Books: What have people been reading recently?

Subject: BS: Books
From: GUEST,Scapin
Date: 13 Apr 05 - 02:36 PM

What have people been reading recently?

Subject: RE: BS: Books
From: ToulouseCruise
Date: 13 Apr 05 - 02:40 PM

I have just completed two books by Pat Conroy.. "Prince of Tides" and "Beach Music"... the second hit me really hard... I picked it at random at a used book sale. One of the stories within it talks about the main character dealing with his mother being diagnosed with cancer -- my mother happens to be going thru the same, and I had just found out a day or so before getting this book that she wasn't expected to make it past a couple weeks (that was a few weeks back, she is doing somewhat better now, btw). Anyways, it is a very moving book that I would recommend.

Brian

Subject: RE: BS: Books
From: Stu
Date: 13 Apr 05 - 02:56 PM

I'm reading a book on the history of beer in Britain.

Wassail!

Subject: RE: BS: Books
From: Alaska Mike
Date: 13 Apr 05 - 03:15 PM

I'm currently reading book 9 in the "Master & Commander" series by Patrick O'Brian. My first time through the series and I am totally enjoying the experience. I'll probably end up writing some more nautical songs before too long.

Mike

Subject: RE: BS: Books
From: katlaughing
Date: 13 Apr 05 - 03:23 PM

{{{{{Hugs for Brian and his mom}}}}}} May you both find peace and strength.

Recent reads include: Peter Tremayne's Sister Fidelma mystery series.
This is the first one I read, but not the first of the series. In this one she goes to Rome:click

This is some of what he has at the beginning of each book, taken from an interview:

Why did you choose a female protagonist, and a nun in particular?

I chose a female protagonist because this was the most intriguing aspect of the 7th-century Irish system which placed women in a co-equal role to men. A fact that seemed forgotten. And it was inevitable that she had to be a religious for, as Fidelma has explained in the stories, in pre-Christian days all the professionals and intellectuals were part of the Druid caste whereas, in the early days of Christianity, the vast majority of professionals simply became members of the new religious. It is not something Fidelma particularly likes because her first and main love is law – she is a qualified lawyer and law is her life first and foremost and not religion. She did give up life in the Abbey of Kildare for the reasons explained in the title story of Hemlock at Vespers.

What was the position of women in 7th-century Irish society generally and the church in particular? Did women have more rights in 7th-century Ireland than subsequently?

Under the ancient Irish law system, women occupied a unique place. Simply, the Irish laws gave more rights and protection to women than any other western law code at that time or until recent years. Women could, and did, aspire to all offices and professions as co-equal with men. They could be political leaders, command their people in battle as warriors, be physicians, poets, artisans, local magistrates, lawyers and judges.

            Women were protected, under the law, from sexual harassment, against discrimination and against rape. They had the right of divorce on equal terms as their husbands, with equitable separation laws and could demand part of their husband's property as a divorce settlement. They had the right of inheritance of personal property and the right of sickness benefit when ill or hospitalised. They remained the owners of any wealth that they brought into a marriage. Indeed, it was automatic that on divorcing their husband, if he were at fault, they took half of all the joint property accrued during the time of the marriage. The Irish law system was very ancient and sophisticated. While we have fragmentary texts from the early period, the first complete surviving texts do not survive until the 11th century. This law system was finally suppressed following the Tudor Conquest of Ireland at the beginning of the 17th century. During the Penal Years it meant death or transportation to be caught with one of the Irish law books.

            It was thanks to Charles Graves, grandfather of the Nobel literary laureate Robert Graves, that many of the Irish legal texts were finally saved. Charles Graves (1812-1899) was President of the Royal Irish Academy, as well as being Anglican Bishop of Limerick. He was an expert on Ogham, the ancient Irish form of writing, and on Brehon Law. He persuaded the British government to set up a commission to rescue the surviving legal books and texts and to edit and translate them. These were published in six volumes from 1865-1901.

Other books I really enjoy have been the Didius Falco series by Lindsey Davis: click.

And, the ancient Japan mystery series by Laura Joh Rowland:click You can look inside this book and read a bit of it. It's not the first in the series, but one I've read and quite good,imo.

Enjoy!

Subject: RE: BS: Books
From: ToulouseCruise
Date: 13 Apr 05 - 03:29 PM

Thanks Kat.... hugs are always welcome!

Subject: RE: BS: Books
From: GUEST,Seneschal
Date: 13 Apr 05 - 03:29 PM

That thing about her first love being law and not religion is a bit silly. Too often they were closely entwined.

Anyway I was reading Christ Stopped at Eboli. Carlo Levi wrote about his experiences as a doctor in southern italy of the 1940s, one of the most poverty-stricken places in the world. It's an incredible book, I challenge anyone to read it and not be moved.

Subject: RE: BS: Books
From: Rapparee
Date: 13 Apr 05 - 03:32 PM

Terry Jones' "The Murder of Chaucer" and whats-his-name's "Queen Elizabeth's Slave Trader."

Among others.

Subject: RE: BS: Books
From: GUEST,Allen
Date: 13 Apr 05 - 03:33 PM

The Queen Elizabeth one is non-fiction?

Subject: RE: BS: Books
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 13 Apr 05 - 04:00 PM

I'm going through the Harry Potter series and Oscar Wilde 'Picture of Dorian Grey'.

I may try 'The Hunchback of Notre Dame' after that, once I've finished with all of Les Barkers' volumes!

LTS

Subject: RE: BS: Books
From: GUEST
Date: 13 Apr 05 - 04:01 PM

Liz, you really must try Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell.

Subject: RE: BS: Books
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 13 Apr 05 - 04:38 PM

What genre is that then? Never heard the names.

LTS

Subject: RE: BS: Books
From: skipy
Date: 13 Apr 05 - 04:44 PM

Ebay!
Skipy

Subject: RE: BS: Books
From: jacqui.c
Date: 13 Apr 05 - 04:47 PM

I'm just reading the Narnia books by C S Lewis. Just starting 'The Voyage of the Dawn Treader".

When I've finished those I've got my eye on the complete works of Rudyard Kipling.

Subject: RE: BS: Books
From: fat B****rd
Date: 13 Apr 05 - 04:50 PM

Alan Plater's Beiderbecke Trilogy and next a book about Custer.

Subject: RE: BS: Books
From: katlaughing
Date: 13 Apr 05 - 05:04 PM

Seneschal, why silly if that's what he chose, as the author, to make of his character? Have you read the first book in which he says he explains it? I haven't, yet, so I really am just asking.

Thanks,

kat

Subject: RE: BS: Books
From: Georgiansilver
Date: 13 Apr 05 - 05:05 PM

The Chronicles of Narnia are great jacquiC..Not just for children as some think but good adult reading too. Best wishes, Mike.

Subject: RE: BS: Books
From: GUEST,Allen
Date: 13 Apr 05 - 05:07 PM

It's fantasy, but set in the Regency. Excellent book with fantastic atmospheric drawings. It's a bit of an alternate history where magical still exists but only in a theoretical form, until Mr Norrell, a reclusive old miser from Yorkshire who buys up all the books, restores it. It's used in the war effort against Napoleon (hilarious bit where he tries, unsuccesfuly, to frighten napoleon by sending him nightmares: a dragoon hiding in his closet) and he takes on a young pupil, the eccentric but charming gentleman Jonathan Strange. The two eccentrics soon become rivals. Good villain and interesting subplot about the mythical Raven King. Verry witty, with psuedo-academic footnotes. Look for Susanah Clarke's official site.

Subject: RE: BS: Books
From: GUEST,Seneschal
Date: 13 Apr 05 - 05:17 PM

I may change my mind if I can read it, but it sounds way too modern.

Subject: RE: BS: Books
From: GUEST,Allen
Date: 13 Apr 05 - 05:22 PM

Best of the series is The Horse and His Boy.

Subject: RE: BS: Books
From: Ebbie
Date: 13 Apr 05 - 05:26 PM

I always have a number of books scattered around the house, wherever I might land for awhile. I just finished 'Inside the Victorian Home' and 'Secrets and Mysteries,' and I'm still reading 'The Light of Conscience', 'Sun Signs and Soul Mating', 'The Vatican Exposed', 'French Women Don't Get Fat', and 'Doing Easy Time' (by a former prison warden). In addition I read the odd magazine and a couple of newspapers. If all else fails, I read the back of cereal boxes.

Subject: RE: BS: Books
From: sixtieschick
Date: 13 Apr 05 - 05:35 PM

"Mila 18" by Leon Uris. It's a novel about the Warsaw Uprising during WW II. Unbearably sad, but also an inspiring picture of heroism and the will to keep alive a culture and tradition beyond the certain death of the characters. Uris paints such a vivid picture that you feel you are present during each moment.

Subject: RE: BS: Books
From: jacqui.c
Date: 13 Apr 05 - 05:54 PM

I liked that book sixtieschick - I've read quite a few of his that I enjoyed.

GUEST,Allen - You could be right - I'll reserve judgement until I've finished the set.

Subject: RE: BS: Books
From: beardedbruce
Date: 13 Apr 05 - 06:05 PM

last book completed was "The 64 sonnets ( of Keats)". working on some SF and a tech writing textbook, now...

Subject: RE: BS: Books
From: GUEST,Allen
Date: 13 Apr 05 - 06:10 PM

Unless an author is very good at explaining them, modern sensibilities jar.

Subject: RE: BS: Books
From: GUEST,Art Thieme
Date: 13 Apr 05 - 06:27 PM

I finally got around to D. H. Lawrence's "Lady Chatterley's Lover"---and found it quite exceptional and well written. Great ideas and personal relationships within it are explored--as are graphic sexual situations that are very important to the plot line and the emotional appreciation of that plot. It was way ahead of it's time when it was written and banned from the U.S.A. THEN, it was simply accepted for the great work that it is. And now it is banned again and cursed at by... {DELETED BY THE SPIRIT OF COTTEN MATHER AS REINCARNATED IN GEORGE BUSH}.

Art Thieme

Subject: RE: BS: Books
From: Ebbie
Date: 13 Apr 05 - 06:36 PM

Art, when I was 13 and already an avid reader (see thread) I found Lady Chatterley's Lover in a orchard burn pile. (My family was there picking prunes) I took it home surreptitiously and pondered it mightily. A lot of it I couldn't understand but my general impression was that the gamekeeper's life was an interesting one. I didn't like Lady Chatterley nearly as much.

Subject: RE: BS: Books
From: sixtieschick
Date: 13 Apr 05 - 06:36 PM

Liz the Squeakette, I loved "The Picture of Dorian Gray." Wilde's serious writing is often underestimated--I think his cleverness and wit undermine the recognition of the depth of his soul. That novel is very moralistic and ultimately denigrates sensuality--from a man who was convicted of "gross indecency." Go figure.

M.

Subject: RE: BS: Books
From: GUEST,Allen
Date: 13 Apr 05 - 06:51 PM

Actualy it's on the way sensuality denigrates if you lose your soul to it. Besides what he was accused of was homosexual relations, a criminal offence till the 1960s I think.

Subject: RE: BS: Books
From: Shanghaiceltic
Date: 13 Apr 05 - 07:39 PM

'The Bounty' by Caroline Alexander. A very well researched book about the famous mutiny. I knew about Bligh's three experiences of mutiny before I read the book, but this one gives a huge amount of detail to the various people who played a part in the mutiny, the events leading up to it and the subsequent courts martial off Spithead. A great read.

'Command of the Sea' by N A M Rodgers, a history of the Royal Navy from 1670-the mid 1800's. He also wrote 'The Wooden World' which was a very detailed book about the Georgian Navy.

Plus for lighter reading still working my way throught the Rebus series of detective novels (set in Edinburgh) by Ian Rankin.

Subject: RE: BS: Books
From: sixtieschick
Date: 13 Apr 05 - 08:09 PM

Guest. Allen: "Gross Indecency" was the milder of two criminal offences involving homosexuality. Queen Victoria introduced it as a lesser, more compassionate crime, incurring two years at hard labor for those convicted. (Only men were arrested for it, the belief being that women never comitted such acts.) The crime of sodomy, still in place at the time Wilde was accused, carried the death penalty.

I agree with you that Wilde was talking about the danger of losing one's soul to sensuality, but he seemed to me to be deeply ambivalent about the world of the senses; part of his own inner struggle, perhaps.

M.

Subject: RE: BS: Books
From: mack/misophist
Date: 13 Apr 05 - 10:18 PM

The latest was The Hearts of Three by Jack London. Ridiculous, overblown, and absurdly complex. Spielberg would love it. Befor that was Rupert of Hentzau, the sequel to The Prisoner of Zenda. Written for a variety of patriotism I can't understand. Good action novel, though.

Subject: RE: BS: Books
From: katlaughing
Date: 13 Apr 05 - 10:44 PM

Susanna Clark's book info

Thanks, sounds good and the illustrations are great.

kat

Subject: RE: BS: Books
From: GUEST,Scaramouche
Date: 14 Apr 05 - 04:09 AM

Rupert of Hentzau has some good stuff in it. Funny, I just reread Royal Flash.

Subject: RE: BS: Books
From: Emma B
Date: 14 Apr 05 - 05:25 AM

I've recently returned from China so I'm particularly enjoying reading Peter May's latest Li Yan thriller "The Runner" set in Beijing during Olympic preparations.......don't tell me "who-did-it"!

Subject: RE: BS: Books
From: Torctgyd
Date: 14 Apr 05 - 08:48 AM

Have just finished The Bear and the Dragon by Tom Clancy and will start the new Flashman as soon as it arrives!

T

Subject: RE: BS: Books
From: Bunnahabhain
Date: 14 Apr 05 - 08:57 AM

Just finished "Rule Britania", by Daphne du Maurier. The US invades Britian. Very strange. I'd assumed from Jamacia Inn she was a 19C writer...

Bunnhabhain

Subject: RE: BS: Books
From: ToulouseCruise
Date: 14 Apr 05 - 08:58 AM

I too enjoyed Mila 18 by Uris... very powerful...

just read my first Ian Rankin book, "Fleshmarket Close", of the Detective Rebus series... quite good, may look into getting another... I was given the book as a gift, never heard of him before (I am in Eastern Canada) -- is he quite popular over in the UK?

Subject: RE: BS: Books
From: wildlone
Date: 14 Apr 05 - 10:00 AM

Just finished Tarbuck on showbiz, a very funny book of showbiz stories.
Books on the go, A l Lloyd, Folk Song in England.
Tom Vernon, Fat Man In Argentina.
Terry Pratchett. Pyramids.
I go to all the charity shops in my area looking for books [Cardiff, Newport and Caerphilly] yesterday I bought seven.
dave

Subject: RE: BS: Books
From: Paco Rabanne
Date: 14 Apr 05 - 10:06 AM

'Lurchers and Long dogs' by Colonel E.G.Walsh published by Boydell Press. ISBN 0 85115 4026. A book of most excellent fancy if you are interested in hunting with dogs.

Subject: RE: BS: Books
From: GUEST,Scaramouche
Date: 14 Apr 05 - 02:43 PM

She wrote the 'Birds" too. Became very bitter about Hitchcock's version.

Subject: RE: BS: Books
From: Gern
Date: 14 Apr 05 - 03:52 PM

Umberto Eco's The Name of the Rose. I guess I missed it when it was trendy. Just finished Nathaniel Philbrick's In the Heart of the Sea, which was terrific.

Subject: RE: BS: Books
From: Bill D
Date: 14 Apr 05 - 04:37 PM

Oswald Spengler-"The Decline of the West"
John Barth- "Giles Goat-Boy"
Adam Smith -"The Wealth of Nations"
Douglas Hofstadter -"Gödel, Escher, Bach"
...analyses of Mandelbrot sets in Chaos theory
...and bits of Ayn Rand...




oh, insomnia will send us in strange directions...I can get thru maybe 4 pages of one of those before I'm out!

Subject: RE: BS: Books
From: Myrtle
Date: 14 Apr 05 - 04:39 PM

'Portrait in Sepia' by Isabelle Allende...wonderful, as all her books are, and I've just this minute finished 'Terra Incognita' by Sarah Wheeler which I really enjoyed and which had some interesting observations on the rather male dominated world of the Antarctic!

Subject: RE: BS: Books
From: kendall
Date: 14 Apr 05 - 04:56 PM

Just finished the DaVinci Code, and have now started on Sarum a novel of England.

Subject: RE: BS: Books
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 14 Apr 05 - 05:48 PM

Threadcreep... where do you keep your books? Are they in any particular order or just all over the house?

I have mine in author groups, genre groups, and subject groups... and all the poetry is kept in the bathroom.

I used to be a library assistant... I guess I can't get out of the habit!

LTS

Subject: RE: BS: Books
From: GUEST,Allen
Date: 14 Apr 05 - 05:53 PM

ALL OVER. Not got much space, that's part of it.

Subject: RE: BS: Books
From: Shanghaiceltic
Date: 14 Apr 05 - 06:55 PM

Novels just get piled up, my history, poetry, biogs I keep neatly in order.

Re the Rebus novels, yes they are very popular in the UK and certainly in NZ judging by the complete set of titles in most book shops in Wellington when I visited there.

Subject: RE: BS: Books
From: ranger1
Date: 14 Apr 05 - 07:27 PM

I just got back from a vacation spent mainly catching up on my reading. A couple of the more interesting books were:
- River, Cross My Heart, a novel about an African-American family in Georgetown, MD during the 1920s
- Running With Scissors, about a boy with a mentally ill mother who gives him to her shrink to raise (non-fiction). It was horrifying and hilarious at the same time.

I also read a lot of absolute fluff, because it is relaxing on the airplane.

Subject: RE: BS: Books
From: katlaughing
Date: 14 Apr 05 - 07:48 PM

LtS, it would be interesting to see whether people's stats have changed since this thread: How organised is your home library?!

Subject: RE: BS: Books
From: Gorgeous Gary
Date: 14 Apr 05 - 08:27 PM

I'm rounding the final turn and heading into the homestretch reading "Jonathan Strange". I've been enjoying it. There's a portion of the story which takes place in Venice which I found cool since we were there last year on our honeymoon.

-- Gary

Subject: RE: BS: Books
From: open mike
Date: 14 Apr 05 - 10:56 PM

i have discovered the female mystery writer Nevada Barr who features a character, Anna Pigeon who is a Park Ranger (see ranger thread) and is solving mysteries in all sorts of situations....California Forest Fires, Gulf of Mexico island historical pirson turned park and wildlife sancturary....
also Terry Pratchett, The Wyrd Sisters, my first introduction to disc world.
Also the cow boy song book from the mud cat auction...The Whore House Bells were Ringing.
also 1040 tax forms....it is that time of year in the U.S.

Subject: RE: BS: Books
From: sixtieschick
Date: 15 Apr 05 - 02:20 AM

LOVE Nevada Barr, open mike. Have you read the one that takes place in a cave? Scary as hell.

Subject: RE: BS: Books
From: open mike
Date: 15 Apr 05 - 02:59 AM

not yet, but it is on the list..
http://www.nevadabarr.com/

Subject: RE: BS: Books
From: Wilfried Schaum
Date: 15 Apr 05 - 03:46 AM

Liz - I have several systems:

Genre groups: Old German, classic German, modern German literature hardcovers in alphabetical order.
Author groups: German, English pocketbooks in alphabetical order.
Subject groups: Military history, regulations, fiction.
Academic and student history (chronological). Songbooks. Linguistics and dictionaries. Kalligraphy. Woodworking. Trains and engines. Firefighting (all in my studio).

So far they are placed in shelves. Since these are too small now, a lot of books are resting in boxes or on the floor.

Favourite books for frequent reading at my bedside or on a small shelf above my bed.

Encyclopedia and modern atlases in the living room, for easier access of the children.

Just finished a Didius Falco story: Ode to a banker. Started now to reread Lord of the Rings, interrupted by some Odes of Horace.

Subject: RE: BS: Books
From: DougR
Date: 15 Apr 05 - 05:17 PM

We keep our books in our library. Doesn't everyone?

I just finished reading "1916", by Morgan Llywelyn, and am now reading "1921" by the same author. Books that I purchased recently and are on my reading list: "Taking Heat," Ari Fleischer;"The Plot Against America," Philip Roth;"When Will Jesus Bring The Pork Chops," George Carlin;"Night Fall," Nelson DeMille;'Bush At War," Bob Woodward;"The Right Man," David Frum;"The High Cost Of Peace," Yossef Bodansky, and "American Soldier," General Tommy Franks.

DougR

Subject: RE: BS: Books
From: ranger1
Date: 15 Apr 05 - 07:07 PM

Yeah, Nevada Barr is up there on my reading list. I can identify with Anna, being a female park ranger of relatively short stature, and all. I've had to resort to re-reading them, 'cause I read faster than Nevada Barr can write 'em. As to the method in which my books are kept: on the shelves, in piles on the floor, in boxes in storage, behind the seat of my truck, under the couch, etc. I try to keep the ones on the shelves in some semblance of order, but chaos reigns in our teeny apartment. The only books that I manage to keep organized are the natural history books. They have pride of place in a wooden crate all their own.

