Books we are reading.

[Beermo]

winter always brings out my book jones so i'm gonna list what i'm currently reading and even throw in my review of each of them. my usual m.o. is to hit the bestseller lists and then hit the library website and reserve them, but right now i'm just hitting the new books section and grabbing whatever sounds interesting. i do this a few times a branch and then start over at another branch.

here's what i have out right now.


Easy company soldier: the legendary battles of a sergeant from World War II's "Band of Brothers"  Malarkey, Don,

The devil's right-hand man : the true story of serial killer Robert Charles Browne  Michaud, Stephen G.

4000 bowls of rice : a prisoner of war comes home  Holmes, Linda Goetz. 
 
We are soldiers still : a journey back to the battlefields of Vietnam  Moore, Harold G.,
   
The angel of Grozny : orphans of a forgotten war  Seierstad, Åsne,
 
Dough : a memoir  Zachter, Mort, 

The real stars : in today's America, who are the true heroes?  Stein, Benjamin

what i've read or am still reading so far..........

Easy Company soldier.  this is a good book. another title added to the stories of the easy company band of brothers. it gives you more background from a guy fought in ww2 and who was in stephan ambrose's band of brothers book and the hbo series.  he tells you stuff that was in the book and series from his perspective. he also tells you about what was real and what was embellished in the book and series. some stuff really happened, but some did not. if you liked the book and series you will like this book. i knocked it out in about 2 days.

4000 bowls of rice. i got this one at work right now. haven't got very far into it. it's about australian soldiers who were ordered to java in '42 to help the dutch soldiers there fight the japs. they were attached to the dutch and under dutch military authority when the dutch surrendered to the japs right after the aussies got there. they were POW's for the rest of the war. so far it's been o.k.

we are soldiers still. i'm about a quarter of the way thru this one. i've read his book, we were soldiers once and have seen the movie. what i've read so far is about him and joe galloway and the vietnamese guys they were against and their attempts to go back to vietnam and interview the other side about the battle at ia drang. kind of slow and dry so far.

the real stars from ben stein. he tells you about all the stars he meets at morton's restaurant and how shallow they are and know nothing about what real stars are, all the while he also name drops left and right while he tells you how much money he makes and how many rich people he knows and describes how great he is and how much stuff he has. it's interesting, but ben is a big blowhard from what i can tell in this book. he also seems to know everything. i'm about halfway thru it.

[splash]

Like you, winter seems to bring out the reader in me.  And since I don't get the the library all that often, I stocked up the last time I was in the neighborhood.

I recently finished Mystic River by Dennis Lehane.  This summer, I took a detective fiction class as one of my electives and one of our required books was A Drink Before the War.  I was hooked and Mystic River is the 6th book of his I've read.  If you haven't seen the movie, the book is essentially about three childhood friends who are thrown back into contact, based on their connection to a tragedy that hits them as adults. 

I'm currently reading Notes From A Small Island by Bill Bryson.  I've read several of his books in the past and have enjoyed them.  I'm not that far into it, but it's been fairly entertaining so far.

Other books I have out:

Charlie Wilson's War by George Crile.  I had to watch the movie for my poli sci class this semester and decided to read the book.

The Company by Robert Littell.

The Decency Wars: The campaign to cleanse American culture by Frederick Lane.

At the Center of the Storm: My years at the CIA by George Tenet.

State of War: The secret history of the CIA and the Bush administration by James Risen.

State of Denial: Bush at war, part III by Bob Woodward.

A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson.

[shinatoo]

Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrel

The Road

Hood

Silas Marner

1776

[staubio]

I'm a little late to the game but I'm reading Middlesex. It has been a great read so far. I've been away from fiction for quite awhile so getting caught up in a story is good times.

[Beermo]

i've finished the ben stein book last night, the real stars in america. he talks a lot about himself and all his famous/rich friends and how he's a much better person than not only them, but you too. he never fails to let you know that he knows everything and is rich and famous. he's very pleased with himself. you can skip this book. it's not worth the time.

finished the hal moore book, we are soldiers still, this morning after work. it was kinda slow and dry starting out, but got better about half way thru. it would seem to make a good companion to "we were soldiers once". although it is about him and joe galloway and their return to vietnam to see lz x-ray and lz albany and talk to the guys on the other side of that war. it is also kind of a farewell to the guys who fought in that campaign with him in '65. it is also a reminder to the country today about getting into wars that we have no business fighting because there is no plan for it. he has a nice piece in the end on rick rescorla who went from a soldier in the british army to a soldier in the u.s. army to his final job as head of security for morgan stanley and who was able to get every single employee of morgan stanley except for about 8 people out of the world trade center on 9/11. here's some wiki on a few of those guys.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hal_moore

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_L._Galloway

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basil_L._Plumley

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bruce_P._Crandall

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rick_Rescorla


if you're interested in major military figures in the u.s. military or you just like war books i think you'll like this.

[Beermo]

i've finished 4000 bowls of rice. it was ok. it's just letters and recollections of australian p.o.w.'s that were in java and indonesia  and other places during WW2. their mistreatment and subsequent release. slow, but fast. i wouldn't recommend it unless you're in jail and have nothing else to read.

also finished dough, a memoir. good book. a jewish guy from nyc discovers that his 2 uncles that ran their parents bread store which was open 7 days a week and employed both his mother and father who never got paid a dime, had 6 million dollars in various accounts when they died. talks a lot about life in a jewish family and about how poor they were and then finding out that they weren't so poor after all. he also found out that although his uncles were never married, lived together and never had girlfriends, that there was a little more to the the story and that things weren't quite what they thought. i would recommend it. 

