What Book Are You Reading Right Now?!

The Dog Who Could Fly by Damien Lewis. The incredible true story of a WWII airman and the four-legged hero who flew at his side.
 
Alright, after a number of bluegrass and banjo related books, I've returned to a FAVORITE spy triller writer of mine, John Le Carre. Le Carre was in British intelligence for years during the Cold War. His novels aren't flashy, technology-driven works. They are methodical, cerebral books... I really enjoy. A new movie based on one of his books "A Most Wanted Man" is coming out in a couple of weeks and I wanted to read it before I saw the movie.

I did the same thing for "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy". The guy is a master writer. I had the luck of looking for the omnibus book of the Tinker Tailor trilogy (I had the British one, but I was looking for the American version... just to collect). The small book store in Sante Fe I talked to didn't have a copy but...

"We do have a first edition of 'Tinker Tailor' if you'd like that. It's coming from our San Fran location, so it may be a few weeks."

"Hmmmm, how much?"

"Uh, how about $25?"

"Well, OK that sounds good."


So I bought the book and after a few weeks it arrived in the mail. I did a brief search online... I wasn't sure if I paid the right amount... I never really bought older books.

After just a little research, I found I had purchased the English (it came out in the U.K. before the U.S. and the books were slightly different) version, first edition, first printing. And then I found that the book typically goes for $250! SCORE!!! Seems like the book store should have known that, but I guess I just got lucky.

Anyway, if you've never read any Le Carre, I recommend anything he writes, but starting with "The Spy Who Came Out from the Cold" is a good idea, or reading the entire George Smiley trilogy (although he does appear in other books as a minor character), in order.... "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy," "The Honourable Schoolboy" and, my favorite, "Smiley's People." His stuff just sucks you in....
 
"At Home" by Bill Bryson. I can recommend any of Bryson's books. I learn a lot and laugh a lot reading his stuff.
 
Any military novels or memoirs I come across...As a novice military mom, I pick up a surprising amount of world geopolitical knowledge and military terms from these books. Since my son had lunch with General McPeak awhile back, I'm currently reading his recollections.
 
That guy made a reputation in the AF.

He is still "he who shall not be named" in some circles.
As always, take personal opinions with a grain of salt.
 
LITS, I will second your LeCarre and pat your back on the score! Holy Cow! We've read them all so many times - and like Ender's Game (which is our family favorite and required reading in our homeschool), there are multiple (and dog-eared) copies on every floor - all over the house.

Great great reads.
 
Just finished "The Mockingbird Next Door; Life with Harper Lee" by Marja Mills. It was wonderful! Page 44 has a mention of her 1965 speech to West Point cadets:
"This is very exciting," she began that day, "because I do not speak at colleges. The prospect of it is too intimidating. Surely it's obvious--rows of bright, intense, focused students, some even of the sciences, all of them analyzing my every word and staring fixedly at me--this would terrify a person such as myself. So I wisely agreed to come here, where the atmosphere would be far more relaxing and welcoming than on a rigid, strict, rule-bound, and severely disciplined college campus." The cadets roared.
 
A Higher Call

Saw it listed on this thread, so just finished A Higher Call. Amazing story, great book.
 
fencersmother said:
LITS, I will second your LeCarre and pat your back on the score! Holy Cow! We've read them all so many times - and like Ender's Game (which is our family favorite and required reading in our homeschool), there are multiple (and dog-eared) copies on every floor - all over the house.

Great great reads.
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It's only going to get better. I emailed the John le Carre folks last week to see if I could send that U.K. first edition, first printing of "Tinker Tailor" to John le Carre to have him sign it. I got the response today, he's writing, but send the book and when he comes up for air he'll sign the book!

Looks like I'm going to have to figure out how to plan for including return postage from the U.K. this weekend!
 
That's pretty cool, LITS.

In other news, I've moved onto Dorothy Sayers and Lord Peter Wimsey's murder mysteries. Just getting ideas... :shake: (JUST KIDDING for all you panic-prone people out there)
 
LITS, that's awesome! By the way, you had me googling banjos the other day after your comment about your collection in the current USAA thread. It's amazing what can be learned on this forum! :thumb:

meh126, loved reading that quote you shared from Marja Mills' speech at West Point. Made me laugh. :yllol:

fencersmom, shaking in my boots. :wink:

I have moved on from Jane Eyre as reported earlier in this thread. As I mentioned, with both my boys gone now, I am "reading or re-reading" my bookshelf which is arranged alphabetically by author. Next came The Stranger by Albert Camus. That was, indeed, a strange one! Now I am on Great Expectations. I am sure this is a re-read, but I have not yet gotten to a familiar part. I guess that's the beauty of aging, the old becomes new again!
 
Snipers Honor by Stephen Hunter. The continuing saga of Marine Corp sniper Bob Lee Swagger. (The main character in the movie Shooter)
 
USNA02 said:
LITS, that's awesome! By the way, you had me googling banjos the other day after your comment about your collection in the current USAA thread. It's amazing what can be learned on this forum! :thumb:
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Oh banjos. Banjos are America's instrument. Their origins are from Africa, in a gourd-based design, often with three strings. The banjo developed into what we think of as banjos now, in the 1800s. The late 1800s and early 1900s saw the biggest changes and by the early 1900s the design was pretty much set, with small changes made here and there.

The five-string banjo (which is the kind I play) is typically what people think of when they think about banjos. It's characterized by one short string and three longer strings. In the early 1900s, with the rise of jazz, the five-string banjo lost popularity to the four-string banjo (played with a pick like a guitar). It wasn't until the rise of bluegrass that the five-string banjo made a come-back. This is why original Gibson flat head five-strings from before WWII are rare and worth $100K-$250K.

Ok, enough about banjos. Books.

A Japanese man named Akira Tsumura collected thousands of banjos in the 1970s-1990s. He had a book made in 1984 called "Banjos - The Tsumura Collection" and two books made in 1993 called "One Thounsand and One Banjos - The Tsumura Collection" and "Banjo - The Tsumura Collection (1920-1940)." While these books appeal to a small segment of the population, some, especially the "1,001 banjos" book, command a premium. His collection had so many "one of a kind" banjos and raritiest, that the books are the only places you can find them all. The big 18 lb. "1001 banjos" had only 2,500 copies made, for a cost of $3.8 million (according to the Fretboard Journal). The later "Banjo - The Tsumura Collection (1920-1940)" was meant to cover the 116 banjos Tsumura had purchased since his big book was made. Only 250 copies were made.

Anyway, I have been able to collect the items associated with the collection, including the three books, a poster and two sets of playing cards. To my knowledge, that's all that exist in the collection (as in, I have one of each item), so I had it insured.

In the late 1990s Akira Tsumura was found guilty of white collar crimes. Most of his collection was seized by his company. Some of the minstrel-era banjos were donated to museums, others were sold off to various collectors around the world, and finally some were lost and destroyed. It's the sad ending to a fine collection and it makes the books about the collection that more desirable.
 
"The Casual Vacancy" by J.K. Rowling and "My Horizontal Life" by Chelsea Handler. They're both pretty good!


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"Accidental Admiral" by ADM James Stavridis, USN ( Ret). USNA '76.


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An oldie that's always good to reread, "Under the Red Sea Sun" by Ellsberg".
 
Dietrich Bonhoeffer- "The Cost of Discipleship"
When all is said and done, the life of faith is nothing if not an unending struggle of the spirit with every available weapon against the flesh.”
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