What Are You Reading Now?

[PaloAltoCougar]

Finally got around to Passage to Power, the (presumably) penultimate volume in Robert Caro's LBJ biography, covering the late 50s through 1964. Like the previous volumes, the book's great. Particularly interesting is the almost minute-by-minute breakdown of the day JFK was assassinated, but from LBJ's viewpoint. I've been fascinated by the several impeachable offenses LBJ committed, including his insistence on the Houston Chronicle's support for his presidency and his '64 campaign in exchange for federal approval of a newspaper merger. The Chronicle, a long-time GOP-backing paper, then backed LBJ and got the approval; it wouldn't back another Democratic candidate until 2008. It's nice the Democrats eventually became aware during the Trump Administration of the evils of seeking a quid pro quo.

[LiveCoug]

Booo. I like to hear it at normal speed. My wife listens at at least 1.4 though. Sounds like adult chipmunks.

I used to be that way. Normal speed only. At this point I'm totally acclimated to the higher speeds. Normal speed sounds so slow and drones on.

[Non Sequitur]

Finally got around to Passage to Power, the (presumably) penultimate volume in Robert Caro's LBJ biography, covering the late 50s through 1964. Like the previous volumes, the book's great. Particularly interesting is the almost minute-by-minute breakdown of the day JFK was assassinated, but from LBJ's viewpoint. I've been fascinated by the several impeachable offenses LBJ committed, including his insistence on the Houston Chronicle's support for his presidency and his '64 campaign in exchange for federal approval of a newspaper merger. The Chronicle, a long-time GOP-backing paper, then backed LBJ and got the approval; it wouldn't back another Democratic candidate until 2008. It's nice the Democrats eventually became aware during the Trump Administration of the evils of seeking a quid pro quo.

I downloaded from Audible, The Power Broker and Means of Ascent after listening to this wonderful podcast: https://omny.fm/shows/conan-o-brien-...nd/robert-caro. Robert Caro is a fascinating character.

[Clark Addison]

Most audio books I am listening to, I am enjoying, and don't particularly want them to end, so I listen at normal speed. Sometimes the narrator is a slow talker, or the book is a bit of a slog, so I push it up to 1.1 or 1.2.

[chrisrenrut]

Just for finishing up Hail Mary, by Andy Weir of The Martian fame. He tells a good story. I look forward to times to when I can listen, and am sad to be coming to the end.

This is a bit mor on the “fi” side of Sci-fi, where The a Martian was more of the “Sci”. but it’s a fun read.

[BigPiney]

Just for finishing up Hail Mary, by Andy Weir of The Martian fame. He tells a good story. I look forward to times to when I can listen, and am sad to be coming to the end.

This is a bit mor on the “fi” side of Sci-fi, where The a Martian was more of the “Sci”. but it’s a fun read.

Finished the other day. I enjoyed it. I read it, but I heard the audiobook was very well done.

[happyone]

I haven't updated my reading list here in a loooooong time

I'm currently reading a new look at the Western front in WWI, conveniently titled The Western Front by Nick Lloyd.
It is the first volume a proposed trilogy on the war. The other two volumes will cover the Eastern Front and then all other theaters of the War

The other one is a HF novel that is new take on the Robin Hood legend - Nottingham

both are shaping up to be pretty good reads.

[happyone]

Some others that I've read in the last few months that I thought were really good

The Great Escape = The real story behind the 1960s movie

Gods of War -The authors look at six great military rivalries in history, starting with Hannibal v Scipio and ending with Rommel v Montgomery/Patton. Very interesting read. There take is that the "Military Genius" often didn't win in the end (Hannibal, Napoleon, Lee, Rommel among others). The author in choosing those to include, said that there had to be a near peer to the acknowledged Genius. This eliminated many men who are considered "geniuses".

