What are you reading?

[themanintheseersuckersuit]

I have been listening to Bernard Cornwell's Richard Sharpe series set in the Napoleonic Wars.

Reading Gordon Corrigan's Wellington and Michael Connelly's The Crossing

[Spock]

I have been listening to Bernard Cornwell's Richard Sharpe series set in the Napoleonic Wars.

Reading Gordon Corrigan's Wellington and Michael Connelly's The Crossing

Just read Cornwall's non-fiction account of "Waterloo"-I had read the Sharpe stuff in the 90's. Waterloo brought forth the main thing I remember from the Sharpe novels-"Column VS Line"-You would think that the French would have caught on eventually that Column was a really stupid tactical formation.

[Bob78164]

The Spocklette is my reader of the 3 and, right now, she seems to be leaning in a Sci-fi direction. She just read "The Martian" after seeing the movie. She is now on her first Heinlein-"Tunnel in the Sky."

We did Ender's Game together a couple of years ago.

I think she would like the first Formic War books (3 at this point). She read some of Bean's story but that failed to hold her interest after the first one. obviously, Ender's continuations take a special level of commitment.

If Spocklette is into the adventure aspects of Heinlein, I think she'd enjoy Glory Road, Starman Jones, and Have Space Suit, Will Travel. I am quite familiar with Heinlein's books, so if you'd like suggestions depending on her tastes, I'd be more than happy to help. --Bob

[Spock]

The Spocklette is my reader of the 3 and, right now, she seems to be leaning in a Sci-fi direction. She just read "The Martian" after seeing the movie. She is now on her first Heinlein-"Tunnel in the Sky."

We did Ender's Game together a couple of years ago.

I think she would like the first Formic War books (3 at this point). She read some of Bean's story but that failed to hold her interest after the first one. obviously, Ender's continuations take a special level of commitment.

If Spocklette is into the adventure aspects of Heinlein, I think she'd enjoy Glory Road, Starman Jones, and Have Space Suit, Will Travel. I am quite familiar with Heinlein's books, so if you'd like suggestions depending on her tastes, I'd be more than happy to help. --Bob

Thanks-I know this is a big Heinlein/Sci-Fi crowd. I absolutely love "Time Enough for Love"-but she isn't ready for that one yet.

Per Sprots:re Teddy-Given your interests and politics-You might want to look at "Wilderness Warrior" long book that looks at his wilderness preservation stuff. I have it high on my list but haven't gotten to it yet.
http://www.amazon.com/Wilderness-Warrio ... 014&sr=8-1

I have been looking at some Rick Bass stuff lately and many of his books look good-but I thought of you(Sprots) when I saw this title-"The Lost Grizzlies:A Search for Survivors in the Wilderness of Colorado."
http://www.amazon.com/Lost-Grizzlies-Su ... s+Colorado

[Bob Juch]

I just finished:

[SportsFan68]

The Spocklette is my reader of the 3 and, right now, she seems to be leaning in a Sci-fi direction. She just read "The Martian" after seeing the movie. She is now on her first Heinlein-"Tunnel in the Sky."

We did Ender's Game together a couple of years ago.

I think she would like the first Formic War books (3 at this point). She read some of Bean's story but that failed to hold her interest after the first one. obviously, Ender's continuations take a special level of commitment.

If Spocklette is into the adventure aspects of Heinlein, I think she'd enjoy Glory Road, Starman Jones, and Have Space Suit, Will Travel. I am quite familiar with Heinlein's books, so if you'd like suggestions depending on her tastes, I'd be more than happy to help. --Bob

Thanks-I know this is a big Heinlein/Sci-Fi crowd. I absolutely love "Time Enough for Love"-but she isn't ready for that one yet.

