What are you reading at the moment?

[blushingtemptation]

Math homework... Grrrr.

 

[litfan10]

Also reading The Norton Field Guide to Writing...my department has switched to this as our main freshman comp text, so I figured it would probably be a good idea to know the book before the fall semester...

 

[sr71plt]

Anne Tyler's Noah's Companion.

 

[sheablue]

City of Something Something by Cassandra Clare. Mortal Instruments series. Petty good for YA supernatural stuff. Though this is the 5th book in the series and it's getting a little slow ...

 

[johneb87]

Lee Child's 61 Hours. Never read a Reacher novel before, picked this up at a yard sale and decided to give it a try.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

I agree with your view of PD James, but I suspect we all envy the fact that she can still publish a top seller at the age of 91.

PD James sux. She's like storebrand beer.

 

[mandoscot]

Neil Gaiman-American Gods

 

[sheablue]

Neil Gaiman-American Gods

Ooh! One of my favorites!

 

[sr71plt]

PD James sux. She's like storebrand beer.

You affirm my interest in wanting to read her.

The problem is that I think I've read all of her and it's possible she doesn't have another one to give.

 

[desertslave]

A bit of fluff titled Easy Bake Coven by Liz Schulte. It was a freebie via Pixel of Ink, and the plot sort of got my attention. I like reading fluff during my PT e-stim treatments. This is turning out to be reasonably good. The author writes lovely descriptions.

 

[sr71plt]

I do a lot of easy reading too--considering that it has to balance writing and editing of my own.

 

[trysail]

...Neutral nations also thwarted the destruction of German industry. Sweden, Switzerland, Portugal, and Spain all carried on robust and profitable trade with Germany, to the ongoing frustration of the Allies. Almost 100 percent of Europe's wolframite, a tungsten ore critical to the manufacture of armored steel plate, came from the Iberian Peninsula. Half of Portugal's wolframite went to Germany, a trade policy that resulted in dead Britons. That was one reason Churchill for two years had considered the possibility of taking the Azores by force if Portugal's dictator, Dr. Antonio Salazar, did not agree to grant Allied ships and aircraft refueling rights in those islands. Were Allied aircraft allowed use of the Azores, the air cover over convoys would effectively double. Salazar continued to play both ends against the middle until late in 1943, when— after Churchill threatened to take the islands by force— he finally granted refueling and landing rights to the Allies. When Salazar objected to American troops being stationed in the Azores, Churchill again threatened direct action, cabling Eden, "There is no need for us to be apologetic in dealing with any of these neutrals who hope to get out of Armageddon with no trouble and a good profit."

The neutrals profited handsomely from their relations with Berlin. The Swedes supplied the Reich iron ore, canned fish, and ball bearings. The Swiss sold Hitler arms and ammunition, and industrial diamonds used in cutting tools and bomb fuses. Pressed in early 1943 by the British and Americans to curtail their arms trade with Germany, the Swiss promised to look at their trade practices, and then went on that year to increase shipments to Germany by over 50 percent. The Swedes were stubborn when pressed to limit trade with Germany, wrote Dean Acheson, then an assistant secretary in the State Department, but "the Swiss were the cube of stubbornness."

...An irony attached itself to dealings with neutral nations. The Allies considered German-occupied countries to be legitimate targets of economic and military warfare. The citizens of those nations were therefore doubly victimized— by the Nazis and by RAF bombs, which were no more accurate when dropped on Holland or Norway or France than when dropped on Germany. But neutrals such as Ireland, Portugal, Sweden, and Spain were immune from RAF bombs, immune from the bloodiest consequences of the war. Neutrals might be persuaded by diplomacy to adopt policies acceptable to the Allies, but they could not be cudgeled into good behavior. Meanwhile, they supplied skilled workers, raw materials, machine tools, and bullets that killed American and British soldiers, and banked the profits.

...If Allied bombers blew one of Hitler's munitions factories to smithereens, he could bank on the Swiss making up his loss, and the Swedes for the iron to smelt into new cannons...
​

-William Manchester and Paul Reid
The Last Lion: Winston Spencer Churchill, Defender of The Realm 1940-1965
New York, N.Y. 2012.






