THE JAMES MASON COMMUNITY BOOK CLUB discussion
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WHAT ARE YOU READING AND WHY!!
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John
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Oct 19, 2015 02:48AM
I'm reading Felix J. Palma's 'The Map of Time.' I'm loving it so far. He has an excellent style which absorbs the reader.
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Last night, I began reading the detective novel "The Bar on the Seine" by Georges Simenon. I love atmospheric, well-crafted novels and this one, set in Paris during the late 1920s/early 1930s, is a delight to read. 
I just finished "Fight Like A Physicist: The Incredible Science Behind Martial Arts" by Jason Thalken, PhD. I found it to be extremely interesting even though I am not a martial artist. I take some tai chi, but still in the very beginning stages. This book really taught me about how a punch is not really a punch, but a physical force. Also liked the chapter about helmets and how force is linked to concussions whether its a football helmet or your child's bike helmet. It's written in easy language since I'm not a physicist either. Think everyone should read this.
Mod
My complete review:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Sound like Seasonal perfection...I loved her Witches maybe I'll pick those up! The Witching HourRobyn
Dawn wrote: "I'm re-reading Anne Rice's Vampire Chronicles for Halloween. Right now, I've nearly finished "Interview with the Vampire." Then, I'm going to watch the movie again."
Mod
My complete review:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Currently reading Robert Stone's Damascus Gate. Reading on to find out if the bomb goes off in the Temple Mount.
Mod
My complete review:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
The Last few weeks I got done reading these since we where all sick with a flu/virus I did nothing but rest and readThe Murderer's Daughter by Jonathan Kellerman I really didnt like this one at all The way the book sound I though it would been better then what it was. I read it but I couldnt really enjoy it alot and i try lol!
Kiss Her Goodbye by Wendy Corsi Staub I really enjoy this one alot. It was alot better then the last book i read from her
Deadly Grace by Taylor Smith A New Author for me and I really loved it. I couldnt put down Gonna have to see what other books from her i can find
The Night Before by Lisa Jackson Another book i bought few years ago and finally got it read. Its not my fav from Lisa but its alot better then the other part of this series.
Going go to the library to check out some more books today hope i can find some really good ones
Mod
My complete review:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Mod
. Currently reading these two. A classic and a recent thriller!
My most recent reading material :Eye of the Storm by Monette Michaels, I found it to be an entertaining book but far fetched.
Began reading Eagle at Taranto by Alan Evans whilst on the subway headed to work this morning. So far, it looks to be a very engaging story set mainly in the Mediterranean during 1940.
Mod
My complete review:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Hannah's Dream I'm reading HANNAH'S DREAM by Diane Hammond, and I cannot put it down. Best part? The imagery is superb, the writing is wonderful, and the story line is mesmerizing. Worst part? I'm nearly finished with the book. :( Hate it when I fall in love with a book, and THE END comes way too soon!
I'm curretly reading the English translation & description of the action for "Pierrot Le Fou" a film by Jean-Luc Godard. On many levels it is both complicated & quite simple. I'm reading it because I felt like a challenge & needed some mental stimulation.J.M. Garlock
"The Centurion Chronicles"
The husband who never loved by Gregy Alexander. It has so many twist and turns and anyone can resonate sort of like life imitates art.
Mod
My complete review:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Mod
My complete review:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Mod
My complete review:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Mod
My complete review:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Mod
My complete review:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Currently reading Being There by Jerzey Kozinski. I just saw the film on TCM after many years. It brought back so many fond memories of Peter Sellers and how I enjoyed him in the Pink Panther films. He was an incredible actor. I love the script and the acting in this film and I wanted to read the novel on which it was based.
Late last month, I began reading "A Man Called Ove" by Fredrik Backman. It is a contemporary novel set in Sweden that is centered around Ove, a man who, like Doc Martin, is known for his bluntness with people and matter-of-fact approach to life. The novel is at turns funny, tragic, and poignant. Normally, I'm not a fan of contemporary fiction. But a good friend passed on this novel to me over a late lunch last November 21st. So far, I'm enjoying very much reading about Ove.
Mod
My complete review:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Killebrity by James NowlanHigh rollers and fast exits…
Mike Johnson, a veteran of Iraq and Afghanistan, has returned home to Los Angeles. Suffering from a severe case of PTSD he is unable to find work in law enforcement, so he has to settle for a job with a security agency that protects the rich and famous. He feigns an interest in developing contacts in the movie industry and becoming an actor to deflect questions regarding his psychological state.
