what are you reading?

I have been working on "Gods and Generals" for the past 5 months. I am a very slow reader. In a house with 3 kids and a wife who always wnts to talk to me when I am reading (never when I am watching the TV) the only reading that I get done is when I am on the can. I usually get two pages done at a time.

A really good book is any book by Michael Crichton and Tom Brokaw's "Greatest Generation" is pretty good

My last three books:
World without End by Ken Follett
Standard of Honor by Jack Whyte
Knights of the Black and White by Jack Whyte
The last two are part of the Templar triology (the thrird will be out next fall)

If you are looking for an entertaining read that deals with early English/French/Germany fictional History try any book by Jack Whyte

also, Dan Brown's "Da Vinci Code" is an exciting read, not deeply rooted in fact, but very interesting

Re:

Dustinl said:

Last night I started a book about Islamic terrorist groups in America. The book is dated a few years but is very informative.


DL

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I just finished this book a few nights ago. It is called "Holy War on the Home Front" by Harvey Kushner. It is about Islamic terrorist cells operating inside America and how they receive their funding.
The book goes into great detail about a narcotic called "khat". Khat is a type of bush that grows in the Horn of Africa and parts of the Arabian penisula. The ingredient that makes khat a narcotic is cathinone. Most law enforcement officials in this country have never even heard of it. It is largely distributed in communities that have large populations of Somalies or Yemens. In fact a third of Yemen's export revenue comes from sales of khat. In Britian khat is legal. Once in Britian it is imported into the U.S. in small bundles usually packaged in "little brown boxes". Customs officials look for these little brown boxes but due to volume of shipments from Europe, only about a 1/16 of all khat estimated to come into America is siezed by customs.
Now the tricky part. Unless refrigerated, khat only has a shelf life of about 48 hours. After that the cathinone starts to break down. It is difficult to prosecute khat cases after the cathinone is gone. As law enforcement learns more about khat, they rarely try to make arrests due to be labeled as "racial profilers". Several liberals have made the arguement that stopping a car full of young Somali men to look for khat is in fact racial profiling. I believe it is a matter of national security and not racism. Some even say that khat is to Somalis what coffee is to Americans. The bottom line is that it is a narcotic and the cases that have been prosectuted, the evidence shows that the money being made off khat is funding terrorists networks here and abroad.
Great read! I be smartr then i wuz last weke.

Now on to some Hemingway!


DL

I've gotten caught up in the Jesse Stone series by Robert B. Parker. Saw the CBS movies with Tom Selleck and liked them so much I started reading the books!

Just finished Quiet Strength, which is Tony Dungy's autobiography. Great book, even if you don't like the Colts. He really is an interesting guy who has succeeded in coaching, but without a life that revolves around coaching.

Just started "For Whom The Bell Toll's". Hemmingway. Little slow so far.

kuzi16 said:

pbburner said:

Just started "For Whom The Bell Toll's". Hemmingway. Little slow so far.

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I know Hemmingway was supposed to be this great author and have profound stories and smoke great cigars.

... at least part of that was true.

It is painfull for me to read Hemmingway. Sorry. I just cant do it. I had to FORCE myself to read the old man and the sea. (good thing it was short)

iduno. to each his/her own...

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Thats the way I am feeking about this book kuzi. Very slow!!!!!!!

For Whom The Bells Toll by Hemingway is my favorite book. Stick with it pbburner. The end is great. Another recommendation by Hemingway is "Islands in the Stream". A lot faster read. Maybe even better than Whom the Bells.


AND DL'S WED. NITE BOOK RECOMMENDATION: The Border Trilogy by Cormac MacCarthy. Includes All the Pretty Horses (with Penelope Cruz :twisted: ). The other two are The Crossing and City on the Plain. All three take place in West Texas and Mexico. Cormac MacCarthy doesn't use quotation marks during dialoge so the reader really has to be paying attention. He also uses alot of spanish. These are my favorite non-Hemingway books. A great trajedy read.

