OT book club: what books have you read lately?

daveB · 06-13-2005, 12:21 AM

What books has OT read lately?

After reading Ender's Game last fall; I picked up the "sequeal" Speaker For The Dead last tuesday and started reading it on friday and finished it today. Damn you Orson Scott Card, now I gotta buy Xenocide

OSC might be my new favorite SciFi author. Other books i've finished recently:

The Sparrow - Mary Doria Russel
Leaving Atlanta - Tayari Jones (had this one autographed by the author, she came and talked to our lit class)
Crimes Against Nature (non fiction) - Robert F Kennedy Jr.
On The Wing: To the edge of the earth with the peregrine falcon(unabridged) (creative non-fiction) - Alan Tennant

This list goes back the last couple of months to the new year.

* Registered users of the site do not see these ads.

CandyO · 06-13-2005, 12:26 AM

I just finished reading The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold. I can't say enough good things about this book. I didn't think I'd like it, but was sorry there was no more to read when I finished it.

"On her way home from school on a snowy December day in 1973, 14-year-old Susie Salmon ("like the fish") is lured into a makeshift underground den in a cornfield and brutally raped and murdered, the latest victim of a serial killer--the man she knew as her neighbor, Mr. Harvey.

Alice Sebold's haunting and heartbreaking debut novel, The Lovely Bones, unfolds from heaven, where "life is a perpetual yesterday" and where Susie narrates and keeps watch over her grieving family and friends, as well as her brazen killer and the sad detective working on her case. As Sebold fashions it, everyone has his or her own version of heaven. Susie's resembles the athletic fields and landscape of a suburban high school: a heaven of her "simplest dreams," where "there were no teachers.... We never had to go inside except for art class.... The boys did not pinch our backsides or tell us we smelled; our textbooks were Seventeen and Glamour and Vogue."

The Lovely Bones works as an odd yet affecting coming-of-age story. Susie struggles to accept her death while still clinging to the lost world of the living, following her family's dramas over the years like an episode of My So-Called Afterlife. Her family disintegrates in their grief: her father becomes determined to find her killer, her mother withdraws, her little brother Buckley attempts to make sense of the new hole in his family, and her younger sister Lindsey moves through the milestone events of her teenage and young adult years with Susie riding spiritual shotgun. Random acts and missed opportunities run throughout the book--Susie recalls her sole kiss with a boy on Earth as "like an accident--a beautiful gasoline rainbow." Though sentimental at times, The Lovely Bones is a moving exploration of loss and mourning that ultimately puts its faith in the living and that is made even more powerful by a cast of convincing characters. Sebold orchestrates a big finish, and though things tend to wrap up a little too well for everyone in the end, one can only imagine (or hope) that heaven is indeed a place filled with such happy endings."

Sharkbait · 06-13-2005, 12:26 AM

I recently read two books by Pete Hamill that I really, really, really enjoyed. The first was Downtown - a sort of walking history of Manhattan through the eyes of this NY News editor. Incredibly interesting and intriguing. The second was Forever, an epic about a young man in 1700s Ireland who travels to Manhattan in the early of its founding, and spans all the way into 2001. Again, very, very interesting and really well-written. Hamill has a great storytelling abillity. Both of these books were best-sellers at one point, so are really easy to find. After you read them, you'll never look at NYC the same.

Mrhappy · 06-13-2005, 12:30 AM

Do coloring books count?

STIgeorge · 06-13-2005, 12:30 AM

Alice Walker, The Color Purple

CandyO · 06-13-2005, 12:32 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by STIgeorge

Alice Walker, The Color Purple

Did you cry almost the whole tme? I did. What an incredible book and movie.

If you liked it read Toni Morrison's "The Bluest Eye". Every sentence that woman writes is like poetry. So lyrical and beautiful you want to read it over and over again.

rexfan555 · 06-13-2005, 12:36 AM

Speaking of Toni Morrison...the last book I read was "song of solomon." Great book, a quick and easy read. I highly recommend it.

