Books We Read/Listen To

[LA Ute]

Get it on Audible. You need to experience the whole thing to pull it all together.

I got 2/3 of the way through. I'll probably pick it up again. I have a lot of Adventist friends (they're big in the health care industry) and I did get a little tired of the mom and the church members, who didn't seem like real people to me -- more cartoons than real.

[NorthwestUteFan]

I got 2/3 of the way through. I'll probably pick it up again. I have a lot of Adventist friends (they're big in the health care industry) and I did get a little tired of the mom and the church members, who didn't seem like real people to me -- more cartoons than real.
You need to get to the end. You need to understand why she is the way she is.

[LA Ute]

You need to get to the end. You need to understand why she is the way she is.

Don't know if I can do it...reading that thing reminds me of reading Moby Dick. All those chapters describing the whaling industry in stupefying detail....

[NorthwestUteFan]

Then quit shitting all over my suggestion.

[LA Ute]

Then quit shitting all over my suggestion.

How 'bout I just shut up and read the rest of the book?

[Utebiquitous]

LA,
I can't believe you haven't finished "The Brothers K." Remember who recommended it to you my brother.

The digressions are its strength in my opinion. What a lovely book.

[LA Ute]

LA,
I can't believe you haven't finished "The Brothers K." Remember who recommended it to you my brother.

The digressions are its strength in my opinion. What a lovely book.

I know, I know. I will pick it up again.


"It's men in shorts." -- Rick Majerus

[Applejack]

My last two listens/reads were Boys in the Boat, and Girl on the Train. Total coincidence that the titles are gender/transportation based. Both were entertaining.

I have consumed a lot of books based on recommendations in this thread. I have really enjoyed most. The one that I found it tough to slog through was Love in the Time of Cholera. Apologies to SU and AJ, but it didn't catch my attention very well. I don't know if they read in the native Spanish, and maybe it lost something in translation. I kept wondering why they gushed about it so much, when I felt like it was almost work to get through it.

No need to apologize. I feel the exact same way about 100 Years of Solitude. But Love in the Time of Cholera rang true to me on a mystical level; I can't describe it.

George Saunders has his first novel coming out. I agree with applejack that he is weird, but I love weird...

http://www.vulture.com/2016/04/george-saunders-lincoln-in-the-bardo-cover-art-qa.html

it sounds weird but wonderful.

I love Saunders. It's just that all of his stories are really weird and half the time I find myself thinking "Why am I reading this weird stuff?"

[LA Ute]

Nobody has listed The Goldfinch. I loved it.


"It's men in shorts." -- Rick Majerus

[Utebiquitous]

Goldfinch is on my list this summer. I'll get that done LA - although, I finally need to read The Brothers Karamazov which, I believe, is your favorite.

I don't know if I've recommended it here but those of you trying to line up summer reading, consider The Miracle Life of Edgar Mint by Brady Udall. It is a really good story.

[concerned]

I read Goldfinch and thought, what is all the fuss about. I still don't think it came close to its hype, just like everything written by jonathan Franzen. I thought Tartt was trying to channel her inner Franzen through the plot, and seemed to be copying him. Personally tedious, esp. the Las Vegas and New York middle sections. Just my $.02.

[LA Ute]

I read Goldfinch and thought, what is all the fuss about. I still don't think it came close to its hype, just like everything written by jonathan Franzen. I thought Tartt was trying to channel her inner Franzen through the plot, and seemed to be copying him. Personally tedious, esp. the Las Vegas and New York middle sections. Just my $.02.

Philistine.

[OrangeUte]

No need to apologize. I feel the exact same way about 100 Years of Solitude. But Love in the Time of Cholera rang true to me on a mystical level; I can't describe it.


I love Saunders. It's just that all of his stories are really weird and half the time I find myself thinking "Why am I reading this weird stuff?"

Hahaha! I know that feeling. The actual short story "10th of December" is one of my alltime favorites. Beautifully written. I will include the link below in case anyone wants to read a little Saunders in order to see if you like him. Struggle through the writing style for a few minutes (it is different, almost like a stream of consciousness) and you will feel rewarded.

http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2011/10/31/tenth-of-december

[OrangeUte]

There's just something kinky about a male book club featuring SteelBlue and BlueGoose. I want you to picture these guys during your next discussion:
http://vignette1.wikia.nocookie.net/topgun/images/5/5e/Goose.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20120329175837https://coachmcfi.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/zoolander.jpg

you have no idea how close to real life that is...

[concerned]

Philistine.


http://www.vanityfair.com/culture/2014/07/goldfinch-donna-tartt-literary-criticism

[LA Ute]

http://www.vanityfair.com/culture/2014/07/goldfinch-donna-tartt-literary-criticism

Great article.

[OrangeUte]

Great article.

I skimmed it. I tried to get into the book a year ago and just couldn't do it. I do want to give it another chance. i don't particularly care if it is a children's book for adults. i like reading those some times.

[LA Ute]

I skimmed it. I tried to get into the book a year ago and just couldn't do it. I do want to give it another chance. i don't particularly care if it is a children's book for adults. i like reading those some times.

I think that criticism is ridiculous (and I know it doesn't come from you). If the Goldfinch is a children's book, then so are David Copperfield and Great Expectations.

[OrangeUte]

I think that criticism is ridiculous (and I know it doesn't come from you). If the Goldfinch is a children's book, then so are David Copperfield and Great Expectations.

it seemed a whole lot unfair when i read it. maybe she didn't write Brother's Karmazov or Crime & punishment, but i cannot believe that the Pulitzer committee would give their award to Judy Blume. Come on. I have known too many smart people who really liked it.

[USS Utah]

Books I have read in the last seven months:

Aircraft Carriers at War: A Personal Retrospective of Korea, Vietnam, and the Soviet Confrontation by Admiral James L. Holloway III, USN (ret.). Holloway was a gunnery officer aboard a destroyer during the Battle for Surigao Strait in October 1944. Not long after that night he received orders for flight training. Holloway would fly F9F Panther jets during the Korean War, command the carrier USS Enterprise (CVN-65) during the Vietnam War, command a carrier division in the Mediterranean Sea when Syria invaded Jordan in 1970, then return off Vietnam as commander of the U.S. Seventh Fleet in 1972 -- there he led his flagship into Haiphong Harbor for the last night surface battle in U.S. Navy history, a cruiser and a destroyer against NV PT boats. Holloway would finish his navy career as Chief of Naval Operations.

This is an excellent autobiography, but it is also an excellent examination of carrier and air combat doctrine from Korea to the present day. Holloway actually spends more time examining the history, operations and tactics of the Korean War than he does recounting the missions he flew over Korea -- if I remember correctly, he recounts just three or four missions. If you are interested in carrier combat, and U.S. Navy history, or want to understand the continuing importance of the role played by the U.S Navy's aircraft carriers, then this is a book you should read. It may not be, however, a book for the casual reader.

Vixen 03 by Clive Cussler. A C-97 Stratocruiser is found at the bottom of a lake in Colorado, even though the aircraft was reported lost somewhere over the Pacific Ocean. The aircraft's cargo are naval shells weaponized with a deadly organism, and 4 of the shells are missing. Somehow, those 4 shells end up in the hands of a terrorist organization planning an attack on the United States. Can Dirk Pitt, the man who found and raised the Titanic, find the shells and stop the catastrophe that would result from their being fired by an old mothballed battleship? The reader is often asked by Cussler, especially with the Dirk Pitt books, to suspend their disbelief. If the reader can do that, then these books are very enjoyable.

Pacific Air: How Fearless Flyboys, Peerless Aircraft, and Fast Flattops Conquered the Skies in the War with Japan by David Sears. In his fourth book, Sears writes about carrier combat from Pearl Harbor to the Battle of the Philippine Sea, though his focus is primarily on the fighter pilots. Also, more than half of the book covers the period from the Day of Infamy to the end of the Guadalcanal campaign. The author also covers the development of fighter aircraft by Grumman before the war as a preface to the action. Excellent.

Big Red: The Three-Month Voyage of a Trident Nuclear Submarine by Douglas C. Waller. In May 1999, USS Nebraska (SSBN-739) and Ohio class ballistic missile submarine, set sail on a three month strategic patrol, and the author was along for the ride. The majority of the book actually covers the first week of the patrol with its many drills, including, fire drills, sub vs sub drills and the missile launching drill (by which we learn that the Crimson Tide (book & movie) scenario is next to impossible). The rest of the patrol is covered rather quickly. Though the Cold War is over, the Trident Submarines still fulfill their deterrent role; while a nuclear war is less likely after the fall of the Soviet Union, it has not been entirely removed. Very good.

Full Force and Effect by Mark Greaney. This is the first Jack Ryan novel not written by Tom Clancy and Greaney's first novel featuring all of the characters in the Ryan universe. A large find of a natural resource of something called "rare earth" is found in North Korea with the estimated value of $12 trillion and the DPRK seeks to parlay the wealth potential of the mine into a ballistic missile capable of reaching California. North Korea will stop at nothing to get that missile, not even from attempting to assassinate the president of the United States. Great.

13 Hours: The Inside Account of what Really Happened in Benghazi by Mitchell Zuckoff with the Annex Security Team. This book is not about "talking points", or what U.S. government officials knew, said, or did after the attack on the U.S. Special Mission Compound in Benghazi, Libya, on September 11, 2012. This book is not about ongoing controversies, electoral politics, alleged conspiracies or cover-ups. Nor is this book about what happened in hearing rooms of the U.S. Capitol, anterooms of the White House, meeting rooms of the State Department, or green rooms of TV talk shows. This book is about what happened on the ground, in the streets, and on the rooftops of Benghazi, when bullets flew, buildings burned, and mortars rained and when lives were saved, lost, and forever changed. With the author's assistance, the members of the CIA Annex security team attempts to record for history, as accurately as possible, what they did, what they saw, and what happened to them -- and to their friends, colleagues, and compatriots that fateful night in Benghazi. Excellent.

There were protests in Cairo and other middle eastern cities on September 11, 2012, reportedly in reaction to a video on You Tube, but Benghazi was quiet. Until night fell, it was just another seemingly typical day in the eastern Libyan city. At 9:02 p.m., a truck marked with police insignia parked outside the main gate of the U.S. Special Mission Compound -- though sometimes referred to as a consulate, the compound was not officially so designated -- the men inside the truck remained inside the vehicle and did not engage the Libyan guards or anyone else from the compound. After forty minutes, the truck pulled away. Was the truck performing some kind of reconnaissance mission? Earlier in the day, another police marked vehicle parked outside the compound, and the officer walked into a building across the street, climbed up a few floors, and took pictures of the compound with a cell phone. The activities of these to police marked vehicles were the only unusual thing that happened that day in Benghazi, that is until a moment after the truck drove away from the compound gate, for that is when shots and an explosion were heard.

That was the start of a long night for the men of the security team assigned to the CIA Annex, a few blocks away from the Special Mission Compound. When word reached the Annex of the attack on the compound, the security team immediately prepared to rush to the rescue. But, sitting in vehicles in the driveway, waiting for the word to go, they instead were told repeatedly to wait while their team leader and the Annex boss tried to coordinate a response with a friendly Libyan militia. Fed up, the security team finally made up their minds to get going, but they were too late to save the U.S. Ambassador to Libya, who was making a visit to Benghazi, and a staff member. The security team returned to the Annex, with those they were able to rescue at the compound, and there they withstood three separate attacks, in which two more men would be killed. Additional security agents arrived from Tripoli after several hours, and the staffers and security team of the Annex were escorted by a Libyan militia to the Benghazi airport. The surviving security team members took off 13 hours after the first shots were fired at the compound.

There is a cultural divide between western and eastern Libya, between Tripoli and Benghazi, a divide little understood by outsiders. In this divide lay the roots of the civil war that toppled Ghaddafi, but also the roots of the attack on the Special Mission Compound. Because the rebellion that toppled a dictator began in Benghazi, some may have thought that good relations with the people of that city was possible, but by the summer of 2012, the honeymoon was over. The compound was fired upon on a few occasions, and an assassination attempt was made on the British ambassador. The British pulled their personnel out of the city, but the U.S. stayed. Additional security had been sent to Benghazi that summer, but it was withdrawn in August. The ambassador requested additional security, but somebody at the State Department decided a few diplomatic security agents was more than adequate. They were badly wrong. After the attack, four State Department employees were placed on paid administrative leave, but all were reinstated and given new jobs -- two later retired voluntarily.

After the attack began, the president ordered a response with whatever was available. There were no troops close enough to reach Benghazi that night -- nobody knew how long the battle would last. The closest support available were the additional security agents in Tripoli, and they did not arrive at the Annex until almost sunrise. The closest air support was four hours away at Aviano AB in Italy, but those aircraft lacked the tanker support to get them to Benghazi and back. Just before the attack, an intel report was received at the Annex reporting on the possibility of a terrorist attack on a diplomatic post somewhere in the middle east. No specific post was mentioned, there wasn't even a list of possible targets. The bottom line is that security was inadequate at a diplomatic compound that possibly should have been shut down weeks earlier. Despite the heroic efforts of the Annex security team, four men would pay the ultimate price for that failure.

History of United States Naval Operations in World War II, Volume Twelve: Leyte, June 1944-January 1945 by Samuel Eliot Morison. "Mistakes are normal, errors are usual; information is seldom complete, often inaccurate and frequently misleading." Morison quoted this line from Sound Military Decision, an old U.S. Navy handbook regarding naval warfare, in his summary of the Battle for Leyte Gulf, which is covered by the balance of this book. The line can serve as a theme, not just for the naval battle, but for the entire campaign, from the preliminary operations such a Peleliu and Morotai to decisions made by both sides throughout what followed. As expected, Morison does an excellent job in recounting the history of MacArthur's return to the Philippines.

Against All Enemies by Harold Coyle. In a novel originally written in the mid-1990s, but published in 2002, the bombing of a federal building leads to a standoff between the FBI and members of an anti-government militia. When the militia breaks out from their compound, the action moves to the state of Idaho, where the FBI investigates and then arrests suspects for aiding the escape of the militia members. When a federal judge orders the movement of the trial to another state, the governor of Idaho blocks the move and evicts all federal employees from the state. In response, an Army airborne company is sent to secure the national guard armory at the Boise airport. The operation goes badly wrong and a ground assault by an armored division soon follows. A good but not great story, and the book was not very well edited.

The King's Speech: How One Man Saved the British Monarchy by Mark Logue and Peter Conradi. Mark Logue is the grandson of Lionel Logue, who acted as a speech therapist to King George VI, and upon which the move The King's Speech is based. Mark was approached in June 2009 by the movie makers which led to the writing of this book. Born in Australia, Lionel Logue emigrated to Great Britain in 1924, where he set up his practice on London's Harley Street. In 1926, the then Duke of York began to see Logue to be treated for his difficulties with speech. This was the beginning of a friendship that would last through the abdication crisis the elevated the Duke to the throne, and through the Second World War. Excellent movie, excellent book.

The Sea Hunters: True Adventures with Famous Shipwrecks by Clive Cussler and Craig Dirgo. In 1978, using royalties from his best selling novels, Cussler decided to fund a search for John Paul Jones's Bonhomme Richard. It was a naive first effort, with many lessons learned, but it was a beginning. Since then, Cussler has continued to spend book royalties looking for lost ships, including the steamboat Lexington, the USS Cumberland, the CSS Arkansas, the USS Carondelet, the HMS Pathfinder and the U-boat that sank her, and the troopship Leopoldville. But Cussler's biggest find was the Confederate submarine CSS Hunley. To find these ships, Cussler teamed with others and a private organization was created to conduct the searches. When considering names for this organization, the other members decided to name it after the agency for which Cussler's fictional hero Dirk Pitt works, the Nation Underwater Marine Agency. In this excellent book, Cussler gives a dramatized history of each ship and then tells the story of how they were found.

The Centennial History of the American Civil War: Vol. I, The Coming Fury by Bruce Catton. The drift of events carry their own hard logic, and such was the case during the months between April 1860, when the Democratic party split over the nomination of Stephen Douglas, to July 1961 when armies of the North and South met in battle at Bull Run/Manassas. People in both the North and the South, in various factions and groups within those sections made many choices during those months, not really understanding or appreciating the possible consequences, or how others might react. Only the first major battle of the Civil War would finally reveal what the choices and decisions of the previous months had wrought.

