My friend Bill recommended this book – he thought it was a perfect summer reading book. I’ve heard about it hundreds of times, but I’ve never read it. I’m glad I did, and I agree wholeheartedly, Bill – this is a great summer reading book.
Jack and his growing and suspect group of friends travel back and forth across this huge country and into Mexico over the course of several years. There is no desire to settle down, but there is a strong desire to experience the next amazing thing and the next spectacular location. And that location is usually far away from where they are. These beat generation explorers wanted nothing to do with what the rest of America was doing in the 1950s.
The book evoked memories of Tom Wolfe’s The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test, with the extraordinary, insane, and often humorous experiences brought on by drifting, drugs, and a lack of responsibility. The only time in my life like this was my four months of temporarily dropping out of college to be a street musician in Berlin. And that was a magical time of drifting and suspension of responsibility. Note the lack of drugs – I’ve never been a drug guy.
They had no business surviving with all that they experienced, but they did. I loved the book (Thanks, Bill!), and it certainly evoked feelings of what summer should feel like – at least a little bit.
You can purchase the book here.
OK. I love this book. It’s one of the few books I’ve read where, after I finished it, I immediately began reading it a second time. I’ve written about it in two separate blog posts, and I have many friends who have read it and loved it after I suggested it to them. It’s a tale of a traditional white male on a long car trip with a stranger who at first comes off as a little off and maybe a bit crazy, then, starts to seems wiser by the minute. It’s wonderful. If you read my blog posts, you know that as I have aged, I find more and more peace and wisdom from Buddhist teachings. I also find that they are in line with Judeo-Christian philosophies as much as you want them to be. Our religions and philosophies do not need to be exclusive. That’s probably too much for a book review, but that’s what I’m saying. This book makes you think. As I’m writing this, I’m starting to think I should read it again.
You can purchase the book here.
I can always read a John Grisham novel. This one is not a legal thriller, though there are lawyers involved. I’m not sure JG is allowed to write a book without mentioning the word lawyer. Part of his contract of something. Anyway, it’s about a down on his luck NFL quarterback who needs a new start. He moves to Italy to play with an Italian football team (yes – American football) in Parma. It’s a pretty male-oriented book, mostly about football and beautiful women. It was a quick read, but I almost think he wrote it so he can get tax deductions for all future trips to Italy. Fun read, but I’m not sure I recommend it.
You can purchase it here.
I bought this book because I loved Roland Merullo’s Breakfast with Buddha, and I love golf. Not nearly as impactful as the Breakfast book, but light and enjoyable. The idea of deities caring about sports such as baseball and golf is a so far fetched in my book, but again, fun to read.
My favorite line: “I should have seen that the human mind is all knotted up by a two-colored rope: hope and fear.” Isn’t that the truth? If we could just be in the moment, and not worry about the meaning of the moment, we would all be happier and better. I’ll let you know when I figure it out. But as of today, a 3-foot putt where $1 or a certain score are at stake gets my heart beating higher than it should. I’m a work in progress.
You can purchase the book here.
I picked up this book again when a friend of mine undertook an up-and-down the Pacific coast motorcycle ride (actually, it was a Malibu to Bend, Oregon and back motorcycle ride). I read it back in high school and remembered many parts of it, but I wanted to read it again with him. As I read it, I remembered why I loved the book, and I remembered why I found much of it unintelligible or way beyond my philosophical educational baseline. I do appreciate the ruminating on the concept of quality and the concept of peace of mind. I found those pieces insightful, and along with the picture of a man trying to reconcile being a father, an employee, and a philosopher, insightful, but again, very challenging. I did like the book, and I enjoyed my conversation with my friend after re-reading it, but that will probably be the last time I re-read the book. Twice into the mind of Robert Pirsig is enough for me.
This was a book that my wife Jill was reading for her book club near their Halloween meeting. Although I’m a fan of science fiction, I’m not much into the Werewolf/Vampire genre of books. I certainly appreciated Lupin the werewolf in the Harry Potter books, but this book focuses entirely on it. I hate to admit it, but I enjoyed the book and found it to be a great read. I particularly appreciated the idea that we as humans have dulled our senses to our environment, and we neither notice nor appreciate what the world feels like, smells like, and tastes like. We are in such a hurry that we ignore most of what is around us. It reminded me of The Power of Now. I’m probably reading too much into that, but it did cross my mind a few times while reading. Fun read.
