What you reading?+favorite books/characters?

i just finished DONT TELL MOM I WORK ON THE RIGS(she thinks i play piano in a whorehouse) by PAUL CARTER.it was a very funny book written by a guy who has worked on oil platforms in jungles,deserts and offshore for the last 20 years. before reading that one,i read BEN LILLY'S TALES OF BEARS,LIONS AND HOUNDS byBEN LILLY.this guy was probably the greatest hunter and houndsman this country has ever seen. currently reading LONE SURVIVOR by MARCUS LUTTRELL. I'm only a 1/4 of the way thru it, but it's good. i highly recomend all 3.
 
I second Owen on Bernard Cornwell. I just finished Sword Song and am reading Excalibur. Owen didn't mention the Arthur tales. They are nothing at all like Camelot. Good stuff, but I hesitate to start the Sharpe series. There at least 22 books as of now. :eek:

I have also read all or most of Tony Hillerman, James Doss, J A Jance, Dana Stabenow and Nevada Barr.

If you like adventure, here's an obscure book you might try to find. I read it 3 times so far.

The Chinese Bandit by Steven Becker.
 
UffDa said:
Owen didn't mention the Arthur tales.
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Sure I did:p My dad gave me Excalibur at some point, but I didn't have Winter King and Enemy of God 'til this week. Haven't read them, yet. Dad collects the Sharpe series, and tries to get first edition hardbacks in new condition. Some of them were pretty expensive. For a collection, it's a tough series to find in any one format. The ones I've read have been pretty good, but I couldn't get into them like Cornwell's medieval stuff.

Now I have to check out those authors you recommended, since I'm not familiar with any of them except maybe Tony Hillerman.

I just finished reading Brad Thor's The Lions of Lucerne that M. McCord suggested. Got it in paperback so I can pass it along to a coworker. Going to read Path of the Assassin next, then either the Arthur series from Bernard Cornwell, or Band of Brothers and Citizen Soldiers that MORIMOTOM recommended.
Thanks, guys.
 
God--the Bible. Little dry in some places but amazing characters and great message. It will change your life and change where you spend eternity (your going to spend it somewhere)

Patrick O'brian--the Aubrey/Maturin series. The basis for the Master and Commander movie. it is a 20 book series. I've read 19, just can't bring myself to read the last one.

Larry McMurtry--Lonesome Dove series and anything else he writes

Elmore Leonard--The best westerns and crime novels. Nobody cam come close to him in writing dialog

Robert Parker

Dick Francis.
 
jim in ohio said:
currently reading LONE SURVIVOR by MARCUS LUTTRELL. I'm only a 1/4 of the way thru it, but it's good. i highly recomend all 3.
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I just finished "Lone Survivor"... when you are done, let me know what you think. It's an inspiring story isn't it?

Moral of the story.... don't mess with the SEALs!!:D
 
Just started Cornwell's Lords Of The North. Third in a trilogy of the Saxon invasion of England in the 9th century. I love Cornwell! Wish he'd do more Sharpe novels.
 
Currently reading Cormac McCarthy's Sutree and the SAS survival guide book. :D

Sutree is pretty good, a little boring in parts but when you get into the sense of it all it really is a great read. :thumbup:
 
Read Path of the Assassin, and am finishing up Audie Murphy's To Hell and Back, which I've really enjoyed. The first person accounts really put things in perspective.

A line that has stuck with me all day was from a part where a SGT is messing with some privates, and asks one "you want to do be decorated, don't you?"
"I'd like to be decorated with a discharge":)

I was going to start Bernard Cornwell's Winter King tonight or tomorrow, but Audie Murphy's book has me in the frame of mind to get into Band of Brothers instead.
 
Anything by Kenneth Roberts:

Arundel
Rabble in Arms (my favorite)
Oliver Wiswell
Northwest Passage
Lydia Bailey

Probably have to get them through a used book dealer (alibris.com).

M.
 
timcsaw said:
I just finished "Lone Survivor"... when you are done, let me know what you think. It's an inspiring story isn't it?

Moral of the story.... don't mess with the SEALs!!:D
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i finished it sunday.that was an amazing book.i actually had to stop reading it a couple times because i had tears in my eyes.i just might buy a few more copys to give as gifts.he definately earned that navy cross ahundred times over.i was telling a friend from work about it(who doesn,t read) and he said"maybe they will make a movie out of it."i told him"i sure hope not,they would never do that story justice!". i think i am going to pick up a copy of "the count of monte cristo"by Dumas the next time i go to the bookstore.
 
