What book are you reading?

[phonelady61]

im not reading anything right now have been in a rut and really busy planning day trips for the spring .

[southwest88]

The twilight war : the secret history of America's thirty-year conflict with Iran / David Crist, c2012, Penguin Press, 327.7305 CRIS.

Subjects
• United States. -- Central Intelligence Agency.
• Espionage, American -- History.
• Espionage, Iranian -- History.
• United States -- Foreign relations -- Iran.
• Iran -- Foreign relations -- United States.
• United States -- Military relations -- Iran.
• Iran -- Military relations -- United States.
• United States -- Foreign relations -- 1981-1989.
• United States -- Foreign relations -- 1989-

Notes
• Map of Iran -- "A Little King in Your Heart" -- "A New Grand Strategy" -- Barbed Wire Bob -- A Den of Spies -- "A Fig Leaf of Neutrality" -- Sharon's Grand Design -- A Spectacular Action -- The American Hamlet -- Arms for the Ayatollah -- Sleepy Hollow -- A Ring on the American Finger -- The Wake-up Call -- The Invisible Hand of God -- A Window of Opportunity -- The Night Stalkers -- A Very Close Call -- No Higher Honor -- Goodbye Captain Nasty -- The Terrible Climax -- Goodwill Begets Goodwill -- War or Peace -- An Atrocity -- An Axis of Evil -- Defeat or Victory -- The Freedom Agenda -- A Quasi War.

Summary
• Reveals the covert operations that have brought the United States and Iran to the brink of open war, including Iran's proposal for peace after 9/11, which was rejected by President Bush, and Iran's secret army in post-U.S. invasion Iraq.

Length
• 638 pages, [16] pages of plates, maps, chapter notes, index

Excellent compact history of the US/Iran conflict – military & diplomatic - from the US embassy hostage crisis in Tehran.

[southwest88]

Guests of the Ayatollah : the first battle in America's war with militant Islam / Mark Bowden, 1951-, c2006, Atlantic Monthly Press, 955.0542 Bowd.

Subjects
• Iran Hostage Crisis, 1979-1981 -- Chronology.
• Iran Hostage Crisis, 1979-1981 -- Personal narratives.
• Hostages -- Iran.
• United States -- Foreign relations -- Iran.
• Iran -- Foreign relations -- United States.
• United States -- Armed Forces -- Search and rescue operations.

Notes
• The "Set-In" -- Den of spies -- Waiting -- One hundred and thirty-two men -- Haggling with the barbarians.
Summary
• A chronicle of the Iran hostage crisis, America's first battle with militant Islam. On November 4, 1979, a group of radical Islamist students, inspired by the revolutionary Iranian leader Ayatollah Khomeini, stormed the U.S. embassy in Tehran. They took 52 Americans hostage, and kept nearly all of them hostage for 444 days. Journalist Bowden tells the story through the eyes of the hostages, the soldiers in a new special forces unit sent to free them, their radical, naïve captors, and the diplomats working to end the crisis. Bowden takes us inside the hostages' cells and inside the Oval Office for meetings with President Carter and his exhausted team. We travel to international capitals where shadowy figures held clandestine negotiations, and to the deserts of Iran, where a courageous, desperate attempt to rescue the hostages exploded into tragic failure.--From publisher description.

Length
• 680 pages : map, drawing, photos, sources, chapter notes, index

An excellent history/recreation of the Iran hostage crisis. Diplomatic & military.

[pinetreelover]

Originally Posted by phonelady61

im not reading anything right now have been in a rut and really busy planning day trips for the spring .

Having recently crawled out of a reading rut, I can definitely relate! But "day trips for the spring" sounds like so much fun!

[oeccscclhjhn]

The Outsider, Stephen King (2018).

[Deelighted]

Originally Posted by phonelady61

im not reading anything right now have been in a rut and really busy planning day trips for the spring .

I wish I were planning spring day trips! I've been in a rut for too long now. I think it's because I was reading for research and not reading for enjoyment. I didn't even reach my Goodreads goal last year


I made a vow that this year I'll read for enjoyment - but haven't started yet

[AZgarden]

Oh Boy! I just finished The Perfect Child by Lucinda Berry. Could not stop reading. At first I thought it would be too predictable. Was I ever wrong. An abused child is adopted by a well-meaning couple and then due to an unexpected event, all hell breaks loose. Being an old social worker myself, I could appreciate the viewpoint of the workers in the book. Not agree with them necessarily though. Ever see "The Bad Seed"? This is a new rendition.

Am finishing these books so fast cause it's too cold here!!!

[ClaraC]

Originally Posted by pinetreelover

The Dinner just made me soooo mad! I started it with such high hopes and then before I knew it I hated every single character and wanted to punch someone and finally I decided to just hate the book.

I thought The Dinner was very well-written although painful. It made me about sick to my stomach, but it seemed very real.

A teenager does something HORRIFIC, and initially the parents blame someone else for being a bad influence, and at the end they have to realize their child did the unthinkable. And the whole novel takes place in the timeframe of a dinner out at a restaurant.

My book club loved it.

[Mikala43]

So one thing about Bill Bryson .... I think I have learned everything one could on the history of homes.


And then I notice, you are at 23%.

[movinon]

LOL! I had the same feeling! I think I took a break about then and read something else until I regrouped for another round. Who knew there was so much we didn't know?