What Are You Reading Now?

[eldiente]

I'm enjoying this also

This book is great. I think CUF is full of introverts -- people who enjoy expressing themselves in writing.

Amazon.com: Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking (0030788707778): Susan Cain: Books

Probably most chatboards include a high proportion of introverts.

[eldiente]

Finally finished

For any fans of the "secular" anti-Covey planning method Getting Things Done, this reference book is an excellent tool in understanding how to use Microsoft Outlook more fully.

[ame="http://www.amazon.com/Total-Workday-Control-Microsoft-Outlook/dp/0974930466/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1341256447&sr=1-1&keywords=microsoft+outlook"]Amazon.com: Total Workday Control Using Microsoft Outlook (9780974930466): Michael Linenberger: Books@@AMEPARAM@@http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51NIJQLTzzL.@@AMEPARAM@@51NIJQLTzzL[/ame]

[eldiente]

Just starting this

[ame="http://www.amazon.com/The-Politics-American-Religious-Identity/dp/0807855014/ref=la_B001H6L6SQ_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1341256602&sr=1-1"]Amazon.com: The Politics of American Religious Identity: The Seating of Senator Reed Smoot, Mormon Apostle (9780807855010): Kathleen Flake: Books@@AMEPARAM@@http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51PS2QMJ9KL.@@AMEPARAM@@51PS2QMJ9KL[/ame]

Supposed to give insight to the final years of polygamy and ultimate cessation of the practice. Also gives depth to the ongoing dialogue of religion and politics.

[PaloAltoCougar]

Just finished Destiny of the Republic which Happyone was reading recently. I liked it a lot, and learned a lot about James Garfield, Chester Arthur (!) and Alexander Graham Bell. It was filled with lots of historical trivia, which I always enjoy. Our CUF medical panel will find it interesting, as the book provides detail about the U.S. medical establishment rejecting the new European approach(particularly those of Joseph Lister, of Listerine fame) on antisepsis. Apparently most U.S. docs scoffed at the notion that "invisible" germs could cause illness, likening the European view to the medieval notions of spirits causing disease.

Because of the prevailing U.S. views, Garfield's gunshot wound (the bullet didn't sever any major vessels or damage vital organs), was treated initially on a dirty mattress on the floor of the train station where he was shot, and multiple doctors probed the bullethole with their unwashed fingers and various unsterilized rods. Garfield died several weeks later (sorry for the spoiler) due to severe infection. He likely would have survived had he not been treated at all.

Very good book and a quick read (250 pp.).

[dabrockster]

Kill Shot: Vince Flynn

http://www.vinceflynn.com/Kill_Shot.html

[happyone]

Just finished Destiny of the Republic which Happyone was reading recently. I liked it a lot, and learned a lot about James Garfield, Chester Arthur (!) and Alexander Graham Bell. It was filled with lots of historical trivia, which I always enjoy. Our CUF medical panel will find it interesting, as the book provides detail about the U.S. medical establishment rejecting the new European approach(particularly those of Joseph Lister, of Listerine fame) on antisepsis. Apparently most U.S. docs scoffed at the notion that "invisible" germs could cause illness, likening the European view to the medieval notions of spirits causing disease.

Because of the prevailing U.S. views, Garfield's gunshot wound (the bullet didn't sever any major vessels or damage vital organs), was treated initially on a dirty mattress on the floor of the train station where he was shot, and multiple doctors probed the bullethole with their unwashed fingers and various unsterilized rods. Garfield died several weeks later (sorry for the spoiler) due to severe infection. He likely would have survived had he not been treated at all.

Very good book and a quick read (250 pp.).

Glad you liked it. I've really enjoyed both of her books.
As an aside, when Millard was on Book TV promoting this book, she said that in her opinion Garfield could have been the best president of the last half of the 19th Century maybe even the early 20th, up to FDR.

Finished Cain at Gettysburg - Excellent!!!. I personally would put on par with Shaara's Killer Angels

Peters follows different units, people and events during the battle. Really the only overlapping main character is James Longstreet.

The novel opens with Meade being awakened in the early morning (like 0300 military time) of the 27th of June to be told he is now in command of the Army of the Potomac. His first thoughts were that he was going to be arrested for insubordination.

Peters uses the Union XI Corps ( the people who were in Jackson's way at Chancellorsville and earned the reputation of the Flying Dutchmen) and the 26th Wisconsin specifically on the Union side and the 26th North Carolina on the Confederate side to dramatize the 1st days battle. In a way he is trying to redeam the XI Corps reputation.

For the fights on the Second he mainly uses Dan Sickle's III Corps fight in the Wheat Field and Peach Orchard. He barely mentions Little Round Top and doesn't mention the 20th Maine and Chamberlain at all.

Pickett's Charge is told through the eyes of the 26th North Carolina again as well as the Union Arty Chief Henry Hunt and the 69th Pennsylvania for the Union perspective.

Peters writes vivid battle scenes - one can almost hear the roar of the canon, the crackle of the musketry, and the screams of the wounded men and horses.

A couple of words of warning - the N word is used several time (in context of mainly southern soldiers talking about officer's servants and slaves in general) and Peters does use military jargon a bit, ie trains for the supply people, talks about fields of fire for the infantry and fire plans for the artillery.

The Meade that Peters portrays is an excellent commander, trying to bring order to the mess that Hooker left him. Peters puts the best possible spin on all of Meade's actions - ie the council of war the night of the second is portrayed as Meade getting buy in from his commanders for his plans for the next day.

Also he has Longstreet bringing up the fact that the army shouldn't fight at Gettysburg every time he meets with Lee. While it is well documented Longstreet didn't want to fight there, I personally don't think Lee would have stood for Longstreet's constant harping on the subject.

