Sooo What are You Reading in '09?

[☼Bookish]

I just finished reviewing "Joker One" about a Marine platoon in Ramadi circa 2004. Liked it very much.

And I'm starting "A Pearl in the Storm: How I Found My Heart in the Middle of the Ocean" about the woman that rowed across the Atlantic. So far, enjoying it.

What's odd is that I don't read 'recent history'; but I have been blessed with stumbling over good books recently. Go Figure.

So what are history are you reading?

[Jim]

I'm reading Spook Science Tackles the Afterlife. Right now, I'm on the second chapter which is exploring the search for the soul historically. It's very interesting & a little unsettling.

[☼Bookish]

Jim wrote: "I'm reading Spook Science Tackles the Afterlife. Right now, I'm on the sec..."

That sounds interesting, Jim. I'll have to check it out.

[Jim]

Mary Roach is an excellent author & I highly recommend her. She has a sense of humor that just hits my funny spot dead on, even (or perhaps 'especially') when dealing with sensitive topics. I read her book Stiff a few years back & was very impressed. It's subtitled "The Curious Lives of Cadavers" & looks at what happens to our bodies after death.

She also writes (or did write) a column in Readers Digest every month. Very short, always funny. Here's one:
http://www.rd.com/the-eccentricities-...

[Jenn]

The Goodman of Paris (Le Ménagier de Paris) A Treatise on Moral and Domestic Economy by A Citizen of Paris, c.1393, Isabel of Burgundy The Duchess Who Played Politics in the Age of Joan of Arc, Margaret of York Duchess of Burgundy 1446-1503, Marie de Bourgogne,Medieval Horse Furniture in Norfolk Report 101, and the list goes on.

Spook Science sounds like an interesting title.

[☼Bookish]

Jim wrote: "Mary Roach is an excellent author & I highly recommend her. She has a sense of humor that just hits my funny spot dead ..."

Jim, I have heard of Stiff so now I have a context to put her book in.

Sooooo many books, so little time...

[Jim]

Pam wrote: "Sooooo many books, so little time..."

Isn't it a frustrating, but wonderful problem?

[☼Bookish]

Jim wrote: "Pam wrote: "Sooooo many books, so little time..."

Isn't it a frustrating, but wonderful problem?"

Indeed. The bigger the TBR**, the better.


**to be read :)

[[deleted user]]

Twelve Greeks and Romans Who Changed the World (Hardcover) by Carl J. Richard

[Susanna - Censored by GoodReads, Crazy Cat Lady]

Just finished The Vertigo Years Europe 1900-1914, which was fascinating, and I would recommend it.

Just started The Life of Elizabeth I by Alison Weir.

[James]

Am about three-quarters of the way through The Wordy Shipmates and enjoying it.

[Ari]

I'm reading Ultramar Sur ("Overseas South: The Third Reich's Final Secret Operation"), dealing with the escape of over 50 high-ranking nazis to Argentina, Uruguay and Chile after WWII via submarines.

[George]

At the moment, The Winter War.

[[deleted user]]

Just started reading "The Shock Doctrine" of Naomi Klein.

[[deleted user]]

Just started "The Wages of Destruction: The Making and Breaking of the Nazi Economy" by Adam Tooze

[Terence]

The Early Chinese Empires: Qin and Han, Mark Lewis
Rome and the Barbarians 100 B.C.-A.D. 400, Thomas Burns

Both are interesting, general overviews of their respective subjects.

[Kathleen (itpdx)]

Just finished Nathaniel's Nutmeg. Good but had a few quibbles. I would have liked a time line because the book goes back and forth in time as it follows one expedition or person and my memory for dates isn't good enough to know what was going on in the spice islands while Barents was eating polar bear liver in the Russian arctic.
Have just started The Vertigo Years Europe 1900-1914.

[Susanna - Censored by GoodReads, Crazy Cat Lady]

I read The Vertigo Years earlier this year, and enjoyed it tremendously.

[Bryan]

Half way through Nixonland America's Second Civil War and the Divisive Legacy of Richard Nixon, 1965-1972.. Very interesting so far.

[Sarah]

I'm reading mostly new zealand history at the mo, something to do with living here and studying it :) but a few favourites at the mo (and really fasinating for new zealand history books) are:

Making peoples by James Belich and its sequel Paradise Reforged.
the Penguin History of New Zealand Illustrated by Micheal King
The life and times of Auckland: the colonial Story of a city by Gordon McLauchlan.

All are really good whether you know something about New Zealand history or not.

[Steven]

I just started reading Over the Edge of the World Magellan's Terrifying Circumnavigation of the Globe by Laurence Bergreen. It is good so far.

[[deleted user]]

Steven wrote: "I just started reading [b:Over the Edge of the World Magellan's Terrifying Circumnavigation of the Globe|867000|Over the Edge of the World Magellan's Terrifying Circumnavigation of the Globe|Laur..."

THAT IS ONE OF MY FAVORITE BOOKS BTW. IT IS FINALLY GETTING SOME ATTENTION IT SEEMS.

