The Book Thread - What You're Reading & Everything Book Related

[rasputin]

Right now I'm reading "With the Old Breed: At Peleliu and Okinawa" by Eugene Sledge aka Sledgehammer.

Maybe some of you remember the name from "The Pacific" mini series.

I do remember the name. I've tried looking for this book at my local store but they never have it. How did you like it?

Recently finished Band of Brothers by Ambrose, Eat Run by Scott Jurek and The Big Book of Basketball by Bill Simmons. Solid reads all around, Band of Brothers was particularly worthwhile and Eat Run has some surprisingly good recipes, if you're into that sort of thing.

Just starting Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari. Anyone read this one yet?

 

[kaochiu]

Dersu the Trapper by Arsen'ev

A classic true account of Russin mapmaker in early 1900's in area of Russia that borders China, and what is now North Corea. And his interaction with Goldi tribesman that saves his life.

Somewhat of obscure but an f'n gem, imho

I haven't read the book just 'cos i never came accross it, but just saw the movies, both the original and the Kurosawa remake. Added to the list.
A gem for a gem: "The Lover of Ursa Major", by Segiusz Piasecki. A polish smuggler in the soviet border. Having some wodka and pickles handy when reading it, a must.

 

[geneva_sativa]

For anyone interested in life of coyotes and outlaws,

Smokescreen by Sabbag --- Tale of guys that brought many loads of Gold, Rojo's from Colombia early on

also Cornbread Mafia --- life of legendary Johnny Boone

 

[Green Squall]

I do remember the name. I've tried looking for this book at my local store but they never have it. How did you like it?

Recently finished Band of Brothers by Ambrose, Eat Run by Scott Jurek and The Big Book of Basketball by Bill Simmons. Solid reads all around, Band of Brothers was particularly worthwhile and Eat Run has some surprisingly good recipes, if you're into that sort of thing.

Just starting Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari. Anyone read this one yet?

I thought it was excellent. I couldn't put it down. It is definitely one of the most intense, in depth readings about the battles of Peleliu and Okinawa I've ever read. Check out abebooks online. I think I only paid 3 or 4 bucks for it.

Ambrose is a solid author. I haven't read Band Of Brothers but I did enjoy Undaunted Courage which is about Lewis and Clarke.

 

[Green Squall]

I Finished Dersu The Trapper today (thanks geneva sativa). Great book except I felt it ended too abruptly. The circumstances surrounding Dersu's death seemed suspicious to me.

Along with that book I also ordered The Tiger: A True Story of Vengeance and Survival, so I will be reading that next. It takes place in the Russian Far East as well.

 

[geneva_sativa]

Hey Green Squall, you are most welcome.

I also felt something off nearing the end, but I think it may have been the culture shock of what I felt so strongly attracted to in the wilderness setting in most of the story and then Dersu going to a sterile environment, living in a box. Similar thing happens at end of book in Black Elk Speaks ( Highly recommend this also, story of Lakota medicine man, 1800's)

I was living in NYC, reading Dersu in the bathroom at 2 -5 AM every night, and near the end of the book, sometimes found myself with tears streaming down my face, when he was in the city and just could not relate, mirroring my own life,, country boy in the city.

The Tiger has been recommended to me many, many times, by people whose opinion I very respect. . . thank you for putting it back on my radar !

 

[CACTUSFLOWER]

Yukio Mishima
Sea of Fertility
and his biography

 

[Green Squall]

Another Day In Paradise by Eddie Little

It's fiction but a lot of it is based on the authors life.

"A teenage speed freak and petty thief, Bobbie and his Puerto Rican girlfriend, Rosie, are taken under the wing of an all-round criminal opportunist named Mel, who is old enough to be Bobbie's father, and Mel's girlfriend, Syd. Bobbie's chance to get back on his feet begins as the inside man in a pharmaceutical company break-in. The ensuing crime spree takes the foursome across the Midwest and California of the early '70s -- and deeper into the dark world of heroin addiction."

It's also a movie with James Woods and Melanie Griffith

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0127722/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1

 

[Kozmo]

Animal Farm by George O.

