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Old 06-06-2011, 08:30 PM   #961
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DW likes Dave Berry too.
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Old 06-06-2011, 09:02 PM   #962
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Just read the 15th Jack Reacher book Worth Dying For by Lee Child. It was pretty good. Now starting on the 1000 page tome of The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson.
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Old 06-09-2011, 03:04 PM   #963
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The Devil's Light, by Richard North Patterson. Pretty good standard issue Patterson thriller. Osama Bin Laden has commissioned a key follower to steal and use a nuclear weapon from Pakistan and our hero tracks it down. Trumped a bit by OBL's demise but not bad if you like these things.
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Old 06-09-2011, 03:10 PM   #964
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Just read the 15th Jack Reacher book Worth Dying For by Lee Child.
If you like Reacher you'll love Volk
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Old 06-12-2011, 01:59 PM   #965
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Lots of Civil War related materials in the bookstores this year. Being a biography buff, I just finished "Civil War Wives" (Carol Berkin), which gives an intimate overview of the lives of Angelina Grimke Weld, Varina Howell Davis and Julia Dent Grant. I think I might take a road trip down the Lincoln Highway before the snow flies again and visit the Gettysburg battlefield. It has been ages since I have been there, and I have never visited the Eisenhower farm at all.
Back when I went to Lee-Davis High School and we used to play Varina in various sports I thought it was pretty funny, the husband/wife dynamic. Everybody I ever mentioned it to looked at me like I was an alien. I think I was the only one that was awake during the Civil War parts of History class.

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Now starting on the 1000 page tome of The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson.
I just went back and re-read the entire Wheel of Time series (12 books, app. 900 pages each) in preparation for Brandon Sanderson's last book writing for the deceased Robert Jordan. I was about 2/3 of the way through the series when I discovered he wasn't finishing it with this book. I was pretty unhappy, but finished the series and his new next-to-the-last book anyway. Amazon.com: Towers of Midnight (Wheel of Time, Book Thirteen) (9780765325945): Robert Jordan, Brandon Sanderson: Books Hopefully I can keep all the subplots straight long enough for him to finish the last one. I'd hate to have to start over again.
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Old 06-13-2011, 06:57 AM   #966
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Best Business Practices for Photographers by John Harrington.

It's a good reality check for anyone contemplating turning a hobby into a vocation. The numbers are sobering and explain why a pro photographer must charge $3K+ for shooting a wedding, and he'd better deliver a fine product.

I'm not gonna quit my day job....
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Slumdog Millionaire by Vikas Swarup
Old 07-03-2011, 07:17 PM   #967
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Slumdog Millionaire by Vikas Swarup

This fiction is called Q & A and now better known as Slumdog Millionaire after the highly successful movie. Highly recommended reading. For those who watched the movie and liked it, I say, do read the book - it's better. The writing is superb - fast, witty, gripping and awakening. You get angry about the injustices and the life of the underpriviledged in India and you cheer on the hero through his amazing adventures as a street-kid.
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Old 07-03-2011, 09:12 PM   #968
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Currently reading "Third-World America" by Arianna Huffington. Grabbed it at the library while looking for another book recommended here. Infuriating info, and sobering.
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Old 07-03-2011, 09:42 PM   #969
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I'm reading a free Kindle book, Le Robinson Suisse, ou Histoire d'une Famille Suisse Naufragee (The Swiss Family Robinson, in French) by Johann David Wyss.

The idea is to read something in French that I wouldn't have to struggle with. With my knowledge of French being pretty rusty right now, I would require a dictionary at my elbow for many of the French classics. Even Dumas was more than I wanted to tackle right now. This is just right - - easier to read along at a reasonable pace without having to stop and look things up, and yet still allowing one to learn a little along the way.

So far, so good. One of the things I had on my list for retirement was brushing up on my French.
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Old 07-04-2011, 05:40 AM   #970
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I read, The Unit, recommended here. Quite an interesting dystopian view. Well worth a read. Also finished Carte Blanche, Deaver's take on a Bond book - fun read.
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Old 07-04-2011, 08:47 AM   #971
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I'm reading a free Kindle book, Le Robinson Suisse, ou Histoire d'une Famille Suisse Naufragee (The Swiss Family Robinson, in French) by Johann David Wyss.

