What Are You Reading Now?

[happyone]

you seem to read such interesting books.

What can I say - to some (maybe most) they are probably as boring and all get out I love history and have recentantly developed a taste for mysteries

Any way I finished Six Frigates. It covers the time from when the ships were first proposed (1792 ) through the end of the War of 1812. The book is broken into 3 parts - the quasi war with France, the war with Tripoli (...To the Shores of Tripoli... fame - for DevilDog) and the War of 1812.

A little dry is spots, but for a history buff, or Navy buff a must read

Some interesting tidbits

The original order was an early example of Pork Barrel politics - the Frigates were purposely built in ship yards in 6 different states.

The republicans, led by Jefferson and Madison, were adamantly opposed to the ships - they said they were not needed and too expensive

When the Jacobeans came to power in France, they authorized privateers against American shipping and the shipping losses forced the Republicans hand.

The ships were constructed under oversight of the Army (Sec of War) because there was no navy dept

During the War of 1812, the British Admiralty eventually forbade Royal Navy frigates from taking on US frigates one on one.

In the last year of the war two of the six frigates were captured by the Royal Navy and taken into British service

I also finished a nice little mystery

[ame="http://www.amazon.com/Grounds-Appeal-Richard-Pryor-Mysteries/dp/0727881078/ref=tmm_hrd_title_0?ie=UTF8&qid=1329346898&sr=1-3"]Amazon.com: Grounds for Appeal (Richard Pryor Mysteries) (9780727881076): Bernard Knight: Books@@AMEPARAM@@http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51h5k7pzuxL.@@AMEPARAM@@51h5k7pzuxL[/ame]

This is the third entry into a mystery series set in 1950 Wales - nothing deep or earth shattering, but nice brain candy and a quick read

Currently reading a new biography of Mary I of England, half sister to Elizabeth

[ame="http://www.amazon.com/Mary-Tudor-Princess-Bastard-Queen/dp/1400066093/ref=sr_1_4?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1329347208&sr=1-4"]Amazon.com: Mary Tudor: Princess, Bastard, Queen (9781400066094): Anna Whitelock: Books@@AMEPARAM@@http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51W5-krhEeL.@@AMEPARAM@@51W5-krhEeL[/ame]

[creekster]

If this is the one by Ian Mortimer - I rather liked it. I was definately different.

One in the same. I enjoyed it more than I expected. If you like that time period I would recommend it.

[BigPiney]

The kids and I recently finished the first book in The Mysterious Benedict Society. All enjoyed it. [ame="http://www.amazon.com/Mysterious-Benedict-Society-Trenton-Stewart/dp/0316057770"]Amazon.com: The Mysterious Benedict Society (9780316057776): Trenton Lee Stewart, Carson Ellis: Books@@AMEPARAM@@http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51HnHhI3itL.@@AMEPARAM@@51HnHhI3itL[/ame]

I recommend for ages 10 and up.

I started The Lotus Eaters, because it was at the library and I heard a lot about it on the radio as being recommended. So far, 100 pages in, meh.

[MarkGrace]

A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again - David Foster Wallace

[old_gregg]

A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again - David Foster Wallace

one of my favorites

[SportUTE]

Thinking, Fast and Slow

A must read[ame="http://www.amazon.com/Thinking-Fast-Slow-Daniel-Kahneman/dp/0374275637/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1329517244&sr=8-1"]Amazon.com: Thinking, Fast and Slow (9780374275631): Daniel Kahneman: Books@@AMEPARAM@@http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41OYtkxKAoL.@@AMEPARAM@@41OYtkxKAoL[/ame]

[hopfrog]

Finally got my contributor's copy of MONSTERS & MORMONS, what contains thirty tales of LDS fantasy, horror and science-fiction. It's a huge paperback (over 500 pages) and is also available as ebook (you can download it at Amazon). The editors are Wm. Morris and Theric Jepson, and there is a preface by Terryl Givens (his magnificent history/study of the BoM, BY THE HAND OF MORMON, was published by Oxford University Press in 2002). My own story is "Recompense of Sorrow," and concerns the supernatural aspect and usage of Joseph Smith's Jupiter Medallion, a small disk-like object that is rumored to have been found on the Prophet's person after his murder, and by which he communed with angels. The cover is kick-ass, shewing two Sister missionaries battling what looks like a beastie out of the fiction of H. P. Lovecraft.