A thoroughly enjoyable bio-tech thriller of a book. Gene therapy and the search for immortality all wrapped up in a who is the really bad guy thriller.
If you liked the Fall of Giants (I did), then you will like this one too. The same families in the first book now witness the rise of the Third Reich, World War II, and all of the surrounding events of the 30s and 40s. A great page turner. I look forward to reading the last book in the trilogy soon.
I read this book after the How To Do Nothing book, and it actually fit in quite nicely. This is a beautiful story of a young woman who raises herself, without parents, siblings, or friends, on the Carolina coast. All she does is pay attention and appreciate everything that is around her. With the help of a few key people, she overcomes flagrant discrimination and hate aimed at her by educating herself, and ends up leading an incredibly fulfilling life. All that, plus an intriguing murder mystery, unfolds to make it a fantastic tale. Love it, love it, love it!
My dad recommended this book to me. It’s a combination of science fiction, sixties mentality and utopian society thinking that had me going back and forth between wanting to stop reading the book but also wanting to see the full evolution of the thinking of Mr. Heinlein. The hero, a Martian, tries to (1) adapt to our society and (2) get us to see why his society has advantages, changes lives and then frightens the whole world with his radical thinking. There are some things we are just not ready for.
Continuing my “summer of satire.” This is a book on MBUSD reading lists that I had never read, but had always meant to. It is not the most uplifting of books. The hero is crazy, the aliens question our focus on linear time, and the insanity of war rips throughout the book.
From rural living to the search for Buddhist meaning in India. If you have read the Power of Now and you liked it, you may find this book meaningful as well. Even if you do not find it meaningful, it does provide a window into Buddhist culture that most school books do not.
I “read” this book via an audiobook. I love audiobooks when I am traveling, but for some reason, not while commuting. I listened to this one as I drove up and back from visiting my son up in Sacramento. It’s a historical fiction book, but it is based on research and in my mind, highly believable. If it did not happen exactly this way, it was close. It’s a story of a promising young African-American boy who is arrested in assigned to a reform school. This “school,” based on the Dozier School in Marianna, Florida, was really a prison full of torture, murder, profiteering, and flagrant law breaking, all right under the nose of the Florida state government. And they knew. This is a powerful book – it’s sad, shocking, and in spite of the small rays of humanity and hope that sometimes appear, it beats me up that this is our country, 100 years after the Civil War.
This was recommended to me by my father. It is a story of a 70+-year-old cowboy and war veteran whose main occupation was going around Texas and other western states reading citizens the news that they cannot get otherwise. It was a time when literacy was very low and news publications could not be accessed so his services were in demand. Along the way, he meets a man who has a girl who had been abducted by Native Americans and recently taken back from that tribe. He agrees, reluctantly, to return her to her family in Texas. This book is about that journey. This fascinating, tender, exciting, and a great combination of a western and a heartfelt story. I loved it all and highly recommend it.
This is another book on the Mira Costa reading list that I had not yet read. It deals with difficult family issues, coming of age, race and rural living. I can see so many ways to use the book in the classroom, and I know it is powerful enough to spark thinking.
This is a book my wife read with her book club. It’s not my typical read. It’s a Pulitzer Prize winner which means it’s pretty “literature-y” for my tastes. I know, not a very good thing to say. In spite of all that, I loved it. It’s an insightful tale of a middle-aged man in search of himself through an around-the-globe journey. First and foremost, the language is fantastic. I have to slow down when I read literature like this, because if I don’t, I miss so much of the beauty of the book, which is probably the main point. I enjoyed it, and enjoyed the reflections of Mr. Greer all the way through. It’s one of those books that make you realize that outstanding writing is truly hard work. You just know he labored over every word. Enjoyable, and it’s actually a book I will read again.
