Book Recommendations

[c.d.]

I'm reading "The Great Train Robbery" by Michael Crichton. It's a real page turner and gives a great description of life among the poorer classes in 1855 London as well.

c.d.

[Mike Covell]

Just been reading Bear Grylls Born Survivor, and it is amazing!

Bear Grylls is a former member of the French Foreign Legion and has presented several survivor based tv series in the UK. His books are best sellers and it's easy to see why!

The book explores what is needed to survive any and every situation, and covers cooking, killing, cleaning, camping, and loads of other useful tips. It has several photo's of him eathing a recently killed Zebra, "I went for the neck", biting the spine out of a fish, "It helps to get to the meat" and gutting a rabbit! It's gory, but pretty interesting and very useful.

[c.d.]

Hi Mike,

If you like that sort of thing, check out "The Art of Shen Ku" by Zeek on amazon. It covers virtually everything and will keep you entertained and informed for months.

c.d.

[c.d.]

I'm reading "Band of Brothers" by Stephen Ambrose. It is about D Day and World War II. Very good.

I really enjoyed "The Great Train Robbery" by Michael Crichton and highly recommend it.

c.d.

[Celesta]

No wonder you were having an upset tum this morning, Mike.

I was sorry to hear about the passing of Tony Hillerman. He presented the Navajo, Hopi, and other Native Americans of the SW USA in a respectful way and gave us some good mysteries, that evoked the mysterious quality of the area.

[Mike Covell]

My Rabbit "Noddy" is alive and well in his hutch outside, although he must get nervous when he see's me reading these books! Yesterday I stayed in bed most of the day and read "The News From Whitechapel-JTR and the Daily Telegraph" by Chisholm, DiGrazia and Yost, and must admit, it's a fantastic book!

[dyost]

Yesterday I stayed in bed most of the day and read "The News From Whitechapel-JTR and the Daily Telegraph" by Chisholm, DiGrazia and Yost, and must admit, it's a fantastic book!

Hi Mike,

I'm sure I can speak for Alex and Christopher-Michael - Many thanks!

(My wife says I owe her a big thanks, as well )

Dave

[mikey559]

Current read

I am currently reading "John Adams" by David McCullough. Fascinating! I didn't think it would impress me much as I'm not a big fan of U.S. History, but this book is really holding my interest.

Mikey

[Mike Covell]

Hi Mike,

I'm sure I can speak for Alex and Christopher-Michael - Many thanks!

(My wife says I owe her a big thanks, as well )

Dave

I was chatting with your wife in the chatroom and told her about my passion for newspaper reports, I am currently transcribing the 5 Hull based newspapers from 1888 for a similar project, and at last count had 250+ articles, about 50% of which have been transcribed. When she heard I was working on the project she told me I simply must track down the book, which I duly did.

Your book is well written, well referenced, nicely footnoted, with some great commentary, and is one of those books that can be picked up and read anywhere. I also voted it "My ripper book of the week 14" on my casebook blog.

[Celesta]

Hello Mikey,

I'm glad to hear that because I have been eying that book for ages! From the little I know of Adams, he was an interesting guy, who seemed at times to be eclipsed by more flamboyant folks like Franklin. Yet he was so important in the history of the Revolution and subsequent events. I hope to learn more about him.


Bestest,

Cel

[mikey559]

It's a great book. He had such vision and I have really learned a lot about the revolution that I knew so little about before.

Mikey

[Celesta]

Mikey,

I've found that the more one reads about a period in history the more one wants to read. Right now there are people here who evoke the names of the "founding fathers", to support their ideology, and do so in almost total error.

Cel

[Suzi]

Hey all I posted a thingy in Non Fiction on the Books thread re A Child of The Jago.... Won't repeat it all here but it's EXCELLENT and although it should be posted under Fiction once you've read it maybe I was right!

:0 Suz xx

[Pippin Joan]

Connie Willis writes time-travel novels, among others, and I highly recommend To Say Nothing of the Dog. It moves from about the year 2050 to WWII to the Victorian Era. It's so well done and one of the most entertaining books I've read. I've given everybody who reads a copy for Christmas. The heroes are on a mission to rescue the Bishop's Bird Stump! She also wrote Doomsday Book, which is a sort of sequel but rather heavy, and Passage, which I could not put down until I had finished.

I love Connie Willis' books. The Doomsday Book is one of my favorite reads, as I am really into medieval history and time travel. I just finished Lincoln's Dreams, which I enjoyed very much. Now I'm reading The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell, a very strange sci-fi book. Strange in a positive way. Awhile ago, I read Erik Larson's The Devil in the White City. Excellent. He is such a gifted writer. I often had to stop and just admire the way he described something.

[c.d.]

Yes, "Devil in the White City" was a great book.

c.d.