1 Just finished "The Last Centurian" by John Ringo. A friend sent it to me and insisted that I read it. Recommended. http://tinyurl.com/2w74bh5

2 Ever read "Waiting on the Galactic Bus", Monty? Quite a romp thru "History". SciFi junkie that I am.

3 "The Last Centurion" is something you could almost label the Moron Bible.

4 If you're looking for a space book for morons, how about Into the Looking Glass by John Ringo. Ok, it's a series, and there isn't much space in book one. But there is later, and John Ringo is clearly at least an honorary moron. With guns and demo.

The other space series I like is by David Weber, who also has a very solid grip on what a libtard is. And how a culture can be screwed up by them. Honor Harrington is an endless series, but there is space involved.

5

Monty cmon now.

Vic has been askin for it all day.  Now the old man is probably passed out.

Shame.

I spose he can catch it on the backside, Monday morning.

6 Vic has been askin for it all day. A strange confluence of events, compounded by incompetence and forgetfulness, led to the delay. And unfortunately the incompetence and forgetfulness was only partially mine. It was one of those days where I was running around like crazy all day but still ended up getting almost nothing done.

7 The Legend of Sigurd & Gudrún by J.R.R. Tolkien. It's a retelling of the Poetic Edda. It's full of tragedy, bloodshed and Norsemen (and women) that make Klingons look like sentimental, limp-wristed puh-takhs.

8 Howard's Soloman Kane - why hasnt this been turned into a video game?

9  "The Last Centurion" is something you could almost label the Moron Bible.

Posted by: VitriolicCynic at September 12, 2010 09:23 PM (elJA3)

John Ringo rocks.

Baen is beloved of God.

That is all.

10 Just got home from the beach, read some Tim Dorsey. Finished "Cadillac Beach", now reading "Torpedo Juice". I guess the only way to describe him is as a twisted Carl Hiaasen.

11 If people haven't yet check out the Baen Free Library.  Download whole books for free in a bunch of different formats.

12 Just finished Stong Men Armed, by Robert Leckie.  About the US Marines and the Island Campaigns in the Pacific theater, WW2.  Excellent book.

13 I tried to read those Swedish best sellers...The girl with the dragon tatoo, etc. Made it through the first one then had to bail on the second one. I don't see the attraction. Elizabeth George is so much better.

14 Still reading Hitch-22. It has a lot of words.

15 Appy-polly-loggies for the delinquent book thread, my droogies.

I had to print out a glossary to read that book.. 

Read, reference, read some more..

At least for the first part of the book.

16 Slogging my way thru "The Rule of Nine" by Steve Martini. A thriller. The thriller stuff is well done but the book grinds to halt when he brings you up to date on what happened in the last novel and he keeps blowing technical stuff. For example, the Oklahoma city bombing was not a fuel-air explosive. He screwed up stuff like that in the previous novel as well so I now suspect any technical stuff to be poorly researched - which detracts from the fun of what is otherwise a good thriller.

17 I tried to read "Paul is Undead" about zombie Beatles. Too stupid to get into, and I like zombie stuff.

18 Zappa - A Biography by Barry Miles. This is my third time through it.

Chancellorsville by John Bigelow, Jr. Interesting, but rather dry, I use it as a sleeping pill.I've been slowly working through it for about 2 months now.

19 Shitter material:

F-105 Thunderchiefs: A 29-year Illustrated Operational History, With Individual Accounts of the 103 Surviving Fighter Bombers

A very dry description of the surviving F-105s. Got it for Christmas and was initially disappointed with it but after poring over it many times I'm glad to have it. It contains some very interesting nuggets of history. I always thought the F-105 was one of the coolest planes ever but after seeing one up close at the Eglin AFB Armaments Museum I really got hooked on the airplane. Also one of the best plastic model plane kits you can buy.