Subject: RE: BS: Books
From: katlaughing
Date: 15 Apr 05 - 07:24 PM

I really like Barr's books, too. If you like them, you'd probably also like Dana Stabenow's Kate Shugak mysteries in Alaska.

DougR, "1916" was really good!

Subject: RE: BS: Books
From: wildlone
Date: 15 Apr 05 - 08:10 PM

Since moving to Wales I have put up 12 feet of bookshelving and 6 feet of shelving for cds and I still have not got enough space.
Added to that I had a small win on the UK lottery so I got a DVD player,yet more discs to store.
Do not ask about the vinyl.
dave

Subject: RE: BS: Books
From: open mike
Date: 15 Apr 05 - 10:57 PM

Just heard of another book today..
well recomended: the Four Agreements
by Ruiz. www.miguelruiz.com/

Subject: RE: BS: Books
From: kendall
Date: 16 Apr 05 - 02:33 PM

Where do I keep my books? they are strewn from Hell to Hackney.

Subject: RE: BS: Books
From: DougR
Date: 16 Apr 05 - 03:33 PM

Yes, kat, I enjoyed "1916" too. I think she is a pretty good writer. "1921" promises to be good too. It carries the main characters who were not executed in "1916" forward. After "1921", I want to read he book, "1949."

I would be interested in any comments Irish Mudcatters might have about these books. Are they read and enjoyed there very much, or are they considered light-weight history?

DougR

Subject: RE: BS: Books
From: sixtieschick
Date: 16 Apr 05 - 05:01 PM

Them's who like Nevada Barr's books may also like those of Laurie R. King:

www.laurierking.com

The Kate Martinelli series features a contemporary female cop in San Francisco. "A Grave Talent" is the first book in the series. The Mary Russell series features a younger, Jewish, California-born, Oxford scholar sweetheart and then wife of ---Sherlock Holmes! Sounds dorky but it works. Each series is a hoot. King is a scholar/geek as well as a fantastic mytery/suspense craftsman (craftsperson?) so the books are quite unusual.

Subject: RE: BS: Books
From: Firecat
Date: 17 Apr 05 - 02:40 PM

I've currently got 4 on the go.

The Horse Whisperer
Red Dwarf: Infinity Welcomes Careful Drivers
Doctor Who: Cat's Cradle - Witch Mark
The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy

I also pick and choose bits of Blackadder: The Whole Damn Dynasty, mainly when I'm watching the series because it's the scripts book.

Subject: RE: BS: Books
From: Nigel Parsons
Date: 17 Apr 05 - 03:25 PM

Yesterday our local library had one of its 'Sale days' when they clear out books that are not being rented from virtually any of the umpteen libraries in the county.
I picked up seven books, (4 hard back, 3 paperback). Total outlay £1.10.
This is less than the cost from our local charity shops!

The books were all complete (storywise) and in good condition. Some appeared not to have been read.

The only standard failings were the removal of the front fly-leaf (to which the record of borrowers would previously been attached) and a few rubber stamps (which do not obliterate any reading matter)

O.K. 6 were science fiction, and the seventh was Bernard Cornwell's "Battle Flag" (for my wife!), but I will probably read that as well.

What bargains are available. The £1.10 wouldn't even have covered the cost of the plastic book protectors on the 3 paperbacks

CHEERS

Nigel

Subject: RE: BS: Books
From: dwditty
Date: 17 Apr 05 - 04:22 PM

see "Mayor of Macdougal" thread.

Subject: RE: BS: Books
From: Pogo
Date: 17 Apr 05 - 04:47 PM

currently I am reading through my collection of Dashielle Hammet novels starting with Red Harvest...I've been on a noir craze lately. On my list to read also is a book by Marilynne Robinson called Gilead.

Those who are interested in C.S. Lewis's novels...I recommend his science-fiction series " Out of The Silent Planet " " Perelandra " and " That Hideous Strength " All very good reads though he gets a bit more theological in them than in the Narnia series

Subject: RE: BS: Books
From: robomatic
Date: 17 Apr 05 - 10:41 PM

The Great Influenza by Barry - Tells the story of the establishment of modern medical research foundations in the United States ahead of the coming of the great Influenza of 1915 and as a side note gives a very interesting sidelight on President Wilson's mobilization of the United States for World War I.

Wide As The Waters by Bobrick - Tells the tales of the first translations of the Holdy Scriptures and New Testament into common tongues, including King James edition, and what an impact that had on English language, expressiveness, and thought.

Subject: RE: BS: Books
From: robomatic
Date: 17 Apr 05 - 10:44 PM

Currently reading "The Brothers K" by David James Duncan, which looks like it's going to do for baseball what his wonderful "The River Why" did for fishing.

Subject: RE: BS: Books
From: Ebbie
Date: 25 Nov 09 - 01:09 PM

The other day at the library I told a librarian that I want to take out some good fiction. Problem: I no longer know the names of fiction writers that I especially like.

She suggested 'The Time Traveller's Wife'.

I found it most interesting. As with 'The Road', the previously last fiction I read, it is absorbing to feel that the writer is discovering what is happening right along with the reader. Creating and maintaining that perception, I think, is part of the skill of the writer.

To my mind, both The Road and the The Time Traveller's Wife are exceptional.

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: robomatic
Date: 25 Nov 09 - 03:05 PM

I'm in the middle of Robert Grave's "Goodbye to all that" When I was a student I ran into a copy in the library where I had gone to find something completely different, ended up engrossed devoured the whole thing in one go sitting on a footstool in the stacks. Apparently RG created a minor sensation in 1929 with the book chronicalling his youth getting a gentleman's education in the public schools and going from there straight into service in The Great War. His frank description of life in the trenches got much reaction along with some claims of defamation on the part of military units he described. He was under the influence of the poet Laura Riding, and then the book was revised and printed in the 50's when he was eager to expurgate parts of the book (and the influence of Laura Riding). In 1995 his son re-re-issued the book with a lot of the original contents restored, giving it its edge back.

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: maire-aine
Date: 25 Nov 09 - 03:38 PM

Recently finished THE WOMAN BEHIND THE NEW DEAL: The Life of Frances Perkins, FDR's Secretary of Labor and His Moral Conscience, by Kristin Downey. An extremely interesting woman in her own right, and the book reminds us of how bad conditions really were before the New Deal.

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 25 Nov 09 - 04:12 PM

Up to the third book in Steven Erikson's Malozan book of the fallen series. Anyone into epic fantasy will be in for a treat if they have not started it yet. Son #3 is up to the 8th book - Boy what a complex history and world this guy has created. Hard going and things turn out quite nastily at times but, hey, so does real life! What a gripping read. Full of plots within plots, intrigues and detail at an amazingly rich level.

DeG

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: DougR
Date: 25 Nov 09 - 04:25 PM

I'm reading a novel I believe most of my fellow mudcatters would enjoy: "The War after Armageddon", by Lt. Col. (Retired) Ralph Peters. He is a military consultant for Fox News Network. Recommend it highly.

DougR

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recent
From: VirginiaTam
Date: 25 Nov 09 - 04:42 PM

Just discovered the Dragon series by Anne McCaffrey

wow... When they came out I was only 10 years old.

Thinking about reading the Nigel Tranter novels again. It has been a while.

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 25 Nov 09 - 04:49 PM

Anne McCaffrey is brilliant, VT - Have you tried Ursulla LeGuin as well?

DeG

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: Riginslinger
Date: 25 Nov 09 - 07:29 PM

Short stories by Vladimir Nabokov.

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: John on the Sunset Coast
Date: 25 Nov 09 - 10:26 PM

Paul Johnson's "A History of the American People." It is fun and enlightening to read a comprehensive history of the United States after 45 years or so, and through the eyes of an outsider. It's a bit of a slog at nearly 1000 pages, and with my older eyes which don't read quite as fast as in earlier times.

The Treaty of Paris has been signed. We won! Only 225 years to go.

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: Alice
Date: 25 Nov 09 - 10:54 PM

I grew up with old books from the early 1900's written by a woman who had to publish using her initials, so the readers would think she was a man. B. (Betty) M. Bower wrote Western stories about Montana and other western states based on people she knew on ranches in Montana. I collect these old books and look in second hand book stores and thrift shops for them. I found one in Butte about a month ago.
"The Flying U Strikes"

You can read some of her books online at www.gutenberg.org
Chip of the Flying U

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: Riginslinger
Date: 25 Nov 09 - 11:01 PM

Wow! That's pretty amazing, Alice. She even has Charlie Russell illustrating her books.

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: Alice
Date: 25 Nov 09 - 11:05 PM

Yes, I have one of the first editions of Chip of the Flying U with the illustrations by Charlie Russell.

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: Alice
Date: 25 Nov 09 - 11:18 PM

More of her books online, easier to read than the print at the Gutenberg site
Bower and her books (Click)

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: Alice
Date: 25 Nov 09 - 11:19 PM

Just a note, I have 19 of her books, many titles not on that web page. One unique story is called The Adam Chasers, about an archaeologist.

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recent
From: Janie
Date: 25 Nov 09 - 11:48 PM

Right now I'm thoroughly addicted to the Dresden Files and am about 3/4 the way through the series. Not great literature but thoroughly fun. Recently finished Jean Edward Smith's FDR. The Frances Perkin's biography sounds promising. Think I'll seek it out.

DeG, my son and I both enjoy well-written epic fantasy, and tend to read them in tandem, which leads to some good conversation - not always easy to cultivate with a teenager. Thanks for the heads up on the S. Erikson series.

I was a huge reader of books, mostly fiction, until about 15 years ago, then something happened to my concentration and for years I struggled to finish any work of fiction. Found non-fiction easier to concentrate on, but even that was a struggle. Newspapers, Magazines and professional journal articles were all I could manage. In the last year my concentration has begun to return, and it is a joy to be reading books again. I'm still not devouring them as I once did, but it is good to be reading something other than National Geographic cover to cover again. (Not that I don't enjoy and learn from my NG magazines.)

Sometimes I wonder if getting a computer and the internet have had a negative impact on my concentration and reading habits.

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: kendall
Date: 26 Nov 09 - 05:07 AM

I've read about 6 or 8 John Grisham novels but I just ran into one that didn't grab me. "The Associate". It's another lawyer story and I guess I'm just tired of that genre.
Jacqui loved it , however.

I'm up for another Patrick O'Brien. He tends to be somewhat verbose but interesting.I never tire of stories of the sea; I was so sad when I heard that C.S. Forrester was dead.

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: jacqui.c
Date: 26 Nov 09 - 11:47 AM

Just finished 'The Associate' by Grisham and am now reading the new Dan Brown - 'The Lost Symbol', which I am finding a good read. Not sure how much of the info he gives about the Capitol Building is true but it makes me want to try and find out more.

I've also been reading some Nelson De Mille and have two of his books in the John Corey series ready to take with me to the UK.

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: Mysha
Date: 26 Nov 09 - 12:16 PM

Hi,

A bit of a wasted effort, that hiding behind the initials of B.M. Bower. I've looked at Chip of the Flying U, an her gender appears to read from every page.

Anyway, I'm reading Månefuglen, by Lars Bo at a moment. A story about a young artist at the end of the Viking era.

Bye,
                                                                  Mysha

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: Leadfingers
Date: 26 Nov 09 - 12:27 PM

Someone is not buying enough books ! Just heard tht Borders (UK Bookshops) have gone into liquidation !

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: kendall
Date: 26 Nov 09 - 04:18 PM

It's part of the dumbing down of the world, Lead. Too many high school graduates who can not read their diplomas.

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: maire-aine
Date: 26 Nov 09 - 04:25 PM

I just started reading Jean Edward Smith's FDR. I will probably read it in sections, with silly mystery stories in between.

Maryanne

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: Alice
Date: 26 Nov 09 - 04:29 PM

Mysha, I agree, but I've read articles from the early 20th century at the time her gender was made public, and there were men who declared a woman could never have written in such detail about cowboys and ranch life.

Bower and other female writers of the time have become quite a topic in academic study of gender issues, as in "Gender and Genre: An Introduction to Women Writers of Formula Westerns, 1900-1950 by Norris Yates, The Western Historical Quarterly".

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: Alice
Date: 26 Nov 09 - 04:39 PM

Some of Bower's books were obvious western romances, like Chip of the Flying U. Some were very sentimental in other ways, like Cabin Fever (I won't give the spoiler if someone wants to read it online).

The Uphill Climb is about a cowboy battling alcoholism, and interestingly, even has a chapter titled 'The Feminine Point of View'.
CHAPTER XIV of The Uphill Climb


Illustration by CM Russell here click

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recent
From: Bettynh
Date: 27 Nov 09 - 03:00 PM

Terry Pratchett has a new book, The Unseen Academicals
Not his best, perhaps, but I'm not a soccer fan and probably miss some references. If you haven't met Pratchett in your reading, consider buying used or borrowing from a library. He has more than 40 novels and he's addictive.

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: GUEST,beachcomber
Date: 27 Nov 09 - 03:02 PM

Being a pensioner and unable to afford books myself I am waiting for my local Library to purchase American author John J. Turi's new book on DeValera : "England's Greatest Spy" published by Stacey International.
I wonder if any members have already read it and what are their opinions of Turi's research ?

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recent
From: GUEST,Steamin' WIllie
Date: 27 Nov 09 - 03:07 PM

The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins

It has resulted in my ordering his "The Selfish Gene"

if you ever wonder why we are here, or what it is all about, then his stance that we are carriers for genes to spread themselves makes sense and answers a good few questions.

Also puts superstition into perspective.

It's just a pity that he harps on and on so much he is rather irritating when on the radio / telly or being quoted in newspapers.

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: DougR
Date: 27 Nov 09 - 05:40 PM

Alice: A neighbor friend of ours recently published her new novel, "Buffaloed." Her name is Fairlee Winfield and her grandmother was a maid in Charles Russell's home in (as I recall) Wyoming. The book is based on stories her grandmother told her when she was a little girl and centers around a (supposedly)true story of how Russell committed a hoax on the Wyoming State legislature who commissioned him to paint a huge mural in one of the legislative chambers in that state, but it was actually painted by one of his students. I enjoyed reading it and you might too.

It's available on Amazon.

DougR

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: GUEST,Shimrod
Date: 27 Nov 09 - 06:48 PM

Try 'This Is Not A Game' by Walter Jon Williams. It's a sort of cyber-thriller, set in the very near future, in which the boundaries between a game and reality become very blurred indeed.

The remarkable thing about Williams is that all of his books are different and you never know what he's going to write next. He's definitely one of the best writers working in the SF/Fantasy field today and one of my favourite writers of all time - he definitely deserves to be better known.

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: Alice
Date: 27 Nov 09 - 07:07 PM

Russell lived in Great Falls, Montana. The Montana capitol building in Helena does have a mural by Russell, Lewis and Clark Meeting the Flathead Indians. If she put him in Wyoming, it's fiction. Russell's log studio that was in his back yard in Great Falls has been preserved and there is a major museum in Great Falls built in his honor.

The public was very aware of the progress of the mural for the capitol, because Russell and the Governor of Montana had quite a public dispute about how slowly it was coming along when the Governor visited the studio to check on its progress.

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: Riginslinger
Date: 27 Nov 09 - 09:54 PM

Yes, that's what I recall. I don't remember anything about Charlie Russell being in Wyoming. Everything I've heard about him comes from Montana.


               I've been thinking about getting the Dan Brown books on tape. I tried to read the "Da Vinci Codes" and found it impossibly boring. But everyone is reading them so I feel like I have to look into the books to keep abreast of what's going on.

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: Alice
Date: 27 Nov 09 - 10:03 PM

I also have a book on tape going that I was listening to in the car when commuting to work. The Sunday Philosophy Club, by Alexander McCall Smith (who also writes the No 1 ladies Detective Agency mysteries). This one is set in Edinburgh and is a fresh set of characters in a new mystery series.

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: GUEST,Joe_F
Date: 27 Nov 09 - 10:20 PM

_The Age of Empathy_ by Frans de Waal. Points out that human (and other mammalian) nature contains a lot of resources for cooperation as well as for competition. Some surprising information.

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: maire-aine
Date: 17 Dec 09 - 11:02 AM

Just finished "Supercapitalism" by Robert Reich.

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: GUEST,Mike of Hessle
Date: 17 Dec 09 - 11:35 AM

I am currently reading for the second time 'First they killed my Father' by Loung Ung.

This tells of her experiences under the Khmer Rouge

Incredible story about a terrible time for people in Cambodia

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: Wesley S
Date: 17 Dec 09 - 12:37 PM

Profiles in Courage by John Kennedy and Darkly Dreaming Dexter by John Lindsey

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recent
From: Rowan
Date: 17 Dec 09 - 03:39 PM

Tim Winton's "Breath" was an interesting read that I recommend.

I've just finished my third reading O Robert Fagles' translation of "The Odyssey", which I prefer to "The Iliad", although his translation of that is also excellent reading. It makes me want to search out Alexander Pope's version; Fitzgerald's is OK but doesn't really carry the poetry, for me. But I'll probably have another read of "The Iliad" over CHristmas, because Bernard Knox's Notes (to both of Fagles' translations) are really interesting reading in themselves.

Cheers, Rowan

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: Joe_F
Date: 17 Dec 09 - 06:01 PM

_The Strangest Man: The Hidden Life of Paul Dirac, Mystic of the Atom_ by Graham Farmelo

_Class Act: The Cultural and Political Life of Ewan MacColl_ by Ben Harker

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: Riginslinger
Date: 19 Dec 09 - 09:46 AM

"Tales from the Time Loop" by David Icke

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: robomatic
Date: 19 Dec 09 - 06:00 PM

Just finished "What is the What" by Dave Eggers which while formally called a novel is a creatively written autobiography (with help). It chronicles the experience of the Lost Boys of Sudan by focusing on the experiences and with the unique voice of Valentino Achak Deng (which name is also a website). It covers horrendous events and situations but is full of personal observations and enough humor so that the read does not become a burdensome tale of woe. The author and subject are still involved in bringing relief to South Sudan particularly in encouraging the education of girls and women.

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recent
From: Joe Offer
Date: 19 Dec 09 - 06:10 PM

I just finished Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West, Gregory Maguire's fascinating study of evil in the Land of Oz. There are two sequels, one about the witch's son and another about the lion. I'm tempted to read them both. And I've wanted to see the musical play for years, but San Francisco is a long way from here.

-Joe-

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: catspaw49
Date: 19 Dec 09 - 08:55 PM

I seem to be back on the Airship kick again and I have two great books coming for Christmas (just after really).....One is a history of the U.S. Navy program and the other an excellent history of the U.S.S. Los Angeles. I'm still fascinated by them.......Over 2 football fields long (with the end zones) they were the largest things that ever flew and even now it would impressive.....almost an eighth of a mile, think 3 times the size of a Goodyear blimp. They were an outmoded technology before they flew but damn........Can you imagine one passing over at 2000 foot up?

Yeah.....I'm nuts............

Spaw

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: Bat Goddess
Date: 20 Dec 09 - 03:23 PM

In a perfect world ALL of my books would be segregated by genres n their respective bookcases. (Tom didn't realize when he married me 27 and a half years ago that he'd be spending the rest of his life building bookcases.) Most are, but a substantial amount live piled on our extra wide stairs. Some are in boxes -- I really hate that. Some (film books, primarily) are BEHIND boxes in the guest room (and more or less inaccessible.)

I've just finished (earlier this afternoon) "Walking to Mercury" by Starhawk. Started reading it figuring I could de-accession it to the library sale when I was done, but came to the conclusion yesterday that I'll probably need to loan it to a few people first.

I consider I've "won" if I purchase fewer books from the Nottingham Library's twice a year sales than I've donated -- in November I broke even.

I'm also in the middle of reading a couple books that need to be read more slowly or in smaller amounts at a time: "A History of God" by Karen Armstrong, which I'm enjoying immensely, and a slim volume on literary turns of phrase and what they're called and how they're used called "Turns of Speech: 60 Ways to Turn a Phrase" by Arthur Quinn (not a "read in one sitting" book).

Linn

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 20 Dec 09 - 04:13 PM

Terry and the Pirates, volume 4. (All of the Milton Caniff strips from the 1930s through WW2 in six wonderful volumes).

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: Art Thieme
Date: 20 Dec 09 - 05:05 PM

The Briary Bush
by Floyd Dell---a novel of Chicago--1922

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recent
From: Amos
Date: 20 Dec 09 - 09:02 PM

"The Family", a thoughtful expose of the invisible "followers of Christ" political network in Washington.



