All About Pocket Knives

I just finished THE GRAY MAN, by Mark Greaney. I like action/mystery fiction novels, but was disappointed by THE GRAY MAN.
Courtland was a little too much of a "superhero" to suit me.
I like for my protagonists to be more human. Not able to absorb several bullet holes in critical areas, stuff a dirty rag into the wound, go without sleep for 72 hours, give himself a transfusion, drink a bottle of vodka, and then have a nurse sew up stitches in the stab wound in his crotch without anesthesia while he drives down the autobahn at 100 miles per hour. (I exaggerate just a little, for dramatic effect)
I'm more of a Martin Cruz Smith guy. When his hero gets hit in the back of the head with a bottle, he goes to the floor and stays there for a couple of hours.
Probably why the JACK REACHER and JAMES BOND movies don't quite make it for me either.

Anyways, it's back to non-fiction for me.
Since it's fly-fishing season again, I'm re-reading the 1952 printing of TROUT, by Ray Bergman.

Jerry I like that PDG. Haven't encountered it before.

Old Hunter wrote:Anyone have a recommendation on a good book with a balanced view of the Vietnam War? I have been on WW-II for the last several years, ready to change conflicts for a while. I am not interested in fiction. Thanks, OH

Plus 1 on Karnow's book.

Westmoreland's book might be OK given the time gone by but wouldn't be my first or second choice.

Thank you gents, I'll start with Karnow. OH

I have never served in the armed forces, but the posts here have me interested in some of the non fictional books.

Thanks Monte

Receive the new John Sandford book "Golden Prey" will start on it tonight

Larry

jlw257 wrote:Receive the new John Sandford book "Golden Prey" will start on it tonight

Larry

Didn't know that was out. Gonna have to jump on that one. We read all the "Prey" books (and Virgil Flowers too) and Linnea's BD is coming up in June.

I'm about half way through Tom Clavin's Dodge City. Reminds me of Empire of the Summer Moon in that although it is history it reads like a novel. Lots of history and stuff I never knew about the backgrounds of the characters involved and their relationships (for example Bat Masterson and Doc Holliday weren't too fond of each other).

Ken

Thanks Ken. Another one to put on my reading list.

..just finished "old school"-life in the sane lane, by bill o'reilly and some other guy. o'reilly's part was great!!.... ................

Just finished Six Years a Texas Ranger by James B. Gillette. Great book by a frontier era Ranger. Great insights and good stories. Quick read but very entertaining and very informative. Well worth the time to read.

Ray

...ray, I take my wife to the library every 2 weeks, and she gets a satchel full of western novels and reads them all!!!....... ................

Absolutely love C. J. Box and his Joe Picket novels.
Just finished Below Zero.

Doctor Sleep has been on my shelf a couple years now, just too busy...

Reading Emma, by Jane Austin. Difficult at times with that mid 19th century English sentence structure.

Charlie

Just about finished with W.E.B. Griffin's "The Last Heroes", volume one of his Men At War series. Waiting on my table is David Baldacci's "The Whole Truth", the first in his Shaw series. After that is Ted Bell's "Pirate".

Steve Warden wrote:Absolutely love C. J. Box and his Joe Picket novels.
Just finished Below Zero.

Box is my favorite author. I've read all of his Joe Picket series. My wife is a big fan also. I just picked up the new release Vicious Circle but when I brought it home she grabbed it so I'm waiting my turn.

Ken

Mumbleypeg wrote:

Steve Warden wrote:Absolutely love C. J. Box and his Joe Picket novels.
Just finished Below Zero.

Box is my favorite author. I've read all of his Joe Picket series. My wife is a big fan also. I just picked up the new release Vicious Circle but when I brought it home she grabbed it so I'm waiting my turn.

Ken

I'm not a very fast reader, and my usual MO is to read one or two back to back, go 6-7-8 months of reading nothing, then read another book or two.
As a result, I have a few Box novels on the shelf still waiting.

My Bible is the only Book I read on a daily basis. Since I am not what you would call an avid reader, I discipline myself with a read through the Bible in a year program. Bite size chunks I can handle every day.

Mumbleypeg wrote:I'm about half way through Tom Clavin's Dodge City. Reminds me of Empire of the Summer Moon in that although it is history it reads like a novel. Lots of history and stuff I never knew about the backgrounds of the characters involved and their relationships (for example Bat Masterson and Doc Holliday weren't too fond of each other).

Ken
image.jpeg

This book looked very interesting to me. I also read Empire of the Summer Moon.
It just came in today.
Thanks for the heads up, Ken.

Finished POI by Stephen Hunter, now deep into book #2 in the Bob Lee Swagger series - Black Light. Here's the series, next up will be Time to Hunt.

