Book Recommendations

It’s been some time since I have done a book review.  Well, not review as much as sharing some good books I have read recently.  And with summer just around the corner I know you are looking for something decent to read.

First, I decided to finally read the Harry Potter series late last year.  Yes, I never read them.  I started to read them as I had nothing to read one day and my older son has the collection of books, which he has read multiple times.  I won’t provide an update since I am roughly 15 years late on everything, however, they were an enjoyable and easy read.

One day I was just wandering through the library and picked up The Lost City of Z by David Grann.   I was a bit hesitant as the movie was just okay, however, the author wrote Killers of the Flower Moon, which is a great book.  The Lost City of Z did not disappoint.  While the stories of Percy Fawcett’s expeditions into the Amazon were amazing, I was more shocked by what I learned of the Amazon itself.  I had no idea the size of the territory itself, let alone the massive size that is the river.  

I mentioned before the wonderful book Shadow Divers.  It is about some “amateur” divers who found a WWII Nazi sub off the coast of New Jersey (you can find anything at the Jersey beach, right).  Just wandering around the library paid off again as I found another book by the same author, Robert Kurson.  It is Pirate Hunters and involves one of the main characters from Shadow Divers.  Instead of searching for a sub, this group of divers was looking for a pirate ship in the Dominican Republic.  The book is a terrific read, from reading about the backgrounds of the main characters to the history of pirates themselves.  I learned a lot about pirates, although it is not a good idea to share how ship “surgeons” handled amputations around the dinner table.  

Because Robert Kurson has never steered me wrong, I tracked down Rocket Men from him.  No, this has nothing to do with American and North Korea nuclear talks (sorry, had to make the crack).  It is all about Apollo 8, the first mission to the Moon.  Again, another great book by Kurson.  He does such a great job with the history of the mission as well as the individuals involved.  I’m amazed at what these scientists and astronauts were able to accomplish in such a short time and with the limited (in comparison to current times) technological resources they had available to them.  Oh, and sharing information on things such as the horsepower of the Saturn V rocket is much better than amputations at sea from centuries ago.

Finally, I am working my way through the Harry Bosch novels from Michael Connelly.  I have read a few of those over the years and figured it was good mindless reading.  So, I am now reading them in order.  I will say he does a great job with his details and describing scenes.

So, you now have some of the better stuff I have been reading lately.  I go through about a book a week and am always looking for solid recommendations.  I think I need to find some good ones about exploration of the US.