hitman

Pump

John Milton, Paradise Lost.

You ever notice that after a certain age, any work of classic literature that you pick up doesn't feel new? You've been hearing quotes from it your whole life; it's like it's familiar to you.

Unfortunately all the time. Almost like an unintentional spoiler.

The Thirteen Gun Salute by Patrick O'Brian...again

Jim Henson The Biography

A really interesting look at the man and his work. A little long perhaps but not in an offensive way.

The Sports Gene, an excellent look at what makes athletes, athletes.

Tarp

Just finished up How to be Black by Baratunde Thurston which was a very fun little book. I also read The Neptune File by Tom Standage. It's a decent book but not as good as his other works imo.

The Turk by Tom Standage

A really fun read about the chess playing pseudo automaton.

Inside Inside by James Lipton

An interesting look at the show, it's guests, and it's host. A fun read and at $1 a hell of a value. ;-)

Eight-ball

double post sorry

Mirage by Clive Cussler

A good book not perhaps the best in the Oregon Files series but very good none the less.

Let's Go To The Video Tape, Warner Wolf

A fun quick read that was well worth the dollar I paid for it. ;-)

spot

Green

Well it's obviously been a little while since I read anything but I just finished A History of the World in Six Glasses by Tom Standage which is an excellent book right on par with his Victorian Internet. I did spend quite a while working on Quick Silver but I just don't have the time especially since I found out last Monday that there was going to be a new member of the crew this September.

The Victorian Internet

A fascinating look at the parallels between the rise of the telegraph and the internet. A good fun read.

A Moveable Feast by Earnest Hemingway

Right it's a book by Hemingway so you know it's good right? I enjoyed it very much.

Zero Hour, Clive Cussler and Graham Brown

As always a fun romp. Loved every page even if it isn't the best of the bunch.

Challenger, Mickey Thompson with Griffith Borgeson

A great look into the early years of hot rodding from a man who lived it. Other than a very stiff morality that might as well be considered a given as the book was written in 1962 it was a great read. Reading the last few chapters was rough however as Mickey was so full of energy about the 63 Indy 500 which we now know as having the worst crash in the brick yard's history and it was caused by one of Mickey's cars.

Built for Adventure by Clive Cussler

This basically just a coffee table book about his car collection but the cars are awe inspiring and the photos superb. Highly recommend it for gear heads and at lovers....Mission .... :-P

The Striker by Clive Cussler

Look it's me reading a Clive Cussler book of course I loved it!!! A real page turner I finished it six hours after starting it despite spending several of those hours cleaning house and eating supper.

The Worst Hard Time by Timothy Egan

A good book though I wish the author would have made fewer leaps in time and place in his writing. This may just be a result of listening to it as an audio book instead of physically reading the book but it always feels weird to me when the groups being followed aren't kept in some form of parity time wise and this makes anecdotes from earlier or later periods seem all the more off.

Hunting the Grizzly and Other Sketches by Theodore Roosevelt.

A nice little read that was well worth the time if your interested in the outdoors or the late nineteenth century west.

The Horse in My Garage and Other Stories by Patrick McManus. A lot of laughs but not his best collection of humor pieces still worth a read though.

The Wrecking Crew; The untold story of Rock and Rolls best kept secret

This is a little book about the L.A. session artists that played on your favorite 60's rock and pop hits. The book has a lot of great stories in it and as is the style these days it's relatively short which is somewhat of a blessing as either the author's narrative ability stinks or his editor cropped the hell out of it. All in all it was a fun read due to the subject matter but the writing left me cold as does the continued assertion that the Wrecking Crew and or it's contemporaries in NYC, Nashville, MoTown, etc. are some how still a secret just waiting to see the light of day. (hyperbole sucks)

I just finished Barbara Tuchman's A Distant Mirror; The Calamitious Fourteenth Century and was actually a little shocked to learn it was originally published in 1978. It's narrative style is quite modern and I would not have been surprised to learn it was published in the last few years. It was quite an interesting read though I do understand how her critics could say she "went from telling history as a moral tale to telling moral tales as history" . That being said she doesn't seem to stray quite as far as modern non fiction so If you've got an interest in the time period or a little open space I'd recommend it.