What good books have you been reading lately?
Where can the rest of us get 'em?
Post links � for example �
http://www.abebooks.com/servlet/SearchResults?an=Watchman+Nee&sts=t&tn=The+Spiritual+Manhttp://www.abebooks.com/servlet/SearchResults?an=Ernie++Pyle&sts=t&tn=Brave+Menhttp://www.abebooks.com/servlet/Sea...and&sts=t&tn=Tortured+for+ChristHere's one that I'm eagerly awaiting, from 'way "down under" �
http://www.abebooks.com/servlet/SearchResults?sts=t&tn=Bushman%27s+Handicraftshttp://www.abebooks.com/servlet/SearchResults?sts=t&tn=Bushman%27s+Handicrafts
Short Nights of the Shadow Catcher, The Epic Life and Immortal Photographs of Edward S. Curtis, by Timothy Egan.
www.amazon.com � ... � Artists, Architects & Photographers
The Tiger, A True Story of Vengeance and Survival by John Vaillant.
www.amazon.com � ... � Animals � Cats, Lions & Tigers
One of my favorites, though I haven't read it for years, is WEST WITH THE NIGHT by Beryl Markhum.
Truly a beautiful book.
Paperbackswap.com is a great website if your shelves are getting over run.
the Fourth Way by PD Ouspensky?
ol Gurdjeff, roughly spelt, says that we should open our eyes, just as quickly as we can?
THE BUFFALO SOLDIERS, A Narrative of the Negro Cavalry in the West, William H. Leckie, University of Oklahoma Press, 1967.
http://www.amazon.com/Buffalo-Soldi...sr=1-3&keywords=The+Buffalo+soldiers
One of my favorites, though I haven't read it for years, is WEST WITH THE NIGHT by Beryl Markhum.
+1 - Hemingway himself said she did a wonderful job on that book
I'm working on Chris' Kyle's autoboiography, American Sniper. Elegant prose it ain't, but rather a straightforward telling of his story. Knowing he donated the book proceeds to wounded vets, and later was killed himself, it is a moving read.
Recently re-read The Good Earth, writen many, many years ago by Pearl Buck. Some keys to Chinese culture.
Hell Wouldn't Stop.
I don't get emotional. Almost never. I had to stop reading this book a couple times. It's about Wake Island told through interviews and letters from the Marines who served there. From before the war all the way through surviving (for some) the POW camps.
Hell Wouldn't Stop
MadMooner,
WEST WITH THE NIGHT is a very fine book. Unfortunately, Beryl didn't write it. Her husband did. She had a live-in "ghost writer."
Sutree by Cormac McCarthy
One Bullet Away by Nathan Fick
The Glass Castle by Jenette Walls
WarDog by A J Venter
All on Amazon
The Last Voyageur: Amos Burg and the Rivers of the West.
http://www.amazon.com/The-Last-Voya...76&sr=8-1&keywords=last+voyageurAmos Burg (1901-1986), a native of Portland, Oregon, was the first to complete transits of the free-flowing, undammed Snake and Columbia Rivers by canoe, and in 1938 he became the first to navigate the length of the Colorado River in a rubber raft. In his daring explorations of the waterways from the Southwest up through Canada and into Alaska, Burg is considered to be the only person known to have run all major Western rivers from source to mouth. As a photographer and writer for National Geographic, Burg was also an articulate speaker, journalist, and filmmaker who traveled the country to share his stories of wilderness adventure and the stunning beauty of the West. And as a quixotic outdoorsman and one of the first true commercial river guides, Burg was witness to a changing frontier that saw water politics, dam construction, and outdoor culture bloom.
In The Last Voyageur: Amos Burg and the Rivers of the West author Vince Welch, himself a river guide, weaves a passionate and well-researched narrative using extensive material from Burg's own rich archives. History buffs, boatmen, and adventure readers alike will delight in this remarkable regional history of the larger-than-life Burg, a quintessential man of the American West and one of the last voyageurs of North America's great waterways.
