Book Talk
Well, when you get right down to it, it'll be more of a book comment than a talk. For the most part, my reading interest seems to always fall into the fiction realm. Something must be up though, because my last few selections are falling into the non-fiction category. If you read and liked the book The Endurance, the story of Shackleton's incredible voyage, you'll LOVE In the Kingdom of Ice by Hampton Sides. It's the amazing tale of journey of the USS Jeannette and her crew. On many occasions while turning the pages, I kept saying to myself, "This can't be happening". But it was and it did. Pick it up. What a story! If you have family who are members of the 'Greatest Generation' and who played a role in the the Good War, you'll want to read Laura Hillenbrand's Unbroken, the courageous story of heroism that is the life of Lou Zamperini. If you enjoy stories where a theme of 'against all odds' runs across each page, you'll want to put this book on your Christmas list. On more than one occasion, I couldn't stop thinking of what my Uncle Leonard and his plight aboard his B-17 must have gone through during his agonizing end. In some chapters, I had to put my finger between the pages, close the book and just stare off to blue sky. His was a life that might have been. The imagination is a pretty potent tool.
So, any recommendations for my bookstand?
It's a long winter up here.
LOVE book recommendations. Be sure to read All the Light We Cannot See, Anthony Doerr. That will get you back into fiction again. I've mentioned this before, and it still remains my favorite 2014 book, The Boys in the Boat. Hunker down and read both!!
ReplyDeletegreat recommendations! i need to start a good book!
ReplyDeleteI love classics - have you read East of Eden by Steinbeck? One of my favorites. I just requested The Boys in the Boat (from the library) for your brother, due to the fact that he loved the book Unbroken. It hasn't arrived yet - the reviews are great!
ReplyDeleteI'm currently reading Everything I Never Told you after seeing the recommendation on The Sunday Morning Show. Check out this list - good stuff! http://www.amazon.com/gp/browse.html?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&node=10207069011&pf_rd_s=product-alert&pf_rd_r=0H5YEQCRGKJAP37T0019&pf_rd_p=1970756302&pf_rd_t=201&rw_ref=amb_link_426585402_1&pf_rd_i=0143125478
All three sound fine, Birdman. I myself also thoroughly enjoy these authors of fiction--Michael Connelly, James Lee Burke, Greg Iles, David Baldacci, Phillip Margolin. For the best literary fiction, in my opinion, please read Mississippi author Eudora Welty's Losing Battles--it is vivid, humorous, and a page turner.
ReplyDeleteI've not been too fond of the books I've read lately but I can say an all time favorite of mine is "The Three Junes" by Julia Glass. When I was packing to move I came across my copy of "The Magus" by John Fowles. I've had that book since it first was published back in the 60's and over my life I've read it three times in search of a meaning behind it and I've always come up empty handed. I'm tempted to try it again and see if the years have given me more insight to help decipher the mystery.
ReplyDeleteI'd recommend "IBM and the Holocaust" by Edwin Black. "Slavery By Another Name" by Douglas A. Blackmon. "The Family" by Jeff Sharlet. "Internal Combustion" also by Edwin Black. "Jesus Neither God Nor Man" by Earl Doherty. That ought to take you through a couple of weeks. Enjoy!
ReplyDeleteI'll look into 'The Endurance' -- sounds great. I read 'Unbroken' a couple of years ago and couldn't put it down. Truly captivating. Remarkable life story. Have you read 'Shadow Divers' by Robert Kurson? True story of some scuba divers who discovered a WW II U-boat off the east coast...and there had been no record it being sunk. A real page turner! And, I presume you've read 'A Walk in the Woods'? If not, it's a humorous must-read about a middle-aged writer who attempts to hike the Appalachian Trail.
ReplyDeleteMy reading list is quite similar to Lynette's right now. I am presently going through a lot of the Reacher series by Lee Child. Mysteries are my friend. I loved The Magus back in the day too.
ReplyDelete"Young Men and Fire," is always top of my rec list. I wrote a review on my blog 7/1/13 -- this is how it opens: In 1974, when author Norman Maclean started his book about the Mann Gulch fire, where 13 young men -- Smokejumpers who parachuted from the sky -- perished, he, like the century, was in his 70's, and didn't realize it would consume the last decade of his life. Though that fact wouldn't have surprised him. The book is about mortality; an old man writing about what it feels like to die young.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure that you'd want to read about snow... But I'm into Montana and Wyoming winter literature at the moment...
ReplyDeleteThansk for the recommendations. I've read Hillenbrand's book on Seabiscuit, so I like her writing style.
ReplyDeleteI took Kate up on her "Boys in the Boat" recommendation and loved it, as did my book club. It's a great read. Bryson's "A Walk in the Woods" is fun, too.
ReplyDeleteNice job!
ReplyDeleteALOHA from Honolulu
ComfortSpiral
=^..^= . <3 . >< } } (°>
Read, who had the time. Hoping to find some soon.
ReplyDeleteI don't know how it happened. I was once a great lover of literary fiction but that's cooled over the years. Now I read physics, cosmology, neuropsychology and economics. I'm working my way through Picketty's Capital In The 21st Century but it's a tough slog.
ReplyDeleteI think I may be the only one who hasn't read Unbroken. It is on my list.
ReplyDeleteThese sound good. I have pretty much given up on the newer fiction since I have not found a good book in years.
ReplyDeleteSorry not much of interesting lately. My last interesting read was The Great Game by Peter Hopkirk, a fascinating book about the struggle for Central Asia between the Russian and the British empires. I'll take both your suggestions gladly!
ReplyDeletebut I'll take both your suggestions gladly!
I don't have especially good recommendations at the moment. I have been reading easy stuff that I can breeze through. But of those mentioned above, if you have not read The Boys in the Boat, get it. I can't imagine that a guy like you hasn't already read A Walk in the Woods, but if you haven't, get that, too, and prepare to laugh until the tears roll.
ReplyDeleteRats! I was just going to say "The Boys in the Boat" but Jack beat me to it. It is non-fiction and captivating. I loved Unbroken, but my husband could not get through it for the horrible things Zamperini survived. Did you know that he just passed away this year at age 94 or 95?
ReplyDeleteOthers: In the Garden of Beasts, the Forgotten 500 (amazing untold story), The Bridge at Andau
Thanks, Mr. Bird,
Genie