STIgeorge · 06-13-2005, 12:38 AM

Ill admit that the book brought a tear to my eyes a few times while reading it. It was very moving.

Black_Rain · 06-13-2005, 12:43 AM

uhh...reading... thats in pennsylvania right?

anyway...

Chuck Palanhiuk is a great author...read all his books

(author of fight club)

Oh Canada · 06-13-2005, 12:48 AM

Wow, i didn't even know other people on OT read, or even let alone COULD read books. This great to actually talk about books......

Recent Books I have Read

The Brothers Karamazov: The Grand Inquistetor = Bring sup lots of good questions to toy with the head when thinking about religion and personal convictions. The whole book is good, but this section is amazing.

The Da Vinci Code = Book has a lot of awesome build up and yet about 1/2 way to 3/4 of the way in you can see where its going to lead, who the bad guy is, and what the big deal is in the authors mind. However for historical fiction, its a fun book. I reccomend angels and Demons over this though, the charictors seem much more motivated and involving than da vinci code.

Blue Like Jazz: Non-Religous throughts on Christianity = Good book considering how christians have screwed up and turned "the message" into a show and somewhat of a controlling things rather than the origional message of gracce and what not. I enjoyed it after being recomended it by a friend, made me think a lot and made me less angry at people for acting the way they do in regards to christiany because its shows that people can be stupid but to makes amends for what you've done wrong.

Prey: I must say i am very partial to Michel Criton. His bopoks are all great na dwell written but the movies just suck so bad. This book is written around nano-technology and its involment with the human body. Once again the charitors are very origional from all his writings, and people you getconnected to start turing until you really don't know whos good save the main charictor until the final 10 pages. Its very entertaining, high paced, and worth the few bucks you'll pay for an action oriented book.

I'll save a few later for more, lets keep this going, reading is good.

Guru Imakuni · 06-13-2005, 01:07 AM

The last book I reAd was Alice's Adventures In Wonderland by Lewis Carroll. It was a good book and everyOne should read it. There are a lot of adult type refrences only CandyO would get because she is 50. There was a white rabbit too. I read it for my school project and I enjoyEd it. Really.

A more mature book (for the weirdos in OT) that I read was The Story of the Eye by Georges Bataille. Georges Bataille writes like Marquis de Sade with the exception his writings aren't like 1000 pages long. It sounded kind of creepy so I thought I'd read it...damn it was really distrubing! I read the whole book in 2-3 hours without putting it down, not because it's pornography (no way I could pop a boner on that kind of writing), but because it was so ****ed up I just had to keep reading! I suggest it to all those in OT who think IDP is dirty...there's some pretty crazy things that people do a few steps beyond IDP.

svek · 06-13-2005, 01:08 AM

i hate reading. too much effort involved.

99subi · 06-13-2005, 01:10 AM

reading sucks

Janq · 06-13-2005, 01:22 AM

http://www.shootrite.org/book/book.html
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/AS...794244-8284031

- Janq loves to read gives this two thumbs up for non-military/paramilitary shootists

cwareing · 06-13-2005, 01:27 AM

Rich Dad, Poor Dad.

Corn-Picker · 06-13-2005, 01:32 AM

I finished the Count of Monte Cristo about a month ago. I didn't find it as wonderful as most people do. The story was too contrived to maintain my suspension of disbelief.

I've also read a little old testament psuedopigripha (books not cannonized with the bible) lately. Instead of boring works containing excruiating detail on how to sacrafice animals or worship at the temple (think Leviticus) you get the book of Enoch, talking about fallen angels raping women and such -- definitely the more interesting reading.

For my all time favorites I recommend The Idiot (Dostoesvsky) and the Dune series (Herbet). Nazi Doctors is a good scary book.