Catton clearly believes the primary issue behind the many choices and decisions which led to war was the issue of slavery and its extension into the new territories, but his narration of the events on 1860-61 makes in plain that there really is no other explanation. Yes, there were cultural difference between the sections; there were tensions going back as far as the English Civil War; there were old wounds like the tariff issue, but the southern economy, certainly that of the cotton states, was so dependent on the peculiar institution that even maintaining it in the slaves states was not enough, it had to be extended, or the cotton kingdom would face ruin. The extension of slavery was so vital that many in the South convinced themselves that their rights were being trampled on by those who sought to oppose that extension, and even by those who sought a compromise solution.

The catalyst of the coming fury was not the nomination and election of Lincoln as one might suppose. Rather, it was the split of the Democratic Party and the nominations of Douglas and John Breckinridge. Douglas was unacceptable to Southern Democrats because of his statement on "Popular Sovereignty" give during the Lincoln-Douglas debates and because of the Kansas-Nebraska Act. Douglas had "had given foreknowledge of an unendurable truth -- the slavery would die unless the outside world dropped all other concerns to prop it up, which was obviously impossible." Lincoln might have been "the black-visaged enemy who threatened to upset everything the South lived by" but Douglas was "the apostate, the turncoat, the former friend who appeared on the other side when the pinch came. Douglas was more menacing because he bore no ill-will. In his position, in this summer of 1860, the slavery system could read its own sentence of ultimate death. To get away from him, the men who had Southern sentiment in their control had determined that the choice would be between the Black Republicans and disunion." And at least some in the south appeared almost to wish for a Republican victory so that secession would follow.

But even these events might not have led to war if not for additional events in seceded South Carolina surrounding Fort Sumter. South Carolina could have occupied the fort within days of its secession without a fight, for it was unfinished and unoccupied. But as the federal government in Washington was spending money to construct, the newly declared nation that was South Carolina, and then including the states that followed her, elected to wait until the fort was finished before taking it. A mighty large wrench was thrown into the situation, however, when a Union major decided to abandon a fort which he could not defend and occupy Fort Sumter, which at least was more defensible. The drift of events had launched North and South on an unexpected course, one which could only lead to Bull Run/Manassas.

Fantastic book!

Inferno: The World at War, 1939-1945 by Max Hastings. Rather than presenting a detailed history of politics and strategy, campaigns and battles, Hastings focuses on the human experience of the war. At the same time, this book sustains a chronological framework, while seeking to establish and reflect on the "big picture," the context of events. The principle purpose remains to illuminate the conflict's significance for a host of ordinary people of many societies, both active and passive participants -- a distinction which is often blurred. An additional theme of the book is one of the great truths of the conflict: while the Wehrmacht often fought its battles brilliantly, the Nazis made war with startling ineptitude.

"One of the most important truths about the war, as indeed about all human affairs, is that people can interpret what happens to them only in the context of their own circumstances." writes Hastings. "The fact that, objectively and statistically, the sufferings of some individuals were less terrible than those of others elsewhere in the world was meaningless to those concerned. It is the duty and privilege of historians to deploy relativism in a fashion that cannot be expected of contemporary participants. Almost everyone who participated in the war suffered in some degree: the varied scale and disparate nature of their experiences are themes of this book. But the fact that the plight of other people was worse than one's own did little to promote personal stoicism."

In Britain and America, the Second World War is remembered as "the Good War,' but many people in other countries have a more equivocal view. Britain's colonial subjects, particularly those on India, saw little merit in the defeat of the Axis powers if it meant they had to continue to be subjects of the crown. Many Frenchmen fought vigorously against the Allies while in Yugoslavia, rival factions were more strongly committed to waging civil war against one another than in promoting the interests of the Allies or the Axis. Large numbers of Soviet citizens embraced the opportunity offered by by German occupation to take up arms against Stalin. "None of this implies doubt that the Allied cause deserved to triumph, but it should emphasize the fact the Churchill and Roosevelt did not have all the best tunes." Even so, "It is impossible to dignify the struggle as an unalloyed contest between good and evil, or rationally to celebrate an experience, and even an outcome, which imposed such misery upon so many. Allied victory did not bring universal peace, prosperity, justice or freedom, it brought merely a portion of those things to some fractions of those who had taken part. All that seems certain is that, Allied victory saved the world from a much worse fate that would have followed the triumph of Germany and Japan. With this knowledge, seekers after virtue and truth must be content."

The outcome of the Second World War was principally decided by the battles fought on the eastern front between Germany and the Soviet Union, all other battlefields were dwarfed by the massive numbers engaged on the Russian front. The battles in North Africa and Western Europe were larger than those fought in the Pacific, which were larger and more significant than those fought in China-Burma-India. Hastings, unlike most non-American historians, however, gives ample space to the Pacific battles, perhaps even equaling the space given to the battles of Western Europe (including Italy and North Africa). I mention this as merely another reason to like this book, which is magnificent.

[OrangeUte]

Books I have read in the last seven months:

13 Hours: The Inside Account of what Really Happened in Benghazi by Mitchell Zuckoff with the Annex Security Team.

The Centennial History of the American Civil War: Vol. I, The Coming Fury by Bruce Catton.

I just bought these two books based on your analysis. Thanks for those great reviews, I always know I can find some good history / military history books in this thread because of you!

[LA Ute]

I just bought these two books based on your analysis. Thanks for those great reviews, I always know I can find some good history / military history books in this thread because of you!

Bruce Catton's Centennial History of the Civil War trilogy is terrific. The subject has always fascinated me -- Americans at war with other Americans.

[OrangeUte]

In case anyone is interested. These are the books we have read and discussed.

1. Gilead by Marilyn Robinson http://www.amazon.com/Gilead-Novel-Marilynne-Robinson/dp/031242440X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1461178999&sr=8-1&keywords=gilead
2. The River of Doubt by Candace Millard http://www.amazon.com/River-Doubt-Theodore-Roosevelts-Darkest/dp/0767913736/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1461179023&sr=8-1&keywords=river+of+doubt
3. East of Eden by John Steinbeck http://www.amazon.com/East-Penguin-Twentieth-Century-Classics/dp/0140186395/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1461179055&sr=8-1&keywords=east+of+eden
4. The Power of One by Bryce Courtenay http://www.amazon.com/Power-One-Novel-Bryce-Courtenay/dp/034541005X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1461179087&sr=8-1&keywords=power+of+one
5. The Razor's Edge by M. Somerset Maugham http://www.amazon.com/Razors-Edge-W-Somerset-Maugham/dp/1400034205/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1461179151&sr=8-1&keywords=razor%27s+edge
6. Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl http://www.amazon.com/Mans-Search-Meaning-Viktor-Frankl/dp/080701429X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1461179187&sr=8-1&keywords=man%27s+search+for+meaning
7. Tenth of December by George Saunders http://www.amazon.com/Tenth-December-Stories-George-Saunders/dp/0812984250/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1461179223&sr=1-1&keywords=the+10th+of+December
8. Angle of Repose (link above)
9. ???

Number 9 is pending. It is more difficult that one would ever expect to choose a book that you have to lead a meaningful discussion on.

We are reading A River Runs Through It And Other Stories by Norman MacLean for the 9th book. http://www.amazon.com/River-Through-Stories-Twenty-fifth-Anniversary/dp/0226500667/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1462924942&sr=8-2&keywords=a+river+runs+through+it

Fantastic and a quick read. Beautiful and poetic and philosophical. I have never read it but am going through it a second time. The other stories in the book are great also, but obviously not as well-known.

[Dwight Schr-Ute]

We are reading A River Runs Through It And Other Stories by Norman MacLean for the 9th book. http://www.amazon.com/River-Through-Stories-Twenty-fifth-Anniversary/dp/0226500667/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1462924942&sr=8-2&keywords=a+river+runs+through+it

Fantastic and a quick read. Beautiful and poetic and philosophical. I have never read it but am going through it a second time. The other stories in the book are great also, but obviously not as well-known.

It's been so long since I last read it, but there are a lot of gems in there. Especially if one has a family member that has been challenging to trust due to a history of poor decisions.

If you've never read MacLean's Young Men and Fire, I would recommend that one, as well.

[OrangeUte]

It's been so long since I last read it, but there are a lot of gems in there. Especially if one has a family member that has been challenging to trust due to a history of poor decisions.

If you've never read MacLean's Young Men and Fire, I would recommend that one, as well.

The discussion on River Runs Through it was great. Norman Maclean wrote one for the ages in only 105 pages. I have ordered Young Men and Fire at your recommendation and am looking forward to reading it.

As for the book club, we are now moving on to book #10.

10. Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, http://www.amazon.com/Fahrenheit-451-Novel-Ray-Bradbury/dp/1451673310/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1464126278&sr=8-1&keywords=bradbury+ray+fahrenheit+451

[Utebiquitous]

I don't know if it's been recommended by a couple of the more informed posters about WWII and Civil War literature but Target Tokyo by James M. Scott. is a terrific read. Just finished it. I've read shorter accounts of the Doolittle raid. This one is terrific. It's just short of 500 pages with an additional 100+ pages dedicated to sources. High recommendation.

[OrangeUte]

Fahrenheit 451 is pretty awesome. It is over 50 years old and some of the technology he envisioned has come and gone. Science Fiction is always fun to read/watch and see how much it gets right about technological advancement.

The book's tone on the dumbing down of society is amazing and relevant, as is the idea of governmental control. It still resonates.

11. The Complete Stories by Flannery O'Connor, https://www.amazon.com/Complete-Stories-FSG-Classics/dp/0374515360/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1467748007&sr=8-1&keywords=flannery+o%27connor

[sancho]

11. The Complete Stories by Flannery O'Connor, https://www.amazon.com/Complete-Stories-FSG-Classics/dp/0374515360/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1467748007&sr=8-1&keywords=flannery+o%27connor

I once got singled out by a professor for my essay on "Good Country People." Something about not always being good and sometimes being just plain salty. Enjoy!

[LA Ute]

11. The Complete Stories by Flannery O'Connor, https://www.amazon.com/Complete-Stories-FSG-Classics/dp/0374515360/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1467748007&sr=8-1&keywords=flannery+o%27connor

I downloaded this to my Kindle and am reading it now. She is such an interesting author. I am still getting used to her.

[Utebiquitous]

Summer Read - "The Cartel" by Don Winslow. Quite a read. One of those can't put down summer novels. You do learn quite a bit about how the drug operations ran or are running in Mexico. Winslow used research done over many years. The book was preceded by "The Power of the Dog" which I did not read but the central characters of the book are introduced there. Pretty amazing to think about what happened in Juarez from 2006 to 2012 which is basically the time period the book covers. Definite R rating if books were movies. A helluva read.

[LA Ute]

I so enjoyed the "Poldark" series on Masterpiece that I started reading the books. I'm enjoying them tremendously. Winston Graham is a good storyteller and creator of characters. Highly recommended.

The second season of "Poldark" begins on PBS Sept. 25. Spouses will enjoy watching it together. I am sure PBS will broadcast the first season again beforehand, if anyone wants to catch up.

[ironman1315]

I just finished the book called Red Seas Under Red Skies, a fantasy novel, and am now reading through Chernow's book about Alexander Hamilton.

[OrangeUte]

Fahrenheit 451 is pretty awesome. It is over 50 years old and some of the technology he envisioned has come and gone. Science Fiction is always fun to read/watch and see how much it gets right about technological advancement.

The book's tone on the dumbing down of society is amazing and relevant, as is the idea of governmental control. It still resonates.

11. The Complete Stories by Flannery O'Connor, https://www.amazon.com/Complete-Stories-FSG-Classics/dp/0374515360/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1467748007&sr=8-1&keywords=flannery+o%27connor


Discussion of Flannery O'Connor was good. I enjoyed her stories quite a bit. Very religious themes, but they are great for discussion and thought.

12. Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk, Ben Fountain. https://www.amazon.com/Billy-Lynns-Long-Halftime-Walk/dp/0060885610/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1471652392&sr=1-1&keywords=billy+lynn%27s+long+halftime+walk

I am about half finished with it and absolutely love it.

I also just finished this book, which Steelblue describes as Twain meets Tarantino. I was hugely entertained by the book. It has a great cast of characters (including John Brown) and culminates with the Raid on Harper's Ferry. It is a re-telling of Brown and his "army" starting in Kansas during the slave wars and ends with Harper's Ferry. Wonderfully written, clever, laugh out loud funny, and moving. I highly recommend it. https://www.amazon.com/Good-Lord-Bird-James-McBride/dp/1594632782/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1471652733&sr=1-1&keywords=good+lord+bird

[OrangeUte]

I just finished the book called Red Seas Under Red Skies, a fantasy novel, and am now reading through Chernow's book about Alexander Hamilton.

I read Hamilton years ago and recently picked it back up. It is going to be up next for me after I finish this little doozy, which I am really enjoying. https://www.amazon.com/Dont-Be-Jerk-Practical-Greatest/dp/1608683885/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1471652915&sr=1-1&keywords=don%27t+be+a+jerk

[OrangeUte]

I once got singled out by a professor for my essay on "Good Country People." Something about not always being good and sometimes being just plain salty. Enjoy!

That was probably my favorite story. Well worth a re-reading. I know there was a deeper meaning, but frankly I found the story to be hilarious.

[DrumNFeather]

Has anyone read "American Gods"? Came out in 2001 and the author is set to release a book about Norse Mythology in 2017, so I'm intrigued.

[OrangeUte]

Has anyone read "American Gods"? Came out in 2001 and the author is set to release a book about Norse Mythology in 2017, so I'm intrigued.

I have. Really liked it. Gaiman is a great author.

[OrangeUte]

Discussion of Flannery O'Connor was good. I enjoyed her stories quite a bit. Very religious themes, but they are great for discussion and thought.

12. Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk, Ben Fountain. https://www.amazon.com/Billy-Lynns-Long-Halftime-Walk/dp/0060885610/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1471652392&sr=1-1&keywords=billy+lynn%27s+long+halftime+walk

I am about half finished with it and absolutely love it.



Billy Lynn is a great book. It'll make you think twice about how you show appreciation for our soldiers. It is being made into a movie by Ang Lee. Can't wait.

13. Station Eleven, Emily St. John Mandel, Station Eleven https://www.amazon.com/dp/0804172447/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_zelaybTRXWZ18

I'm also looking for some advice. I want to read all the king's men. Apparently there is a restored edition which changes willie stark's name back to willie talos, which was the authors original name for him, and combines some chapters etc. supposedly it goes back to what was written before editors made it more suitable for the 1940s reading audience.

Anyone read both versions? Not sure whether to get the restored or original version or if it even matters.

[LA Ute]

"American Ulysses: A Life of U.S. Grant," by Ronald C. White. Just started. Looks great.

[OrangeUte]

Billy Lynn is a great book. It'll make you think twice about how you show appreciation for our soldiers. It is being made into a movie by Ang Lee. Can't wait.

13. Station Eleven, Emily St. John Mandel, Station Eleven https://www.amazon.com/dp/0804172447/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_zelaybTRXWZ18



Station Eleven is a really good book. One theme of the book is not "sleepwalking" your way through life. Very good message!

14. All The Kings Men, Robert Warren Penn. After this election I am really looking forward to reading this book.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/0156012952/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_siviybXMSDYAK

[401k Ute]

Kind of late to this thread, and I didn't want to go through 11 pages of comments, so I don't know if this book has been mentioned, but yesterday I finished Beyond the Call: The True Story of One World War II Pilot's Covert Mission to Rescue POW's on the Eastern Front.

I read a lot of WW2 and other military history books, and this is one of the most fascinating stories I've ever read. I highly recommend it.

[LA Ute]

Kind of late to this thread, and I didn't want to go through 11 pages of comments, so I don't know if this book has been mentioned, but yesterday I finished Beyond the Call: The True Story of One World War II Pilot's Covert Mission to Rescue POW's on the Eastern Front.

I read a lot of WW2 and other military history books, and this is one of the most fascinating stories I've ever read. I highly recommend it.

It's on my list now, thanks to you!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[USS Utah]

Books I have read in the last 8 months:

The Course of Empire by Bernard DeVoto. The Spanish came for easy treasure to maintain a failing empire. The French came for furs, and the British came to take the fur business away from the French. At the same time, all three nations were searching for a new water route across the continent to the Pacific and to Asia. Myth and fantasy, mistaken interpretations and false hopes put mistaken data on charts and maps. The hopes for the River of the West, the Western Sea, the Passage to India, or the Northwest Passage, were not dashed until Lewis and Clark ascended the Missouri River to find the Rocky Mountains in their way. There was a River of the West, the great Columbia, but there was no easy portage between it and the Missouri. Future generations, first the mountain men, and then the pioneers, would find and take land routes to the west. Meanwhile, while men still searched for the mythical water route, the world turned upside down, first with the British defeat of the French, and then with the American War for Independence.

