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The Book Thread


Toe Jam

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I turned off the TV recently and have found myself reading a lot of books. Fiction, nonfiction, you name it. I thought this would be a good thread for people to find new things to read.

Post books you've read recently that you would recommend to others and books you're currently reading that you think are worth a look as well.

In the category of nonfiction, I'm currently reading "Obama's Wars" by Bob Woodward. Pretty good so far. I finished "Tears of a Clown: Glenn Beck and the Tea Bagging of America" last week and I definitely recommend that one.;) George Bush's "Decision Points" is the next nonfiction book I'll be devouring.

As for Fiction, Lee Child's "61 Hours" and "Worth Dying For" were awesome and "The Burning Wire" by Jeffery Deaver is now one of my favorite books.

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"The Lords of Discipline" - Pat Conroy (Maybe my #1 book of all time)

"The Gates of Fire" - Steven Pressfield (best book about the Spartans at Thermypolea (sp?) ) :)

Anything by Ken Follett esp. "The Eye of the Needle" and "The Pillars of the Earth".

Military History-

"Flags of Our Fathers" - James Bradley

"Lone Survivor" - Marcus Latrell

Any 101st Airborne in WWII books by Mark Bando

"With the Old Breed at Peliliu and Okinawa" by Eugene Sledge (my favorite Soldier/Marine/etc. Memoir ever)

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I'm currently reading the book The Fourth Turning, by William Strauss & Neil Howe.

http://www.fourthturning.com/

It's quite interesting. It is an analysis of a phenomenom of the generations in America and how the same pattern repeats itself every 4 generations, or roughly 80 years. The book was published in the 90's and it's called The Fourth Turning because the generation born from 2000 to 2020 is the time period that will be the Fourth of the cycle.

One particular section of the book could interest a few people here:

~The First Turning is a High, an upbeat era of strengthening institutions and weakening individualism, when a new civic order implants and the old values regime decays

~The Second Turning is an Awakening, a passionate era of spiritual upheaval, when the civic order comes under attack from a new value regime.

~The Third Turning is an Unraveling, a downcast era of strengethening individualism and weakening institutions, when the old civic order decays and the new values regime implants.

~The Fourth Turning is a Crisis, a decisive era of secular upheaval, when the values regime propels the replacement of the old civic order with a new one.

The pattern has repeated numerous times over the last few centuries. When America reaches the end of the 80 year pattern, something huge occurs, a crisis, usually warfare, that redefines what we WILL be and abandons what we WERE. For instance, in and around the 1940's brought us into WWII and we changed as a nation after that. 80 years prior to that around the 1860's (+/- a few years), we found ourselves in a Civil War which changed everything nationally. 80 years prior to that around 1780's (+/- a few years), We found ourselves in a Revolution War of Independence. All of these periods of time are what is referred to as the Fourth Turning.

This book was published just before the Fourth Turning we are in right now (year 2000-2020 +/-) and it predicted that a crisis would hit America around 2005 +/- a few years. I think from 9/11, War on Terror, Afghan War, thru the Iraq war, the housing bubble collapse and now the banking crisis, it is clear to me that this pattern is quite accurate. The Fourth Turning will last roughly 20 years. Each Turning slightly overlaps. So although it's sad to acknowledge that it will be difficult in America for the next decade or more, there is a First Turning coming that will get us going thru the next cycle.

Anyway, I'm really enjoying this book and I HIGHLY recommend it. It is quite interesting, is not a difficult read, references many different things to support the argument, and in general has been a joy to read about America's past.

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I'm in the middle of the Millenium Trilogy (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, etc.), and the first book was really good. The second one is getting really good about a quarter of the way into it. I'd recommend the first at this point, at least.

Best books I have read in 4-5 years. I got so into them I ordered the 2nd and 3rd from Europe, 1+ year before they came out here. Could not wait. I see people reading the 1st one all the time now and I usually tell them "once you finish that, you will read the next two in a week."

The 3 book is my favorite. 3rd, then 2nd, then the 1st.

Also, I have seen the first 2 Swedish movies, not bad, but not great.

Excited to see what Hollywood does with it. They are going to bring in huge box office numbers. The casting for the movie was crazy - every big name director and action was fighting to get involved with it.

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Right now I am just reading a couple of David Sedaris books I have never gotten around to reading. They are the perfect commuter books. Hilarious little 10 page stories.

My Intro to Creative Writing professor loves Sedaris. She had us read one of his stories for class. It was pretty good. Does he have a collection of his short fiction available?

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I picked up last week the Keith Richards autobiography "Life"

I'm not done reading it yet, it's a huge book but the guy is really well spoken and just a complete rebel from day one apparently. Will add it to the other thread about book collections with a more thorough review in the coming weeks.

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My Intro to Creative Writing professor loves Sedaris. She had us read one of his stories for class. It was pretty good. Does he have a collection of his short fiction available?

He has 8 books - all I think were best sellers at some point. Right now I am reading Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim.

Holidays on Ice is probably my favorite.

Barrel Fever (1994)

Naked (1997)

Holidays on Ice (1997)

Me Talk Pretty One Day (2000)

Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim (2004)

Children Playing Before a Statue of Hercules (editor, 2005)

When You Are Engulfed in Flames (2008)

Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk: A Modest Bestiary (2010)

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Just finished the penultimate novel Towers of Midnight in the Wheel of Time series. It's by Robert Jordan and sadly he died after Knife of Dreams. He knew he was going to die before finishing the series so he left detailed notes on his vision of how the story concludes and even tape recorded and had close friends in the room as he told the ending so someone could finish. Brandon Sanderson is finishing the series and has done a fantastic job. The final book would have been around 2500 pages so they broke the final volume into three novels. The final book Memories of Light comes out next November. Towers of Midnight just released last week November 2nd. The series sort of started to drag but book 11 knife of dreams picked back up the pace and #12 and #13 by Sanderson have been fantastic.

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Anyone interested in the US food chain should read the following. It will change your eating habits forever.

The Omnivore’s Dilemma - A Natural History of Four Meals by Michael Pollan

Currently reading - In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan

Also worth mentioning:

With the Old Breed at Peleliu and Okinawa by EB Sledge - a fantastic account of the struggles of a Marine in two horrific WWII battles. The book (and author) were the basis for the HBO series "The Pacific"

The Good Soldiers by David Finkel - an excellent story of day-to-day life of an Army unit deployed in Iraq. If it doesn't bring tears to your eyes (many times) you don't have a soul.

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