I am just finishing "Tears in The Darkness" by Michael Norman and Elizabeth M. Norman. It is about four stories in one but the main story is about the Battle of Bataan and the Bataan Death march and life as a POW. The Main story is brought to us by the great Montana artist Ben Steele from Billings MT. There is also an interesting back story on Steele's life on a Montana ranch.

I just finished Chaim Potok's The Chosen which offers a very interesting look into Orthodox Judaism and Hasidism in New York City after WWII. The prose is rich and the story compelling. I highly recommend it.

[This message has been edited by Wendy Wilson (1/14/2011)]

I read The Chosen when I was in high school and was fascinated by a whole new culture. I just finished Medium Raw by Anthony Bourdain. Talk about a whole 'nother culture. Fascinating but not for the faint of heart or easily offended by the Queen Mother of All Swear Words.

I just finished "Nothing to Envy, Ordinary Lives in North Korea," by Barbara Demick. Fascinating! I had no idea how little I knew about that country and its history.
Also recently read Howard Zinn's classic, "A People's History of the United States." A must-read for a different look at history from the perspective of those who didn't write the textbooks. For example, who remembers learning in school that the Emancipation Proclamation only freed slaves in states that had seceded from the Union? A fascinating book that questions the real motivation behind political movements and leaders from Columbus to Clinton - cynical, but probably true.

Ken Follett's Fall of Giants. This is the 1st book of his latest trilogy, and it covers the beginning to end of WW I. Highly recommend it! It's not just another book about the battles in war, but of the movers and shakers behind it all. Of course it's fictional, but he uses actual events and people when possible.

I am reading a book called God according to God by Gerald Schoeder who I believe is Jewish. It has been very interesting and enlightening to read about Genesis and Exodus from a monotheistic Jewish point of view. I am especially intrigued by the authors quoting of the Talmud. Those of you who fried your brains on Bart Ehrman should give this book a read.

Sagebrush's Ecological Intelligence Report #50.

Ken Follett's Fall of Giants. This is the 1st book of his latest trilogy, and it covers the beginning to end of WW I. Highly recommend it! It's not just another book about the battles in war, but of the movers and shakers behind it all. Of course it's fictional, but he uses actual events and people when possible.


Pillars of the Earth and World Without End by Ken Follett are two of my favorite books of all time. I am currently reading The Shoeleather Treatment by Larry Johnson. True account of a man's time spent in an asylum for the criminally insane.

Sagebrush's Ecological Intelligence Report #50.

Really?

I'm on probably the 20th book by Raymond E. Feist. It all started with Magician: Apprentice. The one I'm reading now is Flight of the Nighthawks.

I'm reading "the girl with the dragon tattoo". I have heard so much about it that I decided to use it to test drive the Kindle app on my phone. Not exactly great literature, but it's fun and getting to be quite a page turner toward the end and the hero is interesting and unlikely. I downloaded the second book in the trilogy this morning.

I'm reading House Rules by Jodi Picoult and can hardly wait to finish it so that I can start The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets' Nest by Stieg Larsson--the third in the Girl with the Dragon Tatoo series.

Me too levi! A friend recommended "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo". I got a kindle for Christmas and that is the first book I've downloaded. So far I'm intrigued still...but I'm not quite half done. I think I will be reading the rest of the series.

Life by Keith Richards

I finished it this morning. It really picks up in the second half. As I said before, not great literature but a fun read.

I also read Steig Larsson's wiki page and he had a pretty interesting life himself, working for a far left communist magazine and investigating radical right wing and nazi groups. He was never able to get married because he was afraid that the marriage license would tip people off to his location and he got a lot of death threats. He died of a sudden heart attack at age 50 just after delivering the manuscripts of the Millenium trilogy.

Driving on the Rim, Tom McGuane

The story of the fall and comic redemption of a Montana physician. There are several mentions of Miles City (even the Miles City Cowboy football team) in this novel and it delivers acute insight into how community disgrace in a small south central MT. town can impact a high profile professional and those who revered him.

Notable quote:
"Giving freaks a pass is the oldest tradition in Montana. And you, my friend, are a blue-ribbon, bull goose freak.

Does that mean we have to give milescityhome.com a pass?

Giving freaks a pass is the oldest tradition in Montana.

Not the Montana I grew up in.

That book is based on the Hemingway doctor who went insane in Jordan. He would have been insane anywhere but being Jordan added a certain bizarre quality to his behavior.

I'm hoping Brady will read this - he's been just a little mellow lately and needs something to fire him up.

James Bradley, THE IMPERIAL CRUISE: A SECRET HISTORY OF EMPIRE AND WAR (2009)

I just started the "The Girl Who Played With Fire" last night. I'll let you know what I thought of it later tonight.