This is the third book in a trilogy of the West by DeVoto, which was published in a reverse order. The first book, The Year of Decision, covered a period of two years, following several groups that went west on the Oregon Trail in 1846-47, as well as the War with Mexico. The second book, Across the Wide Missouri, followed fur trappers and mountain men during the 1830s, covering a period of seven years. The Course of Empire covers a period of 278 years, a monumental task. The principle themes of the third book are the geography of North America and the ideas which men had about that geography; the exploration of the U.S. and Canada as it related to the discovery of a route to the Pacific Ocean; and the contention of four empires for what is now the western U.S.

All three books are fantastic.

Bismarck: The Final Days of Germany's Greatest Battleship by Niklas Zetterling and Michael Tamelander. Only once during World War I did the Germany fleet leave port to challenge the Royal Navy. While the Germans sank many British ships at the Battle of Jutland, they failed to break the blockade, and they would not make another attempt. In World War II, the Germans were aware that they did not have a surface fleet capable of challenging the Royal Navy, which actions of Norway in April 1940 served to confirm. It has been said that the Battle of Britain was partially won off Norway as the losses suffered by the Kriegsmarine all but eliminated the possibility of a cross channel invasion. In the face of these problems, the commanders of Germany's surface fleet had to find a purpose and a strategy for their ships and they came up with something they called "cruiser warfare." They would send surface ships out into the Atlantic to sink merchant shipping and hopefully bring Britain to its knees.

During 1939-40, a handful of ships already at see when the war broke out, such as Graf Spee, sank a few ships, but the real test of cruiser warfare came when Scharnhorst and Gneisenau broke out into the Atlantic in early 1941. The results were disappointing, but it was hoped that lessons learned could be applied when Germany's greatest ship broke out into the Atlantic. Instead, the battleship Bismarck ran into Hood and Prince of Wales in the Denmark Strait. While he (the Bismarck's captain insisted that his mighty ship be referred to as he instead of she) sank Hood, a few hits from Prince of Wales caused just enough damage to send Bismarck running for port in France. The chase was on.

Excellent.

The Race by Clive Cussler and Justin Scott. In 1909, newspaper magnate Preston Whiteway sponsors an air race across the United States from New York to San Fransisco; he is also sponsoring the aviatrix he hopes will win the race, Josephine Josephs, America's Sweetheart of the Air. But there are a few problems. First of all, Josephine's husband, Harry Frost has killed the inventor of her airplane, and is out to kill her as well. Whiteway hires the Van Dorn detective agency and its chief investigator Isaac Bell to protect Josephine and to find Harry Frost. Along the way, Bell finds that there is more going on than meets the eye.

Excellent.

A Better War: The Unexamined Victories and Final Tragedy of America's Last Years in Vietnam by Lewis Sorely. I have been saying in recent years that we did not do counterinsurgency in Vietnam -- outside of the Marine Corps' Combined Action Platoons -- but it turns out that I was wrong. Under the command of General Creighton Abrams from 1968 to 1972, U.S. forces put an enormous effort into what was then called Pacification, and achieved significant results. After early 1969, the Viet Cong ceased to be a major factor in the war, and by 1972-75 were almost a complete non-factor, something the North Vietnamese acknowledged -- and possibly even trumpeted after the fall of Saigon.

Four years ago I read a book about the Battle of Midway which completely changed the way the battle was viewed. Ever since I have been using Shattered Sword as an example of why history is never done. I can add another example with Lewis Sorley's A Better War about General Creighton Abram's years in command in Vietnam. The predominant view of the Vietnam War today appears to be based largely on the years during which Westmoreland was in command. The Four years under Abrams have been all but ignored by historians, journalists and others.

The US did just about everything wrong while Westmoreland was in command. But under the leadership of Abrams we did things differently and achieved different results. The US defeated the VC, which was no longer a factor in the war after mid-1969, something the North Vietnamese made clear themselves. Next, The US forced the North to change its strategy from relying on popular uprisings in response to Tet-like offensives to a more conventional attack as exhibited in both 1972 and 1975. Next, The US forced the North to the peace table where it agreed to a war ending treaty. By any definition, this is called victory. But that victory was squandered by decisions made in Paris and Washington.

Sorely's book is fantastic, very readable and makes a very strong case.

The Coming of the Third Reich by Richard J. Evans. This British historian examines the the history of Germany starting with Otto Bismarck down to the appointment of Hitler as Reich Chancellor and the creation over the next few months of a one party state under Nazi control. This is the first of three volumes on the Third Reich by Evans, with the next two being The Third Reich in Power and The Third Reich at war. One thing that made Hitler's rise to power possible was the desire of many Germans during the years of the Weimar Republic for a return to a strong leader such as Bismarck or the Kaiser. The next thing that made it possible was the Great Depression. Finally, Hitler's predecessors made mistakes which the Nazis would capitalize on.

Excellent.

The Warrior Elite: The Forging of SEAL Class 228 by Dick Couch. The author, a former SEAL, graduate of BUD/S Class 45 in 1969, was allowed to follow Class 228 through Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL training which started on October 4, 1999 and completed on April 21, 2000. Ninety-eight men started the training, 20 men finished, but a few of those 20 had started with earlier classes and had their training interrupted for medical reasons. From indoctrination, through Hell Week, diving and demolitions training to field exercises, BUD/S pushes every man to their limit, some push through it, more ring the bell and fall by the wayside. Those who graduate, then, are among the best, but they are not yet SEALs. The SEAL Trident must still be earned after continued training in the SEAL Teams.

Very good.

The Black Sheep: The Definitive Account of Marine Fighting Squadron 214 in World War II by Bruce Gamble. Thanks to a highly inaccurate television series, VMF-214 might be the most famous fighter squadron of the Second World War -- certainly the most famous American squadron. But Greg Boyington's Black Sheep are only part of the real story of the squadron which was first stood up on July 1, 1942 at Ewa Field on Oahu, Hawaii. The squadron flew two tours in the southern Solomons from Guadalcanal and then Banika in the Russell Islands -- on that second tour they were known as the Swashbucklers, having just transitioned from the F4F Wildcat to the new F4U Corsair. After that second tour, while the pilots were enjoying a week in Australia, their squadron number was given to a new group of replacement pool pilots put together by Boyington, who would become the famed Black Sheep as they ran up a high score of enemy aircraft destroyed. The Black Sheep would be scattered after Boyington was shot down over Rabaul. The third incarnation of VMF-214 was organized in Southern California and sent to war aboard the carrier USS Franklin (CV-13) for what would prove to be a very short combat tour.

Excellent.

Cain at Gettysburg by Ralph Peters. This is a historical novel of the Battle of Gettysburg that takes a very different approach from Michael Shaara's classic The Killer Angels. "Shaara's skillful writing, mythic portraits, and romantic view of the battle make it incomparable," write Peters. Cain at Gettysburg is anything but romantic, exhibiting a bloodier battlefield. Here General Lee makes the classic mistake of underestimating his opponent, General Meade, and overestimating his own army. (Lee appears to have suffered from what the Japanese would later call Victory Disease.) But the true villain of Gettysburg is a politician turned general, Dan Sickles, who very nearly cost the Union the victory on the second day of battle. Wounded in that fight, Sickles is hurried to Washington; beating all other reports from the field he is able to poison the well against the true victor, George Gordon Meade, with his version of the fight. Thus, Lincoln brings in Grant to command all Union armies because he couldn't fully believe in Meade -- fortunately, Grant knew that he could not do without Meade.

Excellent.

Whirlwind: The American Revolution and the War that Won It by John Ferling. A excellent history of the revolution and the war. Ferling is clearly a master of the subject as he demonstrates how the politics changed the war, and how the war changed the politics. What started out as a conflict with hopes for reconciliation became a war for Independence. But the revolution did not end with victory in war, but continued as a Republic was created with freedom and liberty for more than just a favored few, for an aristocracy. Ferling concludes his history with the Treaty of Paris and the reactions to it, but it is clear from his narrative that the new nation was moving into just another phase of the revolution. The accounts of the politics from the Stamp Act, to the Intolerable Acts, to the Tea Act, to London's decision to use force, to the decision of the Second Continental Congress to declare independence are very well done, as are the accounts of the military campaigns, from Boston, to New York, Saratoga, and Britain's southern campaign which would lead to surrender at Yorktown. Every American should stood study the revolution.

Fantastic.

The Terrible Hours by Peter Maas. In May 1939, the submarine USS Squalus sank to the bottom of the North Atlantic during a test dive. Thirty members of her crew survived, but were trapped in the forward part of the her hull. The U.S. Navy called on Commander Charles "Swede" Momsen to lead the rescue and salvage attempt, thus beginning a race against time. Momsen, a qualified submarine and diver had invented a diving bell and breathing apparatus after previous submarine accidents in which there were no survivors.

Fantastic.

Hell's Angels: The True Story of the 303rd Bomb Group in World War II by Jay A. Stout. It is remembered today that a B-17 Flying Fortress named the Memphis Belle was the first bomber in the U.S. Eight Air Force to complete 25 missions, this is so largely because William Wyler made a documentary featuring the Memphis Belle. In fact, a B-17 with the 303rd Heavy Bombardment Group name Hell's Angels, though unheralded, was the first bomber to complete 25 missions. That airplane inspired the name given to the 303rd during the war. Stout, a combat aviator in his own right, follows the 303rd from inception to VE-Day.

Great.

The Gray Man by Mark Greaney. Before co-authoring Jack Ryan novels with Tom Clancy, and subsequently taking over the series, Greaney was already an accomplished author. His creation is the Gray Man, an assassin for hire. Courtland Gentry is a good man, but one who lurks in the shadows. He worked for the CIA until the agency burned him, now he works as a private contractor. Having just completed a job, there are powerful people who want revenge, and Court Gentry's head on a platter.

Excellent.

The Astronaut Wives Club by Lilly Koppel. I am a sucker for anything to do with the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo projects, and this book provides a unique look at the space race, as seen through the eyes of those married to the men sent into space. Starting with the Mercury Seven and following through the Apollo 17 mission, the author follows the wives through triumph and tragedy.

Very Good.

Aces High: The Heroic Saga of the Two Top-Scoring American Aces of World War II by Bill Yenne. Dick Bong and Tommy McGuire were skilled fighter pilots who got caught up in a Race of Aces promoted by the USAAF, the commander of the Fifth Air Force and the media. Bong was allowed to freelance in order to run up his score, but after reaching the round number of 40 aerial victories he was sent home, for good. McGuire was just two victories behind Bong when he took off on his last mission, never to return.

Excellent.

[OrangeUte]

Station Eleven is a really good book. One theme of the book is not "sleepwalking" your way through life. Very good message!

14. All The Kings Men, Robert Warren Penn. After this election I am really looking forward to reading this book.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/0156012952/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_siviybXMSDYAK

I loved all the kings men. Brilliant.

15. The Old Man And The Sea. Ernest Hemingway.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0684801221/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1484720329&sr=8-1&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_QL65&keywords=old+man+and+the+sea&dpPl=1&dpID=411pakPjvdL&ref=plSrch

[OrangeUte]

man, you are prolific! I just bought whirlwind on your recommendation, USS Utah.

I just started in on an old history of the frontier series by Aaron Eckert. First book is the Frontiersmen and it is awesome. https://www.amazon.com/Frontiersmen-Narrative-Allan-W-Eckert/dp/0945084919/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1484756650&sr=8-1&keywords=the+frontiersman

Also am finishing a very interesting book on the Oregon trail by a guy who recently travelled it with his brother in a covered wagon. Rinker Buck is the author/pioneer/re-enactor. it was a very fun and also informative book. He blends in a lot of history to his narrative. history on the trail but also on mules, covered wagons - it is all very very interesting. https://www.amazon.com/Oregon-Trail-New-American-Journey/dp/1451659172/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1484756740&sr=8-1&keywords=rinker+buck

[DrumNFeather]

I just started Stephen Ambrose' book on Crazy Horse and Custer. Not that far into it, but already very interesting.

[OrangeUte]

that is one that I haven't read, but have sitting on a shelf. I am going through a bit of a "frontier" phase in my reading right now, and will get to the last 1800s soon, so please let me know how you like it.

[Utebiquitous]

OrangeUte,
I can add a personal recommendation on Whirlwind. I've read a lot on the American Revolution and haven't read a better book.

Question for the board: Has anyone read "Andersonville?" It's a historical fiction on a southern POW camp. I'd love some thoughts on it if anyone's read it.

[pangloss]

A couple recommendations

Herman the German: Enemy Alien U.S. Army Master Sergeant (https://www.amazon.com/Herman-German-Master-Sergeant-10500000/dp/0688016820) This is a really good autobiography. His life span was amazing.

"Gerhard Neumann (October 8, 1917 - November 2, 1997) was a German-American aviation engineer and executive for General Electric's aircraft engine division (which today is called GE Aviation). Born and raised in Germany, he went to China shortly before World War II and ended up being an aircraft mechanic for the United States Army Air Forces there. He became an American citizen by an Act of Congress and went on to a career in the aerospace manufacturing industry."

Wild Bill Donovan: The Spymaster Who Created the OSS and Modern American Espionage (https://www.amazon.com/Wild-Bill-Donovan-Spymaster-Espionage-ebook/dp/B003UV8TF4/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1484782003&sr=1-1&keywords=wild+bill+donovan) Also fascinating, reads like a novel. He is a WWII un-sung hero.
"(Donovan) was one of America’s most exciting and secretive generals—the man Franklin Roosevelt made his top spy in World War II. A mythic figure whose legacy is still intensely debated, “Wild Bill” Donovan was director of the Office of Strategic Services (the country’s first national intelligence agency) and the father of today’s CIA." One of my professors at the U, Dr. Jim Gardner (http://www.deseretnews.com/article/1005274/Ex-U-dean-James-Gardner-dies.html), was in the OSS in China during the war. I've been fascinated in the history of the OSS ever since.

Wine and War: The French, the Nazis, and the Battle for France's Greatest Treasure (https://www.amazon.com/Wine-War-Frances-Greatest-Treasure-ebook/dp/B000FC1L0Q/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1484782510&sr=1-3&keywords=french+wine+a+history)Another off-the-wall WWII book, and really good

[USS Utah]

that is one that I haven't read, but have sitting on a shelf. I am going through a bit of a "frontier" phase in my reading right now, and will get to the last 1800s soon, so please let me know how you like it.

If you haven't read them yet, I highly recommend the three books by DeVoto, The Year of Decision: 1846, Across the Wide Missouri and The Course of Empire.

I bought a book last week about western history, Men to Match My Mountains by Irving Stone. Looks really good.

[concerned]

If you haven't read them yet, I highly recommend the three books by DeVoto, The Year of Decision: 1846, Across the Wide Missouri and The Course of Empire.

I bought a book last week about western history, Men to Match My Mountains by Irving Stone. Looks really good.

In that same time period I would highly recommend "What Hath God Wrought, the Transformation of America 1815-1848." It is part of the Oxford History of the United States and I enjoyed it as much as any history book I've ever read.

[OrangeUte]

OrangeUte,
I can add a personal recommendation on Whirlwind. I've read a lot on the American Revolution and haven't read a better book.

Question for the board: Has anyone read "Andersonville?" It's a historical fiction on a southern POW camp. I'd love some thoughts on it if anyone's read it.

Andersonville is on my short list. I'm glad to get the recommendation on Whirlwind.

Years ago I read a biography about George Washington by Benson Bobrich named "angel in the worldwind" that I thought was terrific.

[OrangeUte]

If you haven't read them yet, I highly recommend the three books by DeVoto, The Year of Decision: 1846, Across the Wide Missouri and The Course of Empire.

I bought a book last week about western history, Men to Match My Mountains by Irving Stone. Looks really good.

Great suggestions! Western expansion is absolutely fascinating. Those were tough individuals.

[NorthwestUteFan]

The Professor and the Madman.
This is the story of the relationship between the professor leading the creation of the Oxford English Dictionary, and it's major contributor over a 40 year period.

Boring Background: The English language was never officially set in stone with a compendium until the OED was created between the 1860s-1920s, whereas French was compiled in the 1700s and Italian in the 900s.

People were attempting to find (through crowdsourcing) the earliest-known usage of words, with the book and context containing the word. People would read ancient books, note the usage of specific words, and send them to this Oxford professor to compile.