Per Sprots:re Teddy-Given your interests and politics-You might want to look at "Wilderness Warrior" long book that looks at his wilderness preservation stuff. I have it high on my list but haven't gotten to it yet.
http://www.amazon.com/Wilderness-Warrio ... 014&sr=8-1

I have been looking at some Rick Bass stuff lately and many of his books look good-but I thought of you(Sprots) when I saw this title-"The Lost Grizzlies:A Search for Survivors in the Wilderness of Colorado."
http://www.amazon.com/Lost-Grizzlies-Su ... s+Colorado

Thanks for the tips, Spock. I will take Theodore Rex back to the library and buy Wilderness Warrior from our sole remaining bookstore. The grocery and big box stores have a few books, mostly best sellers, but it's not the same. The bookstore also has the The Lost Grizzlies.

Typing "our sole remaining bookstore" made me sad. We used to have two WaldenBooks and a book/movie/CD store, plus two used bookstores.

[gsabc]

The Heinlein I recall from my youth is "Podkayne of Mars". I'm sure I read others of his "juveniles", though RAH didn't consider it to be one, but that's the one that sticks in my mind. Female protagonist, too. Not many of those in the early '60's.

[Bob78164]

The Heinlein I recall from my youth is "Podkayne of Mars". I'm sure I read others of his "juveniles", though RAH didn't consider it to be one, but that's the one that sticks in my mind. Female protagonist, too. Not many of those in the early '60's.

John Varley's Thunder and Lightning series is a clear homage to Heinlein. He names one of his protagonists in one of the books "Podkayne" and ends that book by sprinkling roughly half a dozen Heinlein titles into the text of the last few pages. What's more, the voice of the whole series is (to me, at least) highly reminiscent of Heinlein. On a technical level I consider it a tour de force for that reason, and simply viewed on its own merits it more than holds its own. --Bob

[themanintheseersuckersuit]

I have been listening to Bernard Cornwell's Richard Sharpe series set in the Napoleonic Wars.

Reading Gordon Corrigan's Wellington and Michael Connelly's The Crossing

Just read Cornwall's non-fiction account of "Waterloo"-I had read the Sharpe stuff in the 90's. Waterloo brought forth the main thing I remember from the Sharpe novels-"Column VS Line"-You would think that the French would have caught on eventually that Column was a really stupid tactical formation.

I think that the columns had worked well for Napoleon against the Continental powers, and Waterloo was the first time Napoleon had faced Wellington.

[Spock]

I just finished 1635: The Papal Stakes, by Eric Flint and Charles E. Gannon. In my car, I'm listening to the audiobook, The Taming of the Queen, by Philippa Gregory.

I enjoyed the premise of 11/22/63 and would have liked it even better if it had been maybe a hundred pages shorter (and I like long books).

Maybe a little less time spent on Oswald's family and neighbors would have suited me better - I liked all of the other secondary stories (well, except one that was on the scary side, but it was so well told I could manage).

I like alternate history/time travel stories (e.g. Flint's 1632 series), so I listened to the 11/22/63 audiobook, last year.

I am guessing that you have read "Fatherland" by Robert Harris. If not, do so immediately.

[Spock]

I have been listening to Bernard Cornwell's Richard Sharpe series set in the Napoleonic Wars.

Reading Gordon Corrigan's Wellington and Michael Connelly's The Crossing

Just read Cornwall's non-fiction account of "Waterloo"-I had read the Sharpe stuff in the 90's. Waterloo brought forth the main thing I remember from the Sharpe novels-"Column VS Line"-You would think that the French would have caught on eventually that Column was a really stupid tactical formation.

I think that the columns had worked well for Napoleon against the Continental powers, and Waterloo was the first time Napoleon had faced Wellington.

Yep, I should have said "Really stupid tactical formation Against the British" as it did not work well in Spain against the Brits and Wellington. I am guessing that Napoleon was not big on After-Action reports and so forth to learn lessons from failures.

[Spock]

This one isn't alternate history, but it kinda/sorta is. Someone here might be interested in it.

"Tomorrow the World"
http://www.amazon.com/Tomorrow-World-No ... rld+Hitler

From the Amazon description
>>As early as the 1920s Adolf Hitler argued that his struggle for dominance would be worldwide. Before war began in Europe, Berlin had already placed contracts for a massive surface navy and four-engine bombers that could cross the Atlantic. Norman J. W. Goda traces the documentary evidence of Germany's long-term plans to extend its conquests to America.

