What have you read recently? 2009 -2020

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We have always been intrigued and entertained by Ravens. Recently, we were in Death Valley camping up a dirt road away from people. A raven would visit us faithfully morning and evening. We looked forward to seeing him,and yes, we gave him some snacks. Ham was a big favorite. So I am reading Mind of the Raven by Bernd Heinrich, to learn more about these creatures. It’s a great book, if you are interested in these birds. He has been studying them for years, teaches and lives in Vermont, but has also studied the birds in Maine where he has a cabin. Highly recommend!
 
Listened to C.S.Lewis' 'The Screwtape Letters' and 'A Toast by Screwtape'. Interesting observations on the nature of humans.
 
I’ve been sticking to audio books for my painfully long driving commute and so far haven’t road raged anyone in traffic, so I must commend my latest favorite author for her riveting prose: Karin Slaughter. I read her Will Trent series and several of the standalone novels and am just about done with Pretty Girls. Mostly based in Atlanta, and the ones read by Kathleen Early have a nice soft southern accent to soothe my simmering resentment of all the other people with whom I must share my roadways.
Always on the lookout for good post apocalyptic fiction, if anyone has anything new to report in that area.
 
Nemo2 said:
https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-...review-entry-island-by-peter-may-9052190.html

Entry Island .....a 'whodunnit' by Scottish author Peter May, set in the bleak Magdalen Islands off Quebec; juxtapositions in time and locale with the Scottish Highlands.........(I wasn't aware that the potato famine blight that devastated Ireland also impacted areas of Scotland).
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I hadn't heard of this book but I was intrigued when I read your post because I've actually been to Entry Island. The Magdalens are an unusual archipelago. I enjoyed the book, and I knew little of the history of Scotland which led to so much emigration to North America. Thanks for the recommendation.

Another book which I believe someone else described in the forum (but I can't find the post now) was 1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus by Charles Mann. It was one of the most thought-provoking books I've ever read. I also read and enjoyed Mann's sequel, 1493: Uncovering the New World Columbus Created.
 
I just finished "Move Nights with the Reagans: A Memoir" by Mark Weinberg. Weinberg was a staffer in the Reagan press office in the 1980s but was assigned to accompany President and Mrs. Reagan on their frequent trips to Camp David, where the Reagans and their entourage would often watch a movie or two on Friday and/or Saturday night. Sometimes, the movies were older ones, once in a while one Reagan starred in. But more often, they were popular 1980s movies such as Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Red Dawn, Top Gun, and Back to the Future.


Weinberg later ran Reagan's office in California after he finished his presidential years. He also interviewed Mrs. Reagan in 2015 for the book and had her blessing to write it. Sadly, she passed away before he could finish it. Good book.
 
Mango1956 said:
We have always been intrigued and entertained by Ravens. Recently, we were in Death Valley camping up a dirt road away from people. A raven would visit us faithfully morning and evening. We looked forward to seeing him,and yes, we gave him some snacks. Ham was a big favorite. So I am reading Mind of the Raven by Bernd Heinrich, to learn more about these creatures. It’s a great book, if you are interested in these birds. He has been studying them for years, teaches and lives in Vermont, but has also studied the birds in Maine where he has a cabin. Highly recommend!
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A Year in the Maine Woods and Trees in my Forest are also recommended.

I first heard of him because he is an ultra-running legend.
 
This was an excellent vacation read: The Punishment She Deserves by Elizabeth George. Lots of character development and an interesting mystery.

The cozy, bucolic town of Ludlow is stunned when one of its most revered and respected citizens--Ian Druitt, the local deacon--is accused of a serious crime. Then, while in police custody, Ian is found dead. Did he kill himself? Or was he murdered?

When Barbara Havers is sent to Ludlow to investigate the chain of events that led to Ian's death, all the evidence points to suicide. But Barbara can't shake the feeling that she's missing something. She decides to take a closer look at the seemingly ordinary inhabitants of Ludlow--mainly elderly retirees and college students--and discovers that almost everyone in town has something to hide.
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https://www.amazon.com/Punishment-S...=the+punishment+she+deserves+elizabeth+george
 
6miths said:
Listened to C.S.Lewis' 'The Screwtape Letters' and 'A Toast by Screwtape'. Interesting observations on the nature of humans.
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Excellent book. I first read it in college as a requirement for one of my classes (great class with an outstanding professor). I have read it again many times over the years.
 