[BigPiney]

Finally got my contributor's copy of MONSTERS & MORMONS, what contains thirty tales of LDS fantasy, horror and science-fiction. It's a huge paperback (over 500 pages) and is also available as ebook (you can download it at Amazon). The editors are Wm. Morris and Theric Jepson, and there is a preface by Terryl Givens (his magnificent history/study of the BoM, BY THE HAND OF MORMON, was published by Oxford University Press in 2002). My own story is "Recompense of Sorrow," and concerns the supernatural aspect and usage of Joseph Smith's Jupiter Medallion, a small disk-like object that is rumored to have been found on the Prophet's person after his murder, and by which he communed with angels. The cover is kick-ass, shewing two Sister missionaries battling what looks like a beastie out of the fiction of H. P. Lovecraft.

That sounds awesome. Might have to spring for the kindle edition. Thanks. The cover is cool, I agree.

* Mormon missionaries pound the pavement...after the zombie apocalypse!

* Sometimes bishops are assigned special duties...like battling demons!

* After centuries of no contact, the Mormon colony on Mars hears from Earth...and it wants revenge!

* A young man prays...to know which Zombie Battling Organization is true!

[OrangeUte]

Amazon.com: Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption (9781400064168): Laura Hillenbrand: Books

I just finished reading this book, hot on the heels of Matterhorn. War is brutal, and both books show that whether a young soldier experiences war in 1940s or 1960s, the brutal nature of conflict doesn't change.

Unbroken is a terrific story.

[Omaha 680]

I just finished reading this book, hot on the heels of Matterhorn. War is brutal, and both books show that whether a young soldier experiences war in 1940s or 1960s, the brutal nature of conflict doesn't change.

Unbroken is a terrific story.

My wife has been hounding me to read Unbroken for several months now. She says it's as gpod as Lone Survivor, which is a favorite for both of us. I'll have to put unbroken in the queue.

[OrangeUte]

My wife has been hounding me to read Unbroken for several months now. She says it's as gpod as Lone Survivor, which is a favorite for both of us. I'll have to put unbroken in the queue.

Let us know what you think. It's terrific from start to finish.

I just read "the Graveyard Book" by Neil Gaiman. He wrote Coraline. It's a teen book but well written and entertaining. About a boy whose family is murdered and he wanders up the street to the graveyard (thereby escaping being murdered himself) and ends up being raised and protected by the ghosts in the graveyard.

[happyone]

My wife has been hounding me to read Unbroken for several months now. She says it's as gpod as Lone Survivor, which is a favorite for both of us. I'll have to put unbroken in the queue.

Unbroken is excellent! I saw at Barnes and Noble that Zamperini has come out with his own account.

[ame="http://www.amazon.com/Devil-My-Heels-Olympians-Astonishing/dp/0060934212/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1330210094&sr=1-2"]Amazon.com: Devil at My Heels: A Heroic Olympian's Astonishing Story of Survival as a Japanese POW in World War II (9780060934217): Louis Zamperini, David Rensin: Books@@AMEPARAM@@http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51387ZuNATL.@@AMEPARAM@@51387ZuNATL[/ame].

I've put Zamperini's book on my to read list - somehow that list doesn't seem to get any shorter

Anyway I finished Mary Tudor - worthwhile read for anyone interested in that period of history. Whitelock definitely portrays Mary in a favorable light. She tries to establish the main reason for many of Mary’s actions as Queen is a reaction to how she and her mother were treated after her mother’s divorce from Henry VIII. Whitelock also portrays Mary's courage in her complete devotion to the Catholic Church in spite of extreme pressure from both her father Henry and her brother Edward VI to follow the religious reforms they made .