Season · 06-13-2005, 01:32 AM

I'm halfway thru Prep by Curtis Sittenfeld. It was very briefly on the New York Times bestseller list a few months ago. It's about a plain jane Indiana girl who goes to an ivy league type of college-prep boarding school out east. The book started out strong, and midway thru, is pretty boring.

I'm also reading Jane Eyre about an orphaned girl which I think was written in the 1840s. It's really really good.

For fun, I just read Elvis by the Presleys. The only thing remotely interesting was that Priscilla said that there was a "historic meeting" at Elvis's house in California with the Beatles. Apparently nobody witnessed this meeting but Priscilla and some of Elvis' friends. I guess they had a "jam" session. heh.

captaintaco · 06-13-2005, 01:52 AM

I'm steadily working my way through Godel, Escher, and Bach right now, in addition to the two or so books a week I have to read for school. I just got through Freud's Civilization and its Discontents, which was alright. Not exactly something I would have read for entertainment, but it doesn't hurt to enrich one's mind from time to time. GEB is really interesting; it provides some insight for normal people into the way consciousness is governed by mathematics, and the line of thought researchers are using to creat artificial intelligence. I'm no mathematical genius, and it's really helping me understand some of the concepts of number theory.

emorphien · 06-13-2005, 02:02 AM

This past week I read Dean Koontz's Dragon Tears or something like that. Pretty decent, never read anything of his before.

Now I'm reading some John J. Nance book, forgot the title

scaryfastskier · 06-13-2005, 02:57 AM

i found a book at my parents house while looking for some bathroom material. it was called "tell no one" and it was margionally entertaining. it was better than average, but not by much.

grant

awdity · 06-13-2005, 03:26 AM

Just finished re-reading The Virgin Suicides. It always manages to leave a bittersweet taste in my mouth. Right before that I read David Sedaris' Me Talk Pretty One Day. Right before that I read Wigfield. Can you tell I'm a Sedaris family fan?

mklier1218 · 06-13-2005, 07:09 AM

BLACK by Ted Decker. I just finished reading All of Dale Browns books. Next is the Harry Pothead series.

Strider · 06-13-2005, 07:34 AM

I just started up The Mysterious Flame of Queen Loana by Umberto Eco, after leaving my half-read copy of The Name of the Rose At my friend's house over the weekend...

I'll probably just pick up another copy and finish it after Loana, since I'm really into it now.

It's about a 60ish rare book dealer who has a stroke and forgets his entire live's history. He can't remember his wife, his daughters, his parents, even his name. However, he can recall every book, poem or story he's ever read. Now he's trying to relearn his own story by going through all of the objects he used to own, exploring the attic of his old family house, etc. Very funny and interesting stuff.

After that, I'm anxiously awaiting Anansi Boys, by my favorite author, Neil Gaiman. I've already read the first chapter that he posted on his blog, and the rest should be out this September.

Andrea, I'm glad you liked Hamill's books! Check out his autobiography, A Drinking life, if you haven't. It's really interesting stuff.

FunkerVogt · 06-13-2005, 07:37 AM

Peace Kills by P.J. O'Rourke

and a bunch of certification prep books (Network+, Security+)

lark6 · 06-13-2005, 07:37 AM

Lately I've had a hard time maintaining concentration long enough to read read anything longer than a magazine article. Still a couple of months ago I managed to get through Margaret MacMillan and Richard Holbrooke's Paris 1919. It's the story of the post-WWI peace talks that led up to the Treaty of Versailles. The book took the tack of rebutting the theory that France's wish for revenge on Germany in the form of reparations was the prime mover behind the rise of Nazism and the start of WWII.

The main reason I read it was to try to get an understanding of how Eastern Europe and the Middle East were shaped in such a way that contributed to the tensions experienced there today. It seemed like everyone in the Big Four/Three (Wilson, Lloyd George, Clemenceau and Orlando) were greedy, obstinate and hard-headed in their own way. To the extent that it helped me understand a lot of the motivations of the national leaders of the day, it succeeded. It wasn't a dry boring read, though, as the players are fully fleshed out as human beings in their own right.