The idea is to read something in French that I wouldn't have to struggle with. ...
I'm impressed. I took French classes a few years ago and couldn't even get much into a French children's book. Found out I could get A's in class but have no natural language proficiency -- I think I'm low IQ when it comes to processing spoken language and remembering foreign words.
----

Read The World According to Bertie . IMO this is McCall Smith at his best, very funny and a nice change from the world news. One should probably first read the earlier ones in his 44 Scotland Street series, starting with 44 Scotland Street
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Old 07-04-2011, 11:08 AM   #972
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I'm impressed. I took French classes a few years ago and couldn't even get much into a French children's book. Found out I could get A's in class but have no natural language proficiency -- I think I'm low IQ when it comes to processing spoken language and remembering foreign words.
You'd think that living in New Orleans, I'd get plenty of practice in French. It's around me all the time! Well, sometimes, anyway. But the local French here is to Parisian French, as Hawaiian pidgeon English is to the Queen's English. By that I mean that our local French has words and phrases from other languages thrown in, and its own accent and usages and slang, so it is not really helpful in improving my schoolgirl Parisian French.
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Old 07-24-2011, 01:53 PM   #973
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Recently finished this

Amazon.com: The Stand (9780307743688): Stephen King: Books

This was a heavy book, literally, over 1000 pages. Good, but a little slow in the middle. I got the "complete uncut" version -- if you can get the regular version go with that. Best would be an eBook.

9/10.
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Old 07-24-2011, 02:10 PM   #974
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I just read Unbroken by Hillenbrand. It's very good. It's a story about a WWII hero and written by the woman who wrote Seabiscuit. I think anyone who likes a good story would like it. I don't want to give much away of the story.
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Old 07-24-2011, 02:30 PM   #975
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I just read Unbroken by Hillenbrand. It's very good. It's a story about a WWII hero and written by the woman who wrote Seabiscuit. I think anyone who likes a good story would like it. I don't want to give much away of the story.
I've never noticed so many reviews on Amazon and such a positive response. Will get in line at the library, I'm number 191 on the request list but there are 20 copies in the system .
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Old 07-24-2011, 02:57 PM   #976
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I just read Unbroken by Hillenbrand. It's very good. It's a story about a WWII hero and written by the woman who wrote Seabiscuit. I think anyone who likes a good story would like it. I don't want to give much away of the story.
Just read this while on vacation. I would recommend it highly.
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Old 07-24-2011, 03:11 PM   #977
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Recently finished this

Amazon.com: The Stand (9780307743688): Stephen King: Books

This was a heavy book, literally, over 1000 pages. Good, but a little slow in the middle. I got the "complete uncut" version -- if you can get the regular version go with that. Best would be an eBook.

9/10.
One of my all time favorites. It took forever to read the uncut version, but it was such a good book that I didn't care. Really made me think about a lot of things.
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Old 07-24-2011, 04:12 PM   #978
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I just read Unbroken by Hillenbrand. It's very good. It's a story about a WWII hero and written by the woman who wrote Seabiscuit. I think anyone who likes a good story would like it. I don't want to give much away of the story.
I read it when it first came out . Excellent book !
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Old 07-24-2011, 08:26 PM   #979
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I just read Unbroken by Hillenbrand. It's very good. It's a story about a WWII hero and written by the woman who wrote Seabiscuit. I think anyone who likes a good story would like it. I don't want to give much away of the story.
Thanks for the recommendations everyone! I read the sample on my Kindle and decided that this is a book I definitely want to read, so I've downloaded it.

I've recently finished George Eliot's Middlemarch, which would probably be at least 500 pages in book form. It took me a while to get into it, but the characters were well developed. And yes, everything did turn out well in the end.
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Old 07-25-2011, 05:59 AM   #980
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Read a couple of the Scandinavian detective novels that have become popular since "Girl With the Dragon Tattoo" took off. "A Troubled Man," by Henning Mankell, is the last of the Kurt Wallender novels and a very good read. Wallender is investigating a modern day disappearance and a murder that seem to be connected to a cold war spying ring. "The Snowman," by Jo Nesbo, features detective Harry Hole in pursuit of a serial killer. Excellent read. I have read others by both Mankell and Nesbo and can recommend them both for mystery/thriller fans.
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