Good stuff: the major volume contributor to the effort turned out to be a Yale-educated, American, civil war doctor who was a paranoid schizophrenic, and lived in an asylum after murdering a man in London while on a schizophrenic episode.

His episodes tended to happen only at night, and every night he believed that people would crawl through the floorboards, grab him, and make him have sex with young girls or would do horrible sexual things to him.

During the daytime he was entirely normal and lucid as long as he could stay focused on a singular task. He read books voraciously and one day a book included the volunteer pamphlet from the society compiling the dictionary. He began documenting and categorizing the interesting words he would find.

He wrote to the group and offered to help, but then didn't make contact for several years. After his silence he wrote again and asked where they stood, and at the time the hundreds of volunteers were looking for the earliest-known usage of the word 'Ant'. By that time he had already moved beyond the letter E and had many thousands of words documented and meticulously categorized.

The Professor had no idea he was in an asylum as the address just went to Broamoor, which was both the name of the asylum and of the town it was in. After many years the professor came to realize that he was dealing with a mental patient and travelled to meet the man. Their working relationship eventually lasted through the 4 decades required to compile the dictionary.

The book was an interesting study of the man's descent into mental illness, his methods of coping, and of the fanatical devotion to a project that seemingly can only come with very different frame of reference on the world. I wondered while reading whether he would have ever been able to accomplish any of the work in today's society with modern medications and treatments. Would killing his haunting schizophrenic delusions also have destroyed his singular ability to research the language to the extent he did?

Also worth noting was the apparent fact that a certain degree of what we term 'mental illness', being somewhat outside of the range of what we consider to be 'normal', can have very positive benefits to go with the negative affects in some circumstances. We have a number of friends with autistic or Aspergers children, and while they can seem to have serious problems interacting with others in a 'normal' sense, they can be well off the charts brilliant and capable in other areas. In some ways the future will belong to people with a great attention to detail, but without a need for the same level of social norms we have today. That sounds somewhat autistic by modern standards.

[LA Ute]

The Professor and the Madman.
This is the story of the relationship between the professor leading the creation of the Oxford English Dictionary, and it's major contributor over a 40 year period.

Boring Background: The English language was never officially set in stone with a compendium until the OED was created between the 1860s-1920s, whereas French was compiled in the 1700s and Italian in the 900s.

People were attempting to find (through crowdsourcing) the earliest-known usage of words, with the book and context containing the word. People would read ancient books, note the usage of specific words, and send them to this Oxford professor to compile.

Good stuff: the major volume contributor to the effort turned out to be a Yale-educated, American, civil war doctor who was a paranoid schizophrenic, and lived in an asylum after murdering a man in London while on a schizophrenic episode.

His episodes tended to happen only at night, and every night he believed that people would crawl through the floorboards, grab him, and make him have sex with young girls or would do horrible sexual things to him.

During the daytime he was entirely normal and lucid as long as he could stay focused on a singular task. He read books voraciously and one day a book included the volunteer pamphlet from the society compiling the dictionary. He began documenting and categorizing the interesting words he would find.

He wrote to the group and offered to help, but then didn't make contact for several years. After his silence he wrote again and asked where they stood, and at the time the hundreds of volunteers were looking for the earliest-known usage of the word 'Ant'. By that time he had already moved beyond the letter E and had many thousands of words documented and meticulously categorized.

The Professor had no idea he was in an asylum as the address just went to Broamoor, which was both the name of the asylum and of the town it was in. After many years the professor came to realize that he was dealing with a mental patient and travelled to meet the man. Their working relationship eventually lasted through the 4 decades required to compile the dictionary.

The book was an interesting study of the man's descent into mental illness, his methods of coping, and of the fanatical devotion to a project that seemingly can only come with very different frame of reference on the world. I wondered while reading whether he would have ever been able to accomplish any of the work in today's society with modern medications and treatments. Would killing his haunting schizophrenic delusions also have destroyed his singular ability to research the language to the extent he did?

Also worth noting was the apparent fact that a certain degree of what we term 'mental illness', being somewhat outside of the range of what we consider to be 'normal', can have very positive benefits to go with the negative affects in some circumstances. We have a number of friends with autistic or Aspergers children, and while they can seem to have serious problems interacting with others in a 'normal' sense, they can be well off the charts brilliant and capable in other areas. In some ways the future will belong to people with a great attention to detail, but without a need for the same level of social norms we have today. That sounds somewhat autistic by modern standards.

That book is going on my list. Thanks.

I do like the trend in treating mental illness and the steady loss of stigma attached to it. (We fear what we do not understand!) For example, "mood disorder" or "bipolar disorder" are much more useful terms than "insane" or "crazy" or "schizophrenia" (and I'm NOT criticizing your use of that term -- it's just an example).


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Utebiquitous]

OrangeUte,
You're one of the first people I know who's read Bobrich's "Angel in the Whirlwind." That is a fantastic book. Sounds like we need to get in the same book group.

[NorthwestUteFan]

That book is going on my list. Thanks.

I do like the trend in treating mental illness and the steady loss of stigma attached to it. (We fear what we do not understand!) For example, "mood disorder" or "bipolar disorder" are much more useful terms than "insane" or "crazy" or "schizophrenia" (and I'm NOT criticizing your use of that term -- it's just an example).


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
I thought of you when I wrote the review. I think you will enjoy it. It is a quick read.

If nothing else it demonstrates the monumental quantity of work that lies behind pedantry.

[Mormon Red Death]

Finished the subtle art of not giving a f@$!. https://www.google.com/amp/s/markmanson.net/not-giving-a-fuck/amp

If you can handle some f bombs it is a really interesting and introspective. Its not about indifference but about choosing what to give a f about

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[Rocker Ute]

Finished the subtle art of not giving a f@$!. https://www.google.com/amp/s/markmanson.net/not-giving-a-fuck/amp

If you can handle some f bombs it is a really interesting and introspective. Its not about indifference but about choosing what to give a f about

Sent from my SM-G930T using Tapatalk

Based off your recommendation I just read it. A good read for anybody (who can tolerate an occasional f-bomb).

Lots of good takeaways, pertinent to this day and age though is the notion of "outrage porn".


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[LA Ute]

I finished all 12 of the Poldark books. They were fun to read and quite engrossing. They're not novels - together they are a saga. The author does a nice job of getting us to care about the characters, and that made it a fun experience.

Now I am reading "Dombey and Son" by Charles Dickens. For the first time ever I am having a hard time with a Dickens novel. It is a slog. I will keep at it, however.


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[USS Utah]

Space by James Michener

An epic novel about America's space program. Beginning on October 25, 1944 and spanning almost 40 years, the story follows five principle characters and their families, a German rocket engineer, a naval hero turned U.S. senator, an American aeronautical engineer sent to rescue Peenamunde Germans who later works for the NACA and then NASA, a naval aviator who becomes an astronaut, and his wife who works in Washington for the Senate space committee. Another important character is a con man who first exploits the UFO craze before "finding religion" and then pushing an anti-scientific creationist agenda. The story includes fictionalizations of real events like the Battle for Leyte Gulf as well as purely fictional events like an Apollo 18 mission to the far side of the moon, it is the kind of saga over an extended period of time that Michener was known for. Excellent.

There was a miniseries based on the book which aired in 1985, which I found on You Tube. While the series overall is good, a few changes made by Hollywood almost ruined it for me.

--

Franklin D Roosevelt: A Rendezvous with Destiny by Frank Freidel

"The Republicans say officially that the President is an impulsive, uninformed opportunist, lacking policy or stability, wasteful, reckless, unreliable in act and contract. . . . Mr. Roosevelt seeks to supervene the constitutional process of government, dominate Congress and the Supreme Court by illegal means and regiment the country to his shifting and current ideas -- a perilous egomaniac.

"The Democrats say officially that the President is the greatest practical humanitarian who ever averted social upheaval, the wisest economic mechanician who ever modernized a government . . . savior and protector of the American way -- including the capitalist system -- and rebuilder of the nation. . . . Mr Roosevelt has constructed, with daring and fortitude, a sound bridge from the perilous past to the secure future.

"He is not wholly either, and he is certainly something of both."

So wrote Arthur Krock, a prestigious columnist with the New York Times, in 1936. While Krock had the opinion that Roosevelt was much more of how the Democrats viewed him, Freidel's portrait finds FDR more in the middle. Roosevelt could be an impulsive opportunist, but he was at times more concerned with controlling the deficit than he probably should have been, and thus hardly wasteful or reckless. FDR at times pushed boundaries, even going too far with proposals to reform the Supreme Court, but he was hardly a dictator. Roosevelt sought to be pragmatic, and he was motivated by humanitarianism, but he was not always wise. While the New Deal did provide relief, it did not end the Great Depression, and recovery was often undone by fiscal caution. When war erupted in Europe in 1939, and there was no longer a need or desire for fiscal discipline, only then did the Depression end as America became the Arsenal of Democracy.

It was in his role as commander in chief that FDR was most impactful, but not all for the good. The Roosevelt administration found the Russians to by untrustworthy when it gave recognition to the Soviet Union during the first term, which makes it all the more baffling that FDR thought he could trust Stalin at Tehran and Yalta in making the agreements that would create the post war world. Because of the war, Roosevelt ran successfully for a third and fourth term, but by 1944 his health was so poor that this alone should have disqualified him for that fourth term. He would live long enough to travel to Yalta and return home to explain what occurred there, before finally succumbing to a cerebral hemorrhage at Warm Springs, Georgia.

Freidel was the first major biographer of FDR, and this single volume biography was his sixth book about Roosevelt. At the time of its publication (1990), this was considered by some to be the best single-volume biography of FDR. It is excellent, indeed.

--

George Washington's Journey: The President Forges a New Nation by T. H. Breen

In the fall of 1789, and later in the Spring of 1791, George Washington, the first president of the United States under the constitution, left the capitals -- New York and Philadelphia -- to tour New England and the southern states. Washington wanted to meet with ordinary Americans and convey to them the importance of a strong federal union. In the process, the president demonstrated himself to be the master of political theater who wrote the rules every president since has followed when they have gone before the people. Breen takes the reader on the journey with Washington, allowing them experience with Washington the parades and celebrations as the hero of the Revolution visited early American towns and cities. The author also examines the issues of the day, the realities of political theater, Washington's talents and the message he took to the people. Excellent.

--

The Spy Who Came in from the Cold by John Le Carre

Alec Leamas is sent to East Germany is a faux defector with information meant to persuade the Abteilung that its head of counterintelligence is actually a British spy. But the case unravels with unexpected twists on the way to the climax at the Berlin Wall. The spy thriller everyone should read. Fantastic! The novel was made into a movie starring Richard Burton, which is also excellent.

[OrangeUte]

OrangeUte,
You're one of the first people I know who's read Bobrich's "Angel in the Whirlwind." That is a fantastic book. Sounds like we need to get in the same book group.

Let's do it! we should get a Utahby5 book club going.... could be a lot of fun. one person picks a book per month. coordinate an hour each month to have that person lead us in a discussion by teleconference. I would definitely be very much down with that.

[tooblue]

Not a book, but a fascinating read nonetheless:

M.I.A. - Half a century ago, an American commando vanished in the jungles of Laos. In 2008, he reappeared in Vietnam, reportedly alive and well. But nothing was what it seemed.


https://magazine.atavist.com/mia

[Brian]

Let's do it! we should get a Utahby5 book club going.... could be a lot of fun. one person picks a book per month. coordinate an hour each month to have that person lead us in a discussion by teleconference. I would definitely be very much down with that.

+1!

[OrangeUte]

you, me, and utebiquitous. we are really getting tons of support for this. I think we should have a book a month, chosen by a member of the club, with discussion throughout the month on a thread dedicated to that book. who wants to go first?



+1!

[Utebiquitous]

I'm sure we could get LA Ute, USS and a few others. Fun idea. I may be a little reluctant to discuss via teleconference. Alternatively, we could post some comments/questions as we go along and some wrap up discussion here on the forum. Anyway - love the idea and would definitely participate.

[LA Ute]

I'm sure we could get LA Ute, USS and a few others. Fun idea. I may be a little reluctant to discuss via teleconference. Alternatively, we could post some comments/questions as we go along and some wrap up discussion here on the forum. Anyway - love the idea and would definitely participate.

I'm in. Maybe just virtual discussion online would work?


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[USS Utah]

I'm sure we could get LA Ute, USS and a few others. Fun idea. I may be a little reluctant to discuss via teleconference. Alternatively, we could post some comments/questions as we go along and some wrap up discussion here on the forum. Anyway - love the idea and would definitely participate.

It would depend on the books. I have a wide range, but not just anything will work for me.

[OrangeUte]

It would depend on the books. I have a wide range, but not just anything will work for me.

let's do it. you can jump in if you like the book and add to the discussion. You also read more abundantly than many of us so we may go much slower than you. who knows. I like the idea of digital group where we pose questions, offer thoughts, and discuss.

Can I go first?

[LA Ute]

let's do it. you can jump in if you like the book and add to the discussion. You also read more abundantly than many of us so we may go much slower than you. who knows. I like the idea of digital group where we pose questions, offer thoughts, and discuss.

Can I go first?

Dive in!
I'm still slogging through Dickens' "Dombey and Son," and I doubt anyone else will be interested in that one (I can barely get through it myself).

[OrangeUte]

I will post a book in a new thread tomorrow. Hopefully at least 4 or 5 of us will participate.

[LA Ute]

I'm on a campaign to read books I should have read in high school or college but missed. Now it's Tess of the d'Urbervilles. Wish me luck..

[concerned]

I'm on a campaign to read books I should have read in high school or college but missed. Now it's Tess of the d'Urbervilles. Wish me luck..

You didnt read that in Dr.Scanlon's class? What is the matter with you.

You will need luck. Its Dombey and Son but shorter, drearier, and more melodramatic.

I have been doing the same thing. My daughter is a junior in high school, and I have been reading books along with her for the past two years that I somehow missed in h.s--Lord of the Flies, Grapes of Wrath, the Stranger, Crime and Punishment (which I read in college). I just finished reading Hamlet with her and it is now on to --you guessed it--Rosenkrantz and Guilderstern are Dead. Surely you read that for Scanlon. Doing this with my daughter actually brings back lots of memories.

I was surpirsed at how much I liked Grapes of Wrath. I even went back and wathed the Henry Fonda movie.

[Scorcho]

I'm on a campaign to read books I should have read in high school or college but missed. Now it's Tess of the d'Urbervilles. Wish me luck..

High School? Shouldn't that be Letters to the Penthouse Forum, or Cracked Magazine :D

[Utebiquitous]

Lord of the Flies - there's a book I could read again. Terrific. Crime and Punishment was another terrific read. Although I don't think I could read that again. That's a powerful book that took over a lot of my thinking while reading it.

[Applejack]

I'm on a campaign to read books I should have read in high school or college but missed. Now it's Tess of the d'Urbervilles. Wish me luck..


Ugh!! Tess of the Durbers should be on a list of "books you shouldn't have read in high school." But LA will love it; there is so much sex!

[concerned]

Ugh!! Tess of the Durbers should be on a list of "books you shouldn't have read in high school." But LA will love it; there is so much sex!


and guilt and shame

[LA Ute]

and guilt and shame

Dr. Scanlan talked about it often but I never read it. That's the guilty part for me. I'm also curious about Hardy because the characters in Madding Crowd were so interesting and human.


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[LA Ute]

Lord of the Flies - there's a book I could read again. Terrific. Crime and Punishment was another terrific read. Although I don't think I could read that again. That's a powerful book that took over a lot of my thinking while reading it.

I'm halfway through Crime and Punishment but put it down. I will pick it up again. When I am running training sessions I often create hypothetical stories using a character named Raskolnikov. Very few people get it.

[Applejack]

Dr. Scanlan talked about it often but I never read it. That's the guilty part for me. I'm also curious about Hardy because the characters in Madding Crowd were so interesting and human.


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Don't forget the sex!

[LA Ute]

Don't forget the sex!

Sorry, the only Hardy novel I have read is Far from the Madding Crowd, and the relationship between Gabriel and Bathsheba surely exceeded the highest standards of the BYU honor code. By the way, now I am a little worried about the focus of your literary interests.

[LA Ute]

According to Kindle I am only 14% into "Tess" I already know where this is going. I wonder if the bad guy will twirl his mustache.

[OrangeUte]

If you haven't read them yet, I highly recommend the three books by DeVoto, The Year of Decision: 1846, Across the Wide Missouri and The Course of Empire.

I bought a book last week about western history, Men to Match My Mountains by Irving Stone. Looks really good.

