What have you read recently? 2009 -2020

[Gumby]

Just finished In the Garden of Beasts by Erik Larson (who is also the author of The Devil in the White City). It is about William Dodd, the U.S. ambassador to Germany from mid-1933 to the end of 1937. While it gives some background, it is not a biography per se. Rather, it focuses on the 4 and 1/2 years that he and his family were in Berlin.

Ambassador Dodd warned time and again that Hitler was dangerous and Germany preparing for war. But many people, including the U.S. State Department, were convinced that things were not as bad as he said and that they would be able to "work with" the Nazis. It is intriguing (and sad) to see how, little by little, an entire society went mad and the rest of the world did nothing until it was too late.

 

[Ally]

I read the same book and thought it was fascinating.

 

[traineeinvestor]

I finally finished Walden by Henry David Thoreau. I might admire the quest for simplicity, but on the whole it came accross as a snivelling, opinionated self-centred call for universal poverty - disappointing and not worth the read.

 

[haha]

Agree completely. An early OWS type.

Ha

 

[W2R]

I finally finished Walden by Henry David Thoreau. I might admire the quest for simplicity, but on the whole it came accross as a snivelling, opinionated self-centred call for universal poverty - disappointing and not worth the read.

Wow - - I have always found Walden to be inspiring, although also a little contrived. Maybe this is one of those books that is open to multiple interpretations.

 

[clifp]

Just finished In the Garden of Beasts by Erik Larson (who is also the author of The Devil in the White City). It is about William Dodd, the U.S. ambassador to Germany from mid-1933 to the end of 1937. While it gives some background, it is not a biography per se. Rather, it focuses on the 4 and 1/2 years that he and his family were in Berlin.

Ambassador Dodd warned time and again that Hitler was dangerous and Germany preparing for war. But many people, including the U.S. State Department, were convinced that things were not as bad as he said and that they would be able to "work with" the Nazis. It is intriguing (and sad) to see how, little by little, an entire society went mad and the rest of the world did nothing until it was too late.

I also found the book very interesting. The transformation of his daughter from Paris Hilton-like party girl to pretty brave critic of the Nazi was quite impressive.

 

[Moscyn]

I read Heart in the Right Place by Carolyn Jourdan when I was on holiday in Spain this month. After finishing a book on holiday, I usually do not take it back with me but I loved this book so much, I packed it home with me. It is a memoir of a former US senate counsel who gave up her career to work as a receptionist in her father's clinic in her small hometown after her mum's illness prevents her from continuing on as receptionist. At first it was for short term until her mum recovers but she decided to stay on when she realised the difference her father and the clinic was making to the community. It's written with lots of humour, conviction and vivid description. The book deals with tough situations and there's a lot of insights on life situations and making a difference in our lives to others. She also shares the lessons she learns in her experience. In one of the paragraphs in her last chapter, she writes "Our whole lives were set up to give us every possible opportunity to do the right thing, to mature into good people. God didn't care how or where we did it, just long as we did. He gave us a series of choices. We had to take what we were and what we had and do the best we could with them. There were no extra bonus points for visibility or magnitude. I'd always aimed for the big score, but now I understood better." The cover of the book actually was the first thing which attracted me. See attached.

 

[ERD50]

Just finished In the Garden of Beasts by Erik Larson (who is also the author of The Devil in the White City).

I really liked Devil in the White City, will check this one out, maybe after the holidays.

I finally finished Walden by Henry David Thoreau. I might admire the quest for simplicity, but on the whole it came accross as a snivelling, opinionated self-centred call for universal poverty - disappointing and not worth the read.

Agree completely. An early OWS type.

Ha

Wow - - I have always found Walden to be inspiring, although also a little contrived. Maybe this is one of those books that is open to multiple interpretations.

Funny range of comments, maybe I need to re-read this. Perhaps my perspective would be completely different now. I recall finding it fascinating when we read it in HS. But not in the 'we should all do this' kind of way. Maybe more in the 'isn't that an interesting perspective - and cool that he tried that' kind of way.

Maybe a bit like some works of abstract art - I might appreciate it in some ways, and admire the overall impact, the technique, detail and use of materials - but I wouldn't want it in my home! Just an interesting diversion.

-ERD50

 

[Lsbcal]

Stella Rimington's Rip Tide is a 5 star in my opinion. Her best yet, some suspense too. This is a British MI5/MI6 story with believable operational details. May be because Rimington was director general at MI5 in the 1990's. Link: Amazon.com: Rip Tide: A Novel (9781608194896): Stella Rimington: Books

 

[Nuiloa]

Do audiobooks count? I listen to them on my way to/from w*rk, just to kill the monotony of the commute. The ones I've "read" recently and really enjoyed were:

The Help
Skippy Dies
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (boring!)
Dave Barry's I'll Mature when I'm dead
The Civil War (Shelby Foote) *excellent
John Adams *excellent
UR (Stephen King)
Duma Key (Stephen King) *really good
Huckleberry Finn

 

[LauAnn]

Tom Clancy's 'Debt of Honor' -- an entertaining, scary, and alarming look at what makes the economy tick.

James Michener's memoirs 'The World is My Home' -- I was amazed to learn he really didn't embark on his writing career until the age of 40.

Jamling Norgay's 'Touching My Father's Soul'. Jamling is the son of Tenzing Norgay who was the first with Edmund Hillary to summit Mt. Everest. The story provides an interesting look at the tragic 1996 season on Mt. Everest -- which is the year Jamling summited the peak as part of the Imax film team filming on the mountain that year.

