BOOKS THREAD

It seems that where Jon Krakauer left off, having descended Everest with death's clippers trimming around his beard, Robert Kurson took the baton and went to the bottom of the ocean. It is not a personal account like Krakauer's, but "Shadow Divers" plunges into the Atlantic and deep sea wreck diving. Specifically, it is the tale of the discovery of an unknown U-boat, nicknamed "U-Who", just off the shores of Brielle, NJ.
Similarities are given due to the fact that both climbing and diving feature breathing aids, the battle with lucid thought, and extremely slow and deliberate navigation. But I would hardly call this a genre copy cat in the Hollywood disaster movie mold.
Kurson does an incredible amount of work uncovering information from a huge variety of sources, and knits a nice weave of in-the-water scenes and history - not only of the sport and U-boats, but the individual crew of this particular boat. He really does capture the intensity of the two divers who are after the boat's identity.
The book has its fair share of disaster moments for individuals, and is a quick read due to Kurson's neat and tidy prose.
Lots of good angles in the book, which does a marvelous job of probing into the fairly unknown sport of diving.
It's actually kind of sad - there's a blown-up Nazi war vessel 60 miles off US shores, and the only ones who ended up giving a damn are a couple divers, the crew's family, and historians. Solid read.

 

I'm guessing you looked into the book a little, since you mentioned a few of the subjects that are written about. I thought it was good, and I didn't agree with the 442 review, but then again, I'm an American who has to get into soccer all on his own, without the help of the national (or local) media. So we might be going at things from a different perspective. Some good stories in there though.

 

I've been reading "Sunday Money" by Jeff MacGregor. It's great, even if you don't like NASCAR. (I fall somewhere in the middle) and MacGregor is an unbelievable writer. The first chapter includes a three-page description of a Steve Park-Little E crash that will have you shaking your head ...

 

I will say that the book probably isn't for NASCAR nuts. MacGregor doesn't unearth a whole bunch of new information. But if you like raceday color and phenomenal writing, then it's definitely worth the time.

 

"The Year the Yankees Lost the Pennant," by Douglass Wallop. aka "Damn Yankees"

I have not the time to go through all 19 pages of this thread, but I thought I'd mention this book as Jonathan Yardly, book critic for the Washington Post, re-reviews this book. It's a great series he's been doing. Going back at notable or neglected books of the past.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/08/10/AR2005081002367.html?sub=AR

 

Finally got to Da Vinci Code, I'm halfway through. God DAMN, this is a good book. I have a friend who told me that the Harry Potter books are "like mind candy." Well, I'm not really getting into Potter at the moment, but that pretty aptly describes this one. And for someone who considers himself to be spiritual if not devout, it's very dramatic.

 

I thought that Among the Thugs probably played fast and loose with the facts. A good read, but semi-fiction.

The McGinniess (sp) book was awesome. One of my top five favorite sports books. Carlo Cudicini from Chelski played for that team, although a little later than the events in the book.

 

I just started reading Tony Geraghty's "The Irish War: The Hidden Conflict between the IRA and British Intelligence."

It's enlightening (how both sides have fought the war), infuriating (how both sides have downplayed civilian deaths and have manipulated Irish and British media) and heart-wrenching (how The Troubles have affected Ireland on a day-to-day basis).

 

This book is widely recommended, and will knock you flat on your ass.

A group of intellectuals in Massachusetts sought to connect feelings to rules in the 1870s. Rather like colonizing a new world of pragmatic thought. Out of that came a certain conclusiveness that what we know can be reconciled, rationally, with what we feel.

Pulitzer Prize, beeyotches. Thanks to everyone else for playing.

 

On my nightstand or just off it:



Loved this book. So meaty that I couldn't read more than 30 pages at a time without wearing myself out, but then I had to go back for more not long after. Reading this book was like an addicting workout. I never knew that Joe Namath was the Elvis of football. Awesome work.



I usually don't go for books like this -- total action, lots of dialogue, improbable escapes, basically a screenplay. But for some reason this one grabbed my attention from the outset. The second half started to bore me, but I made it through. It's the first in a planned trilogy, so we will see if the next two can hold my attention!



First time through I read this having been away from The Godfather movies for a long time -- so long that I couldn't remember if I ever saw any of them all the way through in one sitting. Even though this book picks up at the finish of the first Godfather movie, I had lost all sense of the characters and couldn't get into the book. Then I watched the first movie and everything fell into place after that. The book really develops the characters and bridges the gap between the first and second movie. I watched the second Godfather where it fell in chronology with the book then zipped through the rest. It works really well as a companion with the flicks.