Upton Sinclair, Thomas Pynchon, Adam Hochschild: This Time of Year Brings Out the Book Discusser In Me

• Hi Duff, These are some pretty deep reads. I have read quite a few of these. Very Intense. I don't know where you stand with Native Americans. But, here is a Good Read: "Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee" by Dee Brown The First time I read this was Senior Year English as a pre-requsite. I have read it many times since. Hope you enjoy :D

• How cool that you are such an avid reader. I also recommend The Power of One. Such an incredible story. Coincidentally I just finished reading it a few weeks ago. I haven't decided what to read next. It's either Persuasion, by Jane Austen or Barack Obama's book Dreams From My Father.

• Hi! I'm preparing at the moment my final exam in American Studies and one of my subjects is Slave Narrative. I've read Harriet Beecher Stowe's "Uncle Tom's Cabin" and Frederick Douglass' "Narrative" so far and just finished Harriet Jacob's "Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl" yesterday. The latter is my favorite of the three; Jacob's life story and sufferings are extremely moving and I had to lay down the book and take a deep breath several times when reading about the cruel treatment the slaves had to suffer from and what Jacob's had to endure in order to escape slavery and protect her children. It is barely immaginable how so-called civilized and pious people could do such a mischief to other human beings only because of their skin color. I highly recommend this book since it touches your heart and shows how important solidarity and acceptance towards people who seem different are. For in the end we are all human beings with the same feelings and longings...

• Duff, As I recommended earlier - please download the e-book version of Ashtavakra Gita by Bart Marshall - it will bring you to zero! Enjoy! Regards, Amit

• Duff, a Africa tamb�tem um papel muito importante na hist� do Brasil, foi deste continente que vieram os escravos para trabalhar nas lavouras de caf�construir as cidades, servir as fam�as, mas principalmente deixaram uma marca muito forte na cultura atrav�da dan� da m�, culin�a e outros. Houve um poeta brasileiro chamado Castro Alves conhecido como "poeta dos escravos" que narrava o sofrimento dos escravos e o combate a escravid� obras maravilhosas que emocionam at�oje. P.S.:Sorry to write in Portuguese, it is because my English is terrible!

• Duff, a Africa tamb�tem um papel muito importante na hist� do Brasil, foi deste continente que vieram os escravos para trabalhar nas lavouras de caf�construir as cidades, servir as fam�as, mas principalmente deixaram uma marca muito forte na cultura atrav�da dan� da m�, culin�a e outros. Houve um poeta brasileiro chamado Castro Alves conhecido como "poeta dos escravos" que narrava o sofrimento dos escravos e o combate a escravid� obras maravilhosas que emocionam at�oje. P.S.:Sorry to write in Portuguese, it is because my English is terrible!

• Hey, recommendations from a finnish book addict. Purge, Sofi Oksanen, fantastic finnish author. Tragic, yet optimistic story about two generations of women, secrets, pain and shame, living under the Soviet regime and life after that. The Oath - A surgeon under fire, Khassan Baiev, A compelling, heart-breaking narrative of the situation in Chechnya in the Chechen- Russian conflict.

• How about: Guests of the Ayatollah: The Iran Hostage Crisis: The First Battle in America's War with Militant Islam by Mark Bowden I read it in one sitting. My name is Surly, and I am a book addict!

