Finished the master's degree this past December and can finally 'pleasure read' again... so what have I been reading? more history... Just finished "Leap of Faith" by Queen Noor of Jordan/Lisa Halaby (more middle east history), and Len Deighton's "Blood, Sweat, and Folly", which covers some interesting points from WW2, but without being chronologically boring (e.g., the role of science in both the British and German war efforts). I am also spending more time re-reading my favorite parts of books by classic woods authors like Kephart, Miller, Fordyce, Breck, and Kreps.
I'd like to get hold of "Lost in the Taiga", which covers the story of a Russian family who fled religious persecution under Stalin. They were "old believers", whose religion dates back to about the 16th century. they fled to Siberia and weren't found until the late 70s. amazing story. Smithsonian magazine had the article that got me interested.