summer reading list?

by the other Andrew on Jun 5, 2006 1:05 AM CDT Comment 35 comments

In response to Peters BON book club, I thought I'd get the party started asking for books that yall have read recently that you liked. I'm always looking for good recommendations.

I'm currently reading Flyboys. Good so far.

What I've read recently that I really enjoyed:

Under the Banner of Heaven - (mormonism to the extreeeeeme)
Rising Tide - (Miss river flood)
Killer Angels - (civil war)

What are you reading (besides blogs)?

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Hooray

Glad this is gaining momentum.

Andrew, I've been on fire with good books lately:

*"The Closers" by Michael Connelly - first Connelly book I've read, but apparently it's a series about the lead detective. Crime dramas are tough to do well, but Connelly NAILS it. Drew, for you in particular, this is an LAPD series; I think you'd really like it. Whether you start with this book, or go back to the beginning of the series featuring Harry Bosch, Detective, I can't recommend these highly enough.

*"A Place of Execution" by Val McDermid. Probably the best written crime drama I've read in a while. It's sophisticated, historical, well written, suspenseful. Rich characters and plot development. Another author who apparently has a series of great crime novels that I'm dying to dive into.

*"Fantasyland: A Season on Baseball's Lunatic Fringe" by Sam Walker. Probably the most fun book I've read in the last year and a half. Walker, a Wall Stree Journal crime reporter, decides to enter the most competitive fantasy baseball league in the world, Tout Wars. What ensues is pure hilarity and unbridled entertainment.

I've got more, too, if others are interested...

Thanks Drew.

--PB--

by PB @ BON on Jun 5, 2006 1:15 AM CDT reply actions 0 recs

Sam Walker

That should read: "A Wall Street Journal SPORTS reporter," not crime reporter.

by PB @ BON on Jun 5, 2006 1:16 AM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Yes more - others interested - PB's Booklist

PB - I think I have been pleased with you on your book picks (except Cryptonomicon), and I think you have read more than anyone I know. So how about telling us your top reads of all time?

Crystal Balls

by MMHorns on Jun 5, 2006 3:17 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Tell you what

Start with "Snow Crash," by Neal Stephenson. If you don't enjoy it, I'll retire from recommending books.

I'll send you home with a copy from my book shelf. Looking forward to Wednesday night bud.

by PB @ BON on Jun 5, 2006 3:20 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

I like the Asian persuasion recently...

"Shogun" by James Clavell

and if you are really adventurous

"Wild Swans" by Jung Chang

you won't be dissapointed with either one.

Killer Angels - great civil war book, TOA.

Currently reading: "Parliament of Whores" by PJ O'Rourke - humorist

by jimmer on Jun 5, 2006 8:07 AM CDT reply actions 0 recs

Good books

Under the Banner of Heaven -- all of his books are great. Apparently Sean Penn is doing an adaptation of Into the Wild. I lived in a Mormon community for a while, so this Banner of Heaven struck a cord.

Killer Angels -- easily the best (fiction) civil war novel ever written. Visits to Gettysburg are infintely more interesting after reading.

I've been on the sci-fi/spy novel genre this summer:
Sci-fi - (Arthur C Clarke)Rendevous with Rama, Sunstorm and Mind's Eye

Spy - (Robert Littell) The Company, which I HIGHLY recomend, Once and Future Spy and Legends

Don't know what I'll read next after I finish my Littell book.

Walker, Texas Ranger -- C.D. Parker: And how are you doing, little partner? Lucas Simms: Walker told me I have AIDS.

by EYESofBEVO on Jun 5, 2006 9:29 AM CDT reply actions 0 recs

Good books continued

I just finished reading a collection of Curious George books to my 2 year old.

by GoHorns on Jun 5, 2006 9:42 AM CDT reply actions 0 recs

Andrew...

Did you like Under the Banner of Heaven? One of the craziest and best books I've ever read. Actually, I didn't read it, I listened to it on tape during a road trip.

Speaking of Mormons, did you ever catch an episode of Big Love on HBO after the Sopranos? Great stuff. Mormons are very entertaining.

by Blitzburgh on Jun 5, 2006 10:08 AM CDT reply actions 0 recs

Big Love

That show just made me too uncomfortable. Beyond seeing Bill Paxson naked all the time, the sniping, conniving gaggle of women competing with one another was more than my dramaphobic self could handle.

by PB @ BON on Jun 5, 2006 10:12 AM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

I liked it.

