What have you read, that you can recommend , lately?

[dennis thompson]

I just finished Michael Connelly's “ Resurrection Walk” , a Lincoln lawyer book, it was very good. I also read John Grishams latest, “ The Exchange” which was OK. Grisham is one of my favorite fiction authors but I think maybe he’s running out of gas.
What have you read?
Thanks

[Lee Schierer]

Hmm, Great minds think alike...I just finished the same book by Michael Connelly. I've read just about all of his books held by our local library. I'm Currently reading the Arliss Cutter series by Marc Cameron. They are pretty good as well.

[Ron Citerone]

The Jungle Grows Back ……Kagan

[Kevin Jenness]

I've been re-reading Len Deighton's three spy trilogies starting with London Game about an MI6 agent whose wife defects to East Germany during the Cold War- clever plotting and a unique approach to the genre- as good as Le Carre if you like that sort of thing. Also some story collections by B. Traven, author of Treasure of the Sierra Madre. No-one like him for tales of Mexico. His first novel, The Death Ship, is fantastic as well.

[Mike Henderson]

I like the Daniel Silva books about Gabriel Allon. There's a whole series. I've also read the Jack Reacher books.

Mike

[Frederick Skelly]

With the Old Breed at Peleliu and Okinawa, by E.B. Sledge

1776, by David McCullough

Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors, by Hornfischer. (Several unbelievably brave ships sacrificed themselves to stop a japanese task force from attacking our beachhead. Deeply inspiring.)

[Stan Calow]

I've read a ton of spy novels over the years. My current favorite is the "Slow Horses" series of novels by Mick Herron. The term for a group of failed MI6 agents banished to an office away from the main office. Interesting characters and not like some of the novels that follow a formula. And also the basis for a fine TV series currently on Apple TV.

[Jack Frederick]

“The Minutemen” by Ret Gen James Galvin
”Memoir of Vietnam and the Pentagon Papers” by Daniel Ellsberg
“Roger Williams and the Creation of the American Soul” by John Berry

[Cameron Wood]

I enjoyed the "Thursday murder club" books. Most LOLs in recent memory.

[Patty Hann]

Washington's Crossing by David Hackett Fischer
Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage by Alfred Lansing
Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
Monsters and the Critics and Other Essays by JRR Tolkien

[William Lessenberry]

"The Civil War-a Narrative" by Shelby Foote, a 3-volume series about the war. Viewpoints from the political, military, and person on the street. Quite long, very descriptive, and I enjoy his writing style. I'm reading the third volume now.
BillL

[Ole Anderson]

The Mac Walker 6 book series by D.W. Ulsterman. Follows the life of an ex-navy seal as he negotiates a world altering "New" United Nations. I read them ten years ago, and it made such an impression I just re-read the series.

[Brian Runau]

I keep a dog eared copy of the Dao de Ching by Laotzu translated in the 1890's by James Legge by my side table in the living room. Like most works, I learn something new about myself every time I read a few pages. In addition, authors mentioned above and adult fantasy novels for escapism. I love e-books on a tablet so I can adjust the print, can read paperback size print anymore. Brian

[Ronald Blue]

In Harms Way (Sinking of the USS Indianapolis),
The Boys in the Boat. I know a movie just came out for it which I plan to see at some point.
All the Jack Reacher series.
One of Patty's suggestions "Endurance, Shackelton's Incredible Voyage" is interesting but not an easy read. It isn't one that you can't put down once started but I pushed through.

[Jim Becker]

I'm a Kindle Unlimited Subscriber as I read 2-4 books a week; more lately with my right wrist in a cast. It's an all you can consume thing for ten bucks a month and I don't have to deal with finding new homes for paper books nor the associated cost of them. I tend to get into series from many writers in various genres; largely thrillers; mystery; covert; dystopian, etc., plus some SciFi occasionally.

[Mike Henderson]

Washington's Crossing by David Hackett Fischer
Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage by Alfred Lansing
Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
Monsters and the Critics and Other Essays by JRR Tolkien

I did a trip to Antarctica a while back and read the book about Shackleton's voyage. Amazing story.

