On my current bookshelf:

Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed by Jared Diamond. This book, by the author of Guns, Germs, and Steel should probably be required reading for all of us living on planet earth right now. The author discusses previous civilizations that have collapsed, societies that have avoided such disasters, the state of our current conditions, and what we could choose to do about it.

The Last True Story I'll Ever Tell : An Accidental Soldier's Account of the War in Iraq by John Crawford - An intriguing look at the current situation in Iraq, through the eyes of one soldier.

Pope Joan by Donna Cross - An interesting concept, that a woman ascended to the Papacy in secret, by pretending to be her dead brother. The writing is not top notch and I've been skimming a fair bit, but it's worth a look.

On deck: The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair that Changed America by Erik Larsen - I'm really looking forward to reading this, because his book Isaac's Storm is one of my all-time favorites.

I decided not to include links to any online booksellers with these titles. If you want to buy a book, please patronize your local bookstores. They're some of the treasures of our country, and they are disappearing rapidly. I'm not saying Borders or Amazon don't have their place, but a good local bookstore is a gem, and if we patronize them for at least some of our bookbuying, we'll keep these valuable resources around. The library's good too. That's my public service announcement for the day, LOL.