A

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: Riginslinger
Date: 21 Dec 09 - 06:47 AM

Amos - Is that the group that was in the news recently where a bunch of Congress people were living together in one apartment complex?

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: Bryn Pugh
Date: 21 Dec 09 - 10:49 AM

Currently I have two (fiction) books on the go - "The First Casualty", Ben Elton, and "The Burning Land", Bernard Cornwell.

Non-fiction - "The Sins of the Father", a biography of Joseph P Kennedy.

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: GUEST,Shimrod
Date: 22 Dec 09 - 09:19 AM

Just finished Walter Jon Williams's SF novel, 'Implied Spaces' (A Novel of the Singularity). It's set in a future in which human technology has unprecedented control over reality via vast artificial intelligences (AIs). Using the powers of these AIs people are effectively immortal and can create 'pocket universes'. A war breaks out as a result of an existential crisis in this 'utopia'.

This is another of Williams's extaordinary imaginings - he just keeps getting better and better!

As a change of pace I've just started 'Empires of the Sea: The Final Battle for the Mediterranean, 1521 - 1580' by Roger Crowley. The first couple of chapters are brilliant.

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recent
From: VirginiaTam
Date: 30 Dec 09 - 01:57 PM

Half way through Robert Rankin's The Hollow Chocolate Bunnies of the Apocalypse.

What a hoot!

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recent
From: Janie
Date: 20 Jan 10 - 08:09 PM

Recently finished two good ones....

Still Alice by Lisa Genova, is a novel written like a memoir of a woman with early-onset Alzheimers. It seemed to be well-researched, and may offer some excellent insight into the experiences of a person with Alzheimers who attends with awareness to what is happening to them. At times I felt concern that there was an implication in the novel that Alzheimers, especially early-onset Alzheimers, is more tragic for bright, brainy people than for most of us (The protagonist is a PhD Harvard professor, a cognitive psychologist who is world renown for her research in the area of linquistics. Ultimately, however, I decided that was not true, and that function of Alice's credentials is to give credence to her observations and understanding about what is happening to her as the disease progresses. The voice sounds authentic, though only a person with Alzheimers can say for sure. The family reactions and responses over time to the changes in Alice are very realistic, informative, and compassionate.

Paths to Glory by Jeffrey Archer, is a fictionalized biography of George Mallory, and his attempts, probably but not provably successful, to be the first man to summit Mt. Everest. A very good read.

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recent
From: Joe Offer
Date: 20 Jan 10 - 08:14 PM

I'm reading a thousand-page page-turner, Ken Follett's World Without End, the sequel to his Pillars of the Earth. The first book was about the building of a cathedral in England. The second book is set about 200 years later, telling of life and politics in the cathedral town.
Good story.

-Joe-

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: katlaughing
Date: 20 Jan 10 - 09:15 PM

Joe, I loved Pillars of the Earth; didn't know there was a sequel. I'll have to get it.

Janie, if you like Jeffrey Archer, I would recommend As the Crow Flies. Excellent.

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: mousethief
Date: 20 Jan 10 - 09:18 PM

Currently: The Meaning of Everything -- about the compiling of the Oxford English Dictionary.

Before that: Notes from Underground - Dostoyevsky.

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: Riginslinger
Date: 20 Jan 10 - 09:34 PM

I read "Notes from (the) Underground" many years ago. It can do funny things to the reader.

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: Bat Goddess
Date: 20 Jan 10 - 09:54 PM

Finished "French Lessons" by Peter Mayle sometime last week -- various food celebrations around France.

A few minutes ago I finished a novel by Patricia Volk, "To My Dearest Friends" -- interesting, but not a keeper. Might give it to a friend who is a real estate broker.

My sister-in-law, professor of religion at a Lutheran college, just discovered the Spider Robinson quote on my email sig line ("If a person who indulges in gluttony is a glutton, and a person who commits a felony is a felon, then God is an iron.") -- maybe I need to re-read some of the early Callahan's Cross Time Saloon stories -- or the Stardance Trilogy -- or "Time Pressure", my favorite.

Or something completely different.

I'm still working on the Karen Armstrong book. And I've started Jimmy Carter's "Sources of Strength: Meditations on Scripture for a Living Faith".

Linn

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: katlaughing
Date: 20 Jan 10 - 10:34 PM

mousethief, have you read The Professor and the Madman? Also about the making of the OED. Excellent read!

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: mousethief
Date: 20 Jan 10 - 10:52 PM

kat: Yes! Excellent book.

Rig: I can well believe it!

O..O
=o=

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recent
From: Rowan
Date: 22 Jan 10 - 10:18 PM

Also about the making of the OED. Excellent read!
As is "The surgeon of Crowthorne", which I've just finished reading.

It being summer here, with plenty of opportunity to sloth around with books, I've also finished the Stieg Larssen Millenium Trilogy (my daughters gave me "The girl with the dragon tattoo" for Christmas), as well as the latest in The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series ("Tea time for the traditionally built") and John Wyndham's "Trouble with lichen".

One of the local bookshops was discounting Mma Ramotswe's Cookbook (compiled from a study of the recipes and references to food and cooking in The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series, so I've got that and am going through some of the recipes. Good fun!

Cheers, Rowan

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: Alice
Date: 22 Jan 10 - 10:44 PM

Book on tape.

The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: GUEST,HiLo
Date: 23 Jan 10 - 12:18 PM

I have a number of things on the go. Just finished Tracy Chevaliers newest "Remarkable Creatures"..good subject but TC strikes me as an author who always lets a good story slip through her fingers. Am also reading "London, The Biography" by Peter Ackroyd, which I am enjoying. But the best thing I have read in a while is "The Book of Negroes" by Laurence Hill.

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: Joe_F
Date: 23 Jan 10 - 06:11 PM

_Koestler: The Literary and Political Odyssey of a Twentieth-Century Skeptic_, by Michael Scammell. Inasmuch as I have been reading his books all my life, including his autobiographical ones, it is instructive to see a lot of details filled in by someone who has done his homework -- including, alas, that he was something of a drunkard and treated his women execrably.

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: kendall
Date: 24 Jan 10 - 06:48 AM

BARTER ISLAND by Peter Scott. Loosely based on one of the islands that was in my patrol area when I was Captain of the Explorer in the 60's.

Still don't know what he was trying to say, none of the characters fit the people I knew, and little mistakes bugged me. For instance, he mentioned a slant six Falcon engine hanging from a tree branch. The slant six was built by Chrysler, not Ford. I don't know why little things like that bug me, they just do.

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: katlaughing
Date: 01 May 10 - 02:06 AM

They bug me, too, Kendall, esp. if it is about something which I am familiar.

I just finished the Wildwood Boys by James Carlos Blake, an horrific and lyrical novel about Bloody Bill Anderson and other "wildwood boys" who fought the Union during the Civil War, at times in concert with Quantrill. I could swear someone here told me about it, but I didn't find it in a search. It is the more chilling and excellent because of Blake's style of writing...his descriptions of the beauty of the land, the tenderness between lovers and families and friends juxtaposed with his declarative, blunt telling of the atrocities of both warring sides can leave one stunned, yet compelled to read on. I know it is a novel, but it seems to me his research was brilliant as is the result. I highly recommend it for anyone who is interested in the history of our country, esp. to those who may be as uncomfortable as I have been to see the Rebel flag so casually displayed these days. Even though one of my ancestors was a Rebel spy, an "irregular," I've never felt any pride in that flag nor the need to fly it, but, after reading this book, I at least understand why some may feel that way.

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: Jack Campin
Date: 01 May 10 - 05:50 AM

Just finished "Lila Says" by Chimo. Very short and very tough, probably-partly-autobiographical erotic-grime novel set in a godawful Paris housing scheme in the late 90s. I like books that don't waste a word.

Currently on three at once: Toni Morrison's "Jazz" (actually pretty similar to "Lila Says" in its attitude and style, but set in inter-war black New York), the Bradt Guide to Bosnia-Herzegovina, and Marcus du Sautoy's "Finding Moonshine" (popularized mathematics, about the classification of finite simple groups).

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 01 May 10 - 07:53 AM

I'm always reading more than one book.

from the current selection -

Cecil Beaton - The Glass of Fashion - (1954) - a very beautiful book with a small number of photos & many drawings from portraits & photos. Cecil Beaton designed the costumes for "My Fair Lady"

Alexis, The Memoirs of the Baron de Rede, ed. by Hugo Vickers - 1922-2004, prominent aristocratic aesthete, collector of French eighteenth-century furnishings and decorative arts and socialite in European circles and in New York. He was famous for his parties & fancy dress balls in Paris the 1950s, 60s & 70s - amazing story & pics.

Joseph Mitchell - Up in the old hotel & other stories stories of early/mid 20th century New York.

Ruth Park - The Frost & the Fire, about life on the New Zealand goldfields in the 1860's. It was originally titled 'One-a-pecker, Two-a-pecker' (well-known phrase from a famous NZ song - Bright fine gold) & includes many snippets from songs.

I've just discovered that Ruth Park wrote Bright Fine Gold & that the song is often called a traditional song!

sandra

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: GUEST,Hi Lo
Date: 01 May 10 - 10:38 AM

Just finished The Ode Less Travelled by Stephen Fry..very good, also read Howard's End by Forster for about the tenth time..gorgeous prose, the kind no one seems able (or willing) to write anymore. A lot of Biography; Mrs. Oliphant, Virginia Woolf, Graham Greene, most of it excellent. But I do wish that people would not publish thier fantasies about authors, especially Virginia Woolf, and call them Biographies..drives me round the bend.

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: GUEST,songbob
Date: 01 May 10 - 12:35 PM

I typically read Sci-Fi, and am in the middle of one now (Regenesis, by C. J. Charryh), but recently picked up "The Virginian," by Owen Wister, publish around 1912, and it was great fun. Stylistically different from most modern novels, and actually built from seven short stories into one piece, it's a fascinating read. The 'strong, silent' Gary-Cooper / Randolph Scott type of western hero archetype is set by this book.

It was a fun read, and I may go looking for some of the other classics of the genre, from Zane Grey to Luke Short. Or I may start rereading the Harry Potter books yet again. Who knows?

Bob Clayton

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: katlaughing
Date: 01 May 10 - 03:33 PM

I grew up near the old Goose Egg, Bob.

"Smile when you call me that...":-) Loved that book!

HiLo, the Stephen Fry book sounds good, thanks.

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: Amergin
Date: 01 May 10 - 06:08 PM

An alternate history book by Harry Turtledove called Ruled Brittannia....it is about life in England after 9 years of occupation by the Spanish. King Phillip is dying and Shakespeare has been commissioned to write two plays, one by a secret organisation of English rebels...and one by the occupying Spaniards...

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: Joe_F
Date: 01 May 10 - 06:20 PM

A House Is Not a Home, by Polly Adler. Memoir of a 20th-century American madam.

It Can't Happen Here, by Sinclair Lewis. Satirical antiutopia (fascist America).

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: Joe Offer
Date: 01 May 10 - 06:25 PM

I'm still on Ken Follett: World Without End in January, then Hammer of Eden, Jackdaws, and now Night Over Water. Follett writes adventure stories in a historical context - and he never disappoints. Not profound reading, perhaps, but always a good story.

-Joe-

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: Ebbie
Date: 01 May 10 - 11:01 PM

I just returned two books to the library. One was an interesting one called "I'm Perfect; You are Doomed" about growing up in a Jehovah's Witness family. Well written but I found myself aghast much of the time. The Amish, in which religion I was reared, frequently remind me of the JW but the Amish, thank god, are not as bad. Where they are alike, I think, is in the evident disrespect for knowledge and learning for the sake of learning.

I am currently reading 'Amnesia', fiction by Douglas Cooper, a small book in which I still haven't quite figured out what is going on or half the time who is talking and I am already on page 48. It involves a woman librarian who is to be married in three hours' time and is just about to close up and go home when this odd small man walks in and starts talking.

I am also reading 'The Years Alone', an Eleanor Roosevelt biography, by Joseph Lash, the same man who earlier wrote 'Franklin and Eleanor.' Interesting, informative and with lots of pictures I had not seen before.

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: Gern
Date: 02 May 10 - 05:06 PM

I'd be further along if I didn't spend so much time here. I'm reading Barbara Tuchman's Distant Mirror. It's a sad history of western Europe in the 13th Century. Alas, the usual parallels...

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: GUEST,HiLo
Date: 03 May 10 - 11:33 AM

I read A Distant Mirror..a very fine book. I am curious to know why you say "sad" ?

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: Becca72
Date: 03 May 10 - 03:14 PM

I spent yesterday reading Appaloosa by Robert B. Parker. He never disappoints.

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: Riginslinger
Date: 03 May 10 - 04:07 PM

I really like Robert B. Parker. Haven't read Appaloosa--will get a copy. What bothers me about his publisher is, they'll bring out a Spencer novel, and then several months later they'll change the cover. I think I've fallen for that trap three of four times, buying the same book twice.

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: Bonzo3legs
Date: 03 May 10 - 04:11 PM

Lark Rise to Candleford

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: Becca72
Date: 03 May 10 - 04:13 PM

Riginslinger,

I have to keep a list in my bag of the ones I already have so when I'm in a bookstore and see one on sale I can check to see if it's already on my shelf. :-)

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: Ebbie
Date: 03 May 10 - 11:59 PM

I didn't mention the other book that I just returned to the library. It's 'The Little Book' by hmmmm- I've forgotten.

It's fiction and involves time travel but is very different from 'The Time Traveller's Wife'.

This one is an intricately devised set of scenarios, where the protagonist meets his father but the son is older than the father, the son falls in love with his young grandmother, and it turns out that his grandmother was also a time traveler. Interesting.

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: Gern
Date: 04 May 10 - 09:49 AM

HiLo: I said A Distant Mirror was a sad history because the events she describes are unremittingly sad, not because of Tuchman's writing or research. Imagine a time of incessant, unnecessary war, out-of-control epidemics, corrupt, irrational leaders and poor people left to clean up the mess. Or am I talking about this morning's CNN headlines?

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: GUEST,HiLo
Date: 04 May 10 - 09:53 AM

Oh yes, I DO see what you mean. The world does not seem to change much, does it ? I have read all of her books, a very good historian. Have you read Paris 1919 by Margaret MacMillan..excellent and yet another story of opportunities lost.

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: GUEST
Date: 04 May 10 - 11:39 AM

"Gravity's Rainbow" by Thomas Pynchon

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: Roger the Skiffler
Date: 05 May 10 - 08:35 AM

As my nephew is living in Hungary with his Hungarian girlfriend I have been reading (in English!) Miklos Banffy's trilogy "They were Found Wanting" etc. Written in the 1930s about pre-WW1 Hungarian life and politics, in size and scope it is a bit like War and Peace and probably covers more on the parliamentary debates of the period than a non-Hungarian needs but the lives of the characters are absorbing.

RtS

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: Janie
Date: 05 May 10 - 08:54 AM

I've read "A Distant Mirror" twice. Fine book indeed. I had similar thoughts to you, Gern, but instead of making me feel sad, I came away thinking that our own era could be worse.

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: Riginslinger
Date: 05 May 10 - 09:14 AM

Becca - I see where Robert B. Parker has a new book out. It must be something he was working on just before he died.

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recent
From: Rowan
Date: 06 May 10 - 07:05 PM

Just finished Tom Holland's magnum opus "Millennium; the end of the world and the forging of Christendom." It deals with the period from ~850AD to ~1100AD in Europe and Asia Minor. Interesting material but his writing style is atrocious; I suspect it is an attempt to appear academically respectable but I'd have sent his drafts back for serious restructuring if I'd been his editor. Then again, he's much more famous (and probably better remunerated) than I'll ever be.

Cheers, Rowan

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recent
From: Janie
Date: 06 May 10 - 10:29 PM

For the past 6 months I've been on my 1st serious fiction roll in years.

After finishing up Jim Butcher's "Dresden File" series, I started on his fantasy series "Codex Alera." Absolutely no redeeming social value, but lots of fun. Right now I am about 1/3 thru Book 5 "Princeps Fury."

Also listening to Ann Tyler's "Noah's Compass" on my work commute. What a wonderful writer she is - I love her tender and respectfully humorous portrayals of the lives of ordinary people, of which I are one.

Listened to "The Other Boleyn Girl" for my trip up to WV this past weekend. Not at all historically accurate according to reviews, but a good piece of fiction.

Am excitedly awaiting receipt of "A Species of Eternity" by Joseph Krastner. I read it years ago - now out of print - Krastner writes about the early American naturalists - Bertram, Curtis, etc. If I recall correctly, the latest naturalist included was Audubon. Excellent and non-romanticized biographical sketches of some pretty remarkable people during a pretty remarkable time in the history of development of scientific knowledge and methods, and the development of our current system of plant classification.

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: maire-aine
Date: 06 May 10 - 11:19 PM

Recently finished "Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth, and Happiness" by Richard H. Thaler & Cass R. Sunstein.

Now reading "Freefall: America, Free Markets, and the Sinking of the World Economy" by Joseph E. Stiglitz.

In between, did some light reading: tea-shop mystery stories by Laura Childs & garden shop mysteries by Joyce & Jim Lavene.

Maryanne

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: Amergin
Date: 07 May 10 - 03:42 AM

Bonzo3Legs...thank you for mentioning Lark Rise to Candleford. I didn't realise it was a book, but I know my mother has been enjoying the series on tv....so I found a copy of the trilogy in book format for her for mother's day.

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: Ebbie
Date: 07 May 10 - 01:15 PM

It is always a gamble whenever I enter a book store- I most often buy something when I had no such intention.

The other day I stopped in to buy a ticket for the upcoming Ginny Hawker/Tracy Schwarz/Peter Schwarz concert in Juneau, saw this book and bought it: 'The Bridge' by David Remnick. A comprehensive look at where Barack Obama started and how and why he got where he is today.

I haven't been home much this last week so I've only just started the book but I have already learned some things I didn't know before or had forgotten. For instance, I didn't realize that Obama's father was one of those Africans who were given the opportunity in the Kennedy Administration to come study in America.

Choices. That's what it's all about.

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: DougR
Date: 07 May 10 - 03:45 PM

An excellent new book that's been on the NY Times best seller list for some weeks: "Courage and Consequence," by Karl Rove. I highly recommend it.

DougR

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: katlaughing
Date: 07 May 10 - 03:57 PM

Just got a copy of Year of Wonders. Thanks for the recommendation; looks like a great read!

Just finished No Great Mischief. It took me awhile to get used to his writing style, so lyrically beautiful descriptions of the land and conditions contrasted with plain telling of harsh life times, yet somehow making it blend so well and sound so filled with hope and fortitude. I didn't want it to end.

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: Joe_F
Date: 07 May 10 - 05:46 PM

_Now Batting for Boston_ by Joe Hayes. Stories about growing up gay in South Boston (then a solidly Irish Catholic working-class neighborhood). He survived.

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recent
From: Ebbie
Date: 15 May 10 - 11:48 AM

As of last night I left at home all the books that I've been reading and am starting a new batch at the place where I'm house sitting.

This one book is fascinating. It's by Thomas Cahill and titled 'How the Irish Saved Civilization' (The Untold Story of Ireland's Heroic Role from the Fall of Rome to the Rise of Medieval Europe) Printed in 1995, I must say that parts of the inexorable fall of Rome sound alarmingly familiar.

That title may sound risible but it is not meant to. It is a serious treatment of Roman history, replete with all the nation states and barbarians surrounding it.

I haven't gotten to the 'heroic' role of the Irish yet; at this early point they are among the barbarian hordes.

It is so well written and almost chatty with its effortless translations of Latin writers to English prose, it is a new experience for me. I'm lovin' it.

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: Riginslinger
Date: 15 May 10 - 07:57 PM

John Le Carre' "The Mission Song."

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: Joe_F
Date: 16 May 10 - 06:11 PM

_A Map of the Harbor Islands_ -- a novel by the same Joe Hayes. A nice, bright, pious, athletic high-school boy is hit hard by a baseball, which renders him antisocial, mystical, and (perhaps) a saint. I'm not very far into it.

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recent
From: Janie
Date: 16 May 10 - 08:35 PM

I'm on a Jim Butcher roll. Just finished "Precep's Fury" from the Codex Alera series. When I went to buy book 6 "First Lord's Fury" B&N had sold out - but Lo! he came out in April with another in the "Dresden Files" which they did have. Guess what I'm reading.

Also re-reading "The Best of the Hillbilly" an anthology of the late humorist, Jim Comstock.

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: Eiseley
Date: 16 May 10 - 11:21 PM

I'm re-reading The Shadow of the Wind and starting The Angel's Game, both by Carlos Ruiz Zafon. Barcelona is enchanting!