• So I'm feeling like the odd gal out here. I find it so hard to concentrate & comprehend what I'm reading unless it's something I'm just totally passionate about..like music or animals! I rarely even watch the news because it's so depressing and with my life being the emotional rollercoaster it's been in the last year I have to try & stay focused on just what's in front of me from moment to moment. My oldest son is literally the most intelligent human being I've ever known(no brag,just fact)& he's constantly begging me,"Mom,just get you a good book & read..it'll take your mind off things." No such luck,cuz mom can't concentrate. My library of books in the last year consist of the Heroin Diaries,The Dirt,I'm With The Band(Confessions of a Groupie),Slash & My Appetite For Destruction(Sex,Drugs&GunsN'Roses).Read them all from front to back without putting them down until I was done.And I'm a speed reader so it didnt take long.Wanting to get Vince Neil's book 'Tatoos & Tequila' & I can't wait to read 'Life' by Keith Richards. And then of course there is supposed to be a book coming out next year by Mr. Duff Mckagan that I'm estatic about reading. So that's about where my literary interest lie right now aside from poetry as well as writing a little(poetry) myself. And I do highly recommend the books I mentioned as they all held my attention and made for some damn good reading.But,it's intersting to know I'm commenting on the same forum as such intellectual & inspiring people as some of you seem to be. Thanks for sharing. Perhaps someday soon I will broaden my literary horizons & be more on the same page as some of you guys!LOL Have a great weekend Duff & the rest of u guys!~Peace & Love~ Suzie

• @Janean: Chinese History? We must talk! :-)

• Fall, Spring, Winter, Summer...isn't it always book season? It's been a while since I've read any histories of Africa. I've most recently 'arrived' at histories of China (by way of my historical obsession with Piracy, you know how that works, right? One tangent leads to another). To that end, I am reading Jung Chang's Mao: The Unknown Story. Not far enough in to speak to it properly but devestating doesn't seem to far off the mark. Hands down the most enjoyable history that I have read to date was Stephan Talty's Empire of Blue Water (subtitled: Captain Morgan's Great Pirate Army, the Epic Battle for the Americas, and the Catatrophe That Ended the Outlaws' Bloody Reign.) Talty chronicles the colonization of the Caribbean through the lens of one of histories more colorful bastards...? Seriously, Captain Morgan, during his time in the Caribbean, ranged from a contracted seaman to a brutal pirate to a statesman. Fascinating. @Tim & MM Fairly new to historical fiction, my first read was Robert Harris' Pompeii which was awesome. Tried to get into his Nazi series which begins with Fatherland-not so much. Will certainly check out Bernard Cornwell. Also, @Tim, really loved The Passage! In no small part because I have missed the kind of vampire that you would NEVER want to make out with. As for the bulk of my reading I have been on an semi/auto-/biographical kick of late. In recent weeks I've read Joe Patoski's Willie Nelson: An Epic Life. Loved it, no idea why I let it sit on the shelf unfinished for so long. To say Nelson's life has been an adventure is to say the very least. After Nelson came Carrie Fisher's, Postcards from the Edge. The title alone sums it. Last though not least, my two alternating reads, just as soon as I get back to reading, are Keith Richards' Life and Mark Twain's Autobiography, Pt. 1. Far enough into Richards' to agree with the comment above (that I can not now find)regarding the depiction of his early life. That has been fun to read. And far enough into Twain to be in awe of the editorial work it must have took to translate his hand written pages into the massive tome that has been produced. Cheers, Janean

• Wow what a list. Duff you certainly devour books and to me ones that are not a particularly easy read. I'm working my way through Alexander Mc Call Smith's books on the Number 1 ladies detective agency. Set in Botswana they are excellent. @Tim and Mad_Mama I love Sharpe but have you tried the Gallows thief by Bernard Cornwell and a Crowning Mercey. I'd recomend these two to anybody who likes period history. They are also very good stories which keep you gripped right to the end. happy reading K

• 'Inherent Vice' and 'Power Of One' sound good to me. 'A Soldier Of The Great War' is right up my alley! I love these columns about books! Duff

• I've happily added to the book recommendations in this blog before but I can't remember a book that caught me as off guard as Mark Helprin's astonishing WWI novel "A Soldier of the Great War" which was published in 1992 and somehow escaped my attention until this year. Helprin's tome has so much heart and love for the human experience weaved into a tale of such ridiculous violence and tragedy it is hard to adequately do justice to. I favor historical fiction, but don't generally take to War novels. But "Soldier" is so much more than that. A marvelous achievement really. Not much more to say than that. Read it, you won't be sorry. I'm sympathetic with Kris on Pynchon btw. I dug Vineland and The Crying of Lot 49. But Gravity's Rainbow, like Ulysses before it, kicked my ass multiple tries now. If you do make it through G R please share your secret. The screaming came across the sky a handful of times, I've read about 2000 pages of that book and in fact never managed to finish it.

