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Book Review

Started by Roxie, January 22, 2008, 12:05:30 PM

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Patty

Reading the the best escape in the world. I try to read an hour or so before I go to work in the morning. Right now I am reading Dean Koontz's book, "Brother Odd"  it is the third in his sequel about Odd Thomas. I just finished Koontz's book "Seize the Night". I like his humor and writing style. Another one I finished last week is Steinbech's "Of Mice & Men", it was well written but also kind of depressing...
I like all the law stories written by John Grisholm, but the off topic one's of his are not so good, like "Bleachers".

I enjoy Clancy's books, but you really have to focus to keep all the story lines straight. I read all of Tolkein's books  in junior high, and just reread them again recently. Talk about an escape from reality! They were awesome. The Harry Potter books are fun, and I have enjoyed each of them, but they are a blatant ripoff of Tolkeins book I think.

So much to read, so little time!
Women are Angels.
And when someone breaks our wings....
We simply continue to fly ........
on a broomstick.....
We are flexible like that.

logwalker

I read mostly history and science now but have read my share of western and classic fiction. One history book that is a great story is "The Prize" by Daniel Yergin. It is about the middle east oil countries and all of the political dealings between the British and the Americans with the Arab Sheiks. Every kid in school should read it. There is a video set of it also at most libraries.

The book I am reading now is "1491". it details the history of the Indians of North and South America before Columbus arrived here and it is quite a read. There is much new information just in the last 20/30 years. Surprising and very interesting.

Another wonderful series is one by Gale Ontko. History of the Western US from the time the Spaniards arrived until it was settled by the pioneers. Amazing story mostly about the Shoshone Indians and their superior horse stock. General Crook, from civil war fame, came west to try and make some order here and was extremely impressed with the Shoshone. He called them the "best light cavalry in the world. It is a 5 book set and is very well researched. Ontko died a few years back but he claimed to have researched the subject for 60 years. He grew up on a ranch in Central Oregon and was fascinated as a young boy with the Indian history. The final book of the series is "And the Juniper shall grow fruit". It is about the cattle/sheep wars in the northwest in the late 1800's. The fruit referred to are the sheep herders. Quite a story, the one they never told us in school.

Joe
Let's all be careful out there tomorrow. Lt40hd, 22' Kenworth Flatbed rollback dump, MM45B Mitsubishi trackhoe, Clark5000lb Forklift, Kubota L2850 tractor

Roxie

Those all sound great!

A really good Western History book is "Keep the Last Bullet for Yourself," the true story of Custer's Last Stand, by Thomas B. Marquis.  There are maps and pictures, but the picture I like most was taken in 1920 and it shows Dr. Marguis talking in sign language with Turkey Leg, who was seventeen years old when he participated in the Battle of the Little Bighorn.  Dr. Marquis takes an unpopular stand on the "true" story of the battle, as evidenced by the book's title. 

It's a fascinating read.

Say when

WDH

"Mountain Man" by Vardis Fisher.

This is the book that the movie "Jeremiah Johnson" was based on.  He also wrote another book called "The Mothers" that is about the Donner Party that was trapped in the Sierra Nevada Mountains.
Woodmizer LT40HDD35, John Deere 2155, Kubota M5-111, Kubota L2501, Nyle L53 Dehumidification Kiln, and a passion for all things with leafs, twigs, and bark.  hamsleyhardwood.com

Handy Andy

  Hey, Tom and Don, My family was once a highland clan, if you have somethin good, how about sharin it?  I enjoyed the lonesome dove movies, guess I better go see if I can find the books.  Hate to admit it, but my wife bought Harry Potter, and I was lookin for somthin to read one nite, and that was all she had, so I read it.  That Jo Rowling is a genius.  Jim
My name's Jim, I like wood.

Tom Sawyer

Any of the Russian Greats (Tolstoy, Dostoyevsky) are worth the work to read.  Dostoyevsky's 'Brothers Karamazov' is especially excellent.  Lots of work to get through, but you will be changed.

Tom

Don P

Jim, I sent you a pm  :)

Since it seems a few of us enjoy history I just finished a good book by "Josephine Tey" (Elizabeth MacKintosh) titled "The Daughter of Time".  It is a good mystery with quite a bit of basis in fact. Set in the time of Richard III, the basic moral is to show how we and especially victors, tell stories that become our collective history, whether they are in fact the truth or not. Doesn't take long to read and is well written, I only put it down when she made me go to work  :P

asy

I'm currently half way through 'The Book Thief', as previously mentioned, but I have the next three books lined up...

