New Bookstrut----
jjfad027
1,594 Posts
Very entertaining and fun to read. The same dude that did the Motley Crue, Marylin Manson books. I read it in two days and I raerly go thru a book that fast. I've always liked NLP but I had no idea fools were gettin down like this.
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THE best book on Iraq. Most books are from opponents of the war. Packer was a war supporter. He goes from the ideological underpinnings of the neoconservatives and Iraqi exiles who he agred with and then shows how the administraiton completely blew it on the war planning, by not making any plans besides the actual war. He's still a bit optomistic at the end, but pretty much thinks the Bush administration will not get it right because they are divorced from the reality of Iraq and go so much wrong at the beginning.
Would HIGHLY recommend this to anyone interested about how we got into this mess.
On the fiction note, I read this as well:
Pretty good book about growing up in Oakland during the 80s with crack. Might end of teaching it at the end of the year if I have time. Think the kids will love it.
Right now I'm "Boss Ruef's San Francisco" which I read a couple years ago, but am re-reading. It's about the political corruption surrounding the mayor of San Francisco at the turn of the century.
Rereading this, my favorite book (check the avatar, yo...). Most underappreciated book in American Literature.
Haven't read that George Packer book above, but I'd cosign anything he wrote. His New Yorker writing on Iraq and American Foreign Policy is the best that magazine has to offer. One of his pieces on Iraq was a 40 page profile of a bunch of different people involved in the war, from soldiers on the ground to people sent over to try to negotiate with locals in Iraq to Paul Bremmer (was some of this stuff the book you read, Mo67?). One of the best magazine articles I've ever read.
Wow. That's awesome. Also my favorite book.
It bums me out tho...for some reason, I can't get friends or loved ones to read it/finish it.
As I tell everyone I recommend it to, If you can get past the first hundred pages, that book will knock your socks off. Always glad to see someone else who digs it.
I'm finishing:
classic Murakami, but easier, I really love it.
just read:
fucking brilliant.
and I'm about to start:
I'm a readaholic.
Oh, and this is my favorite book ever.
Almost done with this one, probably the only history of the Palestinian conflict that tries to show both sides of the story. Devastatingly depressing when you can read through the whole history that there won't be peace in that region for a long time.
Extremely bleak view of modern existence. Kind of like Celine with a really dark sense of humor.
I've only read a couple of his New Yorker pieces, but from what you said his book is very similar. Each chapter has a theme, i.e. neoconservatives, Iraqi exiles, etc. and he follows an individual with subcharacters to tell their story.
I've just started reading this again. I bought it in Rome a few months ago, and loved it.
This is fantastic too. I just finished it. Like The History of Love, you can finish it in a couple of days.
And this will always be one of my favourites
I love getting back into reading, I read about 20 books over 3 months when I was in Europe, then didn't read much for a couple of months, now I'm right back into it.
Its liberal slant makes even me flinch at times, but it's still entertaining and very informative.
Recommended!
Holla,
Dress
A few old and a few new:
Anyone who has never read Pynchon should check this book out, it's a quick read, but a great introduction to a great fiction author.
Old, and a lot of the science is outdated but
So many topics covered; if anyone has ever wondered how Marcel Proust relates to psychedelics, artificial intelligence, and quantum physics, read this book. The author is very intelligent, if sometimes a little full of himself and self-referential, but an amazing read through and through.
Amazing read for anyone interested in that real(ity) schitt. Paperback edition came out on Valentine's Day, cop it for someone you love.
Read it on recommendation - always up for a bit of quantum physics/psychoanalysis thrown into a scottish thriller/period drama/whodunit. Particularly enjoyed the first part but it seemed to get caught up in marvelling it's own skill at the expense of the story.
this is definitely next on my list. white teeth is one of my favorites
She used to come in to the bakery I worked at...