SCOUTING ON TWO CONTINENTS, Fredrick Russel Burnham D.S.O.
....loaner from "too many letters".
Just kicked it back his way today, with some parts / pieces.
FINE read, Thanks, Ed.
GTC
Big Dams of the New Deal Era: A Confluence of Engineering and Politics
http://www.amazon.com/Big-Dams-New-...sr=1-1&keywords=dams+of+the+new+deal
The massive dams of the American West were designed to serve multiple purposes: improving navigation, irrigating crops, storing water, controlling floods, and generating hydroelectricity. Their construction also put thousands of people to work during the Great Depression. Only later did the dams� baneful effects on river ecologies spark public debate.
Big Dams of the New Deal Era tells how major water-storage structures were erected in four western river basins. David P. Billington and Donald C. Jackson reveal how engineering science, regional and national politics, perceived public needs, and a river�s natural features intertwined to create distinctive dams within each region. In particular, the authors describe how two federal agencies, the Army Corps of Engineers and the Bureau of Reclamation, became key players in the creation of these important public works.
By illuminating the mathematical analysis that supported large-scale dam construction, the authors also describe how and why engineers in the 1930s most often opted for massive gravity dams, whose design required enormous quantities of concrete or earth-rock fill for stability.
Richly illustrated, Big Dams of the New Deal Era offers a compelling account of how major dams in the New Deal era restructured the landscape�both politically and physically�and why American society in the 1930s embraced them wholeheartedly.
Just started rereading "All the Pretty Horses" by Cormac McCarthy. Haven't read it since I was given a pre-release copy. Forgot how captivating his prose can be, and the dialogue is spot on.
Ernie's War - The Best of Ernie Pyle's World War II Dispatches
Edited with a biographical essay by David Nichols, Foreword by Studs Terkel
A jewel.
Two come immediately to mind, one read years ago, and one just recently. The first was The Covenant by Michener and the later, another page-turner, Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand.
Friend of mine sent me Rifleman Dodd. A British rifleman's exploits in the Napoleonic Wars that revels his honor and duty.
Very good read, is on the Commandants reading list for private through corporal. Do not know where to get a copy, sent it back last week.
Not working on it at the moment but I usually read "Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors" once or twice a year.
http://www.amazon.com/The-Last-Stan...ywords=last+stand+of+the+tin+can+sailors
Lone Survivor
Band of Brothers
John Leather's "Spritsails and Lugsails" and Phil Bolger's "100 Small Boat Rigs."
Herman Melville
Wilke Collins
Joseph Conrad
Ann Radcliffe
All old stuff I'm finding at the thrift store.
Ernie's War - The Best of Ernie Pyle's World War II Dispatches
Edited with a biographical essay by David Nichols, Foreword by Studs Terkel
A jewel.
Hey, Hoser,.....I've got a couple of first editions by our esteemed Mr. Pyle. You're welcome to the loan of em', if you take the notion.
There's an original Bill Mauldin, too,....somewhere.
GTC
I'm with mudhen on Cormac McCarty. All his is good. I also like Rick Bragg - "All Over But The Shoutin" and "The Prince of Frogtown". Been on a William Faulkner short story kick - The Big Woods, lots of early stuff. I also read Gene Hill, Nash Buckingham and Robert Ruark annually when I can't hunt.
the Fourth Way by PD Ouspensky?
ol Gurdjeff, roughly spelt, says that we should open our eyes, just as quickly as we can?
If you want to spend a few weeks, try "Psychological Commentaries on the Teaching of Gurdjieff and Ouspensky", all 5 volumes, by Maurice Nicoll. Took me a whole summer to get through. Ignore the metaphysical explanations of the universe - everybody has'em and they all come out of left field - but the rest of it is pretty good.
The mystical and spiritual portions of most of Ouspensky's works are pretty good but he was writing in the first two decades of the last century and his physics can be a bit quaint.
