Dear Readers, I have a request. Could you provide a brief (a word, or a sentence) opinion about the books you read ? Your opinion matters
Bloody Confused! A Clueless American Sportswriter Seeks Solace in English Soccer by Chuck Culpepper Quite entertaining read as Culpepper gradually decides to follow Portsmouth FC after a move to England
I'm about half-way through this, Follett's follow-up to Pillars of the Earth. It's very good, although not on the level of Pillars. That said, I continue to marvel at Follett's masterful abilities of characterization, and he pulls a brilliant about-face in this one a few hundred pages in. He has a tremendous ability to create unique voices, and he moves almost effortlessly from narration to narration. Sublime.
Several years ago I read a novel called Signal to Noise, a techno-thriller with aliens added set a few decades in the future. While I enjoyed it very much, I mostly forgot about it until I ran across this, which is a sequel by the same author. It's off to a strong start so far.
Have you ever read any James Clavell? King Rat is based on his experiences as a Japanese POW at Changi (near Singapore), Tai-pan and Noble House are Hong Kong books, Shogun is set in Japan, and Gai-Jin is set in Japan but deals with the family from the Hong Kong books. There's a sixth, out of print book in the Asian Saga, Whirlwind, that is set in Iran during the revolution.
I just reread Shogun a few months ago. But I still don't understand; did he write a sequel? It clearly is left unresolved, but I've never been able to figure it out. Now I'm reading "The Battle For Spain", by Tony Beevor. I've read a good bit about the spanish civil war through hemingway bios and Cuban history, but never read an actual book on the subject. Pretty good, if you like straight history. And "The Knight," by Gene Wolfe. Very good. The guy's a much better stylist than you'd expect from a fantasy writer. He's got tons of books in my local library, and he seems to have won every award a fantasy writer could win, but I'd never heard of him. I'll definitely read the sequel.
All the books listed above are related - go read the synopsis/reviews on Amazon and see if any appeal to you.
[ame="http://www.amazon.com/Jesus-Disinherited-Howard-Thurman/dp/0807010294/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1235951469&sr=8-1"]Amazon.com: Jesus and the Disinherited: Howard Thurman: Books[/ame]
I'm re-reading it right now. The Asian Saga largely revolves around the Struan family and the Noble House, who are main characters in Tai-Pan, Noble House and Gai-Jin, and peripheral characters in Whirlwind. Descendants of the Shogun (set in 1600) characters appear in Gaijin (set in 1875), Noble House (set in 1963) and Whirlwind (1981).
The Story of Edgar Sawtelle by David Wroblewski Born mute, speaking only in sign, Edgar Sawtelle leads an idyllic life with his parents on their farm in remote northern Wisconsin. For generations, the Sawtelles have raised and trained a fictional breed of dog whose thoughtful companionship is epitomized by Almondine, Edgar's lifelong friend and ally. But with the unexpected return of Claude, Edgar's paternal uncle, turmoil consumes the Sawtelles' once peaceful home.
[ame="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0312427794"]Amazon.com: Gomorrah: A Personal Journey into the Violent International Empire of Naples' Organized Crime System: Roberto Saviano, Virginia Jewiss: Books[/ame] NY Times book review
Ha Jin is an amazing writer. Love his stuff and highly recommend this book. I am reading two books right now: For those who are curious about how serial criminals (bombers, arsonists, rapists, murderers, etc) tick, John Douglas is the original profiler and helped invent the field. Fascinating read. He may be a dirty old man, but he's fun as hell to read. Great humor and deep insight.
Here's the really, really, stupid thing: I've never seen the miniseries, even though they have the whole thing at my local library on VHS and DVD. But man, Shogun's a really good book. I've never been to Japan (though I once dated a Japanese girl), but from that book I feel like I've been there.
The Tempest -- fourth of four in this Everman's Library volume: Pericles Cymbeline The Winter's Tale The Tempest [ame="http://www.amazon.com/Romances-Everymans-Library-William-Shakespeare/dp/067945487X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1236279145&sr=8-1"]Amazon.com: Romances (Everyman's Library): William Shakespeare: Books[/ame]
Both the Shogun and Noble House mini's are both worth watching-- oddly, John Rhys-Davies is in both. Tai-Pan is barely passable, and I haven't seen King Rat yet. The others have not been filmed, as far as I know.
The Game of My Life: 20 Stories of Yankees Baseball, by Dave Buscema Buscema does a decent job of giving the background and setting up for the players to tell the story, in their own words, of their favorite game, but gives the players short shrift at the end of each chapter, giving about a page and a half for many of them. One would suppose a player's favorite game might have a few more pages from each of the players. Reggie Jackson, naturally, picked out an entire season as his favorite game.
It is what it is...though "good read" isn't how I'd describe it. Maybe my standards are too high, though.