What Are You Reading Now?

[oxcoug]

Five Days in London - May, 1940, John Lukas, Yale University Press.

Brilliant, short, history that reads like a thriller.

Absolutely recommend it, I'm about 2/3 of the way through.

[happyone]

I finished The Fort. It is a historical novel about the worst navel defeat in US history until Pearl Harbor. The story is that the State of Massachutes (MA) heard the British were building a fort in Penobscot Bay, which was part of MA at the time, and they decided to kick them out. They assembled a force of 37 ships and appox 1000 ground troops, MA militia for the most part along with some Continental Marines. One of the ranking officers was one Paul Revere, who commanded the MA Artillery.

When the Rebels got there, the British fort was not completed and, according to Cornwall, they could have walked over the British. According to Cornwell, the British commander was prepared to surrender, if the Rebels had pressed the attack. When Rebels got there, they had some initial success, but didn't follow up, allowing the British to finish the fort. They were never able to take the fort. They suffered from bad commanders. The ground force commander wouldn't command and the naval commander wouldn't fight. All in all a complete, this is a military term, Charlie Foxtrot on the MA side. The rebels ended up losing all of their ships and artillery when a Royal Navy relief force showed up.

As an aside, Paul Revere talked a good fight, but if Cornwell is to be believed, he was a blowhard and a imcompatant commander and was eventually court martialed for his actions during this campaign.

I thought this was a very good historical novel about events I knew very little about.

I think my next read will Agincourt: Henry V and the Battle that Made England by Juliet Barker

[Green Lantern]

I just finished Never Let Me Go by British writer Kazuo Ishiguro. Fantastic novel. It was just made into a film with Carey Mulligan and Keira Knightley and I wanted to read the book before seeing it. It's basically a coming of age story set in 1990s era England. Only it's a slightly different England than we're used to and finding out how is what edges the whole enterprise into a slightly different genre.

Today I'm starting True Grit in anticipation of the Coen Brothers adaptation coming out soon.

[happyone]

Five Days in London - May, 1940, John Lukas, Yale University Press.

Brilliant, short, history that reads like a thriller.

Absolutely recommend it, I'm about 2/3 of the way through.

That sounds right up my alley - It will go on the to read list

[happyone]

Finished Agincourt. It is the story of the whole campaign on 1415 not just the battle. In fact the story of the battle is just two chapters in the book. It is a very sympathetic look at the run up to the campaign, the dipolomacy between Henry and the Charles VI, the French King, and Henry V's reasons for campaigning that year. The author makes a point that the French who fought the battle were not amatures, but for the most part very seasoned professionals. I thought it was a good read and very informative.

Interesting Facts
- Henry couldn't borrow money for the campaign from the normal sources, because his great grandfather, Edward III, stiffed the Italian Bankers 80 yrs before and they would not lend to him for a war with France
- Some of the more experienced French Commanders wanted to just let Henry get to Calais and then retake HarFleur(sp), but they were out voted by other members of the command structure
- Even though Henry probably didn't make the St Crispans day speach, from Shakespeare, he did spend the night before the battle talking to his troops and encouraging them.

Next on the list The Time Traveler's Guide to Medieval England: A Handbook for Visitors to the Fourteenth Century by Ian Mortimer

[happyone]

I finished The Time Traveler's Guide to Medieval England

It is not your standard history. It looks at English society in the 14th century, not events, and how it was organized, how the people lived, what they ate, wore, how they worshipped, what they did when they were sick, etc. I really enjoyed it.

Some interesting facts

England’s population in 1300 appox 5 million give or take 500k
England’s population in 1400 appox 2.5 million give or take 250k
Part of this was due to the great plague in 1348-49, but there were also plagues in '61 and '93 which also decreased the population 10-20% and major crop failure between '17-'19 also known as the great famine.

appox 5% of the population was literate in 1300 and that increased to 20% in 1400

Surgeons and physicians were two different professions. Physicians of that time depended more on astrology to diagnose what was wrong with the patient then actual observation and examination of the patient.

I also read An obituary for Major Reno by Richard Wheeler. It is a historical novel that takes a sympathetic look at the man who was second in command at the Little Big Horn and blamed by many for Custer's death. He was later cashiered for Conduct Unbecoming an Officer. He spent the rest of his life trying to get that Court Marshall overturned. I also enjoyed this book.

Next up is either The king's mistress : a novel by Emma Campion. It is a historical novel about Edward III's last mistress or Wolf : the lives of Jack London by James Haley. This a biography of Jack London that I saw featured on CSPAN II a few months ago.