• Wow! Lots of comments and great recommendations. I have long been fascinated with post colonial Africa and though much of what has and is happening makes for a difficult read, I think it�s important that we read about it and educate ourselves, because mass media is not going to. You are right Duff, Gourevitch�s We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed with Our Families was a heartbreaking and difficult read (picked it up shortly after I saw Hotel Rwanda, which haunted me). A few years back, I also spent some time in the Balkans with a dear friend of mine who was from Croatia (but living in London at the time) and she and some of her friends opened up to me and shared some their horrific stories with me, including my friend who shared with me that she had watched her father and grandfather executed on her front lawn. And all I could think was why, why, why?? So I began to read as much as could on the subject of genocide in hopes of finding some answers and of course, I ended up reading a lot about Post Colonial Africa Some of the Post Colonial Africa Books on my shelves include: What is What, The Autobiography of Valentino Achak Deng (one of the �Lost Boys�) - Dave Eggers I Didn�t Do It for You, How the World Betrayed a Small African Nation (Eritrea) - Michela Wrong The Fate of Africa, A History of 50 Years of Independence - Martin Meredith And I don�t read a lot of fiction, but Cotzee�s �Disgrace� was a good, albeit difficult read about the rape epidemic in S. Africa and a friend gave me Philip Caputo�s novel �Acts of Faith� about aid workers in Sudan when it won the Pulitzer Prize and when I was unemployed and pondering doing some aid work. In terms of genocide, Samantha Power�s �A Problem from Hell, America and the Age of Genocide� was definitely an eye-opener for me, covering everything from Cambodia to the Balkans to Rwanda and Iraq and America�s inaction. On a much different note, Keith Richard�s book is on my Christmas list this year and maybe your book will be on that list next year! Take care and thanks for your recommendations (I�m going to have to pick up Hochschild) and for starting this great exchange! Peace

• If you are a nerd, like me: "The Day After Roswell" is a fun alien conspiracy book by: Col. Phillip Corso. The [H]istory Channel's Ancient Alien programs have me hookline and sinker; this was the next logical step in my journey toward insanity, post "The Bible," by: God. ha.

• Hey Duff, If you want to read a really good/disturbing book on Rwanda you have to read "Shake Hands With The Devil". It's about General Romeo Dallaire, his 'peacekeeping' mission to Rwanda and everything he experienced afterward. He is truly a hero. It's offers some real insight into what it was actually like on the ground during the conflict. If you're looking for a really inspirational, interesting read you should try "Miracle in the Andes". It's written by Nando Parrado, one of the survivors of rugby team that crashed into the Andes mountains . It's his first person account of surviving on the mountain and his long hike home.

• Sorry that I missed out on the discussion regarding the situation in Africa and colonialism. You know how I could go on for hours about the history of colonization and genocide throughout the world. Unfortunately I haven't been able to get much reading done as I've been dealing with some (ahem)"issues" in regards to painkillers. Tough cycle to overcome. I do have a couple of books in my "to read" pile including "The Bounty" by Caroline Alexander (about the true story of the mutiny on the Bounty), "Krakatoa" by Simon Winchester (about the volcanic eruption in 1883 in Indonesia) and "Taming the Tiger" by Akong Tulku Rinpoche (Tibetan teachings on Right Conduct, Mindfulness, and Universal Compassion). I also recommend the documentary "Flight from Death:The Quest for Immortality"-it examines the cycle of violence as stemming from the fear of Death and the fear of foreign concepts/cultures. It's fascinating but does contain some graphic images from the Rwandan Genocide.

