New Scaratings

Reading "The Hunger Games" book so I can understand the movie. I will read "Catching Fire" after I see the movie.

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Mitch (MTCHWF/WLFFLY)

Co-Home Bar: Buffalo Wild Wings Edwardsville, IL and Time Out in St Louis, MO

Just finished "World War Z"...zombie book.

Just started "A Drink With Shane McGowan"...singer for the Pogues.

Knocked off the Star Carrier trilogy (so far at least) by Ian Douglas, after it was recommended to me by a fellow smoking outside of a Waffle House that I went to after trivia when he saw me glancing at his book inside.

'Twas ok.

Just finished both "The Art of Fielding" by Chad Harbach (a story with a baseball background for readers like me who normally wouldn't be interested in a baseball story) and "The Night Circus" by Erin Morgenstern (reminscent of Clive Barker's work, including "Imajica" and "Weaveworld," and of Christopher Priest's "The Prestige" and Susana Clarke's "Jonathan Strange & Mr Morrell", in balancing between wonder and horror). I highly recommend both novels.

Next up I finally going to tackle George R. R. Martin as his latest in the "Song and Ice" series just got nominated for a Hugo--and I haven't even read "Game of Thrones" so that's a lot of reading ahead.

Brooke/AARDVK

I just finished up The Secret Soldier, by Alex Berenson, the fourth book in a series featuring John Wells. Anyone who likes a good, fast-paced spy thriller, but is sick of the raging jingoism and cardboard characters that so many modern thriller writers have been putting out lately, should give this series a try, beginning with The Faithful Spy. Berenson is far more nuanced than most of his contempories, but still includes all the high-tech intrigue, chase scenes and explosions.

I am currently reading "Called Out of Darkness" by Anne Rice.

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"Truth Like Football. Gets kicked around much, before reaching goal." - Charlie Chan

" Don't look back, The bastards might be gaining on you." - Satchel Paige

Frank

Is she still wordy ? My wife loved her stuff, so I tried Interview With a Vampire and finally quit about two thirds of the way through. She asked why, and I said it was too wordy, that though the premise was interesting I had to wade through too many superfluous embellishments to get to the meat of anything.

She laughed, and said all books are made up of words so a too wordy book was an oxymoron.

Years later she was reading one of the later novels from the Vampire Chronicles and turned to me out of the blue and said "Yes, she can be too wordy".

What is the half life of getting a spouse to change their mind and agree with you ?

Actually this book is an autobiography about her return to the Catholic faith.

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"Truth Like Football. Gets kicked around much, before reaching goal." - Charlie Chan

" Don't look back, The bastards might be gaining on you." - Satchel Paige

Frank

Yes, I saw it listed as such and also her only non fiction. Still, when I saw your post I chuckled and wondered if (my opinion) her verbosity would be reflected in her autobiography .

No slight intend to Catholics or faith or any other important subject.

The Name of the Rose, by Umberto Eco.

The Aeneid, by Virgil. I suffered through selected parts of the epic thing years ago in high school. Well, I mostly avoided it to the extent I could. Maybe I should listen to it on tape.

~ 15 yrs ago I read The Death of Virgil, by Hermann Broch. I enjoyed that, so I figure I'll try to get through the epic thing it was based on, again.

Ah, summer reading.

As an aside, I haven't been around these forums lately. Always interesting to see what's been going on in BTland.

I liked "Name of the Rose".

"A Drink With Shane McGowan" from the Pogues. Donna/Nico gave it to me on a trip down their way.

The Lost Fleet : Fearless by Jack Campbell.

"Executive Orders" by Tom Clancy

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"The game is afoot."

Apocalyptic Planet--Craig Childs

About how the Earth was formed and how it may end by visiting various extreme places in the world. Liked it enough that I owe the library 40 cents for overdue fees.

A book which by all that makes sense I should have read long ago but never have - Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. Woefully out of date but some of the most beautifully written prose imaginable. Not the purple patch bombast of the Victorians, but a flowing natural elegance that is lost to today's writers with their insistence on staccato rhythm and stripped syntax.

I'm switching between that and another classic I have hitherto lamentably neglected - Uncle Tom's Cabin. Early days yet but so far reasonably done if you accept the sledgehammer sentimentality to the point of bathos. Unique for its time though certainly. I could probably find two more different books, but only if I tried really hard.

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Please forgive any strange typos or grammar errors. I am typically using voice recognition software to enter text, and sometimes editing works differently from how I expect.

