Sabbatical Reading List

[DocZaius]

I don’t think I’ve read the Jack Reacher series, so that’s possible.

The Jack Reacher books are fun, but if you've read one you've read them all. Let me sum up: Jack Reacher is big and strong (in one book, his pectoral muscle actually stops a bullet - no I'm not kidding), and doesn't own anything but a toothbrush. He solves mysteries by being bigger, stronger, faster and smarter than the bad guys. And he sleeps with the girl. The end.

 

[DocZaius]

Let me plug a book by a fellow Gator. He used to be active at Swamp Ass back in the day (and on my old forum) but I had the privilege of meeting him and his family when I lived in the D.C. area

Dodgers: A Novel, by Bill Beverly

The reviews are correct - it's a great book, and I wish he would write more. I think it's his only novel.

 

[CDGator]

The Jack Reacher books are fun, but if you've read one you've read them all. Let me sum up: Jack Reacher is big and strong (in one book, his pectoral muscle actually stops a bullet - no I'm not kidding), and doesn't own anything but a toothbrush. He solves mysteries by being bigger, stronger, faster and smarter than the bad guys. And he sleeps with the girl. The end.

You just ruined it for me, I’ve only read 8 of them.

 

[BMF]

I'm not a fan of fiction, so I only read non-fiction - mostly political, war, or historical type stuff.

I've come to love any Eric Larson books and just finished Thunderstruck last night, and finished The Splendid and the Vile earlier this year. I've read all of these except Isaac's Storm, which is on deck. All true stories and completely fascinating.



Here's a link to his website: The Books - Erik Larson

He's got a couple of older books, but those above are all legit and interesting true stories.

 

[Gator By Marriage]

I'm not a fan of fiction, so I only read non-fiction - mostly political, war, or historical type stuff.

I've come to love any Eric Larson books and just finished Thunderstruck last night, and finished The Splendid and the Vile earlier this year. I've read all of these except Isaac's Storm, which is on deck. All true stories and completely fascinating.

Here's a link to his website: The Books - Erik Larson

He's got a couple of older books, but those above are all legit and interesting true stories.

I don't know if you piqued @BNAG8R 's interest, but you did mine. These look pretty good.

 

[BMF]

I don't know if you piqued @BNAG8R 's interest, but you did mine. These look pretty good.

Larson does a GREAT job w/ his research. Every quote in the book was found in a newspaper, diary, or some other old historical item he dug up. They are all equally fascinating. I'm looking forward to reading Isaac's Storm (it's about the 1900 hurricane in Galveston). The Splendid & the Vile is great, so is In the Garden of Beasts (it's about the US ambassador to Germany in 1934/35 time frame). He sets the table great, really lays out how the world was in each book (the time period). Dead Wake is about the sinking of the Lusthansa, but it's more about the German submarine crew. The Devil in the White Castle - about the 1901 Chicago World's Fair and a serial killer.

 

[Gator By Marriage]

Larson does a GREAT job w/ his research. Every quote in the book was found in a newspaper, diary, or some other old historical item he dug up. They are all equally fascinating. I'm looking forward to reading Isaac's Storm (it's about the 1900 hurricane in Galveston). The Splendid & the Vile is great, so is In the Garden of Beasts (it's about the US ambassador to Germany in 1934/35 time frame). He sets the table great, really lays out how the world was in each book (the time period). Dead Wake is about the sinking of the Lusthansa, but it's more about the German submarine crew. The Devil in the White Castle - about the 1901 Chicago World's Fair and a serial killer.

I actually clicked the link and read the summaries. Some of the stories I was familiar with, other, like the serial killer, I had never heard of. Good stuff.

