Well, at this point he’s still just getting his troops together in Illinois, so I haven’t gotten to anything about the civil war yet, really. But I’ll bear that in mind when I do get there. I’m not expecting it to be totally historically accurate anyhow, but so far the level of blunt honesty about himself was kind of unexpected. I’m more interested in his view of things and in how he remembers them. If he continues the way he has started, it seems he won’t be overplaying his own achievements, and I’m enjoying that part of it. Thanks for the info. I mean to go looking for something about Gen. Thomas in the near future, so if you have any recommendations, I’m happy to have them.
Funny, I was thinking of getting True Grit as an audiobook after seeing the movie on TV the other day. I had the book as a kid and probably read it ten times (what happened to my copy, anyway)?
Finished
Neverwhere by Gaiman
Breath by Winton
Tofu Landing a first publication by E. Maloney
Starting
Against a Dark Background by Banks
Good for you - glad to help! I think George H. Thomas is one of the great unsung heroes of the war. A Virginian who remained loyal to the Union and won every battle he ever fought, he cared deeply for his men and (unlike many of his peers) never wasted their lives needlessly. In all he was a humble, careful, well-prepared but aggressive general.
Smithsonian magazine had a nice short profile of him three years ago - it’s a good place to start: Catching Up With "Old Slow Trot" | History| Smithsonian Magazine
I just read this new bio, which (ironically enough) I believe overstates the extent of Grant’s antipathy towards Thomas, but it’s still very much worth reading: http://www.amazon.com/Master-War-General-George-Thomas/dp/0743290267/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1268919918&sr=1-1
This was the definitive bio for years, and if you really enjoy the Bobrick book, you might want to have a look at it, too: http://www.amazon.com/Rock-Chickamauga-General-George-Thomas/dp/0806119780/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1268920004&sr=1-2
Just started Oliver James’s The Selfish Capitalist and I am finding it distressingly accurate.
I’m on Treason’s Harbor (Aubrey-Maturin).
I’m also reading Horns by Joe Hill. I’m reluctant to finish it. It started weird (guy grows horns and people he encounters share their innermost thoughts, evil thoughts) and then it settled down to a murder-friends-revenge plot, and then it got weird again. What’s he doing? Am I going to like it or will it be a big ol’ WTF?!
Hill is Stephen King’s son, as you probably know. I’ve read good reviews for Heart-Shaped Box, his first thriller, but haven’t really heard anything about Horns.
Starting America Eats! On the Road with the WPA, a book about the unfinished WPA project in the 1930s that employed writers to produce “an account of group eating as an important American social institution; its part in development of American cookery as an authentic art . . .” Writers like Nelson Algren, Eudora Welty, Saul Bellow and Ralph Ellison covered fish fries, political barbecues, church picnics and harvest dinners, but funding for the project was pulled.
The editor, Pat Willard, follows in the original writers’ footsteps, pairing their articles with followups 70-plus years later.
Something I didn’t know until I read the thank-yous at the end of the book was that his sister Naomi King is a minister. Holiday dinners at the King house must be really interesting!
I thought Heart-Shaped Box was pretty good, especially for a first novel. I liked his short story collection better though, especially Pop Art.
I bit the bullet and finished Horns this afternoon. Five stars, some really smart writing in there. Joe’s books are selling well, and I like that he appears to be doing his own thing, honestly telling the story he wants to tell, not pandering to readers who might demand lots of gore or happy endings.
I’m not sure if I learned this or am imagining it, but I thought his sister was a UU minister, in which case dinners would be much less eventful.
edit: it’s true, but it’s his daughter.
I just read *As God Commands *by Niccolo Ammaniti, and thought it was brilliant. A very taut, intense novel.
I am now reading The Book Of Fathers by Miklos Vamos, another novel that is highly regarded and is quite engrossing.
Both are very good books.
