What are you reading?

[Gdjjr]

Just finished, today, "The Return" by Nicholas Sparks- the man is a great story teller.

 

[Gdjjr]

I'll start on the new, Robert Galbraith, book tonight- "Troubled Blood" 927 PAGES!

 

[lg325]

Decision Points by George W. Bush. It is an interesting read. When a young boy they lived in an apartment with a shared bathroom . And he talks about sharing the bathroom with two prostitutes. He writes like he is talking to you directly. And so far I am enjoying the read.

 

[EvilCat Breath]

Reliquary by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child. Excellent and spooky.

 

[bluzman61]

I'm currently reading Alas, Babylon, by Pat Frank. First published in 1959, it was one of the earliest books that dealt with a post-nuclear war world. It's a good read so far.

 

[lg325]

Alas Babylon was required reading in my Jr. High School class. That was back in 1971. It caused some good conversations among us kids on the bus ride home.

 

[bluzman61]

Alas Babylon was required reading in my Jr. High School class. That was back in 1971. It caused some good conversations among us kids on the bus ride home.

I'm enjoying it so far.

 

[Gdjjr]

Today I finished 1000 Texas Longhorns- a fictional story about a real character, Nelson Story- at the end of the book the author acknowledges where he got his history information from-

https://www.amazon.com/Thousand-Tex...vtargid=pla-1004465326462&psc=1&tag=ff0d01-20

I decided to look up this "character"- Nelson Story was as real as the day is long

Nelson Story – Hero, scoundrel legend

Of all Bozeman's founding fathers, none left a greater imprint than Nelson Story.

www.bozemandailychronicle.com

It's not the best western I've read, but, I haven't read one in quite sometime and I used to enjoy the author, Johnny D. Boggs http://www.johnnydboggs.com/Biography.html

 

[Starleigh]

I have started the first book in a mystery series: Elementary, She Read by Vicki Delaney. Kind of a cozy mystery with a bookstore owner as the narrator. I love mysteries, but I'm a picky reader! If I don't get pulled in after the first chapter or so, I put it down. This is pretty good so far. I already reserved the second book in the series at my library.

 

[Preacher]

I am reading The Line Of Departure 4th book in the new world series. Somehow I managed to skip book 3 because library sent this one first and I thought I had already read the 3rd one but doesn't seem like I missed much.

 

[lg325]

Finished the Auto bio of GW Bush. Learned alot about the man not seen in the media. Now reading ,They called him Stone Wall by Burke Davis. Its a bio of Lt General TJ Jackson. It starts with the hanging of John Brown. So far a good read

 

[Thevolunteerwino]

Currently, The Lost City of Z: A Tale of Deadly Obsession in the Amazon by David Grann

[ame=[URL]http://www.amazon.com/Lost-City-Deadly-Obsession-Amazon/dp/0385513534]The&tag=ff0d01-20[/URL] Lost City of Z[/ame]


From Publishers Weekly:

In 1925, renowned British explorer Col. Percy Harrison Fawcett embarked on a much publicized search to find the city of Z, site of an ancient Amazonian civilization that may or may not have existed. Fawcett, along with his grown son Jack, never returned, but that didn't stop countless others, including actors, college professors and well-funded explorers from venturing into the jungle to find Fawcett or the city. Among the wannabe explorers is Grann, a staff writer for the New Yorker, who has bad eyes and a worse sense of direction. He became interested in Fawcett while researching another story, eventually venturing into the Amazon to satisfy his all-consuming curiosity about the explorer and his fatal mission. Largely about Fawcett, the book examines the stranglehold of passion as Grann's vigorous research mirrors Fawcett's obsession with uncovering the mysteries of the jungle. By interweaving the great story of Fawcett with his own investigative escapades in South America and Britain, Grann provides an in-depth, captivating character study that has the relentless energy of a classic adventure tale.

John Grisham's review for Amazon.com:

In April of 1925, a legendary British explorer named Percy Fawcett launched his final expedition into the depths of the Amazon in Brazil. His destination was the lost city of El Dorado, the “City of Gold,” an ancient kingdom of great sophistication, architecture, and culture that, for some reason, had vanished. The idea of El Dorado had captivated anthropologists, adventurers, and scientists for 400 years, though there was no evidence it ever existed. Hundreds of expeditions had gone looking for it. Thousands of men had perished in the jungles searching for it. Fawcett himself had barely survived several previous expeditions and was more determined than ever to find the lost city with its streets and temples of gold.

The world was watching. Fawcett, the last of the great Victorian adventurers, was financed by the Royal Geographical Society in London, the world’s foremost repository of research gathered by explorers. Fawcett, then age 57, had proclaimed for decades his belief in the City of Z, as he had nicknamed it. His writings, speeches, and exploits had captured the imagination of millions, and reports of his last expedition were front page news.

His expeditionary force consisted of three men--himself, his 21-year-old son Jack, and one of Jack’s friends. Fawcett believed that only a small group had any chance of surviving the horrors of the Amazon. He had seen large forces decimated by malaria, insects, snakes, poison darts, starvation, and insanity. He knew better. He and his two companions would travel light, carry their own supplies, eat off the land, pose no threat to the natives, and endure months of hardship in their search for the Lost City of Z.

