Magnum Mania!

JJ kicked things off with his Stephen King thread, so I figured I set one up to share what we're all reading.

I've been on a bit of a dry spell but have high hopes for the summer. I just finished The First Phone Call from Heaven by Mitch Albom.

Considering my interests it's surprising I never read anything by John D. MacDonald but I'm addressing that. All the Travis McGee books have been reissued and I have just started the first one The Deep Blue Goodbye.

I have the following waiting for attention:

Nightmare in Pink - John D. MacDonald
The Quest - Nelson deMille
Bone Deep - Randy Wayne White
Inferno - Dan Brown
A Winter Haunting - Dan Simmons

What are you reading?

You'll love the Travis McGee books, Conch. Travis and Magnum have a lot in common. A lot! John D. MacDonald is one of my very favorite authors. The Executioners, Condominium and all the Travis McGee books are highly recommended. Shoot, anything at all by him really! He's a fantastic writer! I've only been to south Florida a handful of times in my life, but I feel like I know the place like the back of my hand (60's/70's south Florida anyway) because of his books. Coincidentally, I just picked up hardback editions of The Green Ripper and Barrier Island (non-Travis McGee, last novel he wrote before he died) at a used book store the other day. Read The Empty Copper Sea not too long ago.

Working my way through King's Christine for the second time right now (first time was almost 30 years ago). Still great like I remember it. The car almost seems secondary in this wonderful examination of teenage friendships and adolescence. But the car is pretty neat, too.

T.C. Boyle's The Tortilla Curtain is next in the queue.

J.J. Walters wrote:You'll love the Travis McGee books, Conch. Travis and Magnum have a lot in common. A lot! John D. MacDonald is one of my very favorite authors.

I can see why JJ. I'm liking Travis McGee and really enjoy JDM's writing. I think I may have a new vein to mine for a while.

The Seven Dials Mystery!

I'm envious!

It's a struggle to read a novel these days- one or two pages and I'm asleep.

The Mask of Anonymity by Prestin Malone. Okay, he is a friend of mine and self published it on Amazon but it is surprisingly good if you like gory westerns.........

I read The Horse Backstreet Choppers magazine. I look at the pictures mostly.

The Birdman wrote:I read The Horse Backstreet Choppers magazine. I look at the pictures mostly.

My Man!!!! Are you another bobber aficianado? (and of the leggy "accessories")

Steve wrote:

The Birdman wrote:I read The Horse Backstreet Choppers magazine. I look at the pictures mostly.

My Man!!!! Are you another bobber aficianado? (and of the leggy "accessories")

Haha, yep!

Innan Frosten by Henning Mankell. A bit of Scandinavian noire to keep the mind ticking over.

Over the summer I read two books worth recommending.

- Walter Isaacson's "Steve Jobs" biography.
- Andre Agassi's autobiography "Open."

I'm not a super tech guy, nor a tennis fanatic, but still found both to be phenomenal page turners.

I'm not reading at the pace I used to, but I knocked off the first two Travis McGee books and am almost done with Neil Peart's (Rush drummer and lyricist) autobiographical travelogue, Ghost Rider.

The McGee books were good, fun reads. I like the societal/philosophical comments John D. McDonald drops into Travis' thoughts. Good stuff and it seems things really haven't changed all that much from the early 60s.

The Neil Peart book intrigued me when I saw Rush Behind the Music. The poor man lost his 19 year old daughter to a car accident and then his wife to cancer (broken heart really) in a 10 month period. The book is about how he soothed, and saved, his "little baby soul" like one would any fussy child, movement. He motorcycled from the Toronto area of Canada north and west to Alaska, then south. Not along the coast but further inland in the eastern Washington, Idaho, Nevada, Utah areas, into Cali then the Mexican Baja and finishing in Belize.

The whole time he's describing the scenery he sees, how he feels, what and who he experiences along the way and how it slowly heals him. An amazing journey of both the body and the soul and the saving of both.

Nelson DeMille's The Quest hopefully will be next up.

