Jump to content

2012 Book Thread


Texsox

Recommended Posts

Just finished a couple of good ones... First was Downfall by Richard Frank. It included some great source materials on the end of WWII with Japan and all of the information leading to the US dropping the atomic bomb on Japan. Instead of just presenting one side of things, they put materials out from both points of view and really offered a broad spectrum on the decision making process, and not just the decision. Great book.

 

Also Oklahoma City by Andrew Gumbel on the bombing of the Murrah Building. It really outlines the whole plot and trials, as well as a lot of what the federal government potentially left on the table in order to bury McVeigh and Nichols.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 429
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

  • 2 weeks later...
  • 3 weeks later...
QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Dec 31, 2012 -> 06:43 PM)
Also Oklahoma City by Andrew Gumbel on the bombing of the Murrah Building. It really outlines the whole plot and trials, as well as a lot of what the federal government potentially left on the table in order to bury McVeigh and Nichols.

**bump**

 

Driving cross country from AZ to Chicago last summer, we side-tracked to the OKC Memorial. I remember exactly where I was when the bombing happened, but I never really followed the story afterward. Not sure why. I wasn't expecting much, but the Memorial is very well done, and worth the trip if it's not too far out of your way. The letters that were taped up to the walls around the Memorial were heartbreaking.

 

Back to books - I'm listening to 11/22/63 now (kills time while at work), and I'm near the end. Do we count listening to books as reading? So far, it has elements of what King does best, and some of what he does worst. I find his longer books a little slow to get going (100 pages) while he introduces characters, then they hit their stride hard and are great until just before the end. For whatever reason, I'm usually not too impressed with his endings on the long stuff. Hope this is different.

 

Read "Gone, Girl" recently and liked it quite a bit. Easy read with some twists that I didn't expect.

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

QUOTE (Middle Buffalo @ Jan 30, 2013 -> 08:05 PM)
**bump**

 

Driving cross country from AZ to Chicago last summer, we side-tracked to the OKC Memorial. I remember exactly where I was when the bombing happened, but I never really followed the story afterward. Not sure why. I wasn't expecting much, but the Memorial is very well done, and worth the trip if it's not too far out of your way. The letters that were taped up to the walls around the Memorial were heartbreaking.

 

Back to books - I'm listening to 11/22/63 now (kills time while at work), and I'm near the end. Do we count listening to books as reading? So far, it has elements of what King does best, and some of what he does worst. I find his longer books a little slow to get going (100 pages) while he introduces characters, then they hit their stride hard and are great until just before the end. For whatever reason, I'm usually not too impressed with his endings on the long stuff. Hope this is different.

 

Read "Gone, Girl" recently and liked it quite a bit. Easy read with some twists that I didn't expect.

Absolutely. As a matter of fact, Stephen King wrote an article in EW a while back and talked about listening to books. He agreed that it is "reading" a book. I listen to probably 2 books a month driving to and from work. As far as 11/22/63, I thought it was one of King's best. And I liked the ending.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

QUOTE (pittshoganerkoff @ Jan 31, 2013 -> 06:10 AM)
Absolutely. As a matter of fact, Stephen King wrote an article in EW a while back and talked about listening to books. He agreed that it is "reading" a book. I listen to probably 2 books a month driving to and from work. As far as 11/22/63, I thought it was one of King's best. And I liked the ending.

 

That book was one of the best I have read in years and years.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

QUOTE (pittshoganerkoff @ Jan 31, 2013 -> 06:10 AM)
Absolutely. As a matter of fact, Stephen King wrote an article in EW a while back and talked about listening to books. He agreed that it is "reading" a book. I listen to probably 2 books a month driving to and from work. As far as 11/22/63, I thought it was one of King's best. And I liked the ending.

 

Got it for X-mas. Didn't know it was so big. Having trouble picking it up. Will probably start it on one of my train rides after I am done with the Dream Team.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Two classes this semester, Literary Theories and Topics in Lit History (Women Writers of the English Renaissance). Pretty cool starts to both classes. I may finally be understanding what Plato and Aristotle were saying about literature, art, and science. I'm presenting on Dante next week.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 months later...
  • 4 weeks later...

Anyone planning to read Inferno by Dan Brown? In looking at some of the reviews, I didn't realize there was so much love/hate for him and his books. I won't buy it until it's under $10 for the Kindle, but I'm sure I'll enjoy it like I've enjoyed all of his other books.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ May 15, 2013 -> 12:23 PM)
Anyone planning to read Inferno by Dan Brown? In looking at some of the reviews, I didn't realize there was so much love/hate for him and his books. I won't buy it until it's under $10 for the Kindle, but I'm sure I'll enjoy it like I've enjoyed all of his other books.

zzzzzzzzzz

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I just finished Killing Lincoln by Bill O-Reilly and Oliver Stone's History of the US. Killing Lincoln was decent. The Stone book was a miserable read. I have read a lot of the books that were referred to in Stone's work, and I can't tell you how many times he misrepresented or misinterpreted the original author's work to make it look like something it wasn't. It was just painful.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Listening to Jude the Obscure, a free librivox.org recording. Nice. Even though they are not professional recordings they are clean and error free. I'm getting a head start on next semester's reading list.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.

×
×
  • Create New...