Also, if you want to pull your hair out, try "Beelzebub's Tales to his Grandson" by Gurdjieff. Each paragraph, almost each sentence, takes an entire page and wanders through about 15 to 20 parenthetical levels before emerging. By the time you come to the period at the end you forget where the sentence started. Seriously, stick with Ouspensky and/or other folks' explanations of Gurdjieff. I've read all three of Gurdjieff's books and except for some interesting history of his life you don't get a whole lot out of them.
To the original question:
"The Perennial Philosophy" by Aldous Huxley
"The Book of Chuang Tzu"
"The Secret Path" by Dr. Paul Brunton
Just started rereading "All the Pretty Horses" by Cormac McCarthy. Haven't read it since I was given a pre-release copy. Forgot how captivating his prose can be, and the dialogue is spot on.
I read "The Road" when it first came out. Couldn't stop reading it, sure was glad when I finished it. I found it very powerful, and descriptive.
Sycamore
Thanks for starting this Ken. And thanks to you all for the leads to some good summer reading.
Mine:
The Holy Earth, L.H. Bailey
http://www.amazon.com/Holy-Earth-Liberty-Hyde-Bailey/dp/0960531467"L. H. Bailey, a proponent of environmental stewardship, reflected on
society's disconnect with its own earth at the turn of the twentieth century. Progressive and provocative, Bailey's seminal 1915 work
calls on the individual to recognize the divine in the common land we occupy."
My highlighting.
Sometimes it seems to me not much has changed. Perhaps more folks should have read it in the last century? I try to re-read it once a year or so as a reminder.
the Fourth Way by PD Ouspensky?
ol Gurdjeff, roughly spelt, says that we should open our eyes, just as quickly as we can?
If you want to spend a few weeks, try "Psychological Commentaries on the Teaching of Gurdjieff and Ouspensky", all 5 volumes, by Maurice Nicoll. Took me a whole summer to get through. Ignore the metaphysical explanations of the universe - everybody has'em and they all come out of left field - but the rest of it is pretty good.
The mystical and spiritual portions of most of Ouspensky's works are pretty good but he was writing in the first two decades of the last century and his physics can be a bit quaint.
Also, if you want to pull your hair out, try "Beelzebub's Tales to his Grandson" by Gurdjieff. Each paragraph, almost each sentence, takes an entire page and wanders through about 15 to 20 parenthetical levels before emerging. By the time you come to the period at the end you forget where the sentence started. Seriously, stick with Ouspensky and/or other folks' explanations of Gurdjieff. I've read all three of Gurdjieff's books and except for some interesting history of his life you don't get a whole lot out of them.
thanks for the head's up. beyond the Fourth Way School and book, i'm pretty bereft when it comes to the subject at hand.
MadMooner,
WEST WITH THE NIGHT is a very fine book. Unfortunately, Beryl didn't write it. Her husband did. She had a live-in "ghost writer."
I've seen that debate but I thought final consensus was that she wrote it. He was more of a hack screen writer. IIRC
Either way, it was her remarkable life I suppose.
MadMooner,
WEST WITH THE NIGHT is a very fine book. Unfortunately, Beryl didn't write it. Her husband did. She had a live-in "ghost writer."
I have read that in several places,. I have also read several refutes of the claim. Some chalk it up to his editing the book, others give credit to him entirely.
Either way, yes, it is a fine book!
Two years Before the Mast by Dana. I got my copy from a fine gentleman by the name of Ken Howell.
I was completely ruined when it came to reading heavy material in college. I view it as absolute torture, no exaggeration, I hate to read things that require a lot of thinking. I've been reading the Leatherstocking Tales, just started on the first in the series, The Deerslayer. Recently finished up a couple of Peter Hathaway books. I view reading as a release, and a good story does that for me, he11 I have all of Louis L'Amour's books and have probably read all of them at least 3-4 times. I still pull one off the shelf occasionally and sit down to read it for an afternoon.