There you have it.

DL

DL,
I received those books (The Border Trilogy) from a good friend when i graduated highschool. What an amazing ride they were. They started to make them into movies (I think Matt Damon was in it) but the movie did not do the book justice.

Dustinl said:

For Whom The Bells Toll by Hemingway is my favorite book. Stick with it pbburner. The end is great. Another recommendation by Hemingway is "Islands in the Stream". A lot faster read. Maybe even better than Whom the Bells.


AND DL'S WED. NITE BOOK RECOMMENDATION: The Border Trilogy by Cormac MacCarthy. Includes All the Pretty Horses (with Penelope Cruz :twisted: ). The other two are The Crossing and City on the Plain. All three take place in West Texas and Mexico. Cormac MacCarthy doesn't use quotation marks during dialoge so the reader really has to be paying attention. He also uses alot of spanish. These are my favorite non-Hemingway books. A great trajedy read.

There you have it.

DL

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Yes it is getting better. The first chapter was very slow for me. Took to long to sep up a few of the players. But is getting better. I have never read Hemmingway. Always wanted to.

Hue

And speaking of Cormac McCarthy, my wife and I watched "No Country For Old Men" Thursday night. We loved it. So Friday we rushed out and bought the book which I started Friday and finished last night. The book was just as good as the movie.

So while we were out, I bought "The Road" also by Cormac McCarthy, started it this afternoon while smoking a CAO America Potomac and should be done with that book tomorrow night. I am about half way done and it is excellent! To bad all his books are so sad.

DL

I just finished Cormac McCarty's "The Road". What a sad story. I will not go into story details but I will say this: while reading, I couldn't help but wonder how I would react in the same situation. Being a new father, I found the story to be disturbing. Okay, I will go into a few details. The story is about a father and young son traveling cross country in a post-apocoliptic future. The book keeps you wondering what will happen next. As with everything I've read by Cormac McCarthy, the book has no "and they lived happily ever after" ending.

I would highly recommend. It took me about 5-1/2 hours to read.

Now I think I'll go jump off a bridge.


DL

I have finally finished Gods and Generals. Overall it was a good read. It really got intot he characeter devlopment and less overall story of the war. It was more the sory of the 4 main characters and their thoughts and changes through the begining of the civil war. A good read, bu it never really captured my interest. I never got that I need to keep reading it feelign with this book. It is worth a read if you like history, particularly Civil War history.

I just finished The Nine: Inside the Secret World of the Supreme Court, by Jeffrey Toobin. Toobin is a little too far to the left for my liking (especially evident when discussing some of the cases), but overall, it was a very interesting book. I really learned a lot. I recommend it.

I never seem to have time to read any more - but I have been listening to a lot of Agatha Christie Mysteries on my Ipod.

Last night I finished a book called "Daughters Of Juarez" by Teresa Rodriquez. The book is about the sexually motivated serial killings that have be occuring in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, just across the river from El Paso, Texas. The book goes into great detail on how corrupt the Mexican police (particularly state police) are as well as the whole justice system in Mexico. The book implicates that members of the police force are resposible for a majority of the 400 plus killings in the past 15 years. The victims are poor, working class girls usually between the ages of 12 to 25. The book also theorizes that U.S. owned factory personel could be responsible. Most of the girls are employed by these factories in Juarez. The question is really who ISN'T a suspect. Very interesting book.


Tonight I will finish a book by Bill Bryson titled "I Am A Stranger Here Myself" and will post a commentary on it tomorrow.


Happy Reading!


DL

Dustinl said:

Tonight I will finish a book by Bill Bryson titled "I Am A Stranger Here Myself" and will post a commentary on it tomorrow.
DL

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I can highly recommend A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson if you are into science and the history of science. Fascinating! A Walk in the Woods is also good for fans of backpacking and hiking.

Last night I started Under the Banner of Heaven by Jon Krakauer about a ritualistic murder in the mid-eighties by members of a fundamentalist Mormon sect. Scary stuff.