Reading The 1000 Books to Read Before I Die

"This was the land where no man had to bow" Michael Shaara, The Killer Angels Hello 1000 Bookies!!!!  We have a great blog post on The Killer Angels .  The Killer Angels is on the list of 1 000 Books to Read Before You Die.   When we were young kids, our guest blogger, Mr. Jonathan Hanson and I went on a trip to Gettysburg with his wonderful parents.  We had been watching the miniseries,  North and South Book 2 and it was a real treat.  We saw the cyclorama and the battlefield. Jon was a Civil War reenactor who fought at Gettysburg. Who better to review this masterpiece--I am so proud to have Jon's blog post on The Killer Angels .  Without further ado... A Review of the Killer Angels By Jonathan Hanson  The Killer Angels by Michael Shaara makes my Top 10 List of Books I’d Want on a Deserted Island. Every time I read it, I find something new within: a connection between characters or a historic reference that I’d missed before. As a hist...

“Number one: you are not the first and you will certainly not be the last. Number two: remember, it’s not about the money—it’s about The Chain.”   Adrian McKinty The Chain: The Sum of All Parents Fears By Jim Romano The Chain is a novel by Northern Irish author, Adrian McKinty.   The novel scared the hell out of me.   Pure and simple.   The events written in The Chain is the sum of all my fears as a parent.   Everyday I worry about the safety of my daughters.   Adding onto my worries about a crazed person with a gun shooting up their school, I also worry about them being kidnapped. I worry about them being sexually abused. I worry about evil being visited upon them.   The Chain brings out how our social media society could be perverted to hunt our children. This story begins with a kind of botched kidnapping.   A 12-year-old girl is kidnapped at her bus stop.   The kidnapping is a notch in the chain.   The girl’s mother...

“Ever since Alistair Cooke left Masterpiece Theater, Mr. Sheffield doesn’t sleep as soundly”, Fran Fine, The Nanny Memories of The Great and The Good By Alistair Cooke The late Alistair Cooke was an old reassuring friend.   Alistair Cooke was a British journalist, television commentator and host as well as author who spent his career explaining Americans to his home country.   He also explained Americans to their fellow countrymen. Of course, I have never met Mr. Cooke personally before he passed away in 2004 at the age of 95.   When I was young boy and I would visit my grandparents’ home on a weekly basis.   When I finished my ice cream, my chicken soup, drink my V-8 and polish off a cookie or two, I would leave my dad to talk with his parents and go down the hall.   I would go through the dining room and the living room to the back bedroom and take out my grandfather’s copy of Alistair Cooke’s America .   The grandfatherly looking man on th...

“How many readers, fascinated by the allure of Marco Polo’s travels on the Silk Road, have daydreamed   of following in the fabled Venetian’s footsteps?”   James Mustich, 1000 Books to Read Before You Die Our next stop in the 1000 Books to Read before You Die, we land in the 1980s and embark on an expedition through Asia along what is left of the famed Silk Road.   This read has been one of my favorites so far in this journey to reading there 1000 books.   In Xanadu is a travel journal of sorts. The story is of this student that traces Marco Polo’s journey from Jerusalem to Xanadu in Mongolia in the year 1985.   The story is part educational, part unrequited love story, part political intrigue and an all-around excellent read.   The story is NOT tough to get through.   In 2000, 6 weeks after marrying the most beautiful girl in the world, like Odysseus, I set off on an adventure that I never believed I would ever take.    I found m...

Good Morning 1000 Bookies!  Our next selection from 1000 Books to Read Before You Die takes place in the city of the Boston.  Personally, I love Boston and have ever since I first ventured there as an 8 th grader during a field trip for the all-boys prep school I attended.  It was love at first sight and that love has endured.  My wife and I had several wonderful trips to the city over the years including the one where I purchased her engagement ring.   Bostin is the land of the Puritans, of John Winthrop, Cotton Mather, Young Benjamin Franklin, James Otis, Samuel Adams, John Adams, John Hancock.  Boston is the Shining City on a Hill that President Reagan invoked.  In modern times, Boston was home to the Fitzgeralds and the Kennedys, Progressive ideals, Gay Marriage and the Red Sox.  Whenever I am lucky enough to travel to Boston, I love to walk the Freedom Trail, to see and experience several important sites from an importan...

