Con_Alma;1862881 wrote:Finished my Truman / McArthur book

I'd be interested in your thoughts on this. It's been on my list to read for years and I just can't seem to get motivated to start. What'd you think?

I just finished Where all the Light Tends to Go by David Joy. It's a novel set in Appalachian North Carolina. A good story with a great narrator. If you like Appalachian-set fiction, I'd recommend it with a 3.5/5 type rating.

Dr Winston O'Boogie;1862893 wrote:I'd be interested in your thoughts on this. It's been on my list to read for years and I just can't seem to get motivated to start. What'd you think?

I just finished Where all the Light Tends to Go by David Joy. It's a novel set in Appalachian North Carolina. A good story with a great narrator. If you like Appalachian-set fiction, I'd recommend it with a 3.5/5 type rating.

I actually enjoyed it. It opened my eyes to the ending of McArthur's career. Brilliant man that worked his way into a self inflated view of his own ability to assess the whole global picture at the beginning of the cold war because of his desire to continue to try and gain success and credit for resisting communism for his mission from the UN.

Truman was in a tough spot. He was well aware of the backlash he would publicly receive for firing McArthur. He waited about as long as you could while trying to manage McArthur into just carrying out his role instead of trying to save the whole world from Russia and Red China. Truman was probably way more patient than I would have been in not demanding the courtesy and respect of being the Commander In Chief and expecting that his orders would be followed.

The detailed writings of the testimonies from McArthur and Truman's cabinet to the Senate were excellent and really showed how different the views of the two opposing groups were.

IN the end. McArthur completely underestimated Red China and was convinced he was hand-tied by the Administration to fight them off in North Korea. I have no doubt he went to his grave believing he did nothing wrong and that politicians didn't understand the world the way he did being up close and personal with the enemy. As much as I don't think history has treated Truman very well, he certainly seemed to be seeking the best interest of all free nations when he made decisions and the book didn't come across as him being one that was really worried about whether he would get credit or not for a positive outcome. Peace was the goal for him....globally as opposed to simply keeping the Asian region away from Communist rule.

The perceived Russian threat of involvement combined with the underestimated willingness of Red China to support the North was the biggest difference in McArthur's and Truman's approach.

It's worth the read.

Have you read the Truman biography by David McCullough? I picked it up for $2 at the annual library book sale. I really enjoyed his biography of the Wright Brothers.

justincredible;1862923 wrote:Have you read the Truman biography by David McCullough? I picked it up for $2 at the annual library book sale. I really enjoyed his biography of the Wright Brothers.

That's another one I have on my list. I have read several of McCullough's books and they are all great. That Wright brothers book was outstanding.

Con_Alma;1862899 wrote:I actually enjoyed it. It opened my eyes to the ending of McArthur's career. Brilliant man that worked his way into a self inflated view of his own ability to assess the whole global picture at the beginning of the cold war because of his desire to continue to try and gain success and credit for resisting communism for his mission from the UN.

Truman was in a tough spot. He was well aware of the backlash he would publicly receive for firing McArthur. He waited about as long as you could while trying to manage McArthur into just carrying out his role instead of trying to save the whole world from Russia and Red China. Truman was probably way more patient than I would have been in not demanding the courtesy and respect of being the Commander In Chief and expecting that his orders would be followed.

The detailed writings of the testimonies from McArthur and Truman's cabinet to the Senate were excellent and really showed how different the views of the two opposing groups were.

IN the end. McArthur completely underestimated Red China and was convinced he was hand-tied by the Administration to fight them off in North Korea. I have no doubt he went to his grave believing he did nothing wrong and that politicians didn't understand the world the way he did being up close and personal with the enemy. As much as I don't think history has treated Truman very well, he certainly seemed to be seeking the best interest of all free nations when he made decisions and the book didn't come across as him being one that was really worried about whether he would get credit or not for a positive outcome. Peace was the goal for him....globally as opposed to simply keeping the Asian region away from Communist rule.