I just picked up the entire DeVoto trilogy for $12 at a used bookstore in my town. No markings in any of them. Cannot wait to read them.

[Rocker Ute]

I'm trying to remember who recommended it, but I'm reading "Ghost Boy" right now. Was it someone here?


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[OrangeUte]

Here is a neat and tidy list of all the books we have read in my men's book society here in Northern California...

1. Gilead by Marilyn Robinson http://www.amazon.com/Gilead-Novel-M...eywords=gilead
2. The River of Doubt by Candace Millard http://www.amazon.com/River-Doubt-Th...river+of+doubt
3. East of Eden by John Steinbeck http://www.amazon.com/East-Penguin-T...s=east+of+eden
4. The Power of One by Bryce Courtenay http://www.amazon.com/Power-One-Nove...s=power+of+one
5. The Razor's Edge by M. Somerset Maugham http://www.amazon.com/Razors-Edge-W-...razor%27s+edge
6. Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl http://www.amazon.com/Mans-Search-Me...ch+for+meaning
7. Tenth of December by George Saunders http://www.amazon.com/Tenth-December...th+of+December
8. Angle of Repose by Wallace Stegner http://www.amazon.com/Angle-Repose-W...ngle+of+repose
9. A River Runs Through It And Other Stories by Norman MacLean for the 9th book. http://www.amazon.com/River-Through-...uns+through+it
10. Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, http://www.amazon.com/Fahrenheit-451...fahrenheit+451
11. The Complete Stories by Flannery O'Connor, https://www.amazon.com/Complete-Stor...ery+o%27connor
12. Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk, Ben Fountain. https://www.amazon.com/Billy-Lynns-L...+halftime+walk
13. Station Eleven, Emily St. John Mandel, Station Eleven https://www.amazon.com/dp/0804172447..._zelaybTRXWZ18
14. All The Kings Men, Robert Warren Penn. After this election I am really looking forward to reading this book. https://www.amazon.com/dp/0156012952..._siviybXMSDYAK
15. The Old Man And The Sea. Ernest Hemingway. https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/06848...vdL&ref=plSrch

and the next book is...

16. A Gentleman in Moscow, Amor Towles, https://www.amazon.com/Gentleman-Moscow-Novel-Amor-Towles/dp/0670026190/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1488302338&sr=8-1&keywords=a+gentleman+in+Moscow

The discussion on Old Man and the Sea was absolutely great. 130 pages in 14 point font, and it lasted more than 2 hours. Lots of great philosophy and religious symbolism in that book. plus, it is a simply told and wonderful story.

[concerned]

How did you like Station 11? I have wanted to read it but never gotten around to it.

[OrangeUte]

How did you like Station 11? I have wanted to read it but never gotten around to it.

I liked it quite a bit. it is not excellent, but it is entertaining and has a few creative plot twists. there is a character who reminded me a bit of Joseph Smith, and his nickname is "the prophet" so that made it fun. there are a few satisfying themes in it, such as not sleepwalking your way through life. I have recommended it to some friends who were looking for a good vacation/lose yourself in a story book.

[USS Utah]

I have a suggestion for book #2 for the UB5 book club:

Dereliction of Duty by H.R. McMaster. I've often thought about reading it, and now that he is the national security advisor, this might be a good time to do so.

[bestellen]

Started reading "The Tiger's Wife" by Tea Obreht. Not doing it for me.... I think I'm going to put it on the shelf and go buy something else.

[concerned]

Started reading "The Tiger's Wife" by Tea Obreht. Not doing it for me.... I think I'm going to put it on the shelf and go buy something else.

i gave it to my wife for Xmas a couple of years ago b/c it was on a lot of year-end ten best lists. My wife and I both read it, and you are making the right decision. It doesn't get any better; I kept wondering why it was on all those lists.

[USS Utah]

1939: Countdown to War by Richard Overy

A short book recounting the last few days of peace from August 25 to September 3, 1939. The non-aggression pact between Russia and Germany surprised Britain and France which then scrambled for ways to avoid war. Hitler then gave the allies more time by cancelling the invasion of Poland originally scheduled for August 26. Hitler did not believe Britain and France would choose war, because he did not want them to, even has Britain and France believed that war might still be avoided if they could make it perfectly clear that they would choose war if Hitler invaded Poland. An excellent, quick read, at just 124 pages.



In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex by Nathaniel Philbrick

An excellent look at the whaling industry of the early nineteenth century with the experiences of the crew of the Essex as the vehicle. There were reasons to think the last cruise of the whaleship would be unlucky, but it was nonetheless a surprise when an eighty-six foot sperm whale rammed and sank the ship -- interestingly, there was no mention by any of the survivors of the whale being white, or that the whale was seeking vengeance against a whaleship, if anything, it was a case of mistaken identity. Eschewing a relatively short boat trip to the Society Islands, whose natives were suspected to be cannibals, the Essex survivors chose to head for the coast of South America, thus embarking on the longest journey of any survivors of any ship sinking, which, ironically, resulted in cannibalism. The author weaves in the history of Nantucket and the experiences of other ships and crews lost at sea in recounting the greatest maritime disaster of the nineteenth century. Fantastic.



The Second World War, Vol. II: Their Finest Hour by Winston S. Churchill

Volume II of Churchill's history of World War II, which is also part autobiography, covers the period from the May 10 German assault on the west through the Fall of France and the Battle of Britain to the end of 1940. The volume concludes with victory in the Western Desert against the forces of Mussolini's Italy. Had Hitler been in a position to act immediately upon his stunning success against France and the low countries, history might have been different. But having allowed the British to escape at Dunkirk, time turned against Germany. With every passing week, Great Britain grew stronger, and the crossing of the sea became an ever more difficult challenge. The air campaign against Britain lacked focus and patience, and on more than one occasion, while on the verge of a possible breakthrough, Air Marshall Goering would shift targets, ultimately seeking to defeat the island nation from the air. Through it all, Churchill provides inspired leadership, not micromanaging, but staying fully engaged in the day-to-day conduct of the war.

Excellent.



Highest Duty, My Search for What Really Matters by Chesley B. "Sully" Sullenberger III

On January 15, 2009, Sully was at the controls of US Air Flight 1549 as it took off from La Guardia, encountered a flock of Canada Gease, and ended up landing the Airbus A320 in the Hudson River after bird strikes took out both engines. This is Sully's autobiogrpahy, recently released under the title Sully, to tie in the with recent movie of the same name. The author describes how lessons learned throughout his life, from learning to fly as a teenager, 4 years at the Air Force Academy, flying F-4 Phantoms, and a career as an airline pilot helped in those 3 critical minutes of the crisis of Flight 1549.

Excellent.

[OrangeUte]

Here is a neat and tidy list of all the books we have read in my men's book society here in Northern California...

1. Gilead by Marilyn Robinson http://www.amazon.com/Gilead-Novel-M...eywords=gilead
2. The River of Doubt by Candace Millard http://www.amazon.com/River-Doubt-Th...river+of+doubt
3. East of Eden by John Steinbeck http://www.amazon.com/East-Penguin-T...s=east+of+eden
4. The Power of One by Bryce Courtenay http://www.amazon.com/Power-One-Nove...s=power+of+one
5. The Razor's Edge by M. Somerset Maugham http://www.amazon.com/Razors-Edge-W-...razor%27s+edge
6. Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl http://www.amazon.com/Mans-Search-Me...ch+for+meaning
7. Tenth of December by George Saunders http://www.amazon.com/Tenth-December...th+of+December
8. Angle of Repose by Wallace Stegner http://www.amazon.com/Angle-Repose-W...ngle+of+repose
9. A River Runs Through It And Other Stories by Norman MacLean for the 9th book. http://www.amazon.com/River-Through-...uns+through+it
10. Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, http://www.amazon.com/Fahrenheit-451...fahrenheit+451
11. The Complete Stories by Flannery O'Connor, https://www.amazon.com/Complete-Stor...ery+o%27connor
12. Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk, Ben Fountain. https://www.amazon.com/Billy-Lynns-L...+halftime+walk
13. Station Eleven, Emily St. John Mandel, Station Eleven https://www.amazon.com/dp/0804172447..._zelaybTRXWZ18
14. All The Kings Men, Robert Warren Penn. After this election I am really looking forward to reading this book. https://www.amazon.com/dp/0156012952..._siviybXMSDYAK
15. The Old Man And The Sea. Ernest Hemingway. https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/06848...vdL&ref=plSrch
16. A Gentleman in Moscow, Amor Towles, https://www.amazon.com/Gentleman-Moscow-Novel-Amor-Towles/dp/0670026190/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1488302338&sr=8-1&keywords=a+gentleman+in+Moscow

A Gentleman in Moscow is fantastic. Truly one of the most enjoyable and interesting books I have read. Many reviews set forth the basic plot and premise, but I will add this. The author is in no rush to spoil the plot and it builds and builds and concludes in a manner that does not disappoint. I highly recommend this one.

Next one up...

17. The Brothers Karmamazov, Fyodor Dostoevsky, https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0374528373/ref=ya_st_dp_summary The Richard Peaver/ Larissa Volokhonsky translation. Looking very much forward to this one.

[LA Ute]

Next one up...

17. The Brothers Karmamazov, Fyodor Dostoevsky, https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0374528373/ref=ya_st_dp_summary The Richard Peaver/ Larissa Volokhonsky translation. Looking very much forward to this one.

The greatest work of fiction I have ever read.

[LA Ute]

I finished "Tess." Didn't like it much. If it is "Hardy's fictional masterpiece" I don't want to read his lesser works.


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[USS Utah]

Against All Enemies by Tom Clancy with Peter Telep

This book introduced a new character to the Clancy universe, Max Moore, a Navy SEAL turned CIA covert agent. Two failed missions in Pakistan lead Moore to drug cartels in Mexico. The Taliban is collaborating with the cartels to move opium into the United States, and a group a terrorists hope to use those connections to cross the boarder for a major attack.

The book was published in summer of 2011, and was the second book purportedly written by Clancy after a break of nearly a decade, and the second written with co-author. At the time there was a lot of speculation that Clancy had no actual part in writing the book. This had also been suggested about Dead or Alive, a Jack Ryan book published six months earlier, but not as strongly. A sequel book, Search and Destroy, was to be published in the summer of 2012, but was cancelled by the publisher at essentially the last minute. Due to the speculation of the actual authorship of the book, and the cancellation of the sequel, I didn't plan on reading Against All Enemies. More recently, I changed my mind, and to my surprise I found it rather enjoyable, much more than Under Fire, a Jack Ryan Jr. story written by Grant Blackwood that I read about a year ago.

--

Dereliction of Duty: Lyndon Johnson, Robert McNamara, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the Lies that Led to Vietnam by H. R. McMaster

Civilian control of the military is an American tradition, ordained by the Constitution, but wise civilian leaders listen to the advice given to them by military leaders. John F. Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson, Robert McNamara and others of the Best and the Brightest first chose not to listen, then sought to mold the advice they received from the Joint Chiefs of Staff. At the same time, inter-service rivalry led the chiefs to make arguments which marginalized their own best advice. Finally, the chiefs themselves acquiesced in giving the civilian leaders the tactical advice they sought. All of this led to the nightmare that became the Vietnam War.

Excellent.

--

Target Tokyo: Jimmy Doolittle and the Raid the Avenged Pearl Harbor by James M. Scott

Out of a burning desire to avenge the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor rose the first joint U.S. military operation of World War II. A Navy submariner wondered one day if a medium Army Air Force bomber could take off from a Navy aircraft carrier and took the suggestion to his boss, the chief of naval operations. The CNO took the idea to the chief of the Air Corps, who called on a famous pilot to explore which bomber could do the job. When the B-25 Mitchell was selected, a test takeoff was made from USS Hornet (CV-8), the Navy's newest flattop. After that, volunteers were trained and the mission to bomb Tokyo was on its way to becoming a reality.

Target Tokyo provides a definitive look at the mission, from to moments after the attack on Pearl Harbor was revealed in Washington, to the moment the raiders captured by the Japanese were released. There was another excellent book published in recent years titled The First Heroes which focused mainly on the Doolittle Raiders. Target Tokyo seeks to cover every facet of the raid, including the retribution of the Japanese against the Chinese who helped the raiders.

Excellent.

--

Poirot Loses a Client by Agatha Christie

Hercule Poirot receives a letter from a wealthy spinster who fears for her life. Unfortunately, the letter was mailed more than a month after the lady died of supposedly natural causes. Poirot nevertheless chooses to take the case on, much to the amusement of Captain Hastings, at least at first.

Excellent

--

The Korean War by Matthew B. Ridgeway

An excellent analysis of the Forgotten War by the general who replaced MacArthur in command of U.N forces.

--

Pacific Payback: The Carrier Aviators Who Avenged Pearl Harbor at the Battle of Midway by Stephen L Moore.

On the morning of December 7, 1941, Clarence E. Dickenson took off from the carrier Enterprise (CV-6) on what should have been a routing flight to Ford Island. Instead, the SBD Dauntless pilot flew into a hornets nest, and instead of landing on Ford Island, he was shot down by a Japanese Zero. Six months later, on June 4, 1942, Dick Dickenson was making a dive bombing attack on one of the Japanese carriers that had launched the Pearl Harbor raiders. Earl Gallaher had also been on that flight to Pearl on the first morning of the war; at Midway he commanded one of the SBD squadrons that avenged the attack. Dick Best commanded the other Enterprise Dauntless squadron at Midway; on June 4, Best made two dives on two different Japanese carriers, and was the only pilot to score hits on two different flattops.

Pacific Payback is primarily the story of the Enterprise Dauntless squadrons from Pearl Harbor to Midway, and secondarily of the other SBD squadrons at Midway. This is an excellent book, but it could have been even better had it focused on all Navy Dauntless squadrons in the first six months of the war, much like John Lundstrom did for the fighter squadrons in The First Team.

[Irving Washington]

The greatest work of fiction I have ever read.
Yup

[Irving Washington]

I'm halfway through Crime and Punishment but put it down. I will pick it up again. When I am running training sessions I often create hypothetical stories using a character named Raskolnikov. Very few people get it.
It's also great. Nothing written by Dostoevsky is an easy read. You'll love it when you finish it.

[UTEopia]

Just finished a book entitled Three Day Road by Joseph Boyden. It is a story of two Canadian Indians who join the Army to fight in WWI. I thought it was a very good read.

[chrisrenrut]

Just (minutes ago) I finished The Son by Philipp Meyer. A very good book about 3 generations of a Texas family. It is interwoven chronologically between the grandfather, who was kidnapoed and raised by Cherokee Indians, his son who struggled with his fathers ways, the transition from cattle to oil, and one event in particular with the Mexican family neighbors, and the granddaughter JA who struggles to build and maintain the family empire.

Beautifully written. I wanted to read before watching the TV series currently on AMC. Now I'm not sure I want to watch the tv version for fear of being disappointed. When reading a book, the mind builds visualizations of the characters and settings. I'm not sure I want the tv version to replace the visualizations my mind created from this book. Maybe in a few months I'll be ready.

[USS Utah]

Commander in Chief by Mark Greaney

Russia launches hybrid warfare in a bid to conquer Lithuania. Terrorist acts against energy, assassinations, and a Russian troop train traveling through Vilnius on the way to the Kaliningrad Oblast enclave are all preludes to a possible invasion. Can President Ryan persuade NATO to send emergency forces to dissuade Russia. Meanwhile, the Russian president is trying to move his money out of his Russian accounts to get around the financial sanctions leveled after Russia's invasion of the Ukraine. He hires and then kidnaps a computer programmer who makes a living converting cash to bitcoins and back to cash.

Excellent.



Mormon Scientist: The Life and Faith of Henry Eyring by Henry J. Eyring.

Henry Eyring was a noted scientist -- some of his fellow scientists thought he should have been awarded the Nobel Prize -- but he was also a man of faith. An excellent biography.




Nimitz by E. B. Potter

A young lieutenant ran a destroyer aground in the Philippines in 1908. The board saw something in this officer and gave him only a mid reprimand. That officer would become the Commander-in-Chief of the U.S. Pacific Fleet after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. Having been given a second chance early in his career, Chester Nimitz would often give commanders in his theater second chances, and thus Nimitz built the team that would win the Pacific War against Japan. This is a fantastic biography of CinCPac-CincPOA and an excellent history of the Pacific campaigns.

[chrisrenrut]

Just finished Power of the Dog (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/206236.The_Power_of_the_Dog?ac=1&from_search=true), by Don Winslow. It's about a DEA agent and his fight against Mexican drug cartels from the late 70's to the early 00's. I found it to be a very riveting read. I bought and am now starting the sequel, The Cartel.

