book recommendations needed....

C.S. Forester:
The Hornblower Series
The General
The African Queen

Patrick O'Brian:
The Aubrey-Maturin Series (this will keep you busy for months, 20 books).

The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammet is a very good book too.

Most of these can be found in used book stores for cheap.

Here is a minor list of books that will definately give you stuff to ponder for life:

1.) War on the Saints (unabridged) by Jesse Penn Lewis. (This is at the top of my list)

2.) Battling the Hosts of Hell, Win Worley (may be out of print)

3.) Piercing the darkness, Peretti (fiction, and a bit far out, but intresting)

4.) 50 years in the Church of Rome, Chiniquy (Has alot of early American history, Catholic History etc. He was a contemporary of Abe Lincoln)

5.) Also, get Kent Hovind's video set. If you even think of looking at these, the Evolution croud will blow gaskets, but I grew up on loads of evolutionary theory. This gives you the OTHER side of it. Available from DrDino.com. Kent is still in Jail, for IRS fussing. He is probably more American than Kennedy though.
It will DEFINATELY hold your attention.

And, last, but not least, take your fishing pole, and camera!

🙂

Nate

"A Soldier of the Great War", Mark Helprin or "Memoir in Antproof" Case by Mark Helprin.

Also, Highly recommend "Accordion Crimes" by Annie Proulx

> Historical fiction is usually my wheelhouse.
>
> maybe something radically political And/or Religious??

My inner TDD suggests this

I don't buy everything Kunstler says, but anyone who titles their blog Clusterf%$k Nation displays a certain flair for the language that I can't help but admire 😉

On the non-fiction side, if you can get past the authors writing style and voice (a lot of readers can't), this is probably the only book I've read past the age of 30 that fundamentally changed my philosophical outlook on the world: The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable

Wikipedia - Black Swan Theory

I'll assume that you have read Peter Matthiessen's Killing Mr. Watson trilogy since it takes place in your wheel house's backyard.

Andy,

These are just a few of what I have REALLY enjoyed lately. Have fun on your vacation!

ps: Ford county is a GREAT vacation read!!!!

Chickenhawk by Robert Mason

More than half a million copies of Chickenhawk have been sold since it was first published in 1983. Now with a new afterword by the author and photographs taken by him during the conflict, this straight-from-the-shoulder account tells the electrifying truth about the helicopter war in Vietnam. This is Robert Mason’s astounding personal story of men at war. A veteran of more than one thousand combat missions, Mason gives staggering descriptions that cut to the heart of the combat experience: the fear and belligerence, the quiet insights and raging madness, the lasting friendships and sudden death—the extreme emotions of a “chickenhawk” in constant danger.

Ford County by John Grisham

In his first collection of short stories, John Grisham takes us back to Ford County, Mississippi, the setting of his first novel, A Time to Kill.
Inez and her two older sons take a road trip to visit the youngest brother, who's locked away on death row.

Mack, a low-grossing divorce lawyer, gets a phone call with an offer to settle some old cases for more money than he has ever seen.

Sidney, a data collector for an insurance company, perfects his blackjack skills in hopes of bringing down the casino empire of Clanton's most ambitious hustler.

Three good ol' boys from rural Ford County journey to the big city of Memphis to give blood to an injured friend.

The Quiet Haven Retirement Home is a place with little controversy, until Gilbert arrives.

Stanley Wade bumps into an old adversary, a man with a long memory, and the encounter becomes a violent ordeal.
Featuring a cast of characters you'll never forget, these stories bring Ford County to vivid and colorful life.

Pirate Latitudes by Michael Crichton

Jamaica in 1665 is a rough outpost of the English crown, a minor colony holding out against the vast supremacy of the Spanish empire. Port Royal, Jamaica?s capital, a cut-throat town of taverns, grog shops, and bawdy houses, is devoid of London?s luxuries; life here can end swiftly with dysentery or a dagger in your back. But for Captain Edward Hunter it is a life that can also lead to riches, if he abides by the island?s code. In the name of His Majesty King Charles II of England, gold in Spanish hands is gold for the taking. And law in the New World is made by those who take it into their hands.
Word in port is that the Spanish treasure galleon El Trinidad, fresh from New Spain, is stalled in nearby Matanceros harbor awaiting repairs. Heavily fortified, the impregnable Spanish outpost is guarded by the blood-swiller Cazalla, a favorite commander of King Philip IV himself. With the governor?s backing, Hunter assembles a roughneck crew to infiltrate the enemy island and commandeer the galleon, along with its fortune in Spanish gold. The raid is as perilous as the bloody legends of Matanceros suggest, and Hunter will lose more than one man before he finds himself on the island?s shores, where dense jungle and the firepower of Spanish infantry are all that stand between him and the treasure.
With the help of his cunning crew, Hunter hijacks El Trinidad and escapes the deadly clutches of Cazalla, leaving plenty of carnage in his wake. But his troubles have just begun. . . .

Historical Fiction

My two favorite historical fiction authors are Arturo Perez-Reverte and Alan Furst.

