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Just started THE GOOD SOLDIERS by David Finkel. It came highly recommended and it is very engrossing. It is non fiction about a batallion in Iraq and it is well written, but needless to say I am on page 20 and getting weepy so I don't know if I will stay with it. I want to, but it remains to be seen.
Finished HALF BROKE HORSES due to all the recommendations here and have to agree - what a good book, what a great story teller- and such an "easy read".
I don't know what his bios say, but one historian I read said that it was because money and religion don't mix. The idea was that it was almost blasphemous or sacrilegious to integrate money (and therefore government) with religion. Think "the love of money is the root of all evil" and the teachings of Jesus about rendering unto Caesar and rendering unto God. I think TR was onto something, but that's a political/religious debate.
In a letter to William Boldly on 1907-NOV-11, he wrote:
"My own feeling in the matter is due to my very firm conviction that to put such a motto on coins, or to use it in any kindred manner, not only does no good but does positive harm, and is in effect irreverence, which comes dangerously close to sacrilege...It is a motto which it is indeed well to have inscribed on our great national monuments, in our temples of justice, in our legislative halls, and in building such as those at West Point and Annapolis -- in short, wherever it will tend to arouse and inspire a lofty emotion in those who look thereon. But it seems to me eminently unwise to cheapen such a motto by use on coins, just as it would be to cheapen it by use on postage stamps, or in advertisements."
Just started THE GOOD SOLDIERS by David Finkel. It came highly recommended and it is very engrossing. It is non fiction about a batallion in Iraq and it is well written, but needless to say I am on page 20 and getting weepy so I don't know if I will stay with it. I want to, but it remains to be seen.
I'll be most interested in hearing what you think when/if you finish the book. It sounds very good but I would probably be weepy, too.
I just finished reading Perfect Circle by Sean Stewart. I'm not quite sure into which category his writing falls; it is sort of magic realism, and sort of fantasy, but not fantasy about elves. The main character in Perfect Circle sees dead people and the writer uses this very effectively in what is essentially a meditation of sorts on family relationships.
I've been a fan of Stewart's since I read his Galveston some years ago. Perfect Circle was interesting but not as completely fascinating as Galveston. I keep hoping there will be a sequel to that one.
Before that, I finished Robert's Ridge by Malcolm MacPherson. It's a true story involving SEALs and Army Rangers during a battle in Operation Anaconda, during which 7 men died.
MacPherson himself is not a soldier, and after reading quite a few books on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan lately, I found it refreshing to read a story told by someone not directly involved.
Finished HALF BROKE HORSES due to all the recommendations here and have to agree - what a good book, what a great story teller- and such an "easy read".
Yes! I LOVED Half Broke Horses. It's one of those books that stays with you, especially the part when Big Jim flies in the helicopter to the ranch to break the ice. I can see that scene so vividly in my mind.
I went to the bookstore set on getting The Help, but instead I got This is Where I Leave You by John Topper and The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery. I will read the Help eventually! This is Where I Leave You was SO GOOD!! I started reading it in the store and couldn't put it down. Maybe it's because I've been reading a lot of books by women lately, but I really enjoyed that the story was told from a distinctly male perspective. Good change of pace. The main character is so sardonically witty. He's in the middle of a horrible situation and constantly makes jokes because humor is all he has. It's very entertaining. He makes it funny even amidst painfully sad circumstances.
The Elegance of the Hedgehog is so far really good too. It's set in France and written from the perspective of a intellectually gifted child. Seemingly an adult. Very interesting.
Location: Montreal -> CT -> MA -> Montreal -> Ottawa
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For everyone who has read Half Broke Horses, I hope that you've also read -- or will read -- The Glass Castle, also by Jeanette Walls.
Chronologically, Half Broke Horses comes first, but The Glass Castle was written quite a bit before.
Half Broke Horses is a fictional account -- although based on her memories and stories told within the family -- but The Glass Castle is HER own story; her memoir. I read The Glass Castle when it first came out and will remember it always. It's incredible. What she endured is unfathomable.
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I'm about 1/4 way through.
), and I'm only up to page 68, but I'm liking it so far.