Hell Wouldn't Stop.
I don't get emotional. Almost never. I had to stop reading this book a couple times. It's about Wake Island told through interviews and letters from the Marines who served there. From before the war all the way through surviving (for some) the POW camps.
Hell Wouldn't Stop I'll look for one of these.
Ever read the Key-Lock Man, by Louis L'Amour?
Sycamore
Just recently read the Berger Manual all the way up to the loading data, good story about Walt Berger, definately changed my views on his products, now when I buy and shoot Berger bullets, I know and appreciate all his hard work and his contributions to shooters and the quest for accuracy, especially at extended range ....
Read a couple recently by some upstart by the name of John Barsness. Ever heard of him?
Anything by George V Higgins. I have almost all of his published stuff.
1B
Read the Key-Lock Man several times. I would have to say that one of my absolute favorites is the Comstock Lode. The Sackett series is great, the Kilkenny books, I really can't think of one that I didn't enjoy.
"The General and the Jaguar: Pershing's Hunt for Pancho Villa" by Eileen Welsome
"Illegal Tender: Gold, Greed, and the story of the Lost 1933 Double Eagle" by David Tripp
"Shots Fired in Anger" by Lt. Col. John George
"From a Carolina Bird Hunter to Africa's Call with stops along the Way" by William McQueen, Jr.
Just started "A Confederacy of Dunces"
Highly recommend the Covenant. A history of European settlement in South Africa & the Zulu & Bushmen culture.
How about The Walking Drum? Great read.
The Tiger, A True Story of Vengeance and Survival by John Vaillant.
www.amazon.com � ... � Animals � Cats, Lions & Tigers
nice to know its a good book, looks interesting...i recently bought one of Ken Anderson's books off ebay and "The Tiger" was thrown in with it... as for me just finished "The Adventures Of An Elephant Hunter" by James Sutherland that safariman traded me while i was at his place, excellent book even if it applies lil to todays Africa....as good of a read as Hunter or Burger....
James D. Hornfisher's Neptune's Inferno.
Its about the U.S. Navy at the Canal.
Spies of the Balkans by Alan Furst
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=Alan+Furst
Great reading for fans of pre WW II spies and espionage. Read all of his books and he pens a great story.
Just started a re reading of Anthony Beevors Stalingrad-Fateful Siege
http://www.amazon.com/Stalingrad-Fa...sr=1-1&keywords=Battle+of+Stalingrad
I will read the other 5 pages tomorrow, but here are my recommendations.
A Purpose Driven Life by Rick Warren IIRC
Unintended Consequences by John Ross
Hatchet by Gary Paulsen
How about The Walking Drum? Great read.
Fantastic book
the gererals by thomas e ricks. very intresting, but i always thought soup cans were intresting. rio7
I just finished Bomber by Deighton. Fantastic read but very sobering. It really brought out the horror of flying over enemy territory and the tragic results of the bombings. Not much glory, just realism.
If you like older Montana, some of the work by Ivan Doig is very good.
The last few months:
The Jesus Incident....Frank Herbert
Face of the Enemy...Richard Fawkes
Nature of the Beast...Richard Fawkes
A Rising Thunder...David Weber
Armored...edited by John Joseph Adams
Eodus...Steve White
Extremis...Steve White
Currently:
The Lazarus Effect...Frank Herbert
The Day of Their Return...Poul Anderson
The Best of Bassmaster
Dangerous River was/is a great one!
Sycamore
Ishmael, An Adventure of the Mind and Spirit, by Daniel Quinn. Wherever books are sold.
What good books have you been reading lately?
Our own RockyRaab has a couple that I really liked. I loaned them to my Neighbor and he told me to tell Rocky to write some more. So, if your are reading this, consider yourself told.
miles
Well my answer to "lately" has been this one.
I always recommend Neal Stephenson's
Cryptonomicon, too.