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Biggest disappointment this year: No Country For Old Men by Cormac McCarthy. Very nicely done right up until the denouement and then the author seemed to have a brain fart.

A new perspective on the Southwest and its greatest fighters is shown in Ghost Warrior by Lucia St. Clair Robson. A combination of historical timeline along with insightful human interest and thrilling actual encounters is told in a very interesting & skillful way. I will investigate the author's other works, she appears to be a good'un. BTW her accounts and her gun details are actually pretty accurate (grin).

What can you guys recommend?
Regards, Joe

Joe, did they change the ending in the movie, which I found to be very well done.

My biggest disappointment was Neal Stephenson's REAMDE, just another 900 page basis for a Bruce Willis movie. Lot's of guns and technically correct but just plain tedious.

I found his BAROQUE CYCLE trilogy so fascinating, a wonderful pagent of the world in the 1600's so I expected so much more.

Nothing deep of late, just bad weather reading.

A new author to me is John R. Maxim, I think I did six, a lot of physiological bent on action stuff.

Also hit some new John Sandfords about eight or so that I have not read, all good stuff IMO.

Even found a Frederick Forsyth "Avenger" I would have thought I had read them all but missed this one.

My wife is reading "Doc" and says it's good.

I pre-ordered the Gun Digest got it a good one and the new Lee Child (one of my favorite new writers)

Joe, May I recommend Russel, DOC? It's the best thing I've encountered in months. But I should say I liked No Country, too.

Rob, I haven't seen the movie but I'd bet the ranch that they changed it from the one in the book. I also found that the motivations and actions/reactions were sometimes not logical or even very probable, IOW he was somewhat clumsy and illogical in presenting his characters' thoughts and actions. Too bad, 'cause the premise and main characters are quite interesting.

Haven't read the Stephenson work you cite, but I COMPLETELY agree about his The Baroque Cycle, simply superb and by far the best book(s) that I read last year. His Anathem is also quite good but required me about 10 pages to get into step with his narrative style in that one.
Regards, Joe

I just picked up a copy of Crossman's "Military and Sporting Rifle Shooting". I read his '03 Springfield book several times, this is the first exposure to this one. I'm glad to have the pair of them now.

Just finished Larry Bond's "Exit Plan". Pretty good military thriller. I think he has about the best blend of 'hardware' facts and story telling. Can't take more than one such book at a time though.

James Lee Burke's latest "Creole Belle" is on its way here. I'll probably take a day off work to savor it when it arrives!

Has anyone read the "Bourne" novels? I love the movies - how are the books?

I personally really liked "No Country For Old Men." Thought the book's ending much better than the movies...which just sort of ended with no resolution regarding the killer (like you get in the book).

McCarthy is a tough go, and I get the feeling that he is a supreme egotist. I personally thing that "Blood Meridian" is a sham - I get the feeling it was written expressly to put a novel on the reading lists of thousands of college English and writing classes all over the country. He takes what would have been a nice, tight, gritty frontier story and turns it into an orgy of pseudo-literature. (End of rant.)

The Bourne novels written by Robert Ludlum are about as good as those types of novels get. Ludlum died years ago and the series continues with various guest "ghost" writers. I don't know if those are any good or not. But literature they ain't.

McCarthy I like a lot, esp. the border trilogy. I appreciate well written novels and those are. If they end up on the desks of thousands of college english and writing students, so much the better. What little I know about McCarthy is he likes to write and doesn't much care to be a celebrity, so I think your "supreme egoist" is probably 180 degrees off the mark.

[quote=BrentD]The Bourne novels written by Robert Ludlum are about as good as those types of novels get. Ludlum died years ago and the series continues with various guest "ghost" writers. I don't know if those are any good or not. But literature they ain't."

I had not heard he died and I picked up a new Bourne book and thought "what the hell" when I was a chapter into it. Looked on the cover and Ludlum was in big letters and the person who wrote it was in little letters at the bottom. I pitched it.

I understand Robert B. Parker has new books out and he's been dead for a couple years.

Sort of like how Pope keeps making rifles

I wonder who has the most firearms with faked names on them?

Now that I think about it, guys like Rigby, Evans, etc etc are still churning them out right quick. And then that guy Browning... He is prolific and then some!