It's fictional, but there are a lot of historical references about the war on drugs from multiple angles, including government involvement, NAFTA, etc.

[chrisrenrut]

I also finished A Gentleman in Moscow (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/29430012-a-gentleman-in-moscow) a month or so ago. It took me a while to get into it, but after about 1/3 of the way through, I was hooked. Lots of character development, backstory, and side story, but it is all woven together very nicely.

[LA Ute]

I'm trying to read Trollope and have started with "The Way We Live Now," which is supposed to be one of his very best. I'm finding it tedious and hard to penetrate. Should I give up now?

[concerned]

I'm trying to read Trollope and have started with "The Way We Live Now," which is supposed to be one of his very best. I'm finding it tedious and hard to penetrate. Should I give up now?
imho, yes. i had to read barchester towers in college and thought i would die. id you have never read Middlemarch, i highly recommend it. it is my favorite victorian novel, including Dickens.

[LA Ute]

imho, yes. i had to read barchester towers in college and thought i would die. id you have never read Middlemarch, i highly recommend it. it is my favorite victorian novel, including Dickens.

That one's on my list now. Thanks. The only Eliot I've ever read is Silas Marner. Meanwhile I decided to try Thomas Hardy again -- The Mayor of Casterbridge. Dr. Scanlon always talked about it but I thought I was too cool to read it.

[USS Utah]

The Killing Floor by Lee Child


The first Jack Reacher novel, written if first person narration. Reacher is a Army brat, former M.P., and a drifter, and a spontaneous decision leads him to a small town in Georgia, where he is quickly arrested for a murder he knows he did not commit. Behind the facade of the perfect little town is a major conspiracy that Reacher feels obligated to stick around and break apart. Excellent


--


Let the Sea Make a Noise: The History of the North Pacific from Magellan to MacArthur by Walter A. McDougall


A history of the contest for power in the North Pacific rim from 1638 to the present day. The majority of the 714 page book, starting from page 269, covers the period from the opening of Japan to the conclusion of the Korean war. Written almost as a series of vignettes, jumping from various locales throughout history, to tell the story of the competition to dominated the North Pacific. Britain is a major player, but with Spain drops out in the first half of the 19th century, and the story becomes a contest between Japan, Russia and the United States. The other feature of the book are a series of fictional discussions the author has with historic figures from Hawaii, Mexico, Japan, the U.S. and Russia.


The book is very good, but I struggled through the first 259 pages before sailing through the remainder of the book. A criticism of McDougall is that he can get lost in details, focusing, it seems, on all of them, thus leading to a presentation that may be longer than necessary. Still, I really enjoyed the final two thirds of the book, from the opening of Japan to the Korean War.


--


Devotion: An Epic Story of Heroism, Friendship, and Sacrifice by Adam Makos.


Jesse Brown was the first African American to earn the gold wings of a U.S. Naval Aviator, and Tom Hudner became his wingman in December 1949. Tom did not have a problem flying with a black man, but he was not so sure at first about Brown's discipline. Tom was by the book and wouldn't even consider buzzing a local community, but on his first flight with Jesse he ends up doing exactly that -- as Brown did a fly by of his house for the benefit of his wife and daughter. A year later the two were flying combat over the frozen battlefields of Korea. The squadron's skipper warned that any pilot trying to land to save a shot down buddy would be court-martialed, but when Jesse was shot down and his wingman could see that he was trapped in his cockpit, Tom quickly decided to crash land his F4U Corsair in an effort to save his friend. A year earlier, Tom would never have considered such a thing, but now he would do anything to save Jesse.


The author also writes about a few participants in the ground battle around the Chosin Reservoir to give additional context to the story of Tom and Jesse. Excellent.


--


On Target by Mark Greaney


In the second Grey Man novel, Court Gentry is hired by a Russian oligarch to assassinate the president of the Sudan. At the same time, Court is tapped by his old CIA team to kidnap the president and deliver him to the International Criminal Court. If he can do that, the CIA will agree to cancel the Shoot-on-Sight order against him. From the moment the Grey Man arrives in the Sudan, almost nothing goes right. Excellent

[LA Ute]

I am reading "The Mayor of Casterbridge," by Thomas Hardy, and came across this paragraph. Does anybody else see the words that later appear in the Harry Potter series?



"One grievous failing of Elizabeth's was her occasional pretty and picturesque use of dialect words—those terrible marks of the beast to the truly genteel....

"[Her father's] sharp reprimand was not lost upon her, and in time it came to pass that for 'fay' she said 'succeed'; that she no longer spoke of 'dumbledores' but of 'humble bees'; no longer said of young men and women that they 'walked together,' but that they were 'engaged'; that she grew to talk of 'greggles' as 'wild hyacinths'; that when she had not slept she did not quaintly tell the servants next morning that she had been 'hag-rid,' but that she had 'suffered from indigestion.'"

I just thought that was interesting.

[LA Ute]

I really enjoyed "The Mayor of Casterbridge." The main character (Michael Henchard, the Mayor) is a fascinating and well-developed character. To avoid spoilers I'll say no more about him.

That novel is much less melodramatic than "Tess of the D'Urbervilles" (which I did not like) and grittier than "Far from the Madding Crowd" (which I did like). So far I've read only those three Thomas Hardy novels and I will read more. Maybe Jude the Obscure next? Which one do you all recommend?

I gave up on Trollope, by the way.

[sancho]

I really enjoyed "The Mayor of Casterbridge." The main character (Michael Henchard, the Mayor) is a fascinating and well-developed character. To avoid spoilers I'll say no more about him.

That novel is much less melodramatic than "Tess of the D'Urbervilles" (which I did not like) and grittier than "Far from the Madding Crowd" (which I did like). So far I've read only those three Thomas Hardy novels and I will read more. Maybe Jude the Obscure next? Which one do you all recommend?

I gave up on Trollope, by the way.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A_MjCqQoLLA

[OrangeUte]

Here is a neat and tidy list of all the books we have read in my men's book society here in Northern California...

1. Gilead by Marilyn Robinson http://www.amazon.com/Gilead-Novel-M...eywords=gilead
2. The River of Doubt by Candace Millard http://www.amazon.com/River-Doubt-Th...river+of+doubt
3. East of Eden by John Steinbeck http://www.amazon.com/East-Penguin-T...s=east+of+eden
4. The Power of One by Bryce Courtenay http://www.amazon.com/Power-One-Nove...s=power+of+one
5. The Razor's Edge by M. Somerset Maugham http://www.amazon.com/Razors-Edge-W-...razor%27s+edge
6. Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl http://www.amazon.com/Mans-Search-Me...ch+for+meaning
7. Tenth of December by George Saunders http://www.amazon.com/Tenth-December...th+of+December
8. Angle of Repose by Wallace Stegner http://www.amazon.com/Angle-Repose-W...ngle+of+repose
9. A River Runs Through It And Other Stories by Norman MacLean for the 9th book. http://www.amazon.com/River-Through-...uns+through+it
10. Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, http://www.amazon.com/Fahrenheit-451...fahrenheit+451
11. The Complete Stories by Flannery O'Connor, https://www.amazon.com/Complete-Stor...ery+o%27connor
12. Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk, Ben Fountain. https://www.amazon.com/Billy-Lynns-L...+halftime+walk
13. Station Eleven, Emily St. John Mandel, Station Eleven https://www.amazon.com/dp/0804172447..._zelaybTRXWZ18
14. All The Kings Men, Robert Warren Penn. After this election I am really looking forward to reading this book. https://www.amazon.com/dp/0156012952..._siviybXMSDYAK
15. The Old Man And The Sea. Ernest Hemingway. https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/06848...vdL&ref=plSrch
16. A Gentleman in Moscow, Amor Towles, https://www.amazon.com/Gentleman-Moscow-Novel-Amor-Towles/dp/0670026190/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1488302338&sr=8-1&keywords=a+gentleman+in+Moscow
17. The Brothers Karmamazov, Fyodor Dostoevsky, https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/03..._st_dp_summary The Richard Peaver/ Larissa Volokhonsky translation. Looking very much forward to this one.
18. Underground Airlines, Ben Winters, https://www.amazon.com/Underground-Airlines-Ben-Winters/dp/0316261254/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1503510161&sr=8-1&keywords=underground+airlines
19. Miss Jane, Brad Watson, https://www.amazon.com/Miss-Jane-Novel-Brad-Watson/dp/0393354385/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1503510206&sr=1-1&keywords=miss+jane

And the next book is

20. The Frontiersmen, Allan Eckert, https://www.amazon.com/Frontiersmen-Narrative-Allan-W-Eckert/dp/0945084919/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1503510273&sr=1-1&keywords=the+frontiersmen

[concerned]

I really enjoyed "The Mayor of Casterbridge." The main character (Michael Henchard, the Mayor) is a fascinating and well-developed character. To avoid spoilers I'll say no more about him.

That novel is much less melodramatic than "Tess of the D'Urbervilles" (which I did not like) and grittier than "Far from the Madding Crowd" (which I did like). So far I've read only those three Thomas Hardy novels and I will read more. Maybe Jude the Obscure next? Which one do you all recommend?

I gave up on Trollope, by the way.

I don't think I ever made it thru Barchester Towers either. Read Jude the Obscure for Dr. Scanlan. Why you continue with Thomas Hardy is beyond me. I have never read Jane Eyre or Vanity Fair. My goal is to get to them this year or next.

Last night finished Lincoln in the Bardo. It has gotten rave reviews, but I cant decide if I agree. The premise is intriguing, but hard to sustain thru the entire novel, I thought.

P.s. I dont think you have to worry about spoilers re Mayor of Casterbridge.

[concerned]

Here is a neat and tidy list of all the books we have read in my men's book society here in Northern California...


18. Underground Airlines, Ben Winters, https://www.amazon.com/Underground-Airlines-Ben-Winters/dp/0316261254/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1503510161&sr=8-1&keywords=underground+airlines



Did you like Ungderground Airlines? I read it for a book club too and didnt like it at all. We picked between that book and Underground Railroad. We all decided we picked the wrong one.

[chrisrenrut]

Here is a neat and tidy list of all the books we have read in my men's book society here in Northern California...

1. Gilead by Marilyn Robinson http://www.amazon.com/Gilead-Novel-M...eywords=gilead
2. The River of Doubt by Candace Millard http://www.amazon.com/River-Doubt-Th...river+of+doubt
3. East of Eden by John Steinbeck http://www.amazon.com/East-Penguin-T...s=east+of+eden
4. The Power of One by Bryce Courtenay http://www.amazon.com/Power-One-Nove...s=power+of+one
5. The Razor's Edge by M. Somerset Maugham http://www.amazon.com/Razors-Edge-W-...razor%27s+edge
6. Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl http://www.amazon.com/Mans-Search-Me...ch+for+meaning
7. Tenth of December by George Saunders http://www.amazon.com/Tenth-December...th+of+December
8. Angle of Repose by Wallace Stegner http://www.amazon.com/Angle-Repose-W...ngle+of+repose
9. A River Runs Through It And Other Stories by Norman MacLean for the 9th book. http://www.amazon.com/River-Through-...uns+through+it
10. Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, http://www.amazon.com/Fahrenheit-451...fahrenheit+451
11. The Complete Stories by Flannery O'Connor, https://www.amazon.com/Complete-Stor...ery+o%27connor
12. Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk, Ben Fountain. https://www.amazon.com/Billy-Lynns-L...+halftime+walk
13. Station Eleven, Emily St. John Mandel, Station Eleven https://www.amazon.com/dp/0804172447..._zelaybTRXWZ18
14. All The Kings Men, Robert Warren Penn. After this election I am really looking forward to reading this book. https://www.amazon.com/dp/0156012952..._siviybXMSDYAK
15. The Old Man And The Sea. Ernest Hemingway. https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/06848...vdL&ref=plSrch
16. A Gentleman in Moscow, Amor Towles, https://www.amazon.com/Gentleman-Moscow-Novel-Amor-Towles/dp/0670026190/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1488302338&sr=8-1&keywords=a+gentleman+in+Moscow
17. The Brothers Karmamazov, Fyodor Dostoevsky, https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/03..._st_dp_summary The Richard Peaver/ Larissa Volokhonsky translation. Looking very much forward to this one.
18. Underground Airlines, Ben Winters, https://www.amazon.com/Underground-Airlines-Ben-Winters/dp/0316261254/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1503510161&sr=8-1&keywords=underground+airlines
19. Miss Jane, Brad Watson, https://www.amazon.com/Miss-Jane-Novel-Brad-Watson/dp/0393354385/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1503510206&sr=1-1&keywords=miss+jane

And the next book is

20. The Frontiersmen, Allan Eckert, https://www.amazon.com/Frontiersmen-Narrative-Allan-W-Eckert/dp/0945084919/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1503510273&sr=1-1&keywords=the+frontiersmen

I just finished A River Runs Through It. The title story was the most lyrical of the 3 stories, and had the most compelling themes. The other two stories were not as interesting for me. They felt like reading someone's journal about their summer experiences. I felt like the subject matter had promise to be interesting (the lumberjack/pimp character, and the forest service poker con), but the author was more interested in reporting the events than making the story interesting.

[Dwight Schr-Ute]

I just finished A River Runs Through It. The title story was the most lyrical of the 3 stories, and had the most compelling themes. The other two stories were not as interesting for me. They felt like reading someone's journal about their summer experiences. I felt like the subject matter had promise to be interesting (the lumberjack/pimp character, and the forest service poker con), but the author was more interested in reporting the events than making the story interesting.

It's been more than 15 years since I read it, but since I too liked the title story from A River Runs Through it, I was motivated to read his book Young Men and Fire. I remember enjoying it very much.

[LA Ute]

I don't think I ever made it thru Barchester Towers either. Read Jude the Obscure for Dr. Scanlan. Why you continue with Thomas Hardy is beyond me. I have never read Jane Eyre or Vanity Fair. My goal is to get to them this year or next.

I like Hardy's feel for the common rural folk. I understand many (most?) of his novels tend to be pretty dark and tragic. ("Tess" was like that, and the heroine there was also a fool.) If so, that will get old. But I will read Jude in Dr. Scanlan's honor.

[chrisrenrut]

It's been more than 15 years since I read it, but since I too liked the title story from A River Runs Through it, I was motivated to read his book Young Men and Fire. I remember enjoying it very much.

Thanks, I'll check it out.

[OrangeUte]

A river runs through it is one of my all time favorites. The language is poetic and beautiful and the story is powerful.

[USS Utah]

Roar of the Tiger by James H. Howard

Howard became a Naval Aviator in the second half of the 1930s, but in the summer of 1941 he left the Navy to join the American Volunteer Group in China. Leaving the Flying Tigers before they were reconstituted as the U.S Army Air Forces China Air Task Force, the author soon chose the Army over the Navy and went to Europe with the first P-51 fighter group to reach England. On one mission, Howard found himself alone against at least thirty enemy fighters who were attempting to attack a formation of B-17 bombers, earning him the appellation of "One Man Air Force".

This is a very good memoir of a fighter pilot.

--


Thunder Run: The Armored Strike to Capture Baghdad by David Zucchino

The original plan for capturing Baghdad was to lay siege to the city with armored units while infantry from the 82nd and 101st Airborne Divisions conducted raids into the city. A few officers in the Third Infantry Division had a different idea, which they tested on April 5, 2003 by a Thunder Run of tanks and armored personnel carriers up Highway 8, through the city, and out to the airport. The second Thunder Run would be different when, on April 7, the armored thrust went into Baghdad to stay, capturing the government district, including two of Sadam's palaces and his parade grounds. As it happened, the heaviest action on April 7 occurred on Highway 8 as Special Republican Guard, Fedayeen, militia, and foreign mercenaries attacked the forces holding three major interchanges to keep the road open for supply convoys. The major counterattack on the forces in the city came on August 8. The fall of Baghdad would be portrayed as a cakewalk, but those who fought in the city knew better.



Excellent.


