Recent Books you have enjoyed

[wildbillsb]

I just finished OUTCASTS UNITED by Warren St. John.  Fascinating book of reportage about the shoestring-budget efforts of a young woman soccer coach (and others) in providing structure, respect, goals, and loving expectations in refugee kids from war-torn nations who have been re-located in suburban Atlanta.

[shiloh26]

Guns, Germs, and Steel by Jared Diamond.  This guy's theory about how the world came to be divided up the way it did... why Europe and China developed a lot faster than the rest of the world.  As he says, its his search for ultimate causes of why things shook out the way they did... and it covers everything fro plant and animal domestication, its connection with creating nasty strains of germs, early access to resources, etc...It's really interesting.  It's pretty value free too, which is hard for a topic like that it attempts just to be an explanation, not a condemnation.   

[🏀]

Guns, Germs, and Steel by Jared Diamond.  This guy's theory about how the world came to be divided up the way it did... why Europe and China developed a lot faster than the rest of the world.  As he says, its his search for ultimate causes of why things shook out the way they did... and it covers everything fro plant and animal domestication, its connection with creating nasty strains of germs, early access to resources, etc...It's really interesting.  It's pretty value free too, which is hard for a topic like that it attempts just to be an explanation, not a condemnation.   

Had to read that book for Anthropology class. Terrible, terrible.

[Blackhat]

Been nice to do some reading for leisure during the break, read some of the books you fellas recommended and others.

The Road: I get Charles McCarthy's style of uncovering naked humanity, but I read also to be entertained and found the book to be redundant and boring.

Dawn of Empire by Sam Barone:  Very good book dealing with early warfare in Babylonian times with some nice drama intersperse. Plan on reading the sequel Empire Rising.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo:  Great book.   Plot sucks you in and get a good connection with the characters.  Reading the sequel The Girl Who Played With Fire right now.

[willie warrior]

Decision Points by Bush 43. Never was much of a Bush fan, but he has more class in his pinky than Obama does in his whole body. His story of 9-11 is gut wrenching.

Day After Roswell by Philip Corso: makes you wonder

Secretariat by William Nack. The race horse of all race horses.

Prince of Darkness by Robert Novak. Amazing insights of our government during his 50 years of reporting.

[Henry Sugar]

Decision Points by Bush 43. Never was much of a Bush fan, but he has more class in his pinky than Obama does in his whole body. His story of 9-11 is gut wrenching.

In general, political threads are banned from this board unless pertinent to Marquette. In the past those topics have dominated the conversation and we'd like this board be home to friendly water-cooler type discussions that relate to Marquette, and the Milwaukee area.

If you find yourself wondering where to discuss politics on the internet, just ask any MUScoop moderator, we'd be happy to help.

[akmarq]

Just finished "Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close" by Jonathan Safran Foer.

Thought it was one of the better novels I've read in a while - he also wrote Everything is Illuminated, which the movie is based on.

[4everwarriors]

Really enjoyed, "Playing to Win" by Brent Williams.

[KipsBayEagle]

Just read Everyman by Phillip Roth.  It was good, but not as good as typical Roth.

[rugbydrummer]

In general, political threads are banned from this board unless pertinent to Marquette. In the past those topics have dominated the conversation and we'd like this board be home to friendly water-cooler type discussions that relate to Marquette, and the Milwaukee area.

If you find yourself wondering where to discuss politics on the internet, just ask any MUScoop moderator, we'd be happy to help.

Gracias.

[rugbydrummer]

Really enjoyed, "Playing to Win" by Brent Williams.

Coach Buzz?? j/k

Have people read Bill Simmons' "Book of Basketball"?? i know this has been out for a couple years . . .

[RawdogDX]

TV sucks so much nowadays, I find reading is quickly taking its place for me.

