Thread: What are You Reading?

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.

I envy you guys reading these spy novels! In keeping with trying to prepare for the AP English teaching assignment I mentioned above, I just started Ellison's Invisible Man and Bronte's Wuthering Heights-both are heavy lifting, but I'm afraid my pleasure reading days are over for awhile.

I miss my Game of Thrones series!

Aloha!

I usually read three or four books at a time on my Kindle. These are a few I just finished over the holiday;

"A Year in the Merde" - Stephen Clarke
An English Businessman's account of living in doing business in France for a year. I lived in France for a few years when I was younger so I could relate to his trials and tribulations.


"Common Sense" - Thomas Paine
The foundation of what Jefferson used to draft the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence. Paine put forth in his writing much of the basis that these documents were built upon.


Mahalo!

-Zip

After 70 years, a reread of:
"Space Cadet" by Robert Heinlein
A 1948 guess as to when we would be having planetary colonies. And having travel speeds greater than the speed of light.
When?....about 2050
~Richard