• Ha! I've finally read a couple books on the list! Keef's book is great, but the ghostwriting is quite obvious, as some of the transitions just don't quite work, and it's clear that they were pieced together. It does have some great stories in it, however, and while everyone focuses on what he says about his heroin addiction and controversial days, that stuff has been well covered already, and it's what he says about his earlier and most recent years that is interesting, as it has gotten very little coverage in the past. Feel bad for saying this (I always scoff at people who say it), but I've only seen the movie, which was fantastic. The subject of genocide tends to get me riled up... the hypocrisy of the UN, and stuff like that... Ah, Stephen Davis... yeah, I'd be surprised if at least half of what's in Old Gods Almost Dead is true, but he does know how to tell a story. His book on GN'R, however, is painfully made up, as it contradicts itself at times... I hope one day there will be a literary GN'R reunion where there is an authorized biography of the band.

• 20:22 hor�o de BRAS�IA - BRASIL !!!

• DUFF , MUITO OBRIGADA for their recommendations . I'll add - it's my list of BOOKS ! AAH ! fique sabendo que HOTEL RUANDA est�a minha lista de filmes que pretendo assistir . Mas j�ue voc�alou do LIVRO , eu irei l� lo primeiro . OKAY ?!? I'm a GIRL who loves to read books related to HISTORY. When I grow up I want to be HISTORIAN !!! PARAB�S pela mat�a !!!

• Duff, did you ever finish SHANTARAM on your Kindle or did you revert to the "page" version of this very large novel? I read it this summer and it was very good - well written! I noticed that Gregory David Roberts has a descriptive writing style very similar to yours! S :)

• @Tim - I share your enthusiasm about Bernard Cornwell, truly MY favorite historical fiction writer. Just onto his Saxon chronicles now, and having finished the latestin the series, am experiencing withdrawals! When will the next episode be out, Bernard??? @Duff - you know I love adventure and mountaineering stories. Read Harrer's accounts, and will add the Cabeza de Vaca one to my list. I know you enjoyed Shackleton's adventures as well. My brother Jim just arrived home after an Antarctic trip. He sent us a stone from the top of the pass on South Georgia Island, where Ernest Shackleton heard the whistle from the whaling village of Grytviken. Very moved by that little piece of flint, I must say. "We had seen God in His splendors, heard the text that Nature renders. We had reached the naked soul of man." - Ernest Shackleton For those not as familiar with this heroic story of disaster, courage and survival, I recommend, "The Endurance" by Caroline Alexander.

• I am obsessed with post-colonial Africa, so I am picking up the Hochschild book at my local library. Duff--you need to view the documentary, My Neighbor, My Killer about the local trials now taking place in Rwanda

• Skip "Never Let Me Go". It's a quick read but left me cold. The plot "secret" is telegraphed from the outset and once you know it, the character's decisions make no sense.

• Yeah, Hochschild is fantastic. I completely agree. If you insist on reading Pynchon (and why I cannot begin to imagine), do yourself a favor and read <i>Inherent Vice.</i> It's just....ridiculous. Also, readable, which is an important consideration with respect to Pynchon. Should you finish <i>GR,</i> please feel free to brag, and I shall...oh hell, I don't know...hang my head in shame? Promise to wear a shirt to a Loaded concert declaiming my failure (<i>note: requires said concert. Ahem.</i>)? I've read...let me rephrase that...I've mired myself in that novel FOUR times. Four. Never have finished the stupid thing. It sits on my living room bookshelf taunting me. I need to ban the blasted thing to the basement. *harrumph* I got nothing right now. I've been re-reading books (and, er, other stuff) lately, nothing new on the horizon (or, at least, nothing new that I can recall at present, which suggests something about the quality of my current reading material). I look forward to the suggestions here. Bring 'em on, people; I so need better reading material.