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recent
From: Rowan
Date: 16 May 10 - 11:57 PM

'How the Irish Saved Civilization'

Definitely an interesting read, Ebbie.

Cheers, Rowan

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: Becca72
Date: 17 May 10 - 09:52 AM

Ringinslinger,

Robert B. Parker had a couple waiting in the wings when he passed. I think there are 2 more books waiting to be released and then that's all she wrote. I'm still sad.


Right now I'm reading "Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West". It got off to a rather slow start, but I'm about half way through now and it's gotten much better.

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recent
From: Ebbie
Date: 17 May 10 - 10:32 AM

In reading How the Irish Saved Civilization, for the first time I understand something of how and why Patrick was/is? so revered in Ireland. As I said, fascinating stuff.

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: katlaughing
Date: 17 May 10 - 12:00 PM

Ebbie, are you familiar with the Sister Fidelma series? If you click on Fidelma's World, you can read the author's explanation of the way it was in Ireland in the seventh century...talk about enlightened!

I loved Year of Wonders, thank for the recommendation. I am in the middle of House of Sky...I wish I'd had that much material to write about my dad; it is an incredible book...so beautifully written.

Next in my pile is Ruled Britannia..can't wait to start it.

So, thanks to Mudcatters I keep getting such great books to enjoy.

Forgot, I also just finished the two most recent in the No.1 Ladies Detective Agency. I love those books!!

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: jacqui.c
Date: 17 May 10 - 12:26 PM

Just finished The Life and Death of St Kilda - Tom Steel - the story of a remote island off the Outer Hebrides, its people and the loss of their way of life as travel to the island became easier.

It was a fascinating look at a completely different way of life, one shaped over may years by the coming of religion and one that was still, in many ways, tied the the feudal system as late as the 19th century.

Just started The God Delusion, by Richard Dawkins.

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recent
From: Ebbie
Date: 17 May 10 - 01:25 PM

No, I haven't read that series, kat. Thanks for the link. I'll see where my tastes take me next.

Something fascinating in the Cahill book is that he goes back to when Rome was in decline and shows by their own writings and actions that they didn't even know it. And he brings in Augustine, and shows how drastically he veered from being the sensitive thinker to becoming the Father of the Inquisition, eventually bringing in the undereducated empathic Patrick who arguably showed the Irish how their traditional way of life could blend and morph into the mores of Christianity.

I haven't been home much lately so I haven't finished the book yet but the end is approaching. I'm going to be sorry to finish it.

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: Riginslinger
Date: 17 May 10 - 01:41 PM

Becca - I don't know why I find Parker's prose so compelling, but it is good news that there are still a couple of books in the process.

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: CET
Date: 18 May 10 - 05:39 AM

As is my wont, I have a clutch of books on the go. Beside me as I type is "The Adventures of Ibn Battuta" by Ross E. Dunn, about the Moroccan scholar who left his home in Tangier in 1325 to do the hajj to Mecca and ended up travelling all the way to China. He didn't return to Tangier until 1349. I picked that up in the bookshop of the Smithsonian Institution Natural History Museum a couple of days ago. Also acquired during our current holiday in the U.S.: "Island of the Sequinned Love Nun", by Christopher Moore and "And I was There" by Admiral Layton, who was Nimitz' intelligence chief throughout WWII, about the breaking of the Japanese codes.

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: Jack Campin
Date: 18 May 10 - 08:13 AM

Currently on Dervla Murphy's "Through the Embers of Chaos: Balkan Journeys", a travelogue-cum-history about former-Yugoslavia at the end of the 90s, after the NATO bombings. Very insightful, but difficult reading because of the tiny print in the John Murray paperback.

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: katlaughing
Date: 18 May 10 - 06:09 PM

Another series you might enjoy, Ebbie, is the Marcus Didius Falco novels by Lindsey Davis. Satirical, historically accurate, they are great reads with all kinds of everyday minutiae not normally taught about ancient Rome...what the ordinary people lived like...written in such a grand and fun style. I highly recommend them!

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recent
From: Rowan
Date: 18 May 10 - 08:12 PM

A TV series Travels with a Tangerine", based on "The Adventures of Ibn Battuta" was recently broadcast on Oz ABC. He certainly got around.

Cheers, Rowan

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recent
From: Ebbie
Date: 18 May 10 - 09:21 PM

kat, nothing against novels - and I do read some - but there is so much nonfiction that I haven't gotten to yet that I rarely seek out fiction.

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: Art Thieme
Date: 18 May 10 - 10:12 PM

Right now I am reading my brother Richard Thieme's latest book. Called MIND GAMES, it is ostensibly science-fiction, but if you are one of the many who think life is everywhere, and that THEY have been coming to visit us for a long time, these short stories will absolutely fascinate you! Google on his name. You might be amazed!

Art

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: maire-aine
Date: 18 May 10 - 10:28 PM

Hey, Kat. I'm also a Fidelma fan. I've been reading that series for years.

Maryanne

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: katlaughing
Date: 18 May 10 - 10:58 PM

There are some rave reviews of his book, too, Art...check if out: Click. You two certainly bear a family resemblance..neat photos of him on google.

Maryanne, kewl!

Ebbie, ah, I understand. In case, may I recommend A Lady's Life in the Rockies? I also have her one abut the Yangtze Valley and Beyond, but haven't tackled it yet. If you go to the author page Amazon has for her, you will see she was an intrepid explorer mostly on her own as a "proper" Englishwoman in the late 1890s.

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: Uncle_DaveO
Date: 19 May 10 - 09:18 AM

I'm a Patrick O'Brian fan, and am almost ready to begin again his Master and Commander series, all twenty books of it. Wonderful!

But for "what I've been reading recently", I just finished O'Brian's great non-sea novel, Testimonies.   

O'Brian had written and published one earlier novel, when he was fourteen or fifteen, which showed some of his abilities which were to blossom so greatly later, but Testimonies was his first novel as an adult (that is to say "grown up", as opposed to erotic) writer. It's marvelous.

Testimonies is told in segments of narrations out of the mouths of various characters in the overarching story, each telling, in the words and personality of that character, and from that character's knowledge of the story facts, so that you get a sort of simultaneous overview of what's happening. O'Brian does this very well.

Mr. Pugh, the protagonist, is a middle-aged scholar and writer, retired from the Oxford University faculty after receiving an inheritance, who takes a house in Wales, where he expects to work on his book on medieval literature. You see his gradual acclimatization to Welsh culture over a period of time, including falling in love (mutually) with the wife of a neighbor (but with no adultery).

Without trying to set out the plot development in details, I'll just say that the whole thing eventuates in a tragic ending, with the lady either poisoning herself or being poisoned by her family.

For lovers of fine novelistic writing generally, as well as O'Brian fans in particular, I cannot recommend this novel highly enough.

Dave Oesterreich

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: Shanghaiceltic
Date: 19 May 10 - 06:18 PM

Stieg Larsens Millenium Trilogy, starts with Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. Excellent set of books with some good twists and turns. Pity he died shortly after publishing the last in the trilogy.

Simon Schammers History of England, nice fresh look at English History.

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: Cats
Date: 20 May 10 - 05:32 PM

For a bit of light relief and good fun try 'Katy Carter Wants a Hero' by Ruth Saberton. It's a chicklit so not what I would normally read but made me laugh out loud. You'll never look at lobsters in the same way again and it will make you wonder what your vicars wife does when she's not being a vicar's wife!!!! Long Live Pinchy!!

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recent
From: Rowan
Date: 21 May 10 - 12:40 AM

Millenium Trilogy, starts with Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

Definitely a series worth reading! I saw the film of the first in the series the other night and recommend that people read the series before viewing the film. The film makers do an excellent job of keeping the necessary elements of the plot so that it makes a good film, even though they change details of how the element works, but a lot of the richness of the book is lost. They also throw in repetitions of a scene that properly belongs in the second book.

Cheers, Rowan

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recent
From: GUEST,.gargoyle
Date: 21 May 10 - 02:42 AM

Reaching onto the collection of book-ends of the family history.

Having wrapped up all grandfather's history books,pre-1900....
Currently in the middle of great-grand-dad's copy of
McGuffey's Fifth Eclectic Reader (2nd Ed) 1857

Most pleased with the Welch example "The Well of St. Keyne" a copy
of which and multi-format tune is in the Digital Tradition.

Sincerely,
Gargoyle

The marginal notes and morality are as valid today as then. And humor is timeless.

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: GUEST,Charmion's brother Andrew
Date: 22 May 10 - 03:42 PM

Niall Ferguson's economic history, _The Ascent of Money_, and Chris Wattie's account of 3rd Battalion, Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry, in Kandahar in 2006, _Contact Charlie_.

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: katlaughing
Date: 22 May 10 - 03:57 PM

Just finished House of Sky which will be one of my all-time favourites and revered books. The quality of writing, intricate and lyrical expressions and truthful relating without getting overly-sentimental is of a rare and unique quality, imo...as the Chicago Sun-Times said, "Doig is to be considered the premier writer of the American West," and then some, imo. THIS is the book I wish I'd had enough material to even attempt when it came to working my dad's stories into a book. I could never match the ability of expression as Doig, though, so there ya go.

This, near the end of the book, took my breath away and pierced my heart: Split the tongue of the silence that beats in you when you first know that a parent is dying, and it will begin to recite everything unsaid across a lifetime.

Just started on Ruled Britannia. So far, so good.

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: katlaughing
Date: 27 Jun 10 - 12:02 AM

Ivan Doig's "The Whistling Season"...excellent.

"Skeletons on the Zahara" by Dean King. A true account of Americans sailors shipwrecked and sold into slavery in West Africa in 1815. An extraordinary journey, the book combines much of the memoirs of two survivors, the captain and the master.

Reading another Doig right now: Dancing At the Rascal Fair. Quite good.

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: GUEST,Riginslinger
Date: 27 Jun 10 - 08:26 AM

I really like Ivan Doig. Read "Dancing at the Rascal Fair" sometime back. Love regionalists in general, actually.

    But right now I am reading "The Mission Song," by John Le Carre.

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: GUEST,Neil D
Date: 01 Jul 10 - 04:18 PM

"Azincourt" by Bernard Cornwell

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: GUEST,Big Ballad Singer
Date: 01 Jul 10 - 04:49 PM

I just finished reading "In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex" and am currently into "The Irish Republic", a comprehensive history of the struggle for Irish Independence up to and including Collins, DeValera and the beginnings of the IRA.

The book on the Essex was a fascinating read and really eye-opening as to the circumstances and events that made whaling not only a lucrative and dangerous business but also a prime and fertile ground for folk tales and songs. I highly recommend it.

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: Bonzo3legs
Date: 01 Jul 10 - 05:42 PM

Still Lark Rise to Candleford

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: Wesley S
Date: 01 Jul 10 - 06:42 PM

"Columbine" by Dave Cullen. A chilling account of the high school shootings in 1999. Just about everything I remember hearing about it in the media was wrong. And some of the cover-ups that took place were just plain shameful. Highly recommended. Esp if you are a teacher.

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: LilyFestre
Date: 01 Jul 10 - 07:27 PM

The 19th Wife

Michelle

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: mousethief
Date: 01 Jul 10 - 07:33 PM

Just finished 26th reading of LOTR. Now reading In the Wake of the Plague: The Black Death & the World It Made. Fascinating stuff!

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: Becca72
Date: 02 Jul 10 - 08:40 AM

"Why We Suck" by Denis Leary

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: number 6
Date: 02 Jul 10 - 09:11 AM

"Beatrice and Virgil" by Yan Martel

This was a book I received as a Father's Day gift ... and a wonderful gift it is.

I also suggest another novel by this writer ... "Life of Pi"

biLL

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: GUEST,HiLo
Date: 02 Jul 10 - 09:21 AM

Just finished a wonderful autobiography of the writer Paula Fox called "Borrowed Finery". Reread To The Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf, a truly grand book. Am now reading Master and Commander by O'Brian and am really enjoying it.

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: Backwoodsman
Date: 02 Jul 10 - 09:30 AM

"Just finished The Life and Death of St Kilda - Tom Steel - the story of a remote island off the Outer Hebrides, its people and the loss of their way of life as travel to the island became easier."

Read it too, jacqui - and, just by way of a bit of one-upmanship - been there, seen it, fell in love with Hirta and especially Boreray and The Stacs. Village Bay is a powerful, spiritual place - once visited, never forgotten.

A wonderful, magical group of islands inhabited by Soay sheep, thousands of seabirds, and the almost-tangible souls of long-gone St. Kildans.

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: jacqui.c
Date: 02 Jul 10 - 10:08 AM

I've just finished the first three books in the Twilight saga - great easy reading - I've just ordered the paperback of the fourth book, due out in August.

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: theleveller
Date: 02 Jul 10 - 10:37 AM

Currently reading Christopher Hill's 'Intellectual Origins of the English Revolution' - a bit on the dry side, which is unusual for Hill - and also Harry Fletcher's 'A Life On the Humber', recommended by Tom Bliss, which is really enlightening and makes you realise what a hard life people led at the beginning of the 20th century.

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: Ebbie
Date: 02 Jul 10 - 12:50 PM

My bedside book, currently, is 'The Bridge' , The Life and Rise of Barack Obama, by David Remmick. Well written and puts the definitive lie, as if we needed it, to the claim that records of certain years of his life are missing.

At the homeless shelter where I am making myself available for interviews, I have picked up two books from their crowded bookshelves. (I'll be taking them back- although I think my daughter might like the one so I may send it to her). One is an Anna Quindlen novel, 'Object Lessons'. It is well written with great insight into family dynamics, but events are sometimes– I can't think of the word right now- writing that projects upcoming situations? -I want to say 'telegraphed', but that is not the word- . Humph. Anyway, I will finish it.

I am also reading a warm, comforting, mother of a book titled 'Amazing Grace' by Kathleen Norris. I don't often read 'religious' books but this one is different. Norris is a searcher who has found what she needs. It is especially interesting to me because I am trying to understand my own daughter's simple but strong faith. (Where she got it, I dunno) I think she may like to have this book in her library.

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: John on the Sunset Coast
Date: 02 Jul 10 - 01:34 PM

For fun--"Sherlock Holmes in America," an anthology of the master's cases in various major US cities doing his thing.

For a bit more rigor--"Understanding Genesis" by Nahum Sarna

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: katlaughing
Date: 02 Jul 10 - 07:44 PM

I also recommend Life of Pi.

Just reading Elizabeth Ann Scarborough's "The Godmother's Web." It's been years since I've read any of her books, though I've always loved her writings. I am definitely enjoying this one.

riginslinger, of all of Doig's book I've read, so far, Whistling Season is my fav., with his nonfiction House of Sky a close second.

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recent
From: Ron Davies
Date: 02 Jul 10 - 09:45 PM

I'll plug the same book I was praising on another thread---the tattoo thread, to which it also had a connection.


The best book I've read in years.   And I read a lot of books--all non-fiction.

Go Down Together, by Jeff Guinn

Title comes from a poem written by Bonnie Parker predicting their end.

A sociological study of the really down and out in Texas in the 20's (farmers--including Clyde Barrow's father--who got caught in the US farm depression which hit 10 years before the official Depression:   "When World War I ended....American farmers went down to defeat with the Germans".   Totally illiterate, he wound up close to the very bottom of the economic pile, a junkman.

A dual biography of Bonnie and Clyde-- a whole long list of stuff in the movie is dead wrong (unsurprisingly).

A whodunnit, since you know it will end in bullets, but not exactly how it reached that point.

History that reads like a novel.

And on top of that, a great dry sense of humor:

"She hadn't divorced Roy, so she couldn't re-marry even if she wanted to, and besides, her boyfriend of the moment was an ordinary guy who clearly wasn't fantasy material even in Bonnie's rich imagination....And then, just like it might have happened in the movies, her tragically crippled former lover unexpectedly arrived to reclaim her. Clyde and Bonnie fell into a passionate embrace while her suddenly ex-boyfriend slunk out of the house."

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: mousethief
Date: 02 Jul 10 - 09:51 PM

My stepdaughter and youngest son both read The Life of Pi and were less than thrilled. I'll probably give it a miss.

Finished the book on the Plague and am now reading Pratchett's The Color of Magic (first time).

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: GUEST,mg
Date: 02 Jul 10 - 10:05 PM

Been visiting my second cousins near Chicago...actually I am in Chicago now getting ready to go to an Irish Pub..Kitty O'Shea's in Chicago Hilton...anyway, Donna gave me two Holocaust books..one is about the Lebensborn? babies and one called Sarah's Key about a family taken from France to Auschwitz...which is funny..not funny..but I was just talking to someone about having been in Paris a few years back and seeing all these signs on these old buildings in back streets..this was the scene of ......the book was about the rounding up of Jews and putting them in a bicycle racing complex until they were taken further...

And we went through Postville Iowa, near where our great great grandparents settled. That was recently the scene of a great international story including traditional Iowans, Orthodox Jews and immigrant Guatamalens who were gathered in a raid and kept for some time in fairgrounds perhaps? There are books out about this...

And my cousin Tom gave me two books about creating communities in prison populations. One I am just finishing is called my Soul Cried out to me or something like that...I could never be a librarian because I can never remember the names or authors of books..I usually can remember the color or look of it though.

And I am right across the street from a beautiful public library in Chicago with huge copper wings on the roof...and a couple of blocks away from Barnes and Noble..and they still have the great chairs to sit in. So I was readiing how to control clutter books, which I just love, as well as other self improvement books..which I never seem to improve from but I do enjoy reading them. mg

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: Joe_F
Date: 03 Jul 10 - 09:33 PM

_What If the Moon Didn't Exist?_ by Neil F. Comins. Disappointingly, the author appears to have been ignorant (in 1993) of the most important service the moon performs for us: it stabilizes the obliquity of the ecliptic, thus guaranteeing fairly consistent seasons.

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: Ron Davies
Date: 04 Jul 10 - 03:31 PM

The Guinn book also deals with how and why misperceptions are spread by the media.   In this case those misperceptions were a major source of entertainment for the public, and first helped Bonnie and Clyde, then turned against them. Both the positive and the negative slants were based on misinformation.

And the book has 55 pages of footnotes, including dealing in detail with the credibility of the author's sources.

As I said, the best book I've read in years.

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: mousethief
Date: 04 Jul 10 - 07:11 PM

The Color of Magic didn't even come close to living up to the hype. No plot, weak characters, lame jokes. Feh. Whatever it is that draws people into Discworld, I don't get it.

Next: Trilobite! Eyewitness to Evolution. So far, very well written.

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: Amos
Date: 04 Jul 10 - 08:20 PM

I am just finishing Meetings with the Archangel by Stephen Mitchell, which is very funny in a sort of erudite way, and then will begin Barbara Kingsolver's The Lacuna. I consider Kingsolver one of our national treasures.


A

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: katlaughing
Date: 04 Jul 10 - 08:36 PM

Finished Scarborough's Godmother's Web and also, another, entertaining but not well written novel called Spirit Kills by an author new to me. It was written in 1995, so I suspect/hope his later books improved some. It was okay for a fast, summer read.:-) I've got an Anne Perry and another to go for this week, plus I have one coming which REALLY sounds good:

Forbidden Fruit is a collection of fascinating, largely untold stories of ordinary men and women who took extraor dinary measures, risking life and limb to be together. It1s the story of couples who faced mobs, bloodhounds, bounty hunters, and bullets to defy the system that allowed slave masters to breed and sell people like cattle. Some broke the taboo against interracial marriage, putting their lives in the most severe peril.

In one remarkable story, a Georgia couple who fled slavery wearing multiple disguises sailed for England with bounty hunters and federal troops on their trail. A fugitive slave from Virginia spent seventeen arduous years searching for his wife. A Missouri slave fell in love with his white Mormon neighbor and escaped to Canada to be with her, putting pepper in his shoes to throw dogs off the scent at night and hiding in trees by day.

Betty DeRamus gleaned these amazing stories from descendants of runaway slave couples, unpublished memoirs, Civil War records, books, magazines, and dozens of previously untapped sources. Beautifully and compassionately written, this important book reveals a chapter of American history that is shameful but is about triumph as well as torture, achievement as well as degradation, and indomitable love as well as hate.

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: GUEST,Riginslinger
Date: 04 Jul 10 - 09:26 PM

"I consider Kingsolver one of our national treasures."

               Yeah, I like Barbara Kingsolver too.

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recent
From: Eiseley
Date: 04 Jul 10 - 10:08 PM

I've been voyaging with Captain Jack Aubrey and his friend Stephen Maturin. I have just embarked on the sixth voyage, this time aboard the Fleche, bound for England where I trust Jack will stop the unscrupulous silver-miner who has been encroaching on his goodness by nefarious subterfuge. Ah for the open sea in a twenty-four-gun frigate!

Eiseley

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: GUEST,DonMeixner
Date: 05 Jul 10 - 01:14 AM

Hiero's Journey by Sterling Lanier and The Dresden Books as well.