06-13-2005, 12:21 AM	#1
daveB Scooby Newbie Member#: 28488 Join Date: Nov 2002 Chapter/Region: MWSOC Location: Champaign, Il. Vehicle: 2000 Pierce Saber Fire Engine Red	OT book club: what books have you read lately? What books has OT read lately? After reading Ender's Game last fall; I picked up the "sequeal" Speaker For The Dead last tuesday and started reading it on friday and finished it today. Damn you Orson Scott Card, now I gotta buy Xenocide OSC might be my new favorite SciFi author. Other books i've finished recently: The Sparrow - Mary Doria Russel Leaving Atlanta - Tayari Jones (had this one autographed by the author, she came and talked to our lit class) Crimes Against Nature (non fiction) - Robert F Kennedy Jr. On The Wing: To the edge of the earth with the peregrine falcon(unabridged) (creative non-fiction) - Alan Tennant This list goes back the last couple of months to the new year. * Registered users of the site do not see these ads.

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06-13-2005, 12:26 AM	#2
CandyO Scooby Newbie Member#: 36091 Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: SC Vehicle: 2006 Golf TDI FTW!!!	I just finished reading The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold. I can't say enough good things about this book. I didn't think I'd like it, but was sorry there was no more to read when I finished it. "On her way home from school on a snowy December day in 1973, 14-year-old Susie Salmon ("like the fish") is lured into a makeshift underground den in a cornfield and brutally raped and murdered, the latest victim of a serial killer--the man she knew as her neighbor, Mr. Harvey. Alice Sebold's haunting and heartbreaking debut novel, The Lovely Bones, unfolds from heaven, where "life is a perpetual yesterday" and where Susie narrates and keeps watch over her grieving family and friends, as well as her brazen killer and the sad detective working on her case. As Sebold fashions it, everyone has his or her own version of heaven. Susie's resembles the athletic fields and landscape of a suburban high school: a heaven of her "simplest dreams," where "there were no teachers.... We never had to go inside except for art class.... The boys did not pinch our backsides or tell us we smelled; our textbooks were Seventeen and Glamour and Vogue." The Lovely Bones works as an odd yet affecting coming-of-age story. Susie struggles to accept her death while still clinging to the lost world of the living, following her family's dramas over the years like an episode of My So-Called Afterlife. Her family disintegrates in their grief: her father becomes determined to find her killer, her mother withdraws, her little brother Buckley attempts to make sense of the new hole in his family, and her younger sister Lindsey moves through the milestone events of her teenage and young adult years with Susie riding spiritual shotgun. Random acts and missed opportunities run throughout the book--Susie recalls her sole kiss with a boy on Earth as "like an accident--a beautiful gasoline rainbow." Though sentimental at times, The Lovely Bones is a moving exploration of loss and mourning that ultimately puts its faith in the living and that is made even more powerful by a cast of convincing characters. Sebold orchestrates a big finish, and though things tend to wrap up a little too well for everyone in the end, one can only imagine (or hope) that heaven is indeed a place filled with such happy endings."

06-13-2005, 12:26 AM	#3
Sharkbait Scooby Specialist Member#: 37221 Join Date: May 2003 Chapter/Region: International Location: LDN W14 or Stalking Schumacher Vehicle: 2012 Abarth 1984 Porsche 911	I recently read two books by Pete Hamill that I really, really, really enjoyed. The first was Downtown - a sort of walking history of Manhattan through the eyes of this NY News editor. Incredibly interesting and intriguing. The second was Forever, an epic about a young man in 1700s Ireland who travels to Manhattan in the early of its founding, and spans all the way into 2001. Again, very, very interesting and really well-written. Hamill has a great storytelling abillity. Both of these books were best-sellers at one point, so are really easy to find. After you read them, you'll never look at NYC the same.

