BOOKS THREAD

I completely agree. An extremely interesting period of transition. 20th century Russian/USSR history is easily one of the most fascinating historical time periods in a particular area.

 

The Brief and Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao

Sensational novel. All that needs to be said, read it as soon as possible.

 

"Twinkie, Deconstructed" by Steve Ettlinger

An indictment of the food processing industry that still manages to be an easy read (and even funny at times).

Now, somebody pass me the Ho-Hos ...

 

You make some odd book-buying/borrowing decisions for a reader who doesn't like war books. If you're into Ambrose, try Undaunted Courage, about Lewis and Clark.

I listened to Coldest. Loved most of it -- so much great detail about the first year of the war. It barely mentions the rest of the war, however, so don't expect a comprehensive book on the Korean War. Zilch about air power in the conflict either. Also, if you happen to be MacArthur's son, or a close friend of his family, might want to skip it as well. Don't know if MacArthur crapped in Halberstam's cereal once or what, but through Halberstam's eyes you'd be hard pressed to ever assign MacArthur to be in charge of anything more important than a toilet. Of course, certainly much of that reputation was warranted.

 

This is what I'm reading right now.

 

That's a Pike novel, isn't it? How was it?

They usually have Crais at Costco, so that's on my list for the next trip.

 

Sounds about right. The first one was a fun read, as I recall.

Pike's a bit of a cartoon, but a thoroughly enjoyable one.

 

The thing is I feel that the coverage on the war in Iraq was/is far superior, Tom Ricks writes some fantastic novels and Dexter Filkins coverage on the war is fantastic. I guess I like looking at a war from more of a policy perspective rather than a military strategist perspective. There are only so many times I can hear the same story of how one man destroyed six tanks. Whats more fascinating to me, and I may be in the minority here is how we got to the situation we were in for whatever war, and while Halberstram touches upon this briefly I think it was more important him to expand on it further. Then again many of the most important lessons we learned from that war were not just in the policy arena but also in the military and counterinsurgency. I plan on reading The Best and the Brightest after On the Brink by Hank Paulson and finishing that JFK book, should I read it or steer away? I know Best and Brightest is a favorite for most here but I need to know whether I should invest the time into reading a book I may end up despising.

 

If you like the policy aspect of a war, then you should thoroughly enjoy Best and Brightest. I just read it last year and it's basically all policy-based.

 

birdscribe: you've got to read "to the finland station" by edmund wilson. the history of communist thought....but exciting as hell, i promise.