They are:  The Other Boleyn Girl, by Philippa Gregory, about Mary Boleyn's relationship with Henry VIII.

Then is: Dissolution, by C.J. Sansom. It's another Historical Fiction set in 1537, and is about some of Cromwell's men and Henry VIII.

In addition to these, I have just bought a book called "Look me in the eye" by John Elder Robison. It's an autobiography written by a man with Asperger's Syndrome. It seems pretty good from the little bit of reading I did. My son has ASD so I'm looking forward to this one. Actually, I'll probably read this one first as my Mum will want to borrow it and I'm seeing her in a few weeks...

There are a few others on the list and ready to go, but I'll report on those later.

asy :D
Never interrupt your opponent while he's making a mistake.
There cannot be a crisis next week. ~My schedule is already full..

Patty

 :P  This morning I finished a great book.  My son suggested I read it, because he enjoyed it so much. The book is called "Marley & Me" written by John Grogan.  This book had me laughing outloud ! What a pleasure to read.

I gotta tell you though, you probably won't enjoy it much unless you own or have owned a pet; especially a laborador retreiver.
Women are Angels.
And when someone breaks our wings....
We simply continue to fly ........
on a broomstick.....
We are flexible like that.

Paschale

To start off, I agree with Corley5:  Tolkein will always be my favorite.  I reread the trilogy every three or four years and enjoy it everytime.  The Silmarillion is a good read too.  I grew up loving C.S. Lewis too, and will always put him right up there with Tolkein.  Most everyone just thinks of Narnia, but I really enjoy his science fiction trilogy and Till We Have Faces.  I like all of his non-fiction too.

I usually have about ten or so books going at once, though 95% of them these days are non-fiction.  I was one of those kids who had to have his books taken away from him since I would read constantly.  Loved all of those great Robert Louis Stephenson classics, Treasure Island and the like plus a lot of the other adventure books that are classics:  Count of Monte Cristo (the abridged version), Swiss Family Robinson and Robinson Crusoe.  Nathaniel Hawthorne is a great writer too (Young Goodman Brown!), and so is Poe for that matter.  Loved the Jules Verne books as a kid too.

My favorites growing up in high school were science fiction and fantasy.  Terry Brooks, Stephen Lawhead stuff, Asimov's Foundation trilogy for example.  Ender's Game by Owen Scott Card is GREAT!!!  Plus the early Tom Clancy's really were a favorite of mine.  I used to like reading Michael Chrichton, Ken Follett and Clive Cussler stuff during the summer--easy reads and good rides usually, though I don't consider them great literature.

I really like F. Scott Fitzgerald--one of my favorite authors.  I really like his short stories.  Same goes for J.D. Salinger.  One of the best books I've ever read was A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving--that's perhaps the most powerful book I've read in the past ten years.  Huxley's A Brave New World is also a great book--that's got plenty of underlined sentences in it.

I love the short stories of Flannery O'Connor too--anyone familiar with her?  And I second the vote for To Kill a Mockingbird.  And I'm with Asy too--I like pretty much anything by Shakespeare.

It's funny I'm talking about fiction so much, because mainly what I read these days is non-fiction.  I got burned out by fiction.  I think the Asimov Foundation series did me in, honestly.  I was glued to those books, and there was always one more to read and after awhile I felt chained to the books--I couldn't put them down, and they took a serious time commitment and when I finished them, I really felt burned out.  Took me by surprise.

If I know a fiction book is definitely going to be great, I'm willing to sit down and invest the time.  When I was a kid, I didn't have as many competing things for my time, so if a book was only so-so, I didn't mind.  There are few things that I like least than investing serious time into a novel and then realizing it was only mediocre.  I think that's why I enjoy non-fiction so much.  I always pick a book with a topic that interests me, can read it in doses, and if it's uninteresting, I know there's always another book on the same topic that I can easily pick up.  Strange I suppose, but I do think that's the primary reason I don't enjoy fiction as much.  And the same reason why I think I've gravitated to short stories--less time invested.

As to non-fiction, most of my reading these days is food related:  about how to become a food writer, the science of cooking, biographies of great chefs, anthologies of food writing, memoirs of great chefs and the like.  Plus of course a new cookbook now and again.  I like a book that will fill my belly!

I appreciate the recommendations in this thread--it might just get me reading some fiction again.
Y'all can pronounce it "puh-SKOLLY"

Patty

I just finished an AWESOME book that I highly recommend. IT was written by Clarence Thomas (as in the Supreme Court) as an autobiography. The name of the book is "My Grandfather's Son"   If you ever get the chance to read it, do so. It is a real eye opener.
Women are Angels.
And when someone breaks our wings....
We simply continue to fly ........
on a broomstick.....
We are flexible like that.