[KCMax]

Just started "Bowling Alone" by Robert Putnam.

[Beermo]

Just started "Bowling Alone" by Robert Putnam.

please tell us what it's about when you get a chance.

[KCMax]

please tell us what it's about when you get a chance.

Bowling alone.

Its a sociological look at the increasing disconnectedness of modern society and the decline of community and social organizations.

[Beermo]

Bowling alone.

Its a sociological look at the increasing disconnectedness of modern society and the decline of community and social organizations.

Uggghhh. o.k.

well, give us a mini-review when you get the chance.

[LenexatoKCMO]

please tell us what it's about when you get a chance.

Its been talked about on here in the past - Putnam's general premise is along the lines that Americans are becoming increasingly more socially isolated and unlikely to participate in their community.  The title comes from a study that shows that while Americans are bowling more than ever, league bowling has been on a steady plummit - we would rather bowl with our own family than have anything to do with our neigbors, coworkers , etc.  Supposedly American participation in community groups, social organizations, etc. has all been steadily droping.  His theories dovetail into some of our development conversations if you are of the sort of mind to think that suburbanization and autocentricity may have played a part in some of these trends.  

[KCFutbol]

Right now I'm reading Physics of the Impossible by Michio Kaku, PhD.

Recently finished Silks by Dick Francis, Home From Nowhere and Geography from Nowhere by James Howard Kunstler.

[chrizow]

currently reading:

* notes from the air, john ashbery
* collected poems, kenneth koch
* chomsky on anarchism, noam chomsky
* the last avant-garde, david lehman (re-reading for th third time)
* when you are engulfed in flames, david sedaris (started it months ago, then lost it, and just found it again yesterday...)
* white like me, tim wise
* you are a little bit happier than i am, tao lin
* 45 more stories, donald barthelme
* infinite jest, david foster wallace (everyone is probably "currently reading" this, esp. this year...it's a beast, and i think i need to start over again because i made the mistake of putting it down for a few weeks.)

i have a backlog of at least a dozen books that i plan to read during the cold months. 

[shinatoo]

currently reading:

* notes from the air, john ashbery
* collected poems, kenneth koch
* chomsky on anarchism, noam chomsky
* the last avant-garde, david lehman (re-reading for th third time)
* when you are engulfed in flames, david sedaris (started it months ago, then lost it, and just found it again yesterday...)
* white like me, tim wise
* you are a little bit happier than i am, tao lin
* 45 more stories, donald barthelme
* infinite jest, david foster wallace (everyone is probably "currently reading" this, esp. this year...it's a beast, and i think i need to start over again because i made the mistake of putting it down for a few weeks.)

i have a backlog of at least a dozen books that i plan to read during the cold months. 

infinite jest has been staring me in the face (looking at it now on the bottom shelf of my bookcase) for years. i don't have th hear to start it. Wifie is getting Engulfed in flames for Christmas, and the Amy Sedaris book I LIKE YOU: HOSPITALITY UNDER THE INFLUENCE

[chrizow]

infinite jest is probably the most well-written book i've ever read.  it is just really hard to keep track of it all.  i started consulting a "chapter summary" site on the web periodically to make sure i am understanding the plot points.  as pure writing, it is astounding.  the plot, predictably, is very dense.  i think it's rewarding enough to read, though as i said i think i need/want to start over (i am 400 pages in).

[kcdcchef]

the torah. it is chanukah and all.

[Beermo]

just finished reading Final Salute: A story of unfinished lives by Jim Sheeler. it's about a USMC major who makes face to face death notifications to families of marines in a 6 state region. a very good book. quite the tear jerker. he writes about the heavy burden on the guys who have to do this task and the families left behind. i think he won a pulitzer for it.

[Highlander]

I am reading "Undaunted Courage" by Steven Ambrose (author of "Band of Brothers").  The book is about the Lewis and Clark expedition (and a biography of the life of Meriweather Lewis) and is an excellent snapshot of America in 1805, particularly what the American west was like a mere 200 years ago.  The book also features a record of the earliest recorded occurrence of significant night life in the Kansas City area when the enlisted men serving under Lewis/Clark broke into the whiskey stores and went on a 24-hour binge.  I love Ambrose as an author and feel compelled to re-read his books about every 2-3 years.     

[Sportster]

"The Best Writings on Billy The Kid" Edited by Harold Dellinger.
Harold's 2007 editings on Jesse James was a great work. This one is as well - many eye witness accounts of what actually happend, versus the lore that's been spun on the man born as William Bonny.
Harold lives in Northeast, (Lykins Neighborhood) is a former MO Parole Offier and has an extensive knowledge of Civil War, local and regional history.

Sportster
...good stuff if your a "kid" fan

[Beermo]

I am reading "Undaunted Courage" by Steven Ambrose (author of "Band of Brothers").  The book is about the Lewis and Clark expedition (and a biography of the life of Meriweather Lewis) and is an excellent snapshot of America in 1805, particularly what the American west was like a mere 200 years ago.  The book also features a record of the earliest recorded occurrence of significant night life in the Kansas City area when the enlisted men serving under Lewis/Clark broke into the whiskey stores and went on a 24-hour binge.  I love Ambrose as an author and feel compelled to re-read his books about every 2-3 years.     

sounds good. i love steven ambrose's books. i should be able to get to it in a week or so.

anything else of his you'd recommend? 

i also read "candy bombers" a couple of weeks ago. it's about berlin leading up to, during and after the airlift. it has a lot of local politics in it and talks about the damn communists. a very good book.