Don

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: katlaughing
Date: 21 Jul 10 - 10:56 PM

Just finished a newish one by Fannie Flagg called "Can't Wait to Get to Heaven." Another one of her wonderful Southern novels as good as, in its own way, as Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistlestop Cafe. She writes so well and knows her subjects so well. This one is very funny, uplifting, and profound. I am recommending it to a lot of folks.

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: Becca72
Date: 22 Jul 10 - 10:28 AM

Just finished "That Old Cape Magic" by Richard Russo. I enjoyed it and will be checking out his other work.

Now I'm reading "Last Words" by George Carlin and really kicking myself for never having seen him in concert when I had the chance.

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: Dorothy Parshall
Date: 22 Jul 10 - 09:40 PM

The Elegance of the Hedgehog
by Muriel Barberry
Translated from French by Alison Anderson

I sent the following message to 47 friends whom I hoped would enjoy this. The best book I have read in a few months:

This is an elegant book for those who enjoy language beautifully used, a philosophy of life that is intriguing and a story that is unique. It covers a number of interesting issues: tolerance, class systems, friendship, suicide, love, evolving selfhoods, and much more. Each person will find something of interest to themself, I believe.

Both Robin and I have had trouble putting it down. Rob refers to it as "a book you want to keep reading under the covers with a flashlight."

It takes place in present day Paris and includes a concierge and a very wealthy 12 year old girl telling their stories, separately in the same place about the same people with interesting viewpoints.

The Life of Pi was imo plain dumb. That is putting it politely.

I read close to a dozen books a month, mostly novels but nonfiction when it comes to hand. The local libraries in our part of Montreal are more French than English so I haunt the new book sections.

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: Midchuck
Date: 22 Jul 10 - 09:56 PM

Now I'm reading "Last Words" by George Carlin and really kicking myself for never having seen him in concert when I had the chance.

Really, Becca, I think it's just as well. He used very strong language in his stage act, and I'm certain your upbringing sheltered you from such. You would probably have been very upset.

Peter. (Nyuck, nyuck.)

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: wysiwyg
Date: 22 Jul 10 - 10:03 PM

This month?

From the Pansy series, 3 8-hour books: Interrupted, Esther Reid, and Julia Reid. From the rummage sale a book on gardening, with cards for each plant. From Scripture, Deuteronomy, several chapters a day. From multicultural studies, a "brief" history of Africa.

And a book about priest's wives, "Presbytera."

I love self-directed learning!

~S~

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: GUEST,Riginslinger
Date: 22 Jul 10 - 11:58 PM

So I was listening to NPR, and they had a program on featuring this guy who writes for the NEW YORKER, and he'd just produced a piece entitled--something to the effect of--the most promising fiction writers in America under forty.

             So I picked up the magazine to read the article, and I discovered that part of the narrative had to do with the researchers asking the young writers who their greatest influences were, and the name that came up over and over was Marilynne Robinson.

             Of course, I didn't know who Marilynne Robinson was, and was kind of embarrassed about that, so that weekend I made it over to Barnes and Nobles and picked up a book entitled "Housekeeping," by Marilynne Robinson.

             The prose style is amazing. If anyone had told me I'd enjoy reading a book entitled "Houskeeping" before now, I'd have never believed it. It's wonderful.

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: Uncle_DaveO
Date: 23 Jul 10 - 09:20 AM

I'm about two thirds of the way through The Aeneid, of Vergil, in the seventeenth-century translation by Dryden. That is one of (if not the only) translation of The Aeneid in poetry, and is still, after three hundred some years, considered the best translation, as I understand. I really don't see how a prose translation would begin to be satisfactory.

Incidentally, the poetry of The Aeneid is much better than the poetry of The Iliad and The Oddysey, to my way of thinking.

Dave Oesterreich

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: Amos
Date: 23 Jul 10 - 10:06 AM

I enjoyed Hedgehog greatly.

I am presently reading a fascinating exposition on the life and fury of chefs, sous-chefs, cooks and helpers and their historical legacies. If you love food and dream of recipes, this is a keeper. I don't, but am enjoying it anyway.

Heat   An Amateur's Adventures as Kitchen Slave, Line Cook, Pasta-Maker, and Apprentice to a Dante-Quoting Butcher in Tuscany
by Bill Buford

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: Becca72
Date: 23 Jul 10 - 12:19 PM

LOL Peter! Good point.

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: LilyFestre
Date: 23 Jul 10 - 06:24 PM

Just finished up The 19th Wife and am now halfway through Ken Follett's Code to Zero.

Michelle

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: Edthefolkie
Date: 24 Jul 10 - 06:53 AM

"Nottingham Trolleybuses" by David Bowler. Not much character development but by God you get to learn about Nottingham trolleybuses!

"Tom Rolt and the Cressy years" by Ian Mackersey. Excellent little book. Tom (LTC Rolt) was an engineer and visionary who bought and converted an old narrowboat called "Cressy" in 1939 and navigated it round the English canals with his then wife Angela. Hardly anybody did this at the time, of course. He hoped to write for a living so of naturally was extremely poor for many years. He eventually got "Narrow Boat" published and it's never been out of print since - he wrote about 40 books in the end. Remarried, settled in Gloucestershire, two children, died at 64. Honourable member of the Awkward Squad. Can't really begin to explain what an important (and lovable) man he was.

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: katlaughing
Date: 24 Jul 10 - 07:20 PM

Finished Forbidden Fruit: Love stories from the Underground Railroad by Betty Deramus. Some truly amazing and poignant stories.

Also reading Leadville: A Miner's Epic by Stephen M. Voynick.

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: GUEST,Bruce Michael Baillie
Date: 25 Jul 10 - 05:27 PM

...All for Poor Jack by STEVE TILSTON! I can recommend it!

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: GUEST,Shimrod
Date: 26 Jul 10 - 05:31 AM

I'm in the midst of reading Ian Banks's SF novel, 'Matter'. I've read a couple of his previous SF titles - and didn't enjoy them very much. I bought this one for £1:99, in a remaindered book shop, and thought that, for that price, I could afford to give him another try. And it really is quite good and very readable. Character development and dialogue is excellent and the various galactic wonders are much better visualised than in previous books. The plot is also well developed and I'm just beginning to suspect that it is much more labyrinthine than the first few chapters had led me to believe. All in all this appears to be a fine piece of popular fiction which probably doesn't deserve to be remaindered - but I'll reserve judgement until I've finished it.

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: GUEST,happylassie
Date: 26 Jul 10 - 09:55 AM

I have just finished Steven Kings Under The Dome. This is probabley his best ever & I have read them all.

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recent
From: Peter Kasin
Date: 26 Jul 10 - 11:24 AM

I tend to read two books at one time: One for my commute to and from work, one at bedtime reading. I'm reading "Diet For A New America," by John Robbins, and "Clean Cabbage In The Bucket and Other Tales From The Irish Music Trenches," by Frank Emerson, Seamus Kennedy, Robbie O'Connell, Harry O'Donoghue, Dennis O'Rourke (and edited by Dennis O'Rourke). It's a great read, which all who have done pub gigs and toured can relate to. I could list a few highlights, but I'd have to post the entire book, so I'll just recommend to every Mudcatter: buy the book!

Chanteyranger

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: katlaughing
Date: 26 Jul 10 - 12:57 PM

I am reading The Cowboy and the Cossack for the third time...it is a perennial favourite.

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: Amos
Date: 26 Jul 10 - 01:42 PM

If you want a real in depth analsyis of the overall dynamics of humankind, the environment, species loss, sustainable development, and hope for a prosperous 21st century despite crises, read Common Wealth: Economics for a Crowded Planet by
Jeffrey D. Sachs.

HEre's a link tuit.


A

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: GUEST,Patsy Warren
Date: 27 Jul 10 - 08:00 AM

I found the books of the Exorcist and Jaws when rummaging through a local charity bookshop. Both books better than the films that were made. The Exorcist had some humour to it. Some of the things that the 'possessed' Regan says in it makes me giggle. The dry humour isn't captured in the film.

Likewise in Jaws on film they altered the story slightly and if it had followed the storyline affair of Brody's wife the age limit might have had to be raised a tad.

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: Amos
Date: 27 Jul 10 - 11:21 AM

Here is something very funny coming out of Canada.

Introducing the new Bio-Optic Organized Knowledge device, trade-named *BOOK*.
*BOOK* is a revolutionary breakthrough in technology: no wires, no electric circuits, no batteries, nothing to be connected or switched on. It's so easy to use, even a child can operate it.
Compact and portable, it can be used anywhere — even sitting in an armchair by the fire — yet it is powerful enough to hold as much information as a CD-ROM disc.
Here's how it works: *BOOK* is constructed of sequentially numbered sheets of paper (recyclable), each capable of holding thousands of bits of information. The pages are locked together with a custom-fit device called a binder which keeps the sheets in their correct sequence.
Opaque Paper Technology (OPT) allows manufacturers to use both sides of the sheet, doubling the information density and cutting costs. Each sheet is scanned optically, registering information directly into your brain. A flick of the finger takes you to the next sheet.
*BOOK* never crashes or requires rebooting, though, like other devices, it can become damaged if coffee is spilled on it.
The "browse" feature allows you to move instantly to any sheet, and move forward or backward as you wish. Many come with an "index" feature, which pin-points the exact location of any selected information for instant retrieval.
An optional "*BOOK*mark" accessory allows you to open *BOOK* to the exact place you left it in a previous session — even if the *BOOK* has been closed. *BOOK*marks fit universal design standards; thus, a single *BOOK*mark can be used in *BOOK*s by various manufacturers.
Portable, durable, and affordable, *BOOK* is being hailed as a precursor of a new entertainment wave. *BOOK*'s appeal seems so certain that thousands of content creators have committed to the platform and investors are reportedly flocking to invest. Look for a flood of new titles soon.

Credit to Peter Waldock of North 49 Books, Toronto Ontario.

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: Amos
Date: 27 Jul 10 - 01:02 PM

Amazing: Google Lit Trips traces the geographic paths described in great literature. This page is the "higher Ed" titles, while others can be found from the site's home page.


A

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: jacqui.c
Date: 28 Jul 10 - 07:10 AM

I've been reading Tess Gerritson's books and enjoying them. Just watched the TV series Rizzoli & Isles, based on the books. Neither character was very much like the originals - very disappointing, but about par for the course.

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: GUEST,HiLo
Date: 28 Jul 10 - 12:42 PM

Just finished The Yiddish Policeman's Union by Michael Chabon..an excellent read, I didn't know you get that many commas on a page ! Based on advice seen here ,I have also finished the first in the Jack Aubry series by Patrick O'Brien,, grand fun, will now have to read some others. Am wading through If On A Winters Night A Traveller by Italio Calvino...it is beautifully written but I keep getting lost. Anyone else read this? What did you think ?
Have also just read The Hard Life by Flann O Brien...wow.

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: Backwoodsman
Date: 29 Jul 10 - 07:22 AM

'Alone in Berlin' by Hans Fallada.
Interesting, and some very humorous lines in there, despite the gloomy WW2 setting.

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: number 6
Date: 29 Jul 10 - 11:34 AM

*LOL* .... I heard about that device Amos.

priceless!

biLL

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: Seayaker
Date: 29 Jul 10 - 01:34 PM

Just finished Mad World by Paula Byrne, a brilliant part biog. of Evelyn Waugh, his time at Oxford and his relationship with the Lygon family of Madresfield Court (Mad) near Malvern which led to the writing of Brideshead revisited.

Now started re-reading Brideshead and scouring the charity shops for his other books.

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: Ebbie
Date: 29 Jul 10 - 05:28 PM

I'm just finishing a book by Irving Bacheller called 'A Man for the Ages', published in 1919.

From time to time I like to read something from another time; it is interesting to see the inevitable difference in viewpoints and judgments.

This book purports to be non-fiction although it doesn't officially make that claim. It does, however, follow the historical paths taken by Abe Lincoln and the Republic, detailing several financial 'panics'. It brings in some other live personages - like Stephen A Douglas - as well as a number of fictional characters.

It is interesting reading about the days when Chicago and Springfield were mostly muddy villages with great dreams.

One thing that struck me - and I've noticed it before in old books - teenagers (who were not yet so labeled) come across as much younger emotionally and mentally than those of today. In the book, for instance, several 16-year-olds sound more like our modern day 13-year-olds. Which surprises me, because I know that in real life youngsters were given much more responsibility at a much earlier age than is common today. My father, for instance, born in 1901, drove a three-horse team in the fields when he was 9 years old, and younger.

On Page 384, it tells about when Lincoln met Mary Todd, his eventual wife, and says that he was attracted to 'proud Mary'. I had to go look up the lyrics of the song, wondering whether the phrase could be related, but not so.

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: katlaughing
Date: 29 Jul 10 - 06:11 PM

Just finished The Fencing Master, which was recommended in this thread a ways back. Excellent, I could not put it down and that's even with my not knowing much about the specific fencing moves mentioned throughout. I am going to see if I can get more of Arturo Perez-Reverte's books.

Also finished up the Cowboy and the Cossack. Still one of the BEST books ever written, imo. I realized, this time, one reason I love it so much is the voice is so authentic and could have been narrated by my dad. The vernacular, the vocabulary, etc....I can *hear* his voice throughout.

I just got a hardback copy of Mark Twain's "Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc" which is by the Sieur Louis de Conte who is identified further as Joan's page and secretary. You can download a free copy from Project Gutenberg, but I don't like reading long books on my computer so I went to www.addall.com and found an inexpensive copy. More about it at Wiki.

I also just received a copy of "Galileo's Daughter" which looks really good.

kat

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: John on the Sunset Coast
Date: 29 Jul 10 - 06:37 PM

"The Memory Book" by Gary Small, M.D. in conjunction with a class at UCLA for seniors' memory improvement.

For a guilty pleasure I'm about to begin "Public Cowboy #1: The life and times of Gene Autry" by Holly George-Warren. I'm never quite sure if biographies should be considered fiction or non-fiction, especially if they have no bibliography nor footnoted attributions.

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: Ebbie
Date: 29 Jul 10 - 07:02 PM

Johnontheleft(biteyourtongue(!)coast :), all I can say is that if I were to write my autobiography, a lot of it would be fiction.

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: Janie
Date: 30 Jul 10 - 12:39 AM

Just finished House of Abraham: Lincoln and the Todds, A House Divided by Stephen Berry.

Interesting and informative, but not great and not as insightful as it perhaps could have been. Just a bit too gossipy and malicious toward the Todds. Granted, they do not appear to have been a particularly likable clan.

The premise is valid, that the tensions and conflicts between different political loyalties and family loyalties informed Lincoln and allowed him a particularly human understanding of the Civil War, as well as represented in microcosm the nation at war with itself.

Worth reading, if the subject is otherwise of interest.

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: GUEST,HiLo
Date: 30 Jul 10 - 07:39 AM

If you are interested in reading more Arturo-Perez, read The Flanders Panel. I have read all of his books and It is my favourite.

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: katlaughing
Date: 30 Jul 10 - 11:00 AM

Thanks, HiLo, I'll look for it!

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: John on the Sunset Coast
Date: 30 Jul 10 - 01:26 PM

Ebbie--
Heaven forfend that I would be on the "left" coast. In order not to use that term, I always face south, and read maps upside down. Too, when my wife gives me directions, she'll tell me to 'turn not right' by which time we've passed the place to turn. My right hand never tells my "left" hand what it's doing. And of course I'll go to Heaven in the end times because I will not be "left" behind.

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: mousethief
Date: 31 Jul 10 - 12:42 AM

Johnontheleft(biteyourtongue(!)coast :), all I can say is that if I were to write my autobiography, a lot of it would be fiction.

I think that's true of nearly all autobiographies.

I just finished Trilobite! Eyewitness to Evolution which was fascinating and extremely well written. Am now reading a dummy's guide to the Israeli/Palestinian conflict (forget exact title) co-written by two university scholars, one from each side (so to speak). The Jewish guy is a rabbi to boot. So far a dull recap of Zionist history 1860(ish) through 1939.

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: katlaughing
Date: 16 Sep 10 - 08:53 PM

HiLo, thanks, I did read Flanders Panel, but not having ever played chess, I liked The Fencing Master better. Both still extremely good, though and I will be reading more of his books.

LOL, Johnontherighthandbackwardsupsidedown...:-)

On Julie Kaewert's website she mentions a prequel to the Plumtree series, apparently posted in 2008 as that is the copyright date on the webpage. I was wondering if any of you have seen it or read it. Here's the info, sounds fascinating:

   
The Writing Master's Daughter
A prequel to the Plumtree series of mysteries for booklovers
By Julie Kaewert
The writing master's daughter has a secret; only she and her father, pen-man for King Charles II, know why she does not speak. But her silence is linked to a secret so ancient and shrouded in mystery that even Grace and her father have no inkling of its significance…until one night the writing-master is seized by the King, setting in motion a terrifying series of events. Grace discovers that her imperfection is actually a gift, enabling her to perceive what others cannot…with profound consequences.
The novel's rich atmosphere is woven from the art of calligraphy, the writing-masters' community in Restoration London, Grace's home in a disused Chapel on London Bridge, the Secret Cabal of Charles II's reign, dangerous spies, secret underground waterways, an ancient encoded illuminated manuscript, the origin of the alphabet, an authentic Secret Treaty, and a daughter's relationship with her father.

Note

Inspiration for The Writing Master's Daughter came from the little-known Secret Treaty of Dover of 1670. In a remarkable betrayal of his people, Charles II promised Louis XIV to lead England in a conversion to Catholicism... in exchange for money. He did succeed in saving England, for without the ships and cash from his deal, the Dutch War would have been lost and England would now be part of The Netherlands.

But Charles's bargain is shocking, not only in his callousness in trading on his peoples' faith, but in its hypocrisy. For during his reign, "popishness" could be punished with death…and all the while he was secretly bargaining to require it!
In the ultimate act of trickery, Charles II reverted to Catholicism only on his deathbed, thereby fulfilling the promise to his cousin at the eleventh hour…while not affecting his people's hard-won Protestant faith. The real irony? Charles was a secret Catholic his entire life.

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: GUEST,Shimrod
Date: 17 Sep 10 - 12:02 PM

Back in July I reported that I was then reading a novel called 'Matter' by Ian Banks. At that point I had only read the first few chapters - and was quite enjoying it. I said that I would reserve judgement until after I had finished it. Well, I did finish it ... and, oh dear! After those first few chapters the whole thing seemed to get bogged down and rather went on and on and on about nothing very interesting. Then it finished in a rush, and the ending didn't seem to have very much to do with what had gone before (a monstrous entity, which had hardly been mentioned in previous chapters, put in an appearance and devoured many of the leading protagonists - very silly!!).

I'm increasingly getting the impression that many contemporary, popular authors can't plot for toffee! They have a striking and ambitious idea for a book and they seem to think that it will plot itself. Then, because they haven't worked out the plot in sufficient detail, they get bogged down in the middle part of the book and finally have it rush the ending. Needless to say they rarely seem to be able to fulfil their ambitions. Bring back rigorous plotting!!

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 17 Sep 10 - 05:32 PM

I have just ripped two Rex Stout Nero Wolfe recorded book mysteries into my computer to load into my mp3 player.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: Slag
Date: 17 Sep 10 - 05:50 PM

Ebbie (and Sundown John!) I believe it was Mark Twain who said "I remember everything perfectly, whether it happened or not."

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: Joe_F
Date: 17 Sep 10 - 08:21 PM

_The Catcher in the Rye_ by J. D. Salinger. I first read this about 60 years ago, when I was actually in a prep school, tho it was not much like that one.

_Jews without Money_ by Michael Gold. First read, 1961.

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: EBarnacle
Date: 17 Sep 10 - 11:11 PM

Currently, at Borders once or twice a week: Ann McCaffrey's and her son's expansion of the dragonflight series; Weber's Honor Harrington series; Eric Flint's 1632 series; Alexander McCall Smith all. I read whatever is currently on the shelves, a bit at a time.

At home: Tribes with Flags, recently completed Koestler's the Thirteenth Tribe; just starting the Night Watch series by Sergei Lukyanenko, which is a translation from the Russian. This is supposedly a police series commenting on current Russian society. I am told it is still dangerous for an author to criticize the Russian powers that be directly.

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: Ebbie
Date: 18 Sep 10 - 09:35 AM

"Heaven forfend that I would be on the "left" coast. In order not to use that term, I always face south, and read maps upside down. Too, when my wife gives me directions, she'll tell me to 'turn not right' by which time we've passed the place to turn. My right hand never tells my "left" hand what it's doing. And of course I'll go to Heaven in the end times because I will not be "left" behind."John, the Sundown Kid

Ah, but you see, John, when I am RIGHT I am not afraid to admit it. :)

Currently mu main book is Abigail Adams by Woody Holton, about the wife of John Adams, wife and mother of two presidents.
well written, drawn from the correspondence between her and her husband. I have learned a lot of things about her and the time of the Revolutionary War.

