What Are You Reading Now Part Two

[Chip R]

Bryson is one of my favorites. In addition to the ones already mentioned, In a Sunburned Country, about his travels in Australia, and A Short History of Nearly Everything are great.

I've read the former but I don't think I've read the latter.

[RFS62]

The Oceans and the Stars
A Sea Story, A War Story, A Love Story
by Mark Helprin

Excellent. Probably the best book I’ve read in the last 10 years. Gorgeous in prose, epic in scope, and I hated for it to end. I didn’t think books like this got written any more. Stayed up till 2 am last night finishing it. Highly highly recommend.

Man, I am so happy I caught this review. MWM actually told me he saw your endorsement.

It started a bit slowly, but what a payoff. Can't say enough good things about this book.

[NebraskaRed]

After being gifted Master and Commander 3 times in my life, I actually started to read it. I'm about halfway through and loving it. I'm not sure what took me so long.

[Roy Tucker]

Just read “An Astronomer In Love” by Antoine Laurain. A jewel of a book. From Amazon:

“In 1760, Guillaume le Gentil, real-life astronomer to King Louis XV, sets out for the oceans of India to document the transit of Venus. The weather is turbulent, the seas are rough and his quest may be more complicated than initially thought.

250 years later, estate agent Xavier Lemercier chances upon Guillaume’s telescope in a property he's sold. As he looks out across the rooftops of Paris, he discovers an intriguing woman with a zebra in her apartment.

Then the woman walks through the doors of his office, and his life changes forever . . . ”

[chicoruiz]

After being gifted Master and Commander 3 times in my life, I actually started to read it. I'm about halfway through and loving it. I'm not sure what took me so long.

Just wait…it just gets better and better through each volume until about #18.

[Strikes Out Looking]

After being gifted Master and Commander 3 times in my life, I actually started to read it. I'm about halfway through and loving it. I'm not sure what took me so long.

I finally finished the series, when I did, I felt grief that it had ended. it's just a fantastic read. I believe one of the streamers is now going to do a series based on it; the movie was ok, but I'd love to see a series with more of the domestic side.

[NebraskaRed]

I finally finished the series, when I did, I felt grief that it had ended. it's just a fantastic read. I believe one of the streamers is now going to do a series based on it; the movie was ok, but I'd love to see a series with more of the domestic side.

I'm moving through this one pretty quickly. I'm excited to read the next.

[Kingspoint]

Currently in the middle of 100+ books, but of those 100+, one that has my attention right now is the 1996 Robin Buss translated version of Alexandre Dumas', "The Count of Monte Cristo". It's 1124 pages (18 intro, 1078 novel, 25 notes), and I'm only at page 332. This version was highly reviewed for its translation by those who speak and read French (any review by a non-french-speaking critic is, of course, completely worthless). Since I don't speak and read French it's the closest I could find to capturing the original text. I really need to expand my ability to read and comprehend original texts in non-english languages.

For those who have seen any version of the movie, none of the movies ever made are anything close to the book. All of them are very short condensed version, shorter than a Reader's Digest condensed versioin of a book, and closer to a cliffnotes version than anything else.

It's similar to "Les Miserables" in this regard.

So much is missed having to read a translated version of a non-english novel from any language.

[Roy Tucker]

Just read “The Women” by Kristin Hannah (my wife had read it and then passed it on to me). Excellent coming of age tale of a Vietnam war Army nurse serving in country. Half the book is a searing look at a combat nurse and the second half about her coming home to an unwelcoming US and the challenges she faced. A well told story and gets a 5 star rating from Roy.

[Ky Fried Redleg]

I have a never-ending stack of to-read books in my basement. I know it’s a tastes great less filling thing, but I prefer the heft and feel of a real book to a Kindle.

Reading “The Cartographers” now. I’ve always had a thing for maps.

^^^^

The bolded. THANK YOU!!!

[marcshoe]

Finishing The Demon of Unrest. I didn't think it was up with Larson's best. I didn't find the characters he focused on particularly compelling. Also, I listened to the audiobook, and, while I've liked Will Patton reading fiction, he didn't seem a good fit for this. Having visited Sumter helped, though.

I may be oversaturated on the subject right now, though
My last book was an excellent history of the army of the Potomac by Stephen Sears.

[Roy Tucker]

Just finishing “The Fateful Lightning” by Jeff Shara. A Civil War book starting with Sherman’s march to the sea and all the details behind it and then up to the end of the war. Told from the viewpoint of Sherman from the Union and Hardee and others from the Confederacy. Plus a thread about a freed slave.

Not to get into politics, but as I read the book, my thoughts continued to return to wondering if we’re close to a civil war now. I guess we’ll see.

[cumberlandreds]

I have mentioned in this thread I am trying to read a biography on all of the Presidents. I have finally gotten to the ones I can actually remember when they served. I am on Reagan now. I am about 2/3 of the way through a biography on him by H .W Brands. I have read a couple of other books by him and he is a good writer of history. When you read about the ones you have lived through you are reminded of some things you had forgotten or just didn't know at the time. I had forgotten that Reagan had colon cancer during his Presidency. He had a serious surgery to remove a tumor and a small section of his colon. Luckily the cancer hadn't spread and he recovered pretty quickly. Also when he was shot they didn't know until they got him to the hospital that he had a bullet in him. They thought he had broken a rib when the secret service guy pushed him into the car and landed on him. He was in bad shape when they got to the hospital. Anyway this is a good biography. It's very thorough and seems very even handed in his treatment of him.

[Kingspoint]

I have mentioned in this thread I am trying to read a biography on all of the Presidents. I have finally gotten to the ones I can actually remember when they served. I am on Reagan now. I am about 2/3 of the way through a biography on him by H .W Brands. I have read a couple of other books by him and he is a good writer of history. When you read about the ones you have lived through you are reminded of some things you had forgotten or just didn't know at the time. I had forgotten that Reagan had colon cancer during his Presidency. He had a serious surgery to remove a tumor and a small section of his colon. Luckily the cancer hadn't spread and he recovered pretty quickly. Also when he was shot they didn't know until they got him to the hospital that he had a bullet in him. They thought he had broken a rib when the secret service guy pushed him into the car and landed on him. He was in bad shape when they got to the hospital. Anyway this is a good biography. It's very thorough and seems very even handed in his treatment of him.

I was able to purchase the complete set of "Messages and Papers of the Presidents" by James Richardson (Rep from TEN), c. 1897 (1908 Edition). Resolution Authorizing the Compilation by the Joint Committee on Printing, United States Senate of 1894.

It's a great original source for documents written to and by each President of the United States up to the beginning of the 20th Century that you won't find compiled in any other form as the volume is just too great (and too boring for a publisher to accept as a volume, even individually for each President). Another great source is the Grandson of John Adams for covering those two Presidents.