Mike

[Patty Hann]

I did a trip to Antarctica a while back and read the book about Shackleton's voyage. Amazing story.

Mike

Truly it was .
That 800 mile "Rescue voyage" by Shackleton and five of his men made to fetch help for the rest of his party stranded on Elephant Island was unbelievable.
The James Caird was a 22 ft long whaleboat (the heaviest and strongest of the three boats they had).
It's an open boat and they crossed the Drake Passage, one of the most violent and storm lashed bodies of water in the world.

Voyage of the James Caird (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voyage_of_the_James_Caird)

Picture is the real thing... a photographer was part of the crew and they managed to save a good portion of his pictures.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/89/LaunchingTheJamesCaird2.jpg/1200px-LaunchingTheJamesCaird2.jpg

[Pat Germain]

Not really lately, but...

Non Fiction:

- I gave my dad a copy of "Masters of the Air" for Christmas and he really likes it. It's about heavy bomber units in WWII. Steven Spielberg produced a limited series based on the book and it will be on Apple TV this month.

- Years ago I read "Isaac's Storm" by Erik Larson and found it both macabre and fascinating. It's about a super-powerful hurricane that hit Galveston, TX in 1900. It's told from the perspective of a meteorologist who's name is in the title.

- I also read "Longitude" by Dava Sobel which about the British Navy's quest to determine longitude while underway. They had a genius clockmaker who managed to invent clocks which kept accurate time while at sea in the 1700s. They were the first Navy with this capability and it's a large part of why the British Navy had such success back in the day. No kidding, this was also quite fascinating and the reason Greenwhich Mean Time became the standard for time worldwide.

Fiction:

- One of the best novels I ever read was "Lost Horizon" by James Hilton. It's a great story which moves at a pretty fast pace. The Frank Capra film based on the book is also outstanding. (Just don't confuse it with a 1970s version with George Kennedy. That version sucks.)

- I used to read all of Stephen King's novels. Most were just OK. Strangely, I really liked one book he wrote under the Richard Bachman pseudonym called "Thinner". The characters are colorful. The plot moves along without all the bloat typical of other King novels. There are multiple movie versions, but I didn't they were any good.

Most of the other novels I read were more "highbrow" and I don't think most people would like them simply because they are very slow and wordy. :)

[Jim Allen]

Finished Connelly, now reading Jesse Stone series by Robert Parker (good if you skip all the romantic BS), for a great SCIFY series read Old Man's War by John Scalzi.

[George Yetka]

I dont get free time for books but I drive a lot so I book on tape. once a year I do Hobbit/ Lord of the rings. Last summer I repurchased read by Andy Serkis. They are amazing.

I just finished the Ender series the first one was great, the subsequent 6-7 books were slower but interesting.

The Passage series by Justin Cronin

[Ronald Blue]

I dont get free time for books but I drive a lot so I book on tape. once a year I do Hobbit/ Lord of the rings. Last summer I repurchased read by Andy Serkis. They are amazing.

I just finished the Ender series the first one was great, the subsequent 6-7 books were slower but interesting.

The Passage series by Justin Cronin
When I was working and getting a lot of windshield time (and being paid for it) Audible became an awesome friend. Used a Bluetooth/FM transmitter to broadcast on the trucks audio system. Generic work trucks were slow to add such features as standard. It was the best and legal way to have volume enough to drown out road and engine noise.

[Howard Garner]

In hardback I have some Stuart Woods and John Sandford waiting to be read.
In the car I am listening to a Catherine Coulter, FBI series.

Howard Garner

[Mike Chance in Iowa]

Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage by Alfred Lansing
Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury

Endurance was a great book. Another phenomenal book was The Endurance by Caroline Alexander because it was filled with a slew of unpublished photographs by Frank Hurley. To think about Mr Hurley carrying all that heavy equipment... what an impressive save. Fahrenheit is on my ToDo list!