I am most of the way through "Gator, My Life in Pinstripes," by Ron Guidry, ace pitcher for the New York Yankees in the late 1970s and most of the 1980s (and later a pitching coach). Having read many books by or about the players (and manager Billy Martin and owner George Steinbrenner) on those tumultuous Yankee teams, it is interesting to get the perspective of one of the non-controversial Yankee players in that era.


Hard to believe Guidry is 67 now.
 
Lsbcal said:
This was an excellent vacation read: The Punishment She Deserves by Elizabeth George. Lots of character development and an interesting mystery.
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Sounds very interesting. I checked our library and got on the wait list for this. I checked some other titles by Elizabeth George and the library has several. I downloaded her first Inspector Lynley title 'A Great Deliverance' from the library onto my Kindle.
 
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/7896271-hypothermia

Inspector Erlunder:

"One of the most haunting crime novels readers are likely to encounter this year or any other, this is classic story that belongs on the shelf of every serious reader of suspense fiction. Hypothermia will chill you to the bone."
 
Was driving back and forth to Washington, DC last week and listened William Bernstein's 'The Birth of Plenty' and Sidharttha Mukherjee's 'The Laws of Medicine'. Had read both before but was fun to listen to them again.
 
Just finished Red Famine by Anne Applebaum.

Interesting read about the Stalin's war on the Ukraine and how history views it.

Just starting The Road to Unfreedom by Timothy Snyder.
 
I'm about 2/3 of the way through Steven Pinker's newest book: Enlightenment Now. I liked Pinker's The Better Angels of our Nature and this continues the upbeat, optimistic view of modern life. Packed with data and charts. Well worth the read to get an alternative take on global decline.
 
CoolRich59 said:
I have been having a great time reading 'Grant' and 'Team of Rivals'.

But, then I got a notification that the Kindle version a book I've had on my list for quite a while went on sale. So, I purchased a copy of 'Pacific Crucible: War at Sea in the Pacific, 1941-1942' by Ian Toll and am reading that as well.
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More to the above: I got distracted from 'Pacific Crucible' when my son recommended 'With the Old Breed: At Peleliu and Okinawa' by E. B. Sledge. It's Sledge's personal memoir of his Marine Corps service in WWII.

It was an excellent read; very moving and thought provoking. I also learned that it was used by Ken Burns in his documentary 'The War' and by HBO in the miniseries 'The Pacific'. I could not put it down and finished it in less than a week.

Now back to 'Pacific Crucible'. :)
 
donheff said:
I'm about 2/3 of the way through Steven Pinker's newest book: Enlightenment Now. I liked Pinker's The Better Angels of our Nature and this continues the upbeat, optimistic view of modern life. Packed with data and charts. Well worth the read to get an alternative take on global decline.
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Better Angels was convincing, but pretty danged thick! Is the newer book easier to get through, or about the same?
 
'With the Old Breed: At Peleliu and Okinawa' by E. B. Sledge. It's Sledge's personal memoir of his Marine Corps service in WWII.

Phenomenal book....I've been going through many of these types of books about men fighting in war and being prisoner's of war. Some of the Vietnam ones are amazing.
 
Rotating through many books on my nightstand:

SF -Expanse Series
Mystery - Bernie Gunther Series books are good; also picked up from library latest Richard Jury mystery novel by Martha Grimes, The Knowledge

Other - VDH The Savior Generals
George Marshall Soldier and Statesman
The New PsychoCybernetics
CS Lewis Mere Christianity

So many opened and reading at the same time....it seems I get more distracted now that I have more time....

I will be going on 3 week trip to Baltics and Sweden starting next week, so will have some time to read and enjoy!
 
"Do audiobooks count?" A resounding yes from me...I get a lot of 'reading' done in the car. I find the Lee Childs books engrossing on audio. I also listen to great courses and other books to make my driving a mobile school.
 
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