Hey 1000 Bookies, I have a real treat for you.  My good friend, Sharon Vines and her family visited the Arches National Park in Utah this summer.  The book I reviewed this week from 1000 Books to Read Before You Die , was Desert Solitaire by Edward Abbey.  The book details his experiences during the two years as a park ranger at the Arches.  I thought it would be great to present a first hand experience of the Arches National Park from this summer.  Sharon was a great sport.  I have included her photos for everyones enjoyment.  Thank you so much Sharon!!!!  Memories of Arches National Park By Sharon Vines Day 31 of our 43 day road trip brought us to Arches National Park.  After talking with rangers about which trail would best suit us - the boys, 9 and 11, prefer trails that are more than just a path, they enjoy rock scrambles or an opportunity to go a little off trail.  We were directed to the Landscape trail which leads t...

"Wilderness.  The Word itself is music" , Edward Abbey.   Hello 1000 Bookies!!!   For those you do not know me, I am not one of the more outdoorsy types. For those who do know me, you are not surprised by that statement.   However for our next selection in the  The 1000 Books to Read Before You Die is a true story from the great outdoors.  I firmly believe that the Book is a magic portal to take me to lands i have never seen, stories i never imagined. The first place i landed was in Edward Abbey's Desert Solitaire . The book takes place in the late 1950s. Mr. Abbey spent several seasons as a park ranger in the Arches Monument National Park near Moab, Utah. The book was published 50 years ago. Its a fascinating read about a part of the country i didn't even know existed. The book is 340 pages but every word is carefully chosen. From boating/rafting down the Colorado River to Glen Canyon (which has since been dammed) to climbing down...

Hey 1000 Bookies: In our next installment of 1000 Books to Read Before You Die, we view Ender's Game.  My friend and our Guest Blogger, Jon Hanson reviews the story.  IF you have any comments please list them below.  Without further ado: Enders Game, A Review By Jonathan Hanson I first read Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card when I was 14 and was instantly taken with this book. It’s a coming-of-age story with a twist. Imagine being a child and being saddled with the task of saving humanity. Think you can handle the pressure? In the future, Earth has twice fought an alien race known as the Formics and barely survived both wars. To ensure the survival of the human race, Earth has begun to breed military geniuses and training them in the arts of war. Earth has a “two child” policy to limit overpopulation, but if a family has a third child, they become the property of the Earth government and trained to be soldiers. Andrew “Ender” Wiggin is a Third who display...

Lucky Jim By Kingsley Amis Howdy 1000 Bookies!!!  The latest book on my long journey to read all the volumes from 1000 Books to Read Before You Die , is one entitled— Lucky Jim by Kingsley Amis.  Published in 1954, Kingsley Amis is credited for having captured the moment of the “Angry Young Man” in post-World War II England.  Time Magazine included Lucky Jim in its TIME 100 Best English-language Novels from 1923 to 2005 . What Catcher in the Rye means to generations of readers in the United States; I believe Lucky Jim means to Great Britain.   Catcher in the Rye was the seminal work describing youth in postwar 1950s America. Lucky Jim describes intellectual university life in postwar Britain. Both novels embody an “Angry Young Man” theme one through escape the other through comedic satire. Lucky Jim tells the tale of a junior professor of history at a British university and the politics of the university system.  Jim Dixon hates his job, ...

Hello 1000 Bookies-- I am so happy to announce that my good friend Jonathan Hanson has agreed to be a guest blogger at Reading1000Books.com.   Jon is discussing his favorite books.  We are so happy to have him. A Review of IT By Jonathan Hanson As a fan of Stephen King’s work, I have read all of his books and I am looking forward to his latest work, The Institute , which will be released on September 10 th . Today I would like to review one of his biggest books, and the subject of a soon-to-be-released movie, IT . I first read this book when I was only 13, so it seemed pretty relatable to me, since the main characters are around the same age. The story, which takes place in both 1958 and 1985, focuses on 7 children who battle a malevolent force that lurks in their town, killing people. The kids fought the creature but they were never sure if they killed IT and vowed to reunite if IT ever came back. 27 years later, IT returned and the seven frie...