Unfortunately for Mike, just as he begins his duties as guardian of the stars a mysterious cannibalistic cult of celebrity stalkers embarks on a campaign of terror against them. Our protagonist finds himself powerless to protect his charges from the slaughter inflicted by a foe even more relentless and resourceful than those he faced overseas. As their brutal tactics erode what little is left of his damaged psyche, contempt for his decadent masters grows within him.
About James Nowlan:
James Nowlan was born in Chicago but raised by backwoods hillbillies. Somehow he ended up living in Europe (he thinks that maybe someone hit him over the head and took him there in a sack). The only job he could find was a post as a security guard in the housing projects around Paris (a job they'd give to anyone because at the time ruthless, well organized bands of robbers were attacking armored cars with RPGs, AK 47s, and plastic explosives). These experiences served as inspiration for an autobiographical novella entitled Security. He's also written and directed Killavision, a feature length, trash gore satire of reality TV. Killebrity is his first novel.
http://goo.gl/ab5ePZ Killebrity (Kindle ed.)
http://goo.gl/ODTJMB Killebrity (Book ed.)
https://goo.gl/NwdH2x KILLEBRITY Facebook Group
https://goo.gl/1gqCpc James Nowlan's Facebook Page
Mod
My complete review:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
I am currently reading "The Pharaoh's Secret" by Clive Cussler. With Robin Burcell's "The Last Good Day".
Mod
I read it because it's listed as a best book of 2013.
Two Dutch brothers and their wives have dinner at a pricey Amsterdam restaurant to discuss their teenage sons, who committed a serious crime. The book is a disturbing psychological study of characters who behave deplorably. 3 stars.
My complete review:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Mod
Good story with appealing characters but a not quite believable ending. 3 stars.
My complete review:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Mod
by Christopher Moore. In this kooky comic novel (the sequel to A Dirty Job) Charlie Asher and his team must once again confront dark forces from the Underworld . 3.5 stars.My complete review:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Finished reading a short time ago the new biography "Empire of Self: A Life of Gore Vidal" by Jay Parini. This was one of the BEST books I've read this year about a most fascinating person whose like we may never behold again.+++++++++++++++++++
During his lifetime, Gore Vidal established a fine reputation as a very versatile, inventive writer. Novels, tele-scripts (in the early days of TV in the 1950s, Vidal made a name for himself as a scriptwriter for many of the live teledramas of the era), movie scripts, plays (one of them, "The Best Man" was a Broadway hit in 1960), and essays. Vidal was also a wit, polemicist, gadfly, and socio-political critic unlike any other. Whether you encountered him on any of the popular TV talk shows (e.g. The Dick Cavett Show or The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson), documentaries in which his considerable knowledge of politics, history & literature were given free rein, public lectures and interviews he gave, or his books, Gore Vidal was someone you would not soon forget.
Jay Parini, who had known Vidal over the last 30 years of his life, has crafted a first class, rich, comprehensive, and well-rounded biography. This is a work that was developed throughout Parini's relationship with Vidal. Indeed, Vidal had granted Parini full access to all his papers and access to many of Vidal's closest friends in the literary, political, and cinematic worlds. And for Gore Vidal --- whose writing career extended from the publication of his first novel ("Williwaw" based on his wartime experiences with the U.S. Army in the Aleutian Islands) in 1946 to the publication of his last novel, "The Golden Age", in 2000 ---- his circle of friends was amazingly extensive, from Amelia Earhart (who had a close relationship with his father, a West Point graduate and pilot who was a pioneer in the aviation industry and had worked for FDR in the early days of the New Deal), to Eleanore Roosevelt, John & Jacqueline Kennedy, Tennessee Williams, Paul Newman & Joanne Woodward, Anthony Quinn, Claire Bloom, Susan Sarandon & Tim Robbins, Anthony Burgess, Federico Fellini, Italo Calvino, Christopher Isherwood, Andre Gide, Thomas Mann, Norman Mailer, Princess Margaret, and Hillary Clinton. Just to mention a few.
As a Gore Vidal fan of many years standing, I confess to not having given much thought to his personal life while he was alive. His novels, essays, and his public persona are what drew me to this remarkable man. He was the type of person who was so amazingly erudite, funny, and astute that I'd find myself thinking about some of the issues he touched upon in public forums and interviews long after being exposed to them. This is not to suggest that I agreed or agree with all of Gore Vidal's positions on life, politics, history or literature. BUT he had a personality and a ferocious, far-reaching brilliance that never ceased to fascinate me. He was never dull. Indeed, I was fortunate enough to have once met Gore Vidal at an interview he gave at the Smithsonian Institution about his life and career at the time "The Golden Age" was published. After the interview, he autographed my copy of his novel and all I can remember about the experience was how awestruck I was by his presence.