OwenM said:
Gary, don't count Odd out yet!
Odd Hours is due out in May.
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Hey Gary,
Just got an email from B&N sayin that it is in. I'll have it before the day is out:)

btw, I am currently reading John Adams by David McCullough. It's the book that the HBO miniseries is based on.
It's very slow progress. I should have read 2000 pages in the time I've read the first 105. I have a notebook filling up with quotes from John Adams. Aside from the Bible, this may be my #1 favorite book of all time. The second time around, I'll go through it with a highlighter, and hopefully on the third time will be able to just read it without stopping every minute to admire the thoughts and ideals of this incredible man. Perhaps the most personally inspiring thing I've ever read.
 
Nice! thanks will have to grab that!
G2
 
I'm a little bit of a history buff. I'm currently reading "A Terrible Glory, Custer And The Little Bighorn, The Last Great Battle Of The American West" by James Donovan. I've read "Son Of The Morning Star" which I thought was the best "readable" book on Custer and the Little Bighorn. This one is readable as well and includes more recent information from papers and archeological finds since the SOTMS. Also reading another book (I regularly read a couple of books at the same time (depending what room of the house I'm in) called the "Pueblo Revolt" by David Roberts. I have been to most of the historical places that I read about so it makes it more interesting to read about it because "I've been there". I'm also a fan of Tom Clancy, John Grisham and Larry McMurtry.
I'm a big fan of:
Billy The Kid
Wyatt Earp
Doc Holliday
Custer
Wild Bill Hickock
 
pkdmslf said:
I'm a little bit of a history buff. I'm currently reading "A Terrible Glory, Custer And The Little Bighorn, The Last Great Battle Of The American West" by James Donovan. I've read "Son Of The Morning Star" which I thought was the best "readable" book on Custer and the Little Bighorn. This one is readable as well and includes more recent information from papers and archeological finds since the SOTMS. Also reading another book (I regularly read a couple of books at the same time (depending what room of the house I'm in) called the "Pueblo Revolt" by David Roberts. I have been to most of the historical places that I read about so it makes it more interesting to read about it because "I've been there". I'm also a fan of Tom Clancy, John Grisham and Larry McMurtry.
I'm a big fan of:
Billy The Kid
Wyatt Earp
Doc Holliday
Custer
Wild Bill Hickock
Click to expand...

I've always enjoyed those scary, suspense stories by Wild Bill's grandson, Alfred Hickock.:D
 
My favorite books are both Working Cowboy: Recollections of Ray Holmes and The old man and the boy by Robert Ruark.

Other favorites are Tom Clancy and Stephen Hunter.

Peter
 
I'm a big science-fiction fan; have been so since I started to read way back in the stone age. Just recently read William Gibson's new one, Spook Country. I tend to go back and forth between fiction and non-fiction; I'm currently reading "Bonk" by Mary Roach.

Roach is a very funny writer who's done several books on scientific investigations of various "odd" sorts. "Spook" was about the possibility of an afterlife...
"Bonk" is about sex research. It's hilarious. Informative too, but very funny nonetheless.
 
Spook Country wasn't bad. Gibson has written better though, IMHO.

I just finished Genghis, Birth of an Empire, by Colin Iggulden, who wrote the Dangerous Book for Boys.

Pretty good stuff. Very, very brutal and realistic.
 
Andrew Vachss... http://www.vachss.com/

Andrew Henry Vachss (born 1942) is an American crime fiction author, child protection consultant, and attorney exclusively representing children and youths. He is also a founder and national advisory board member of PROTECT: The National Association to Protect Children. Vachss coined the phrase "Children of the Secret," which refers to abused children, of whatever age, who were victimized without ever experiencing justice, much less love and protection. In the Burke novels, some of these Children of the Secret have banded together as adults into what Vachss calls a "family of choice." Their connection is not biological, and their bond goes well beyond mere loyalty. Most are career criminals; none allows the law to come before their duty to their family.

Vachss novels feature the shadowy, unlicensed investigator Burke, an ex-con, career criminal, and deeply conflicted character. About his protagonist, Vachss says:

If you look at Burke closely, you'll see the prototypical abused child: hypervigilant, distrustful. He's so committed to his family of choice — not his DNA-biological family, which tortured him, or the state which raised him, but the family that he chose — that homicide is a natural consequence of injuring any of that family. He's not a hit man. But he shares the same religion I do, which is revenge.

– "Andrew Vachss," Horror Online, April 1999.

His Burke books all share a common theme, revenge against child molesters and those who would harm his family. I have often described Burke as a Travis McGee raised by the state in New York. Besides his drive to protect children Vachss also has the same drive to protect abused and abandoned dogs. This them is also present in his Burke books. I would recommend reading them in order as they are a progressive series and often refer back to earlier stories.
 
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