Read any good books lately?

I treated myself to a Kindle when the new model came out in the UK last October and since then have been tearing through books like never before. Just finished my latest so looking for more recommendations.

The book I just finished I had been meaning to read for the last 15 years since it was published. It was written by Howard Marks, who, by his own words, was a "transporter of beneficial herbs". His autobiography describes how a working class chap from a South Wales coal-mining village worked his way into Oxford University and discovered cannabis. From the connections he made he got into supplying the herb and from there worked up an elaborate worldwide cannabis smuggling operation stretching from Pakistan to Hong Kong, Bangkok to Calfornia.

It's fascinating reading from an intelligent, principled, anti-authority figure. It paints a withering picture of the corrupt nature of the DEA and the long and often bullying reach of US justice. Largely unspoken but looming throughout is the absurdity of the US enforcement policy on a mostly-harmless herb.

This book is not for everybody, but if you like the idea of lifting the lid on a principled criminal enterprise, and the clever techniques someone uses to evade the authorities, told to you by a charming, likeable, principled character, then give it a whirl.

Disclaimer - Regrettably due to the actions of some on MGE I have to add this. Just because I enjoyed this book does not mean I am a "drug addict", "druggie", "stoner", "drug smuggler", or any other libellous perjorative you care to make up about me and post in a public forum. I do not smoke cannabis, I do not deal in drugs, I do not transport beneficial herbs. I hope that is clear to the more "challenged" out there.

Any good books you've finished reading lately and can recommend? I seem to remember a few people recommended a book on John Adams, called, er, John Adams - that might be my next unless anyone has another recommendation?

A friend of mine got a Kindle for Christmas and already had one so she passed it on to me. I decided to try it out and ordered I Heard You Paint Houses: Frank 'the Irishman' Sheeran, Jimmy Hoffa, and the Biggest Hit in Mob History, by Charles Brandt. I am really enjoying the book and the Kindle, which I didn't think I would like, is absolutely awesome! I just heard that Martin Scorsese and Robert Dinero are making a movie based on the book. Considering that Goodfellas and Casino are my two favorite movies, I can't wait!

I am a great reader of Alexander Solzhenitsyn....The "Gulag Archipelago" 1 & 2 and also "A day in the life of Ivan Denisovitch". good books.
Oh forgot to mention......A book I'm about to start...."Life" by Keith Richards, allegedly a brilliant book and a great insight into the stones and his life.

Hellfire Nation, James Marrone
A great look at the evolution of religious influence in American Politics from the Puritans to the modern day.

For a short read, Becoming Justice Blackmun, Linda Greenhouse

One Second After, by William Forstchen. It's about a major EMP strike and the resulting chaos, restructuring, etc.. Very over the top as far as what damage can actually be done with EMP's, but the issues confronted address realities about infrastructure and interdependence, as well as insight into human nature during a crisis. I especially liked it because it is set in a an area of NC with which I'm familiar - kept it interesting for me.

anything by George Orwell oh and by the way cannabis is generally considered a gateway drug....and all drugs are bad unless prescribed by a doctor (and a good doctoer at that)

Eric Larson's "Devil in The White City" is one of the best books I have read in quite some time. By the middle of the second page it was 'off to the races, and I had a difficult time putting it down. The ending was not a tremendous let-down either as many books wrap it up and say "the end" in one or two paragraphs leaving the reader with a feeling like 'that's it?" "Devil in The White City" is set in Chicago in the late 1800's and is based upon actual events of the time. There are two and three story lines happening together and are all cleverly intertwined.

Jim B.

....Invariances by Robert Nozick....makes me wish I had paid lots more attention to math...and a whole lot of other things too...

Go Like Hell: Ford, Ferrari, and Their Battle for Speed and Glory at Le Mans

great book, got it on kindle

Just finished "When the Rivers Run Dry" And "The Revolution will not be Microwaved"

Don't read much anymore...tooo depressing.

...I thought you quit reading after all the pages got stuck together...frustration does lead to depression.....B)-

It's been a few years, but at least once every 5 years I read 'The Iliad' by Homer. A good English interpretation is a marvelous read. I've read the followup, 'The Odyssey' twice, it too is a remarkable book.
For a modern fictional writing in the same vein, 'Gates of Fire' offers an ancient adventure adaptation of a real event......quite fascinating.

Got a Kindle just after Christmas and downloaded Joshua Slocum's book Sailing Alone Around the World. First solo circumnavigation by sail. Great read and was a free download.

YMMV

Geoff

Drop City by T.C. Boyle is pretty awesome.

Two books I've read recently... very well written, and completely different.

The Art of Driving in the Rain

The Art of Fielding

The "new" Sherlock Holmes House of Silk was very enjoyable, and I thought quite true to A.C. Doyle.


Peter C

This is what I'm reading. VERY good so far, and much better than his 2nd flop

"The Lion Tamer" by Claude Bahles.

i just finished larry watson's new novel "american boy."

now i'm reading "babbit" by sinclair lewis. seems like around every campaign season i read one of his books. last campaign season it was "it can't happen here."

I just finished The Smuggler's Ghost a Florida version of the book you finished.

I read this book - "The Whiskey Rebellion." A lot of the same comments made today have a basis in history. All you hear about this in school is that it cemented Federal power to tax. Perhaps Constitutional institutionalization of a monarchy. Paints a poor picture of Alexander Hamilton, and a rather unflattering position for George Washington. Backwoods intrigue and a desire for Liberty at odds with the paying the Revolutionary War debt speculators at the expense of the ordinary Citizen. There is a comprehensive bibliography.

...Hmmm might try that book...