I have gotten 4 books of poetry: John Keats Percy Shelley Lord Byron Robert Frost I have started all 4 but haven't gotten too far, maybe some day I will make more progress.
yeah, but its got Shawshank and The Body in it, so if you muddle through Apt Pupil and The Breathing Method, you still win.
The Smartest Men in the Room - The Amazing Rise and Scandalous Fall of Enron My reading periods are so few and far between at the moment that it's hard to keep up because I keep forgetting what was going on before I stopped the last time.
Just finished reading :- Ghost Wars - Steve Coll We did Nothing - Linda Polman Ghost Wars is non fiction, and basically chronicles events in Afghanistan from the early 80s through to September 2001. It is heavy into USA foreign policy, CIA involvement, and bin Laden. Won the Pulitzer for non fiction in 2005. We did Nothing (again non fiction) is written by a journalist who covered the UN missions in Somalia, Haiti and Rwanda. Quite revealing in revealing the UN's lack of funding, resources and mandate to do anything, but I was a little disappointed
Do you like mysteries at all? There is a superb series of "ancient murder mysteries" by Steven Saylor, who's an Austin resident at least part of the year (and would I love to meet him!). The first novel is Roman Blood. The series covers the era of the dictatorship of Sulla, through to the civil war between Caesar and Pompey... at least that's as far as he's made it so far. His portrayal of the most famous Romans of the period, from their youth to middle age, through the eyes of a Roman citizen who makes his living as a Finder... a detective for the upper classes, is fresh and historically accurate. I just finished his latest, The Judgment of Caesar, which takes place in Alexandria, with Cleopatra as just one of the main characters. If you don't want to start from the beginning, the previous book, A Mist of Prophecies, is an excellent place to start. Saylor has just gotten better and better as he's written these.
I recently read The Game by Niel Strauss - good read, very quick, energetic writing. After that I read How to Pick Up Women by Wayne Elise, aka Juggler. Actually, that's a sort of zen approach on that, written as a dialogue. Nice read. Also read Influence - the Art of Persuasion by Robert Cialdini. Very good. Entertaining. Highly recommended. Also trying to finish Wicked. It's ok. Losing interest. I know the witch dies. . Will get after the Narnia books soon.
Seriously?? Come on! The first thing I do, when my kids have an excellent report card, is take them to Book People, or Barnes and Noble. Reading, after my wife and children, is the great love of my life. You should try it!
reading is for suckers. I hate it when people tell me this book was amazing. Look lady, if that book was good, I would have read the first twenty pages, and put it back on the shelf. Let me see what I can recomend.
Ever since high school I have read mostly non-fiction: Biographies,WWII, true life murders and most of all, travel guides. The last fiction book I read up until two months ago was Interview with a Vampire by Anne Rice in 1994. I thought the book was so-so. For the last two months I've read books recommended to me and others that were made into movies. I didn't realize how much better the books are to the movies. Take "The Shining", it's nothing like the movie but it's more entertaining and scary. It took me about 3 days to read. Cold Mountain was another very good book and the movie was more faithful to it than I thought it would. Some books haven't been so easy to read. Heart of the matter by Graham Greene was tough to get through but I guess writing about West Africa and suicide is not the easiest subject matter. I'm trying to read Moby Dick right now and strongly emphasize the trying part. I know it's supposed to be great and all, but Melville goes overboard with the excess whale info and sea tales that have little to do with the chase. I'm halfway through and it's a challenge. I've also read several of Chandler's detective stories and didn't find them seedier than I would have liked. The biggest surprise by far and a book that I highly recommend for everyone, hell it should be required reading in high school, is "Lonesome Dove" by Larry McMurtry. And I have never liked westerns. This book is unbelievable. It's the only book I've read so far that I didn't want to end and it's about 850 pages long. Great characters, great story and great dialogue. I would appreciate if you guys would give me your top reads, because I'm hooked. I never thought I had enough time to waste on non-fiction,but from on now I will make time no matter what. Reading a great book is right up there with listening to a great album and much better than most TV and movies.
