Great Books...

[North East Goon]

Can I start this again, because I love getting idea's from people on great books they have read or are currently reading. I prefer non-fiction type books, but am open to anything. Last time we had one of these threads, I went to the used bookstore and picked up like 10 books listed here. I am currently reading Paris 1919: Six Months That Changed the World by Margaret MacMillan. Decent book about the trials and tribulations of splitting up Europe after the first World War. You can see the basis of many conflicts today, was born back then.

[Hart50]

Have you read Leon Uris's "Trinity"? Although the main protangonists are fictional, it is a superb historically based look at the "Irish Troubles" in 19th century Ireland. Sorta of like James Mitchner.

[JiriHrdina]

Well I just ordered a book called "When the Lights Went Out" about the brawl between Russia and Canada at the WJCs - I read in excpert of it in some magazine and it seemed very good.

Erick Duhatschek also has a book coming out this Xmas called "King of Russia" about Dave King's coaching experiences over there.

Looking forward to both. I need to find more time to read.

[habernac]

Just got through excellent biographies of Ted Williams and Babe Ruth by Leigh Montville. Also finally read Ball Four, the original tell-all book of Major League Baseball by Jim Bouton. All three are terrific reads.

[Cowperson]

Originally Posted by habernac

Just got through excellent biographies of Ted Williams and Babe Ruth by Leigh Montville. Also finally read Ball Four, the original tell-all book of Major League Baseball by Jim Bouton. All three are terrific reads.

Ball Four is a riot . . . Jim Bouton also wrote a follow-up, but not very good, sequel.

If you like that sort of thing, then "The Boys Of Summer" by Roger Kahn is one of the great baseball books of all time and probably best appreciated if you're over 40. Not just an examination of the game, but more of personalities, racism, eccentricities, characters . . . .

One I go back and read occasionally is Modecai Richler's "The Apprenticeship Of Duddy Kravitz," also probably best appreciated if you have a little life experience behind you. A truly hilarious book and if you read it later in life, you can look back on the energy, uncertainty and craziness of youth with some nostalgia.

"And No Birds Sang," by Farley Mowat, alternately hilarious and tragic, his experiences in WWII, idealism succumbing to realism.

I read Steinbeck's "East of Eden" this summer . . . . some wonderfully contrasting characters. "Of Mice and Men" and "Cannery Row" are also great summer reads.

I was just googling a title and saw this list of the top 100 Sci-fi novels of all time . . . . I've read a number of them on the list so I'll simply include the link:

http://home.austarnet.com.au/petersy...oks_rank1.html

Lots of others of course . . . .

Cowperson

[habernac]

Originally Posted by Cowperson

Ball Four is a riot . . . Jim Bouton also wrote a follow-up, but not very good, sequel.


Cowperson

The one I read has a bunch of additional chapters, right up to Ball Seven, updated up until a few years ago. Worth picking up if you can find it (found it at a Barnes and Noble in Vegas)

[metallicat]

Flyboys and Flags of our Fathers are too excellent books written by James Bradley. Flags is a recent movie currently in theatres.

Busting Vegas was a good read about the MIT students who took casino's all over the world for millions by exploiting weaknesses, and in general being complete geniuses.

Mystic River is fiction, but one of the best I've ever read. Way better than the already awesome movie.

[kermitology]

Non-fiction:

I always have to voice my perennial favourites. Stalingrad and Fall of Berlin 1945 both by Antony Beevor.

Also really liked Shake Hands With The Devil

For fiction:
I just finished a book called The Effect Of Living Backwards that was good and I'm reading a good one right now called I, Lucifer.

[CaptainCrunch]

Originally Posted by Cowperson

"And No Birds Sang," by Farley Mowat, alternately hilarious and tragic, his experiences in WWII, idealism succumbing to realism.



Cowperson

Hey Cow, did you ever pick up the companion piece "My father's son" which is the letters back and forth between Mowat and his parents. Its interesting to read it after no birds sang.

I'm currently reading "The Osama Bin Laden I know" by Peter Bergon which is a interesting book of interviews.

[Hakan]

The Golden Spruce

[Burninator]

I read Collapse: How Socities Choose to Fail or Succeed by Jared Diamond. I really enjoyed it, very interesting.