Finished it this morning before I went to work. Very good.

[This message has been edited by Bridgier (1/17/2011)]

I just finished The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest. I did the whole series in December - January after finally getting on the bandwagon. I enjoyed them immensely--like someone else said, not great literature, and at times verbose, but good reads nonetheless.

Also just finished The Pact: A Love Story by Jodi Picoult. She's always good.

Just going through my Kindle wishlist and the next will be Lit by Mary Karr (of The Liars Club) or Half Broke Horses by Jeannette Wall (of The Glass Castle). Life by Keith Richards is on there too.

I'm hoping Brady will read this - he's been just a little mellow lately and needs something to fire him up.

James Bradley, THE IMPERIAL CRUISE: A SECRET HISTORY OF EMPIRE AND WAR

Thanks Hal. I am still reeling from reading "Tears in The Darkness". It is the best book that I have read concerning the Bataan Death March, battle for Bataan and the post war court marshal and framing of two Japanese generals plus it adds a really good MT story as a back story. Very good but very disturbing. There were points during the read that I had to watch cartoons to relax.

On the lighter side I am reading the Hobbit to my daughters.

One thing that's kind of bugging me is that so far I don't think there has been one female character that doesn't sleep with Blomkvist within a week of meeting him. When you consider that the author basically was a real-life version of Blomkvist it seems kind of creepy and pathetic on the part of Mr. Larsson. I haven't finished the series yet so maybe he will grow up at some point but sort of seems to me like the author is trying to live some kind of teenage sex fantasy though his character which is getting tiresome.

Nine dollars and a penny will get you nowhere.

FIGHT THE POWER!

What are you saying? Had planned on sending all pennies.

Levi said:

I haven't finished the series yet so maybe he will grow up at some point...

Levi, you'll be surprised. I was like, "Wha-what?!" Now I have even more of a weird picture of him. Doesn't quite make sense. Anyone else have this feeling (without a spoiler)?

You guys are thinking too much. The tattoo series is light summer reading, it hardly requires in-depth analysis.

Just finished THE BUFFALO COMMONS a novel by Richard S.Wheeler. He draws upon the Poppers idea of the 1990s and presents both sides the enviros and the ranchers. The book is all about Montana, especially our area with Miles City a big part of the story.

Very interesting novel of local interest. Wolves and Buffalo vs agri-business. Warning!! no sex nor curse words.

Just finished "Unbroken" by Laura Hillenbrand. With a son in the marines it was a tough book to finish.

Now reading "A Century of Dishonor" by Helen Hunt Jackson.

Also just finished "Walk Two Moons" by Sharon Creech in my class, good childrens book, next week we start "My Brother Sam is Dead" by James and Christopher Collier.

I have just started a Bill Bryson book on Australia. It is hilarious so far. My noble husband had to order the blamed thing from the U.K. because it wasn't published in the U.S.A. Shameful. I love Bill Bryson!

Ike, I also enjoyed Buffalo Commons. I have a lot of Richard Wheeler's work. His wife was one of my favorite professors at MSU-B and was a huge influence on me. I met Richard at their house once--I enjoyed talking to him.

So now I'm reading Keeping Faith by Jodi Picoult. Don't know why I'm into her lately--just pops up on my amazon "recommended for you." The Kindle is going to drive me into the poor house!

I also have The Lady Rode Bucking Horses (an actual book!) dog-eared on my nightstand. Not the most challenging read, but interesting nonetheless. I enjoy books about women of the west.

Also reading a lot of Richard Scarry, as that is what my 3 year old is into. Highly entertaining and great illustrations. Who can compete with Lowly Worm?

I finished up "The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest" this evening and I have to say that I enjoyed the last two books very much. The 2 final books were really one story where the first book kind of stood on its own. I thought that the last two books were much better than the first one and overall I am very glad that I picked up the series.

Just finished reading "Vegetation response to seven grazing treatments in the Northern Great Plains".

Now I have a bunch of questions.

I bet. First and foremost, how do we stop the government from blasting the prairie with chemtrails?

Second: How do we interpret the response data knowing that chemtrails have poisoned the experimental plots?

I sure am glad I am not a 21st century range ecologist.

Just finished Timothy Egan's "Big Burn" about the 1910 fires that lit up three million acres throughout Washington, Idaho, Montana, and Canada. Egan keeps you on the edge of each story by leaving you hanging enough to turn the next page. It also covers the conservation roles of Theodore Roosevelt and Gifford Pinchot and their ideologies that put the Forest Service on the map against land hungry, tree chopping large corporations.