I knew absolutely nothing about Mormonism besides two guys show up at my door every year or so.

Oh wait, my first introduction was the South Park episode, which was actually very close to the actual history.

Kraukaur knows how to write, too, so it's a quick read.

by the other Andrew on Jun 5, 2006 10:56 AM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

FNL

Read it twice seen it 3 times, being from Odessa Midland Area i think makes it mandatory.

by Rigger on Jun 5, 2006 10:15 AM CDT reply actions 0 recs

haha

You have to keep watching Big Love. The first several episodes were too laden with Bill Paxton and his voracious sexual appetite. Since then though it's been great.

by Blitzburgh on Jun 5, 2006 10:38 AM CDT reply actions 0 recs

Books I am currenty reading

Hitchickers Guide, all 5 of the trillogy. Have not read it in a long time, so I picked it up. Still very funny.

Blink by Malcolm Gladwell: interesting concept. It is about our ability to make snap judgments and how good we are at it. Some of it though goes farther than I am willing to believe with out seeing the studies and data behind the research he sites.

The Harbinger of Deleted Diaries

by Wells on Jun 5, 2006 11:02 AM CDT reply actions 0 recs

Blink

was outsanding, I also really enjoyed Freakonomics, somehow they seem similar to me.

by billb on Jun 5, 2006 11:12 AM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Freakonomics is on my to-do list.

worth reading? or kinda crackpotty?

by the other Andrew on Jun 5, 2006 11:13 AM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Worth reading

And a nice compliment to Gladwell.

Gladwell explains things from the psychologist/human behavioral side of things, while Leavitt explains things from a economics / sociological side of things. Both offer great insights into why people do the things they do. The truth is probably not quite so tidily explained as either profess, but taken as a whole, they're fascinating and revealing.

Highly recommend both.

by PB @ BON on Jun 5, 2006 11:17 AM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

SUMMER Reading??

For an entry called Summer Reading List, I must recommend:

"Beach Road" by James Patterson. It just hit the stands recently. He writes beach murder fiction thrillers. I'm trying to hurry up with "Angels and Demons" before I start it.

"Excuse me while I whip this out."

by FreedomDip on Jun 5, 2006 12:10 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

Errr

I dunno; I read "Along Came A Spider" by Patterson and was wildly disappointed. Among the detective/thriller writers out there, he's painful to read. Maybe that was just a bad apple, I dunno...

by PB @ BON on Jun 5, 2006 12:12 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Maybe he's getting better ...

I didn't read spider, but Lifeguard was pretty good last summer

"Excuse me while I whip this out."

by FreedomDip on Jun 5, 2006 12:15 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Yeah

He's also cranked out quite a few of 'em, it's probably hard to be strong every time out.

by PB @ BON on Jun 5, 2006 12:16 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

The code and Angels and Demons

Does any one else think it is strange that in both novels the love interest is a younger woman who's father figure just died and ends up sleeping with the protagnist with in two days, who happens to be an older man who wears tweed jackets? Just seems dirty to me.

The Harbinger of Deleted Diaries

by Wells on Jun 5, 2006 12:40 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

There is always "Harry Potter and the...

12 Year Old Reading Level".

This is a good diary as I am about to wrap up "Texas" by Michener and I am not sure where to go next. I like "Texas" but I suggest skipping all the sections titled - Task Force.

Jimmer introduced me to "Shogun" by Clavell this year. Excellent book.

"Freakonomics" is a quick interesting read if you aren't looking for a storyline.

Others that I highly recommend:
"Guns Germs and Steel" - history the human race with a cool title.

"A Short History of Nearly Everything" - gets a little too much into the idiosyncracies of scientists and their guilds, but does a great job of summing up mankinds knowledge, and how and when we learned it.

"Point of Impact" - this is a thriller suspense fun read, and i know there are a ton of those out there, but this is the cream of the crop.

Sounds like I need to read "Blink".

