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Favorite Books? What Are You Reading Now?


Mith242

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Here's something I don't think I've ever seen mentioned. Anyone reading anything in particular right now or have any favorites. As far as favorites go I was always a big fan of the Lord of the Rings trilogy. I'm also a big fan of Isaac Asimov and Tony Hillerman as well. At the moment though I'm reading Husain Haddawy's Arabian Nights . It's a more recent version of 1001 Arabian Nights. Although I'm very familiar with a number of the stories from it I've never actually read it and thought I should get around to doing so. I picked this version because it's written by someone very familiar with Arabic and English. He also goes back and provides a new translation of the oldest known text of the book. You'd be surprised how many versions are a copy of a copy of a copy. Sometimes translating from a couple of different languages. It's one of those things where the history of the stories and the book itself is rather interesting. To be honest though I tend to read a lot of non-fiction.

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I like mystery books, especially the Hardy Boys. Even though they're pretty elementary, they're a good read for me.

If you like mysteries you might like Tony Hillerman. What first got me into him was more the fact that his stories take place in the southwest and he lives in New Mexico where I have family. But his books are pretty good.

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I mostly read books with a political/economic twist (how exciting!).

My favorite book in recent memory is "Confessions of an Economic Hitman."

It's about an ex-NSA agent who did dirty work through development/construction corporations to keep third world countries (like Indonesia, Peru, the Philippines,etc) poor and indebted to the United States. This way, these countries would always be beholden to US economic or military interests.

Although John Perkins (author) didn't specifically work in the Philippines, he mentioned it as one of the countries where "economic hitmen" worked.

For your interest, the first few lines copied from the preface:

Economic hit men (EHMs) are highly paid professionals who cheat countries around the globe out of trillions of dollars. They funnel money from the World Bank, the U.S. Agency for International Development, and other "aid" organizations into the coffers of huge corporations and the pockets of a few wealthy families who control the planet's natural resources. Their tools include fradulent financial reports, rigged elections, payoffs, extortion, sex, and murder. They play a game as old as the empire, but one that has taken on new and terrifying dimensions during this time of globalization.

I should know; I was an EHM.

I wrote that in 1982, as the beginning of a book with the working title, Conscience of an Economic Hit Man. The book was dedicated to the presidents of two countries, men who had been my clients, whom I respected and thought of as kindred spirits--Jaime Roldos, president of Ecuador, and Omar Torrijos, president of Panama. Both had just died in fiery crashes. Their deaths were not accidental. They were assassinated because they opposed that fraternity of corporate, government, and banking heads whose goal is global empire. We EHMs failed to bring Roldos and Torrijos around, and the other type of hit men, the CIA-sanctioned jackals who were always right behind us, stepped in.

I like to take dips in classic fiction too. Though, I only like to read fiction books that have a pretty good record of praise.... Admittedly, I'm a fairly slow reader and sometimes figuring out the symbology and themes gets a bit tiresome so I rarely read fiction books on my own (without a teacher breathing down my neck).

Still, I prefer to read nonfiction in my free time. It's much more interesting in my opinion, although a bit depressing.

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Yeah I also read a lot of non-fiction myself. I could see how reading a book like that would be depressing. Most of the ones I read are ones that focus on a particular area of the world or a particular culture that I'm interested in at the time. I've got quite a few books on the southwest, geology, plant and animal life andso on. Since I vist out there so often. I also will read about history and architecture as well. I haven't decided which to get yet. But I'm wanting a book on the history of the Middle East. I'm also wanting to get a book about Islam. I'm really wanting to get to understand that area of the world better.

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If you are interested in Americn History/Arkansas History read "Rising Tide: The Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 and How It Changed America". This book should be required reading for all high school American History classes. For a good read try out "Down and Out in Paris and London" by George Orwell. Gives a good view of London and Paris in the late 1920's.

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  • 4 weeks later...

I'm reading 2 non-fiction books right now -- A Rough Introduction to This Sunny Land: The Civil War Diary of Private Henry A. Strong. Published by the Butler Center for Arkansas Studies, edited by UA-Fort Smith History Prof Tom Wing. Quick read. Interesting.

And I'm almost finished with Black Gun, Silver Star: The Life and Legend of Frontier Marshal Bass Reeves. Bass spent most of his career on the frontier riding for Judge Parker.

Half way through a current work of fiction -- Frederick Forsyth's The Afghan.

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I'm reading 2 non-fiction books right now -- A Rough Introduction to This Sunny Land: The Civil War Diary of Private Henry A. Strong. Published by the Butler Center for Arkansas Studies, edited by UA-Fort Smith History Prof Tom Wing. Quick read. Interesting.

