Books Read in 2011

[Isgrimnur]

Done with War/Sebastian Junger, now onto Cherry Bomb/J.A. Konrath.

I just finished War myself. I'm going to try to work in a viewing of Restrepo this week, leading up to Veterans Day.

[lildrgn]

Cherry Bomb is over, as well as The Killing Moon by Chuck Hogan.

Now listening to The Drop by Michael Connelly, but not sure what to read next.

[JayDee]

Just finished the Steve Jobs biography. What a fascinating read.

[Eco-Logic]

I finished Zero Sight by Justin Shier.  It was a quick read, and I enjoyed it pretty well.  I'll definitely read book 2 whenever it comes out.

I also finished Energy Bus by Jon Gordon.  If you've read many self-help books, this is pretty much more of the same, however the principals are presented in a parable like format which is pretty effective inmho. 

Currently Reading:  Old Man's War  by  John Scalzi

[Isgrimnur]

Dear Mom: A Sniper's Vietnam

Joseph T. Ward was a Marine Scout Sniper.  This is his tale of his time in country, the operations he went on, the friends he entered service with, and the letters that he wrote home to his mother. 

It's not everyone's cup of tea, but I eat this stuff up.

Guy Fawkes: A Complete History of the Gunpowder Treason

This is a 19th century study of the topic by an Anglican priest.  Between his affiliation and the involvement of Jesuit co-conspirators, he is not too nice about the Catholic Faith, as one would expect.  He's not frothing at the mouth about it, and makes a point to differentiate between those prosecuted for treason as opposed to being persecuted for religion.

I did appreciate the book, as I had been wanting to know more about the treason and am becoming more interested in European history.

Next Up: Absolute Monarchs: A History of the Papacy

[Eco-Logic]

I just finished Old Man's War by John Scalzi.  I really enjoyed it.

Now I'm reading Doomsday Book by Connie Willis and Personal Development for Smart People by Steve Pavlina.

[WorkingMike]

I just read "The Reapers are the Angels" by Alden Bell. I would compare it to The Road. Excellent read.

[Crusis]

11/22/63 by Stephen King. My favorite book from him in years, probably my favorite book of the year.

[Eco-Logic]

11/22/63 by Stephen King. My favorite book from him in years, probably my favorite book of the year.

Good to hear, I've had my eye on it for a while.

I'm about 20% into Tigana and have completely enjoyed it so far. 

[Scuzz]

I finished Game of Thrones and am on to Clash of Kings. I did enjoy the book but knowing it goes on forever does kind of take the edge off it.



Just about done with The Prize by Daniel Yergin.

[rickfc]

Speed reading my way through the Millenium Series. The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo and The Girl Who Played With Fire down. Going to start and finish The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest this weekend.

[Crawley]

Finshed "License to Pawn: Deals, Steals, and My Life at the Gold & Silver" by Rick Harrison. Yes the Rick Harrison from the show "Pawn Stars". It's actually a pretty decent book and a really decent one if you like the show. The history of what they had to go through to get the pawn shop is interesting. Rick talks about his childhood where he had some serious health issues which played into his role of learning a lot about history and his outlook on life. The Old Man and Chumley get a chapter and they're ok but the interesting chapter is Big Hoss where he openly discusses his addiction to meth.

If you watch the show you'll reccognize tales of a few items that have shown up on it. But there are some new ones too. Plus there's a lot of interesting pawns that occur at night that they couldn't show on the television show.

The only complaint I had about the entire book was Rick telling the reader he's a math genius about every third paragraph. And the book also dispells some of the realism the show had when you read it - I still really like the show even after finding out some "hidden secrets".

So a good read and better than I thought it was going to be when I got it.

[naednek]

I unstickied this topic, and replaced it for 2012.  Figured I'd bump this so that you can tally up your read books.

[Isgrimnur]

Absolute Monarchs: A History of the Papacy

Boy, was this a fun one.  You've got Popes that lead armies, ones openly have their homosexual lovers live in the palace, ones that enrich their families and houses at the expense of all else, try to rule the entire Holy Roman Empire, etc.

What I gather from reading this book is that the Popes down through the centuries were just as prone to being petty, venal, and prone to corruption as any other ruler throughout history. 

There are always people with power that do great things throughout history, and there are a few in here that did that, but the people in charge of the church, including the cardinals that elected and supported (in some cases, controlled) the Popes, they are just as human as everyone else and were as prone to those foibles.

A office deserves respect, even if the person holding it may not.

[Eco-Logic]

I finished Tigana by Guy Gavriel Kay and absolutely loved it.  This is the first book by him that I have read and will definitely not be the last.

Sent from my A500 using Tapatalk

[metallicorphan]

The Hobbit
LOTR:FOTR
LOTR:TTT
LOTR:ROTK

Harry Potter  1-7

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo