Reading for Pleasure

Reading for Your Pleasure 

from the Authors and Readers of

The Days Forward.com

The Days Forward Team recently asked our authors to share what they have been reading while we have been cooped up at home. Here are their suggestions for you. We hope you will find a book or two from our list to read yourself. In the comment section at the bottom of this page, please add the titles and authors of books you have enjoyed reading while we have been sheltering at home. Thanks for sharing! Enjoy!

Fiction

Kingfishers Catch Fire by Rumer Godden – Novel of Colonial India depicting an independent but naive British widow living in a village in Kashmir polarized by conflicting Hindus and Muslims.  – Meredith Rice

The Outsider  by Stephen King – An investigation into a horrible murder which first seems straightforward takes many turns leading the investigators to question everything they believe in. – Ryan Keysar

Glory Over Everything by Kathleen Grissom – The story about a man’s life in Philadelphia and his eventual journey on the Underground Railroad – Cindy Maxson

Armor by John Steakley – Military science fiction – Explores psychological trauma and loss through the eyes of a human soldier fighting a war against giant insects. – Christopher Rice

Fall; or Dodge in Hell by Neal Stephenson – What would happen if we could build our own afterlife? This book uses a post-Singularity world to investigate human nature, good, and evil – Christopher Rice

The End of Eternity by Isaac Azimov – Written in 1955, this science fiction features time travel and social engineering. – Ray Dupere

My suggestion is to read the Bruno, Chief of Police series by Martin Walker. There are 12 books in the series, and they are very enjoyable light reading. They feature Bruno who is the local policeman in St. Denis which is in the Bergerac area of France. Each book offers a little history lesson. Also, the food and wine mentioned throughout the books is yummy. Matter of fact – better not read these books when you are hungry, unless you can sip a nice glass of wine with a few snacks while reading. It’s best to read them in order, as they build on each other, even though the cases are solved in each book. – Art Nigro

For fiction, going back and revisiting Arthur Conan Doyle’s canon of Sherlock Holmes stories enjoying again these excellent treatises on deductive reasoning. – Bill Taylor

Any books by John Grisham, David Baldacci, WEB Griffin and Brad Meltzer – Gary Dolan

 Non-fiction

Destiny Disrupted: A History of the World Through Islamic Eyes by Tamim Ansary, tells the rich story of world history as the Islamic world saw it, from the time of Mohammed to the fall of the Ottoman Empire – Christopher Rice

Basilica: The Splendor and the Scandal: Building St. Peter’s by R.A. Scott – Suzanne Rice

The best book I have read thus far during the pandemic sheltering is The Splendid and the Vile by Eric Larson.  Larson, a great narrative historian, covers the first year of Churchill as Prime Minister during England’s entry into World War II.   He gives an anecdotal account of the Churchill family along with many of his closest aides and ministers.  One of the threads follows daughter Mary Churchill who turned 18 during the Blitz.  Beautifully researched with all quotes taken from actual conversations, diary entries, letters, etc., I wished Larson had added the rest of the war years to the story.  One year in the lives of this remarkable family was not enough! – Sally Robyn

Hillbilly Elegy by J. D. Vance – Family memoir highlighting Appalachian values – Cindy Maxson

Spearhead by Adam Makos – The story follows a tank crew, through the eyes of the gunner, as they cross northern France and ultimately into Germany after D-Day.  Well-written and accompanied by official Army combat footage of some of the action described in the book.  A page turner for any Armor officer, and compelling for anyone interested in the military – Jim Russell, Joe Gelineau

The Gene: An Intimate History by Siddhartha Mukherjee – A history of the gene from Aristotle to those who mapped the human genome – Bruce Wheeler

Mountains Beyond Mountains by Tracy Kidder – The life story of Dr. Paul Farmer focusing on his work fighting tuberculosis – Cindy Maxson

Bad Blood by John Carreyrou – True story of a Silicon Valley startup with a fantastic product idea, only it didn’t work. Even after they knew that, they hyped and faked it for years, meanwhile bilking millions out of venture capital investors. Reads like a novel – Pat Porter

The Way I Heard It by Mike Rowe. Enjoyable collection of musings, thoughts, memories, perspectives about a wide variety of things, from the “Dirty Jobs” guy – Pat Porter

Mere Christianity by C. S. Lewis – Written in 1952, the book is an adaptation of a series of BBC radio talks (1941-44) of Christian apologetics – Ray Dupere

Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy by Eric Metaxas, A biography of a man of great faith who stood up to Hitler during WWII – Joe Gelineau

Innocents Abroad by Mark Twain – A travel book published in 1869 humorously chronicling what Twain called his “Great Pleasure Excursion” through Europe and the Holy Land – Joe Gelineau

For Non-fiction: how to learn/manage in new ways (SCRUM, Kanban, DevOps) with Agile project management pioneered by – among others – Jeff Sutherland (USMA ’65; CO L-2)  A Scrum Book:n new ways (SCRUM, Kanban, DevOps) with Agile project management pioneered by – among others – Jeff Sutherland (USMA ’65; Co L-2) A Scrum Book: The Spirit of the Game by Jeff Sutherland – Bill Taylor

The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer by Siddhartha Mukherjee, a Indian-born American oncologist. Winner of the 2011 Pulitzer Price for General Non-Fiction – Bruce Wheeler

Land of Hope: An Invitation to the Great American Story by Wilfred McClay – a new history of the USA – Joe Gelineau

Even without a quarantine or “stay at home” orders, Grant by Ron Chernow is well worth the read!  Although weighing in at 965 pages, I found myself losing track of time as I followed the exceptionally well-written life of a truly unique American.  His reputation and contributions were so slandered, misunderstood, belittled, and mischaracterized for more than 100 years, that even West Point did not erect a statute in his honor until 2019.

Chernow did an outstanding job in researching every aspect of this complex man.  His humble upbringing, West Point education, his love of horses, his complete devotion to his wife of 37 years, business failures, drinking, military genius and 2-term presidential accomplishments, and his untiring efforts to heal the bitterness left by the Civil War.  His 8 years as president brought him as many enemies, inside and outside the Republican Party, as the War did.  But his actions invariably aimed for peaceful resolution. Highly recommend Grant!  His humble life of service still teaches us much today, especially in our contentious times.  – Eric Robyn

American Crusade by Pete Hegseth – Gary Dolan – This well written and well-documented book about the current political situation in our country is one of the best books I have read in many, many years.  Pete identifies, explains and critiques the array of “isms” currently prevalent in and plaguing our country.  He calls for action and describes in detail what should and can be done by patriots to defend our freedoms and American way of life.  READ THIS BOOK!

Sua Sponte: The Forging of a Modern American Ranger by Dick Couch – For anyone, enlisted or officer, who wants an in-depth account of what it takes to become a Ranger in the 75^th Ranger Regiment, this book is a must read.  Based on his permitted embedding, he accurately details the training and the demands soldiers must endure and achieve to earn the right as Rangers to join the 75^th Ranger Regiment. – Gary Dolan

Craig and Fred by Craig Grossi, a true story about a soldier in Afghanistan who is adopted by a dog and all this man went through to bring the dog home. The subtitle speaks to how they saved each other. – Cindy Maxson

Historical Fiction

“These are the best historical novels ever written.” NY Times referring to books written by Patrick O’Brien, the first being, Master and Commander, commonly called the Aubry-Maturin series of novels. Warning – these books are addictive. Once you’ve read one, you can’t wait to begin the next one. The novels have been equally popular with men and women. – Tom Ramos

Glory Over Everything by Kathleen Grissom.  The story of a man’s life in Philadelphia and his eventual journey on the Underground Railroad – Cindy Maxson

Les Miserables by Victor Hugo – A historical novel of France published in 1862 – Joe Gelineau

Books written by our authors

Platoon Leader by Jim McDonough – A memoir of commanding American soldiers in Vietnam

The Defense of Hill 781 by Jim McDonough – In this story, an officer’s lost soul earns redemption by leading a battalion of spirits through a post-death battle at the National Training Center

Limits of Glory by Jim McDonough – a novel of the Battle of Waterloo

Of Their Own Accord by Gary Dolan – a novel of Rangers in the Vietnam War based on true events

Blogs

Get an early glimpse into a soon-to-be published book by Tom Ramos

For those who want a quick reading fix, may I recommend reading my blogs that I have been posting over the past several weeks. They include excerpts from my manuscript for From Berkeley to Berlin – https://physicsandhistory.com. Just find them through the Search button, then sign up as a follower and you’ll automatically be notified when the next blog is out.  – Tom Ramos