Going to start Egan's Pulitzer Prize winning "Worst Hard Time" about the survivors of the Dust Bowl and then finally jump into Norman MacLean's "A River Runs Through It."

I just finished reading "The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest". I agree with Levi, the last 2 books were much better than the first, and it was great reading...I wish there were more!

My friend recommended "Water for Elephants". I'm starting that now, but I'm in the mood for another good series of books... Any suggestions?

I just finished Frederick Douglass' "Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave" and am in the middle of his second autobiography "My Bondage and My Freedom". I highly recommend both. If you truly sit and take the time to ponder his accomplishments with the tools provided to him to succeed, it is absolutely astounding. A very powerful, yet simple, story and read.

"Lord of the Rings" again

"Back to the Future" by David Sirota

Rick, you should read this- it explains how corporate fear mongers have brainwashed Americans into believing that nothing good came from the 60's and 70's, like civil rights-women's rights)and that the Reagan (80's) years came from God. All provided to you by 80's pop culture and false retro-80's phenomenon that is accruing today.

I just finished reading "The Lost City of Z", about a British explorer of the Amazon who disappeared in 1925 and the efforts to locate him, including the author's visit to the area a few years ago. A pretty good read.

Staying in the adventure vein, I've just finished Endurance by Alfred Lansing about the by polar explorer Ernest Shackleton's mission to cross Antarctica on foot in 1914. On the way there his ship was locked in by ice which eventually crushed it and forced the crew to abandon it and try to get back to the nearest inhabited land 850 miles away. Nearly all of them made if after nearly 18 months! It's a fascinating read and a testament to the human spirit.

Daniel Walker Howe. WHAT HATH GOD WROUGHT: THE TRANSFORMATION OF AMERICA, 1815-1848 (2007).

It's one in the Oxford History of the United States series. Howe won a well-deserved Pulitzer for it.

Recently finished Wench by Dolen Perkins-Valdez--a quick, fictional account of slave women who were "violated" by their masters.

Now reading Between a Rock and a Hard Place by Aron Ralston.

"Room" it was a greAt book that challenged my reading comfort Level! Allso just read "unbroken" by Laura Hillenbrand, it was truly Amazing!

Assassination Vacation by Sarah Vowell. Its about the Lincoln, Garfield and McKinley assassins. I particularly like Robert Todd Lincoln, harbinger of presidential assassinations. He was near the vicinity of all three.

The Highland Series, by Hannah Howell!

The Pacific by Hugh Ambrose. Excellent capture of World War II. Hugh is the son of Stephen Ambrose who wrote "Undaunted Courage" about the Lewis and Clark Expedition. Both excellent reads for all of you history buffs out there!!

Stieg Larsson fans should go check out Jo Nesbo.

"The Psychopath Test", A Journey Through the Madness Industry by Jon Ronson. A very quick, interesting read.

"Team Of Rivals"
The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln

By Doris Kearns Goodwin

This is simply the best Lincoln book and the best biography I have read, period. The focus of this book is on Lincoln and his cabinet. Lincoln choose his cabinet from the rivals that he defeated on his way to the presidency. Can you imagine (today) Obama having Mcain as his Secretary of State.

It tells the story of the Lincoln administration through the eyes of his rivals and later his cabinet. These were men that hated Lincoln but would later walk side by side with him on his path of guiding the union through the civil war. They grew to love Abe and they wept upon his death. It is a powerful read.

I just finished "The Unexpected Patriot" by Shannen Rossmiller from Conrad, MT. She is the person who hung out in chat rooms with the Jihad and it is amazing and a real page turner. It would be great to have her come for the Speaker's Forum. Ed Kemmick was here last night to promote his book, "The Big Sky By and By". Also, a very fun read..some good stories about Miles City among many. A very good turnout.

Lincoln choose his cabinet from the rivals that he defeated on his way to the presidency. Can you imagine (today) Obama having Mcain as his Secretary of State.

Uhhh....don't you think Hillary is one of Obama's defeated rivals?

I just finished my summer read...."The Tontine" by Thomas Costain. It was a book owned by my late grandmother....she had signed her name in it, dated October 1955. It was a two volume historical noval set in Great Britain from 1815 to 1880 or so...had some slow moments, but overall an entertaining yarn.

I am reading "Bonhoeffer". It is the story of the Christiam Church in Germany in the thirties and fourties and a young minister who defies the take over of the church and is involved in an assanation attempt on Hitler. He is executed shortly before the end of the war. I always wondered why the Lutheran and Catholic churches fell in line with Hitler and this book explains all. It is kind of a tome at 544 pages but a good read. It is available on Kindle and I picked it up on a sale for 1.99 I think. Don't know if that deal is still on.

