What Are You Reading Now?

[Jeff Lebowski]

Wow, that was the worst I’ve ever done with predictions.

[ATTACH]8726[/ATTACH]

Come on. Zero out of three isn't bad.

[SteelBlue]

Come on. Zero out of three isn't bad.

Ha ha, right? What makes it even worse is that I’ve never even heard of 2/3. Oh well.

[SteelBlue]

This will probably be the year’s most memorable winner:

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I loved this pic of the staff at the little Press Democrat watching the announcements. Pure joy from a group who probably never imagined this could happen:

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[SteelBlue]

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Greer’s response to the win. Thread is pretty funny.

[BigPiney]

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Greer’s response to the win. Thread is pretty funny.

Thanks for posting the winners. I have been stuck lately not really getting into any books, so it is nice to see some that may be worth reading. I'm now 20% into The Idiot: a Novel. So far so good.

[happyone]

I recently finished John Suchet's Beethoven_The_Man_Revealed

my thoughts if anyone is interested

I'm currently reading a look at the US occupation of both Germany and Japan post WWII - to say all was not sweetness and light is a major understatement.

The Good Occupation

[pelagius]

The Island at the Center of the World: The Epic Story of Dutch Manhattan and the Forgotten Colony That Shaped America by Russell Shorto. I liked this book; A nice readable and interesting history of New Amsterdam. It suffers from the same problem as all of these types of books; I think it likely overestimates the lasting impact of the Dutch Colony on American culture and structure. Still, it's good.

[Jeff Lebowski]

Just finished Team of Rivals by Doris Kearns Goodwin. It is a bio of sorts - not just of Lincoln, but his entire cabinet: Seward, Chase, Stanton, Bates, etc. It won the Pulitzer for non-fiction in 2005. Goodwin spent 10 years researching/writing the book. I have had it in my queue for several years now but kept putting it off because of the 42-hr audio book length. Big mistake. It was fantastic - enjoyed every minute.

I have always admired Lincoln, but this book deepened my love and appreciation. Intelligent, witty, compassionate, magnanimous, wise, visionary, kind, self-deprecating, eloquent. I.e., polar opposite of Trump in just about every way imaginable. Easily my favorite president/American.

[clackamascoug]

Just finished Team of Rivals by Doris Kearns Goodwin. It is a bio of sorts - not just of Lincoln, but his entire cabinet: Seward, Chase, Stanton, Bates, etc. It won the Pulitzer for non-fiction in 2005. Goodwin spent 10 years researching/writing the book. I have had it in my queue for several years now but kept putting it off because of the 42-hr audio book length. Big mistake. It was fantastic - enjoyed every minute.

I have always admired Lincoln, but this book deepened my love and appreciation. Intelligent, witty, compassionate, magnanimous, wise, visionary, kind, self-deprecating, eloquent. I.e., polar opposite of Trump in just about every way imaginable. Easily my favorite president/American.

Based on your previous recommendation of Grant... I listened to it, and also watched the movie Lincoln with Daniel Day Lewis. Then I watched Ken Burns Civil War on Netflix. Between the three I really felt that I came to know Lincoln and appreciate his steady hand at the wheel during the most trying time in our nations history. Now you tell me there's another book...

sigh

[PaloAltoCougar]

Just finished Team of Rivals by Doris Kearns Goodwin. It is a bio of sorts - not just of Lincoln, but his entire cabinet: Seward, Chase, Stanton, Bates, etc. It won the Pulitzer for non-fiction in 2005. Goodwin spent 10 years researching/writing the book. I have had it in my queue for several years now but kept putting it off because of the 42-hr audio book length. Big mistake. It was fantastic - enjoyed every minute.

I have always admired Lincoln, but this book deepened my love and appreciation. Intelligent, witty, compassionate, magnanimous, wise, visionary, kind, self-deprecating, eloquent. I.e., polar opposite of Trump in just about every way imaginable. Easily my favorite president/American.

Agreed, a great book, and one that I've thought of frequently over the past couple of years. Visiting the Lincoln Memorial after I read that book was an especially emotional experience for me. And the differences between him and Trump couldn't be more stark. BTW, "Most people don’t even know [Lincoln]he was a Republican. Right? Does anyone know? A lot of people don’t know that. We have to build that up a little more.” Heaven help us.