Especially Furst, he writes spy novels that are usually set in Eastern Europe during the years leading up to, and the first part, WWII

The Guns of the South (1992, ISBN 0-345-37675-7) is an alternate history novel set during the American Civil War by Harry Turtledove.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Guns_of_the_South

DDSM

The Bible

Genesis to Revelation

wow, Dan, to say that is "alternate" history is a bit of an understatement. more like if science fiction and history had some kind of bastard child... never heard of that book before.

thanks all, some good ideas there. some i have read, or authors at least, so we are on the right track.

The Bible

i didn't say anything about humor, HC, but not a bad idea, either.

history
Two Years Before the Mast by Richard Henry Dana
A true history book, the "Bible" of those who were considering moving from New England to California in the 1860-1890 era.
"Tracing an awe-inspiring oceanic route from Boston, around Cape Horn, to the California coast, Two Years Before the Mast is both a riveting story of adventure and the most eloquent, insightful account we have of life at sea in the early nineteenth century. Richard Henry Dana is only nineteen when he abandons the patrician world of Boston and Harvard for an arduous voyage among real sailors, amid genuine danger. The result is an astonishing read, replete with vivid descriptions of storms, whales, and the ship's mad captain, terrible hardship and magical beauty, and fascinating historical detail, including an intriguing portrait of California before the gold rush. As D. H. Lawrence proclaimed, "Dana's small book is a very great book." "

historical fiction
The Cruise of the Dazzler by Jack London
High quality historical fiction of San Francisco Bay in the say of sailing ships...
I found it in a collection of short stories by Jack London... the entire volume is great but The Dazzler really stands out in my memory.

religion/philosophy/spiritual
both the Tao Te Ching
The Tao Te Ching is fundamental to the Philosophical Daoism strongly influenced other schools, such as Legalism and Neo-Confucianism. Like the Bible, there are many versions, the link is to my favorite.

and the companion...

The Dude De Ching
The Tao Te Ching is fundamental to the Philosophical Daoism that strongly influenced other schools, such as Legalism and Neo-Confucianism.
The Dude De Ching is an interpretation of the Tao Te Ching for followers of Dudeism. I find that it is a faithful translation into modern "hipster" lingo.

enjoy your time!

Unfamiliar Fishes

Sarah Vowell analyzes the history of Hawaii's Americanization, "where Manifest Destiny got a sunburn."

THE CASE OF THE FLYING SAUCERS
by Manly Palmer Hall (33ø), July 2, 1950
Typed lecture notes by Virginia B. Pomeroy
241 Orizaba Avenue, Long Beach 3, California

Manley Hall got his Phd in Ancient Philosophy at Bezerkley 1920's. He traveled the world his whole life giving lectures at universities and Society Lodges of many types.

He is a RATIONAL Occultist.

His forte is exposing charletans.

He is a superb writer and story teller.

He was prolific. His range of subjects is amazing.

In the last two years his writing are being published in paperback for small coins. WalMart has got him. Prior to a few years ago there may have not been a few hundred thousand people who knew his work. Since the paperbacks at least a million more do. He is definately upcoming. All his original first editions are getting $300-$1000 depending upon title and condition. That has doubled in two years, DURING THE DEPRESSION.

Another is the history of the Continental Convention in his work, The Secret Destiny of America. Where did that all seeing eye on the back of every buck come from? Very interesting.

Here is a link where you can read examples of his many works.

http://www.manlyphall.org/text/the-case-of-the-flying-saucers/

His whole life is documented at the Philosophical Research Society web site.

Sounds like Ted Dekker may be a candidate.

http://www.teddekker.com/about/

He is a childhood friend of my wife in PNG and she reports he is a good story teller. In one of his novels he used the names of her classmates for all the major characters, and based their parts in the story on their real life character traits and personalities.

For DELIGHTFUL reading, I recommend these 3 historical novels by Gore Vidal. The are not historical "fiction" as the dialog, etc is not in disagreement with history.

They are: Lincoln (as in Abe)
Burr (as in Aaron)
& Julian(as in Roman Emperor)
lots of wit and humor

For Political: Radical Son
by David Horowitz

The story of his days as a radical leftist and his changing of views to conservatism. Very good reading.

+1. especially the Horowitz book.

I went back and re-read Sanburg's Lincoln after finishing Vidal's, two entirely different takes on the same man. While Sanburg is the master of prose, I think Vidal did the better journalistic job, more in keeping with the time and what tremendous pressure an imperfect man had to deal with, to the point he had to betray ideology for pragmatic results that 'preserved' the Union.

Andy,

For your wheelhouse how about Linda Greenlaw's non-fiction books. The Hungry Ocean, The Lobster Chronicles, and All Fisherman Are Liars. I have not yet read her latest book on swordfishing on TV yet. When we are in Maine we stop at Hamilton Marine (One of my favorite toy stores in Maine) in Portland. After Hamilton's it is around the corner down Commercial Street to the Dry Dock Bar for lunch or drinks. I have met Linda and she is the real deal of a fisherman. Different than you see on TV.

Anything by James Rollins. The above discussed Pirate Latitudes by Michael Crichtone or Guns Of the South. Also Wilbur Smith's River God, ancent Egypt.