It's been about two years since I last read any books about the Vietnam War so I was a bit overdue to tap into it again. Unfortunately there wasn't a lot of new material available at my local libraries, so Warren's book was basically my only choice.

That said, it is pretty informative so far and it provides a solid recap of the various events and world leaders that set the U.S. on its tragic path. While it isn't in the upper echelon of Vietnam related non-fiction, it is a good primer for those who are just starting to dip their toes into the subject matter.

Reads like an especially dark TWILIGHT ZONE episode or a spinoff from Carpenter's IN THE MOUTH OF MADNESS.

Readers- his book is now #1 on the NY Times bestseller list.  Riley Sager, "The Unknown."

I think I am as excited as he is. 

When I decided earlier this week to dip my toes back into the King pool, I checked out the previous SK threads on the forum and 'Salem's Lot came up repeatedly as a favorite of JBF members. The threads also prompted me to remember how I set out to read the book way back in 1991 but lost my paperback copy while moving around in the Saudi desert just prior to the Desert Storm ground offensive. And once things kicked off there wasn't a lot of free time for reading anyway.

When I got back from the desert, I read four of the SK novels he had published under his Richard Bachman pen name. But none of those really grabbed me, and another 15 years went by before I tried reading his stuff again. Toss in the long-running teen-paranormal-vampire-romance craze that swept through the publishing and movie industries at about the same time and 'Salem's Lot didn't have a lot of appeal for me as a reader.

Luckily, several of the SK books I did read during that time kept my interest going. And since many of my fellow JBF members have commented that King's earlier stuff is slightly better than his newer novels, I decided I would take the plunge and go retro again to see how SK's second novel stacks up with all the rest I have sampled.

I'm a fan of anything Rennaissance so I gave it a try. Interesting the hierarchy of the household and the evolution of the kitchen and eating habits. Like going from two full meals, dinner and supper, to breaking the overnight fast.

I read his previous book, MIDNIGHT IN CHERNOBYL, about two years ago and really enjoyed it. His second book is also topnotch so far, although learning about all of the mistakes that the shuttle program made leading up to the 1986 tragedy are a bit hard to read without gnashing your teeth.

I’m also reading Hatchet, by Gary Paulsen. Classic survival story about a 13 year old who crash lands an airplane in the Canadian wilderness and has nothing but a hatchet.

Lastly I’m reading The Lost Dragon of Roar by Jenny McLachlan, which is about two children whose imaginary play land turns out to be real, which they can visit when spending time at their granddad’s place. This is the 5th book in the series.

This is the third book of a very rough trilogy by the author covering the air war in the Pacific against the Japanese mainland during WWII.

The first book of the trilogy (TARGET TOKYO, 2016) was superb and earned a nomination for the Pulitzer Prize for History. But the books he has written since then IMO have never returned to that peak. We will see how this new one stacks up.