[Jeff Lebowski]

Based on your previous recommendation of Grant... I listened to it, and also watched the movie Lincoln with Daniel Day Lewis. Then I watched Ken Burns Civil War on Netflix. Between the three I really felt that I came to know Lincoln and appreciate his steady hand at the wheel during the most trying time in our nations history. Now you tell me there's another book...

sigh

I have watched the Ken Burns Civil War series twice, read a Grant bio, and read Shelby Foote's 3-volume series on the Civil War, etc. But I still enjoyed the book very much and learned a ton of new information. I came to appreciate Seward and Stanton - both great men. One of the focus areas of the book is how Lincoln intentionally picked men for his cabinet that were direct political rivals (most of them were leading candidates in the republican primary). He didn't want "yes men", he wanted people with intelligence and ability. He then managed the group during arguably the most challenging 4 years in our country's history, skillfully leveraging their unique gifts and talents and masterfully dealing with jealousies and intrigue.

If you decide to take the plunge, I promise you won't be disappointed. Great book.

[happyone]

Team of Rivals is a fantastic read!

I just finished Winston Grooms look at Hood's invasion of Tennessee that culminated at the Battle of Nashville in the late fall/early winter of 1864, Shrouds of Glory: From Atlanta to Nashville

I haven't typed up my thought yet, but to summarize:

While not an in depth look at the campaign, at just over 300 pages it can't be. Mr Groom he does provide some interesting insights into both state of the Confederate Army IE the death rate of CSA General Officers was 18% compared to Union General Officers at 8%. He says the CSA was running out of qualified leaders by that point in the war, And John Bell Hood in particular was promoted a couple of levels above his compentacy. Also we want not healthy. He had lost the use of an arm at Gettysburg and had a leg taken of just below the hip at Chickamauga and was obviously in constant pain. He had to be strapped to his saddle. He hated the use of breastworks and did everything he could to avoid using them. He felt is sapped troops of "Fighting Spirit". Sounds like something out of WW I.

A fact I didn't know is that Hood and the Army of Tennessee had SIX chances to cut the Union Forces of Gen Scholfield off at Spring Hill and were not able to cash in any of them. This allowed Scholfield to get to Franklin and prepare defensive positions that devastated Hood's army when he was attacked a couple of day later.

Very readable and you can gain a understanding of the campaign - solid 4 stars.

Edit: I finally typed up my thoughts on Shrouds of Glory

I didn't think much of The Good Occupation

Reading it reaffirmed my belief in God, because according to the author, the Americans did nothing right in the occupations of Germany, Japan and Korea after the war. After reading this, the fact that the three countries turned out as well as they did is nothing short of a miracle

Problems included everything from a general dislike of occupying by the American people, both Civilian and Military, who wanted the soldiers home yesterday, the Anti-fraternization orders, rampant souvenir hunting - which the author states was nothing but another name for looting, the treatment of Displaced Persons and Jewish survivors of the concentration camps were according to the author, all problematic at best.

only a 3 star read for me.

[BigPiney]

Wow, that was the worst I’ve ever done with predictions.

[ATTACH]8726[/ATTACH]

Read the winner and the finalists.

Less: I could have done with a lot less. This was not that good. Just a book about a gay guy that runs from his problems, has a boring trip around the world. Lame. THere was a good line in the book about how you should never win the Pulitzer because it ruins things for the future. He was right, this should never have won the Pulitzer.

The Idiot: also not very good. Started out good and just got worse throughout, then nothing happened and then it ended.

In the Distance: This book was great. I highly recommend this one. Story of a immigrant wandering around the west in the 1900s. Has a run in with what I imagine are supposed to be mormons. I saw a great review of this on Goodreads- "It's like Cormac McCarthy, except good." Lol, exactly.


I also read just before this.

Ill be Gone in the Dark: This is story of the Golden State Killer. Not very well written, imo, but interesting and so scary that he got away with it forever. Yes, the author died while writing this, but it still could have been edited. Side note, a member of my ward growing up is briefly mentioned as an investigator.

Dunbar: this is a modern telling of King Lear. This was ok. This is part of the Hogarth Shakespeare series. http://hogarthshakespeare.com/ Next up is Jo Nesbo's Macbeth. Nesbo is awesome, so I can't wait.

[CardiacCoug]

Ill be Gone in the Dark: This is story of the Golden State Killer. Not very well written, imo, but interesting and so scary that he got away with it forever. Yes, the author died while writing this, but it still could have been edited. Side note, a member of my ward growing up is briefly mentioned as an investigator.

I agree this was disappointing — could have been much more interesting and better written.

The book that will be worth reading is when they put it all together over the next year now that they have the rapist/killer.

[RC Vikings]

Shoe Dog by Phil Knight Interesting guy