SMF

Just finished William Manchester's dual volume biography on Winston Churchill - The Last Lion - Visions of Glory and Alone. Outstanding reading -- and well worth the 1600+ pages over the 2 volumes.

Now I decided to go light -- so I picked up a Steve Berry's The Third Secret just for fun. When I finish that, I am going to probably read Jane Austin's Emma (love that book).

jww wrote:Just finished William Manchester's dual volume biography on Winston Churchill - The Last Lion - Visions of Glory and Alone. Outstanding reading -- and well worth the 1600+ pages over the 2 volumes.

Now I decided to go light -- so I picked up a Steve Berry's The Third Secret just for fun. When I finish that, I am going to probably read Jane Austin's Emma (love that book).

Wendell, I just read Visions of Glory. Thought I would take a break before tackling Alone. Long, but very well written. I really enjoyed the commentary about life among the upper crust in Victorian England. It was very informative and explained a lot about Winston's childhood and his relationship with his mother. I've read a lot of books about Churchill but had never tackled this pair. It's a shame Manchester died before he could complete the trilogy.

Right now I'm tackling Girls Like Us about Joni Mitchell, Carly Simon and Carole King and also Death to the BCS, a critical -- very critical -- look at the Bowl Championship Series of American college football.

paddy wrote:i'm currently reading "far from the madding crowd" by thomas hardy.

Paddy, I've never read the book, but interestingly, the staircase shooting scene in the movie with Alan Bates was shot in my uncle's former house in Dorset.

The Quincunx by Charles Palliser

The Federalist Papers

I have a tradition of reading horror and gothic-themed literature during October in anticipation of Halloween. I try to read different authors every year, although that doesn't work out all the time because I have favorites, etc.

This year I've been reading Ray Bradbury's collection of stories, The October Country, and just got the Library of America Shirley Jackson collection.

Bonhoeffer by Eric Metaxas
The Blooming of a Lotus by Thich Nhat Hanh

My wife just completed two weeks in hospital, so I had time to read:

The Girl Who Played With Fire by Stieg Larsson.

Cormac McCarthy's All The Pretty Horses; The Crossing; Cities of the Plain; and No Country for Old Men.

Finished The 3rd Secret this morning and started Emma right away. The 3rd Secret was only so-so. Emma, on the other hand, is wonderfully written, and very entertaining.

we should change this to a BOTD sticky

Im plowing through burning bright by ron rash. great stories

clive

I am reading "Soccernomics" and "American Terroir." Oh, and the database book "Oracle Essentials" so I can talk to the DBAs who work for me. :7)

- Will

Just finished Rudyard Kipling's "Captains Courageous" and started Tony Blair's " A Journey, My Political Life" this afternoon. Once I'm well into Blair's book I'll be cracking Charles Cruickshank's "The German Occupation of the Channel Islands".

Rufus wrote:...started Tony Blair's " A Journey, My Political Life" this afternoon. ...

Blair's "A Journey ...." is sitting on my Kobo at the moment waiting for me to finish Emma (also on my Kobo). It's next on the list for me.

My reading consists of books on CD which I listen while driving. Some time back I bought a rocking chair and footstool along with a floor lamp for the main office so I could take a break and read. The only thing that has occupied that chair for the last couple years is a bunch of fly fishing books.

I was thinking about an audio book for a change, currently reading Boneshaker by Cherie Priest which im finding hard to get into, next book will be the Scar by China Mieville.

jww wrote:

Rufus wrote:...started Tony Blair's " A Journey, My Political Life" this afternoon. ...

Blair's "A Journey ...." is sitting on my Kobo at the moment waiting for me to finish Emma (also on my Kobo). It's next on the list for me.

Actually, to be fair -- by the time I finish Emma - it will be Rosamund Pilcher's Winter Soltice - my favourite all-time get-in-the-mood-for-Christmas book. We have several copies in our home because we often like to read it all at the same time.

So - Tony will have to wait until after I spend some time with Rosamund.

My favorite fall book is The Old Man and the Boy by Robert Ruark, about his adventures hunting and fishing with his grandfather around the small fishing village of Southport, NC, where my grandparents retired nearly 50 years ago. Always gets me in the mood for fall hunting.

Fade-Out has turned out to be my favorite sci-fi book. It's of a time, the Cold War '70s. I reread it every couple years. From it, I've taken the following (paraphrased) section. My sense is that it comes from a real Scandinavian text, though I've never tracked down the author's source:

Far in the North Land lies a mountain 100 miles high and 100 miles wide.
Every 10,000 years a little bird flies to its top to sharpen its beak.
When the bird has worn away the mountain to nothing,
One second of eternity will have passed.

(Yes, that's a bird with excellent longevity and high-altitude skills. Perhaps it's a family tradition.) The characters are rich and the plotline entertaining; a good read.

jthomas60506 wrote:Bonhoeffer by Eric Metaxas
The Blooming of a Lotus by Thich Nhat Hanh

Would love to hear your impressions of Metaxas book. Sounds like interesting reading both from a historical stand point and to maybe get into Bonhoeffer's head a bit. Have read Bonhoeffer's "Cost of Discipleship" and found it very interesting as well as inspirational.

maskaggs wrote:

GA Russell wrote: Now reading: The Ninth Directive by Adam Hall (the second Quiller story)

There must be something in the (shaving) water - I just brought The 9th Directive upstairs to read, dogeared to pick up where I left off last night

I am finding The Ninth Directive to be so delicious that I don't want to read it for more than a half hour at a time!