They were never seen again. Fawcett’s daily dispatches trickled to a stop. Months passed with no word. Because he had survived several similar forays into the Amazon, his family and friends considered him to be near super-human. As before, they expected Fawcett to stumble out of the jungle, bearded and emaciated and announcing some fantastic discovery. It did not happen.

Over the years, the search for Fawcett became more alluring than the search for El Dorado itself. Rescue efforts, from the serious to the farcical, materialized in the years that followed, and hundreds of others lost their lives in the search. Rewards were posted. Psychics were brought in by the family. Articles and books were written. For decades the legend of Percy Fawcett refused to die.

The great mystery of what happened to Fawcett has never been solved, perhaps until now. In 2004, author David Grann discovered the story while researching another one. Soon, like hundreds before him, he became obsessed with the legend of the colorful adventurer and his baffling disappearance. Grann, a lifelong New Yorker with an admitted aversion to camping and mountain climbing, a lousy sense of direction, and an affinity for take-out food and air conditioning, soon found himself in the jungles of the Amazon. What he found there, some 80 years after Fawcett’s disappearance, is a startling conclusion to this absorbing narrative.

The Lost City of Z is a riveting, exciting and thoroughly compelling tale of adventure.

I'm about halfway through it and I must say it is quite interesting and very well written.

Just finished Orwell 1984

 

[lg325]

Hillbilly Elegy, and Just as I am. a biography of Billy Graham.

 

[Preacher]

Hillbilly Elegy, and Just as I am. a biography of Billy Graham.

Hillbilly Elegy is a great book! They made it into a movie as well.

 

[lg325]

Just read Hillbilly Elegy by J.D. VANCE - I recommend it. It needs to be required reading in our schools and be read by anyone running for office. What is in this book has been my issue since I was a school boy . wrote a couple reports on it. Caused a lot of class room discussion among the class and my teachers. I am happy this book is out there to educate those who are isolated from the real America.

 

[Flopper]

David Baldacci's Memory Man series, a great read for cop and mystery fans

 

[Flopper]

Just read Hillbilly Elegy by J.D. VANCE - I recommend it. It needs to be required reading in our schools and be read by anyone running for office. What is in this book has been my issue since I was a school boy . wrote a couple reports on it. Caused a lot of class room discussion among the class and my teachers. I am happy this book is out there to educate those who are isolated from the real America.

Sounds like likes it worth a read

 

[Gdjjr]

I just finished This Tender Land- one of the descriptions calls it an "epic"- I didn't see it that way, but, it is a good story although it ended too soon for my taste-

In the summer of 1932, on the banks of Minnesota's Gilead River, the Lincoln Indian Training School is a pitiless place where Native American children, forcibly separated from their parents, are sent to be educated. It is also home to Odie O’Banion, a lively orphan boy whose exploits constantly earn him the superintendent’s wrath. Odie and his brother, Albert, are the only white faces among the hundreds of Native American children at the school.

After committing a terrible crime, Odie and Albert are forced to flee for their lives along with their best friend, Mose, a mute young man of Sioux heritage. Out of pity, they also take with them a brokenhearted little girl named Emmy. Together, they steal away in a canoe, heading for the mighty Mississippi in search for a place to call home.

Over the course of one unforgettable summer, these four orphan vagabonds journey into the unknown, crossing paths with others who are adrift, from struggling farmers and traveling faith healers to displaced families and lost souls of all kinds. With the feel of a modern classic, This Tender Land is an enthralling, bighearted epic that shows how the magnificent American landscape connects us all, haunts our dreams, and makes us whole.

This Tender Land

 

[Disir]

I am working my way through a list of books that I meant to get to.

I just finished Queen of the Conqueror: The life of Mathilda, wife of William I by Tracy Borman. I'm pretty sure that we could take everything that we know to be true of this woman and wrap that up in a generous 30 pages. The first half of this book was really hard to get into. I normally don't mind going through information that dispels myths, etc. This time it was hard and it could just be me. The claims of her being the "first" is a bit off putting.

William the Bastard was not a warm, fuzzy guy. He didn't get as far as he did by being a warm, fuzzy guy. He was brutal. It wasn't enough for him to be a regular, brutal, murdering, lying guy. He had to be a wife beater.

The argument can be made that it was ok to beat your wife back then. Ok. But, just because you could did not mean that you did. Otherwise, what would the point have been in adding it in later? There is no lesson in there for women of that time period if the point is that William is a monster.

Their entire relationship was reportedly based on violence. He asks her to marry him. She refuses because he is a bastard. She runs her mouth about it. He rides right up to her on her dad's property and beats her up, destroys her clothes by throwing her in the mud, jumps on his horse and rides off. Now, she will only marry him.

It was also amusing the number of times her husband reportedly did a beat down and drug her through the streets. A lot of the rumors were started a hundred or so years down the road. Although there were a few that were started by some who thought it very beneficial during that time period. For all intensive purposes they got along splendidly up until their oldest son tried to overthrow his dad. He clearly loved her because he didn't kill her. He didn't sleep with other women and he trusted her up until she provided money etc. to her son.

The second half was easier and this could be because I knew there was an end.

 

[Disir]

I'm reading Five Chiefs by Justice John Paul Stevens. The first section discusses the first 12 chief justices. The rest of the book are his memories of the five chief justices that he worked with in one capacity or another. The five are Fred Vinson, Earl Warren, Warren Burger, William Rehnquist, and John Roberts.