jone70 said:

Atonement was very boring, I completely agree. I think Ian McEwan is a bit overrated. The Kite Runner will blow you away. It was very moving and emotional. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Right now I'm reading Jean M. Auel - Shelters of Stone.

Cloudbuster said:

You should pass a copy on to ED.....

Wild Ducks Flying Backwards - Tom Robbins
Death in Venice - Thomas Mann

bc

PeteZarustica said:

i LOVE Tom Robbins!

myownprivateinsanity said:

I value my life too much.

when i get some money, i'm gonna hunt down a copy of this book and read it. there's an excerpt from it in the latest issue of the advocate that i read, and it looks pretty decent. i'm a bit of a history nerd anyway.

Unfortunately, I have been reading the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) for the past week and a half. Work.

jbc said:

..... I had to "Proof Read" the updated Policies and Procedures manual for the University I worked at last year....Now that sucked.....

I just got done reading RAINBOW SIX by Tom Clancy



Next up is another Clancy novel, next in the series, THE BEAR AND THE DRAGON




Then when those 1000-some pages are digested, it's off to Vince Flynn and Memorial Day

a2grafix said:

I know it may sound a daft question but - Are they really good books?

The Black Church in the African American Experience --C. Eric Lincoln and Lawrence H. Mamiya

The Purpose Driven Life --Rick Warren. I've had this book for like 2-3 years, but I've just now started reading it because at first it seemed like an inferior rip-off of Experiencing God by Henry Blackaby and Claude v. King. It's not, but they both work well together. So I'm actually studying both of them right now.

The Creative Habit by Twyla Tharp

endorphin74 said:

http://www.amazon.com/Dar...0345477332

I love this series. It's considered "young adult," but I love it just the same.

dustysgirl said:

My son has some of those books.

IrresistibleB1tch said:

ME TOO!!!!!

myownprivateinsanity said:

In all honesty, I've read Clancy and Flynn books and side Clancy books -- like NetForce and Power Plays and Op-Center (before 24 was a hit on TV) -- for quite some time now. Rainbow Six is a very good book, very enjoyable and written before September 11, 2001. It deals with counter-terrorism and global bio-terrorism. But you really don't know that from the start, but then you do and you find out it's another web woven in a very large web.

Rainbow Six is name for Mr. Clark, aka John Clark, CIA superspook and utlimate supertroop, although he is getting up there in age. It also features Domingo "Ding" Chavez and a top-notch group of international / NATO (SAS, Delta Force) troops. They fight terrorist aggression from a base in Europe but at the same time the Jack Ryan storyline continues where it left off from Executive Orders.

Rainbow Six was released in 1999. I initally started to read it but put it down and read some other books. Earlier this year it was time to read it again -- and it was enjoyable. I also takes place in Sydney, site of the 2000 Summer Games.

Bear and the Dragon continues the storyline and deals with the struggles of post-USSR Russia and the KGB and the growing political and military presence of China. I really don't know too much and that is good. I like surprises. I'll probably start this book in the next week or two.

As for Vince Flynn, I've read all of his books -- Term Limits, Transfer of Power, The Third Option, Separation of Power and Executive Power. I finished Executive Power at the start of the year. All the books main character is Mitch Rapp, who is like a do-it-all super good guy and master field agent in black ops along the lines of 24' Jack Bauer.

I would have the say the Mitch Rapp-Vince Flynn books are just as strong and in the same vein as a Tom Clancy novel, but it's just a little different. While Clancy deals in world power and crisis on a grandiose scale, Flynn's center is the streets of Washington DC, the back doors and hidden doors of government, the corruption of politicians and the "special agent" who is just the right person to clean things up.

I also like to read Kyle Mills, who is also in the same vein as Clancy and Flynn, but more investigative and government with the FBI.

On top of that Vince Flynn is from St. Paul, so he's not all that bad. I wish Vincy Flynn's books would be made into movies, like Tom Clancy's novels have. Flynn's recent work , like Transfer of Power, can easily be a summer box office hit.

clancy, Flynn and Mills help me relax and see an alternate reality they have painted. that's why I dig political / military novels. They are all in some way mirroring the real world.

Hope this helps.

a2grafix said:

I haven't read any of Flynn's books yet, but I have heard him being interviewed on the local sports radio station (KFAN in Minneapolis) a couple of times wher he talked about his books. They sound like some very good reading.

TMPletz said:[quote]

a2grafix said:

The next set of books should be very interesting in the Vince Flynn world with Mitch Rapp -- Memorial Day, Consent to Kill and Act of Treason, which was just released a few days ago. I'm looking forward to returning to the Mitch Rapp world very soon. Flynn is a great writer. He took some stuff from Clancy, but it's all his own.

My coworker, who is the sports director at the station I work for, noticed I had "Executive Power" in my hands late last year and asked me if I dig Vince Flynn. He reads some Flynn during the summer months and he agrees, Mitch Rapp is a very good character, very believable. I've heard that "Jack Bauer" was sort of patterened along the same lines as Mitch Rapp is, and Vince Flynn has been invited to oversee things every once in a while when 24 is taping.
[Edited 10/12/06 12:51pm]

a2grafix said:

Yes Thanks, would Rainbow Six be a good starting point then?

Just finished "Casino Royale" coz the film is not far away.
Next will be Tim Moore's "Spanish Steps." Anyone read it?

endorphin74 said:

Though 'Ducks' is a compilation, it's worth the read. Through all his scruptious descriptions, you still get the impression this guy has it right on life.

I can live with the low frequency production (I've heard he meticulously goes over every line in the book) in light of the fine art he creates.

I found a nice philosophical exposition in this book that I absolutely have to have read at my funeral...once you read it, you want to read it aloud to people on the bus...

bc

myownprivateinsanity said:

Yes, it could be. Actually I started with Clear and Present Danger, then went backwards and read Patriot Games and Sum of All Fears and then Cardinal and the Kremlin. After that I finally read Hunt For Red October and Red Storm Rising, and then jumped forward to Without Remorse (all about "Mr, Clark" aka John Kelly -- a really good novel) and then Debt of Honor, and finally Executive Orders.

You can start anywhere and Rainbow Six is a good choice for a start, but you might be confused about certain plot lines, but if you read the books over time you will see how things start and where they are now, in 2006, with Teeth of The Tiger.

Happy reading!

"An instance of the Fingerpost" by Iaian Pears...a historical fiction mystery.

I just got done reading Walter Mosley's new book (his words are warmly crafted)
and the latest Burke novel by Andrew Vaachss

I'm reading "Mischief" by Ed McBain, a 87th precinct novel. It's good criminal stories and I've read a lot of them.
After that I'll either read a book about my favourite Swedish King Gustav III or "Nightmares&Dreamscapes" by Stephen King.

for reading!

Cloudbuster said:

Read this in three days...great stuff but he's preaching to the choir.

Have you read Sam Harris: Letter To A Christian Nation? Quick read. Very lucid and to the point. I plan on buying a bunch of used copies in the coming months just in time for Xmas. Perfect stocking stuffer. If my family feels the need to hand out bibles (like the freaks did last Xmas) then this is what I'm doing this year. Sure, it will piss off and alienate a bunch of my family but oh well. They already have it in for me for being gay. Coming out as an atheist is going to flip them out...

TheResistor said:

Shall be reading it soon. I read his first book The End Of Faith earlier in the year and that was v. good.

Remind me to stop buying books impulsively as I wheel through the supermarket...

Ask and It Is Given by Jerry and Esther Williams (I think that's the authors' names)