[venkman]

I just finished "The Last Boy" by Jane Leavy. It's about Mickey Mantle. If there's ever a tragic hero in modern America, it's him. At his best, no one was better than Mick: tremendous power, blazing speed, but there were injuries, demons, etc. that translated into unrealized potential and left everyone wondering what if.

In some respect a great book, she dives into some things we didn't know about him...diving into detail on some of his tape measure home runs for instance. Also, his infamous 1951 World Series injury...turns out it's likely he blew out not only his MCL but his ACL as well. I guess the ACL is only repairable with surgery and it was never repaired. His essentially played with an effed up knee for 18 years and in an incredible amount of pain. Even so, when otherwise healthy was still the fastest man to first base.

On the other hand, there was a bit too much of the salacious expose material and too much focus on his flaws with alot of questionable sources. Yes, he had his flaws: not a great husband and father, an alcoholic and an adulterer. But he had a great heart and was a great teammate and friend. That part gets short shrift and the bad stuff just feels exaggerated.

Anyway, if you like baseball, it's a great read at least until it gets to his post-retirement life.

Also interesting is how Mick stacks up against Willie Mays offensively with some of the new statistical measures. Surprising actually.

[Green Lantern]

I don't think I mentioned that I finished True Grit a couple weeks back. Fantastic read. A great, great Western but also very clever and funny. I can see why the Coen Bros. would want to adapt it as it seems right up their alley. Check it out before the film comes out!

[creekster]

I am reading Bill Bryson's "The life and times of the Thunderbolt Kid" which is is reminisces abotu growing up in the 1950s. It is LOL funny. You youngsters might not like it as much as some of us, but I am confident that members here of a certain age (LA Ute, BYU71 and PAC I AM looking at you) would very much enjoy it. Plus, it is an easy and quick read.

[Indy Coug]

Under the Dome - Stephen King

700 pages down, 400 to go

[Maximus]

Under the Dome - Stephen King

700 pages down, 400 to go

That book started really really slow for me and I couldnt keep going. Does it get better and when?

[happyone]

Under the Dome - Stephen King

700 pages down, 400 to go

I've never been able to get into King, every other person in my family loves him though

[BigPiney]

That book started really really slow for me and I couldnt keep going. Does it get better and when?

I thought it was ok, but not one of his best. It was got better when

Spoiler for details:

the police chief started smoking meth, that was great.

[happyone]

I finished The king's mistress . It was okay. The author obviously knows a lot about late medivial England and the politics of Edward's court. The detail of court life, fashions, how merchant households worked, what women did with there days is extensive.

Alice was a cloth merchants daughter who became a lady in waiting to Edwards queen and then his principle mistress for the last 15 yrs of his life. The Alice Perres of history is a villian, she was convicted maintaining her status and power by bewitching Edward and exiled and all of her lands forfited to the crown after his death. She did become a wealthy woman and Edward did shower gifts of land and jewels on her. However she did stay with an increasingly senile king when she could have "escaped" court with her wealth intact.

Nobody is as good a person as Campion makes Alice out to be. Campion makes her out to be one of most misunderstood people of history, nothing was her fault, she was just doing what she had to do. A constant refrain throughout the book is "What else could I do." The truth is probably somewhere in between. There is also a completely made up subplot that explains how she came to Royal attention involving Edward's mother and her first husbands family.

I changed my mind on what to read next. The biography of St. Vincent of Lombardi, When pride still mattered : a life of Vince Lombardi by David Maraniss came in at the library and I am currently reading that. I will read the Jack London biography after I finish Lomardi's biography.

[happyone]

I finished the Lombardi biography. It was very good, if you are interested in Pro Football, the Green Bay Packers or leadership in general, I fall in all three catagories - I would highly recommend this.

Some interesting facts

if West Point had given him and extra $1000 in 1953, he would have stayed at West Point and 'Nappers alma mater might have been important on the college football stage for a few more years

Like a lot of driven men, his relationship with his children was strained at best

The famous story of him sitting down to negoiate a contract with Jim Ringo, Ringo showing up the an agent, Lomardi excusing himself for a minute and trading him to the Eagles, and then coming back into the room and telling Ringo and his agent they need to to talk to Eagles Ringo has been traded is not true. The deal had been in the works for some time and Lombardi didn't actually make the arrangement.

Currently reading the Jack London biography