And I'm almost finished with Black Gun, Silver Star: The Life and Legend of Frontier Marshal Bass Reeves. Bass spent most of his career on the frontier riding for Judge Parker.

Half way through a current work of fiction -- Frederick Forsyth's The Afghan.

That's heavier reading than I do. I just relocated Pendragon: Arthur and his Britain by Joseph P. Clancy. I read it in junior high and found it in a thrift store. I only read non-fiction because any time I start reading fiction my imagination outruns the book and I become bored with it... no matter who the author. Once I figure out where the story starts I fill in the rest which is much faster than actually sitting and reading.

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I'm reading 2 non-fiction books right now -- A Rough Introduction to This Sunny Land: The Civil War Diary of Private Henry A. Strong. Published by the Butler Center for Arkansas Studies, edited by UA-Fort Smith History Prof Tom Wing. Quick read. Interesting.

And I'm almost finished with Black Gun, Silver Star: The Life and Legend of Frontier Marshal Bass Reeves. Bass spent most of his career on the frontier riding for Judge Parker.

Hey welcome to the forum Fishback2710. Those sound like interesting books. I also noticed you're from Ft Smith. We have some Ft Smith topics over in the main Arkansas forum. Feel free to post over there. We've had a hard time attracting some Ft Smith forumers. I'd like to see what you thought. :D

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I would try e-bay, but I can't trust them. Borders and Barnes and Noble have no luck either.

Yeah I'm a bit hesitant with e-bay as well. How about Amazon? I've had good luck with them.

I'm reading Atlas Shrugged again. The last book I read was Civilization by Sir Kenneth Clark.

I've heard mention of Atlas Shrugged but never read it. Feel free to add any info about it.

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If you are interested in Americn History/Arkansas History read "Rising Tide: The Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 and How It Changed America". This book should be required reading for all high school American History classes. For a good read try out "Down and Out in Paris and London" by George Orwell. Gives a good view of London and Paris in the late 1920's.

Funny that you would mention Arkansas History books. I've kept (and reread) both my American and Arkansas History books from college.

A few "must reads" for me are The Purpose Driven Life by Rick Warren and Pilgrim's Progress by John Bunyon.

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  • 2 months later...

At the moment a few different things: Ma Jian's Red Dust: A Path Through China, Satyajit Ray's My Years With Apu and Juan Williams' Enough. I go back and forth between fiction and nonfiction; generally I love history, social criticism and philosophy, travel narrative, and anything related to pop culture and film.

The Ma Jian is really great - he was a bohemian living in Beijing in the early 80s, going through a bad breakup and professional troubles when he "came under scrutiny," and felt obliged to do what you wouldn't have legally been allowed to do at the time - he left Beijing surreptitiously and spent 2 years vagabonding around China, writing it all down, and the results are a little Kerouac-like, mixed in with some very vivid portrayals of rural China, small towns, and descriptions of geography, all done on the fly as he was compelled to keep moving around...

The Williams book might actually have some significance on UP - he's probably best known as an NPR correspondent; this book is something of a "state of the African-American nation" examination, using Bill Cosby's much-discussed critiques as a point of departure, getting into a lot of urban decline and decay issues and related politics along the way.

The Ray book is various recollections of life and professional existance as he was making what became his most famous series of films...

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  • 2 weeks later...

I'm a bit more than halfway through The Day of the Jackal right now. It's a book and story that I've always wanted to read and explore, but never had the chance through high school. I love the mystery and mastery involved in the story, along with the suspense and the history, as I'm a big history buff. :thumbsup:

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  • 10 months later...

Most recently:

Pu Songling's Strange Tales From A Chinese Studio. This is an anthology of ghost stories, supernatural tales, and some folklore written during by P.S. during the 18th century. The book is hefty, though the stories are individually very short - all very atmospheric, like some Chinese precursor to Poe or (at times) David Lynch.

Mark Levine's F5. This is a historic recounting of the enormous April 1974 tornado outbreak, specifically focused on the effects in Limestone County, Alabama, which was hit by multiple storms of extreme intensity over several hours. Levine paints a very vivid portrait of the area, and seemed to really take the time to get to know the varied communities and the history of the area.

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Most recently:

Pu Songling's Strange Tales From A Chinese Studio. This is an anthology of ghost stories, supernatural tales, and some folklore written during by P.S. during the 18th century. The book is hefty, though the stories are individually very short - all very atmospheric, like some Chinese precursor to Poe or (at times) David Lynch.

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