 

[BMF]

This is a great book about the lifelong rivalry between Aaron Burr & Alexander Hamilton. Easy read, only a few hundred pages:

 

[Detroitgator]

Larson does a GREAT job w/ his research. Every quote in the book was found in a newspaper, diary, or some other old historical item he dug up. They are all equally fascinating. I'm looking forward to reading Isaac's Storm (it's about the 1900 hurricane in Galveston). The Splendid & the Vile is great, so is In the Garden of Beasts (it's about the US ambassador to Germany in 1934/35 time frame). He sets the table great, really lays out how the world was in each book (the time period). Dead Wake is about the sinking of the Lusthansa, but it's more about the German submarine crew. The Devil in the White Castle - about the 1901 Chicago World's Fair and a serial killer.

I read that as "Lufthansa"... as for The Devil in the White Castle, I think that was in the Harold and Kumar franchise.

 

[BMF]

I actually clicked the link and read the summaries. Some of the stories I was familiar with, other, like the serial killer, I had never heard of. Good stuff.

The great thing he does is narrowing down the story - like the Winston Churchill book is basically the year he was elected Chancellor and his only goal was to lure the US into the war. Most authors try to cover too much, like a Churchill book could be 10 volumes on his entire life/accomplishments. Same w/ the Garden of Beasts book - it's just that one year when Hitler was rising to power.

 

[BMF]

I read that as "Lufthansa"... as for The Devil in the White Castle, I think that was in the Harold and Kumar franchise.

Lusitania - however TF it's spelled!! :)

 

[BNAG8R]

Just finished “Lunatics” by Dave Barry and Alan Zweibel. If you like Dave Barry, you’d find it hilarious (I do, and I did). If you don’t like Dave Barry, you would absolutely hate it. Two normal everyday dads (who are polar opposites) somehow go from refereeing a girls 11 and under soccer game to become international terrorists, overthrow Castro, crash a cargo ship filled with bananas to save thousands of starving Somalians, start a revolution in Tiananmen Square, and suddenly become both the Republican and Democratic nominees for POTUS...all while suffering severe bouts of diarrhea throughout the book. It’s a bizarro “The Man Who Would Be King”. I chuckled.

 

[BNAG8R]

@Detroitgator - should the Shaara trilogy be read in order of release? They have it presented with “Gods and Generals” first, then “Killer Angels” and finally “Last Full Measure”

 

[Detroitgator]

@Detroitgator - should the Shaara trilogy be read in order of release? They have it presented with “Gods and Generals” first, then “Killer Angels” and finally “Last Full Measure”

I guess yes, because technically G&G is a prequel to Killer Angels

 

[Gator By Marriage]

I guess yes, because technically G&G is a prequel to Killer Angels

You really think it matters? Spoiler alert @BNAG8R , the Union wins the war.

 

[Lake Gator]

Out of that entire fuchsing list, the only thing I've heard a positive word about was Blue Highways. Otherwise, a whole bunch of woke, mostly women, books there. they are trying to help you get in touch with your feminine side, you Nazi bastards.

I always kind of like the survival stuff, even down to Hatchet level, but not the "we had to resort to cannabalism on day three" ones, probably because I had a weird ass professor who was fixated on that stuff.

Military history or leadership etc. Probably not for everyone.

Blue Highways by William Least Heat Moon is one of my all-time favorites.

 

[BNAG8R]

You really think it matters? Spoiler alert @BNAG8R , the Union wins the war.

You sonofabytch...

 

[Lake Gator]

Any book by historian David McCullough is worth reading. Finished The Pioneers a few months back and presently halfway thru The Johnstown Flood. Of course John Adams and 1776 are must-reads.

 

[Detroitgator]

You sonofabytch...

On a serious note, all of Newt Gingrich's "alternate history" books on the Civil War and WW II are informative and good...

Spoiler Alert: Even in his alternate history, the South and the Japs still lose. ;)

 

[Lake Gator]

Ghost Soldiers by Hampton Sides is an easy read about the greatest POW rescue mission of WWII.
I gifted this book to my late brother, Martin, who graduated from Hillsdale College with a degree in history. He loved it so much he returned the favor by gifting me three enormous volumes covering The French and Indian War written by a Scrooge-like character. The author, a Harvard graduate in mid-1800s, made the tome his life's work.

I never gave Martin another book.