This one I haven't read but I thought it might be of particular interest to those of us on TBD

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/01/books/review/Leland-t.html?_r=1&ref=review&oref=slogin

Greg Mortenson's Three Cups of Tea was enjoyable on a couple of levels; it read like a piece of intense adventure fiction and was also an eye-opening glance into the modern day cultures of Pakistan and Afghanistan. The writing was clumsy and at times distracting, but overall I'd give the book an 8 out 10.

I tend to read more non-fiction too. Right now, among many others, I am reading on Negro President: Jefferson and the Slave Power by Garry Wills, which looks at how the might of the slave states was a prominent concern behind many of Jefferson's decisions and policies. I also am reading on Inner Christianity by Richard Smoley, which is an interesting study of the religion from an esoteric and Gnostic viewpoint.

Any one read or is reading "Ghost Wars" by Steve Coll?

Also deals with Pakistan, Afganistan , and the U.S policy

since the late 70's in this region. Amazing book. I would love to know what you think about the way the CIA handled the situation there then.

I have a friend of mine who read it; I believed he liked it. Generally speaking, my reading goes back (much) fartehr than that. The last thing I read of this era was Charlie wilson's War.

To get some terrific background on this neck of the woods, I would highly recommend Tournament of Shadows by Meyer and Brysac. It reads like an adventure story but it's all true.

I have two on my shelf for this summer, One is "A Death in Belmont" by Sebastian Junger, about the Boston Strangler, and the other is "Fish." I can't remember the author, but he was put into a maximum security prison for a relatively minor infraction and was pretty brutalized by the general population there.

I've almost stopped reading fiction altogether after I turned 40. I felt it was perhaps midlife and have lived a passionate life full of danger, awkwardness, love, failure and success. Fiction no longer pulls. I don't want much plot to pull me along. Now I read to figure out the world, piece by piece like a jigsaw puzzle.

I will admit, i am reading a fictional version of a 13th century text about a time of disunity in China of the 2 Century A.D. It is "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms," and I read it in Chinese, useing the English translation as a gloss.