"The house of Krupp"

 

[Shmavis]

Not too long ago I broke down and went with Kindle Unlimited. Just blew through the Joe Dillard series by Scott Pratt. Great eight book legal thriller series. So good I then read another of his, Justice Redeemed. Very entertaining. Most recently finished Blake Crouch's Dark Matter. Currently reading The Short Drop - it has me turning pages, just like the others mentioned.

For a more introspective autobiography, check out All The Strange Hours by Loren Eiseley. (It's rare that I read a book more than once. This one I've read a few times).

(apologies if others have already mentioned any of these titles, I didn't start from the beginning )

 

[Green Squall]

Not too long ago I broke down and went with Kindle Unlimited. Just blew through the Joe Dillard series by Scott Pratt. Great eight book legal thriller series. So good I then read another of his, Justice Redeemed. Very entertaining. Most recently finished Blake Crouch's Dark Matter. Currently reading The Short Drop - it has me turning pages, just like the others mentioned.

For a more introspective autobiography, check out All The Strange Hours by Loren Eiseley. (It's rare that I read a book more than once. This one I've read a few times).

(apologies if others have already mentioned any of these titles, I didn't start from the beginning )

Kindle Unlimited is a good deal when you find a good series you want to read. Cheaper than buying each book separately.

 

[Shmavis]

Kindle Unlimited is a good deal when you find a good series you want to read. Cheaper than buying each book separately.

If you read a lot it's a great deal. Can't believe I put it off for as long as I did. Not only great for series but also just to be introduced to new authors. The book I'm reading now is this guy's debut. Not likely something I would've picked up elsewhere. But they make it so easy to experiment. Oh, you read such and such, you'd like this, or this, or maybe this... never even thought I'd give up real books for digital in the first place. Thought I was diehard for the old-school. But the Kindle was a gift. And I soon came to love it. And going Unlimited is well worth it.

Must admit I still like (maybe love) to venture into used bookstores. The smell... the feel.. the thumbing of the pages... oh my...

 

[Dexter133]

Kingkiller Chronicles by Patrick Rothfuss

 

[Green Squall]

My latest book pickup.......

1. Humboldt: Life on America's Marijuana Frontier by Emily Brady

2. The Bandit of Kabul: Counterculture Adventures Along the Hashish Trail and Beyond by Jerry Beisler

3. Hunt For The Skinwalker by Colm A. Kelleher Ph.D. and George Knapp

 

[mistermcgeefoot]

Any Sam Delaney fans? Just reread stars in my pocket like grains of sand. Great stuff if you're into that sort of thing.

 

[mistermcgeefoot]

Love Paul stamets. He has a book called mycelium running that is interesting as well but less practical. Grew some lions mane using info from growing gourmet & medicinal mushrooms

 

[Green Squall]

Into Tibet: The CIA's First Atomic Spy and His Secret Expedition to Lhasa

"'Into Tibet is the incredible story of a 1949-1950 American undercover expedition led by America's first atomic agent, Douglas S. Mackiernan -- a covert attempt to arm the Tibetans and to recognize Tibet's independence months before China invaded. Thomas Laird reveals how the clash between the State Department and the CIA, as well as unguided actions by field agents, hastened the Chinese invasion of Tibet. A gripping narrative of survival, courage, and intrigue among the nomads, princes, and warring armies of inner Asia, Into Tibet rewrites the accepted history behind the Chinese invasion of Tibet"

 

[cryptop]

One of my recent favorites: "The Boys in the Boat Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics" by Daniel James Brown

"For readers of Unbroken, out of the depths of the Depression comes an irresistible story about beating the odds and finding hope in the most desperate of times—the improbable, intimate account of how nine working-class boys from the American West showed the world at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin what true grit really meant.

It was an unlikely quest from the start. With a team composed of the sons of loggers, shipyard workers, and farmers, the University of Washington’s eight-oar crew team was never expected to defeat the elite teams of the East Coast and Great Britain, yet they did, going on to shock the world by defeating the German team rowing for Adolf Hitler. The emotional heart of the tale lies with Joe Rantz, a teenager without family or prospects, who rows not only to regain his shattered self-regard but also to find a real place for himself in the world."

 

[Green Squall]

The Final Day by William Forstchen

Last book in the "One Second After" series. Scary stuff. Our power grid is extremely vulnerable.

 

[Green Squall]

Starting "The Revenant" today. Interested to see how it compares to the movie.