I'm not sure I'm up to the task, but I have two seriously challenging (length) selections on my table that shout at me every day "Get Started with Me" !!!

Nelson Mandela, Long Walk to Freedom (autobiography), 625 pages

Andrew Roberts, Winston Churchill, Walking With Destiny, 985 pages

Lengths are challenging, but more so, I don't have a quick command of the history behind the men other than the broad swath of narratives we've all probably grown up with.

Slow reads for me since every page, especially the Mandela book is filled with names which are unfamiliar and difficult to grasp and track thru the books.

Looking forward to them. #donemaybebyChristmas #noneedtoorderanythingelseforawhile

Read 1491.

Looking forward to them. #donem>snaptube word to pdf vidmate aybebyChristmas #noneedtoorderanythingelseforawhile

Bonhoeffer by Eric Metaxis and biography on Stonewall Jackson by Gwynne

Singletary63 said:

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Read 1491.

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It's a good book, but 1493 is better.

Unusual for the sequel to be better

I have completed Natchez Burning by Greg Iles and am now on the second of the trilogy, The Bone Tree. I actually started Natchez Burning, which is about some unsolved civil rights murders, before all the George Floyd murder and protests happened. They are very long, and I'm a slow reader, but so far pretty darned good.

Took a break between the first and second to read Camino Winds by John Grisham.

Proverbs

TechDawgMc said:

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Singletary63 said:

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Read 1491.

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It's a good book, but 1493 is better.

Unusual for the sequel to be better

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Agree with this take. Currently rereading Germany from Partition to Reunification by Turner.

I read a pair of books at the same time that made a great combination. Did the audio book of Heirs of the Founders while reading American Lion. Heirs is about Henry Clay, John Calhoun and Daniel Webster. Lion is about Andrew Jackson. The overlap made the stories really interesting. Often I was getting Clay's perspective of an event while listening, then reading Jackson's perspective that evening. Since they were rivals who both loved the union but had very different visions for it, it made for good reading.

I'm just finishing Creativity, Inc. by Ed Catmull. The book is a bit overlong but Catmull (CEO of Pixar and now runs Disney Animation) does a good job of presenting his vision for how a creative enterprise should be run. And makes a solid argument that a lot of enterprises really are (or should be) creative in their approach. Good leadership book that probably needs a bit of editing to be great.

Read The Institute by Stephen King and I am almost finished with If it Bleeds. Both are outstanding, especially for huge King fans like me.

Waiting in line this Summer:

Essential Histories: The Russian Civil War- Dave Bullock (almost done with it.)

The Force- Don Winslow

Concrete Island- J.G. Ballard

Ten Caesars- Barry Strauss

Call Sign Chaos- Jim Mattis and Bing West

Active Defense: China's Military Strategy since 1959- M. Taylor Fravel

The Spanish Ulcer: A History Of Peninsular War- David Gates

In the mail today to add to the summer list -- taking them to Red River, NM in 3 weeks:

Code Talker, Chester Nez -- memoir by one of the Navajo code talkers of WWII

An American Childhood, Annie Dillard -- reflections on her American childhood (post-WWII and her growing up love for words and how they work)

Sweet Taste of Liberty, Caleb McDaniel -- story of restitution beyond the Civll War

Anybody sampled these and want to send me a PM brief reading guide? I won't start them for another several weeks and would welcome your reaction to these.

Baader-Meinhof(Aust)

The Accidental Superpower

The Puzzle Palace(History of the NSA)

Holidays in Heck(O'Rourke)