• If you want to read the autobiography of Paul Rusesabagina, the man who saved 1,268 people during the 1994 genocide and inspired the film Hotel Rwanda, pick up An Ordinary Man. It is a fascinating read & provides a bit of background on Rwanda's history pre-genocide. The product of a Hutu father and a Tutsi mother, he shares personal stories about the division between the two ethnic groups. Paul, whose ID card listed him as a Hutu, married a Tutsi woman. When the genocide began, he was encouraged to help "purify" his country by murdering his wife and children. Perhaps most painful about the Rwandan genocide is how the international community ignored the warning signs and also refused to provide assistance during the genocide. Months before the genocide began, there were reports about large shipments of machetes being delivered in Rwanda as well as the formation of militia groups. The country's radio stations, Radio Rwanda and RTLM, spread propoganda in which they referred to the Tutsi's as "cockroaches" and called for their extermination. All the evidence was there and yet, the international community ignored the people of Rwanda. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright even refused to classify the events in Rwanda as genocide when asked about what was happening there. She has since expressed her regret that the U.S. government did not attempt to intervene or acknoweldge the atrocities happening there. Unfortunately, what we see in Africa today is a only continuation of the same events that contributed to Rwanda's genocide. Once the militia was ran out of Rwanda, they settled in the Congo, which has led to the same violence and civil war. Events in Africa jump countries and are generally interrelated (like the civil war in Sierra Leone, which also effected Liberia & Angola). Sorry to go on a mini-rant, but the Rwandan genocide is a topic of interest for me. Thanks Duff for sharing that! :)

• I don't know those ones but your recommendation is truly reliable. I know it 'cause once I've learned from your column of Shantaram by Gregory D. Roberts. That one was a blast! Though, it was a massive book but I conqered it and I'm sure I've never red any book so intelligent, classic, funny and electrified. That's why I'll try out some of those from the list. Thanks, Duff! PS. You know you're so welcome in Poland? :)

• I'm currently reading Shantaram, by Gregory David Roberts. I know you've read it but thought I'd mention it for anyone who has not. Enjoyable read so far.

• Great list, Duff. Here are a few of my recommendations: My favorite book ever is "The Power of One" by Bryce Courtenay. Incredible book about a young boy growing up in South Africa. The best book I have read this year is "The Passage" by Justin Cronin. If you like end-of-the world / apocalypse novels, this is a must read. If anyone likes historical fiction like I do, the Richard Sharpe series by Bernard Cornwell is amazing. Follows an English soldier through the Napoleonic wars as he rises slowly from the rank of private to general. Ecompasses about 20 books. Anything written by Cornwell is pretty much awesome.

• Seeing that you are a history buff...Duff (sorry, I had to) ...a definite MUST read is The Last Stand by Nathaniel Philbrick. It recounts (in very ACCURATE historical detail.. not the spit shined classroom version) the events of Custer, Sitting Bull and the Battle of the Little Bighorn. You'll dig it!

• Science in the service of Human Rights Richard Pierre Claude.How pretentious all empires are....! Art History , teaches well...small glimpses into what some considered paradise as hell...! Civilization is relatively a new catch word.. Around the world screams can be heard..Jackie

• Thank you for recommendations. Maybe time for me to get a little lecture? :)

• Looking forwards to Keefs book for Christmas. Old Gods Almost Dead sits by my bed. I am a little ashamed to say that I am only now reading Truman Capote. Oh my gosh! Breakfast at Tiffanys, House Of Flowers, A Diamond Guitar, A Christmas Memory(thanks Penguinbooks) Does he always write in such a way that although he uses such sweet language you don't quite trust him to be nice to the characters that you end up caring about?

• "It seems that once the common oppressor left (those nations who colonized those parts of Africa), the old warring tribes were left to remember old beefs. Fucking hardcore" There's an interesting debate abput whether the Hutu/Tutsi division was deliberately exacerbated, or even created, by the colonial regime in an effort to 'divide and rule'. You seem to be really into your African history, so maybe something to look into if you have a spare moment or two?

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