The biography traces the arc of Vidal's life from his birth at the cadet hospital at West Point in 1925 (where his father was the U.S. Army's first instructor of aeronautics), through his formative years in Washington DC (where he spent considerable time with his maternal grandparents; his grandfather Thomas Gore, had been a Senator from Oklahoma, and played a considerable influence on the young Gore), prep school at Exeter, his wartime service, and his steady growth and development as a writer from the early postwar years to the early 21st century.
One of the best features of "EMPIRE OF SELF: A Life of Gore Vidal" are the asides that Parini includes after each chapter which contain "brief first-person vignettes" and "recollections of moments" in Parini's friendship with Vidal that are especially illuminating about Vidal on a deeply personal level. Anyone with even the slightest interest or curiosity about Gore Vidal will love this book. I highly recommend it to every Goodreads member.
Mod
The Accursed by Joyce Carol Oates, a pseudo-historical, mystery, horror novel about the "Crosswicks Curse" that afflicted Princeton, N.J. in the early 1900s. Too long but a well-written, compelling story. 4 stars.My complete review:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Mod
In this third book in the series Cormoran Strike and Robin Ellacott pursue a vicious killer who has an elaborate plan to ruin Strike's life - in part by sending body parts of murdered young women to Robin. Good mystery with some flaws. 3.5 stars.
My complete review:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Mod
My complete review:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Mod
by Terry Hayes. An American secret agent is tasked with stopping the complete destruction of the U.S planned by a cunning Arab terrorist.
Excellent spy story/detective story/thriller. 4.5 stars
My complete review:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
A few days ago, I finished reading "The Lonely Ships by the journalist/historian Edwin P. HoytSimply put, Edwin P. Hoyt has done a masterful job of conveying to the reader, inasmuch as possible, the full story of the early days of the Pacific War (December 1941-May 1942) in which the Imperial Japanese military (ground, air, and naval units) was able to sweep aside long established Western ascendancy in the Far East and Pacific. For a Mass Market paperback book packed with so much detail and replete with lots of stirring, heartbreaking, and inspiring eyewitness accounts of sacrifice, defeat, and small victories, it is brilliant. It is also highly readable, so much so that the average layperson will enjoy reading this history.
Like many people with an interest in the Second World War, my focus has tended to be on the European phase of the conflict. But in recent years, I have become curious about the Pacific War, which was fought on and over islands spanning thousands of miles of ocean, under the ocean, and on into China, Burma, and Southeast Asia. Thus I bought this book a few months ago to help add to my understanding of that struggle.
In the main, "The Lonely Ships" is the story of the U.S. Asiatic Fleet and its efforts - along with its Dutch and British allies -- to hold back the steady tide of the Japanese advance from the Philippines, to Malaya & Singapore, and on to the Dutch East Indies (modern day Indonesia) and Western New Guinea. Sadly, this fleet was allowed to lapse into neglect between the wars, because Washington opted to keep military spending to a bare mininum. Only towards the late 1930s - in light of the growing threat presented by Hitler and Japanese militarism - was military spending allowed to increase. Indeed, by the time Japan attacked Pearl Harbor and embarked on its own blitzkrieg in Southeast Asia and the Pacific, the U.S. Asiatic Fleet was ill-suited to meet the challenges now placed before it. “ …[F]rom the beginning , all that could be expected from the Western naval powers was a holding action: to serve while the powers at home got their wits about them, examined their resources, and decided what those priorities must be. All the while the men in the field fought the Japanese, destroyed the resources they could not protect, and retreated with as much cost to the enemy as they could exact.”
I highly recommend this book to both history enthusiasts and general readers alike.
Mod
My complete review:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Mod
Simply put, Edwin P. Hoyt has done a masterful job of conveying to th..."
Looks like an interesting book Komet.
Mod
My complete review:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
A few days ago, I finished reading War in the Pacific, Vol #03: South Pacific by Edwin P. Hoyt. The more I read from Hoyt, the more I like his style of writing and analysis.Once again Hoyt has given the reader a concise, comprehensive, and intelligently written book. This time, he concerns himself mainly with the crucial Battle for Guadalcanal, which was the first offensive action by the Americans against the might of the Imperial Japanese military in the Pacific War.
