BOOKS THREAD

John Grisham's The Last Juror. Anyone who's worked at a weekly paper (or a small-town paper) will appreciate it. VERY good book, keeps you reading for sure.

 

Whoever recommended Neal Bascomb's "The Perfect Mile" on here, thanks. It's a terrific book and very motivating even for a fairly slow jogger like myself.

 

Yes and no. The first 80 or so pages is about how the terrorists got on the flights, what happened on the planes and the our governmental response that day along with explaining Islam, which is all quite interesting. In fact, I've read through those pages a few times just because they are so interesting and sparks memories of my 9/11 day.

I'm around page 180 or something right now and much of the past 100 pages have been policies and why the agencies failed pre-9/11 which has kind of made me yawn. Honestly, I'm not sure about the rest of the book. I know it has to deal with the Al-Qaeda buildup, U.S. response to it, the intelligence of the summer of 2001, the preparedness (or lack thereof) for 9/11 and the recommended changes in the intelligence system of the U.S. It also delves into the Iraq-Al Qaeda link (or lack thereof).

Some of the stuff is hard comprehend and I would say that you have to be very interested in the stuff to read through it all. But other parts of the book are, I think, necessary for citizens to know what happened behind the scenes on that day and why it was all fucked up.

 

Taking this thread in a different direction, three very "quiet", understated books that deserve a read:

Jayber Crow by Wendell Berry
Wish You Well by David Balducci
Night Flight by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

 

Right now I'm reading Waterfront : A Walk Around Manhattan by Phillip Lopate. It's an interesting history of the city and it's waterfront. I'm about 50 pages in and have thoroughly enjoyed it so far.

 

Some time ago I read "The Lovely Bones," by Alice Sebold – a pretty good book. It's a first-person story told by a little girl who was raped and killed. Her narration includes the crime, the family's search for the killer and her idea of "her heaven."

It's probably a chick read, but it's pretty good.

 

Box Socials by WP Kinsella. Cool baseball read and quirky insights into Canada.

 

I'll throw out The Dante Club. I'm probably one of the later folks to read it, and I'm just past the halfway point, but it's a good one. Great subject, great writing.

I've been trying to go from modern to classic on my reading, and just finished The Naked Lunch. I'm getting a CAT scan later this week to check for brain damage. Damn that book was out there!

 

'Naked Lunch' is a waste of effort to read.
Has anybody read 'The Historian' yet? Supposed to be the new 'Da Vinci Code.'

 

just finished the new hornby... was entertaining, quick read. but, you know, not as good as high fidelity or about a boy or fever pitch -- better than how to be good

 

Hoops, I'm counting on you to be a major player in the Horby book discussion.