20 I had to print out a glossary to read that book. I felt that way for the first twenty pages or so as well, but once I got into the groove of the book, I stopped noticing as much. It also took me an embarrassingly long time to understand the significance of the title. "A Clockwork Orange", you see, is simply a simulacrum of the actual sweet fruit -- for all its flaws, the fruit is the real deal, whereas the clockwork copy is just that, a copy. It as a fairly obvious metaphor to Alex, and I kicked myself for not getting it right off the bat. Funny that Burgess said it was his least favorite of all the books he ever wrote. But then he kind of struck me as the kind of writer who never likes to be "understood" too much, and I think the popularity of the film version made him think his point had been dumbed-down for the proles. Which is kind of funny in a meta sense, given the point of the book he himself wrote.

21 Been reading 'Tomorrow, When the War Began' series lately. Kind of an Aussie version of Red Dawn (WOLVERINES!!!).

I'm up to book 4 now and it's good. A bit introspective and moody, but since it's written from the perspective a teenage female protaginist, I understand.

22 Should also mention the author is John Marsden and i suck at spell/grammer check.

23 I really liked the first two books of the 'Hunger Games' trilogy. Have the third on my Kindle ('Mockingjay'), but haven't got to it yet.

24

John Boeher Releases Statement Tonight

He's backing off of the compromise on Tax Cuts

25 If you're looking for pulp noir thrillers, here are two good ones: Small Crimes by Dave Zeltserman and Gone 'til November by Wallace Stroby.

In Small Crimes a corrupt ex-cop gets out of prison after a horrific crime, and returns to his small town. He vows he's gonna go straight, restore his marriage, and live right. He seems to mean well but he's selfish, deluded and weak. With every move he sinks deeper into evil, until there's no one left to betray. It's bloody and relentless.

In Gone 'til November, a courier for a New Jersey mobster dies in a gunfight with a deputy on a back road in Florida. A suitcase full of cash goes missing. The mobster sends a veteran hitman to locate it and bring it home. Nasty, homicidal types converge from all directions, and one good cop tries to figure it out.

26 "Back in Time for Supper" and "Rules For Radicals"
 ( I just loove that book!!)

27 Barry, How to Serve Man is a cookbook.

28
I'm re-reading the Aubrey-Maturin books; at present, in the middle of #10, "The Far Side of the World". My God, that man could write!

As far as astronomy goes, I've been paging through Guy Consolmagno's Turn Left At Orion, which is as good a guy to starwatching as I've ever seen. And Brother Guy (he later became a Jesuit brother) is an entertaining and informative writer and speaker.

29 I picked this one off the community reading table in my hotel in a small village in Italy recently. The Negotiator by Frederick Forsythe. At the time I just felt lucky to find something in English. It turned out to be quite good. 

30

  I always thought the F-105 was one of the coolest planes ever

Oh, me, too. Big ass fighter-bomber with an internal bomb bay that could tote a nuke. I got to meet one up close in the Arizona desert one Thanksgiving. It had a sharky smile on its face.

31 My grandfather moved into assisted living last week, and I scored three boxes of books today before the estate auction people come clear his house out. Most of the good stuff was already taken by other family members, but there was a book of German stories my grandmother used in school in the 1930s and made translation notes in (was printed in Fraktur, which I can't decipher), my great-aunt's copy of Uncle Remus tales (no date, but she was in her 20s in WWII), and a 1950s-looking kid's book of Medal of Honor stories that I will be sure to post about when I unpack it. 

As far as books for reading, there was a paperback about D-Day written by a German soldier, a couple of Bruce Catton Civil War paperbacks, and a John Keegan book I can't remember right now....

32 Just finished "Legionary, The Roman Soldiers Unofficial Manual" by Philip Matyszak.  Now reading a great history of the Punic Wars, "The Ghosts Of Cannae" by Robert L. O'Connell.  Interesting how, in 216 B.C.,  the Roman Republic unwittingly sowed the seeds of its own demise by its shameful treatment of the survivors of the horrible battle.

33 27.
Al..I taught Barry all about it. He thought I was fabulous!

34 "CCNP Route 642-902" by Wendell Odom. Good stuff. If you're a computer network engineer that is.

35

"Skis Against the Atom"

Norwegian Commandos shutdown the Nazi's heavy water industry...Unbelievable true story!

36 Al & Larry.. as soon as I found out that Barry was a nob-gobbler I left for the islands....well that and that huge Klingon bitch he impregnated. She's just a mean cuntry.