I have mentioned this before. I recently re-read it again. It has me gripping my book each time and I can't read fast enough as I fly along with Antoine de Saint-Exupery in his Wind, Sand and Stars. It's right up there with Shackleton in adventures.

[Patty Hann]

I dont get free time for books but I drive a lot so I book on tape. once a year I do Hobbit/ Lord of the rings. Last summer I repurchased read by Andy Serkis. They are amazing.

I just finished the Ender series the first one was great, the subsequent 6-7 books were slower but interesting.

The Passage series by Justin Cronin

I know some folks who have listened to the Serkis audio books.
They absolutely agree with you that Serkis' reading of LOTR was exceptionally well done.

[Jim Allen]

I just finished the Ender series the first one was great, the subsequent 6-7 books were slower but interesting.

The Passage series by Justin Cronin
If you haven't read it "Ender's Shadow" is almost as good as the original (IMHO).

[Patty Hann]

Endurance was a great book. Another phenomenal book was The Endurance by Caroline Alexander because it was filled with a slew of unpublished photographs by Frank Hurley. To think about Mr Hurley carrying all that heavy equipment... what an impressive save. Fahrenheit is on my ToDo list!

I have mentioned this before. I recently re-read it again. It has me gripping my book each time and I can't read fast enough as I fly along with Antoine de Saint-Exupery in his Wind, Sand and Stars. It's right up there with Shackleton in adventures.

F-451 is a re-read for me... I can't count the number of times I've read it...maybe 2 dozen (I first read it in High School).
I re-read LOTR maybe every other year.

[Steve Demuth]

One that would likely appeal to a lot in this forum: The Dawn of Innovation by Charles R. Morris. Follows the development of mass manufacturing techniques first in England, and then throughout the United States in the nineteenth century.

For a smaller audience (anyone who knows enough physics to grasp the idea of a Hamiltonian, and is interested in the interpretation of Quantum Mechanics): A guess at the Riddle, by David Albert. Very thin book of three chapters, but loaded with ideas. Spoiler: Albert is a quantum realist at heart, and is basically asking whether maybe reality is the wave function, and what we observe is an emergent phenomenon derived from that base reality.

My current history read: Rome and Persia by Adrian Goldsworthy. 700 years of the Eastern border of the Roman Empire, well researched and written in an easy to read narrative style.

The Kingdom, The Power and the Glory, by Tim Alberta. Can't say much about it without violating the forum rules about political commentary, but if you're interested in the development of the relationship between former President Trump and evangelical Christianity, this book is worth your time.

[Doug Colombo]

Ken Follett is very good.

Both the Kingsbridge Trilogy & the Century Trilogy are great series. Hard to put them down !

I also just read these Follett books:
Eye of the Needle and
The Key to Rebecca

These books are about spies during WWII and were also very good !

[Pat Germain]

The Kingdom, The Power and the Glory, by Tim Alberta. Can't say much about it without violating the forum rules about political commentary, but if you're interested in the development of the relationship between former President Trump and evangelical Christianity, this book is worth your time.

"Jesus and John Wayne" is another very good book which chronologically lists how we got where we are. The author only occasionally states her opinion. One can agree or disagree, but the history she writes is in fact what really happened.

[Mel Fulks]

Well, Pilgrum, She mite -rite real good. But anything NEW in there is fiction. I read the papers, watch the news,
Read for info. Opinions are FREE, so I don’t buy any, and I debate with docs until they agree with what I want to hear.

[Mike Chance in Iowa]

I just remembered another detective series! How in the world could I forget?? Spencer Quinn and the Iggy Chronicles. A few friends turned me on to these books several years ago and I thoroughly enjoyed the first 5 books. I got sidetracked from them during the pandemic. I still have about 5 more books in the series that I need to check out at the local library.

[Larry Frank]

I like the Pendergast series by Preston and Child. I have also been listening to a bunch of audio books. I liked several by William Johnstone in the Mountain Man series. We also have Kindle Unlimited which both my wife and I use.