Congress at War - A study of the US Congress' role in the civil war and abolition of slavery

The Great Influenza - Not just a look the 1918 Spanish Flu epidemic, but the changing nature of American Medicine and medical education. I gave this one 5 stars

God's Shadow - A biography of Selim the Grim who was the Ottoman Sultan for 1512-1520 and the father of Suliman the Magnificent was well as the Grandson of the Conqueror of Constantinople, Mehmed II. An interesting look at succession in the Ottoman Empire (there really wasn't one other than one had to be male, the son of the previous Sultan not the son of one of the legitimate wives of the previous Sultan. The nature of slavery in the Empire v the Western World is also explored.

The Zealot and the Emancipator - Historian H.W. Brands (both a very good historian and writer) compares and contrasts John Brown and Abraham Lincoln and their approaches to ending slavery.

Twilight of the Gods - The final volume of Ian Toll's trilogy on the Pacific War. Covers the time for the MacA, Nimitz, FDR strategy session on how the Pacific War was to proceed in July of '44 through to Occupation of Japan. This was a 5 star read for me.

The Mystery of Charles Dickens - An interesting look at the contradictions in Dicken's life.

Chicago's Great Fire = A history of the 1870 Chicago fire that burned down most of the city. How it started, how the construction of most of the buildings (very dry wood) fed the fire and made it impossible to fight, mistakes city leadership made, before, during and after are all covered.

[PaloAltoCougar]

I'm only halfway through, but Isabel Wilkerson's Caste: the Origins of our Discontents, is a very good book. It has been especially useful as I've been reading about the 1619 Project vs. the 1776 Project, where both sides seem to be talking past each other most of the time. A strong recommend from me.

[SeattleUte]

Sadly, just finished Louis Menand’s latest work, “The Free World: Life and Thought in the Cold War.” One of the best books I’ve ever read. Menand could have provided 10,000 pages of this stuff, and I’d have devoured all of it. If you want to better understand the epoch that is the proximate cause of our times, and, if you’re a thoughtful boomer or exer, better understand your childhood, read this book.

Also recently read The Emigrants, by W.G. Sebald. Powerful short stories and meditations on secularized Jews who lived at the edge of the Holocaust and survived it, the lasting ties to their origins (for some despite their inventions) and psychic injuries. Now I need to get to Austerlitz.

[SeattleUte]

I'm only halfway through, but Isabel Wilkerson's Caste: the Origins of our Discontents, is a very good book. It has been especially useful as I've been reading about the 1619 Project vs. the 1776 Project, where both sides seem to be talking past each other most of the time. A strong recommend from me.

I haven’t read this book, but have felt that yes, they’re talking past one another. Both sides are legitimate, but what many on each side needs is a better understanding of the power of tolerance, informed and civil debate, and diversity of ideas. History is ever fluid and being revised. This understanding has been a key to our country’s success. Ideas, not ideology.

[SeattleUte]

About a month ago I finished In Search of Lost Time, Proust. The Free World put me onto a Cold War kick. I read DeLillo's Underworld. Loved it, and I rarely love novels that are not translated (as many here will recall). I am reading The Magic Mountain, Mann. Loving it. I'm tweeting about it in my cyber book club. On 9/15 Tolstoy Together starts again with A Public Space, and I'll read War and Peace again. Pick up Yiyun Li's book coming out next month from A Public Space about Tolstoy Together I. Many of my tweets are in it, along with tweets from Joyce Carol Oates, Alexandra Schwartz, and many other famous writers.

Still on my Cold War kick, I'm reading DeLillo's Libra, about to finish it up. Loving it. Still on my Menand kick, I read The Metaphysical Club, 20 years too late, but the book is as relevant as ever, probably more so. Loved it.

[UtahDan]

Working my way through The Stormlight Archive. The older I get the more I read just to escape. I'm not as highbrow as you cats lol.

[SeattleUte]

Working my way through The Stormlight Archive. The older I get the more I read just to escape. I'm not as highbrow as you cats lol.

For some reason LDS culture produced disproportionate numbers of entrepreneurs, NFL quarterbacks, and fantasy novelists.

[Pelado]

For some reason LDS culture produced disproportionate numbers of entrepreneurs, NFL quarterbacks, and fantasy novelists.

When is your next book dropping?