2013 -- What books have you read?

Originally Posted by Crabtownboy
Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe

This was a better read than I had anticipated. It will never go down as great writing, but because of how influential it was in our history it deserves a reading by all. As bad as Stowe makes slavery out to be she does not paint as dark a picture of this miserable institution as that described by Frederick Douglass.


Rippon replied: It is a wonderful book. I read it about five years ago. One can get absorbed by the story even now that many are jaded.


The story was much better than I had anticipated. I also now believe that with many people living now that Uncle Tom gets a bad rap.

 

Blind Descent by James Tabor




This is an interesting read about Bill Stone and Alexander Klimchouk and those that have been tagged with the name "super cavers". Stone and his group explored, on numerous trips, the supercave, Cheve, in Mexico. Klimchouk and his group explored the supercave, Krubera, in the Republic of Georgia. Both cave are extremely dangerous and have taken their toll of cavers. Krubera is a very cold cave. The waters Klimochouk and his folk had to endure run in the 30's F. That is COLD. The author says these supercaves are like climbing Mount Everest in reverse. Whether in a cold cave or one not cold, the time spend exploring is physically miserable ... cold, wet, in muddy clothes, sleeping on rocky inclines in total darkness, or worse in hammocks hung from a vertical wall with a floor hundreds of feet below in not for the timid. These folk have to be able to endure miserable conditions and overcome their fears and panics.

 

Out of Order: Stories From the History of the Supreme Court by Sandra Day O'Connor

A good, but difference type of civics lesson by the first woman justice. The book includes a brief history of the court, a chapter on humor in the court, a chapter on four 'larger than life' justices and more.

 

The Girls of Atomic City: The Untold Story of the Women Who Helped Win World War II by Denise Kiernan.

From a review:

 

The Boys Crusade: The American Infantry in Northwestern Europe, 1944-1945 by Paul Fussell

The war in Northwestern Europs, 1944-1945 was fought primarily in the American sector by kids 17, 18 and 19 years old. We had pretty well run out of older fellows and these kids were replacement. For the most part rapidly and poorly trained they suffered greatly, both in battle and from the winter weather. The generals all thought the war would be over before winter set in and so had ordered ammunition, but not winter clothing for the kids.

This is a very readable, eye opening small book. There is a chapter on the terrible battle for the Hürtgen Forest that is not widely known, but should be as we took so many casualties there.

Any history buff should read this book.

 

The Boys In The Boat: Nine Americans And Their Epic Quest For Gold At The 1936 Berlin Olympics ... by Daniel James Brown

This is a really good read on the crew team from the University of Washington who won the US national championship and represented the US in the 1936 Olympics held in Berlin. The description of the last race for the gold is nail biting, even to read ... more so as the race was, obviously, rigged against the two strongest teams, the US and England.

 

I'm a Stranger Here Myself, by Bill Bryson

Bryson lived in England for several decades and then returned to the United States. A newspaper editor talked him, kicking and screaming if you believe Bryson, into writing a weekly column on life as a returned American. As always Bryson writes with insight and humor. A really good read with good laughs while shedding light on life in America and contrasting it with life in the UK. There are definite differences.

 

Sounds like a very interesting book.