Thursday, September 30, 2010

Top Five

Here of late I have hit a dry spell when it comes to finding a decent book to sit with at the end of the day.  As the weather turns sour and the days run shorter, it is paramount that I find something pronto or else I run the risk of becoming Jack Nicholson in "The Shining."  I listed some of my favorite past reads below and was hoping for a few suggestions.

Michael Shaara's The Killer Angels is probably my favorite book of all time.  When people ask for a book suggestion, I hand them my copy.  It has made its rounds to at least ten acquaintances and everyone has returned it with nothing but positive reviews.  The gift that keeps on giving.

To Kill a Mockingbird
It was required reading in school, but I pitched my unopened copy in the back of my closet and faked my way through the tests.  It was several years later I stumbled upon it again and actually read it.  I still like to pick it up every once in a while and if I ever had a daughter, her name would be Scout.

A River Runs Through It
Nature.  Fishing.  Religion.  Brotherhood.  Sinning.  Family.
Yeah, it pretty much hits it all - A great book.

I love everything James Ellroy, but when I think of my favorite he has ever done, it has to be White Jazz.  Narrated in the first person by a corrupt anti-hero LA police detective, the book has its own language that takes a while to decipher.  Its usually panned by critics - which is sometimes a good thing.

In Harm's Way by Doug Stanton tells the true story of the sinking of the USS Indianapolis near the end of World War II.  Reading this book is a true reminder of what a gift life is and that it should be treasured at all costs.



6 comments:

  1. i love "to kill a mockingbird". i read it in one day while i was sick with the flu.

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  2. Try a book titled "The Unforgiving Minute" I reviewed it on my site a while ago...it was tremendous. It is about a kid who goes to West Point and then Iraq...stops at Oxford and Ranger School in between. Also.." Shadow Divers" is one of the best books I have read in years.
    I re-read Killer Angels about every 2 years.

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  3. Excellent choices. I too occasionally hit a dry spell finding a good read. However, recently I've hit some very interesting books. Here they are:

    "The Captured" by Scott Zesch - A True Story of Abduction by Indians on the Texas Frontier

    "Empire of the Summer Moon" by S. C. Gwynne - Quanah Parker and the Rise and Fall of the Comanches, the Most Powerful Indian Tribe in American History

    "The Bush Tragedy" by Jacob Weisberg

    All three are excellent. Coicidentally they all have a Texas theme. Not something I was searching for but just happened. I highly recommend all three of these books. These are the three best out of the last dozen I've read this year.

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  4. I just thought of a good book that anyone on the Delmarva peninsula should read, "Chesapeake" by James Mitchner. Long, but well worth wading through (no pun intended).

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  5. steinbeck's "east of eden" is perfection.

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  6. It happens to me all the time. You should read "A Sailor of Austria" by John Biggins. A funny book about World War 1 that doesn't succumb to corniness, and a serious book but without becoming too maudlin.I'm a friend of the author.

    Also...what the guy just before me said about "East of Eden is completely accurate.

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