Right now I am reading The Weather Makers: The Past and Future Impact of Climate Change by Tim Flannery. If you like Al Gore's movie and want to know more, then this book is for you.

Next I am going to read Guns, Germs and Steel by Jared Diamond and also Alive is to follow.

[socalwingfan]

I Never Had it Made - Jackie Robinson autobiography. Really interesting to hear the story behind breaking the color barrier in baseball

Ladies and Gentlemen the Bronx is Burning - Jonathan Mahler. Excellent book intertwining the race for NY mayor, the city-wide blackout and the Bronx Zoo that was the Yankees at the time during 1977

Porno - Irvine Welsh - catching up with the Trainspotting lads a decade later

[Frank the Tank]

I just re-read Into the Wild by John Krakauer. Just an awesome book. Tells the true story of Chris McCandless, a recent college grad who gives all of his inheretence away and takes off to "make it on his own".

[octothorp]

Originally Posted by Hakan

The Golden Spruce

I haven't read this book yet, but I read Valliant's original article about Hadwin and the spruce in the New Yorker and was so overwhelmed by the story that I told everyone I knew about it and photocopied it for them if they expressed even the remotest interest in it. Anyway, I'm sure it's even better in longer form.

[Hakan]

Originally Posted by octothorp

I haven't read this book yet, but I read Valliant's original article about Hadwin and the spruce in the New Yorker and was so overwhelmed by the story that I told everyone I knew about it and photocopied it for them if they expressed even the remotest interest in it. Anyway, I'm sure it's even better in longer form.

Fantastic book. Just dripping with compelling historical stories revealing the truly mystical nature of the West Coast's beautiful rainforests.

The human story is simply unbelievable. While it may be a little embellished, men like Grant Hadwin make for amazing reading. This book is amazing by the fact that it's non-fiction. You couldn't make up a better story than this.

[goaliegirl]

I love reading and rereading any Sidney Sheldon novel but I really liked Master of the Game

[Dan]

Originally Posted by Cowperson

I read Steinbeck's "East of Eden" this summer . . . . some wonderfully contrasting characters. "Of Mice and Men" and "Cannery Row" are also great summer reads.

Cowperson

Agreed on Cannery Row, haven't read the other two yet unfortunately. The Moon is Down is another amazing Steinbeck book, about a British town occupied by the Nazis in WWII.

Another good one I read lately was A Bend in the River by V.S. Naipaul, about post-colonial Africa. Very good, and thought provoking.

[J pold]

I am trying to find the time to finish a book I picked up in the summer, it’s called “The science of Happiness” it’s written by Stefan Klein a very profound science writer in Europe it’s rather interesting it’s about latest frontiers or neuroscience and psychology to explain how happiness is generated in the brain

[Iowa_Flames_Fan]

Originally Posted by Dan

Agreed on Cannery Row, haven't read the other two yet unfortunately. The Moon is Down is another amazing Steinbeck book, about a British town occupied by the Nazis in WWII.

Another good one I read lately was A Bend in the River by V.S. Naipaul, about post-colonial Africa. Very good, and thought provoking.

A Bend in the River is very good. If you liked it you might check out Canadian author Rohinton Mistry's A Fine Balance, which is also very good.

(I realize that my being a grad student in English may make my recommendations LESS valuable to some--but trust me, I'm just as much into reading for pleasure as anyone. I promise!)

For non-fiction: Walter Isaacson's biography of Benjamin Franklin is awesome. Doesn't hurt that it's about one of my heroes. Also, there's a biography of Martin Luther King called Parting the Waters by Taylor Branch--it's part of a series, actually, but that's the only one I've read.

For sci-fi: Richard Paul Russo's Carlucci trilogy is now available in a single volume, trade paperback. Excellent read, one of those ones you can't put down. Another in that category is Dan Simmons' Hyperion series.

Fiction: I'm a lot pickier in this area--but I think Melville's Billy Budd makes for an awesome read--and at ~90 pp. it's more digestible than Moby Dick, though that is also very, very good.

[phaneuf_train]

This thread isnt about Garth Brooks?