I've read and enjoyed Philbrick's "In the Heart of the Sea" and "The Last Stand"

"Two youths of the Macaronic profession are indeed greatly preoccupied upon the boards of the floor, in seeking to kick and pummel, each into the other, some Enlightenment regarding the Topick of Virtual Representation. An individual in expensive attire, impersonating a gentleman, stands upon a table freely urging sodomitical offenses against the body of the Sovereign, being cheered on by a circle of Mechanics, who are not reluctant with their own suggestions. Wenches emerge … and in brogues thick as oatmeal … recite … British sins."

just read "From Chumps to Champs" by Bill Penningtom. Its the story of how the Yankees went from one of the worst teams in baseball in the early 90s to one of the best by the late 90s. As a Yankee fan, I enjoyed it.

I also read "10 Innings at Wrigley" by Kevin Cook which is the story of the wild game on May 17, 1979 between the Phillies and the Cubs. Very entertaining

The Looming Tower
Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11

Lawrence Wright

Exceptional !!

Le tour du monde en quatre-vingts jours (1864) One of the best by Jules Verne in his long Voyages extraordinaires series, the original French is dramatically different than the English translations of Around the World in 80 Days that are commonly on the marketplace. The English versions are children's books. Whole sections are omitted and what was translated is seriously dummied-down for the 10 year old. Jules Verne actually wrote adult novels for an adult audience. For those of you near Kansas City, Worlds of Fun amusement park is based off of Le tour du monde.

I fell behind on my summer reviews. Briefly, from what I can remember:

Lord of the Flies (1954) by William Golding. Reread this one (first read it 35 or so years ago in high school). The writing holds up, but the premise – even civilized boys can become “savages” – isn’t exactly earth-shattering anymore.

Kolyma Tales (2018 translation, written in 1950s-60s) by Varlam Shalamov. 700+ pages, autobiographical stories of the author’s years in Stalin’s gulags. Sometimes repetitive, always depressing (took me weeks to read, every other book listed here took me 1-2 days), but worth it for the understated poetry and philosophical digressions. Recommended to me by a Russian guy I know slightly (father of my son's classmate) who insisted Shalamov's better than Solzhenitsyn. I think he's right!

Good Trouble (2018) by Joseph O’Neill. Short stories. Clever enough but lacking spark, or soul, or something. Reminiscent of Martin Amis.

The Feud (1983) by Thomas Berger. Brilliant, one of his best novels. Hilarious dialogue, big cast of characters who are all well-drawn, and a couple of them (rare for the misanthrope Berger) even sympathetic.

The Houseguest (1988) by Thomas Berger. Similar to his great novel Neighbors in style and tone, but not quite as good.

Changing the Past (1989) by Thomas Berger. Hokey “three wishes” scenario wherein the main character gets three chances to relive his life as a different person, one of them as an obnoxious Don Rickles-with-a-touch-of-Lenny Bruce standup comic. Meanders around, never quite comes to life.

A Horse Walks into a Bar (2014, translated 2017) by David Grossman. Won a lot of awards, got rave reviews, and I can’t see why. The writing is competent, sometimes (especially near the end) even very good, but the story and two main characters (one of them an obnoxious Lenny Bruce-with-a-touch-of-Don Rickles standup comic) are unpleasant and uninteresting.

So, Kolyma Tales if you're looking for a weighty read, The Feud if you want a fun quickie.

The Martian Chronicles (1950) The original publication includes the original lineup that is not politically correct. I just like Ray Bradbury and this is the 6th or so time (I think) I have read this book. Wonderful as always.

Black Klansman (2014; updated 2018 to add in some shots at the racist Trump) by Ron Stallworth. Memoir by the black policeman who infiltrated the KKK in Colorado in the 1970s. A few laugh out loud moments, but rather slight and might have worked better as a longish magazine piece than a padded out book. I look forward to seeing Spike Lee's film based on this.

The Impostor: A True Story (2014; translated 2018, with some added shots at the liar Trump) by Javier Cercas. Account of a celebrated Spanish victim of the Nazi concentration camps who, in 2005, was exposed as a fraud who had been lying for decades about his life (he never came near a concentration camp, in fact had volunteered to work for the Nazis in a German factory during WWII to avoid military service in Spain). Well-written, but it seems to me the author could have done more if he hadn’t kept inserting himself into the story with his hand-wringing anguish: "But I’m a novelist ... I also lie, don’t I? And I’m using this liar to advance my own career, aren’t I? Am I as bad as him?" etc. A "just the facts, ma’am" approach would have made for a more readable book, as the subject here is genuinely fascinating, the author not so much. P.S. The impostor is still alive, and pushing 100.

The Adversary: A True Story of Monstrous Deception (2000; nothing about Trump) by Emmanuel Carrère. This one was mentioned in Cercas' book, and sounded like a better attempt at a similar thing, and in fact it was. Less hand-wringing from the author, better-paced. Here the subject/liar is a French man who posed as a successful doctor for nearly two decades, fooling everyone including his family. When the house of cards finally starts to collapse, he kills his parents, wife and two children to "protect them" from the pain they’d feel upon discovering the truth. Like a character from Patricia Highsmith come to life. P.S. He was released from prison a few months ago after spending a quarter of a century locked up.

Ghost Soldiers- The story of how army rangers went behind enemy lines to rescue Bataan Death March survivors from a Japanese POW camp.

Washington’s Spies- the story of the Revolutionary Culpepper spy ring.

In fiction I like detective stories so the newest Jack Reacher, and Elvis Cole/Joe Pike stories.

I like the Jack Reacher series and Elvis Cole/Joe Pike as well... Nick Petrie's "Peter Ash" books are along the same vein - been reading them this summer.