Reading, reading

I have been reading like a maniac lately.  It has been wonderful.  If I finish cleaning, I get to read a few chapters.  If I grocery shop, I get to read.  Makes me very motivated to get my chores and errands done.  And surprisingly for me, they have been fairly political in nature.  I have loved the books that I have read so  much that I wanted to share them with any of you who may read the blog.

 The Outpost by Jake Tapper was incredible.  It is about a very poorly placed American military outpost in remote Nuristan in Afghanistan.  Spectacular.  Also, Fearless by Eric Blehm was outstanding.  It is a quite unbelievable story about an American Navy Seal.  He has a miraculous story.  I also read the Price of Politics by Bob Woodward.  This was a very readable explanation of the budget negotiations of 2011.  I was really surprised by Obama's unwillingness to work with republicans on this issue until it became necessary when he lost the Democratic majority in the House.  The back and forth between both sides was really interesting.  I did not know much about the process of passing a national budget until I read this and now I have a much better grasp of how it is done.  I also read No Easy Day by Mark Owen.  This was the first hand account of the navy seals raid that ultimately killed Osama bin Laden.  Really interesting to see how it happened.  We also saw the movie Zero Dark Thirty.  I would bet money that they had this navy seal as a consultant on that movie as it really did mirror each other.  In fact, the raid in the movie lasted for exactly the same amount of time that it did in reality.  Loved the movie, loved the book.    Right now I am reading Manhunt by Peter L. Bergen which follows the search for bin Laden.

I have found all of these books incredibly interesting.  I prefer non-fiction and to be reading books about current news events has been fantastic.  During a long drive yesterday, I also listened to several hours of political and news talk radio.  I found so much of it to be interesting.  And better than that, it kept me engaged the entire drive of five hours.  I think that the older I get, the more interested I am becoming in the decisions that our government is making as well as the current events around the world.  I want to know how I will be impacted.  I would like to be educated in how I can improve the futures of my children.  I hope that this trend of mine continues and that I continually want to gain a better education of my world.