BOOKS THREAD

I'm not familiar with her... Do tell.

 

I'm an English teacher now and some of my kids are reading the Twilight series. They are absolutely barreling through the books and I think most of them are around 700 pages. I don't care how bad they are. Any reading, IMO, is good reading at that age.

 

Okay, I'm new here but I have read a book or two recently.

Just read "Rickles Letters." Kind of funny at times and perfect for throne trips.

Now I'm reading "Rickles' Book" and "The Man with the Iron Heart" by Harry Turtledove, who is probably the king of alternative history authors. The book is about die-hard Nazi's fighting a guerrilla war following the surrender of Germany.

 

Any recommendations for a biography on Martin Luther King Jr.?

 

Taylor Branch.

http://literati.net/Branch/BranchBooks.htm

 

Any recommendations for something in the area of politics?

I've been reading Hunter S. since this fall and knocked out Great Shark Hunt, Kingdom of Fear and Better Than Sex, plus Gonzo. I love HST more than any writer, but I need a break from his style.

I'd almost rather read fiction and I've read All The King's Men.

Just needing suggestions...

 

CJ,

Pick up What It Takes by Richard Ben Cramer. It is a massive book, but it will definitely fill any craving you have to read about politics. Cramer got amazing access to Bush I, Dole, Biden, Hart, Gephardt and Dukakis in 88, so it is basically an intertwined biography combined with a campaign narrative where you get to see events from all points of view.

 

Sweet. Thanks.

Sounds like exactly what I'm looking for. I'm trying to learn about some of the inner-workings of politics.

 

Robert Caro's series on Lyndon Johnson. Amazing reporting and it gives insight into several aspects of politics and government in general.

 

Churchill, Hitler and the Unnecessary War, by Pat Buchanan

Pat's history is to write political screeds with frontloaded logic, climaxed by
final chapters delivering grotesque conclusions.

Finally . . . in a book featuring a number of "interesting" leaps of logic, he
delivers a final chapter which echos the sad historical Britain/US parallels
I and others have been heralding for decades.

Finally. Alas, very possibly, too late.

 

Dead-on.

I was slightly disappointed, but I came in with what were likely insurmountable expectations.

One is not surprised to learn the guy wrote scripts for "The Wire".

 

Currently working through "The World's Tallest Midget," a Frank DeFord collection. As you would expect, it is very good.