William Manchester (an acolyte and one of the earliest biographers of H. L. Mencken— in his first book, Manchester's attempt to imitate Mencken's inimitable prose style is obvious) had previously completed two volumes of his magnificent biography of Winston Churchill. He had completed research for the third, concluding volume and, by the mid-oughts, had partially written it when his health began to fail. In decline, he authorized Paul Reid to complete the book. Reid, a friend and admirer of Manchester, has done yeoman's work. The writing is seamless and fluid. Reid richly deserves the plaudits he has received for what he describes as a labor of love— his memorial to Manchester.


It is a massive book; the text alone is 1,053 pages (not including Reid's Author's Note, source notes, bibliography and index). It is rich in detail. Regardless of how much you know about World War II or how much reading you have done, I wager that you will learn something you didn't already know.


I've been chewing away at it, 20-25 pages a night, for a couple of months. It never fails to keep me returning for more.


In that vein— I've always been aware of Switzerland's shadowy and dodgy role in World War II but never was fully aware of Sweden's role in providing the Third Reich with war supplies.

 

[sr71plt]

Just finished C.J. Box's Force of Nature. Also reading Lisa Scottoline's Final Appeal and just started David Baldacci's The Hit. (Preparing for a looming book festival.)

 

[PennLady]

Just finished rereading Neuromancer, and I have A Confederacy of Dunces started. I also dug out Winter's Tale by Mark Helprin, which I've had for ages but was never able to get into. The new movie has piqued my interest.

 

[robertreams]

I am reading a Patricia Cornwell novel, Ray Bradbury's The October Country (for the fourth time),
Stenbecks Lincoln Triliogy, Brothers, a definitive story of JFK and RFK (a great read), and several others. I like the Steinbeck best I think. Too bad they didn't use hi to teach us History instead of those god awful text books. And i have recently begun a book by an author I had never heard of Richard Bausch, the book, Meeting with the Cannibals. I am just getting started, but I think it is going to be a great read.

 

[SamScribble]

Just finished rereading Neuromancer, and I have A Confederacy of Dunces started. I also dug out Winter's Tale by Mark Helprin, which I've had for ages but was never able to get into. The new movie has piqued my interest.

Funnily enough, I noticed A Confederacy of Dunces on one of the shelves today and wondered if I should re-visit it. Hope it doesn't disappoint. I seem to recall really enjoying it the first time.

But that wasn't the question, was it? Current reading: The Best American Erotica 2000 (edited by Susie Bright). Again, not the first time that I have read it.

 

[NaokoSmith]

'Lo Sugar

I am reading Owen Sheers's Calon . I wonder if the French will ask for the roof to be open tonight too? It's going to rain heavily. Or the sun will shine. Or it will be cloudy. That's what the forecast says!

(rugby playing banana - btw see my review blog for hot rugby story by Redzinger to get you in the Six Nations mood).

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

Researching GLADIATORS for a story; the lifestyle was pretty kinky until you died, and death was almost a sure thing, especially for a noob. The GLADIATOR movie is filled with factual and historical errors.

Ordered a fat (1350 pages) collection of Raymond Chandler short stories.

 

[ishtat]

Just re-read The Command of the Ocean, by NAM Roger, a British Naval history from 1660 to 1815.

Not usually a fan of military history but this is probably the best I have ever read. It is particularly effective in linking the fate of the Navy with the political and economic/social history of the period.

 

[johneb87]

Runner By Patrick Lee

 

[feistyphoenix]

What Shamu Taught Me About A Happy Marriage, Amy Sutherland

 

[johneb87]

What Shamu Taught Me About A Happy Marriage, Amy Sutherland

Ok, that's a creative title.

 

[StrangeLife]

Daniel Suarez just came out with a new book and I'm ready to dive in

http://l.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/vJ0Taao9RQejlkWv0a7ZIQ--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7Zmk9aW5zZXQ7aD02MTI7cT03NTt3PTQwNA--/http://media.zenfs.com/en_us/News/ap_webfeeds/10ab2809c369c6074c0f6a70670033ce.jpg

 

[FuckinNudeGuy]

Fool, by Christopher Moore. I love a good satire with a lot of dark humor.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

OUR MUTUAL FRIEND by Dickens, and BERLIN DIARY by William Shirer