Book Recommendations

[Stephanie B]

Very welcome, Stephanie. Glad to hear this.

The problem for me was that I got really sucked into the story when they were assaulting Helicopter Hill and Matterhorn and screaming at the zoomies for not dropping their ordinance where it was needed. My roomie began talking about some bullshit about what somebody's cousin said and I had to restrain myself from verbally biting her head off.

A really good book can do that to me.

When I was in college, I checked out a copy of The Three Musketeers. I thought I'd start and read a couple of chapters before turning in. The next thing I knew, I was finished with the book and it was time to go to breakfast. I was kind of disciplined as a student; I never pulled all-nighters. But I did fthat night.

[Yung]

There's no training for this month, so weekends are free again and I don't want to spend two days in bed fading in and out of consciousness while refreshing my bookmarks like I did last week.

Some time ago I bought Ordinary Men since it was one of the few books mentioned by Jordan Peterson that I thought I'd actually enjoy reading, so I guess I can start that now.

I'm also halfway through Strategies and Standards since I bought it in paperback (no electronics on the floor at my side job) and so far I think it's relevant and important to the future of the American people to the point that I'm considering buying multiple copies and giving them to people who I think would really appreciate it.

[peterb]

Into Thin Air was outstanding. Sadly it shows what happens when safety protocols in a dangerous environment aren’t followed.

The failure to follow the safety protocols was, sadly, the mistake that doomed them. However, IMO, the attitude (it can't happen to me/us) that enabled them to THINK they could get away with it was the final straw. They MIGHT have survived IF the perfect combination of horrible weather and the aforementioned breach of protocols hadn't occurred simultaneously. Jon Krakauer has taken much flak for writing the book so soon after the tragedy. It would seem possible that he just might have saved some lives by doing so. Again, FWIW, only my opinion.[/QUOTE]

“Into Thin Air” has probably affected my decision-making on some hikes when I had to choose between reaching a goal or turning around in the face of weather or decreasing daylight. It reinforces the local(for me) lessons of “Not Without Peril” and “Where You’ll Find Me”.

[blues]

The failure to follow the safety protocols was, sadly, the mistake that doomed them. However, IMO, the attitude (it can't happen to me/us) that enabled them to THINK they could get away with it was the final straw. They MIGHT have survived IF the perfect combination of horrible weather and the aforementioned breach of protocols hadn't occurred simultaneously. Jon Krakauer has taken much flak for writing the book so soon after the tragedy. It would seem possible that he just might have saved some lives by doing so. Again, FWIW, only my opinion.

Managing risk is a very important, (and too often overlooked), facet of any wilderness outing. Totally agree.

On the same extended outing I was on with Fischer and others at NOLS, we encountered avalanche, rockfall, whiteouts, lightning and more on some of our climbs over five weeks. Fortunately, good planning and willingness to retreat when and where prudent prevented serious accidents.

[feudist]

This is a series set in an alternate history, where vampires, werewolves, zombies(the Voodoo kind) and many other nasties are real. And vampires just got the right to vote.

Anita is a Licensed Vampire Executioner. That's her side job. Her main job is raising the dead, temporarily. She also consults with the St. Louis Police department

concerning preternatural murders. So she doesn't get much sleep.

The Good: Anita is an interesting character. In the beginning, she's a very law abiding, religious and rather chaste young woman with a real sense of moral duty. She makes

a very good living raising zombies. Turns out there's all kinds of reasons this is done. She also hunts rogue vampires. That is: vampires who take blood from unwilling victims.

She gets a warrant(they're citizens) and executes them. This is horrifically dangerous work, and Anita has been badly injured several times.

She is a tough, scrappy little thing though. Her power to raise the dead gives her some advantages in fighting the vampires, and she has executed 17 at the time the story opens.

This is one of the highest kill records in the USA. She uses guns, not stakes. She favors a Browning Hi Power(loaded with Glaser Silver) silver buckshot, and a Mini Uzi.

But her consulting work with the police leads her down a very dark path. In order to help them she is forced to make a series of moral compromises that significantly changes

her personally and drives her character arc. The descriptions of the various Undead and Were societies and relationships are fascinating. She is mentored by Edward, an amoral

killer who specializes in bounty hunting werewolves.