The perceived Russian threat of involvement combined with the underestimated willingness of Red China to support the North was the biggest difference in McArthur's and Truman's approach.

It's worth the read.

Thanks

Just finished the 19th Jack Reacher novel (read them all basically in a row). Now reading a book from the Book of the Month club called American Fire which is a real life journalist account of a series of arsons in a small town in Virginia. Seemed interesting enough.


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iclfan2;1863278 wrote:Just finished the 19th Jack Reacher novel (read them all basically in a row). Now reading a book from the Book of the Month club called American Fire which is a real life journalist account of a series of arsons in a small town in Virginia. Seemed interesting enough.

I almost went with that book for July but ended up skipping the month. I've skipped the last two months now, hopefully August will be better.

Ha she got it for me for Christmas and I have skipped most months so far. Most of the books just aren't my style. Luckily it was only a 3 month trial and I think I have 1 left.


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I bought a 4 month subscription back in January or February, maybe. I got The Stranger in the Woods: The Extraordinary Story of the Last True Hermit, Since We Fell, and Killers of the Flower Moon (haven't read yet) the first 3 months, but have skipped the last two. A lot of the books seem to be geared towards female readers.

How to abort grown men for dummies

Here Come The Trolls

by Seymore Butts

I'm about halfway through Lucifer's Hammer so far. It was a little slow to build up the story, but it's pretty much non-stop now.

Finished Lucifer's Hammer, I liked it a lot.

Currently reading The Mote in God's Eye, written by the same pair as Lucifer's Hammer. Heinlein described the book as "possibly the finest science fiction novel I have ever read." I'm about 1/3 of the way through, it's great so far.

I've been reading the same book for like two months now...I am not into it and I should just quit and start another one. But alas, I am still trying to get through it.

justincredible;1865041 wrote:Finished Lucifer's Hammer, I liked it a lot.

Currently reading The Mote in God's Eye, written by the same pair as Lucifer's Hammer. Heinlein described the book as "possibly the finest science fiction novel I have ever read." I'm about 1/3 of the way through, it's great so far.

Are you picking one of the BOTM this month?

iclfan2;1865051 wrote:Are you picking one of the BOTM this month?

I almost picked The Blinds, but decided against it. Skipping again.

I'm about to read Stephen King's IT.

I've been reading the Sigma Force novels by James Rollins. Kinda of a cross between a Vince Flynn political special forces thriller and a Dan Brown book. Not quite as good as either of those by themselves but enjoying them so far.

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i just read killers of the flower moon and it was a badass book. one of the top reads i've ever had.

I'm reading dumb things people have said on OC

Bible in chronological order ....

j_crazy;1865806 wrote:i just read killers of the flower moon and it was a badass book. one of the top reads i've ever had.

I've got that sitting on my shelf, I might start that soon.

I finished The Mote in God's Eye today, so I'll need to start a new audiobook tonight or tomorrow. Not sure what that will be yet.

...

TBone14;1865750 wrote:I've been reading the Sigma Force novels by James Rollins. Kinda of a cross between a Vince Flynn political special forces thriller and a Dan Brown book. Not quite as good as either of those by themselves but enjoying them so far.

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If you like Flynn, check out Brad Thor and Lee Child.


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I've learned an important lesson. After finishing all the currently-released Malazan books, I needed something new and figured that since my tablet has Kindle on it, that'd be the way to go, since the last thing I need is to eat up more space in my house with another massive series.

Well, the version of Kindle on the tablet is Kindle Unlimited, which is a way different definition of "unlimited" than I have. Apparently just paying a $9.99 flat rate per month with free downloads isn't enough to get anyone who is anyone on board, so virtually anything I might have wanted to read simply isn't there, but a whole bunch of minor league publishing companies and unknown authors are! So, it looks like I'm going to be in a period of reading collections of horror short stories, since there are no lack of those (get one story each by a couple name authors and then add 15-20 by unknowns and *boom* you have a collection!), until I devise a new plan to get stuff I want without actually using effort to do so.