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What Are You Reading Right Now?

Blood Moon (An American epic of war and splendor in the Cherokee nation) John Sedgwick
 
The Cold War's Killing Fields (rethinking the long peace) Paul Thomas Chamberlin
 
Making the Arab World (Nasser, Qutb, and the class that shaped the Middle East) Fawaz A Gerges
 
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Deals with the Trump administrations war on the US intelligence community.
 
The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins.

It's not often that I actually pull myself from the computer and open up a book. I have a very short attention-span.
 
I just finished The Book of Dust by Philip Pullman. It was a book I would never have considered if a bookseller lady at Eason's in Dublin had not assured me that I'd read the entire book before I touched down in Arizona. I have purchased books at her suggestion in the past. She's always been bang on. Book of Dust turned out to be a hell of good read. Very different to my experience but excellent.

After watching the DCI Banks series on Netflix I decided to read the books. Two days ago I started Gallows View by Peter Robinson. It is much like the DCI Banks video series. Excellent. Good plot, good character development, very good dialogue, sometimes humorous.

Tuesday I began reading Fear by Bob Woodward. It's early in the book but it appears to be a well documented, researched and certainly well written book about the shortcomings, deep character flaws and the early, continuing chaos that is Donald Trump's life. I've long believed Trump to be a magnet for people who share many of his same traits. His work and social life have been and is full of such people. This is not a book for Trump apologists.
 
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Read Fear by Bob Woodward

Reading: Chernobyl (The history of a nuclear catastrophe) Serhll Plokhy
 
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From Yale History Professor Timothy Snyder - A stunning new chronicle of the rise of authoritarianism from Russia to Europe and America.
 
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We Were Soldiers by Harold Moore- I watched the Mel Gibson movie years back, and it seems the book covers only half the story. There was another, more brutal battle that occurred after the one depicted in the movie, and American forces got slaughtered in it. Very tense, very harrowing narrative. 8.5/10

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Flags of Our Fathers by James Bradley- I also watched the Clint Eastwood movie of this and just got started. So far so good.
 
my wife and i just read the audiobook versions of these two books :

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i would recommend both, but i won't spoil anything. looking forward to checking out the film version of the second one.
 
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Black Wind by Clive Cussler- reading it for both fun and research. Not bad at all. 7/10


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Zombie Survival Guide by Max Brooks- While it certainly is entertaining, I dont think its as good as World War Z. 6.5/10
 
The 1950s - David Halberstam. Finished it finally, may have posted earlier. Very interesting and well-written, but also a bit on the long side. 733 pages & smallish print.

Almost done with:

A backpack, a bear, and eight crates of vodka" - Lev Golinkin (re: Ukranian Jew's escape from collapsing Soviet Russia, and then re-connection with various people involved nearly 20 years later)

A hat full of sky (Terry Pratchett).




I think next: Palm Sunday (Kurt Vonnegut)
 
I lied. I finished that but instead of Palm Sunday, I started "Mass: the quest to understand matter from Greek atoms to quantum fields" (Jim Baggott).
 
Mr Person said:
I lied. I finished that but instead of Palm Sunday, I started "Mass: the quest to understand matter from Greek atoms to quantum fields" (Jim Baggott).
Click to expand...

Oh, for a moment there I thought you were reading a Catholic book...
 
my wife and i just started this one :

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i recommend the whole series. it has a lot of Sherlock Holmes and Agatha Christie feel. every book has been good.
 
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Koko- Peter Straub: I've been meaning to read Straub for years, and so I jumped at the chance when I got a used copy of Koko. It's about a group of Vietnam veterans who are on the hunt for a serial killer, a man they think was part of their unit. Straub is a good writer, he puts in a lot of details and is able to get inside the minds of various characters. But I couldn't finish this book, and here's why:

The characters make a lot of baffling and stupid decisions that just seemed to make the book go on and on- one of them even gets killed, when all he had to do was to call the police. It seems the protagonists end up doing a lot of moronic things in order to keep the story going, and that's a big no-no in my view. I knew who the serial killer was right away, so there was no mystery either.

All in all, somewhat disappointing. I'll try reading another of his books, and see if he can redeem himself. Rating: N/A


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The Trench- Steve Alten: I read this strictly for research purposes. It's a sequel to THE MEG, about a not so extinct Megalodon shark. This one has more of the same and pretty much reads like a sci-fi story with all these futuristic submarines going into the deepest parts of the oceans, and discovering a lost prehistoric environment. The whole thing is just too unbelievable to be taken seriously. I think I can write a better story, and so I'm putting that to the test early next year. Rating: 4/10
 
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The undercover reporter tackles two tasks simultaneously. He is hired by CCA (Corrections Corporation of America) as a $9 an hour guard at the 1,500 inmate Winn Correctional Center in Winnfield, Louisiana. His insider description of his training, job duties, CCA indifference to abuse/conditions inside the facility, and facility corruption are damming. The author also explains how Winn and private prisons in the US are the stepchildren of state efforts after the civil war to continue black slavery under the guise of prison work. Southern states purchased former cotton/sugar plantations, hired outside contractors to manage production, and made millions off of what essentially was prison labor that significantly undercut free labor. And by state law, whippings in the fields and other tortures were allowed. Today's private prisons are a continuation of this dark history.
 
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