MY Friend Dahmer--Derf Backderf

A graphic novel by a guy that went to high school in Ohio with Jeffrey Dahmer and was one of a very small group that were somewhat friends with Dahmer.

FWIW--Dahmer was only the second guess when the author was first asked who from his class was arrested as a serial cannibal.

I am currently reading Up Jim River by Michael Flynn (sci-fi), the sort of sequel to The January Dancer which I just finished, which was somewhat interesting, and original.

"American Assassin: A Thriller" is a Vince Flynn novel featuring Mitch Rapp, a one-man anti-terrorism ass kicking machine. It is extremely polically incorrect, but I hear that there is a feature movie in the making of the story, starring Bruce Willis.

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"The game is afoot."

Sadly, Vince Flynn died from cancer yesterday at the age of 47. Reading his obituary last night, I learned that he joined the Marine Corps, and was in the Air Officer Candidate program, but physical problems from an accident he had years before, forced the Marines to discharge him for medical reasons. Damn, I should have known why I loved his novels so much... He wanted to fly for the Corps...!

I haven't read all of his books yet, but I will.

Here is Wikipedia's list of his Mitch Rapp series of novels:

Mitch Rapp, as portrayed by the author, is an under-cover CIA counter-terrorism agent. The primary focus of the character is thwarting Muslim terrorist attacks on the United States and he is presented as an aggressive operative who is willing to take measures that are more extreme than might be considered commonly acceptable. His constant frustration with procedures and red tape are a major theme throughout the entire series. Profanity and adult themes are common, so the series is recommended for mature audiences.

1.Term Limits (1997) - ISBN 0-671-02317-9
2.Transfer of Power (1999) - ISBN 0-671-02319-5
3.The Third Option (2000) - ISBN 0-671-04731-0
4.Separation of Power (2001) - ISBN 0-671-04733-7
5.Executive Power (2003) - ISBN 0-7434-5395-6
6.Memorial Day (2004) - ISBN 0-7434-5397-2
7.Consent to Kill (2005) - ISBN 0-7432-7036-3
8.Act of Treason (2006) - ISBN 0-7432-7037-1
9.Protect and Defend (2007) - ISBN 978-0-7432-7041-0
10.Extreme Measures (2008) - ISBN 0-7432-7042-8
11.Pursuit of Honor (2009) - ISBN 978-1-4165-9516-8
12.American Assassin (2010) - ISBN 978-1-4165-9518-2
13.Kill Shot (2012) - ISBN 978-1-4165-9520-5
14.The Last Man (2012) - ISBN 978-1-4165-9521-2
15.The Survivor (2013)

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"The game is afoot."

Just finished reading The Skies Belong to Us about the rash of hijackings on American airlines 1968-72. I had no idea this stuff was so common in pre-TSA America. Everything I knew about pre-1980 air travel I learned from watching Mad Men.

Speaking of which, Matt Weiner really could draw from this forgotten backwater of American history when he figures out Season 7. (set in 1969 or sometime thereafter)

The Last Threshold by R. A. Salvatore book 4 of a TRILOGY.

"Killing Lincoln" by Bill O'Reilly and Martin Dugard is a must read...! I know that many liberals will never pick this book up after seeing the name of Bill O'Reilly on the cover, but if they have now transformed themselves into being progressives, I think they can read it without getting into trouble.

Seriously, this is a tremendous book, that everyone should read. It is incredibly interesting, extremely well written, and will teach you things that your masters degree in history never told you about. If there was a month of Buzztime trivia questions about historical facts from this book, everyone's "Countdown" scores would drop precipitously, if they had not read it.

The amazing things you will learn are well worth the cost of the book.

Buy it and read it... I think you will thank me for turning you on to it.

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"The game is afoot."

"Heart-Shaped Box", "Horns" & "13 Modern Ghost Stiories" by Joe Hill. The short story "Safe At Home" from the ghost stories book is a great baseball themed story about autism.

I just finished Mark Levin's "Liberty and Tyranny". It's not light reading, and not all of you will like the book. I enjoyed it, and learned a lot from it. If you are conservative, I'm sure you will like it too. If you are liberal, be brave, and read it anyway. (It never hurts to know what the other side is thinking, or the goofy facts they make up.)

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"The game is afoot."

Well, it has been a long time between posts on this thread.

I am reading A Thousand Words for Stranger, by Julie Czerneda.