You might like this then as well: http://www.amazon.com/Cos...0684815001

"Angel Talk" by Rita Whitmer. Rita grew up (mostly) on Big Dry, by Jordan. Her life is quite a story. That's her family home, the log house that got moved to Wolf Point as part of the Cowboy hall of fame project. Rita lived with my family in '68-69 while she attended business college in Great Falls. What a cool lady with an incredible story. I recommend her book!

"Divine Sex: Liberating Sex from Religious Tradition" by Philo Thelos.

On Sarpy Creek by Ira Stephens Nelson. Gunnar, I read Then Tontine 25 years ago at my mom's insistence. Wish I could remember it. I've read so many books in my lifetime I have a hard time telling them apart now.

This is what I am reading RIGHT THIS MOMENT!!!

Just downnloaded bio on Von Bismarck going today only for 1.49

I've been reading the Repairman Jack novels from F. Paul Wilson. Very entertaining. I think I'm on the 9th.

I'm reading some sci fi story collections, George Elliot's Middlemarch and a very interesting history of the Basques.

Yesterday I read, "Brave New World Revisited" by Aldous Huxley. It was written in 1958. It could have been written yesterday, it is so relevant and amazing. He wrote the original "Brave New World" in 1932. I would like to recommend it

Still plowing through Middlemarch.

Reading "The Gift of Fear" by Gavin Debeker. Every woman needs to read it. About half way through. Talks about how we all have insight and should trust our gut feeling.

Just finished "The Hunger Games" trilogy by Suzanne Collins. I really enjoyed it. I stumbled upon it on accident and recently found out it is a semi-popular series. It was a very easy read but full of depth.

I hear Orson Scott Card is writing another book in the "Ender's Shadow" series. If anyone here has read the "Ender's Game" series, you have to read the "Shadow" series. It is about Ender's friend Bean and a lot of it runs parallel with the "Game" series.

Oh and of course George R. R. Martin's series "A Song of Ice and Fire" series. Does anyone know when a book 6 is going to be available?

Aaron

"Jay Cooke's Gamble" The Northern Pacific Railroad, The Sioux and the Panic of 1873. by M.John Lubetkin

This is the history of Custer's adventures in eastern Montna 3 years before the the Little Big Horn. Information on the battle at Paragon Pit with the Sioux. Local history

the communist manifesto....

[This message has been edited by bigsky (11/2/2011)]

The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen R. Covey. Was recommended by a great coach at a clinic in Missoula recently.

It could even help you, Aaron. LOL

Just read "American Gods" because it was one of those books on the list of greatest sci fi and fantasy novels of all time a person should read.

I was unimpressed. Maybe because I figured out the plot twists ahead of time and wasn't as fascinated with a car falling through a frozen lake as Mr. Gaiman.

Aw, I liked American Gods. It's pretty funny.

I noticed that this was mentioned and also noticed that it is on sale today only for the Kindle. Information below.



Amazon Kindle
Today's Daily Deal from the author of "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People" is recommended for anyone looking for balance in their personal and professional lives. What are your secrets for maintaining balance?
Kindle Daily Deal: Principle-Centered Leadership-Save 74% Off Yesterday's Price and Get it for $1.99
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Best-selling business author Stephen Covey presents the keys to life-long learning-each one unlocking the doors to personal fulfillment and professional success...

I am in the middle of reading Empire of the Summer Moon: Quanah Parker and the Rise and Fall of the Comanches, the Most Powerful Indian Tribe in American History.

An entertaining read. I am trying to hold off reading anymore until Sunday, when I fly to Vancouver B.C. A good book is a necessity when flying these days.

American Gods was amusing but I thought I'd be blown away by a masterpiece of fantasy. I wasn't. Not a bad book, by any means, and worth a read but it didn't live up to its hype.

Am currently scrounging for fresh reading material. May have to visit the library.

My wife loved "American Gods". I hated it. Neil Gaiman should stick to comic books (which I won't read either).
My wife has found my Nook and now I guess I have no way of reading my books. She has spent around $30 in a couple of days buying things I will never read and hasn't let me use it. Any paper books in the sci-fi/fantasy area anyone would lend me?

Oh, and I've mentioned it before, but a book called "The Carpet Makers" by Andreas Eschbach is awesome. He has some other books I would love to read, but this is the only one translated to english so far.

Having flashbacks to my earlier life as a physics graduate student.

Sean Carroll: 'From Eternity to Here'
Brian Greene: 'The Hidden Reality'
Lisa Randall: 'Knocking on Heaven's Door'

Ken Ziebarth