I think this is far and away Peters best book.

[CardiacCoug]

It doesn't seem like very many CUFers read fiction, but this was a fun read. My wife recommended it saying something like, "This book is so f'ed up. You would love it."

[ame="http://www.amazon.com/Gone-Girl-Novel-Gillian-Flynn/dp/030758836X"]Amazon.com: Gone Girl: A Novel (9780307588364): Gillian Flynn: Books@@AMEPARAM@@http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41ePAI%2BzsmL.@@AMEPARAM@@41ePAI%2BzsmL[/ame]

[eldiente]

enjoyed very much

Kill Shot: Vince Flynn

http://www.vinceflynn.com/Kill_Shot.html

George Guidall on the audio version is excellent. Just finished

[Devildog]

After reading Lone Survivor... It was good to read Victory Point.

It completes the story.

[YOUTUBE]18E0MOGicsE[/YOUTUBE]

[Brian]

[ame="http://www.amazon.com/The-Sense-Ending-Borzoi-Books/dp/0307957128"]Amazon.com: The Sense of an Ending (Borzoi Books) (9780307957122): Julian Barnes: Books@@AMEPARAM@@http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41ukFcHgzUL.@@AMEPARAM@@41ukFcHgzUL[/ame]

Loved this book. Highly recommend.
It's about memory, perspective, history and relationships.
The ending is rather vague, and some major plot points were answered in the end. -Which I think was the author's point, in a lot of ways.


[ame="http://www.amazon.com/Visible-Man-Novel-Chuck-Klosterman/dp/143918447X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1342960370&sr=1-1&keywords=the+visible+man"]Amazon.com: The Visible Man: A Novel (9781439184479): Chuck Klosterman: Books@@AMEPARAM@@http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51MegtQmkTL.@@AMEPARAM@@51MegtQmkTL[/ame]

2/3 through with this. Very good, but not great, but we'll see by book's end.
Riffs on the Heisenberg uncertainty principle applied to understanding human behavior by observation.

[U-Ute]

I finished the "Girl With The Dragon Tattoo" trilogy in May. Enjoyable series if not a bit dated with all of the 90's technology references.

I then kicked off the summer with the first of the (currently) 4 books to the "Game Of Thrones" series. I am somewhere in the first third of book 3 right now. I watched the first two seasons of HBO's interpretation and liked them so much, I figured I'd like the books even more. They have not disappointed thus far.

On deck is a book called "Influence" by Robert Cialdini. It supposedly takes a look at the techniques employed by sales people. I've heard from people I trust that it is quite a fascinating read.

[happyone]

just finished

[ame="http://www.amazon.com/Jerusalem-Biography-Simon-Sebag-Montefiore/dp/0307266516/ref=sr_1_sc_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1343596625&sr=1-1-spell&keywords=montifieore"]Amazon.com: Jerusalem: The Biography (9780307266514): Simon Sebag Montefiore: Books@@AMEPARAM@@http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51P4%2BUJQTzL.@@AMEPARAM@@51P4%2BUJQTzL[/ame]

Fascinating Book! It covers the history of Jerusalem from King David thru to modern times. Montifieore basically ends the book with the Six Day War, but he does provide a postscript carrying the narrative forward to the present.

Montefiore uses both the archeological evidence and the biblical stories to tell the story of the city is that is sacred to the three monotheistic religions.

Montefiore has a breezy conversational style that is very readable and makes this story very entertaining. I highly recommend this to anyone interested in the Middle East.

Some takeaways

The Jews ruled Jerusalem for about 1000 yrs, the Moslems for about 1300 and the Christians for about 400, others (various Empires) for about 300 yrs

For some reason the various Moslem rulers of Jerusalem liked to have Jewish mistresses

The fighting between the various Christian sects (Catholic, Orthodox, Armenian and a few others) for control of the Christian Holy Sites, Church of the Holy Seplicure(SP) and others, makes the current mess in Jerusalem seem like a child’s picnic (my analogy).

At the time of the Crusades Jerusalem was basically a back water, less than 10,000 people lived there. When the Crusaders were finally driven out of the Outremer, less than 1500 people lived with in the city walls

The Roman emperor Hadrian completely destroyed Jerusalem in the 120's and then reestablished it a few yrs later, but never let the Jews back

David Ben Gurion originally supported a two state solution for Palestine

I've also read Max Hastings new history of World War II

[ame="http://www.amazon.com/Inferno-World-at-War-1939-1945/dp/0307273598/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1343597834&sr=1-1&keywords=Inferno"]Amazon.com: Inferno: The World at War, 1939-1945 (9780307273598): Max Hastings: Books@@AMEPARAM@@http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51JRZfuentL.@@AMEPARAM@@51JRZfuentL[/ame]

pretty good look at the War, the causes and the way it was fought. Good balance between big picture strategy and you are there common man accounts of the war.

[UteStar]

It doesn't seem like very many CUFers read fiction, but this was a fun read. My wife recommended it saying something like, "This book is so f'ed up. You would love it."

Amazon.com: Gone Girl: A Novel (9780307588364): Gillian Flynn: Books

Gone Girl was terrific. Kind of a wild ride and pretty messed up. I enjoyed it.

[Devildog]

Regardless of your position of where we are and what we are doing in Afghanistan, this book can influence your perspective.

It is about the Special Forces team (Green Berets) that was on the ground at the very beginning.

[YOUTUBE]HuUTZZA2KH8[/YOUTUBE]

[LA Ute]

The Old Curiosity Shop, by Dickens. It's one of a few of his novels I haven't read and I've decided to attack it next.