From the landing of the 1st Marine Division on Guadalcanal Island on August 7, 1942 to Japan's defeat there in February 1943, the battle seesawed back and forth. The Japanese, at the outset of the Guadalcanal campaign, had all the advantages in terms of airpower, seapower, and experience. But their leadership tended to underestimate the fighting ability of the Americans, as well as their resourcefulness and determination to hold out against what were overwhelming odds during the early months of the battle. What I also found revelatory the more I read "War in the Pacific, Vol 3: South Pacific" was how often at times the Japanese Army and Navy worked independently of each other throughout the battle and at times at cross purposes against each other. Both did not work well together. The Army had a very high opinion of itself, which was considerably inflated during the early months of the Pacific War with the swift victories against U.S., British, Dutch and Allied forces. Where an infantry division could have secured decisive results on Guadalcanal against the Marines, Imperial General Headquarters in Tokyo and the senior Army leadership in Rabaul (the main Japanese base in the South Pacific) would send a regiment to do the job. For after all, one Japanese soldier was equal to ten American marines!
The book also goes into detail in explaining to the reader the remaining battles in the Central Solomon Islands that took place from the Spring to the autumn of 1943. These were crucial months that saw the gradual diminution in Japanese air and seapower as the Americans (Army, Navy, and Marines) gained experience and were able to commit greater and greater numbers of soldiers, planes, and ships against Japan. So much so that, by the spring of 1944, with Rabaul now isolated by American forces, the U.S. was now in a position to take the war into the heart of the Japanese Empire.
Currently reading
The House on Tradd Street. I've been reading a lot of paranormal books lately, mostly mysteries and cozies, and this is fitting in well with that theme.
I also read two books at a time. I try to read one book the impresses me by a new independent author and one by an established, published author.I am reading: A Touch of Passion, By Uvi Posnanski
This is an amazing story about a long time married couple, the wife is developing advanced alzheimers Told by the husband, Lenny an entirely likable narrator.
I finished: The Innocent, By David Balacci
Baldacci's, Will Robie is at his best in this thriller a good read indeed.
And I am starting Das Haus: By Arthur Heise and Melanie Kuhr
It is all about recovering a house lost to the Nazi's during WWII.
I'm reading 'Blackout' and 'All Clear' by Connie Wills - have finished 'Blackout' and am almost two-thirds the way through 'All Clear' - they are quite riveting! Without giving away any spoilers, the two books are about a group of Oxford research historians from 2060. Historians have been able to time-travel to various points in history for several decades, and the novels (as you might expect from the titles!) concern a small group who are assigned to various dates in London during WWII. I won't say any more, except that whilst both books are long in a similar way to 'War & Peace', don't be put off (if you are, that is - as far as I'm concerned, the longer the book, the better!) the level of background detail is exceptional. The characters are very well-drawn and I think this would appeal to mystery/suspense fans, perhaps even more so than science-fiction fans - because whilst it deals with time-travel and the problems it may/may not cause, it doesn't feel like sci-fi - the time-travelling elements are accepted as a given without going into hard technical detail. First and foremost, it's a story about people coping with adversity, which is something I always look for in a story, regardless of genre.
As for why I'm reading them - they were recommended to me! I had not heard of them before, but am happy to pass on the recommendation.
Mod
My complete review:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
I am reading several books to review on my blog. I am reading two unpublished manuscripts in my position as Acquisitions Editor for a publishing company. I am reading "Receiving the Day" by Dorothy Bass, for my book club. It is essentially a book about time, what our use of time says about us, and about the importance of living in time in a way that is beyond "time management" and that leads us into mindfulness.
I am re-reading Roger Ferlo's "Sensing God," and talking about it in my morning telephone "dates" with a cousin who lives in another state. Our next book will be "The Way of Simplicity" by Esther de Waal who wrote possibly my favorite non-fiction, "Seeking God: The Way of St. Benedict." "The Way of Simplicity" promises to be an extension of that early book and is subtitled, "The Cistercian Tradition."
And, as always, I am stealing every spare moment to catch up on my wonderful, indispensable "New Yorkers.
Can somebody tell me how to underline or italicize titles here??
Mod
I am reading "Receiving the Day" by Dorot..."
Can somebody tell me how to underline or italicize titles here??
Dean
Click on (some html is ok) directly above the comment box. It will have options for underline, italicize, bold, spoiler, and so on.
_Thanks, Barbara, good to see you again.
I am, on the best of days--which, so far, this is not--not exactly quick on the uptake about anything related to my bloody computer. I see the options but don't see how to actually make them happen.Help, and thanks
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THE JAMES MASON COMMUNITY BOOK CLUB
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