Reads

Reads

Everyone who attended my company's summer summit got a copy of Boomsday. We're in the retirement business -- makes sense! Not something I would have picked for myself but since it was a gift from some of our top leaders, I decided to give it a try. This book takes an extreme approach to solving the nation's increasingly serious social security crisis. A bit radical but only to prove a point. While I'm not Ms. Politically Savvy, I can appreciate Buckley's style and honest attempt to address a very real situation. You will encounter a few politicians, a priest, and some hookers. 'Nuf said. The ending is a bit brief but overall, great read.

Fantastic summer read!! Hillarious and smart. A.J. Jacobs reads through the entire Encyclopedia Britannica, all 33,000 pages, in one year and sums it up in a mere 386 pages -- all while anticipating the birth of his first son, being a contestant on Millionaire, and taking the Mensa test.  You must read this book.

"The Rose Labyrinth" by Titania Hardie.  The book is similar to a Dan Brown novel (not totally unfamiliar; this book was still close enough to home) and mixes a bit of fact with fiction. Albeit, the ideas are not quite as mainstream as DB's -  nothing I had ever heard of anyway. Just to give you an idea...the plot involves the symbolism behind John Dee's work. It's a bit more on the lovey-dovey side but wasn't anything like the grocery store mushy gushy stuff. I've honestly never read any of that and don't really plan on it. Too many good books, so little time. :)

Not too long ago I finished Tom Clancy's "The Hunt for Red October".  Admittedly, it was a little long, especially if you're knowledge of submarines and air crafts, like mine, is next to nothing and you end up spending the first half of the book Google-ing various acronyms. ;) But after about 200 pages or so, you get the hang of it and Clancy begins speeds things up a bit.  He gives you a good, solid ending. Besides, you have to love when he mentions that killer $20K salary and computers that are too big to bring on to a sub.  Dated references always make me laugh a little. "The Hunt for Red October" was recently voted #9 on NPR's  Top 100 Thrillers (not sure how much I agree to this though).

Some of my other favorite reads include:


The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch 

The Lost Symbol and Angels and Demons by Dan Brown
(I'm sure "The Da Vince Code" was good too - I cheated and just saw the movie. I thought it was great until I read his books - and not to my surprise... the books are way better!)

The Pelican Brief and The Firm by John Grisham
(Here again, pretty much anything by this author is practically a guaranteed good read)

The Time Machine by H.G. Wells
(You know what they say...don't judge a book by its cover. This book was published in the early 1890s. Its not a thriller, but it still ranks as one of my most enjoyed reads.)