06-13-2005, 12:30 AM	#4
Mrhappy Scooby Specialist Member#: 31973 Join Date: Jan 2003 Chapter/Region: MAIC Location: Maryland Vehicle: 2003 WRB WRX 2010 Corolla, aluminum	Do coloring books count?

06-13-2005, 12:30 AM	#5
STIgeorge Scooby Specialist Member#: 22040 Join Date: Jul 2002 Chapter/Region: South East Location: Columbia, SC Vehicle: 12 FJ Cruiser Rent-a-car White	Alice Walker, The Color Purple

06-13-2005, 12:36 AM	#7
rexfan555 Scooby Newbie Member#: 17058 Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Boulder Vehicle: 02 WRX Blaze Yellow	Speaking of Toni Morrison...the last book I read was "song of solomon." Great book, a quick and easy read. I highly recommend it.

06-13-2005, 12:38 AM	#8
STIgeorge Scooby Specialist Member#: 22040 Join Date: Jul 2002 Chapter/Region: South East Location: Columbia, SC Vehicle: 12 FJ Cruiser Rent-a-car White	Ill admit that the book brought a tear to my eyes a few times while reading it. It was very moving.

06-13-2005, 12:43 AM	#9
Black_Rain Scooby Specialist Member#: 29932 Join Date: Nov 2002 Chapter/Region: Tri-State Location: Philly Vehicle: 2005 LGT Ltd Womp	uhh...reading... thats in pennsylvania right? anyway... Chuck Palanhiuk is a great author...read all his books (author of fight club)

06-13-2005, 12:48 AM	#10
Oh Canada Scooby Newbie Member#: 76622 Join Date: Dec 2004	Wow, i didn't even know other people on OT read, or even let alone COULD read books. This great to actually talk about books...... Recent Books I have Read The Brothers Karamazov: The Grand Inquistetor = Bring sup lots of good questions to toy with the head when thinking about religion and personal convictions. The whole book is good, but this section is amazing. The Da Vinci Code = Book has a lot of awesome build up and yet about 1/2 way to 3/4 of the way in you can see where its going to lead, who the bad guy is, and what the big deal is in the authors mind. However for historical fiction, its a fun book. I reccomend angels and Demons over this though, the charictors seem much more motivated and involving than da vinci code. Blue Like Jazz: Non-Religous throughts on Christianity = Good book considering how christians have screwed up and turned "the message" into a show and somewhat of a controlling things rather than the origional message of gracce and what not. I enjoyed it after being recomended it by a friend, made me think a lot and made me less angry at people for acting the way they do in regards to christiany because its shows that people can be stupid but to makes amends for what you've done wrong. Prey: I must say i am very partial to Michel Criton. His bopoks are all great na dwell written but the movies just suck so bad. This book is written around nano-technology and its involment with the human body. Once again the charitors are very origional from all his writings, and people you getconnected to start turing until you really don't know whos good save the main charictor until the final 10 pages. Its very entertaining, high paced, and worth the few bucks you'll pay for an action oriented book. I'll save a few later for more, lets keep this going, reading is good.

06-13-2005, 01:07 AM	#11
Guru Imakuni Scooby Specialist Member#: 58773 Join Date: Apr 2004 Chapter/Region: NESIC Location: Western MA	The last book I reAd was Alice's Adventures In Wonderland by Lewis Carroll. It was a good book and everyOne should read it. There are a lot of adult type refrences only CandyO would get because she is 50. There was a white rabbit too. I read it for my school project and I enjoyEd it. Really. A more mature book (for the weirdos in OT) that I read was The Story of the Eye by Georges Bataille. Georges Bataille writes like Marquis de Sade with the exception his writings aren't like 1000 pages long. It sounded kind of creepy so I thought I'd read it...damn it was really distrubing! I read the whole book in 2-3 hours without putting it down, not because it's pornography (no way I could pop a boner on that kind of writing), but because it was so ****ed up I just had to keep reading! I suggest it to all those in OT who think IDP is dirty...there's some pretty crazy things that people do a few steps beyond IDP.