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: Stu
Date: 18 Sep 10 - 10:20 AM

I read Drood by Dan Simmons after it was recommended to me by a retired English professor, although he said he felt ambivalent about the book after he read it. I enjoyed it despite the Americanisms that snuck in (it was written in the first person and the narrator is Wilkie Collins the English novelist) and will read some Dickens as a result. It's a tale that goes into the dark, dank underworld or London . . .

After spending three weeks in the American West this summer (the Dakotas, Wyoming and Montana) I'm still utterly bowled over by the place and can't wait to return to the big sky country, but in the meantime I'll have to be satisfied with reading about it and so am just starting on Cormac McCarthy's border trilogy.

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: Bat Goddess
Date: 18 Sep 10 - 01:55 PM

While uncovering a bookshelf and rearranging things in front of it, I found "The Destiny of Isabelle Eberhardt" by Cecily Mackworth. Isabelle Eberhardt was a complicated young (she died in 1904 at age 27) woman writer, daughter of a Russian nihilist pope of the Eastern church, who grew up in Geneva dressing in North African male attire. She escaped to Algeria, or maybe headed there on her quest. Converted to Islam, wrote, rode in the desert, was initiated into a Sufi confraternity, married an Algerian soldier, died in a flash flood.

When I reshelved the book, I discovered Cecily Mackworth's memoir "Ends of the World" which, among other things, explained how she came to discover and become fascinated by Isabelle Eberhardt.

So...I spent a couple weeks mostly in the Algerian desert. Then I picked up "Eat, Pray, Love" which I had recently acquired at a yardsale. Wow. I don't usually read best sellers or popular books when others are reading them -- usually well before they become popular or after everyone else has forgotten about them. I don't understand how a film can be made from this book -- other than showing some nice scenery in Italy, India and Bali. There's no PLOT; it's Elizabeth Gilbert's spiritual quest to rebuild her Self after a devastating divorce and complete rethinking of what she wanted in life. This is book material -- not movie material. It can only come across as completely shallow in a movie.

Linn

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: Roger the Skiffler
Date: 19 Sep 10 - 08:15 AM

As Mudcatters know, I have a great affection for Greece and the eccentricities of its people. I also enjoy detective fiction. I have recently discovered two series which combine the two. Anne Zouroudi's series featuring mysterious crime solver Hermes Diaktoros (a Father Brown figure rather than a tough cop) and Petros Markaris' series with Inspector Haritos. Their strengths are not so much the puzzles as the incidental details which bring the world of small islands (Zouroudi) or mainland cities (Markaris) to life.

RtS

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: GUEST,HiLo
Date: 21 Sep 10 - 09:41 AM

I have jist read the Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, for the life of me I cannot see what all the fuss is about and why it has sold so many copies..have I missed something ? Read February by Lisa Moore, about the sinking of ocean ranger off Newfoundland, best book I have read in ages. Was on the long list for the Booker but was cut, a great shame as it is by far one of the best books on the list.

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: Rapparee
Date: 21 Sep 10 - 09:44 AM

Charlie Russell's "Trails Plowed Under."

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: Becca72
Date: 21 Sep 10 - 11:59 AM

HiLo,
I got about 35-40 pages into Dragon Tattoo and had to put it down. I found it painfully boring. I'm told by others that it gets better, but I have my doubts.

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: GUEST,HiLo
Date: 21 Sep 10 - 12:20 PM

Well, I read the whole thing and I assure you, it does not get better, at least not in my opinion.

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: katlaughing
Date: 21 Sep 10 - 02:30 PM

For some reason, my dau. has been reading the dragon tattoo series and is looking for the third book. I looked at the first and decided it was not of interest.

Just started One Man's West by David Lavender. Almost done with another Cliff Janeway, bookseller/retired homicide cop book by John Dunning, the "Bookwoman's Last Last Fling."

Also, working through Rob Roy, including Scott's original introduction and appendix with his notes, etc. "Slogging" might be more like it, though I have finally got to the actual novel and am enjoying it much more this time, though I still am not sure how any of us ever trace our ancestors with so many folks changing their affiliation/surnames according to the politics of the day, i.e. MacGregors being proscribed, etc.

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: GUEST,Patsy
Date: 22 Sep 10 - 06:50 AM

The Lives of John Lennon by Albert Goldman, from the early years at the Cavern right through to the shooting of John Lennon. The book is a non-sentimental look at the man. I find myself disagreeing with a lot of things in it but it is still a good read about such a complex man.

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: GUEST,Tunesmith
Date: 22 Sep 10 - 07:46 AM

I've just finished a book called "Blowing Zen" which is an autobiographical work about an Englishman living in Japan who takes but the shakuhachie(the ancient Zen flute).
It's a great and inspiring read.

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: Bat Goddess
Date: 22 Sep 10 - 10:27 AM

Just this morning finished "Shackleton's Boat Journey" by F.A. Worsley (captain of the Endurance) book

It was recently given to me by a friend who worked on the Ice for a number of Arctic summers -- she was first at Palmer then at McMurdo.

Linn

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: Rapparee
Date: 22 Sep 10 - 10:30 AM

I've just started "Hokahey! A Good Day To Die: Indian Casualties of the Little Big Horn."

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: Amos
Date: 22 Sep 10 - 11:15 AM

The autobiographical memoire of Christopher Hitchens --a really good read on the life and times of the left wing intellectual from 1967 on.


"Hitch 22" can be downloaded here.


A

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: Bat Goddess
Date: 22 Sep 10 - 11:49 AM

I love Christopher Hitchens' writing -- and, since I'm not finished reading him yet, I sincerely hopes he pulls out of this cancer thing.

Linn

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: Ron Davies
Date: 22 Sep 10 - 09:40 PM

Hey John on the Sunset Coast--

Have you finished Public Cowboy #1 by Holly George-Warren? I saw you were starting it. I just read it this summer too--- and found it probably the best book I've read in years.   Of course it helps that it's about music--but it's about a lot more.

She was granted unprecedented access by Gene's estate--but also granted total editorial control--did not have to clear anything with them.

As a result it's a clear-eyed picture not just of him but of the early 20th century "western" music business, "western" movie business, and so much more.

So much information--everything from how he got his name (from Orvon Grover Autry), to the tragic story of his mother (tragic practically from her birth) to the way record companies put out the same record by the same artist under totally different names, to the impact of Prohibition on the music business--to the cutthroat business it was--and still is, no doubt.

She takes all sorts of PR stories and evaluates them.

Even includes a really off-color parody he waxed (but obviously it was not released--until the Bear Family).

Talk about straightforward--Gene's own evaluation of himself evidently was that though he was by no means a wonderful actor, singer or guitarist, his main skill was: figures (business).

I'd heartily recommend it to anybody who has the slightest curiosity about any of the above topics--and a lot more.

And it has a huge discography at the end--with lots of songs that are fun to sing.

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: wysiwyg
Date: 26 Sep 10 - 06:34 PM

About to start as a public-domain audiobook: Passing, by Nella Larsen, available (free) at Librivox: http://librivox.org/passing-by-nella-larsen/

Wikipedia entry:

Clare and Irene were two childhood friends. They lost touch when Clare's father died and she moved in with two white aunts. By hiding that Clare was part-black, they allowed her to 'pass' as a white woman and marry a white racist. Irene lives in Harlem, commits herself to racial uplift, and marries a black doctor. The novel centers on the meeting of the two childhood friends later in life, and the unfolding of events as each woman is fascinated and seduced by the other's daring lifestyle. The novel traces a tragic path as Irene becomes paranoid that her husband is having an affair with Clare (the reader is never told whether her fears are justified or not, and numerous cues point in both directions). Clare's race is revealed to her husband John Bellew. The novel ends with Clare's sudden death by "falling" out of a window.

The end of the novel is famous for its ambiguity, which leaves open the possibility that Irene has pushed Clare out the window, or the possibility that Clare has killed herself.

Many see this novel as an example of the plot of the "tragic mulatto," a common figure in early African-American literature. Others suggest that the novel complicates that plot by introducing the dual figures of Irene and Clare, who in many ways mirror and complicate each other. The novel also suggests erotic undertones in the two women's relationship. Some read the novel as one of repression, while others argue that through its attention to the way passing unhinges ideas of race, class, and gender, the novel opens spaces for the creation of new, self-generated identities.

Recently, Passing has received renewed attention because of its close examination of racial and sexual ambiguities and liminal spaces. It has achieved canonical status in many American universities.

~S~

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: Joe Offer
Date: 27 Sep 10 - 02:16 AM

My ex-wife lent me The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows. I wasn't at all sure of this, since I have a long list of books-to-read that I've chosen myself, but she gave me the book and it would have been very undiplomatic not to read it.

And I loved this book. The entire book is presented in the form of letters sent to and from the author of a book about the effect of World War II on Guernsey, at British island off the coast of France that was occupied by Germany. The most important character in the book, Elizabeth, isn't present - but her effect on her community is powerful.

I cried at the end. That's all I'll say.

-Joe-

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: Slag
Date: 27 Sep 10 - 02:55 AM

Just started, "Tragedy and Hope (A History of the World in Our Time)", 1966 by Carroll Quiggley. Generally, it is a history from 1895 to about 1964. My son bought it for me in order that I can talk to him about politics as he understands it ;). I'm on page 50 or so with only 1300 more to go.

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: Amergin
Date: 27 Sep 10 - 03:08 AM

I've been reading the Allan Quatermain books courtesy of Project Gutenberg.....I enjoyed them immensely as a young boy...

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: theleveller
Date: 27 Sep 10 - 03:45 AM

I'm finding Peter Ackroyd's 'Albion - The Origins of the English Imagination' absolutely fascinating.So many intriguing resonances coming through that relate to the way I write. It's extremely readable, probably because Ackroyd is a great novelist (Hawksmoor)as well as a superb historian.

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: Little Hawk
Date: 27 Sep 10 - 07:41 AM

I've been reading several books on loving and forgiving other people (and yourself too). All written by Leo Buscaglia. All excellent.

If you do check any of them out and find that you are far too cynical to enjoy what he says...or you think he's just tiptoeing through the tulips and is naive about human nature....well, you might really be in serious need of what he's talking about! ;-D But that's up to you.

I find that most people have developed along a certain line and have become sort of committed to it...and they are usually not too willing to change. Change requires great effort, and it requires facing pain and then letting go of it.

If a person would rather hold onto old grudges, for example, it's not easy for them to let go of that, is it? But the rewards for doing so are immense, because that load mainly comes off YOU, not the person you were holding the grudge against. Anger consumes the vessel that contains it.

And can you forgive yourself? That might just be the hardest one of all. Most people are more than just a little disappointed in themselves in certain ways...after all, they had expectations of themselves, didn't they? That can be a lifelong struggle to deal with. Believe me, I know.

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: GUEST,Shimrod
Date: 27 Sep 10 - 08:11 AM

I'm on my second reading of Nasim Nicholas Taleb's, 'The Black Swan'.

It has to be admitted that the author comes across as rather smug and self-satisfied - but, if you can get past that, he has some interesting things to say. He believes that history, economics and the world in general are much more governed by blind chance than we give them credit for. We believe that 'all swans are white' until a black one comes along and shatters all of our expectations and certainties. He says that human history is littered with 'black swan' events that came 'out of nowhere'. No-one, for example, predicted the First World War or 9/11. Nevertheless, countless people invented narratives to explain these events after the fact.

He gives many examples in the book of humanity's relationship to Black Swans. The one which sticks in my mind is about a casino in Las Vegas. This establishment understood the nature of gambling intimately (of course they did!) and insured themselves against relatively rare big wins. They also understood the various ways in which people can attempt to cheat and had put very sophisticated security systems in place to prevent cheating. Then they were hit with a Black Swan. The IRS obliged them to submit a particular document every time a gambler won money over a certain amount. The clerk in charge of this aspect of the Casino's operation had (for an unknown reason) stored the documents in a drawer rather than post them. The casino was fined a massive amount by the IRS and was nearly bankrupted.

Taleb says that we are like turkeys who believe that they live a pampered and well-fed existence and fail to anticipate Christmas (or Thanksgiving if you're an American).

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: LilyFestre
Date: 27 Sep 10 - 08:16 AM

I'm reading "Sally Hemings" by Barbara Chase-Riiboud.

Michelle

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: Little Hawk
Date: 27 Sep 10 - 10:06 AM

Shimrod - I think Taleb's dead wrong and that absolutely nothing ever happens by chance. ;-) But things do appear to happen by chance, of course, because we simply don't know all the factors large and small that are involved in the flow of events, both personal and global.

I probably wouldn't get too far into Taleb's book, I guess...he'd figure I'm out to lunch, and I'd figure the same about him.

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: katlaughing
Date: 27 Sep 10 - 10:38 AM

LH, I love Leo's books. Haven't read them in ages, may have to do that.:-)

Just finished Ivan Doig's Ride With Me Hannah Montana. His writing continues to astound me...anything I would say would not be enough to do him justice. He is one of the greatest, imo.

Just started On The Road Again A Life On the Road by Chas. Kuralt. Not sure I am in the right mood, but it does promise to be quite good.

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: GUEST,Shimrod
Date: 27 Sep 10 - 01:08 PM

"But things do appear to happen by chance, of course, because we simply don't know all the factors large and small that are involved in the flow of events, both personal and global."

Which is exactly one of the points which Taleb makes. I can't really comment any further without tying myself in knots - you'll have to read his book, LH?

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: Amos
Date: 27 Sep 10 - 01:30 PM

For a really interesting perspective on the evolution of the LEft from early 1960's socialism to the present, read Christopher Hitchen's autobiography, "Hitch-22".

Among many other things he comes up with a clearer defense for the Iraq war than anyone in the administration ever did. And while I hated and still hatet the war and consider it a gross failure of diplomacy and imagination, I am much less rancorous toward Wolfowitz and co., than I was before reading Hitchen's reports.


A

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: GUEST,Shimrod
Date: 28 Sep 10 - 05:15 AM

"But things do appear to happen by chance, of course, because we simply don't know all the factors large and small that are involved in the flow of events, both personal and global."

What I should have said, in response to the above quote, LH is that Taleb acknowledges the difference between 'deterministic chaos' and randomness. But he reckons that the difference is academic and that there is no effective difference in the real world i.e. a butterfly flapping it's wings in Dehli might, eventually, cause a hurricane in South Carolina - but you can't work backwards from the hurricane and identify the exact butterfly wot did it.

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: GUEST,HiLo
Date: 28 Sep 10 - 11:10 AM

I am now halfway through the Aubry /Maturin Books by Patrick O"Brien..they are grand fun and very well written.
I am now reading a book that scares the hell out of me..Homeland by Paul William Roberts.It is a novel about a man who is involved in American policy abroad over a long period of time. But I think it is really an inquiry into the difference between political science and political philosophy. Great read/

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: Amos
Date: 28 Sep 10 - 11:39 AM

For a genuinely frightening experience read "The Shoick Factor", a seamy side expose of gummint finaglings at all levels.

For a more uplifting and interesting look at things, I recommend "The Tipping Point".


A

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: katlaughing
Date: 28 Sep 10 - 11:58 AM

Anyone read the Charlie Moon mysteries by James Doss? I have really enjoyed all of them until now. Reading Snake Dreams he has completely changed the way he presents the characters whom I enjoy so much and narrates it, writer directly to reader, with a bunch of smary asides on each page. It's so unlike him; it really puzzles me why he did this, how it got past his agent, editor, and publisher. There are twelve in the series and this is the first one I have not liked. Not sure if I'll even finish it which is something I never do!

Still working on Rob Roy, here and there.:-) And, reading Charles Kuralt's A Life on the Road.

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: JHW
Date: 28 Sep 10 - 04:55 PM

John Prebble - The High Girders. Yellowed paperback bought for 20p at Eden Valley Railway
A saga of early railway history north of Edinburgh, the eventual commissioning of the first railway bridge across the Tay, its building and disastrous collapse. The sad dream of engineer Thomas Bouch, many of whose more realistic bridges are still with us.
An engineer myself I couldn't put it down. Read in two days.

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: GUEST,HiLo
Date: 02 Oct 10 - 09:37 AM

Have just finished The Mountain of Women, Memoirs of An Irish Troubador by Liam Clancy..a wonderful read, especially if you recall that Greenwich Village era of folk. Really enjoyed this book.

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: katlaughing
Date: 10 Oct 10 - 08:42 PM

Just finished Purity of Blood by Arturo Perez-Reverte and, before that, the first of the Captain Alatriste series. Both excellent, very entertaining and filled with witty, wry history of Spain during the later times of the Inquisition.

Thanks for recommending this author. I have really enjoyed everything of his I've read, so far.

Also, just started the Guernsey Literary Club and Potato Peel Pie Society! Half way through and can't put it down. Thanks for that recommendation, too!

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: katlaughing
Date: 14 Oct 10 - 11:04 AM

Just finished F. A. Worley's Shackelton's Boat Journey. Incredible fortitude!

Also, finished The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society..it was SO good..I cried at the end.

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: Becca72
Date: 14 Oct 10 - 11:16 AM

"Don't know much about History" by Kenneth C. Davis

I'm not that far into it, but it's interesting to see some of the not-so-pretty things that were glossed over in History class...

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: LilyFestre
Date: 14 Oct 10 - 04:00 PM

I'm currently reading Young Bess, a book all about the young Queen Elizabeth I.

Michelle

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: olddude
Date: 15 Oct 10 - 02:20 PM

"Coffee with Groucho"
absolute wonderful. You really think you are there sharing a cup of coffee with Groucho Marx"

laughed till my sides hurt

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: Wesley S
Date: 15 Oct 10 - 02:21 PM

Groucho drank coffee?

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: Joe_F
Date: 15 Oct 10 - 06:29 PM

The Berlin Stories, by Christopher Isherwood. The crazy atmosphere of Germany in the years just before Hitler took power.

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: katlaughing
Date: 15 Oct 10 - 07:56 PM

I'll bet that is really good, Joe F.

I loved some of Ian Frazier's books, so got Coyote vs Acme, a bunch of short I dunno what to call some of them, stories, I guess. Scanned a few, tried to read through some, the title one was cutesy, but the rest was so bad I put it down. Usually I finish a book, no matter. It's just the way I am, but once in a great while...ah, well, his others were great.

I am currently reading The Big Bachi, One Man's West, and a couple of others.

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: maire-aine
Date: 15 Oct 10 - 07:57 PM

300

Just finished "Invisible Hands: The Making of the Conservative Movement from the New Deal to Reagan" by Kim Phillips-Fein

Maryanne

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: GUEST,mg
Date: 16 Oct 10 - 06:34 PM

A couple of bodice rippers I picked up at the laundromat. mg

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: EBarnacle
Date: 16 Oct 10 - 06:34 PM

I was doing a clean up and sort and rediscovered Dewey Lambdin's Alan Lewrie series. Enjoyed it and will reread it.

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: Amergin
Date: 16 Oct 10 - 06:54 PM

the Allan Quatermain series....books I loved as a boy...

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: GUEST,j-boy
Date: 16 Oct 10 - 06:59 PM

I've mentioned it before but "The Killer Angels" is one of the best books about war you could ever read.

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: Becca72
Date: 17 Nov 10 - 02:53 PM

I'm about half way through "When will Jesus bring the pork chops" by George Carlin. This has to be his best book!

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: EBarnacle
Date: 17 Nov 10 - 03:05 PM

Just finished reading Jewish Pirates of the Caribbean. It's a well documented history of how Spain created piracy as a reaction to the Inquisition and made the situation for the boucaniers to transform themselves into buccaneers. I was not aware that Sephardic Jews were among the early sponsors of privateering and piracy as a means of self-defense against the Spanish. Cromwell also figures in, as he encouraged Jewish settlement in Jamaica, as well as making an attempt to get Parliament to accept Jews in England.

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: katlaughing
Date: 17 Nov 10 - 04:16 PM

That sounds very interesting, Ebarnacle! Esp. as I just read, last year, about the Irish who were enslaved by the English and sent to Barbados in To Hell Or Barbados.

Just finished Ian Frazier's On The Rez. Excellent, though I kept finding myself wondering if he's written an update, have to check, as it was published in 2000.

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: katlaughing
Date: 17 Nov 10 - 07:11 PM

I thought some of you might be interested in something I learned, today. I belong to LibraryThing where it is easy and quick to keep a catalogue of one's own library and keep it private or public.

Anyway, they have an Early Reviewers List which comes out from which members can choose from thousands of new-to-be-released books for a chance to win a free book in exchange for a 25 word review. It's a bit overwhelming to choose out of that many and I didn't see a search function, but they do list how many review copies will be available and how many members have requested a chance to "win" each book for review.

