Ok for the high brow crowd what books you are reading

[big nasty kcnut]

I'm reading The New American Revolution by tammy bruce. She is a great thinker and funny.

[blaise]

I read Coronado by Dennis Lehane. It's a collection of short stories and a short play based on one of the stories. It's ok. It doesn't take long to read the whole thing. There's a couple of really good stories like "Until Gwen", which was also in Best American Short Stories 2005 (2005 was one of the best editions of that series, I think). Some of the others are just ok, I thought.

[joesomebody]

Reading Weapons of Choice by John Birmingham right now. Pretty good. It's about a multinational (mostly American) naval fleet on their way to kick some jihadist ass when a research ship being escorted by them screws up and creates a wormhole that transports the whole fleet to the battle of midway during world war II. I'm about half way done, very engrossing.

[NewChief]

Originally Posted by nychief

under the volcano, lord jim

Both solid. Really like Malcolm Lowry.

[CosmicPal]

I'm currently reading Robert McCammon's "Boy's Life"

I'm pleasantly surprised and must say I am really enjoying this book so far. It is one of the funnest reads- the details in the book are simple, yet lurid and utterly fantastic. Each chapter has some riveting and/or comical tale. It is most certainly my favorite read of the summer, if not one of my favorite reads in a very long time, and quite realistically becoming one of my favorite books of all-time. But, I'll wait until I finish it first.

It's a boy's tale in a small town and all the evils he endures. McCammon does a masterful job of keeping it all so engaging and suspenseful. It's a great read.

[Jenson71]

I'm taking a capstone class called Perspectives on Death and Dying and there are a lot of books for that one. Nicely, a lot of them are of the shorter variety. Here's the list:

Stiff, Roach
Body In Pain, Scarry
Death Of Ivan Ilyich, Tolstoy
Epic Of Gilgamesh, Sandars
Western Attitudes Toward Death, Aries
How We Die, Nuland
Seven Choices Pocket Guide, Neeld
Talking About Death, Morris
Sacred Art Of Dying, Kramer
Siddhartha, Hesse
Great Divorce, Lewis

[blaise]

Originally Posted by Jenson71

I'm taking a capstone class called Perspectives on Death and Dying and there are a lot of books for that one. Nicely, a lot of them are of the shorter variety. Here's the list:

Stiff, Roach
Body In Pain, Scarry
Death Of Ivan Ilyich, Tolstoy
Epic Of Gilgamesh, Sandars
Western Attitudes Toward Death, Aries
How We Die, Nuland
Seven Choices Pocket Guide, Neeld
Talking About Death, Morris
Sacred Art Of Dying, Kramer
Siddhartha, Hesse
Great Divorce, Lewis

Not that you don't have enough there, but if you get a chance check out a short story called, "Errand" by Raymond Carver. He recounts the final moments of Anton Chekov's life in a Russian hotel. It's a really good story, the last piece of fiction Carver wrote.

[Delano]

I think John Krakauer has been mentioned a few times in this thread, with some of you enjoying Into the Wild and Into Thin Air.

I'm wondering if anyone has preordered or considered reading his September 15th release, Where Men Win Glory: The Odyssey of Pat Tillman?

Like the men whose epic stories Jon Krakauer has told in his previous bestsellers, Pat Tillman was an irrepressible individualist and iconoclast. In May 2002, Tillman walked away from his $3.6 million NFL contract to enlist in the United States Army. He was deeply troubled by 9/11, and he felt a strong moral obligation to join the fight against al-Qaeda and the Taliban. Two years later, he died on a desolate hillside in southeastern Afghanistan.

Though obvious to most of the two dozen soldiers on the scene that a ranger in Tillman’s own platoon had fired the fatal shots, the Army aggressively maneuvered to keep this information from Tillman’s wife, other family members, and the American public for five weeks following his death. During this time, President Bush repeatedly invoked Tillman’s name to promote his administration’s foreign policy. Long after Tillman’s nationally televised memorial service, the Army grudgingly notified his closest relatives that he had “probably” been killed by friendly fire while it continued to dissemble about the details of his death and who was responsible.

In Where Men Win Glory, Jon Krakauer draws on Tillman’s journals and letters, interviews with his wife and friends, conversations with the soldiers who served alongside him, and extensive research on the ground in Afghanistan to render an intricate mosaic of this driven, complex, and uncommonly compelling figure as well as the definitive accountof the events and actions that led to his death. Before he enlisted in the army, Tillman was familiar to sports aficionados as an undersized, overachieving Arizona Cardinals safety whose virtuosity in the defensive backfield was spellbinding. With his shoulder-length hair, outspoken views, and boundless intellectual curiosity, Tillman was considered a maverick. America was fascinated when he traded the bright lights and riches of the NFL for boot camp and a buzz cut. Sent first to Iraq—a war he would openly declare was “illegal as hell” —and eventually to Afghanistan, Tillman was driven by complicated, emotionally charged, sometimes contradictory notions of duty, honor, justice, patriotism, and masculine pride, and he was determined to serve his entire three-year commitment. But on April 22, 2004, his life would end in a barrage of bullets fired by his fellow soldiers.

Krakauer chronicles Tillman’s riveting, tragic odyssey in engrossing detail highlighting his remarkable character and personality while closely examining the murky, heartbreaking circumstances of his death. Infused with the power and authenticity readers have come to expect from Krakauer’s storytelling, Where Men Win Glory exposes shattering truths about men and war.

[NewChief]

Originally Posted by Delano

I think John Krakauer has been mentioned a few times in this thread, with some of you enjoying Into the Wild and Into Thin Air.

I'm wondering if anyone has preordered or considered reading his September 15th release, Where Men Win Glory: The Odyssey of Pat Tillman?

I'll definitely pick it up. Love all of his stuff.

[blaise]

Originally Posted by NewPhin

I'll definitely pick it up. Love all of his stuff.

I want to read that, too.

[Nzoner]

I'm 3/4 of the way through Stephen King's Duma Key,haven't read anything by him that's kept me turning the pages this quick since The Stand.

[chiefs1111]

Originally Posted by Nzoner

I'm 3/4 of the way through Stephen King's Duma Key,haven't read anything by him that's kept me turning the pages this quick since The Stand.

great story.

[Ecto-I]

I'm reading Greg Mortenson's story, 3 Cups of Tea. About half way through. So far, it's good, but not great.

[MikeTheWildcat]

Business Law by Clarkson, Miller, Jentz, and Cross.

Just a little light reading to pass the time.

[CosmicPal]

Originally Posted by Ecto-I

I'm reading Greg Mortenson's story, 3 Cups of Tea. About half way through. So far, it's good, but not great.

That was about the point I stopped reading it. I thought it was way over-rated. A nice thing he did, but not what I'd consider a great read.

[ziggysocki]

I'm reading Orwell's 1984... maybe half thru and it is turning into a weird love story... I never had to read it in school, I wanted to make sure I wasn't missing out.