06-13-2005, 01:08 AM	#12
svek * Banned * Member#: 82259 Join Date: Mar 2005 Chapter/Region: BAIC Location: koledge at csus Vehicle: 1999 impreza 2.2L Brilliant Red <4EAT Club>	i hate reading. too much effort involved.

06-13-2005, 01:10 AM	#13
99subi Scooby Guru Member#: 78118 Join Date: Dec 2004 Chapter/Region: Tri-State Location: Westchester NY Vehicle: 2002 Corvette coupe 05 Legacy	reading sucks

06-13-2005, 01:22 AM	#14
Janq Scooby Specialist Member#: 33246 Join Date: Feb 2003 Chapter/Region: MAIC Location: Where ever I lay my hat is my Vehicle: 1993 Legacy L+ AWD Phoenician blue met./blue	http://www.shootrite.org/book/book.html http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/AS...794244-8284031 - Janq loves to read gives this two thumbs up for non-military/paramilitary shootists

06-13-2005, 01:27 AM	#15
cwareing Scooby Specialist Member#: 70651 Join Date: Sep 2004 Chapter/Region: VIC Vehicle: '10 Fozzie XT The car is black....NOT!	Rich Dad, Poor Dad.

06-13-2005, 01:32 AM	#16
Corn-Picker Scooby Specialist Member#: 8679 Join Date: Jul 2001 Location: Morgantown, WV Vehicle: 2010 The most hated vehicle on the internets	I finished the Count of Monte Cristo about a month ago. I didn't find it as wonderful as most people do. The story was too contrived to maintain my suspension of disbelief. I've also read a little old testament psuedopigripha (books not cannonized with the bible) lately. Instead of boring works containing excruiating detail on how to sacrafice animals or worship at the temple (think Leviticus) you get the book of Enoch, talking about fallen angels raping women and such -- definitely the more interesting reading. For my all time favorites I recommend The Idiot (Dostoesvsky) and the Dune series (Herbet). Nazi Doctors is a good scary book.

06-13-2005, 01:32 AM	#17
Season Scooby Newbie Member#: 49531 Join Date: Nov 2003 Location: florida Vehicle: 2003 wrx	I'm halfway thru Prep by Curtis Sittenfeld. It was very briefly on the New York Times bestseller list a few months ago. It's about a plain jane Indiana girl who goes to an ivy league type of college-prep boarding school out east. The book started out strong, and midway thru, is pretty boring. I'm also reading Jane Eyre about an orphaned girl which I think was written in the 1840s. It's really really good. For fun, I just read Elvis by the Presleys. The only thing remotely interesting was that Priscilla said that there was a "historic meeting" at Elvis's house in California with the Beatles. Apparently nobody witnessed this meeting but Priscilla and some of Elvis' friends. I guess they had a "jam" session. heh.

06-13-2005, 01:52 AM	#18
captaintaco Scooby Newbie Member#: 72290 Join Date: Oct 2004 Chapter/Region: SCIC Location: A tepee	I'm steadily working my way through Godel, Escher, and Bach right now, in addition to the two or so books a week I have to read for school. I just got through Freud's Civilization and its Discontents, which was alright. Not exactly something I would have read for entertainment, but it doesn't hurt to enrich one's mind from time to time. GEB is really interesting; it provides some insight for normal people into the way consciousness is governed by mathematics, and the line of thought researchers are using to creat artificial intelligence. I'm no mathematical genius, and it's really helping me understand some of the concepts of number theory.