--

The First Team and the Guadalcanal Campaign: Naval Fighter Combat from August to November 1942 by John B. Lundstrom

Lundstrom's book The First Team covered naval air combat, with a primary focus on fighters, during the first six months of the Pacific War. Following the Battle of Midway, U.S. Navy fighter squadrons had to regroup and prepared for the first American offensive of the war. Fighting Five, Six and Seventy-One supported the amphibious assault on Guadalcanal, opening a new phase of fighter combat. For the next three and a half months, Navy and Marine fighters would duel Japanese land based air power based at Rabaul. Twice during those months, the American and Japanese carriers would face off in battle, and five U.S. Navy flattops would be sunk or damaged during the campaign. Due to the damage inflicted by the Japanese, Navy squadrons would be based ashore at Guadalcanal's Henderson Field, principally VF-5, who contribution to victory was decisive. Going ashore with Fighting Five allows for a recounting of the fighter combat involving Marine pilots. Two more fighter squadrons deserve mention, VF-72, which went south with carrier USS Hornet after two sister carriers were damaged, and VF-10, the first of the replacement fighter squadrons, which went south on the repaired USS Enterprise.


A secondary focus of this volume is the land and carrier based groups of the Japanese Navy which faced off with the Navy and Marine fighter combat team. Before Coral Sea, Midway and Guadalcanal, the Japanese Naval Air Force was an elite force, but it would never recover from the losses inflicted by those battles.


Excellent.

--

The General vs the President: MacArthur and Truman at the Brink of Nuclear War by H. W. Brands


An unexpected war in Korea led to a showdown between an unpopular president and a popular general, a pivotal moment in the history of post-World War II America, yet one now largely forgotten, just like the war that spawned it. As recounted by Brands, the episode is riveting. The war would damage the reputations of both men, yet as the conflict faded from memory, they would recover; the general would be remembered largely for his success in an earlier war while the president's plain speaking would appeal to Americans as their country experienced the disillusionment of Vietnam and Watergate. Brands takes us to the White House, the chambers of Congress, Wake Island and Tokyo as well as to the battlefields of Korea, providing a study of leadership and civil-military relations.


Fantastic.

[Irving Washington]

When you "highly recommended" Middlemarch, you should have said how damn long it is.

[LA Ute]

When you "highly recommended" Middlemarch, you should have said how damn long it is.

I’ve started it but it hasn’t grabbed me yet.

[Irving Washington]

If you get all the way through, I will.

[LA Ute]

If you get all the way through, I will.

I will give it another try tomorrow. Stay tuned.

[concerned]

If you get all the way through, I will.

Suck it up you slackers. You could have it worse. My daughter is making me read Infinite Jest. At least Middlemarch doesnt have footnotes. It is a wonderful.novel imho.

[LA Ute]

I read some more Middlemarch today. It’s starting to take hold of me.

[Irving Washington]

You're obviously farther along than I am. By the way, Concerned, it does have footnotes, which I'm ignoring.

[concerned]

You're obviously farther along than I am. By the way, Concerned, it does have footnotes, which I'm ignoring.


those are editor footnotes, not author footnotes, correct? IJ has 100 pages of author footnotes, and half the plot (so far) takes place in the footnotes. I have to keep flipping back and forth to try to figure it out.

[Irving Washington]

those are editor footnotes, not author footnotes, correct? IJ has 100 pages of author footnotes, and half the plot (so far) takes place in the footnotes. I have to keep flipping back and forth to try to figure it out.
I stand corrected. You can't expect an average student in Dr. Scanlon's regular English class to pick up on such a distinction.

[concerned]

I stand corrected. You can't expect an average student in Dr. Scanlon's regular English class to pick up on such a distinction.

You just have to read more contemporary fiction to know that authors like D F Wallace and Oscar Junot Diaz use footnotes as a literary device. it is a fad and annoying.

[sancho]

Finished a couple recently:

David Copperfield. Climbs past Oliver Twist into 3rd place on Dickens list. Uriah Heap sleeping in Copperfield's living room is an unforgettable scene.

Moonglow. First Chabon novel for me. Really liked it. Guy can write, and I'll probably read more now. One night, I couldn't sleep, so I turned on my Kindle to read. I happened to hit on the most powerful moment in the novel and didn't fall asleep for hours.

[LA Ute]

Finished a couple recently:

David Copperfield. Climbs past Oliver Twist into 3rd place on Dickens list. Uriah Heap sleeping in Copperfield's living room is an unforgettable scene.

Moonglow. First Chabon novel for me. Really liked it. Guy can write, and I'll probably read more now. One night, I couldn't sleep, so I turned on my Kindle to read. I happened to hit on the most powerful moment in the novel and didn't fall asleep for hours.

Copperfield is second on my list. Bleak House is first. (So far Dombey & Son is dead last.)

[Utebiquitous]

LA and all,
I'm intrigued by your Dicken's list - you list Bleak House and Copperfield before A Tale of Two Cities? You may just persuade me to read them. Tell me why. I've been in a nonfiction path for several months and I need something to rekindle my reading spirit. I love nonfiction but I've gotten into a little funk.

[sancho]

LA and all,
I'm intrigued by your Dicken's list - you list Bleak House and Copperfield before A Tale of Two Cities? You may just persuade me to read them. Tell me why. I've been in a nonfiction path for several months and I need something to rekindle my reading spirit. I love nonfiction but I've gotten into a little funk.

My list: Christmas Carol, Tale of Two Cities, David Copperfield, Oliver Twist, Hard Times. That's it. I need to read Great Expectations, Nickelby, and Bleak House.

[concerned]

Copperfield is second on my list. Bleak House is first. (So far Dombey & Son is dead last.)

I agree--Bleak House and Little Dorritt tied for no. 1. I have never read David Copperfield or Hard Times. My daughter read Hard Times this year and said it it was the worst thing she has ever read, FWIW.

[LA Ute]

I agree--Bleak House and Little Dorritt tied for no. 1. I have never read David Copperfield or Hard Times. My daughter read Hard Times this year and said it it was the worst thing she has ever read, FWIW.

I tried Hard Times but couldn't move forward, so I put it down and resolved to try again. There is, however, a character in that one with one of the best Dickensian names ever: Mr. Gradgrind.

There's a BBC/PBS production of Little Dorrit I liked a lot. A young Claire Foy plays Dorrit.

[sancho]

My daughter read Hard Times this year and said it it was the worst thing she has ever read, FWIW.

I liked it fine, but it wasn't as good as the others on the list.

[sancho]

I tried Hard Times but couldn't move forward, so I put it down and resolved to try again. There is, however, a character in that one with one of the best Dickensian names ever: Mr. Gradgrind.

Isn't McChokemchild in Hard Times?

[LA Ute]

My list: Christmas Carol, Tale of Two Cities, David Copperfield, Oliver Twist, Hard Times. That's it. I need to read Great Expectations, Nickelby, and Bleak House.

I don't consider A Christmas Carol a novel. It is simply Dickens' masterpiece and a true work of genius, IMHO.

I'll be going to see this over Thanksgiving:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UxcnYR3mcPU

[concerned]

Isn't McChokemchild in Hard Times?


nah, that is a Key and Peele football character.

[LA Ute]

Isn't McChokemchild in Hard Times?

LOL. I didn't get that far. Wackford Squeers, from Nickleby, is a pretty good one too.

[concerned]

I tried Hard Times but couldn't move forward, so I put it down and resolved to try again. There is, however, a character in that one with one of the best Dickensian names ever: Mr. Gradgrind.

There's a BBC/PBS production of Little Dorrit I liked a lot. A young Claire Foy plays Dorrit.

I will have to watch that on the treadmill. I love Claire Foy; she was terrific as Anne Boylen and QEII

[UBlender]

I will have to watch that on the treadmill. I love Claire Foy; she was terrific as Anne Boylen and QEII

Is that Jim Boylen's wife or daughter?

[concerned]

Is that Jim Boylen's wife or daughter?

Second wife. She was beheaded because the ball didn't go in the hoop.

[USS Utah]

The Man Who Save the Union: Ulysses S. Grant in War and Peace by H. W. Brands

As commanding general in the Civil War he had defeated secession and destroyed slavery, secession's cause. For all the honor paid Robert E. Lee for brilliance and daring, it was Grant who had the harder task in their epic struggle. Grant fought in enemy territory against an army that typically stood behind developed defenses; Grant had to win while Lee had merely to avoid losing. Attackers almost always suffer greater casualties than defenders, but Grant's casualties, as a portion of his army, were lower than Lee's. His mistakes were few and never decisive. And in the reckoning that overrode all others, he came out on top: he won the war.

Grant's presidency is largely remember now for scandals which he was never implicated in. Forgotten is his role in post-war reconstruction, in enforcing civil rights for African-Americans. Grant also offered American Indians a distinct peace policy from that of the aggressive exploitation favored by his predecessors and most of his contemporaries. Native Americans, like the African Americans, could not claim lasting success for Grant's endeavors on their behalf for his struggle for minority rights against majority hostility or indifference was a battle he couldn't win. Nonetheless, he waged a good and honorable fight.

This is an excellent biography.

--

Betty Zane by Zane Grey

Before Louis L'Amour, Zane Grey was known as the master of the western novel, yet his first book was a historical novel rather than a western. The book's principle character, Betty Zane, also happened to be Grey's great-great-grandmother. The novel takes place at Fort Henry, near present day Wheeling, West Virginia, during the final years of the American Revolution. Trouble is brewing with the Indians which culminates in a siege of Fort Henry. With the defenders running short of food and ammunition, Betty volunteers to fetch some gunpowder from a cache outside of the fort, which requires her to sprint under the guns of the enemy in broad daylight.

Excellent

--

The Great Depression: America, 1929-1941 by Robert S. McElvaine

An excellent, detailed analysis of the Depression, its causes, its remedies, the American culture as influenced by the Depression and of the two presidents tasked with dealing with it. The Depression would lead to a major cultural shift in the United States, one that would last until the Reagan Revolution of the 1980s.

I first read this book back in the late 1990s. I think I understood and comprehended more in this second reading. Fantastic.

[OrangeUte]

Here is a neat and tidy list of all the books we have read in my men's book society here in Northern California...

1. Gilead by Marilyn Robinson http://www.amazon.com/Gilead-Novel-M...eywords=gilead
2. The River of Doubt by Candace Millard http://www.amazon.com/River-Doubt-Th...river+of+doubt
3. East of Eden by John Steinbeck http://www.amazon.com/East-Penguin-T...s=east+of+eden
4. The Power of One by Bryce Courtenay http://www.amazon.com/Power-One-Nove...s=power+of+one
5. The Razor's Edge by M. Somerset Maugham http://www.amazon.com/Razors-Edge-W-...razor%27s+edge
6. Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl http://www.amazon.com/Mans-Search-Me...ch+for+meaning
7. Tenth of December by George Saunders http://www.amazon.com/Tenth-December...th+of+December
8. Angle of Repose by Wallace Stegner http://www.amazon.com/Angle-Repose-W...ngle+of+repose
9. A River Runs Through It And Other Stories by Norman MacLean for the 9th book. http://www.amazon.com/River-Through-...uns+through+it
10. Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, http://www.amazon.com/Fahrenheit-451...fahrenheit+451
11. The Complete Stories by Flannery O'Connor, https://www.amazon.com/Complete-Stor...ery+o%27connor
12. Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk, Ben Fountain. https://www.amazon.com/Billy-Lynns-L...+halftime+walk
13. Station Eleven, Emily St. John Mandel, Station Eleven https://www.amazon.com/dp/0804172447..._zelaybTRXWZ18
14. All The Kings Men, Robert Warren Penn. After this election I am really looking forward to reading this book. https://www.amazon.com/dp/0156012952..._siviybXMSDYAK
15. The Old Man And The Sea. Ernest Hemingway. https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/06848...vdL&ref=plSrch
16. A Gentleman in Moscow, Amor Towles, https://www.amazon.com/Gentleman-Moscow-Novel-Amor-Towles/dp/0670026190/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1488302338&sr=8-1&keywords=a+gentleman+in+Moscow
17. The Brothers Karmamazov, Fyodor Dostoevsky, https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/03..._st_dp_summary The Richard Peaver/ Larissa Volokhonsky translation. Looking very much forward to this one.
18. Underground Airlines, Ben Winters, https://www.amazon.com/Underground-Airlines-Ben-Winters/dp/0316261254/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1503510161&sr=8-1&keywords=underground+airlines
19. Miss Jane, Brad Watson, https://www.amazon.com/Miss-Jane-Novel-Brad-Watson/dp/0393354385/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1503510206&sr=1-1&keywords=miss+jane

And the next book is

20. The Frontiersmen, Allan Eckert, https://www.amazon.com/Frontiersmen-Narrative-Allan-W-Eckert/dp/0945084919/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1503510273&sr=1-1&keywords=the+frontiersmen

The Frontiersmen was great.

we are discussing our 21st book tonight:

21. The Magician of Lublin, Isaac Bashevis Singer, https://www.amazon.com/Magician-Lublin-Isaac-Bashevis-Singer/dp/0374532540

[chrisrenrut]

I listened to Sing, Unburied, Sing by Jesmyn Ward. It won the National Book Award this year. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/32920226-sing-unburied-sing

It took me a while to get into it, and it never really grabbed me like some books do. But I find that a few weeks later, it comes back to my memory move vividly than most other books do. Reading might be better for this one that listening. The narrator for the female part was a little too dramatic for my taste, and it distracted from the story a bit.

I'm listening to a Clancy book to cleanse the palate a bit, and then have Andy Weir's new book Artemis up next. I'm looking forward to that quite a bit. I loved The Martian.

[OrangeUte]

I listened to Sing, Unburied, Sing by Jesmyn Ward. It won the National Book Award this year. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/32920226-sing-unburied-sing

It took me a while to get into it, and it never really grabbed me like some books do. But I find that a few weeks later, it comes back to my memory move vividly than most other books do. Reading might be better for this one that listening. The narrator for the female part was a little too dramatic for my taste, and it distracted from the story a bit.

I'm listening to a Clancy book to cleanse the palate a bit, and then have Andy Weir's new book Artemis up next. I'm looking forward to that quite a bit. I loved The Martian.

That book was amazing, sing unburied sing, I mean. The traffic stop scene was subtle but really intense. The writing was beautiful and I love the story. It is very relevant, obviously, to some of the race issues we are still dealing with today. I believe that Jesmyn Ward deserved the national book award for this one.

[OrangeUte]

The Frontiersmen was great.

we are discussing our 21st book tonight:

21. The Magician of Lublin, Isaac Bashevis Singer, https://www.amazon.com/Magician-Lublin-Isaac-Bashevis-Singer/dp/0374532540

Magician of Lublin is fantastic. It has a very philosophical discussion of faith and doubt and of the role of religious traditions in our lives. it is definitely a book worth checking out.

Next up:

22. 100 Year Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared by Jonas Jonasson, https://www.amazon.com/100-Year-Old-Man-Climbed-Window-Disappeared/dp/1401324649/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1512597133&sr=8-1&keywords=100+year+old

Very much looking forward to reading this one.

[chrisrenrut]

I'm probably the last person to read The Goldfinch. I thought it was a good story, very well written, and the characters were interesting. But holy moly, it was about 2.5 time too long. I don't mind a long book as long as the story is moving along. But there were so many long narratives and descriptive passages that didn't add to the story at all. I found my self muttering to the author "I get it, you know how to describe things, move on!"

[concerned]

I'm probably the last person to read The Goldfinch. I thought it was a good story, very well written, and the characters were interesting. But holy moly, it was about 2.5 time too long. I don't mind a long book as long as the story is moving along. But there were so many long narratives and descriptive passages that didn't add to the story at all. I found my self yelling muttering to the author "I get it, you know how to describe things, move on!"

Agree 1000%. Especially the Park Avenue and Las Vegas sections

[LA Ute]

Agree 1000%. Especially the Park Avenue and Las Vegas sections

Yeah, they went on and on. I wonder what the conversations she had with her editor about that were like?

I still enjoyed the book. It was kind of Dickensian.

[chrisrenrut]

Yeah, they went on and on. I wonder what the conversations she had with her editor about that were like?

I still enjoyed the book. It was kind of Dickensian.

I recently re-watched all 5 seasons of The Wire. There is a newspaper manager in the 5th season that uses “Dickensian” a lot. Reminded me of you every time he said it.

[LA Ute]

I recently re-watched all 5 seasons of The Wire. There is a newspaper manager in the 5th season that uses “Dickensian” a lot. Reminded me of you every time he said it.

Now I can’t say I made that word up.

[USS Utah]

American Warlords: How Roosevelt's High Command Led America to Victory in World War II by Jonathan Jordan

An excellent history of America's civilian and military leaders during World War II, principally FDR, Henry Stimson, General George Marshall and Admiral Ernest King. There is, of course, a lot here for the author to cover, so it is not surprising that he does not give as detailed an analysis as you might like sometimes.