Point of Impact (1993)
Black Light (1996)
Time to Hunt (1998)
The 47th Samurai (2007)
Night of Thunder (2008)
I, Sniper (2009)
Dead Zero (2010)
The Third Bullet (2013)
Sniper's Honor (2014)

CheckSix wrote:Finished POI by Stephen Hunter, now deep into book #2 in the Bob Lee Swagger series - Black Light. Here's the series, next up will be Time to Hunt.

Point of Impact (1993)
Black Light (1996)
Time to Hunt (1998)
The 47th Samurai (2007)
Night of Thunder (2008)
I, Sniper (2009)
Dead Zero (2010)
The Third Bullet (2013)
Sniper's Honor (2014)

Due out this month (May), there's one more:

G-Man (Bob Lee Swagger #10)

by Stephen Hunter (Goodreads Author)

From bestselling author and Pulitzer Prize winner Stephen Hunter, the latest episode in his Swagger familiy saga replete with Hunter's wicked suspense, vivid gun fights, and historical truths.
1934 was a pivotal year in the ongoing battle between the FBI and America's most famous outlaws--it was a year of giant personalities and huge shoot-outs, and it marked the deaths of John Dillinger, Bonnie and Clyde, and Pretty Boy Floyd, among others. But that year, FBI agent Sam Cowley's priority was to nab the most dangerous gangster this country has ever produced, a man so violent he scared Al Capone and was booted from the Chicago mob--Baby Face Nelson. To stop him, Cowley recruited the most talented gunman of the time--Charles Swagger.
When Bob Lee Swagger, now in Idaho, finally sells the land he owned in Arkansas, the developers begin to tear down the old homestead and uncover a steel case hidden in the foundation. The case contains a batch of 1934 memorabilia--a much-corroded FBI badge, a .45 automatic preserved in cosmoline, a gun clip, and a cryptic diagram, all belonging to Charles Swagger. Bob never knew his grandfather Charles, who died before he was he born, and his father Earl refuses to mention him. Fascinated by this new information, Bob is driven to find out what happened to his grandfather, and why his own father, whom he worshipped, never spoke of Charles. But as he investigates further, Bob learns that someone is following him, someone with his own obsession of finding out what Charles Swagger left behind."


And then there's the Earl Swagger Books
Hot Springs (2000)
Pale Horse Coming (2001)
Havana (2003)

jerryd6818 wrote:

CheckSix wrote:Finished POI by Stephen Hunter, now deep into book #2 in the Bob Lee Swagger series - Black Light. Here's the series, next up will be Time to Hunt.

Point of Impact (1993)
Black Light (1996)
Time to Hunt (1998)
The 47th Samurai (2007)
Night of Thunder (2008)
I, Sniper (2009)
Dead Zero (2010)
The Third Bullet (2013)
Sniper's Honor (2014)

Due out this month (May), there's one more:

G-Man (Bob Lee Swagger #10)

by Stephen Hunter (Goodreads Author)

From bestselling author and Pulitzer Prize winner Stephen Hunter, the latest episode in his Swagger familiy saga replete with Hunter's wicked suspense, vivid gun fights, and historical truths.
1934 was a pivotal year in the ongoing battle between the FBI and America's most famous outlaws--it was a year of giant personalities and huge shoot-outs, and it marked the deaths of John Dillinger, Bonnie and Clyde, and Pretty Boy Floyd, among others. But that year, FBI agent Sam Cowley's priority was to nab the most dangerous gangster this country has ever produced, a man so violent he scared Al Capone and was booted from the Chicago mob--Baby Face Nelson. To stop him, Cowley recruited the most talented gunman of the time--Charles Swagger.
When Bob Lee Swagger, now in Idaho, finally sells the land he owned in Arkansas, the developers begin to tear down the old homestead and uncover a steel case hidden in the foundation. The case contains a batch of 1934 memorabilia--a much-corroded FBI badge, a .45 automatic preserved in cosmoline, a gun clip, and a cryptic diagram, all belonging to Charles Swagger. Bob never knew his grandfather Charles, who died before he was he born, and his father Earl refuses to mention him. Fascinated by this new information, Bob is driven to find out what happened to his grandfather, and why his own father, whom he worshipped, never spoke of Charles. But as he investigates further, Bob learns that someone is following him, someone with his own obsession of finding out what Charles Swagger left behind."


And then there's the Earl Swagger Books
Hot Springs (2000)
Pale Horse Coming (2001)
Havana (2003)

I've read 'em all and all but last two are very good. I have great hopes for the latest, per above.

Ray

I just wrapped up 1960s AUSTIN GANGSTERS, ORGANIZED CRIME THAT ROCKED THE CAPITAL. A most interesting little paperback based on research about some bad hombres. Many names I recognized in this one.
Not sure of the universal appeal of this one but it touches on bad guys all over the nation.

Ray

"Shots Fired", a collection of short stories by C. J. Box.
So far I've read just the first two. Good stuff.

Currently reading some non-fiction: Prisoners of Geography, Ten Maps That Explain Everything About The World, by Tim Marshall. Pretty interesting to consider the influence of geography on global politics.

~Q~