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: Edthefolkie
Date: 18 Nov 10 - 06:43 AM

Finally reading "Wolf Hall" by Hilary Mantel. Wouldn't have thought it possible to make Thomas Cromwell a sympathetic character but she's done it.

Also rereading some of the late Keith Roberts' short stories and novels. His most well known is "Pavane", an alternate history one. I've been reading "The Inner Wheel" which is at least its equal, about gestalt minds. His novels suffer a bit from usually originating as successive short stories in SF mags, but the level of imagination and the Wellsian/Kiplingesque but 1960s style makes up for this. He was apparently a VERY prickly, nay objectionable, chap who put just about everybody's back up, which is may be why some of his books are hard to find these days.

Oh yeah, "Electric Eden" (see other thread!) Flagged a bit towards the end, Rob Young must have a mind like a supercomputer though. Every folk interview for the past 50 years is grist to his mill.

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: Edthefolkie
Date: 18 Nov 10 - 06:52 AM

I forgot a really great historical novel by Keith Roberts called "The Boat Of Fate". Young Roman Empire lad makes pass at neighbouring rich girl (etc), mother dies, escapes to Rome to seek fortune with help of Uncle Cubicularis, lots of adventures, comes to Britannia and has affair with rich matron. Sounds daft but amazingly good. First edition hardback worth lots, wish I had one.

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: wysiwyg
Date: 18 Nov 10 - 01:34 PM

Isaiah.

And next, via Librivox:


A Narrative of the Most Remarkable Particulars in the Life of James Albert Ukawsaw Gronniosaw

by Ukawsaw Gronniosaw (c.1705-1775)

Ukawsaw Gronniosaw, also known as James Albert, (born ca. 1705 - 1775) was a freed slave and autobiographer. His autobiography is considered the first published by an African in Britain. Gronniosaw's autobiography was produced in Kidderminster in the late 1760s. Its full title is A Narrative of the Most remarkable Particulars in the Life of James Albert Ukawsaw Gronniosaw, an African Prince, As related by himself. It was the first Slave narrative in the English language. Published in Bath in 1772, it gives a vivid account of Gronniosaw's life, from his capture in Africa through slavery to a life of poverty in Colchester and Kidderminster. It is devoid of the anti-slavery backlash ubiquitous in subsequent slave narratives. (Summary modified from Wikipedia)

    Note to those who dislike incongruities: This is read by a North American woman.

===

~S~

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: ollaimh
Date: 18 Nov 10 - 04:55 PM

i'm reading chriss hedges "death of the liberal class" and i insist every one read it as i am getting tired of the mudcatters who dream on oblivious to the premenent war democracy that the usa and uk have become at the expenseof almost all other american and british productive and creative sectors. so there! get your copy now.

his empire of illusion is good too

before that i was reading about the unranium industry in sasketchewan. we took part in the cold war too

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: Wesley S
Date: 18 Nov 10 - 04:58 PM

"Life" by Keith Richards. An excellent read so far.

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: LilyFestre
Date: 18 Nov 10 - 05:05 PM

Ragtime by E.L. Doctorow

Michelle

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: Amergin
Date: 18 Nov 10 - 06:44 PM

I'm still reading the Allan Quatermain books....the one I'm reading now is called "Finished", and it's about the Zulu War. I found the dedication at the beginning a bit interesting....because it was written to a friend of H. Ryder Haggard's by the name of Colonel Theodore Roosevelt.

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: GUEST,Jon
Date: 18 Nov 10 - 08:30 PM

Last wo bought here were childhhod ones. Tom's Midnight Garden and Moonfleet


We also got a book on salad leaves. Can't think of hand of the author.

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 18 Nov 10 - 09:02 PM

Spent a dollar and got a book with three mysteries by Josephine Tey. An excellent writer.

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 18 Nov 10 - 09:10 PM

Josephine Tey's best was an analysis of Richard III's role in the murder of the two sons of Edward IV. Good historical writing, much more than a 'novel'. "The Daughter of Time."

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: GUEST,Jon
Date: 18 Nov 10 - 09:17 PM

The Daugter of Time is a book I'd really like to read some day.

As I seem to been on time with this and Tom's Midnight Garden...

I think Allison Uttley's a Traveler in Time is a gem.

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: katlaughing
Date: 18 Nov 10 - 09:56 PM

Daughter of Time was excellent. Jon, I just gave my copy away, but would have gladly sent it to you. BTW, Night Owl was thrilled to hear from you.

I've just started A Stranger in the Kingdom.

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: Edthefolkie
Date: 20 Nov 10 - 02:22 PM

Jon, "Tom's Midnight Garden" is the most wonderful book. First heard of it when I was about 10 via BBC Children's Hour (showing my age)and have reread it at about 5 yr intervals ever since. Philippa Pearce manages to say pretty profound things about childhood, old age, loss, time. I was really sad to hear of her death a few years ago - maybe she's skating down the Cam with Tom and Barty in Heaven, hope so.

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: Eiseley
Date: 20 Nov 10 - 02:40 PM

I'm reading The Nutmeg of Consolation by Patrick O'Brian. I never want these books to end!

Eiseley

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: fat B****rd
Date: 20 Nov 10 - 03:13 PM

Just finished Life by Keef. Great!! and just starting The Anatomy Murders by Lisa Rosner, which is all about Burke and Hare.

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: wysiwyg
Date: 21 Nov 10 - 12:06 PM

Under the Unpredictable Plant: An Exploration in Vocational Holiness - (Eugene H. Peterson) In this book Peterson clarifies the pastoral vocation by turning to the book of Jonah, in which he finds a captivating, subversive story that can help pastors recover their "vocational holiness". Peterson probes the spiritual dimensions of the pastoral calling and seeks to reclaim the ground taken over by those who are trying to enlist pastors in religious careers.

===

Let Your Life Speak: Listening for the Voice of Vocation (Parker J. Palmer). The old Quaker adage, "Let your life speak," spoke to author Parker J. Palmer when he was in his early 30s. It summoned him to a higher purpose, so he decided that henceforth he would live a nobler life. "I lined up the most elevated ideals I could find and set out to achieve them," he writes. "The results were rarely admirable, often laughable, and sometimes grotesque.... I had simply found a 'noble' way of living a life that was not my own, a life spent imitating heroes instead of listening to my heart." Thirty years later, Palmer now understands that learning to let his life speak means "living the life that wants to live in me." It involves creating the kind of quiet, trusting conditions that allow a soul to speak its truth. It also means tuning out the noisy preconceived ideas about what a vocation should and shouldn't be so that we can better hear the call of our wild souls. There are no how-to formulas in this extremely unpretentious and well-written book, just fireside wisdom from an elder who is willing to share his mistakes and stories as he learned to live a life worth speaking about. --Gail Hudson

===

Search for the Beloved Community: The Thinking of Martin Luther King Jr. (Kenneth L. Smith, Ira G. Zepp). Search for the Beloved Community examines the thinking of Martin Luther King Jr. and the influences that shaped it. Late co-author Kenneth L. Smith was one of King's seminary professors. His firsthand knowledge of King's seminary studies provides the background for an incisive analysis of the influences of the Christian tradition and of Mahatma Gandhi upon this outstanding leader.

===

Making Whiteness: The Culture of Segregation in the South, 1890-1940 (Grace Elizabeth Hale). First-timer Hale's impressive examination of the Jim Crow Southan erudite intellectual survey of the sweeping social, historical, and economic trends that shaped white racial identity in opposition to blacknessis obscured by deadly academic jargon. The central myth Hale debunks is that whiteness is an organic, rather than manufactured, racial identitythat it is, somehow, the American norm. She identifies several large cultural forces that influenced white racial identity. The replacement of local merchandise with a national mass market, for example, gave rise to advertising (much of it created in the North) that manipulated southerners' nostalgic remembrance of loyal, subservient slaves by using African-American icons like Aunt Jemima to sell goods to a nationwide audiencepresumed to be entirely white. Advances in printing technology made it easier to distribute demeaning images of African-Americans, reinforcing negative stereotypes. Just as black racial identity was largely defined in relation to whiteness after Reconstruction, Hale asserts, whiteness was defined by blackness. Analyzing how whites of different economic and educational backgrounds shared a unified sense of supremacy, she fleshes out Ralph Ellison's famous declaration: ``Southern whites cannot walk, talk, sing, conceive of laws or justice, think of sex, love, the family or freedom without responding to the presence of Negroes.'' But in place of Ellison's simple eloquence, Hale raises an impenetrable thicket of theoretical jargon (terms like transhistorical, isomorphic, and dialectics rain like candy from a Mardi Gras float). She glosses the Civil War's outcome thus: ``Union victory delegitimated that nascent nationalist collectivity, the Confederacy.'' Furthermore, her contention that ``this corresponding depth of racial obsession occurred only with passing'' for African-Americans spectacularly understates the totality with which whites controlled black life during Jim Crow's dark reign. One senses in Hale's (American History/Univ. Of Virginia) cogent, encyclopedic scholarship the debut of an important new intellectual voiceall the more reason to regret the cloaking of provocative thinking in the fusty duds of academic prose. (8 pages b&w photos) -- Copyright ©1998, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

===

Introduction to the Bible, An (Christian E Hauer, William A Young). An Introduction To The Bible approaches the Bible by considering it from three different 'worlds'-- literary, historical, and contemporary worlds. This unique approach underscore the dynamics of each of world and the methods scholars have developed to study them. The authors are especially careful to distinguish the historical and literary worlds for readers new to the discipline. Readers are also encouraged to consider and discuss the contemporary significance of the Bible.

===

Praying Shapes Believing: A Theological Commentary on the Book of Common Prayer (Leonel L. Mitchell). Mitchell's basic assumption is the old "lex orandi lex credendi" proviso: how we pray influences what we believe. Since the Book of Common Prayer is the center of how Episcopalians corporately pray, it follows that an examination of it can reveal the theology to which it gives rise. Looking at every aspect of the Book of Common Prayer, Mitchell examines the connection between liturgy, scripture, prayer, and theology. The examination is thorough, running through the liturgical calendar, the Great Vigil, baptism, Holy Eucharist, pastoral offices, and ordinations.

===

... and several 80-pg long study-booklets (plus the respective Biblical books) here: http://www.gcfweb.org/institute/index.php

===

It's all college-level reading that I chose for fun (not because assigned). Also a couple of concurrent audiobooks from Librivox.

~Susan

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: GUEST,Patsy
Date: 22 Nov 10 - 08:36 AM

A book about Victorian the Home. It follows absolutely everything to do with how an upper/middleclass Victorian home was run and the etiquette of the time and covers what was happening in society outside the family home and the double standard hypocracy of the time. It's one of those books that I can't put down for long.

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: Rapparee
Date: 22 Nov 10 - 10:08 AM

Jamestown: the buried truth by Kelso.

Nonfiction, archeology: the original Jamestown fort site is NOT under water! Great read.

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: The Sandman
Date: 22 Nov 10 - 10:13 AM

sitting bull by alexander b adams,every American should read it

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: Becca72
Date: 22 Nov 10 - 10:29 AM

"The Most Evil Women in History" by Shelley Klein.

It was a birthday gift from a dear friend...I wonder if she's trying to tell me something??

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: GUEST,Jon
Date: 22 Nov 10 - 11:23 AM

Yes, Edthrfolkie, TMG stands up to re reading and adult reading well.

Personally, I think Moonfleet does too. Maybe that one is more my sense of childhood adventure and nostalgia but my 70+ yr old mother is currently getting something out of it and it is new to her.

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: Amos
Date: 22 Nov 10 - 12:04 PM

HEre's a really interesting read: The Seven Mysteries of Life. Despite its title it is a profound exposition of every level of life from the microscopic to the macroscopic, and all the systems involved therein, and remarkably well done considering the ambitious scope of the work.


A

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: GUEST,HiLo
Date: 06 Dec 10 - 11:09 AM

I am still reading and really enjoying the Patrick O'Brien series. Have just finished a book by Olga Grushin called The Line, best book I have read in ages. Also reading Tony Blairs book..Journey, My Political Life..not sure what to make of that.

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: David C. Carter
Date: 06 Dec 10 - 01:41 PM

I am two thirds into Life by Keef...It brings back memories of life in and around London at that time.

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: EBarnacle
Date: 06 Dec 10 - 01:56 PM

I've just begun The Yiddish Policemen's Union by Michael Chabon.

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: fat B****rd
Date: 06 Dec 10 - 02:44 PM

Painted Ladies the penultimate Spenser novel by the late Robert B Parker.

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: katlaughing
Date: 06 Dec 10 - 06:16 PM

Just finished another Kirk Mitchell Native American murder mystery, Sky Woman Falling. His aren't as good as Hillerman, but they are still good reads and I really get a kick out of the two main characters.

I just received the paperback of Ken Follet's World Without End and am about one third into it. I love that he carries on with the descendants from the first book AND gently reminds the reader of who belongs to whom in the family trees.

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: Dorothy Parshall
Date: 06 Dec 10 - 06:22 PM

Amos: That book,The Seven Mysteries of Life, looks interesting. Especially since Amazon paired it with Original Wisdom: Stories of an Ancient Way of Knowing by Robert Wolff, a marvellous book. I'll keep an eye out for it.

My fav of recent months is still The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Aubrey. It is wonderfully translated from French. An elegantly written novel with a story that unfolds as insightful and unique. Both my male friend and I found it hard to put down, a page turner that needed focus.

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: GUEST,Bat Goddess in Boston
Date: 07 Dec 10 - 08:35 AM

I just started re-reading Ian Fleming's James Bond series -- last read circa 1965 when I was in high school.

I brought several with me to Boston to occupy myself while we were hanging out close to mass General -- we travelled very light as we both have current mobility problems and have to schlep our small bags through North Station, trains, shuttle buses, cabs and on foot. Paperbacks in the '60s weren't the bloated things they are today and had smaller type, close leading and many fewer pages. I think publishers today produce such fat books merely to justify the $8-10 price tag. These Signet paperbacks were originally 50 cents -- more expensive than the 35 cent average at the time.

Discovered I haven't a copy of "Casino Royale" so started with "Live and Let Die". Wrapped that up the other day and yesterday finished "Moonraker". Interesting, Bond was driving a 1930 supercharged Bentley -- more of a John Steed car than the James Bond sports cars of the films. Also, interestingly, he didn't get the girl at the end -- Gala (with whom he'd been naked but innocent)marries her fiance a couple days after she and Bond save London.

Just started "From Russia With Love" this morning.

Bond smokes 3 packs a day (according to "Live and Let Die") and everyone else seems to be smoking at least as much. He also has a housekeeper named May, has a tax-free thousand pounds a year, plus his salary of (net) about a thousand pounds.

I've already learned about "Truman shirts" and the South Goodwin Lightship Disaster.

I need to find out what Signet copies besides "Casino Royale" that I need to scare up.

Linn

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: LilyFestre
Date: 07 Dec 10 - 11:12 AM

Just finsihed up Tuesdays With Morrie (absolutely LOVED it) and am now starting The Blue Orchard by Jackson Taylor.

Michelle

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: Wesley S
Date: 07 Dec 10 - 12:42 PM

"Catcher in the Rye". I haven't read it since high school.

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: EBarnacle
Date: 07 Dec 10 - 08:39 PM

Just a minor drift--Ian Fleming was one of the principles involved in "The Man Who Never Was."

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: mousethief
Date: 08 Dec 10 - 02:43 AM

Okay, just finished Sick Puppy by Carl Hiaasen. The blrb on the front cover said that from cover to cover it is a "howl" and the back cover promised it was laugh-out-loud funny.

I laughed out loud, once, on page 466. Of 511. Never howled.

Very convoluted, somewhat clever. But laugh-out-loud funny?

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: theleveller
Date: 08 Dec 10 - 04:11 AM

Just finished Arthur Machen's The Great God Pan and The Hill of Dreams - not as disturbing as I remember.

I'm now re-reading John Cowper Powys's Maiden Castle for the first time in many years. It confirms my earlier opinion - that it's not anywhere near as good as A Glastonbury Romance, which is one of the greatest English classics.

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: GUEST,Bat Goddess in Boston
Date: 08 Dec 10 - 06:28 AM

Mousethief -- Carl Hiaasin's earlier books are the funniest. Sick Puppy, so so. Give Stormy Weather a miss.

But Tourist Season and the other earlier ones...yes, you may well howl. They are wonderfully warped.

Linn

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: Wesley S
Date: 08 Dec 10 - 07:12 AM

Just to offer another viewpoint - I laughed out loud several times while reading "Stormy Weather". But I grew up on the coast of Florida. Perhaps living there made it funnier.

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 08 Dec 10 - 07:36 AM

Finally got around to reading the other two books in the Philip Pullman 'Dark Materials' series (The Subtle Knife and The Amber Spyglass), as last time I read the first one, I just couldn't garner enthusiasm for the second. This time, I have been hooked.

Otherwise it's a book on the Slave trade and its abolition ('Bitter water and sweet', by Sian Rees who wrote 'The Floating Brothel') orthe writings of Hildegarde of Bingen, one of my favourite nuns.

LTS

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: mousethief
Date: 08 Dec 10 - 01:42 PM

I wonder if, as with many authors that achieve a level of fame and sales, the reviewers just aren't allowed to say "this really sucks compared to his early stuff"? They'd get the axe for upsetting a perfectly profitable apple cart. No more Hiaasen for me. Besides what I wanted was a mystery. I went into a mystery specialty book shop ("Whodunit? Books" even!) and specifically asked for a funny mystery. There was nothing mysterious about Sick Puppy (precious little funny either) except how the reviewers found it so funny when it was riddled with cliches and as funny as the shipping report.

Off to read Murder with Peacocks.

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: Dorothy Parshall
Date: 08 Dec 10 - 05:09 PM

The only book by Hiaasen I managed was HOOT. A terrific book geared to empowering the young people in our midst. Totally wonderful and, for me, anything that encourages the young to stand up and be counted is top notch.

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: EBarnacle
Date: 08 Dec 10 - 05:30 PM

Are you talking about the same book?

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: Donuel
Date: 08 Dec 10 - 05:38 PM

Pulp History by Talbott.

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: Dorothy Parshall
Date: 08 Dec 10 - 08:36 PM

An unauthorized bio of Angelina Jolie, by Andrew Morton. Very interesting psychologically.

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: Dorothy Parshall
Date: 09 Dec 10 - 03:29 PM

Just came back from the library with and then spent about two hours reading and perusing:

What I Eat: Around the World in 80 Diets by Peter Menzel and Faith D'Alusia.

From the 800 calorie diet of the Maasai herder to a 12,300 C diet of a British "Snacker Mom", this is a trip around the world, peeks into the lives of an incredible variety of people, what they eat and how they live. Wonderful photos and some interesting essays, including The Pleasures of Eating by the wonderful Wendell Berry. In large format - must weigh over five pounds!

While not a "dieting" book, it is full of ideas about different healthy and interesting things to eat. I was so busy looking at it, I did not stop to eat.

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: EBarnacle
Date: 09 Dec 10 - 03:59 PM

A diet book which weighs more than 5 pounds seems to send the wrong message.

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: Dorothy Parshall
Date: 09 Dec 10 - 06:54 PM

Actually, I thought carrying it around would constitute useful exercise! In any case, it is not so much a "diet" book as a marvellous way of learning about people around the world - what they eat, what they do, how they live/survive... And terrific photos of the world in which they live - villages in the Andes, Africa, India, cities, hamlets... An incredible, food-based story of today's world.

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: bobad
Date: 09 Dec 10 - 07:12 PM

Confessions of an Irish Rebel by Brendan Behan

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: Eiseley
Date: 09 Dec 10 - 07:57 PM

I just finished the 17th of the Aubrey/Maturin books. Now I will go listen to some Locatelli and begin the 18th: The Yellow Admiral.

Eiseley

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: GUEST,HiLo
Date: 10 Dec 10 - 09:49 AM

I have just finished The Yellow Admiral..a grand yarn it is too..my only disappoitment is that now I have only two left to read. Have also recently read The Misalliance by Anita Brookner...very good indeed.

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: GUEST,Steamin' Willie
Date: 10 Dec 10 - 09:56 AM

"The Greatest Show on Earth" by Richard Dawkins.

I was reluctant to say that as mentioning him gets you accused of persecuting our religious brethren. But that risk apart, it makes you think....

On the fiction side of things, I am rediscovering the joy of reading Inspector Morse stories. One of the rare occasions where the books and TV series are both excellent. (James Herriot being another.)

Also reading Viz.

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: fat B****rd
Date: 10 Dec 10 - 09:56 AM

The Aubrey/Maturin film "Master and Commander", and the books, led me to Boccherini. Good stuff on several levels that Mr.O'Bryan.

