Current Book - 2nd Half of 2008!

Just finishing Canoeing with the Cree by Eric Sevareid.

The summer Sevareid graduated high school, he and his friend Walt took off to paddle from Minnesota to the Hudson Bay!

It's a simple book, written by a youngster. But it captures a moment in time as these boys become young men.

====================

ps- made a new thread because the old
one was becoming pretty darn long :-)

I am presently reading Undaunted Courage by Stephen E. Ambrose. I mad really enjoying it. I ahve read one other by Ambrose and am anticipating starting on his biography of Eisenhower pretty soon.

I just finished Nuts and bolts of the Past and posted a review. I found the book very interesting but I doubt it will ever hit the bestseller list. For me, as I mentioned in the review it provided a good understanding of how industry developed in the United States and that helps me understand the early labor movement. Just learning that Cyrus McCormick had been a Southern plantation owner helped me understand a lot about his attitude towards unions.

I just started, because I am taking a years worth of 100 level Spanish in 12 weeks, Una mujer en la oscuridad or Woman in the Dark by Dashiell Hammett. The class could be going better so I thought I could learn it the way I learned English, by reading. I am familiar with Hammett, I wanted one I had read before but I was surprised at how hard it was to find fiction in Spanish in Ohio so I took what I could get.

I can't wait to get back to history.

Good review TL.

So tell me about this method you have of learning a language by reading. I want to learn French (so I can read French journals) and could use all the help I can get.

pam

Pam

Thanks for the encouragement.

I am ¾ of the way through the class and, well, learning a language is best done young. I missed that boat. I am going through the book, sentence by sentence, it is one hand and a Spanish/English dictionary in the other trying to make sense of it. It is really just practice. The more I am exposed to the conjugations and the grammar the more I hope I will internalize.

#2 morryb. I am listening to To America: Personal reflections of an historian by Stephen Ambrose and am staggered at how much I love his perspectives and ability to present history in such an interesting manner.

"The paunch of a male buffaloe, when well cooked, is very delicious food. The Natives scarcely ever wash it, but boil it with much of its dung, adhering to it; and even then, the broth has an excellent taste."

I am currently reading a most excellent article on food which will shortly be a blog item.

"Meat's Meat": An Account of the Flesh-Eating Habits of Western Americans
Author(s): Martin Schmitt

Reading Fallen Founder: The Life of Aaron Burr. Gives a new perspective on the life of this man.

I am reading Freethinkers: A History of American Secularism by Susan Jacoby, as well as Moral Minority: Our Skeptical Founding Fathers by Brooke Allen. I'm also dipping into (and enjoying) Amish Roots: A Treasury of History, Widsom, and Lore by John A. Hostetler.

I'm reading an ARC called The Wordy Shipmates about the Puritans, more specifically John Winthrop and Roger Williams, by Sarah Vowell.

Two recent books about 1960. Rome 1960 about the Olympic Games held that year; and another about the bruising election campaign that year: 1960: LBJ vs JFK vs Nixon. Both very engaging reads.

I am about halfway through a book The Huguenots of Colonial South Carolina It was originally published in the 1920's and was the authors Thesis. Most of the time line is form the 1680's until about 1764. Though I find the subject matter very interesting, the style of writing is very bland. I guess I ahve become spoiled by some of the very good historical authors that I have read.

As the end of the year comes. I've picked up a couple new ones to start reading. Revolutionary Characters, which I picked up on sale so I am a little hesitant about, and Samuel Adams A Life which I got because I liked John Adams so much. Has anyone heard of either of these?