It is getting that time of year again where I actually have time now and then to read a little. What's everyone reading these days? I started Joel Salatin's Sheer Ecstasy of Being a Lunatic Farmer but didn't get it finished before we went to Korea, so I have to go put it on reserve at the library again so I can finish it up. Read another book a few weeks ago, but the title escapes me now, about owner-builder houses/barns/outbuildings, etc. It had a lot of good ideas and kind of made me want to build something. :) Of course with four kids, most of my reading time is taken up with their books, but at this rate, they're becoming very well read.
Just finished Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption by Laura Hillenbrand. Fantastic book!
From the author: Growing up in California in the 1920s, Louie Zamperini was a hellraiser, stealing everything edible that he could carry, staging elaborate pranks, getting in fistfights, and bedeviling the local police. But as a teenager, he emerged as one of the greatest runners America had ever seen, competing at the 1936 Berlin Olympics, where he put on a sensational performance, crossed paths with Hitler, and stole a German flag right off the Reich Chancellery. He was preparing for the 1940 Olympics, and closing in on the fabled four-minute mile, when World War II began. Louie joined the Army Air Corps, becoming a bombardier. Stationed on Oahu, he survived harrowing combat, including an epic air battle that ended when his plane crash-landed, some six hundred holes in its fuselage and half the crew seriously wounded.
On a May afternoon in 1943, Louie took off on a search mission for a lost plane. Somewhere over the Pacific, the engines on his bomber failed. The plane plummeted into the sea, leaving Louie and two other men stranded on a tiny raft. Drifting for weeks and thousands of miles, they endured starvation and desperate thirst, sharks that leapt aboard the raft, trying to drag them off, a machine-gun attack from a Japanese bomber, and a typhoon with waves some forty feet high. At last, they spotted an island. As they rowed toward it, unbeknownst to them, a Japanese military boat was lurking nearby. Louie's journey had only just begun.
I've finally gotten around to reading "Hell, I was there"...Elmer Keith
I have been juggling between a few books a chapter at a time.
Timber Frame Construction: All About Post and Beam Building by Jack A. Sobon and Roger Schroeder - Good book on joints and connections. Lacks any technical direction of calculating beam size/span relationships.
The Beekeeper's Bible: Bees, Honey, Recipes & Other Home Uses by Richard A. Jones and Sharon Sweeney-Lynch. - Just a plain beautiful book. Looking forward to finishing the house and keeping a few of these on the property.
Cabinology: A Handbook to Your Private Hideaway by Dale Mulfinger - I liked his other more picturesque cabin book so much I got this one. It is great too.
Design of Reinforced Concrete by Jack McCormac - Whenever I can get to the library, which hasn't been to often. I think I may just buy this.
Just finished "Life of Pi". I was blown away by the ending.
I'm about halfway through Survivors by J.W Rawles. His latest novel. I think it's excellent.
A song of Fire and Ice by George R.R. Martin - A 5 book series (I'm on 4) set in an iron age "other" world. Just finished Livy's "History of Rome".
I just started Ben Franklin's bio by Edmond S Morgan, who is quite the individual himself.
Franklin's early years are somewhat fascinating, as he was quite the athlete and swimmer.
Truly a man before his time.