Tag: Vietnam

Books

Book 840: Saint-Exupéry – Stacy Schiff

Geoff W

Book cover of This one has been in my TBR pile for over a decade. Seriously, it’s been there since 2010 when I heard Schiff speak at the first Boston Book Festival. The one I really wanted to purchase at the time was her biography of Cleopatra, but couldn’t afford it.

I ended up waiting to read it until I could get a digital copy (don’t want to mess up that signature) and the last dozen or so times the library had one I either didn’t have the time or was feeling meh about reading a biography. This time however, after building up so many advance posts I figured I had the time and wanted to read some nonfiction so here we are.

Continue reading “Book 840: Saint-Exupéry – Stacy Schiff” →

Books

Book 741: On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous – Ocean Vuong

Geoff W

Book cover of "On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous" with Amazon Affiliate LinkI have no idea where this book came from. I was 100% certain it was a recommendation by Kat Chow on the NPR podcast Pop Culture Happy Hour, but I can’t find a reference to it anywhere. I did, however, find this wonderful story (profile?) in The Atlantic written by Kat about spending an afternoon with Vuong, who happened to be a few years ahead of her in high school.

No matter where it came from I’ve been trailing this book from the BPL for months. I was on hold for a long time and then it finally came available at the same time they offered the ability to delay claiming the book, so I delayed for weeks. I knew I needed to be in the right mindset to read it, but I couldn’t remember why. Well, I finally felt ready to read it and I’m SO glad I waited.

Continue reading “Book 741: On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous – Ocean Vuong” →

Books

Book 472: In the Lake of the Woods – Tim O’Brien

Geoff W

obrien-tim-in-the-lake-of-the-woodsAdd this to the list of “WTF was I thinking waiting so long to read it?” books. I’m pretty sure I received this book from a former supervisor two jobs ago now. I’ll have to shoot her an email to verify it, but for some reason I have that in my mind. Either way I’m glad I read it and still thinking why it took me so long.

Whoever gave this to me for some reason compared it to Gone Girl, so if you have plans to read that don’t read this review because I’m going to spoil a few big things in that book AND this one. So this is your warning, don’t read anything until the recommendation if you don’t wan spoilers. I’ll keep the spoilers out of the Recommendation because I do think it was a great book and can see why the comparison is made, but I’ll rip the band-aid off and say this one is better 😀 Continue reading “Book 472: In the Lake of the Woods – Tim O’Brien” →

Book Group, Books

Book 106: First Blood – David Morrell

Geoff W

Everybody loves a quick read, whether it’s because it’s light or because it’s well written everyone loves one! I would not have gone out of my way to read this book, especially with the cover looking as it does, but my Books into Movies book group chose to read it and here it is. As usual it will be very interesting to hear what book group has to say about the novel and the characters!

Taking place over a span of 3-4 days we follow John Rambo, a former Marine back from Vietnam, and Will Teasle, a veteran of the Korean war, and their battle in Kentucky. The premise makes sense – a soldier with Post-traumatic Stress Disorder is picked up for being a vagrant and when pushed around a bit too much he snaps. And the mayhem that follows is what this book is all about.

Click here to continue reading.