37

Currently reading 2 books- The Father of Us All, by Victor Davis Hanson. It is good reading so far, about military history and how ancient battles are still relevant today. I finished VDH's book Carnage and Culture last week, very insightful book on Western military.

The other book I am reading right now is Imperial Hubris, by Anonymous, but actually written by Michael Scherer. An inside look at the early part of the war in Afghanistan. 

38 32:  Hey ac, Was Cannae  the place where things went bad with the Samnites during the performance of a play, leading to wholesale slaughter of the citizens of the city?

39 Ed - that museum at Eglin has some cool things in it - like the 1940's guided bombs

40 Just finished "Anansi Boys" by Neil Gaiman.

It's a spinoff of his "American Gods", which I also heartily recommend.
Good writing.. but you must love fiction that is out there.. fantasy? kinda.. but maybe more folklore taken to the nth degree.

Read "American Gods" first if you have a chance.. otherwise "Anansi Boys" stands on its own.

Just starting "Pillars of the Earth"..no comment.. only 40 pages in..

41 David Limbaugh #1 on the NY Times Bestseller list for the Second Week in a Row

42 Speaking of John Ringo, I'm on 'Live Free or Die' right now. Aliens open a stargate/wormhole/portal near Earth and give access to anyone who can pay. Whether Earth likes it or not. Pretty soon we're dealing with thugs who are small-timers on the galactic scale but a big problem for us, unless we can make it economically interesting to a player with superior ass-kicking capability. But what do we have that they would want?

43 Lost Empire, by Clive Cussler w/ Grant Blackwood.

44 32, Never mind ac, looked it up. The incident I'm thinking of was nearby but tiny compared to Hannibal's butt kicking job near Apulia.

45 David Limbaugh #1 on the NY Times Bestseller list for the Second Week in a Row Ha ha ha. It must burn Pinch like acid to see that title at #1. And I'll bet they never review it. I don't think they ever reviewed Levin's Liberty and Tyranny book either. They'll have Michiko Kakutani crap out some ponderings on a cookbook or a self-help tome instead.

46 If you feel like getting mad at someone who is likely, but not certainly, a muslim and/or a Democrat, pick up anything by Vachss

47 #38...Uh, no.  Does the name Hannibal Barca ring a bell?

48 #44         48,000 soldiers were slaughtered at Cannae

49 Just finished two books this week: "Money, Greed and God" by Jay Richards. Good book if you're sick and tired of listening to the likes of Jim Wallis.

For a more fun book: Brandon Sanderson's "Warbreaker" was engrossing.

50 Bit of a clockwork orange thing going on there, eh my droogie?

Best belly up to the korova milk bar now.

51 Well, I'm reading Geller's "The Post-American Presidency," which many readers of this blog probably have already finished.

I'm chiming in for a different reason.  I was out looking at Jupiter the other night and could see its moons clearly, even through my small telescope.  But I saw Uranus for the first time the other night, too.  Right now it is very close to Jupiter, making it easy to track down.  It looked like a very small green disk. 

52 42 But what do we have that they would want? ------------- cow anuses, obviously. wonder what's om coast to coast tonight...

53 hmm. even the spammers like john ringo....

54 I'm reading "Nomad" and it is a fascinating book about Islam and women living under Islam.

55 Monty, you've been holding out on us???  You know something about astronomy?  I love to read about astronomy and to listen to batchelor's frequent guests comment on the space program.  It's really interesting stuff....recently read about things that hit Jupiter and it's a good thing that they do or else they would hit us!

56 I read Wizards First Rule this weekend. Ordered the first few books of this series on Vic's recommendation about a month ago, finally unpacked the books so I'd have something to read on a weekend road trip with my sister and parents to watch my brother test for 5th degree belt in Tae Kwan Do. He's into that like I'm into the riding.

57 Wife had a bunch of fucking libtards over one evening and I fired up my fairly little Schmidt-Cassegrain.  They were fucking amazed that normal people could see the fucking planets.  Fucking idiots.