 

[donheff]

All Cry Chaos, "a debut thriller by the immensely gifted Leonard Rosen, is a masterful and gripping tale that literally reaches for the heavens. The action begins when mathematician James Fenster is assassinated on the eve of a long-scheduled speech at a World Trade Organization meeting. The hit is as elegant as it is bizarre. Fenster's Amsterdam hotel room is incinerated, yet the rest of the building remains intact. The murder trail leads veteran Interpol agent Henri Poincaré on a high-stakes, world-crossing quest for answers." This is a top-notch thriller mixing fractal math and chaos theory with religion, politics, greed and evil. Very good first effort. I suspect we can expect more Poincaré novels.

 

[TromboneAl]

Just finished Marysvale. It was a free Kindle book. I enjoyed it from start to finish. It's just a medieval adventure book with a little supernatural stuff thrown in. It isn't a genre I would have chosen, but the author knows how to keep things moving. I give it a 9/10, as long as it's seen as just escape reading.

My hit rate with the free Kindle books is about 1/8.

 

[Lsbcal]

All Cry Chaos, "a debut thriller by the immensely gifted Leonard Rosen, is a masterful and gripping tale that literally reaches for the heavens. The action begins when mathematician James Fenster is assassinated on the eve of a long-scheduled speech at a World Trade Organization meeting. The hit is as elegant as it is bizarre. Fenster's Amsterdam hotel room is incinerated, yet the rest of the building remains intact. The murder trail leads veteran Interpol agent Henri Poincaré on a high-stakes, world-crossing quest for answers." This is a top-notch thriller mixing fractal math and chaos theory with religion, politics, greed and evil. Very good first effort. I suspect we can expect more Poincaré novels.

OK, I'll check this out from our library. Though I might not read it if the book doesn't include mathematical proofs, plenty of topology theory and lots of equations ... .

 

[Meadbh]

Criag Ferguson's "American on purpose". His autobiography. Actually quite a page turner. Both humorous and sad. He came very close to self destruction and is where he is today only because he had a dream.

 

[TromboneAl]

Criag Ferguson's "American on purpose". His autobiography. Actually quite a page turner. Both humorous and sad. He came very close to self destruction and is where he is today only because he had a dream.

Yes, I agree. Remarkable story. After reading that, it's fun to find YouTube videos of his old performances, (e.g. as Bing Hitler), when he was usually quite stoned.

 

[laurb44]

I've read a lot of books in my time and my all time favorite book is called "He and I" The Author is Gabrielle Bossis. Its an incredible book and it has change many peoples lives! Its a fiction book about a womens diary with God and how she had a gift that she could here the voice of God and how he basically walked her through life. Its really an amazing book. Read the reviews on it, its nothing but great things.
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=ntt_ath...s=books&ie=UTF8&field-author=Gabrielle Bossis

 

[Bestwifeever]

....In one of the paragraphs in her last chapter, she writes "Our whole lives were set up to give us every possible opportunity to do the right thing, to mature into good people. God didn't care how or where we did it, just long as we did. He gave us a series of choices. We had to take what we were and what we had and do the best we could with them. There were no extra bonus points for visibility or magnitude. I'd always aimed for the big score, but now I understood better."....

This is so beautiful.

 

[donheff]

Lost in Shangri La is quite a good read. It is a true story about the rescue of a WAC and two men who were in a plane that crashed in a "lost" valley in New Guinea in WWII. Great adventure story and an interesting look at cultural miscues in both directions.

 

[Sarah in SC]

Oh, man I loved Lost in Shangri-La and suggested it a bunch of pages back to some of the WWII enthusiasts on the board. Didn't you love it?

Have been reading the Paul Theroux collection the Tao of Travel and find it very interesting. It is a beautifully bound little book, which would make it a great gift for the traveler in your life. I have a library copy, but it is really quite nice. Love all the quotes and stories.

 

[donheff]

Also recently finished The Burning. A series debut by Jane Casey, featuring Maeve Kerrigan, a British-Irish homicide detective. Kerrigan is investigating the murder of a young woman that she thinks has been disguised to look like one the the "Burning Man" serial killings. Pretty good police procedural although I guessed the outcome pretty early on.

 

[sheehs1]

Started reading "The Hunger Games" trilogy by Suzanne Collins. Fiction and sort of futuristic. Setting is in the ruins of a place once known as North America but now called Panem. Thirteen districts all charged with producing goods and materials to support "The Capitol". Many decades prior, one of the districts revolted against "The Capitol" and was abolished. To remind all residents of all districts what can happen if they revolt, the Capitol holds what they call "The Hunger Games" every year. Every year, each district, in a random drawing, choose 2 people to participate. Don't want to give the book away. . Not my typical read....but interesting in light of our world today.

 

[haha]

E.M. Forster Room With A View. Nobody does satire like the English, it keeps me guffawing. I believe this likely is not intentional or even mainly satire, but it is hard to behold the Edwardians without laughing.

Love these Kindle freebies.

Ha

 

[TromboneAl]

I just finished Heart in the Right Place, and enjoyed it. I think the author made a reasonable choice (to give up her lawyer career and become a receptionist at her dad's small town doctor's office), but I'm not sure it was the best choice. She makes a good point that a lot of people would suffer if she went back to being a lawyer. OTOH, she foresaw that the medical practice would self-destruct soon anyway (all the patients were old and dying, and the economics didn't work).

 

[mh]

E.M. Forster Room With A View. Nobody does satire like the English, it keeps me guffawing. I believe this likely is not intentional or even mainly satire, but it is hard to behold the Edwardians without laughing.

Love these Kindle freebies.

Ha

thanks for the kindle tip..
The movie w/ Helena Bonham Carter is very good too if you have not seen it.