06-13-2005, 02:02 AM	#19
emorphien Scooby Newbie Member#: 83039 Join Date: Mar 2005 Chapter/Region: Tri-State Location: Rochester, NY Vehicle: 2005 LegacyGT Ltd 5m ಠ_ಠ	This past week I read Dean Koontz's Dragon Tears or something like that. Pretty decent, never read anything of his before. Now I'm reading some John J. Nance book, forgot the title

06-13-2005, 02:57 AM	#20
scaryfastskier Scooby Specialist Member#: 7893 Join Date: Jun 2001 Chapter/Region: International Location: Saint Louis Vehicle: 2010 F150 & Iron883 Husky TE449 + TXC250	i found a book at my parents house while looking for some bathroom material. it was called "tell no one" and it was margionally entertaining. it was better than average, but not by much. grant

06-13-2005, 03:26 AM	#21
awdity Scooby Newbie Member#: 27761 Join Date: Oct 2002 Chapter/Region: BAIC Location: Woodland, CA Vehicle: '08 kia rondo olive oil silver	Just finished re-reading The Virgin Suicides. It always manages to leave a bittersweet taste in my mouth. Right before that I read David Sedaris' Me Talk Pretty One Day. Right before that I read Wigfield. Can you tell I'm a Sedaris family fan?

06-13-2005, 07:09 AM	#22
mklier1218 Scooby Specialist Member#: 23889 Join Date: Sep 2002 Chapter/Region: MAIC Location: MAIC > NESIC Vehicle: ot mods are weaksauce	BLACK by Ted Decker. I just finished reading All of Dale Browns books. Next is the Harry Pothead series.

06-13-2005, 07:34 AM	#23
Strider NASIOC Supporter Member#: 2197 Join Date: Aug 2000 Chapter/Region: Tri-State Location: An adventure is just Vehicle: an inconvenience, properly considered.	I just started up The Mysterious Flame of Queen Loana by Umberto Eco, after leaving my half-read copy of The Name of the Rose At my friend's house over the weekend... I'll probably just pick up another copy and finish it after Loana, since I'm really into it now. It's about a 60ish rare book dealer who has a stroke and forgets his entire live's history. He can't remember his wife, his daughters, his parents, even his name. However, he can recall every book, poem or story he's ever read. Now he's trying to relearn his own story by going through all of the objects he used to own, exploring the attic of his old family house, etc. Very funny and interesting stuff. After that, I'm anxiously awaiting Anansi Boys, by my favorite author, Neil Gaiman. I've already read the first chapter that he posted on his blog, and the rest should be out this September. Andrea, I'm glad you liked Hamill's books! Check out his autobiography, A Drinking life, if you haven't. It's really interesting stuff.

06-13-2005, 07:37 AM	#24
FunkerVogt Scooby Newbie Member#: 4585 Join Date: Mar 2001 Chapter/Region: Tri-State Location: Northern NJ	Peace Kills by P.J. O'Rourke and a bunch of certification prep books (Network+, Security+)

06-13-2005, 07:37 AM	#25
lark6 Scooby Specialist Member#: 2715 Join Date: Oct 2000 Chapter/Region: Tri-State Location: where GW crossed the Delaware Vehicle: 05 FXT 70 911T	Lately I've had a hard time maintaining concentration long enough to read read anything longer than a magazine article. Still a couple of months ago I managed to get through Margaret MacMillan and Richard Holbrooke's Paris 1919. It's the story of the post-WWI peace talks that led up to the Treaty of Versailles. The book took the tack of rebutting the theory that France's wish for revenge on Germany in the form of reparations was the prime mover behind the rise of Nazism and the start of WWII. The main reason I read it was to try to get an understanding of how Eastern Europe and the Middle East were shaped in such a way that contributed to the tensions experienced there today. It seemed like everyone in the Big Four/Three (Wilson, Lloyd George, Clemenceau and Orlando) were greedy, obstinate and hard-headed in their own way. To the extent that it helped me understand a lot of the motivations of the national leaders of the day, it succeeded. It wasn't a dry boring read, though, as the players are fully fleshed out as human beings in their own right.