58 "The Closing of the Muslim Mind" by Robert R. Reilly, about the battle 1200 years ago between reason and the irrational for which would be the way of Islam and how the irrational won.
and
"Medium Raw" by Anthony Bourdain the followup to his Kitchen Confidential

59 Currently I am reading:

Frankenstein - Mary Shelley (for fun)
Nicomachean Ethics - Aristotle (for a philosophy course)
Hitler - by John Toland (for a history course)

60 If you're wondering why the Book TThread has only 64 comments, it's because all the compulsive posters are busy making poontang jokes over on the Overnight Thread.

Also, spoiler, Don Draper gets an unexpected BJ in tonight's Mad Men.

61 Just got turned on to John Ringo a couple of months ago. The Dude ROCKS! Read A Hymn Before Battle and just about finished The Last Centurion. Diffenitly the Morons Bible.

62 What do you all think, should I stick with finishing the Posleen War series or jump around? Into the Looking Glass or Ghost etc?

63 62 "The Closing of the Muslim Mind" by Robert R. Reilly, about the battle 1200 years ago between reason and the irrational for which would be the way of Islam and how the irrational won. ----------- just started that one today, myself. about halfway through chapter 1.

64

All of Ringo's books are great. The Paladin of Shadows (Kildar) is not SciFi. I'd finish the Posleen books first. That series probably doesn't have too many additions left. Looking Glass is just pure scifi fun. Not as intense as the others.

The Empire of Man series is very good, but is probably over after four books.

I think his muse is getting ADHD. Still a great story every time, though.

65 My 12 year old niece is enamoured of Madeline L'Engle and I reread "A Swiftly Tilting Planet" this weekend. My verdict (again): overwrought and confusing. She could write, all right, but something about her style just set my teeth on edge.

66 I'd second #68 Dirty Al. The Posleen War series has a couple of sub-series, but A Hymn Before Battle, Gust Front, When the Devil Dances and Hell's Faire are the core of the main storyline. The books coauthored with Julie Cochrane are more espionage+(fake)politics.

The Empire of Man books with David Weber are a quick romp - military/coming-of-age story.

The Looking Glass series has a "harder sf" edge in some respects but moves on to navy/marine relations and life-on-a-ship military sf/fantasy.

Ghost is a nasty knight-errant who decides his mission is to haunt every Jihadist's nightmare. (Sometimes filed under 'erotica', and Ghost isn't a very white knight, but I'd take fifty roaming the 'stans.)

67 69 My 12 year old niece is enamoured of Madeline L'Engle and I reread "A Swiftly Tilting Planet" this weekend. My verdict (again): overwrought and confusing. She could write, all right, but something about her style just set my teeth on edge.

Posted by: Dr Alice at September 13, 2010 01:12 AM (HaWgG)

I always felt the same way about L'Engle.  That, and she shifted focus from a good girl character in the early books to someone else (younger?).. and it was annoying.  Gave up on that series.

68 And might I say that I am glad to see the book thread.  Such good sounding recommendations.  If this keeps up, my list will surely be completed and I can get down to reading soon.

69 I am reading Mark Gilderhus's History and Historians, which is a historiography textbook. For fun, I've been looking at some historical fiction books.

70 Thanks Radiant and Al for your input will probably continue the Posleen War series and then do Ghost. Would have been back sooner but had to finish Last Centurion. THIS ROME SHALL NOT FALL.

71 Vic has been askin for it all day.

A strange confluence of events, compounded by incompetence and forgetfulness, led to the delay. And unfortunately the incompetence and forgetfulness was only partially mine.

It was one of those days where I was running around like crazy all day but still ended up getting almost nothing done.

Posted by: Monty at September 12, 2010 09:31 PM (wUa1V)

Well I guess I should not have been so impatient because this has been a slow week for me as well for the books.

The only thing "new" I have been reading is the Old Farmer's Almanac (Dublin, NH). They always have some interesting article plus the all important long range weather forecast which I find to be much more accurate than the government's AGW propaganda machine. You see, the Almanac bases its predictions on the activity of the Sun as opposed to bogus CO2 measurements. 

I'll have to be happy with the almanac and rereading some old stuff until Vince Flynn - American Assassin comes out on Oct 12. That is going to be a Mitch Rapp "prequel" book.

And Monty, thanks for the book thread, we all appreciate it.