The Bad: this is a series and around the tenth book the author, Laurell Hamilton, changes the focus of the stories from Horror/Detective to, well, porn. I mean chapter after

chapter of graphic sex, increasingly with multiple partners serially and simultaneously. When they pause for breath, you get chapter after chapter of endlessly argumentative

detailed relationship talk. Worst of all, the vamps are all Chippendale dancer/stripper gorgeous. It's tedious.

Seriously, the first ten books are great. After that, the quality drops (fans have bitched and complained endlessly, but Hamilton ignores them.)

The Fantastic: before you say: Buffy the Vampire Slayer...no. She predates Buffy and the tone is much darker. The violence and horror are Grand Guignol in style.

The world building is incredibly imaginative, with well thought out consequences of magic, Were creatures, and the undead upon society. Some of the creatures are truly

monstrous. A million year old Hominid vampire. A Voudoun Priestess who raises zombies with their souls still inside their rotting corpses. Witches that wear the skins of

Were-creatures. A man who has sold his soul.

But it is Anita's story arc that is unique. The novels occur in real time, covering 3 or 4 years of her life so far. This allows for plotlines to develop and for the cumulative effects of

her violent life to reveal themselves. Anita slowly changes into a hardened and deadly person. She commits murders and extra-judicial killings. She shows signs of severe PTSD.

She suffers disfiguring wounds that will eventually cripple her and shorten her life. She becomes casually violent, trigger happy, and seduced by the power of her magic.

I truly wish HBO had chosen this instead of True Blood.

[blues]

Just finished "The Last Stone" by Mark Bowden ('Black Hawk Down').

While an interesting case, the book's telling is tedious. Any experienced criminal interrogator will recognize the techniques, methods and also the errors made by the investigators...and while I found the reading tedious and redundant, I heartily applaud the detectives working the case for their determination to see the case through over the course of multiple years. The crime involved is particularly heinous as it involves children.

Don't go into it expecting "Black Hawk Down". It's a very different story told in a very different style.

[Glenn E. Meyer]

Anita Blake - I agree. The switch to porn killed the series for me. I did read that the author trained with Ayoob or consulted with him. In one of the books, someone was using a 10mm Beretta. I was incensed that someone was using that until I thought that if there were monsters, Beretta might make a 10 mm.

I'm finishing National Security by Marc Cameron. It's a decent book with a Mitch Rapp like character. Basically, the author has a series of books with Islamic terrorists deeply infiltrating the USA to the highest levels and committed terrorists acts and starting plagues. The hero goes all Rapp on them. Not bad.

The only downside is that the plots to get a little stretched.




Spoiler - in this one, there is a chase scene at the end with the terrorist inflected with the horrible disease. So the book kind of lost it.

1. The author likes the gun details. Lots of scopes and ammo type. However, the good guys used a 22 cal Glock to interrogate bad guys by popping them a little bit.
2. The hero carries a Kimber 10 mm that has been gussied up by the smiths to be superb. So he is chasing the bad guy on a motorcycle (all kinds of bike tech, I know nothing about). He runs out of ammo and can't reload while riding, so he has to use a samurai sword to take out his opponent. Ok. Something to be said to cut the custom gun crap and carry a higher capacity gun - maybe?
3. They know the terrorist is coming to a certain house to get revenge on someone. So how to catch him? Well, get you motorcycle gang buddies as your team. The Islamists have an inexhaustible supply of guys who are back up. The motorcycle gang screws the pooch and the terrorist gets away. Surprise. On the good side, no reserve forces. No specialized teams in depth around the entire area. No copters - just gang members? That's stupid.
4. The person the bad guy is after has been moved from that house to protective custody to hide! Where - well, at her mother's house. What a plan as the terrorists google mom for the finale.

So the book was fun but got stupid at the end.

[feudist]

^ ^ ^
If I never read or, God forbid, see another Samurai Sword fight again, I will die a happy man.

They are as lame a trope as amnesia in a Soap Opera.

[blues]

^ ^ ^
If I never read or, God forbid, see another Samurai Sword fight again, I will die a happy man.

They are as lame a trope as amnesia in a Soap Opera.

I feel like I don't know you anymore!

[baddean]

Freedom's Nightmare by Harald Zieger

Written by a man currently living in Ohio (he lives very near me), but raised/worked in East Germany before The Wall came down. A true exposé of the evils of the Communist and Socialist philosophy.
Highly relevant in todays social climate.
Bare in mind that the book is written exactly the way he talks considering his German accent.