WDH

If you like fiction and are a history buff, try reading "The Killer Angels" by Michael Shaara.  It is about the battle of Gettysburg. 

Another good historical novel is "Andersonville" by McKinley Kantor.  It is about the infamous Confederate Prison Camp at Andersonville, GA. 
Woodmizer LT40HDD35, John Deere 2155, Kubota M5-111, Kubota L2501, Nyle L53 Dehumidification Kiln, and a passion for all things with leafs, twigs, and bark.  hamsleyhardwood.com

asy

Hey Patty, thanks for resurrecting this thread!

Well, I finished "the Book Thief", which was just fabulous. I really enjoyed it.

I *was* going to read the other Boleyn girl next, but, another book found me in a bookshop and snuck in first.

It's John Elder Robison's Autobiography "Look me in the eye". It was amazing. He's an Aspie (Aspergers syndrome) and is the brother of Augustin Burroughs (author of "Running with Scissors")

It talks about how he comes to terms with his Aspergers, and how he learns to survive in a world that runs by different rules. Really made me understand things about my Son and Ex husband that I hadn't realised.

Simply a lovely book. Highly recommended to anyone who either likes a good read, or very especially, has someone in their lives with Aspergers.

Definately someone I'd love to have dinner with sometime.

asy :D

PS: Have now started the Boleyn girl book! hehe
Never interrupt your opponent while he's making a mistake.
There cannot be a crisis next week. ~My schedule is already full..

SwampDonkey

Things Fall Apart


I remember this book in high school, we had to write a critical analysis of it. Kinda sticks in your head like "Lord of the Flies" which we also read. ;D
"No amount of belief makes something a fact." James Randi

1 Thessalonians 5:21

2020 Polaris Ranger 570 to forward firewood, Husqvarna 555 XT Pro, Stihl FS560 clearing saw and continuously thinning my ground, on the side. Grow them trees. (((o)))

Weekend_Sawyer


I have red 2 very good books recently.

Blaze by Stephen King. He really knows how to keep me awake at night. I just can't seem to put it down until its done.

Hatchet by Gary Paulsen, A young readers book but I'm young at heart... right  ;)
If you liked my side of the mountain you should try this one. It's not a long read, I red it one sunday when I should have been working around the house ;D

Jon
Imagine, Me a Tree Farmer.
Jon, Appalachian American Wannabe.

ibseeker

Back in 1965 I was in the 3rd grade and our old black and white TV blew a tube. My Dad took my older brothers and me down to the Piggly Wiggly and tested the tube on their tube tester. It was good. So Dad took the TV and put it in the back of the truck so that a friend at work could fix it. A week or so later during a rain storm Dad took the TV out of the pickup truck and unfortunately dropped the TV while walking up the porch stairs.....actually dropped the TV!!!
Well that was the end of TV in the Jones household for about 5 years. I was miserable, hated reading and was bored stiff. Then my Dad brought out "Old Yeller" and that was it. A boy and his dog and all that excitement, I was hooked!

I wish I had started a list of authors and books that I've read. I can't tell you how many times I'll start in on a book and figure out by the end of the chapter that I read it before! Sometimes I just keep reading....having a bad memory isn't always a bad thing.

Like Corley and Paschale, I'm a huge JRR Tolkein fan. Read everything I can get by him.
Frank Herbert's Dune series was really good and his son, Brian has done some fine work writing prequels.

Just finished Wilbur Smith's Triumph of the Sun about the fall of Khartoum.

If you like good science fiction, Larry Niven's Ringworld series is great...well, the first one is good the rest is ok.

My wife says I read too much but I can't stand watching the garbage on TV that she likes...reality shows! Yeah, right like there's anything real about them.

The comment in an earlier post about reading the breakfast cereal box really hit home, I knew stuff most grade school kids never learned....nor did they need to!

Reading is the western world's form of meditation.

The best secret about reading that I've relearned is the Public Library. Since all the used book stores closed down, it's the best source for free reading.

I love reading to my niece's. Their children's books are so fun and it's easy to make funny voices for different characters and raise and lower my voice to get them excited or draw them in close during the exciting parts. Plus how can you not love it when a 4 and  6 year old plop down next to you on the couch with a book and want to snuggle up and have you read to them?

Here's a must read: Glenn Beck's "An Inconvenient Book"....very relevant and a nice counterpoint to Gore's "An Inconvenient Truth"
Chuck
worn out poulan, Stihl 250SC, old machete and a bag of clues with a hole in the bottom

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