Book Recommendations

[Dave Williams]

I just finished Rodham:

https://www.amazon.com/Rodham-Novel-.../dp/0399590919

It's an alternative history where Hillary and Bill didn't get married. It was quite good.

[LittleLebowski]

Just finished Caught in the Middle East: U.S. Policy toward the Arab-Israeli Conflict, 1945-1961 by Peter Hahn. It is a textbook (I think) and I found it semi-interesting. It's major flaw was it gave brief overviews of events that I would like more detail on. It's major attribute for a student of history would be the very detailed bibliography.

I'm not a history buff, I've read numerous books on the Middle-East trying to determine whether my dislike for the Israeli government is actually based in fact. I say the Israeli Government because I am sure, like many countries, there are many Israeli's who aren't totally supportive of their country's foreign policy.

I need to find a similar follow-on for the years following 1961.

BTW - at this point, I've become more incensed at the Allied nations' inept handling of the whole mess.

#MeToo

[feudist]

Because of the season. I've been reading horror stories.

I got a couple of Kindle unlimited free books of short stories by John Langan and I was hugely impressed.

Sefira, and other Betrayals. All the stories are linked by the theme of betrayal.

The Wide Carnivorous Sky, which includes an unusual zombie story How the Days Run Down, told as if it were the Billy Wilder play Our Town

I like them enough that I'm buying a novel next.

[BehindBlueI's]

https://www.amazon.com/Overstory-Nov.../dp/039335668X

"The Overstory"

I'm about 1/5th of the way through it and enjoying it immensely. It's just beautifully written, to start. So far it's not a novel in the traditional sense, more of a collection of short stories centered around a theme. Each story features a connection to trees or a particular tree in some way, sometimes simple and sometimes complex. A pioneer plants trees in his new land. A boy falls from the limbs and his injuries change his life. The people are still the point of the story but the trees matter in some way...but are still just trees. No Tolkien-esque creatures, although sometimes there are hints of sentience or what could be magic, but nothing concrete.

I've no idea if all these stories will be tied together later, but given the wide range of time periods. Some stories cover generations of a family, others a few years of a single person. There is no main character, no narrator, nothing so far that inhabits each story other then the theme.

I honestly had no idea what I was getting into. The cover blurb got me. “Autumn makes me think of leaves, which makes me think of trees, which makes me think of The Overstory, the best novel ever written about trees, and really, just one of the best novels, period.” —Ann Patchett

I'm glad it did.

[Mark D]

He's one for three with me.

Loved "The Dog Stars". Hated "The Painter". And I thought "The River" could have been, should have been much better.

I read "The Dog Stars" based on the recommendations here. It was terrific, one of the best I've read in a long time.

Unfortunately my next Heller book - "Celine" - was not as enjoyable. I gave up after the first few chapters.

[BehindBlueI's]

https://www.amazon.com/Overstory-Nov.../dp/039335668X

"The Overstory"

I'm about 1/5th of the way through it and enjoying it immensely. It's just beautifully written, to start. So far it's not a novel in the traditional sense, more of a collection of short stories centered around a theme. Each story features a connection to trees or a particular tree in some way, sometimes simple and sometimes complex. A pioneer plants trees in his new land. A boy falls from the limbs and his injuries change his life. The people are still the point of the story but the trees matter in some way...but are still just trees. No Tolkien-esque creatures, although sometimes there are hints of sentience or what could be magic, but nothing concrete.

I've no idea if all these stories will be tied together later, but given the wide range of time periods. Some stories cover generations of a family, others a few years of a single person. There is no main character, no narrator, nothing so far that inhabits each story other then the theme.

I honestly had no idea what I was getting into. The cover blurb got me. “Autumn makes me think of leaves, which makes me think of trees, which makes me think of The Overstory, the best novel ever written about trees, and really, just one of the best novels, period.” —Ann Patchett

I'm glad it did.

I finished the book today and it's a damned good one. Even if it paints hippies in a positive light... It's full of the feels, it's beautifully written, and it's one of those books that just make you appreciate what you have more for having read it. It actually took me longer to realize then it probably should have, but the collection of short stories at the beginning was roots which did feed to the main "trunk" of the story. Some of the characters (or descendants of) to meet, others influence others without having met, some intertwine much more then others, but it's all connected in some way.

So, recommend.

[Coyotesfan97]

Well BBI cost me book money yet again

ETA I just finished Larry Corriea’s third book in the Saga of the Forgotten Warrior Destroyer of Worlds. I highly recommend the series.

So I’ll start Overstory right away.

[BehindBlueI's]

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00BPDN33W

Salt: A World History

Another library pickup. Now that I've started it, I may have read it before but too long ago to remember much so...either way it's enjoyable.

[NEPAKevin]

https://www.amazon.com/Peoples-Repub...e%27s+republic

America’s growing political and cultural divisions have finally split the United States apart. Now, as the former blue states begin to collapse under the dead weight of their politically correct tyranny, a lethal operative haunted by his violent past undertakes one last mission to infiltrate and take out his target in the nightmarish city of Los Angeles, deep in the heart of the People’s Republic of North America.

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Good fast read. I hope there's more planned!

Retro Bump. Four books in the series so far. While the author states that his intention was not to predict the future but rather to warn of what might come to pass, quite often I found myself reading something and thinking Schlichter is kind of like Nostradamus with a 1911.

[eudy]

The Schlichter books are very good. I enjoyed them more the Jack Carr offerings I read around the same time.

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