I left the Old Yeller for SNL slide but WTF?  This is the golden era of TV.  It is the first time TV is better than movies.  Drama: Wire, Dexter, Boardwalk Empire, Madmen, Breaking Bad, Sons of Anarchy. 
Comedy: Office, Parks and Rec, Community
Scifi: BSG, Trueblood, Lost, Fringe

How old are you that you don't like TV now?

btw, as soon as I saw this thread I was going to post about the next 100 years.  It is a great book.  People who think it's far fetched don't realize how far fetched a perdiction of the 1900's would have sounded if it was half way accurate.

[RawdogDX]

I doubt any of that will happen

You heard it hear folks.  Ignore the guy who started a company that figures out the future and gets hired by the CIA because Wadefan is doubtful.

[ZiggysFryBoy]

I left the Old Yeller for SNL slide but WTF?  This is the golden era of TV.  It is the first time TV is better than movies.  Drama: Wire, Dexter, Boardwalk Empire, Madmen, Breaking Bad, Sons of Anarchy. 
Comedy: Office, Parks and Rec, Community
Scifi: BSG, Trueblood, Lost, Fringe

How old are you that you don't like TV now?

btw, as soon as I saw this thread I was going to post about the next 100 years.  It is a great book.  People who think it's far fetched don't realize how far fetched a perdiction of the 1900's would have sounded if it was half way accurate.

next 100 years is really interesting.

[PBRme]

I left the Old Yeller for SNL slide but WTF?  This is the golden era of TV.  It is the first time TV is better than movies.  Drama: Wire, Dexter, Boardwalk Empire, Madmen, Breaking Bad, Sons of Anarchy. 
Comedy: Office, Parks and Rec, Community
Scifi: BSG, Trueblood, Lost, Fringe

How old are you that you don't like TV now?

btw, as soon as I saw this thread I was going to post about the next 100 years.  It is a great book.  People who think it's far fetched don't realize how far fetched a perdiction of the 1900's would have sounded if it was half way accurate.

TV has been all down hill since the Jackie Thomas show

[mu-rara]

Any Vince Flynn novel.  Mystery / Spy stuff.   Kind of Tom Clancy for the terrorist era (as opposed to the Cold War era). 

Fast read, exciting, fun.  Not deep and insightful, but sometimes you need a break.

[wildbillsb]

THREE CUPS OF TEA by Greg Mortenson - inspirational account of one idealistic American making a difference in the struggle for real success in Afghanistan.

HALF-BROKE HOSES: A TRUE-LIFE NOVEL by Jeanette Wells - great character study about the life of Lily Casey Smith, a early 20th century pioneer woman of the American southwest.

[rugbydrummer]

in the middle of reading

The Help by Kathryn Stockett:  Optimistic, uplifting debut novel (and maiden publication of Amy Einhorn's new imprint) set during the nascent civil rights movement in Jackson, Miss., where black women were trusted to raise white children but not to polish the household silver. (Amazon)

Half the Sky:Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide by Nicholas Kristof
New York Times columnist Kristof and his wife, WuDunn, a former Times reporter, make a brilliantly argued case for investing in the health and autonomy of women worldwide. More girls have been killed in the last fifty years, precisely because they were girls, than men were killed in all the wars of the twentieth century, they write, detailing the rampant gendercide in the developing world, particularly in India and Pakistan.  (Amazon, bolded emphasis added)

What?  Don't look at me like that, I got them as presents. 

also sporadically re-reading Madame Bovary (rural girl with champagne tastes gets simple bumpkin doctor, entitled wife cheats on said doctor because life he is so dull -- classic!).  Those saucy French mademoiselles...never satisifed!  (hmmm, never satisfied, why does that seem so familiar?)

[SacWarrior]

I recently finished a book that may be the greatest thing I have ever read, and displaced like 5 different Steinbeck novels for my top book of all time. It's called "The House of the Spirits" by Isabel Allende. It's a phenomenal narrative about a family told through three generations of politics, civil war, revolution and magical realism based upon the author's own uncle's life in Chile. Would reccomend it to anyone.

