What Are You Reading Now?

[Flattop]

Vietnam: A History by Stanley Karnow

A comprehensive look at both sides of the conflict. A must read for those who want to understand the Vietnam War.

Fantastic!

[woot]

Vietnam: A History by Stanley Karnow

A comprehensive look at both sides of the conflict. A must read for those who want to understand the Vietnam War.

Fantastic!

I wrote my junior thesis at BYU about LBJ's handling of the war, and remember really liking that book, along with "Where the Domino Fell" and one with a title like "10,000 days of war" or something. "Dereliction of Duty" and "The Wrong War" were also really good from a more critical standpoint.

[happyone]

Well, I've had time to catch up on my reading this week. Been staying with my Mom in the Hospital, to let my father get some rest. He refuses to let he be alone.

Finished Conspirata. It takes place between 63-58BC and is about Cicero's battles to perserve the Roman Republic against Catiline in particular, and Crassus, Ceaser, and Pompey in general. I enjoyed it. It told from the view point of Cicero's scibe Tiro, who wrote a biography of Ciciro that has been lost.

I also read Outliers. I really can't add much to what has already been said about it. Good read.

I've started The Sisters who Would be Queen by Leanda de Lisle about the Lady Jane Grey, the nine day queen, and her sisters. The Greys were in the line of succession for the English Crown after Edward VI and probably had a better claim to the throne than Mary and Elizabeth I.

[happyone]

Vietnam: A History by Stanley Karnow

A comprehensive look at both sides of the conflict. A must read for those who want to understand the Vietnam War.

Fantastic!

One of the best books I've read about Viet Nam

[Jeff Lebowski]

I just started the Civil War trilogy by Shelby Foote. 30 pages down, about 3000 to go. (gulp)

Midway through the first book and loving it. Foote is an outstanding writer and the level of detail is wonderful. For example, I have read about the battle between the CSS Virginia and the USS Monitor before, but it was a much different experience this time knowing the background/events leading up to the battle and the stakes. Spellbinding.

Very much looking forward to the rest of it.

[pellegrino]

I hesitate to participate in this thread because nearly all of what I read has to do with work and therefore it is inaccessible to English audiences or . . . less than pleasurable. Nonetheless, in one of my courses we've been reading Ignazio Silone's Bread and Wine. I listed a link in HFN's 20 in 2010 thread.

It's a great story about an Italian socialist who for health reasons has returned (clandestinely) from exile to fascist Italy. While there his cover is a priest and he spends most of his time in a rural, backwater town recuperating from his illness and trying to win over "converts" to his cause. Those familiar with the Bible will enjoy the allusions even though its underlying message is anti-conformist as it interprets the Bible as a document that encourages social justice more so than as a means to find salvation and spiritual enlightenment.

I first read this book as an undergrad and I remember liking it. I read it again for a class I taught several years ago and it struck me as an important take on how to live an active life where the gospel's principles and ideals of love for the other become more than just good words to live by but the reasons for living. I've thought a lot about it today and this weekend as we're preparing to finish it in class. I've thought about its relationship to my own life and the way I view God, Jesus Christ, and the church to which I belong. I've thought about how Silone views Christ as the original revolutionary, a non conformist seeking to better the lives of those around him and always fighting for the greater good. I have also thought about many of you, believers, both orthodox and heterodox, the apostates and heretics as well and it has made me profoundly grateful for the diversity of thought, opinions and value systems that exist in my world and allow me to embrace both harmony and dissonance. In the end, that's what Silone is trying to accomplish with this book, blend two outwardly opposing systems of thought to show the commonality of mankind.

If any of you feel so inclined to read this book let me know. I'd love to discuss it further.

[dabrockster]

Finished "Day of Infamy" and am looking at another book. I like the submarine one mentioned above. Or I may go for a fiction spy book...

[statman]

On the Brink: Inside he Collapse of the Global Financial System - by Henry Paulson.

[ame="http://www.amazon.com/Brink-Inside-Collapse-Global-Financial/dp/0446561932"]Amazon.com: On the Brink: Inside the Race to Stop the Collapse of the Global Financial System (9780446561938): Henry M. Paulson: Books@@AMEPARAM@@http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/515BbI28LpL.@@AMEPARAM@@515BbI28LpL[/ame]

I am about 2/3 done - and I'm really interested in the final 1/3.

I work at a bank in an area not really related to the 'Treasury' function - but I have a friend who works in the Treasury for my current company, and two others who do that sort of stuff for my last company. When the shit really hit the fan - when commercial paper collapsed, and neither company could get short-term financing, I heard about how bad it was.

I'm currently at the part of the timeline where I knew how bad things were. Well before the majority of the American public (most still don't have a clue), but well after the crisis was fully underway.

I'll be interested to see how he explains the time period when I actually knew what was going on...

Unlike many of the Amazon reviews, I think the book is pretty revealing Paulson plainly admits the times when he and his team misread the situation and blew it. It also shows the constraints they were under - why they could bail out Bear Sterns, but not Lehman, for instance. I think it's a great read, not the white-wash that the 1=star raters give it...

[OhioBlue]

Finished Freakonomics (yes I was late to that party) and now starting SuperFreakonomics. Looking forward to it.

[John McClain]

I'm reading the New Testament in French. There are some differences from the King James version that are interesting.

[frank ryan]

I started reading "Consumed"

[ame="http://www.amazon.com/Consumed-Markets-Children-Infantilize-Citizens/dp/0393330893/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1267893631&sr=8-1"]Amazon.com: Consumed: How Markets Corrupt Children, Infantilize Adults, and Swallow Citizens Whole (9780393330892): Benjamin R. Barber: Books@@AMEPARAM@@http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41q4FqHE6eL.@@AMEPARAM@@41q4FqHE6eL[/ame]


I have also been rereading the Looming Tower.

Most recently I finished read "Not in Kansas Anymore."

It is about a woman who goes and visits different practitioners of voodoo, witchcraft etc. Interesting read

[ame="http://www.amazon.com/Not-Kansas-Anymore-Curious-Transforming/dp/0060726784/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1267893790&sr=1-3-spell"]Amazon.com: Not In Kansas Anymore: A Curious Tale of How Magic Is Transforming America (9780060726782): Christine Wicker: Books@@AMEPARAM@@http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51AT8SXFDAL.@@AMEPARAM@@51AT8SXFDAL[/ame]


Up next is Sara Vowell's "The Wordy Shipmates."

[MarkGrace]

The New York Regional Mormon Singles Halloween Dance.

I have to admit that I'm getting a bit of a kick out of it.

[Green Lantern]

The New York Regional Mormon Singles Halloween Dance.

I have to admit that I'm getting a bit of a kick out of it.

Hey, the author (Elna Barker? Am I getting that right?) was just on NPR last week. It made me want to check out the book. Keep us posted.

[MarkGrace]

Hey, the author (Elna Barker? Am I getting that right?) was just on NPR last week. It made me want to check out the book. Keep us posted.

Yeah, she was.
[YOUTUBE]
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[LA Ute]

I just finished The Brothers Karamazov. It's hard to say much, other than that reading it as a 25-years-older version of myself made a huge difference. What an amazing novel. For those who haven't read it yet, let me just assure you: it rewards effort and really is a novel worth studying as much as reading. Don't rush through it. Dostoevsky has a lot to say about some important subjects for anyone who cares enough about life, suffering and religion to think hard about belief and non-belief, and everything associated with either one.

Next I'm going to read Animal Farm again to see how different it might look to me now.

EDIT: Thanks to SU for inspiring me to read TBK again. Yes, SU, you are capable of being inspirational.