A Couple of Books

For exercise, one of the things I do is ride my bike on a stationary trainer in my basement. If you've ever ridden a bike indoors, you know that the times on the bike drags! It seems like a ride takes forever. But if I read while riding, the time usually flies. So that's what I do. Sometimes theology, but not always. I like to read other things as well, and as I am somewhat of a history buff, and especially American (Revolutionary and Civil War) history, I read a bunch of that. 

So, I thought I'd share with you two books I recently finished:

I found this book in a used book store last year sometime. I've been to Saratoga Battlefield and knew the story somewhat. But what separated this book from the rest was that a good portion of it was dedicated to the events leading up to the battle of Saratoga - a lot of information not usually given. That helped put it into context and really shed some light. So if you like this kind of history, I recommend it. It's not a "page turner" like a Jeff Shaara book is (more popularly written), and it's not short, but definitely worth the time to get into the nitty gritty. I also see that he has written on the Victory at Yorktown and Battles at Trenton and Princeton - I might have to look into those.

The book I read while on vacation this year:

I've read other books by McCullough and have usually enjoyed them. This book is not new - written back in 1978, I think - but very highly rated and does not disappoint. Again, what I really like about this book is all the historical things that happened that are not usually presented. Like, how the French were the ones to actually try and build this thing, but failed. How America got involved. All the challenges building this canal presented. So again, I would recommend. :-)

What am I going to read next? Not sure. Maybe some theology. I have some books on tap to read. I just ordered a Jeff Shaara book on the Civil War Battle of Vicksburg - used, but that hasn't arrived yet. We'll have to see what I feel like this afternoon . . .