Last night I finished The Ask and the Answer, second in a YA series by Patrick Ness. This is a really interesting series about life on a planet where all men’s thoughts are known to others. Like the first book, this one had a moment that just punched me in the gut. Good stuff. 
However, the books end on cliffhangers, so it might be better to collect them all before beginning…
I’m still reading the introduction to my next book, Cathy Erways’ The Art of Eating In: How I learned to stop spending and love the stove. It’s about a New York woman who swore off eating in restaurants for two years. Apparently that’s a crazy thing to do up there. This sentence really caught my eye: “Many New Yorkers would view choosing not to eat out as foolish at the least, disrespectful at the worst, and overall, perfectly nonsensical.” Any New Yorkers want to weigh in on that one?
Yes, that strikes me as completely insane.
I just got the Kindle edition of The End of the Beginning, had I known Abe Lincoln; Vampire Hunter was available, i would have picked that up instead.
Ah, that’s what I thought. Although I have visited New York City and wondered where all the grocery stores are (and the gas stations, and the Wal-Marts), I know people must shop and cook…
LOL, yes we do shop and cook. But living here and not going to any restaurants (when you consider that so many are available at various price points) would be like living in Paris and declaring that you’re never going to go to see any art.
I’m actually so befuddled as to why she would take on such a silly project that I might read the book.
I’m still nominally reading Alexis de Tocqueville Democracy in America, but it’s a slog. I found a couple of interesting passages, but what can I say, it’s not major fun.
Especially when compared to a couple of things I’ve found on the shelves that I had not yet read. Just now I finished Lord Foul’s Bane, the first volume of Stephen Donaldson’s Chronicles of Thomas Covenant. Very good stuff! All that ring-wearing and mountain-questing seemed a bit derivative, but otherwise it was very good. I don’t think Donaldson quite succeeded in convincing me that Covenant remained convinced throughout that everything was a dream , but then I’ve never been transported into a fantasy realm.
I’ve also started Larry McMurtry’s Lonesome Dove. I’m not quite as impressed with it as the reviewers, but it’s likeably quaint so far. And like some others here, I’m about to start reading Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, which will fit neatly in with my recent reading of Queen Victoria: Demon Hunter. Next up: Winston Churchill, Zombie Slayer, in which the loveable Prime Minister battles undead hordes in South Africa only to discover the grim truth: Germany’s storm troopers are zombies! Barely coming through World War I, Churchill’s warnings go unheaded as the zombies prepare for a re-match…can he manage to become Prime Minister in time to stop them?
I’ve finished Gods of Manhattan by Scott Mebus - it was a birthday present from my daughter, who enjoyed it thoroughly. I liked it, but I kept thinking to myself “This is a cross between Rick Riordan’s “Percy Jackson” series and Knickerbocker Holiday.” Rick Riordan had recommended it highly on his website.
I just today finished Making Money by Terry Pratchett. This is the first of the DiscWorld novels I’ve read - I tried to read The Colour of Magic and didn’t enjoy it enough to finish it. Making Money was delightful, and full of all the clever touches that I’ve enjoyed so much in Good Omens and the Tiffany Aching books.
Poetry - I finished Camber by Don McKay (selected poems from between 1983 and 2000), which I loved, and The Best Canadian Poetry of 2009, which was mixed, but gave me a new list of interesting poets to track down at the library.
Next up - Ruling Passion by Reginald Hill; I’m slowly working my way through the Dalziel and Pascoe series in order. Slowly, because I think it’s great and I’m in no hurry to get to the end.
Thank you. I think the Smithsonian article was the first I’d ever really heard of him. I’m kind of surprised that my dad had never mentioned him. I think he’d be the kind of guy Dad would have approved of. I was impressed by what I read in the article, which is why I want to know more. I’ll go looking for those books as soon as I can.
Very good. I wish you happy reading on “the Rock of Chickamauga.” PM me if you want to discuss further, or start a new thread and let me know.