading to a nasty divorce trial for her special friend.
From WIKI...
Cornwell declined for many years to discuss her personal life in interviews, but on November 11, 2007, The Daily Telegraph published an interview focused largely on her history and identity as a lesbian, including her marriage to Dr. Staci Ann Gruber. In an April 2008 interview on how Cornwell's life has influenced her writing, in The Times, Cornwell's marriage to Gruber in Massachusetts was also discussed.
Cornwell's personal life was also in the news in 1996, when former FBI agent Eugene Bennett cited her affair with his wife, Marguerite Bennett, as the motivation for a plot to kidnap and murder his estranged spouse. On May 15, 1997, Eugene Bennett was sentenced to 23 years in prison by a court in Prince William County, Virginia for his role in the plan.
Cornwell's friendship and affair with Marguerite "Margo" Bennett was detailed in the book: "Twisted Triangle: A Famous Crime Writer, A Lesbian Love Affair and the FBI Husband's Violent Revenge", written by Caitlin Rother with John Hess, released in May 2008 by Wiley. The book tells Margo Bennett's story of struggle, survival and triumph over her husband's abuse and her inner battle over her own sexuality. Gene Bennett kidnapped and then later tried to kill Margo after the Cornwell affair, which prompted the dissolution of the Bennetts' marriage.
:mental:
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Right now I've finished up reading Ulysses S. Grant's administration, and the descent into mediocrity as Rutherford B. Hayes took over. Vol. 1 ends in 1914.
Now THAT looks like something I would enjoy. Do you have a title? :p
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I have a stack of books I am reading for a national certification test. :censored:
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Right now I've finished up reading Ulysses S. Grant's administration, and the descent into mediocrity as Rutherford B. Hayes took over. Vol. 1 ends in 1914.
Now THAT looks like something I would enjoy. Do you have a title? :p
Volume 1 of America: The Last Best Hope by William Bennett. Probably one of the best treatices of American history - and history you don't read about in public schools any more - I've ever read.
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Ditch Medicine:Advanced Field Procedures For Emergencies
by Hugh Coffee
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Mama...sounds like we're reading a lot of the same books!
I'm reading Karin Slaughter's "Beyond Reach" right now.
I pick up the books, and we may both read them, or not. I picked up Patricia Cornwell's "Book of the Dead", M read it and said it sucked....and he used to really like her books, but hasn't liked the last couple. I haven't read it, but if she doesn't change her writing....I'm not reading them any more either.
I like the Vince Flynn books.
Lisa Gardner, Lisa Jackson are good, too. And we both read John Sandford.
Reading for me is escape and relaxation...so I'm a fiction junkie. :-)
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Mama...sounds like we're reading a lot of the same books!
I'm reading Karin Slaughter's "Beyond Reach" right now.
I pick up the books, and we may both read them, or not. I picked up Patricia Cornwell's "Book of the Dead", M read it and said it sucked....and he used to really like her books, but hasn't liked the last couple. I haven't read it, but if she doesn't change her writing....I'm not reading them any more either.
I like the Vince Flynn books.
Lisa Gardner, Lisa Jackson are good, too. And we both read John Sandford.
Reading for me is escape and relaxation...so I'm a fiction junkie. :-)
YAY!!!!!! Two new authors in that list for me to read! :cheersmate:
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I finally got around to checking out "The Mothman Prophecies". I picked up "Consider the Lobster" as well. Looks like I beat the macabre post-death book rush at the library.
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Undaunted Courage by Stephen Ambrose
It's pretty much an all-out attempt at chronologically piecing together the life of Meriwether Lewis. A very good nonfiction read.
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Currently reading "Protect and Defend" by Vince Flynn.
Takes place in Iraq and Iran....with a storyline that could too easily be true.
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I needed 20ccs of silly after my last few political and or history books. Just got two "new" books that I read years and years ago when I borrowed them from my brother. If you were/are a fan of Douglas Adams of 'Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy' fame, then I highly recommend his two detective novels.
- Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency
- The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul
Both are a lot (a serious lot) of fun. :-)
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Two of my books showed up at the liberry (China Marine, Oblivion).
I didn't realize First Blood was based on a novel. I picked that up as well (the book, not the Stallone movie. I already have that on DVD).
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Finished Protect and Defend....very good read....
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Finished First Blood. Better than the movie -- lots of extra detail, but the end was different. I coulnd't keep myself from picturing Dennehey and Stallone through the entire book which did not fit with the way it was written, and Hollywood decided to move the location more than halfway across the country from Kentucky to Washington.
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Finished First Blood. Better than the movie -- lots of extra detail, but the end was different. I coulnd't keep myself from picturing Dennehey and Stallone through the entire book which did not fit with the way it was written, and Hollywood decided to move the location more than halfway across the country from Kentucky to Washington.
If they'd left it in KY, people would have been humming the tune from Deliverance.... :uhsure:
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I just finished The Closers (http://www.michaelconnelly.com/Book_Collection/Closers/closers.html) by Michael Connelly.
It was not quite as good as The Lincoln Lawyer, by the same author, but it was still a good book.