This cogently argued book focuses on Germany's secret efforts to gain base sites for the new navy and long-range bombers in French North West Africa, Spain's Canary Islands, and Portugal's Azores and Cape Verde Islands. During this period Hitler rated the base issue a higher priority than the efficient prosecution of the war against Great Britain and second only to the Eastern Campaign.

In the end, Berlin failed to gain base sites. The effort antagonized Spain and France, pushing them away from a more actively pro-German stance. Germany also misjudged America's capability to capture the sites and consequently left Northwest Africa relatively unprepared for the Allied invasion of 1942.

Goda questions both the traditional notion that Germany operated from an unplanned opportunism and the argument that its territorial demands were limited to the European continent. His close reading of diplomatic and military archives opens new windows on Franco's Spain and Pétain's France. By focusing on policy formulation and implementation at the political and diplomatic level, he adds evidence for the view that Hitler's ambitions were not just talk but the basis for concrete military plans.
<<<<<<<<<<<

[Spock]

I enjoyed the premise of 11/22/63 and would have liked it even better if it had been maybe a hundred pages shorter (and I like long books).

Maybe a little less time spent on Oswald's family and neighbors would have suited me better - I liked all of the other secondary stories (well, except one that was on the scary side, but it was so well told I could manage).

I agree. I am about 80% through and it is about 100 pages too long. Not sure what I would like to see cut yet.

What is the opinion here of some of the other newer King stuff. I have read the Gunslinger series, It , The Stand and maybe some other earlier stuff like Cujo and Pet Sematary.

For some reason, The Dark Half-the one where the guy had absorbed his twin scared the living daylights out of me. The others not so much.

[Vandal]

Just started:



...

I am interested in your thoughts on the Innocent Man, after you finish. I had great professional interest in the book, based on my previous career.

My thoughts are here (spoilerized):

Spoiler

This book really angered me. I know it's easy to pick on lawyers, but the prosecuting attorney and the judge were criminally wrong for the way they handled the case. Fortunately for them, other lawyers made sure they are immune from such things when the laws were made many years ago.

The subject case involves a former minor league baseball player named Ron Williamson, who, along with Dennis Fritz, was convicted in 1988 for the rape and murder of Debra Sue Carter in Ada, Oklahoma. The prosecution built its case from dubious crime scene evidence (no prints or blood matches) and the testimony of several jail house snitches. Ron's defense attorney was blind and overmatched, failing to discredit questionable hair evidence. The fine jury from Ada fell for the bogus testimony and convicted him to death.

BTW, the police questioned the last person to see Debra alive, Glen Gore, but did not take samples from him until years later. The prosecutor knew this but never followed up until too many years later.

Williamson spent 11 years on death row. He got a new trial thanks to some "good" lawyers and was cleared when DNA evidence from the scene did not match his (Barry Scheck to the rescue). Unfortunately, years of incarceration had a dramatic effect on Ron's mental health and he died a few years after he was released. He won a $500,000 settlement but the prosecutor, Bill Peterson, refused to admit any wrongdoing in the original case or subsequent appeals.

There was really no happy ending to this one, except that the story got the interest of John Grisham and he wrote this book about it.

Way to go, Oklahoma.

[SportsFan68]

I started to read The Innocent Man, got three of four chapters in, and realized we were heading for no happy ending. So I put it down and never picked it up again except to move it to the dead books graveyard on the bottom shelf. I'll give it to the Friends of the Library one of these days.

[Spock]

Throwing this one out here considering it is a "Teddy Roosevelt" strong thread.

Obviously, Karl Rove is a polarizing figure, but I listened to an hour or so interview regarding his new book on William McKinley. "The Triumph of William Mckinley"

He said he started doing research for a Teddy Roosevelt book, but was drawn to McKinley instead. The book sounded good. I saw that the library had a copy yesterday.

[earendel]

Our church is partnering with three other churches, two of which are predominantly African-American, in reading this book. At the end of the month the author will be speaking at an assembly of all four churches.