Crystal Balls

by MMHorns on Jun 5, 2006 12:35 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

Point of Impact

If you want to feel like a wimpy, pathetic, pansy-ass, read Point of Impact. Stephen Hunter gives us Bob Lee Swagger, who's every bit as badass as his name suggests. Go, read it. Great stuff.

by PB @ BON on Jun 5, 2006 12:39 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Guns Germs and Steel

Is a great book. Looks at history from a sceintific eye.

I have been really wanting to read "Freakonomics" since I love to look at things from an economic viewpoint.

The Harbinger of Deleted Diaries

by Wells on Jun 5, 2006 12:42 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Self-congratulations

In my forthcoming book (Woodrow Wilson Center Press, 2007), one of the interviews is with Jared Diamond about "Guns, Germs, and Steel." The guy is amazing.

If anyone wants a copy of the text of the interview, let me know. Or I may just make you wait 'til the book comes out, so you have to buy it.

Okay, enough self-congratulations for now.

by PB @ BON on Jun 5, 2006 12:45 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

PB's Book

What's your book called, what's it about, and when is it going to be out?

Crystal Balls

by MMHorns on Jun 5, 2006 3:20 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Blanco County Murder Mysteries

I have to recommend the works of a local author - Ben Rehder. He has written a series of murder mysteries taking place in nearby Blanco County. They are all hilarious reads.

So far I have read Buck Fever, Bone Dry, and Flat Crazy. I am going to check out his latest, Guilt Trip, very soon.

by BurntMike on Jun 5, 2006 1:53 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

McMurtry

Has a new book out, Telegraph Days.

Washington Post review this weekend was good. You can read it here

by PB @ BON on Jun 5, 2006 1:57 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

Older

The Life of Reilly, a compilation of Rick Reilly's best columns.

by CrossCyed on Jun 5, 2006 3:42 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

Of course

You should read Rammer Jammer Yellow Hammer by Warren St. John if you haven't. Really put together some things about CFB mania for me and was a fun read.

If you're into Latin American history at all, consider The Accidental President of Brazil, an autobiography of Fernando Henrique Cardoso (ghost-written by a fellow Texas Longhorn).

If you like sci-fi, check out any of the Takeshi Kovacs books by Richard K. Morgan, but you're best off by starting with the first one Altered Carbon.

by Kahuna on Jun 5, 2006 3:59 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

For baseball fans

"3 Nights in August" by FNL author Buzz Bissinger.

It's an inside look at Tony LaRussa and the Cardinals during a 3 game series with the Cubs a few years ago.

Personally I'm an Astros fan, but also a fan of the game in general, and this documentary book was very insightful, fun, and pretty light.

...til Gabriel blows his horn

by BigTexBD on Jun 5, 2006 7:35 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

Just picked up...

Who's your Caddy. Reilly is pretty funny

Why Courage Matters by John McCain

Waiting for the new Tom Clancy book although I think with the Jack Ryan angle finished he's running out of ideas and I'm skeptical with the way last last book went.

Fight On!

by Paragon SC on Jun 5, 2006 9:00 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

Comrade Rockstar

It's a book about an American called Dean Reed who started out singing with the likes of the Everly Brothers, went to Latin America and turned left, so to speak, and ended up as the Soviet Elvis. Really interesting so far.

I've also been intermittently dipping into "Night Draws Near," by Anthony Shadid, who is the Washington Post's Iraq correspondent. It seems like he saw a lot of things coming because as an Arabic-speaking Lebanese American he was better able to talk to the locals. Also really good.

The missus has been reading a novel about the collapse of an advertising agency in Chicago; it's "Office-esque" and on my list once she finishes up.

And for the kids' set, anything by Mo Willems.

by DC Trojan on Jun 5, 2006 11:25 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

all of you shut the fuck up

and read confederacy of dunces and lonesome dove

then you can talk about what you should read

by Vice President Coco on Jun 6, 2006 2:50 AM CDT reply actions 0 recs

Confederacy of Dunces

I second that notion. Confederacy of Dunces is a great book. Hilarious and extremely witty. I read it in 1996 and again in 2002. Even better the second time.

"Excuse me while I whip this out."

by FreedomDip on Jun 6, 2006 9:46 AM CDT up reply actions 0 recs