BOOKS THREAD

Read "Pistol" by Kriegel earlier this summer. Working my way through "Too Far From Home" by Chris Jones and the novel "The Story of Edgar Sawtelle" by David Wroblewski.

Loved Pistol. First half dragged a little for me, but I read the second half in a day.

Too Far From Home is beautifully written. Man, Jones can write.

Sawtelle is a nice break. My first love was fiction, and I sort of lost my hunger for it when I got to college and started writing journalism and editing the school paper and such. Been out a couple years now, and am getting back to it. Only through a few chapters of Sawtelle, but it's good. Stephen King said it's one of those rare books he'll read twice in life, so I'm excited about whatever's to come.

 

I really loved Edgar Sawtelle, too. Beautiful read and fun making the "Hamlet" parallels. Definitely on my re-read list.

 

Recently finished Hiaasen's latest, "Star Island," and Bazell's "Beat the Reaper." Loved them both ... probably liked "Reaper" a little more because it was so original and hilarious (and I'm a huge Hiaasen fanboi!). Just started Lou Berney's "Gutshot Straight" based on some of the love it's gotten on this thread. So far, so good.

 

"War" by Junger is fantastic reporting.

 

Good to know. Looking forward to getting further into it.

 

I know this was covered on an earlier page, but I just got done reading Anthony Bourdain's "Kitchen Confidential," followed by "The Nasty Bits" on my trek to/from the PGA Championship.

Laughed my ass off. Bourdain can really turn a phrase when he gets going. I like his style and the way he makes his subject reasonably accessible. Several times on the plane, I laughed out loud at various lines he'd drop.

 

KC remains his most spontaneous, entertaining book. Latest is also good reading, but was clearly more tightly-edited, as they seek to polish and
protect "the brand".

 

Latest few I've read -- The Somme, by Peter Hart: Good comprehensive view of the battle, with some of the Lyn MacDonald oral history feel to it in parts. But Hart tries too hard to stick to his declared theme of providing a middle path between those who he says over-emotionalize the horror, and the revisionists popping up lately who say the generals take too much blame. So he glosses over some impoprtant parts because he feels they've been overexposed. But any well-written and well-researched book on this subject is worthwhile, and this is certainly one.

FDR, by Jean Edward Smith -- pretty good, accessible biography. A little weird in the fact that in a 700 or so page book, FDR has graduated college by page 33.

The Good Soldiers, by David Finkel -- Pulitzer-prize winning book following a group of soldiers through the Iraqi surge. Oddly, the protaganist, generally portrayed favorably, is the same guy who comes off so terribly in the Pat Tillman book, which I read just before this....the guy who said Tillman's family couldn't get over his death because they were atheists.

Also picked up for three bucks a hardcover from three years ago, about an epic snowslide in the passes of Washington state that stranded a train, and the heroic efforts to save the passengers. I'd never heard of the incident, and this was a solid effort. The White Cascade, by Gary Krist.

 

Recent trip to The Strand again gave me the chance for some great finds.

Michael Chabon's Manhood for Amateurs. Like Chabon's fiction, this is a book that has about four lines on every page that I want to quote to friends.

The Men Who Would be King by Nicole LaPorte. I'm a sucker for behind-the-scenes Hollywood stories. The best of those, I think, is still The Devil's Candy by Julie Salamon, which chronicled the debacle that was The Bonfire of The Vanities movie. LaPorte's isn't as good as that book, but it's interesting, detailing the creation and ultimate downfall of Dreamworks.

And the one I'm halfway through: The Shakespeare Wars by Ron Rosenbaum. My Shakespeare knowledge is woefully lacking. But this book has been fascinating. Rosenbaum details the various battles that are fought over Shakespeare's words. People have been fighting about these things for hundreds of years, sometimes over single words or even letters in the text. Has a lot of great insight into things like, was Shakespeare a guy who revised his work a lot or were his first drafts nearly perfect? And talks about why there are three versions of Hamlet. Also features Rosenbaum's insights into some of the more famous Shakespeare frauds over the centuries. And Rosenbaum writes in a way that makes it easy for non-experts to understand. Rosenbaum earned my eternal admiration for his belittling of Jeff Jarvis, and now he's earned it for this book.

In the light reading category, I have finished all of Lee Child's Jack Reacher books. Love those and easily finish one in a day. And, for what it's worth, my wife recently met him at a conference and said he was very kind and many authors say he often provides great advice as a mentor to newcomers.

 

Everything Caleb Carr has written is fabulous. You guys make me want to go back and re-read his books. I have a signed copy of "Angel of Darkness" when he did a book tour when it was first published.

I liked "The Passage," but thought it dragged a bit, too. Cronin's creativity is admirable, and despite the drag, I will read his work any day of the week.

I just got done with "Anthropology of An American Girl" by Hilary Thayer Hamann. One of the best books I've ever read. The character development is spectactular and Hamann is a beautiful writer. I recommend it.

 

Finished off Berney's "Gutshot Straight" in a hurry. Fun story. Hope Berney comes back for an encore. Shake is a great character. Thanks to those here who suggested both Gutshot and Bazell's Beat the Reaper.

Along those lines, I've seen Don Winslow's name come up by folks on SJ who like Carl Hiaasen's sense of humor, so I picked up "California Fire and Life." I'm almost 100 pages in and really enjoying this novel. I'll definitely be picking up more of Winslow's stuff in the future.

Also got Lehane's "Mystic River" and Child's "61 Hours" in the bullpen.

 

Started "Freedom" By Franzen. Having trouble getting through the first 10 pages. Bad sign?