Some interesting facts

Mary was the first woman to be crowned Queen of England and rule in her own right.

Mary spelled her name Marye - I guess that was a fairly common way to spell it in the 1500s.

She didn't marry James, the crown prince of Spain, until she was 37 years old and was almost certainly a virgin on her wedding night. James was almost 11 yrs younger and not too happy about marring her and basically told his father if that is what you want, I'll do it.

When she first came to the throne she showed some political skills in not immediately pushing for a return to the Catholic Church and Rome. She came under a whole lot of pressure from the Papal Legate ( who happened to be her cousin ) to do so immediately and was astute enough to realize what that would have meant (rebellion against her ). She took things reletively slowly and tried to work through Parliment to accomplish her religious goals

When the first burnings began for heresy, Mary and Cardinal Pole ( the Papal Legate) didn't think that it would take very many to convince the English to return to the Catholic church was the right thing to do - they were wrong, almost 300 (men and women, clergy and laity alike) people were burned before Mary died after 5 yrs as queen.

Currently reading

[ame="http://www.amazon.com/Enduring-Battle-American-Soldiers-1776-1945/dp/0700617752/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1330211144&sr=1-1"]Amazon.com: Enduring Battle: American Soldiers in Three Wars, 1776-1945 (Modern War Studies) (9780700617753): Christopher H. Hamner: Books@@AMEPARAM@@http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51oCkbGrpvL.@@AMEPARAM@@51oCkbGrpvL[/ame]

This another one of those books that I saw the author on BookTV on CSPAN2.

It is basically an look at the changing experience of the American infantry soldier and why they fight.

[OrangeUte]

Currently reading

Amazon.com: Enduring Battle: American Soldiers in Three Wars, 1776-1945 (Modern War Studies) (9780700617753): Christopher H. Hamner: Books

This another one of those books that I saw the author on BookTV on CSPAN2.

It is basically an look at the changing experience of the American infantry soldier and why they fight.

As I read "Matterhorn" my mind kept asking the question "how did these guys do this. The infantry soldiers in that book went into battle after battle, sometimes with very little time to rest. The mental toll on these soldiers must be incredible. Thanks for sharing this title - it sounds fascinating.

[hopfrog]

The Book of Mormon, Penguin Classics (2008, Introduction by Laurie F. Maffly-Kipp). This is the third edition of 1840, the final version edited by the Prophet Joseph. It is printed in novel form rather than as scriptural verse. I have also ordered a copy of the original 1830 edition, even though that edition has quite a fantastical publication history, so it seems. I'm also going back to yet another rereading of Terryl G. Givens's superlative study, By the Hand of Mormon, and I have printed out three essays by Givens that I found online: "The Book of Mormon and Dialogic Revelation," "Joseph Smith's American Bible: Radicalizing the Familiar" and "The Book of Mormon Critical Text Project."

[RobinFinderson]

A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again - David Foster Wallace

I too really enjoyed this book, though I confess to have only listened to it on tape, however it was read by the author, which was very cool, especially for an author known for his inventive use of language. I listened to the audio as I ran. We had already booked tickets to our first cruise and I was excited to 'read' DFW's famous take on the whole experience. It made the cruise a lot more fun than it might have been, as I found myself both indulging in the spectacle of mass consumption that I had joined, and also viewing myself and the ship through DFW's critical eye. Good times. On our cruise I went a little gonzo in the Caribbean, disregarding several of the critical warnings offered to passengers just before disembarking, and as a result, my whole experience was a lot more positive than the ennui inducing event he described. For one, I learned what a nearly holy experience it can be to be reading a book out on a private balcony in that warm Caribbean air and then to be struck by the urge to eat a ruben sandwich, and so you place a call, and fifteen minutes later someone brings you a delicious ruben sandwich. Seriously, how could you be depressed with that? Poor DFW.