I know it’s summer when I’m reading a Michael Connelly novel. It’s not great literature, but it’s always fun. This is his first legal novel. By the way – Mick Haller – our lawyer hero – is not a “Lincoln lawyer” because he works in the traditions of our 16th president. He is called that because his office is the back seat of a Lincoln Continental. Classy. Good summer reading.
I don’t get a chance to read much non-fiction, but when I do, there’s not much better than a Barbara Kingsolver novel. My wife read this one for her book club and I jumped on it once I heard it was Barbara Kingsolver. It’s a fantastic book set in the first half of the 20th century mostly in Mexico, but a little bit in the United States as well. As usual, she creates fantastic characters and vivid visuals. It’s a bit of a historical novel, involving eventually people like Trotsky and a few other famous men of the World War II era. She combines art and politics and adventure, and I was thoroughly entertained the entire read. I haven’t read of a book of hers yet that I did not love. And I recommend this one highly.
I just finished reading this three part series that young adults are crazy about. I can see why. It’s a bleak vision of our nation in the future, and it is a teenager who gives hope to the world. I loved it. Keep in mind, I do love the fantasy books like the Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter, so this wasn’t a stretch. It’s a page-turner that actually raised my heartbeat as I read it. I finished all three quickly because I wanted to get them done. They’re not well written, but the story is awesome. The movie comes out soon – I doubt I’ll see it, but at least I’ll know what everyone is talking about!
My 25 year old son, who just graduated from law school, was my companion as we watched all of the Lord of the Rings movies come out during his time in high school. Between the Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter, we read some really fun books and got to see some highly entertaining movies. One of my best memories is going to Walmart in Arkansas and purchasing the final Harry Potter book. We then went out on the lake to water ski and play. By the end of the day, both Ryan and I had finished the book. He read it in the early morning, and I read it after he was done, and we talked about it the rest of the day.
For my younger son, the Hobbit movie gave us the opportunity to re-read an old classic. I read it first in 9th grade as a part of a history class. I still don’t get why, but I loved the book. We then saw the movie. We saw it first in the 48 frames per second mode, and hated it. Then we saw it in normal mode, and thought it most excellent.
Kind of a Catch 22 for Science Fiction. This is a book I’ve heard much about, but I’ve never read. The author is crazy, and I thought it highly entertaining and though provoking. Earth being blown up is really not even a passing thought, and it goes haywire from there.
I started playing golf when my older son was seven years old. He wanted to play so I started playing with him. He was beating me by the time he was 12, and we still love playing together. It’s a fantastic game that takes way too much time but I don’t know anything better for creating an amazing setting for father and son conversations. My younger son is now 14 and has finally decided to start playing as well. I look forward to many years of playing golf with my sons and getting beaten soundly by both of them.
This book is a great book about the mystery of golf. It’s a story about a mythical Scottish golfer named Shivas Irons who talks about the fact that our heads get in the way of us playing good golf most of the time. I know that to be a fact. Great book, great read, and a great reminder of what is wonderful about golf.
This is a book I read when our English department wanted to make it one of our summer reading options for juniors and seniors. Our English department takes very modern books that have been recently awarded with prizes for adolescent literature as its summer reading books, and since they are brand new, none of us have read them. I offer to help with that process and find the reading highly enjoyable and provide my input to our English department.
This book is about a 17-year-old in the Yugoslav civil war in the 1990’s. There is clear reference to the atrocities of war. There are stories of relationships developed and relationships lost during the war. And in my opinion, it’s a book that I highly recommend for our 16-, 17- and 18-year-old students. There are some more mature themes, but I believe juniors and seniors are ready for those. I thought the book was beautiful, I thought it was instructive in terms of modern military conflicts and how real people are affected by that, and I thought it would be an excellent book for interested teenagers to read.
It’s been years since I read Pillars of the Earth, but I remember loving it. Follett has published two books recently: Fall of Giants, a WWI book, and Winter of the World, on WWII. Fall of Giants is historical fiction were characters from the US, Russia, Germany and UK. It was one of those books I reached for whenever I had a free moment and it was a great read. I’ll move quickly to the next book. I highly recommend it!