72 Still reading A God Who Hates by Wafa Sultan. Also started War Footing by Frank J. Gaffney and others (Naval Institute Press).
I was absolutely thrilled by Skis Against the Atom!

73 LOL, I see from reading the entries that we have some new John Ringo fans. Good

I like all of his stuff with the exception of the ones he co-wrote with Tom Kratman. I just couldn't get into that first one too much.

Also, be aware that the Kildar series is borderline military pornography. Some of you ladies may not be into the S&M scene that he does in those books. Personally, my only gripe is that it has been too long since he did the last one.

74 Shit Monty; you can't post this when a Redskins/Pukes game is going on and expect to get any kind of concurrent response from me, dammit.

Ha haa ha. It must burn Pinch like acid to see that title at #1. And I'll bet they never review it. I don't think they ever reviewed Levin's Liberty and Tyranny book either. They'll have Michiko Kakutani crap out some ponderings on a cookbook or a self-help tome instead.

Posted by: Monty at September 12, 2010 10:38 PM (wUa1V)

Laura Ingraham had a lot of fun mocking Pinch and his quislings when they had to report The Obama Diaries being at the top of their list knowing fucking-a-well there was no chance the snotty cocksuckers would ever stoop to review it.  Regarding my reading, I finished Stross's Iron Sunrise (and enjoyed it a great deal as both a sci-fi and whodunnit) and am now reading (on top of the other stuff I've reported before) Hermann Broch's The Death of Virgil, which is pretty ponderous but reads very fluidly.  Although I'm always feeling at a disadvantage when reading something like this or Tolstoy in translation; as if I'm missing something essential.  For example, I can't imagine a lot of Faulkner's work translating well for some reason.

75

Monty

I am reading a documentary entitled "A Private Disgrace" written by one Victoria Lincoln. The book is about Lizzie Borden and the author knew her personally, as she grew up down the block from the Bordens. Interesting if a bit dull in places due the meticulous nature of Ms. Lincoln. Lizzie was guilty as hell BTW.

76 Lizzie was guilty as hell BTW.

Posted by: maddogg at September 13, 2010 09:12 AM (OlN4e)

I had always thought that reading from the descriptions of the case. I also thought it was a classic case of prosecutorial incompetence. 

The system though is designed to allow the guilty to get off as opposed to convicting the innocent.

77

13 I tried to read those Swedish best sellers...The girl with the dragon tatoo, etc. Made it through the first one then had to bail on the second one. I don't see the attraction. Elizabeth George is so much better.

Yep, TGWTDT got axed in our book discussion group also--- everyone read the first book and bailed on the rest..  Nalini Singh is far better to me.

78

Over the last couple of months:

Liberty & Tyranny - Levin [This is a moron must read]

Theodore Roosevelt's History of the U. S. - Ruddy [Yes!]

Driving Like Crazy - O'Rourke [Some profound observations for gearheads]

Medium Raw - Bourdain

Terminal World - Reynolds [The finest living hard SF writer today]

A dozen or so bleak Scandinavian police procedurals - Nesser, Henning, Theorin, Larsson [These Scandy potboilers start out incredibly strong and then collapse - fresh background is compelling however]

A couple of bleak Icelandic police procedurals - Indridason [These Icelandic potboilers...]

Milo Books - Dicks [First time the WSJ book review may have lead me down the primrose path.  Still pondering]

Jack Reacher Series - Child [Nothing more need be said]

The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin - Franklin [It's Ben!!  And, it's FREE!!!]

Three Men in a Boat - To Say Nothing of the Dog - Jerome [Hilarious and FREE!!!]

Impatiently waiting for pre-orders:

Hyperthermia - Indridason

All Clear - Willis [Blackout sequel - read Lincoln's Dreams if you haven't already - really fine SF]

And last but certainly not least...Decision Points - George W. Bush

 

 

79 the invisible gorilla by Chabris & Simons.  It's incredibly eye-opening about how & why we screw up so much and often don't even realize.  I'm finding it to be paradigm changing in how I evaluate my own performance and confidence in myself as well as how I interpret the actions and beliefs of others.

80 Clarke's Universe - Arthur C. Clarke (on Kindle DX)