[pillardean]

I love Cormac Mccarthy, but for some reason, I hated the road.  I loved no country for old men, and child of god, but I really hated this novel.  I am definitly in the minority for this one.

I would say my favorite McCarthy has to be Blood Meridian.  Is there now character more enigmatic as 'The Judge?'  "And he dances, he never dies...he says he will never die".  I have not read the eastern novels so that opinion may change.

The Road, I felt, deserved the literary acclaim.

E.L. Doctorow   "Book of Daniel"  "City of God" "Billy Bathgate"  "The March"

Reading:

Lord of the Rings (purely for fun)

The Wilding (former MU English prof Benjamin Percy-Short story collection Refresh Refresh was pretty damn solid)

Leviathan (Paul Auster)

[Blackhat]

just got done with unbroken..very good book.  Anybody read any good ones lately?

[Lennys Tap]

just got done with unbroken..very good book.  Anybody read any good ones lately?

I'm reading "The Lay of the Land" by Richard Ford. It's the final book in his Frank Bascombe trilogy (preceded by The Sportswriter and Independence Day). Brilliant writer.

[LloydMooresLegs]

Wolf Hall and Bring Up the Bodies by Hilary Mantel (historical fiction; the first two parts of a planned trilogy about Thomas (not Oliver) Cromwell, Thomas More and Henry VIII).  I am an old school book guy, but these were fantastic on the iPad if, like me, you have only passing knowledge of that period of English history--with an eReader like the iPad, you can look up terms/people instantly without losing too much flow.

Wouldn't read those if you are a big Thomas More fan, as the author takes great liberties (it is fiction) and a much different view than the traditional Catholic (and secular historic) love of More (he is, after all, a Saint).

And, speaking of books of which the Church takes a dim view, I just gave my son who is on his way to college (and then re-read it before he picked it up) The Last Temptation of Christ.  Never saw the film, but the book was assigned reading at my amazing Jesuit high school and it had a powerful impact on my religious and spiritual formation.  Don't believe what you remember from the popular and Church criticism of the movie; the book is Kazantzakis's meditaion on the gospel story, focusing on the struggle he imagines Jesus the man to have had in accepting that He also was the Son of God (with Judas the Zealot as the protagonist [well, along with the devil, I suppose], encouraging Jesus to lead the people in an uprising against Rome rather than preaching the gospel of love.  It was the humanity of that struggle that resonated with me.

[Hards Alumni]

Wolf Hall and Bring Up the Bodies by Hilary Mantel (historical fiction; the first two parts of a planned trilogy about Thomas (not Oliver) Cromwell, Thomas More and Henry VIII).  I am an old school book guy, but these were fantastic on the iPad if, like me, you have only passing knowledge of that period of English history--with an eReader like the iPad, you can look up terms/people instantly without losing too much flow.

Wouldn't read those if you are a big Thomas More fan, as the author takes great liberties (it is fiction) and a much different view than the traditional Catholic (and secular historic) love of More (he is, after all, a Saint).

And, speaking of books of which the Church takes a dim view, I just gave my son who is on his way to college (and then re-read it before he picked it up) The Last Temptation of Christ.  Never saw the film, but the book was assigned reading at my amazing Jesuit high school and it had a powerful impact on my religious and spiritual formation.  Don't believe what you remember from the popular and Church criticism of the movie; the book is Kazantzakis's meditaion on the gospel story, focusing on the struggle he imagines Jesus the man to have had in accepting that He also was the Son of God (with Judas the Zealot as the protagonist [well, along with the devil, I suppose], encouraging Jesus to lead the people in an uprising against Rome rather than preaching the gospel of love.  It was the humanity of that struggle that resonated with me.

If you've read historical fiction... I highly recommend Fall of Giants by Ken Follet (I'm sure you've read it though).

[ChicosBailBonds]

Detroit:  A autobiography

Sh*t My Dad Says

The Outsider:  Jimmy Connors memoire