I’m looking for a few suggestions for mine. History, or historical fiction would be nice… I’ve grown fond of Michael and Jeff Shaara’s books (The Killer Angels, and all of Jeff’s sequels) … maybe something similar. Didn’t mind the one “Master & Commander” book I read, either…
Or a classic… something every “well read” man should have under his belt? Homer? Dickens? Shakespeare? Sun Tzu?
Or a good non-fiction? I’m starting into a book about the Secret Archives of the Vatican … somewhat of a scholarly work, not conspiracy-theory. Maybe an entertaining romp through some key period of history or some important institution?
Perhaps a good business / getting-ahead-in-life tome? One Minute Manager? Seven Habits?
Or a spiritual work? Charles Stanley? Lee Strobel? St. Augustine?
Looking for something meaty, or at least thoroughly entertaining. I’ve read nearly all of Tom Clancy, but haven’t really touched Crichton. Perhaps a good starting point for his series? John Grisham?
C’mon… what’s on your reading (gift) list for the year?
Anything by David McCullough but particularly The Path between the Seas The Building of the Panama Canal. I can’t begin to tell you how good a book it is. Also about 1,000 pages so it will keep you busy for a day or two.
It never got the press that Truman and some of his other books got but it is just a fantastic read.
For popular fiction, I recently read “The Devil in the White City” by Erik Larsen. Pretty good read.
I have not read it, but I thought it was actually a true story. Is this a fictionalized account, or is it just organized so it reads like a novel?
History/Historical: Guns, Germs, and Steel by Jared Diamond. Very interesting book on the evolution of people and theories on why each culture/civilization ended up the way it did.
The Arctic Grail by Pierre Berton. The search for the Northwest Passage. What these men went through (and the sheer stupidity of some of them) defies belief.
Anti-Time Management: Walden by Henry David Thoreau. This is one of those books that everyone should read.
Just about anything by Jon Krakauer is worth reading. The only book of Michael Crichton’s I liked was The Andromeda Strain; even though the story falls apart at the end. The Long Walk: The True Story of a Trek to Freedom by Slavomir Rawicz is a good adventure read. It is supposed to be a true story but I found it be a bit far fetched. Still worth reading though. I’m currently reading Fatal Depth: Deep Sea Diving, China Fever, and the Wreck of the Andrea Doria by Joe Haberstroh. It’s not the best book I’ve ever read but still worth picking up.
I’m also reading Tom Slick and the Search for the Yeti by Loren Coleman. This is the true story of a millionaire who actively searches for the Yeti. I know he sounds like a nut but he actually was an interesting guy. Oh, wait, you said just one book…
That’s okay… I’ll give you a pass. There’s a lot of good stuff being suggested. I read “Into Thin Air” and found it well written and interesting… plus the controversy over what really happened up there added some edge to it.
One of my childhood heros was Houdini, and a new book"The secret life of Houdini" William Kalush/Larry Sloman, was a great history and biography rolled into one. He was americas first superhero, working for the secret service, was the first man to fly a plane in Australia, and single handly debunked spritualism… It is the first really accurate book on his life, and nothing like the famous Tony Curtis movie that caught my attention as a kid…I give this one a A+++, but just my opinion of course…
David McCullough, The Path between the Seas The Building of the Panama Canal (or anything else)
Ernest Hemingway, For Whom the Bell Tolls
Umberto Eco, The Name of the Rose
Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Love in the Time of Cholera
Erik Larsen, The Devil in the White City
Jared Diamond, Guns, Germs, and Steel
Pierre Berton, The Arctic Grail
Henry David Thoreau, Walden
Stephen Ambrose, Undaunted Courage
John Krakauer - just about anything…
Michael Crihton, The Andromeda Strain
Slavomir Rawicz, The Long Walk: The True Story of a Trek to Freedom
Joe Haberstroh, Fatal Depth: Deep Sea Diving, China Fever, and the Wreck of the Andrea Doria
Loren Coleman, Tom Slick and the Search for the Yeti
William Kalush/Larry Sloman, The secret life of Houdini
I heard great things about The Name of the Rose but couldn’t get into when I bought the book. The movie is pretty good though. I think it stars James Bond and that creepy Christian Slater kid. Boy was he young in that one.
A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole is extremely humerous. Of course the author killed himself before the book was published so I guess that isn’t funny.
Dee Brown’s Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee: An Indian History of the American West is an excellent, but depressing, Native American history.
I also love the dark classics. Journey to the End of the Night by Louis-Ferdinand Celine, Hunger (lazy bastard) and Growth of the Soil (crazy hairlip) by Knut Hamsun, Death in Venice by Thomas Mann, The Plague by Albert Camus, The Dealth of Ivan Ilyich by Leo Tolstoy, and anything by Dostoevsky.
If you liked Into Thin Air check out Touching the Void by Joe Simpson. The movie based on the book is good, but, as usual, is not as good as the original medium. The quick plot summary: non-fiction about two friends and climbing partners who are going after a remote South American peak. One of them (the author) breaks his leg on top and is left behind by his partner. He somehow makes it back to camp. He completely understands the situation and is at peace with his partners decision. The book contains both of their views and they still are friends today.
All of this is found on the back cover of the book. The book is as much about the pyschology of the situation and the journey back for Joe Simpson as it is the actual event/decision by the partner.
To say Simpson was “left behind” is putting it very, very mildly. If you thought the drama of “Into Thin Air” was gripping, then “Touching the Void” will leave you speechless. The book is not only a terrific story of survival, it’s a wicked conversation starter in the theme of “what would you do?”, especially if you’re a climber/mountaineer/adventurer of any sort. Even the armchair variety.
Another great story in the adventure/survival vein is “The Worst Journey in the World” by Apsley Cherry-Garrard. It’s a very young guy’s account of his participation in the ill-fated Robert Falcon Scott Antarctic expedition of 1911-1912.
