Get any great surprise books for Christmas?

[NNadir]

It's winter break for my boys - they're off from their colleges - and I loved the surprise gifts, history books, with which they surprised me.

One is The Half Has Never Been Told, about how American wealth and its capitalist economic system was generated and sustained through human slavery; the slaves built this country.

The other is The Spy Who Changed the World It's about the nuclear spy/physicist Karl Fuchs, who fed Manhattan Project and British nuclear secrets to the Soviets.

His punishment for his crime - as I told my boys, and they liked the joke - was that he had to live the rest of his life in East Germany.

[gopiscrap]

1. Yes two of them

Playing with Fire by Lawrence O'Donnell and a book about Robert Kennedy by Chris Matthews

[global1]

2. Origin by Dan Brown....

I read all his books. My favorite author.

[Glorfindel]

4. I'll buy that one for myself, maybe to read during cold, endless January

He's not my favorite author, but he can spin one hell of a yarn!

[PJMcK]

12. "Deception Point" was great

In some ways, Dan Brown out-does Ludlum and Clancy in this techno-thriller.

[Glorfindel]

3. "Obama: An Intimate Portrait" by Pete Souza

I was thrilled. I would have bought it for myself, but my goddaughter and her family surprised me with it on Christmas Eve. I can't wait to read it.

[NNadir]

8. I'm jealous. n/t

[Frustratedlady]

10. Me, too. Isn't it beautiful?

Most of my gifts were about politics. Books, puzzle, calendar, etc.

[Glorfindel]

11. It really is beautiful. You can tell it's not a "hurry-up and publish" book

Time, care, and thoughtfulness were put into it, along with love for the subject, and it shows. I'll treasure it always, both for its own sake and for the fact that my goddaughter got it for me (like most old bachelors, I'm a big softie).

[Frustratedlady]

14. Well, you can be thankful she has good taste. A thoughtful gift. eom

[NRaleighLiberal]

5. Not a surprise - but The Geysers of Yellowstone

We visited there this year - fascinated by the Geysers, so got it for myself for a Christmas gift!

Also a NY times crossword book. Those last me for hours, weeks, months, years!

[GP6971]

6. Got a signed

first edition of Outlander by Diana Gabaldon from my sister.

[NNadir]

7. My youngest son, the engineering student, is studying Spanish, Chinese and Russian in his spare...

...time - I can't believe he has spare time, but he does and I can't argue with his 3.96 GPA - and my wife bought him a Spanish language novel signed by Isabelle Allende, her Cuidad de las Bestias.

The odd thing was, it kind of came off the rack from a used book store through Amazon with no remarks about it being signed. It was actually very cheap. We'll take it.

(His Engineering Books for next semester will hit us to the tune of $550, so he gets used books for Christmas, 3 Chinese classic novels -we're told they're classic but don't actually know - 2 books by Allende and one set of Russian short stories in Russian side by side with English translations.)

[BigmanPigman]

9. My sister gave me COLLUSION by Luke Harding,

the author of The Snowden Files. It is about "secret meetings, dirty money, and how Russia helped DT win".

[PJMcK]

13. Two non-political surprises

My sister gave me "The Silver Palate Cookbook" which I lost in my divorce. I always love reading the authors' menus and techniques.

My dad gave me "The Eagle Has Flown" by Jack Higgins. It's a World War II fictional thriller and the sequel to "The Eagle Has Landed." I just started it and so far, so great!