Do they offer any insight on the death of Dag Hammarskjöld. Still some pretty suspicious circumstances about that plane crash.
Continuing a baseball book kick, I'm reading two at once. Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game by Michael Lewis -- quite a good read thus far. Of Mikes and Men: A Lifetime of Braves Baseball by Pete Van Wieren -- just started; I spent many hours watching "the Professor" along with Skip Carey, Don Sutton, and Ernie Johnson call Braves games.
Since there's this movie and all out right now, it seemed like a good time to introduce my son to the John Carter of Mars series. So, I am reading A Princess of Mars along with my son. Got the first 5 books of the series on the nook for a buck. First time I've been successful with finding a book I wanted that was in the public domain.
My brother gave me a brand new Kindle Touch when he won a Kindle Fire in a church raffle about two days after purchasing the Touch. I have 64 public domain things on it. Two of which are terribly formatted and totally unproofread and thus relegated to the archive (poetry doesn't fare to well on the Kindle), but the rest of which are only waiting for me to download the actual time it would take to read them. I'm reading up on my Galesburg, Illinois homey Carl Sandburg. Penelope Niven's biography of him is pretty good. It's interesting to read about one's hometown and finding it called the "Athens of the Cornbelt." Also, on the kindle, two only two kindle books that I actually paid for so far: The Beat Face of God by STephen Edington. It's actually more of a personal reflection on how the Beat Generation affected his spiritual life, which wasn't what I expected, but it's still pretty good. Also, J.P. Muller's turn of the 20th century exercise manual, My System: 15 minutes work a day for Health's Sake. Actually, I paid for an updated version. It's a pretty decent quick workout that I do first thing in the morning. I first heard about it after reading this article in slate about a year ago. I like starting the day with the same workout that Franz Kafka did, before his TB got too serious. http://www.slate.com/articles/life/fitness/2011/01/kafkas_calisthenics.single.html
The Baseball Codes: Beanballs, Sign Stealing, and Bench-Clearing Brawls: The Unwritten Rules of America's Pastime by Jason Turbow with Michael Duca
Good selection to have fun with the kids. I reread "Tarzan of the Apes" a couple of years back after I picked an old copy of the book up in an estate sale. 'That' took me back to being a kid again
I am quickly re-reading this so I am prepared for the midnight showing I am attending of the movie... The Hunger Games - by Suzanne Collins - Just as good as the first time I read it...
Yeah, I spent $50 before 10AM. Should have held off because I am taking my kids to the ice capades tonight where I will be buying $20 souvenirs that break in 5 minutes and it will probably break me.
Second volume in a series set in the time of Alexander; as in the first book I thought the battle scenes were quite vivid and well-done.
Thousand Cranes by Yasunari Kawabata My third Kawabata book to read and probably my least favorite, though it seems to be one of the ones that gets the most attention. It's the story of two intertwined families who are linked via the tea ceremony as well as a series of affairs (as well as one additional woman linked to one of the families.) The dialogue is subtle and a lot of it's set against the backdrop of the tea ceremony where subtlety rules. Vicious and delicate at the same time. I enjoyed it, but I'd urge others to start elsewhere.
Against the Modern World: Traditionalism and the Secret Intellectual History of the 20th Century by Mark Sedgwick. A book about some philosophers of "traditionalism" or "the perennial philosophy," some of whom are somewhat interesting, others of whom are dangerously cracked. Interesting read if you're familiar with names like Rene Guenon or Frithjof Schuon, probably incomprehensible if you're not.
I know it's been on here before but I've just started it. Stephen King's 11/22/63 One thing you can say about King. He won't use a sentence when he can make it into a whole chapter...
The Read-Along-with-your-Kids Carousel continues with Zora Neale Hurston's Their Eyes were Watching God. Just read it last year, but I want to read along with Mary so we can catch Hurston's incomparable turn of phrase. I need to be more intentional and read more of her work. I've been so charmed by one writer as I was with Their Eyes and never gotten around to reading more of that author. Anyone else read any other Hurston?
He is a good story teller, who keeps the reader captivated. I must admit that I liked his cop books better, the last few have been lawyer books.
truth. not exactly Joseph Wambaugh, but he's done his homework. I enjoyed The Concrete Blonde, a Harry Bosch tale, but The Poet is better IMO.
Wow, actual feedback, thanks guys. Guess it's safe and I won't waste a day of my life reading it. That's if I ever get though King's 11/22/63. It's sorta like reading the Encyclopedia Britannica only it's not alphabetical.. Actually I'm enjoying it, it bogs down only if you try and read it in one session..
I was looking for something I wouldn't read too deeply - needed to be able to put it down and read in short spurts - and Mrs. Ismitje loaned me this: Naked City, a compilation of short stories including an original Harry Dresden piece. A mixed bag, as these things often are. Now re-reading David Brin's The Uplift War. And, in time for a flight from Spokane to NYC via Phoenix (thank you, Southwest Air), and courtesy of the local library: Ernest Cline's Ready Player One - very excited about this one.