Fall Book Thread

[Chris]

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?

[jendf]

I am presently reading My Life on the Run: The Wit, Wisdom, and Insights of a Road Racing Icon 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.

[Chris]

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".  144 miles ftw.

[Miss Mia]

The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch.

I highly recommend it.  It's very uplifting.  I'm going to buy a few copies of it for Christmas gifts.

[jendf]

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".  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.

[Chris]

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".  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.

   He's a salesman.  Self-obsession is a requirement.

[Chris]

BTW, David Wallace hung himself last week.

 

[asdf2231]

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.

[Chris]

The Art of Dying 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.

[Chris]

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?

[mamacags]

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.

[thundley4]

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. 

[Miss Mia]

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    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    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 

The extra note makes it even more special Vonne. 

[jendf]

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?

[Chris_]

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

[bijou]

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).

[asdf2231]

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!

[mamacags]

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.

[mamacags]

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.

[Chris_]

I don't read James Patterson for intellectual reasons, I read that trash to entertain my brains.

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

[mamacags]

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.  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.

[Chris_]

I usually love Patricia Cornwell stories but she is another one who just started inserting crap about politics into everything.

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

[bijou]

I usually love Patricia Cornwell stories but she is another one who just started inserting crap about politics into everything.

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. 

[Chris_]

I usually love Patricia Cornwell stories but she is another one who just started inserting crap about politics into everything.

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

[mamacags]

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."