Almost finished with "A Confederacy of Dunces" by John Kennedy Toole. I find myself quoting Ignatius daily....great book.
Plus Ignatius' character has given me plenty of motivation to stay in shape and keep the ol' valve functioning.
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I finished this a few days ago (felt like a homework assignment towards the end). It wasn't a terribly good book, and Jefferson was most definitely a friggin weasel. This quote from Hamilton sums him up perfectly: "I admit that his politics are tinctured with fanaticism, that he is too much in earnest in his democracy, that he has been a mischievous enemy to the principal measures of the past [Washington's] administration, that he is crafty and persevering in his objects, that he is not scrupulous about the means of success, nor very mindful of the truth, and that he is a contemptible hypocrite." Definitely not the pillar of virtue we have all been led to believe. Not even remotely close.

But enough with that bastard. Just started another Steven Pressfield novel - Tides of War. Excellent so far.
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Finished Flags Of Our Fathers a while back. All I can say is.... there isn't anything I can say. It's a most incredible story. Hopefully, Clint Eastwood will be able to bring the book to life. At many points it left me in tears.

I've been facinated by the fact that so many men who fought in that war came home and never mentioned their duty. Ever. The characters in this book did it, and my Dad did it too.

Now, I understand why.

I'll be looking to for more books covering the Pacific theater, especially the battles that took place on Saipan where my Dad fought.

But I need a break from that stuff.

So I broke out Jack Nicklaus' Golf MY Way. An instructional book about all aspects of the game. The book won't make me cry. The way I play golf makes me want to sometimes.
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I hope so too. I think Eastwood is making another film after Flags of Our Fathers, a sort of companion piece, that shows the Japanese side of the war.

When you return to the Pacific campaign, I think you should check out "With the Old Breed" by E.B. Sledge. His memior of his Marine experiences on the islands of Peleliu and Okinawa. I just finished it for my class, and it's really good. John Keegan, the great British historian and writer, used "With the Old Breed" and some of it's stories for his own books on World War II.
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The new poster to Flags of Our Fathers

http://www.usatoday.com/life/movies/...irstlook_x.htm

Clint Eastwood's new film Flags of Our Fathers looks at the back story of one of the nation's most iconic images of unity in the face of war.

The two-time Oscar-winning director focuses on the raising of the American flag during World War II's battle of Iwo Jima. The moment was captured in photos and on film and later immortalized as a sculpture for the Marine Corps War Memorial in Arlington, Va.

Executive producer Robert Lorenz says Eastwood's film explores the men in photographer Joe Rosenthal's Pulitzer Prize-winning picture. Some did not survive the battle.

"You can't really recognize the faces of the people in it. It's all anonymous," Lorenz says. "And yet there's a desire to know more about them, and individualize them. This is the story behind the picture and the lives that came together because of it."
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Is Juggs considered "high brow"????

:-)
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getting ready to get into Why Revival Tarries by Leonard Ravenhill
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Right now I'm reading a book called "How to Read a Book". I've learned a lot so far today that can help me. A great tip for me: become an active reader by following the fingers.

When I was learning to read, it was a good thing if you could read without having your fingers do the guiding for you. But I like this strategy and will continue using it.

Who else uses follows their fingers while reading?
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At the moment I'm reading 'Beginning Perl' and 'Rman backup and recovery'

Gawd I'm such a geek! :-)
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Thanks much, Jenson. I'll look into that book soon.

I'm reading a rather funny book titled The Flat Stick by Noah Liberman.

Funny as all hell.
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Just finished 'The Dance of Time' by David Drake/Eric Flint. Final book in their Belisaurius alt. history series, not bad but Drake's done better. About to start Captain Alatriste, a spanish 'swashbuckler'. Knowing some of y'all like historical fiction, here's a link to Amazon's write up. On sale there, cheap.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...040727?ie=UTF8
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Just finished S.M. Stirling's "The Domination". Disturbing piece of fiction, that.

It's a what-if, with a "point of departure" from our timeline around the time of the American Revolution. Rather fanciful, but a very good analysis of "can absolute evil exist".

One hell of a dystopia....Basically, in the Domination of the Draka (named for Sir Francis Drake) (a rival to the US) there are two classes. Citizens, and serfs (read slaves). They have one long term goal..to put the rest of humanity "Under the Yoke". It's the kind of place that embraced Nietzche and the ideals of "Will to Power".

Stirling may actually have invented a state worse than Orwell's, if considerably less plausible.

I preferred his "Emberverse" series that starts with "Dies the Fire", where on one day in March 1998, all High-density energy technologies (I.E. gas and steam engines, electricity, even gunpowder and explosives) suddenly stop working. Things get very very grim, very fast. That said, I found it a fun read.
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Sterling's Draka novels aren't much 'fun', but he made his bones with 'em, opened the door for everything else that followed. Let me suggest his alt-history work w/David Drake. The General was the orignal name of the series, Baen just re-released it as a 2 book set (the Conqueror / the Warlord). Drake and Sterling put their hero on a distant planet settled by humans. The plot basically follows the real life exploits of Roman general Belisarius' with a sci-fi twist here and there. Considering that Count Belisarius rocked in real life, it's pretty good stuff, and a decent collaboration. Drake tends to rein in Steriling, who's a pretty good writer so long as someone keeps him pointed in the right direction.
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Well, let's see. Since I last posted here, I've finished Tides of War and two other Pressfield novels, Last of the Amazons and The Afghan Campaign. All three are excellent, although none is as good as Gates of Fire. After that I read The Black Dahlia, since I heard the movie sucked balls but the book was great. It was.

I'm currently reading New Found Land, about Lewis and Clark. It's rather odd, in that its written in poetic prose from the viewpoint of multiple historic characters, including Lewis' dog (I didn't realize that when I picked it up on sale for $2.50). It's interesting, though. And it reads quick - I'll probably be done with it early next week.

Anybody got any more good recommendations out there?
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Just finished Richard Wright's Early Works. Lots of cool short stories.
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