Just finished "Double Tap" by Steven Martini. meh.
Before that, I read "Thunderer" and "Gears of the City" by Felix Gilman. LOVED THEM! Totally engrossing and engaging. Plus also, Gilman created an entire world *without* resorting to my *least* favorite sci/fantasy trope, "The Renaming of Common Objects so that it Seems Otherworldly." That gets so very frustrating. On Tue, Aug 31, 2010 at 7:37 AM, Jerry Barnes <[email protected]> wrote: > > Several times over the years, I have thought about starting a monthly thread > about what people are reading. I am always looking for good reading > material. For different reasons, I have never done this. > > Since their is so much acrimony about politics on the list, this might be a > diversion. Though, I am sure with a little effort, it can devolve into > another political flame thrower match. > > So, here are the books I have read over the last two months (July and > August). > > > Robert Parker - Pastime - A Spenser detective novel. Spenser takes on case > of missing woman. > > William Shirer - The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich - Excellent novel. > Probably the longest book I have ever read. It is not a war history in that > it does not talk about strategies and such. It talks about the impact of > battles on the Nazi Party and Germany in whole and how the Nazi's gained > power. Hitler was not a great military leader it seems. His ability seemed > to be in politics alone. He had an uncanny ability to know how other > governments would react to Germany's political moves. With this ability, he > was able to annex three countries with out firing a shot and divide Poland > without resistance from France and England. > > M Beaton - Agatha Raisin and the Wizard of Evesham, Agatha Raisin and the > Witch of Wyckhadden , Agatha Raisin and the Fairies of Fryfam - These are > all murder mysteries. Imagine combining a middle aged Bridget Jones with > Barney Fife. You would then have the protagonist. Very humorous. > > Robert Parker - Double Deuce - Another Spenser Novel. - Spenser and Hawke > take on the job of cleaning up a project. > > Milton Friedman - Money Mischief: Episodes in Monetary History - An > interesting book. It talks a lot about how the US used to be on a > bimetallic standard (silver and gold) and how that became a gold standard, > and then a fiat standard. It also links how changes in the standard > effected different parts of the world. For example, The US implemented a > huge silver buying program. At the time, China was the only country on a > silver standard. Silver fled the country leading to mass inflation. This > lead to Chiang Kai Shek's early departure and the beginning of communism in > China. Interestingly enough, now is the only time in recorded history when > all money around the world is issued by fiat. There is material base to any > money anymore. > > Glenn Beck - The Overton Window - A very short book that is conspiracy > centered. It's less controversial than I thought it would be. In terms of > conspiracy or writing, it's no worse than a Steve Berry or David Baldacci > Novel. > > Robert Ludlum - Trevayne - Another conspiracy novel. Written around the > Watergate time. This one centers on the defense industry and government > being so intertwined that it's hard to tell where one ends and one begins. > > Robert Parker - Paper Doll - Another Spenser novel. Spenser investigates > the apparently random murder of a well off mother. But is anything really > random? > > Agatha Christie - The Listerdale Mystery - A collection of short stories. > > Agatha Christie - The Sittaford Mystery - An interesting locked room > mystery. It does not contain any of the Christie standards like Poirot or > Miss Marples. > > Daniel Silva - The Defector - A Gabriel Allon novel. Very well written spy > story. Allon works for the Israeli intelligence service. In this novel, he > is trying to save a Russian defector who was kidnapped by Russia. > > Michael Crichton - Pirate Latitudes - not a very good Crichton story. One > of his worse. I would say everything from Timeline on was bad. This book > centers on a group of privateers in the Caribbean during the 1600's. As > usual for Crichton, all kinds of stuff goes haywire. > > Dick Morris - Catastrophe - A book that got pushed way down in my stack. It > would have been better if I would have read it last year. Anyway, as you > would expect, there is a lot of Obama bashing in the book. A lot of you > would not appreciate that. However, there is a lot of other interesting > sections as well. There is a part on the neglect in treatment of Post > Traumatic Stress in returning soldiers. There is a good section on how > lobbyist skirt lobbying laws. Another section on some corrupt politicians > with the gory details. Those parts would be a good read for anyone, but I > think some couldn't get past the Obama bashing. > > > J > > - > > No man's life, liberty, or property is safe while the legislature is in > session. - Mark Twain > > The artificial aristocracy is a mischievous ingredient in government, and > provisions should be made to prevent its ascendancy. - Thomas Jefferson > > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Order the Adobe Coldfusion Anthology now! http://www.amazon.com/Adobe-Coldfusion-Anthology-Michael-Dinowitz/dp/1430272155/?tag=houseoffusion Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/message.cfm/messageid:326386 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/unsubscribe.cfm