[☼Bookish]

Terence, what sources does Burns use in his discussion of Romans and Barbarians?

This sounds like a book I might like.

[☼Bookish]

Btw, I should say that the rowing book I talked about --the title of which is "Pearl in the Storm"-- turned out to be absolutely wonderful.

I don't read this autobiographical genre generally, but this book turned out to be gripping. Well written.

[Stephanie]

I just started reading 'The Story of the Titanic as Told by Its Survivors' and it's awesome. It's so personal and it tells you about the things that all the movies passed by. I can't put it down.

[George]

currrently reading Paddy Docherty's Khyber Pass, A History of Empire and Invasion. very interesting, but not what I had expected, a travelogue. much more history, much of it I was particularly unfamiliar with, in particular the long era between Alexander and the Mogul empire.

[Doris]

"The Whisperers" by Orlando Figes. I actually started it a while ago but have been moving so it was stuck in a box for weeks... really, really good book.

and for "light reading" that tends to turn my guts in knots "Sashenka" by Simon Montefiore.

Thoroughly depressing Soviet stuff, both of them. But oh, so good!

[Sera]

I'm still reading Team of Rivals in b/t multiple other readings. It's very dense, but excellent. I intend to finish it within the next few weeks.

I've been looking for some good books on Stalin, which I will likely read this summer.

[Susanna - Censored by GoodReads, Crazy Cat Lady]

Just finished a re-read of Barbara Tuchman's The Guns of August, which is still magnificent.

Still working on The Life of Elizabeth I, by Alison Weir, which I am enjoying.

[Sheila]

I just finished Nicholas and Alexandra by Larry Massie. It is the story of the last Tsar of Russia and his family. Excellent research and writing.

Next, I'm starting Marching Home by Kevin Coyne.

[Susanna - Censored by GoodReads, Crazy Cat Lady]

Just started The Glass-Blowers, by Daphne du Maurier, and The Owl Killers, by Karen Maitland, both historical novels.

Read Spook last fall, and enjoyed it. Have Stiff, also by Mary Roach, on my Mt. TBR.

[[deleted user]]

Vanishing Smile: The Mysterious Theft of the Mona Lisa by Scotti

[James]

Alex E. wrote: "

Vanishing Smile: The Mysterious Theft of the Mona Lisa by Scotti"

Alex: How is it? I read a different book about the Mona Lisa theft many years ago (like 30) and found it fascinating.

I just finished America's Hidden History LP Untold Tales of the First Pilgrims, Fighting Women, and Forgotten Founders Who Shaped a Nation and found it a pretty quick, but engrossing read. I'm all for people rediscovering events and characters from our early history that too often are ignored. I especially liked the first chapter, about the Spanish massacre of Huguenots in Florida in 1565.

[Jim]

I'm reading Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave and Essays. I actually haven't made it to his words yet, although I've read about 40 pages & believe I know his story due to all the quotes & explanations in the two introductions.

I forget who the editor of this edition is. I'll have to remember his name & avoid any other books he works on. His lengthy introduction explains the entire book & included so many quotes that I wonder if there is much left to discover. Worse, his footnotes were often ridiculous. Defining "encompassing" through a footnote when the word was used in context! He's either stupid or thinks the reader is.

I've heard that Douglass' words are well worth reading, so I'm looking forward to them.

[Andrea]

Footnotes shouldn't be a dictionary. I agree.

[Eric]

Once I'm done with finals I plan on diving into Pol Pot Anatomy of a Nightmare and When the War Was Over Cambodia and the Khmer Rouge Revolution. Guess where I'm going this summer? Any recommendations for other books about Cambodia? I've heard Chandler's history is good.

[[deleted user]]

James wrote: "Alex E. wrote: "

Vanishing Smile: The Mysterious Theft of the Mona Lisa by Scotti"

Alex: How is it? I read a different book about the Mona Lisa theft many years ago (like 30) and found it fascina..."

It is a very interesting book so far. Scotti tells a good story. I am really enjoying it.

[Lauren]

The Civil War
A Narrative
Fort Sumter to Perryville

[Susanna - Censored by GoodReads, Crazy Cat Lady]

Will in the World How Shakespeare Became Shakespeare - very interesting so far.

[James]

Traffic Why We Drive the Way We Do. It's slow going (not the book -- my inability to carve out enough time to read), but enlightening so far.

Has anyone else read it?

[Eric]

Will in the World is a great book! I especially love the discussion of the Catholic rituals and beliefs about death and how that influenced Hamlet!

[Andrea]

James wrote: "Traffic Why We Drive the Way We Do. It's slow going (not the book -- my inability to carve out enough time to read), but enlightening so far.

Has anyone else read it?"

I read parts of it, but I actually did find it a little slow and didn't finish it yet. It seems like a good book to read a little at a time.

[Al]

Just completed Martin Gilbert's History of the twentieth century (Volume 3, 1952-1999) and wrote a review on my profile.

[Susanna - Censored by GoodReads, Crazy Cat Lady]

I'm about halfway though The House of Medici Its Rise and Fall, which is very interesting.