ConchRepublican wrote:I'm not reading at the pace I used to, but I knocked off the first two Travis McGee books and am almost done with Neil Peart's (Rush drummer and lyricist) autobiographical travelogue, Ghost Rider.
The Neil Peart book intrigued me when I saw Rush Behind the Music. The poor man lost his 19 year old daughter to a car accident and then his wife to cancer (broken heart really) in a 10 month period. The book is about how he soothed, and saved, his "little baby soul" like one would any fussy child, movement. He motorcycled from the Toronto area of Canada north and west to Alaska, then south. Not along the coast but further inland in the eastern Washington, Idaho, Nevada, Utah areas, into Cali then the Mexican Baja and finishing in Belize.

The whole time he's describing the scenery he sees, how he feels, what and who he experiences along the way and how it slowly heals him. An amazing journey of both the body and the soul and the saving of both.

Nelson DeMille's The Quest hopefully will be next up.

Wow, I was never a die hard RUSH fan but did enjoy the RUSH documentary you were talking about. I didn't know he had written a book on his motorcycle journey and will definitely be picking that up as that kind of motorcycle ride is definitely on my bucket list (though I have no idea how I will ever be able to find the time)...Thanks, Conch!!!!!!

Steve wrote:

ConchRepublican wrote:I'm not reading at the pace I used to, but I knocked off the first two Travis McGee books and am almost done with Neil Peart's (Rush drummer and lyricist) autobiographical travelogue, Ghost Rider.
The Neil Peart book intrigued me when I saw Rush Behind the Music. The poor man lost his 19 year old daughter to a car accident and then his wife to cancer (broken heart really) in a 10 month period. The book is about how he soothed, and saved, his "little baby soul" like one would any fussy child, movement. He motorcycled from the Toronto area of Canada north and west to Alaska, then south. Not along the coast but further inland in the eastern Washington, Idaho, Nevada, Utah areas, into Cali then the Mexican Baja and finishing in Belize.

The whole time he's describing the scenery he sees, how he feels, what and who he experiences along the way and how it slowly heals him. An amazing journey of both the body and the soul and the saving of both.

Nelson DeMille's The Quest hopefully will be next up.

Wow, I was never a die hard RUSH fan but did enjoy the RUSH documentary you were talking about. I didn't know he had written a book on his motorcycle journey and will definitely be picking that up as that kind of motorcycle ride is definitely on my bucket list (though I have no idea how I will ever be able to find the time)...Thanks, Conch!!!!!!

No problem Steve! I would love to do a ride like that as well, though without his inspiration ......

It's a good book. It has it's lulls, mostly around the 3/4 mark, but the story told is worth it.

I forgot that I also finished Randy Wayne White's Bone Deep as well.

Steve wrote:

ConchRepublican wrote:I'm not reading at the pace I used to, but I knocked off the first two Travis McGee books and am almost done with Neil Peart's (Rush drummer and lyricist) autobiographical travelogue, Ghost Rider.
The Neil Peart book intrigued me when I saw Rush Behind the Music. The poor man lost his 19 year old daughter to a car accident and then his wife to cancer (broken heart really) in a 10 month period. The book is about how he soothed, and saved, his "little baby soul" like one would any fussy child, movement. He motorcycled from the Toronto area of Canada north and west to Alaska, then south. Not along the coast but further inland in the eastern Washington, Idaho, Nevada, Utah areas, into Cali then the Mexican Baja and finishing in Belize.

The whole time he's describing the scenery he sees, how he feels, what and who he experiences along the way and how it slowly heals him. An amazing journey of both the body and the soul and the saving of both.

Nelson DeMille's The Quest hopefully will be next up.

Wow, I was never a die hard RUSH fan but did enjoy the RUSH documentary you were talking about. I didn't know he had written a book on his motorcycle journey and will definitely be picking that up as that kind of motorcycle ride is definitely on my bucket list (though I have no idea how I will ever be able to find the time)...Thanks, Conch!!!!!!

I didn't know he wrote a book either. The documentary was amazing (not a big Rush fan either) and the part about Peart's arrival into the band and the unimaginable adversity he faced with those deaths was particularly profound. My wife's sister was friends with his daughter at the time and I remember how everyone was at a loss for words. I'll have to pick it up. Thanks for the tip, Peter.