Thread: What are You Reading?

I'm slowly working though Atonement. It's written so differently from the last book I read (The Revenant - I loved the book but really did not like the movie) that it was tough to get into it.

I was also disappointed by the movie version of The Revenant. It diverged too much from the book and had some major plot issues. I also got sick of the antagonist (Hardy).

This evening I reread The Declaration of Independence.

Hardcore !

I just finished rereading Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath. I found out last week that I'll be teaching AP English in August-lots of works for the canon I need to read up on.

Treasure of Khan by Clive Kussler

Here's an update on a book in an earlier post, Two Years Before the Mast. I finished it over the weekend after some time away from the book. The author wrote the book based on his experiences aboard a merchant sailing ship off the coast of California in the 1830s. He described the daily life of a common sailor as his ship sailed up and down the coast between San Diego and San Francisco loading hides. For those interested in sailing ships the account describes in physical aspects of sailing a ship under different conditions. Honestly, I was lost at times because I am unfamiliar with sails and rigging. The author is also describes his shipmates pretty well as well as Californian towns and culture before it came under American control.

The latter chapters of the book are devoted to describing the lot of the common sailor and how they might be abused by the captain or ship owners. The author also devotes chapters to his return visit thirty years later and contrasting the changes. The book seemed longer than its 400 pages to me because it moved rather slow. For me the most interesting part of the book was the descriptions of life aboard ship, Californian culture, and the sparsely populated region.

The Bourne Supremacy. Before that it was The Kill List by Frederick Forsyth.

Does anyone have any suggestions for really good spy type novels?

Originally Posted by ChrisL

The Bourne Supremacy. Before that it was The Kill List by Frederick Forsyth.

Does anyone have any suggestions for really good spy type novels?

More Forsyth novels. I liked his earlier works like The Odessa File and Day of the Jackal better than the later books.
There is also John le Carre.

Originally Posted by Leatherstockiings

More Forsyth novels. I liked his earlier works like The Odessa File and Day of the Jackal better than the later books.
There is also John le Carre.

Thanks for the suggestions. I liked the Bourne Identity novel a lot. I'd seen all of the movies prior to reading the novel (usually I try to read a novel before seeing a movie based on a book....). The Bourne Supremacy....I'm about 3/4 through and it's Ok, but not all that great. Funny how the movies work well but are barely based on the novels. Nothing in the movies about Bourne's wife, etc.