[May] What are you reading?

Richards;5171438Yesterday said:
The Forge of God[/i], which thus far has been simply fantastic. I've read some of his short stories (and enjoyed them), but I think this is the first novel of his that I've ever read. I think I may just have to change that once I finish this one.

Johnathan

I also really enjoyed The Forge of God, but was disappointed with the sequel, Anvil of Stars. It just didn't gel for me.
 

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The Life and Times of Martha Washington in the Twenty-First Century. Really hard to get here, but finally found a copy from Amazon.de and it was well worth the trouble. Best graphic novel ever. Well, after Arkwright anyway, if that counts as one. ;)

Digital Fortress by Dan Brown. The guy can write action and urgency, but his research on practically everything sucks. Based on this book I'm willing to wager that he's never even seen a computer.
 

The Brothers Karamazov by some Russian guy. ;) This is my first time and I am loving it. Next up is The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss.
 

Flesh and Spirit Book 1 of the Lighthouse Duet by Carol Berg. It was a slow start, but by halfway through it has become very intriguing.

Chasing the Dragon Book 4 of Quantum Gravity by Justina Robson. Loved books 1 through 3. So far this one has been a bit of a drag. I'm getting the feeling this book is mostly setup for the next book.
 




I also really enjoyed The Forge of God, but was disappointed with the sequel, Anvil of Stars. It just didn't gel for me.
I wasn't aware of a sequel, but I finished The Forge of God and enjoyed it enough that I'll probably hunt down Anvil of Stars, just to see where the story goes from there. I'll keep your warning in mind, though - thanks!

In the meantime, I just started a mystery called Mantis, about a detective tracking down a serial killer who kills his victims with a mantis-blow to the throat. I'm only two or three chapters in, but so far it's pretty good.

Johnathan
 

Faction:

Broker, Trader, Lawyer, Spy - This is a very interesting book about corporate espionage. In the past I worked a couple of cases involving espionage, one of them being an act of espionage targeted against one of my former clients who was attempting to establish an international licensing agreement. Actually that was counter-espionage, as far as I was concerned. As well as being my first real exposure to corporate espionage. I like this book and am finding it interesting.

Master of Shadows - This book is about the secret diplomatic and spy career of the painter Peter Paul Rubens. I very much enjoy reading biographies of this type. I have read more than one book about Isaac Newton's career in the exchequer hunting down criminals for the crown. (I also read a very interesting fictional book about the same subject matter which I can't recall the title of right now.) Not long ago I finished reading a book about W. Somerset Maugham's (one of my favorite modern novelists) career as an agent for the British government. I've read several books of this type and find most of them highly interesting. Some even fascinating.

Praying with Icons - A book I picked up from the library the other day about using icons as prayer and meditative tools for spiritual exercises and experiences. It has some interesting ideas and approaches. It even has Rules for the Icon Painter, which I like, as one day I intend to paint the icons I have designed and sketched. I have designed a set of icon sketches in which I have placed my children, family, and friends in some of the background scenes. I'd like to paint those eventually.


Fiction:

The King's Trade - This is an Alan Lewrie historical naval novel. I'm getting to where I like Dewey Lambdin almost as much as I like Patrick O'Brian. Lambdin is not quite as good a writer, and the language is not as grand, but his tales of being at sea are superb (like Hornblower) and the man obviously knows his stuff. His books are very good.

Fables: 1001 Nights of Snowfall - This is a graphic novel with an unusual (and nice twist on 1001 Arabian Nights). Some of the stories are excellent, some are just okay, but overall I recommend it.


Lecture:

The Tiber and the Potomac: Empires of Trust - This excellent lecture series, which I just started, is by one of my favorite professors, Thom Madden. It talks about America as a very peculiar kind of "Empire," an Empire of Trust, and compares it in some ways to the Early Republic of Rome and how Rome "backed into an Empire" without wanting to. I'd like to see Madden do a lecture series on how much the Byzantine empire was like America, or actually how much of America is descended from the Byzantine Empire (my personal theory). Though Madden did do an excellent lecture series on the Byzantines called Empire of Gold. I recommend both Empire of Gold and Empires of Trust.
 


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