--

Die Trying by Lee Child

In the second Jack Reacher novel, the drifter and a random stranger are kidnapped and driven across country in the back of a panel van. Who was in the wrong place at the wrong time, Reacher or the woman? Where are they being taken and why? A lot of questions and few answers. Reacher has just one goal, to save them both, from the inside out, or die trying.

Excellent.

--

The Hunter Killers: The Extraordinary Story of the First Wild Weasels by Dan Hampton

On July 24, 1965, a USAF F-4 Phantom, became the first American combat aircraft to be shot down by a surface-to-air missile (SAM). A few days later a major strike mission was launched against the SAM site that had launched the SA-2 that had destroyed the Phantom -- a mission that came to be considered a fiasco. Not long after this the first volunteers began training to take on the SAMs, first flying the F-100 Super Sabre, and later the F-105 Thunderchief. The Wild Weasels, as they came to be known, flew behind enemy lines, into the teeth of the threat, to suppress and destroy, to hunt and kill, and to revolutionize air combat.

To understand the Weasels, one must understand the air campaign they supported, and to understand that campaign, one must understand the Vietnam War. To that end, the author provides excellent analysis of the war in Southeast Asia, interspersed between the stories of the Wild Weasels, which makes for a fantastic book.

--

Hunter-Killer: U.S. Escort Carriers in the Battle of the Atlantic by William T. Y'Blood

In the spring of 1943, the U.S. Navy turned its escort carriers loose in the Atlantic, to hunt and kill German U-boats. The hunter-killer groups sink 53 submarines and capture 1. The baby flattops, the aircrews and their escorts would be responsible for 31 percent of the U-boats destroyed by American forces. The author provides an excellent analysis of the tactics used to achieve this success.

--

True Faith and Allegiance by Mark Greaney

The final Jack Ryan novel for Greaney, and the author goes out strong with a story about a data breach involving security applications for U.S. military and intelligence operatives, cleverly paired with open source analysis of social media. The resulting targeting information is sold to ISIS operatives who use it to attack American servicemen and civilians on the home front. ISIS wants to pressure America into launching an invasion of the Middle East, the last thing President Jack Ryan wants to do.

Fantastic!

[USS Utah]

Men to Match My Mountains: The Monumental Saga of the Winning of America's Far West by Irving Stone.

A history of California, Nevada, Utah and Colorado from 1840 to the 1890s. After the period of exploration, the story in California, Nevada and Colorado is principally about mining for gold and silver, but in Utah it is about the Mormons and polygamy. Very well written, and I definitely enjoyed the beginning, but I wasn't that interested in mining -- not that it was very technical, it just wasn't what I was looking for. The chapters on Utah were excellent.

--

Silent Victory: The U.S. Submarine War Against Japan, Vol. 1 by Clay Blair.

An excellent history of the war under the Pacific during December 1941, 1942 and 1943, with an excellent recounting of the development of submarines and submarine warfare prior to the war. The author provides strong analysis of strategy and tactics while telling the stories of the standout war patrols.

--

The Thief by Clive Cussler

A pair of scientists develop a machine which will revolutionize movie making and Imperial Germany launches an operation to try and steel the machine. Van Dorn detective Isaac Bell signs on to protect the inventors and the machine. Great.

--

Horse Soldiers: The Extraordinary Story of a Band of US Soldiers Who Rode to Victory in Afghanistan by Doug Stanton

When al Qaeda hijacked four airliners and crashed three of them into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, America was unprepared to fight a war in Afghanistan. Two teams of Green Berets, U.S. Army Special Forces, were put on the ground to operate with the Northern Alliance in their fight against the Taliban. At the time, it was thought that the teams would be preparing for the campaign to take down the Taliban in the Spring of 2002. Instead, the U.S. Soldiers helped the Northern Alliance take Mazar I Sharif, the Taliban's principle stronghold in north Afghanistan, and this led to the fall of the Taliban, quicker than anyone had expected. But that victory was then threatened when Taliban prisoners held at a fortress in Mazar launched a deadly riot.

Excellent.

[chrisrenrut]

Just finished The Spoonbenders, a fun fiction about a family with mixed psychic powers in Chicago in the 90’s. I listened to it on audible and the narrator was fantastic, but I think reading it would be fun as well. It’s entertaining from the beginning, and jumps around in time and by character. Includes teenage angst, mobsters, federal agents, and a magician/con artist patriarch. Very much worth the time if you are looking to be entertained.

[USS Utah]

Countdown to Pearl Harbor: The Twelve Days to the Attack by Steve Twomey

The author covers more than just the last twelve days before the attack, using the each of those days as a spring board to events and personalities key to understanding the Day of Infamy. An excellent introduction to the subject, some readers, at least, will be inspired to read more about the road to Pearl Harbor and America's participation in World War II. Twomey is a great story teller.

--

Ballistic by Mark Greaney

The third installment of the Gray Man series finds Court Gentry fighting a war he didn't want against a Mexican drug cartel to protect the family of a man who once saved his life. Excellent.

--

The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11 by Lawrence Wright

The road to 9/11 may have begun in New York in the 1950s with the arrival of an Egyptian dissident, who later returned to his home country to be jailed and tortured as a radical Islamist. This man would inspire a movement in Egypt, some of whose members would later join forces with a group started by a wealthy Saudi dissident. When the Soviets invaded Afghanistan, many from Saudia Arabia and Egypt went to the Pakistan and Afghanistan to fight with the Mujahideen. The experience of the Osama bin Laden and the Arab Afghans, as they were called, bordered on the farcical, but out of it a legend was born. Because the truth did not match the legend, few in America could take it seriously when bin Laden declared war on the United States in the mid-1990s -- those that were aware of it, that is. Even after al Qaeda bombed U.S. embassies in Africa, and a navy destroyer in a Yemen harbor, only a handful of people considered the organization a threat. Part of the reason was that the FBI and the CIA were not sharing the information each had collected on bin Laden and al Qaeda.

A fascinating book that everyone should read.

--

Admiral Arleigh Burke by E. B. Potter

After excellent biographies of Admirals William Halsey and Chester Nimitz, Potter turns his attention to Arleigh Burke. After becoming a legend commanding a squadron of destroyers in the South Pacific, Burke was appointed as chief of staff to Admiral Marc Mitscher, commander of the Fast Carrier Task Force as it fought in the Marshall, Marianas, the Philippines and off Iwo Jima and Okinawa. After the war, Burke would be caught up in the Revolt of the Admirals before becoming a negotiator in the Korean War peace talks. Then President Eisenhower would select him over a long list of senior officers to be the Chief of Naval Operations; as one of the few to serve three year terms, Burke completed his service after the Bay of Pigs fiasco under President Kennedy.

Fantastic.

--

Murder Games by James Patterson

The inspiration for the new TV series Instinct, the story features a former CIA officer turned college professor and author who is called in to consult with the NYPD after a serial killer leaves his book on criminal behavior at a crime scene. I have found a certain humor in both the book and the TV series as neither takes themselves too seriously

Very good.

--

The 15:17 to Paris: The True Story of a Terrorist, a Train and Three American Heroes by Anthony Sadler, Alek Skarlatos, Spencer Stone, and Jeffrey E. Stern.

In the summer of 2015, three friends who grew up together in Sacramento, California, reunite for a backpacking trip through Europe. On the recommendation of an American they meet in Berlin, they elect to make an unplanned trip to Amsterdam, which they enjoyed so much they contemplated skipping their planned trip to Paris. Instead, they decide to make the trip to France, which puts them on the 15:17 to Paris on August 21, 2015. These are just a few of the coincidences that put the trio on the train -- had they not gone to Amsterdam, they would have taken a different route to Paris, had they stayed in Holland, they would not have been on the train -- that Ayoub al-Khazzani boarded in Belgium, armed with an AK-47 and enough ammunition to kill hundreds.

Excellent.

[sancho]

Moonglow. First Chabon novel for me. Really liked it. Guy can write, and I'll probably read more now. One night, I couldn't sleep, so I turned on my Kindle to read. I happened to hit on the most powerful moment in the novel and didn't fall asleep for hours.

Read Wonderboys as a follow up. Like Moonglow more, but Wonderboys was pretty good.

Just read The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler. I hadn't read detective noir for years (the Maltese Falcon), so this was fun. Now I need to find the old Bogart movie.

[USS Utah]

Pacific Cruicible: War at Sea in the Pacific, 1941-1942 by Ian Toll

I listened to an audio version of this a few years ago; at the time I did not know it was the first book of a trilogy, so I didn't really appreciate what the author was trying to do. Parts of the book were excellent, but as I did not have the full picture, I did not understand why they author spent time on certain subjects. Most of all, perhaps, I did not understand why, considering the title, the book concluded with the Battle of Midway, when the crucible continues with the naval battles of the Guadalcanal campaign.

From Pearl Harbor to Midway, a dramatic narrative tells the story of bravery and heroism in both the U.S. and Japanese navies. We learn about the elite force that was the Imperial Navy's air fleet. We also learn new details as to why the Empire of Japan chose to embark on war with the worlds greatest industrial power.

With the later understanding that this was just the first of three books, what the author was doing makes more sense, and the, in retrospect at least, this story of the first six months of the Pacific War is excellent.

--

The Conquering Tide: War in the Pacific Islands, 1942-1944 by Ian Toll

From Guadalcanal in August 1942 to the Marianas in June 1944, the allied offensive against Japan grows into an unstoppable wave of steel. A force of three aircraft carriers covered the landings on Guadalcanal, and these were withdrawn after two days. Almost two years later, a force of 15 aircraft carriers covered the landings on Saipan. Off Guadalcanal, well trained U.S. Navy fliers with the elite fliers of the Imperial Navy, and began to wear them down. Off Saipan, the elite Japanese pilots were few, mostly a memory, and they were overwhelmed by the American naval aviators.

Again the author takes us into the war councils in Washington and Tokyo, and into the staff planning at Pearl, Noumea and Truk. Again we learn of heroism and bravery in both fleets. During an interlude between the South and Central Pacific campaigns we learn of the industrial and logistical details of the conquering tide. The author also relates the story of the submarine USS Wahoo to represent the contribution of the U.S Navy's Silent Service.

I finished listening to this audio book a few weeks ago. Fantastic.

--

World War II at Sea: A Global History by Craig L. Symonds

In August 1942, while the U.S. Navy was beginning its offensive against Japan at Guadalcanal, the Royal Navy sent a vital convoy of ships to bring vital supplies to the beleaguered island of Malta. This is but one example of how the war at sea in two oceans was conducted concurrently. Often the strategic decisions made in one theater determined the decisions that had to be made in the other. Logistics also affected decisions in multiple theaters as a shortage of a key amphibious ship-type, and operations in the Mediterranean Sea led to a month's long delay for the landing in Normandy.

This is an great account of the a global war at sea. The book is marred, however, by multiple factual errors, mostly of small, relatively minor detail -- for example, reporting that British battleships were armed with 15-inch guns, when some had 16-inch and others 14-inch guns. The author is a distinguished professor at the U.S. Naval War College, and also a professor emeritus at the U.S. Naval Academy, where he taught for 30 years. I am inclined to give the author the benefit of the doubt and conclude that these were typos and other mistakes that should have been, but were not, caught in editing, by himself, any assistants or his editors. Otherwise, it is an enjoyable read.

--

The Trident Deception by Rick Campbell

Iran is ten days from assembling its first nuclear bomb, and a Mossad operation succeeds in issuing orders to the USS Kentucky, a Trident Ballistic Missile submarine, to launch its missiles against Iran. But something went wrong with the op, and the orders had to be given almost ten days in advance of the arrival of the the Kentucky to its operating area where she can finally go to battle stations missile. This gives America ten days to try stop the launch.

Excellent.

[sancho]

"Born to Run" by Bruce Springsteen. The Boss tells his story. Pretty good.

"All the Pretty Horses" by Cormac McCarthy. Love it. First McCarthy for me since Blood Meridian a few years ago. This is much less violent. A great story, well told.

[chrisrenrut]

A book came up on the Audible Daily Deal for 3 bucks that was intriguing, so I bought it and listened to it. It was intriguing because it is based in SLC, and written by a UofU Law School graduate. It’s called The Neon Lawyer, by Victor Methos. I guess he stil has a practice in SLC and Vegas.

It’s a short read, and reminded me a lot of a less wordy Grisham novel. A Time To Kill in particular, without the racial element. Might be a good beach read if you are interested, and the local references are fun.

[chrisrenrut]

A book came up on the Audible Daily Deal for 3 bucks that was intriguing, so I bought it and listened to it. It was intriguing because it is based in SLC, and written by a UofU Law School graduate. It’s called The Neon Lawyer, by Victor Methos. I guess he stil has a practice in SLC and Vegas.

It’s a short read, and reminded me a lot of a less wordy Grisham novel. A Time To Kill in particular, without the racial element. Might be a good beach read if you are interested, and the local references are fun.

[UTEopia]

Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson is about Stevenson’s experiences as a death row lawyer in Alabama starting in the 90’s and continuing today. In addition to writing about individuals, he weaves in a lot of information that highlights the racial issues in the criminal justice system. I was pointed to this book by Jazz player Ekpe Udoh, who has a book club.

[LA Ute]

I don’t think Thomas Hardy was a very happy guy. I am working my way through Jude the Obscure right now, and it’s not exactly uplifting me.

[NorthwestUteFan]

Jude is a weird book. I enjoyed Hardy's other books. Far From The Madding Crowd is great, and Tess of the D'Urbervilles is a masterpiece, particularly in the face of Victorian England.

Michael Ian Black read through Jude on a podcast ("Obscure"). The podcast was a lot of fun.

[LA Ute]

Jude is a weird book. I enjoyed Hardy's other books. Far From The Madding Crowd is great, and Tess of the D'Urbervilles is a masterpiece, particularly in the face of Victorian England.

Michael Ian Black read through Jude on a podcast ("Obscure"). The podcast was a lot of fun.

I enjoyed Far from the Madding Crowd. Tess was pretty good too, and so far ahead of its time. The Mayor of Casterbridge was the one that really sucked me in. I read somewhere that it was Hardy’s only book that made him weep while writing it. Michael Henchard is one of the most interesting characters I’ve ever read.

[concerned]

I don’t think Thomas Hardy was a very happy guy. I am working my way through Jude the Obscure right now, and it’s not exactly uplifting me.

Since you seem to have embraced full masochism mode, read all of Henry James next.

[LA Ute]

Since you seem to have embraced full masochism mode, read all of Henry James next.

I think Jude may be my last Hardy novel. It is quickly becoming one of those books which, once I put it down, I just can’t pick it up.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Mormon Red Death]

Been Reading and listening to a lot of Books lately Here's one I really liked

Competing Against Luck, A Story of Innovation - Clayton Christensen (https://www.amazon.com/Competing-Against-Luck-Innovation-Customer/dp/B01IIGPYGC) - Good book to read with a concise message about innovation. Recommend
The foremost authority on innovation and growth presents a path-breaking book every company needs to transform innovation from a game of chance to one in which they develop products and services customers not only want to buy, but are willing to pay premium prices for.
How do companies know how to grow? How can they create products that they are sure customers want to buy? Can innovation be more than a game of hit and miss? Harvard Business School professor Clayton Christensen has the answer.

[AleksanBeefe]

I think, it is interesting to share our own experience: what the books have you read in english and what of them did you like?For example, beginning from the theme author, I tried to read Maxim Gorky fairytales. They're interesting and are written with a rather well-understood language, but for those places, where he describes the nature, the landscape etc.Now I'm reading "Vanity Fair" by Charles Thackeray - I can not say this book to be very interesting - but may be the plot turns to become more interesting soon - who knows.

[Applejack]

I think, it is interesting to share our own experience: what the books have you read in english and what of them did you like?For example, beginning from the theme author, I tried to read Maxim Gorky fairytales. They're interesting and are written with a rather well-understood language, but for those places, where he describes the nature, the landscape etc.Now I'm reading "Vanity Fair" by Charles Thackeray - I can not say this book to be very interesting - but may be the plot turns to become more interesting soon - who knows.

Nice first post! Welcome internet bot!

[Scorcho]

I just finished "A Study in Scarlet" by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. He is the author of the Sherlock Holmes series. This book is the first in that series and explains how Holmes and Dr. Watson got introduced. Its a classic, written in 1854.

Surprisingly, half way through reading this Holmes and Watson are solving a murder in London and the story takes a dramatic shift to the Mormon Pioneers, polygamy and a sinister perspective of Brigham Young and the LDS Church. It follows this separate story line for several chapters before tying it back into the murder in London.

Odd premise, and possibly some of the earliest anti-LDS material out there, but I liked it.