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: GUEST,Shimrod
Date: 10 Dec 10 - 05:49 PM

I've just finished Richard Mabey's latest called,'Weeds'. It's a book about the relationship between our species and wild plants. If we notice them at all we despise them, or even hate them, but, at the end of the day, we couldn't do without them. Mabey reckons that when agriculture was invented in the Middle East, thousands of years ago, the topsoils in that region were very fragile and without weeds to bind them together they would have soon blown away and the 'great experiment' would have come to an abrupt end.

Like all of Mabey's books it's a profound meditation on the 'nitty-gritty' of the environment. I've come to the conclusion that vast, windy generalisations about the environment are a waste of time - God is in the details!

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: Amergin
Date: 10 Dec 10 - 05:53 PM

I read The Watchmen by Moore/Gibbons yesterday.....wow...one of the few books that sucked me right in....and I'm not even a comic book type of person....but this was a very deep novel.

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: Joe_F
Date: 10 Dec 10 - 09:22 PM

The Black Hole War: My Battle with Stephen Hawking to Make the World Safe for Quantum Mechanics, by Leonard Susskind (2008)

American Capitalism: The Concept of Countervailing Power, by John Kenneth Galbraith (1956)

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: Eiseley
Date: 10 Dec 10 - 11:55 PM

I'm so excited! When I go down to San Diego next month for the American Library Association's midwinter convention, I'll spend a day at the San Diego Maritime Museum where they have the ship Surprise that was used in the Master and Commander movie. But for me, it will be the fast privateer Aubrey sailed on so many occasions. What an adventure!

Oh, I may go to one or two library meetings as well.

Eiseley

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: robomatic
Date: 10 Dec 10 - 11:59 PM

Speaking of San Diego, I was introduced to the book 'Fragment' which I quite liked. It is a return to the kind of thing Michael Crichton started his career with, a scientific excursion to the possibilities that nature might have thrown at us, or we have yet to find out. Quite enjoyable.

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: katlaughing
Date: 11 Dec 10 - 05:13 AM

Just finished World Without End by Ken Follet. Kept me up at night to read on...his characters are so compelling and historical research so well done.

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: GUEST,bankley
Date: 11 Dec 10 - 09:02 AM

Cobb

God is not Great

Tom Waits The Wild Years

Whispering Pines /The Northern Roots of American Music

The Autobiography of Charles Chaplin

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: Bat Goddess
Date: 11 Dec 10 - 12:22 PM

Joe, a friend gave me "Black Hole War" a few weeks ago -- not sure when I'll get a chance to slip it into my reading stream.

Linn

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: Joe_F
Date: 11 Dec 10 - 08:13 PM

Bat Goddess: I don't pretend to have followed it all (even tho I have a degree in physics), but it is entertaining.

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: kendall
Date: 11 Dec 10 - 08:51 PM

Seize the Fire by Adam Nicholson.
It's about Admiral Lord Horatio Nelson. It goes into some detail about the condition of the French and Spanish fleets. Quite an eye opener. Haven't gotten to the battle of Trafalgar yet.

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: Bat Goddess
Date: 12 Dec 10 - 10:37 AM

And I've just started the 1968 biography of Ian Fleming -- to tie in to my rereading the James Bond books.

Did an assessment yesterday and see that I need a couple of the old (1960s) Signet paperbacks to fill in my collection: Casino Royale, Goldfinger and The Man With the Golden Gun.

Readily available cheaply (more or less) at Bookfinder.com when I save up enough pennies.

Linn

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: GUEST,HiLo
Date: 24 Dec 10 - 12:46 PM

I have just finished the last of the Patrick O'Brien books..I am so lonesome for Jack and Stephen..what great characters and wonderful stories..I will miss them.
Have just begun A History of Warfare by John Keegan..but will put it aside til after Christmas, not very cheerful reading.
   A Happy Christmas to you all..and many thanks for all the great book suggestions.

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: fat B****rd
Date: 24 Dec 10 - 03:36 PM

I'm back to working my way through the Sherlock Holmes Short Stories.

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: Little Hawk
Date: 24 Dec 10 - 05:33 PM

Ken Follett - Fall of Giants

I just finished it, and it's very good, though it can't match the absolute brilliance of "The Pillars of the Earth" and "World Without End".

The only criticism I'd make of Follett's writing in "Fall of Giants" is that he puts too many overwrought sex scenes into the story. I imagine he's found that doing that helps to sell books! ;-) However, his grasp of the historical period is great, he shows very clearly the political motivations of the various people in the UK, Germany, Russia, and America, and why the various decisions were made that led to war. He's very even-handed and fair in his treatment of the Germans and Russians, which is refreshing to see from an English-language author. I really enjoyed it, and I look forward to the next part of the trilogy which will obviously focus on the Depression years and the WWII era.

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: ChanteyLass
Date: 25 Dec 10 - 12:06 AM

Recently finished Chaim Potok's The Chosen and am almost done with David Ebershoff's The Nineteenth Wife.My favorite books take me to another place, another time, or another culture. Some do all three. Both of these books were selections of my local YMCA's book club. In between I read Bill Bryson's In a Sunburned Country which I chose myself.

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: Rapparee
Date: 25 Dec 10 - 12:48 PM

Phillip Longman's "Best Care Anywhere: Why VA Health Care Is Better Than Yours" -- I very, very, very highly recommend it. (By the way, it started under "Fortune" magazines auspices and has been recommended by such people as the Cato Institute).

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 25 Dec 10 - 11:38 PM

"Kiki's memoirs" - intro by Ernest Hemingway, photos by Man Ray - Kiki was Queen of Montparnasse, free spirit, artist's model & artist in Paris in the 20s, Man Ray was one of the greatest photographers of the period. Originally published in France in 1929, the English translation of her infamous memoirs was banned in the US, & the 1996 Eco Press edition is the first US edition.

Dorothy L Sayers "Complete Short Stories" & Lord Peter Whimsey novels

"Textile Arts of Japan" by Sunny Yang & Rochelle M Narasin - a feast for the eyes

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: GUEST,Shimrod
Date: 26 Dec 10 - 04:54 AM

'Eradicating Ecocide' by Polly Higgins. A fascinating book about the ongoing destruction of the environment by big corporations, why they are allowed to get away with it and what we could do to stop them.

Ms. Higgins is a British barrister who has decided to devote her talents and professional expertise to challenging the thoughtless, profit-driven destruction going on all around us. She believes that, what she calls 'Ecocide' should be made a fifth international Crime Against Peace along with: Genocide, Crimes Against Humanity, War Crimes and Crimes of Agression. Company Executives should be in the dock and not allowed to be able to hide behind the legal trickery which declares a corporation to be a 'fictional person' with rights but few responsibilities - apart from maximising profits.

Ms. Higgins has a website at: www.thisisecocide.com. She is also a mesmerising public speaker.

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: gnu
Date: 26 Dec 10 - 11:22 AM

Directions.

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: JHW
Date: 26 Dec 10 - 01:52 PM

On my request the town library kindly bought Larkin's 'Letters to Monica'
I'd only read a quarter when my time was up but I was glad someone else was awaiting it. I'll borrow it again.

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: LilyFestre
Date: 29 Dec 10 - 11:22 PM

The Emperor of All Maladies, A Biography of Cancer by Siddhartha Mukherjee

Michelle

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: EBarnacle
Date: 30 Dec 10 - 10:56 PM

On the lighter side, I have been catching the Carrie Vaughn series which begins with "Kitty and the Midnight Hour." The series is a totally interesting confection about wherewolves,vampires and other beings who inhabit the night. There is discussion of both lycanthropy and vampirism as disorders with peculiar advantages.

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: Ebbie
Date: 30 Dec 10 - 11:00 PM

I'm extra busy these days so my reading is fairly fragmented.

One I am reading/re-reading is Mary Mapes book, Of Truth and Duty, about the Dubya Bush National Guard Years and the political fallout she and the other investigators suffered.

One that I'm excited about - bought a couple of days ago - and haven't yet got through the Introduction is 'Autobiography of Mark Twain, Volume 1;
He stipulated, about four months before he died in 1910 that it was not to be published for 100 years. It came out this year.

It is a big book- about 650 pages - followed by a number of pages of footnotes, index and commentary.

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: framus
Date: 30 Dec 10 - 11:28 PM

Re - reading "the best of myles" flann o'brien. Almost a laugh a line.

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 31 Dec 10 - 09:56 AM

Re-read 'The Dark is Rising' by Susan Cooper, as is my habit at this time of year.. not helped by having the dreadful film adaptation on TV several times this last week...

Also reading 'Voyage of the Dawn Treader' preparatory to going to see the film soon.. hope I'm not disappointed, the others have been quite well done.

In the last couple of days I've read 'Heartstone' by C J Sansom... brilliant and so evocative of Tudor England, smells included.

Also have a copy of the writings of Hildegard of Bingen to read on the train but suspect 'Tale of two cities' might get in there first.... been 33 years since I read it so hopefully I'll get a bit more out of it...

LTS

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: katlaughing
Date: 31 Dec 10 - 11:48 AM

Just finished Ian Frazier's "Family." His writing is so stream of conciousness, he'll go off on a tangent which you think is not going to lead anywhere and then suddenly he's summed it all up, brilliantly, and you've just finished a great book that wasn't just self-absorbed looking back, but a history of our country with a myriad of personal stories and "big picture" touches. Whether one read the whole book or not, anyone who wants to talk about religion should read the last chapter, imo. It's brilliant.

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: Charmion
Date: 31 Dec 10 - 12:02 PM

Happily reading "Paris to the Moon", the first of two volumes of essays by Adam Gopnik that dear Edmund gave me for Christmas, and listening to an audio version of "A Dance to the Music of Time" by Anthony Powell. I'm into "At Lady Molly's," the fourth of the twelve volumes of the Powell; the cycle should keep me entertained through gym workouts and household chores until at least Easter.

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: Lonesome EJ
Date: 31 Dec 10 - 12:55 PM

Keef's Autobiography right now. Previously, read Coming into the Country, a nonfiction study of Alaska from the 1970s, and before that an account of the Battle of Chancellorsville in the American Civil War.

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: Joe_F
Date: 31 Dec 10 - 08:43 PM

I have just been given a copy of _Tales from the Bear Cult_, which is about furry men doing what & with which & to whom. I haven't read it yet.

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: Ebbie
Date: 01 Jan 11 - 04:28 PM

EJ, 'Coming into the Country' (John McPhee) was the first Alaska book I read when I got here; that first summer I worked at a wilderness lodge and they had a copy of it.

I have re-read it a couple of times and enjoy it. The only thing wrong with it is that McPhee didn't like Juneau, but I comfort myself with the fact that he didn't know the people I know or the life I lead.

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: framus
Date: 01 Jan 11 - 09:58 PM

I still insist that the "Best of Myles" is required reading for any body who aspires to Irish ancestry. Though they may not understand it.

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: katlaughing
Date: 01 Jan 11 - 10:05 PM

framus, I see several editions, any one in particular?

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: Dorothy Parshall
Date: 04 Jan 11 - 03:25 PM

Time to take it back to the library. What I Eat has been a fascinating trip around the world and through the diets of a huge variety of persons. I doubt there is anyone who would not find something of interest - the photos are memorable , from scenery to people to the tent in a valley in Tibet with satellite dish and solar panels. The variety of foods, of occupations...

What I have been left wondering is: people who eat under 2000 calories and maintain a reasonable weight - or do not and people who eat over 4000 calories and maintain reasonable weights - or do not. It does not always appear to be the more active occupation. Is it the difference in types of foods? Do some foods utilize more calories in digestion than others? We know about glycemic index; does it make a huge difference. Is 1000 calories from junk food worse than 1000 calories from cornmeal porridge, eg.?

I have a whole new area to consider. The web site:

http://www.aroundtheworldin80diets.com/home/home.php

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: Eiseley
Date: 04 Jan 11 - 03:32 PM

I've decided NOT to read the last Patrick O'Brian book yet---I will be too sad when that wonderful series is done. So instead I just reread Jane Eyre and have begun Ulysses. Maybe after a bit of Joyce I can bravely advance to that final 20th book.

Eiseley

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: EBarnacle
Date: 04 Jan 11 - 10:33 PM

If you wish to read O'Brian, consider his other books, most of which are better written the than the Aubrey/Maturin series.

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: Allen in Oz
Date: 04 Jan 11 - 11:15 PM

Stephen Fry's Autobiography

AD

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: Songster Bob
Date: 04 Jan 11 - 11:32 PM

Just recently I've been re-re-re-re-re-reading the Harry Potter series (I do this whenever a new film comes out). Also reading "A Mission of Honor" in Dave Webber's Honor Harrington series of Sci-Fi books. But the interesting thing to me is just discovering Terry Pratchett -- just finished "Night Watch," which was pretty enjoyable, though it had a lot fewer puns than the other one, "Lords and Ladies."

I'm also addicted to the "Ring of Fire" series (a West Virginia town is transported to the middle of the 30 years' war, in central Germany -- Thurinigia, to be specific) by Eric Flynt and others.

You may notice that all of these are Science Fiction. I occasionally read mysteries, plus an even more occasional history book. One non-mystery-non-sci-fi-non-history I read recently is "Fool," a hilarious retelling of King Lear. I don't recall the author, but it's findable at Amazon.

Bob

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: katlaughing
Date: 04 Jan 11 - 11:45 PM

Terry Pratchett is brill! Have you read Good Omens: the Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch, yet?

We're trying to decided what to do with all of our SciFi...MZBradley, Charles de Lint, and a few others. May be time to re-read a few.

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: EBarnacle
Date: 04 Jan 11 - 11:50 PM

I hope you are reading the Honor Harrington series from the beginning: On Basilisk Station. Even though the novels stand alone, they work best as a sequence. Also, consider reading the secondary stories and anthologies if you can get them.

Eric Flint's 1632 series, aka the Ring of Fire series and its related stuff is also very good, especially as he brings in other writers who are producing in his alternate universe.

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: GUEST,Songbob
Date: 05 Jan 11 - 01:42 PM

As to the Honor Harrington series, yes, I've read, and re-read, "On Basilisk Station," and all the others, including the ancillary ones, like "Torch of Freedom," and the anthologies of short stories ("Ms Midshipman Harrington" occurs in something like three different collections, which is overkill). I suspect there isn't one I haven't read, and most of them I've read at least twice.

Ditto the Grantville/Ring of Fire ones, complete with the anthologies, which include fan-fic as well as alternate authors.

And I'm going to look up a bunch of the Pratchett books, mostly at one or another of the used book stores around here. I can't tell you what it's like to be looked askance at by other subway/Metro riders because I'm chortling, guffawing, and outright laughing while reading. Then again, I don't much care what they think of me on the Metro.


Bob

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: EBarnacle
Date: 05 Jan 11 - 02:17 PM

Ignore them. They are barbarians and believe that their ways should be the ways of all people.

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: ChanteyLass
Date: 05 Jan 11 - 05:04 PM

Just finished Jacqueline Winspear's "The Mapping of Love and Death." Like all books in the fictional Maisie Dobbs series, it deals with crimes resulting from World War !.

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: Charmion
Date: 06 Jan 11 - 02:12 PM

I just picked up two Maisie Dobbs novels off the "loonie books" table at church. For a dollar each, I figured I couldn't go wrong even if I didn't like them much.

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: Eiseley
Date: 06 Jan 11 - 02:38 PM

I just checked out The Mapping of Love and Death. Also, Good Omens is one of my very favorites! For Christmas, I gave one child and another Nation, both by Terry Pratchett, and both very good. I'm still wandering through Ulysses and will take it with me to San Diego.

Eiseley

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: Janie
Date: 06 Jan 11 - 10:49 PM

Have just finished listening to "The Red Pyramid," the first book in Rick Riordan's new trilogy, the Kane Chronicles. My son and I both enjoyed it thoroughly. I don't think either of us will ever outgrow our enjoyment of well-written fantasy series for children and teens.

My darling ex sis-in-law sent 3 books to me for Christmas. The Glass Castle by Jennifer Walls, which the one I have decided to read first, Cutting for Stone, by Abraham Verghese, and The Help, by Kathyrn Stockett.

Looking forward to reading all of them. It will probably take me a year to do so.

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: katlaughing
Date: 12 Apr 11 - 10:43 AM

Just finished the best book! Ahab's Wife or the Star-gazer by Sena Jeter Naslund. More info HERE. I've never wanted to read Moby Dick. Now, because of this extraordinary book, I think I shall.

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: GUEST,Shimrod
Date: 13 Apr 11 - 07:34 AM

'Here on Earth' by Tim Flannery.

The author is an Australian scientist, writer and explorer. This a 'dual biography' of the Earth and our species, Homo sapiens. The impact of us 'upright, tool-using apes' on the planet has so far been dire. The damage started when we moved out Africa about 50,000 years ago and we're now just mopping up what's left - albeit at an accelerating rate. Flannery suggests that there are two possible futures for our species: A 'Medean' one where we consume all available resources and become extinct or a 'Gaian' one where we learn to live in harmony with our planet. My money is on the former but Flannery is more cautiously optimistic.

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: bobad
Date: 13 Apr 11 - 07:56 AM

"Just Kids" an autobiography of Patti Smith and her relationship with Robert Mapplethorpe -- surprisingly well written.

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: frogprince
Date: 13 Apr 11 - 10:51 AM

Just discovered the Sherlock Holmes and Mary Russell books by Laurie King; picked up "O Jerusalem" in the local exchange store and just finished it. I wished now that I had caught on to them and started with "The Beekeeper's Apprentice".

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: freda underhill
Date: 18 Jun 11 - 09:35 AM

Has anyone read "Mary's Mosaic - about Mary Pinchot Meyer and JFK? It's not available in Australia yet, and the first run sold out. I'd be interested to hear from anyone who's read it!

freda

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: Ebbie
Date: 18 Jun 11 - 12:00 PM

I'm just finishing 'A Singular Woman' by Janny Scott. About President Obama's mother, (Stanley) Ann Dunham Obama Soetoro, it is ell written, an indepth look at her life, her upbringing, her drive, her ideals.

Before it, I had no idea of how hard she worked and how much she accomplished. Her focus was always on improving the lives of women through access to financial support. She was a hardworking, clearheaded, witty woman.

Reading it, the Birther Bunch with their yelping at the non-existent issue of the President's birth and whether or not his mother had abandoned her 'Americanism' are clearly shown as foolish, even though the issue is never mentioned. To Ann Dunham, America - and Hawaii in particular - was always home.

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: katlaughing
Date: 18 Jun 11 - 04:08 PM

That's neat, Ebbie.

Haven't heard of, or read, Mary's Mosaic. Will watch for it.

I never, ever wanted to read Moby Dick because I thought it would just be all about killing whales. Well I finally read and and OMG! It's almost Shakespearean in style and eloquence. Really almost indescribable the way it effected me. I suppose maybe it took me this long to get to it because I wasn't ready before to appreciate it as much. "Ahab's Wife," which I read recently, was horrific in its detailed explanations of how a whale was caught and rendered. A good book but nothing of the caliber and finesse of Melville.

Also just finished Pilgrimage by Paulo Coelho. Excellent true account of his trek across the Strange Road to San Tiago, an old pilgrim's route in Spain.

Read Pagan's Vows Crusade by Catherine Jinks, a young adult to adult series. Fun enough for me to order the next two in the series.

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: GUEST,Shimrod
Date: 18 Jun 11 - 05:32 PM

I've just read 'In Cold Blood' by Truman Capote. It's a chilling account of the murder of a Kansas farmer and his family in 1959. It also examines the lives of the two murderers in great detail, plus an account of how they were tracked down and of their trial and execution.

I've recently seen two films based on the book but they are really about Capote (a complex character - to say the least!) and of his relationship with one of the murderers.

Nevertheless, the book is cooler, more objective and less 'emotional' than the films - which, somehow, gives it a greater impact. Capote handles the moral ambiguities involved in the story with great insight and skill.

It's not the sort of book that I would normally read but I was very impressed by it, and it's undoubtedly a masterpiece.

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: katlaughing
Date: 18 Jun 11 - 07:01 PM

I read that when I was in my 20s, Shimrod, and agree with your assessment. I never did see any of the movies. I didn't think I could stomach them, plus I didn't think they could do justice to Capote's complex genius.

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: Bee-dubya-ell
Date: 19 Jun 11 - 12:42 AM

I've just read a couple by Christopher Moore.

Fool is a bawdy retelling of King Lear from Lear's Fool's point of view. Though Moore is American, the book is an homage to British humor. (Think Monty Python, Douglas Adams, Terry Pratchett, etc.) If you find the exclamation "Fuckstockings!" offensive, it's probably not for you.

Bite Me is a vampire tale set in San Francisco and mostly related by an annoying teenaged goth vampire wannabe. There are a few real human vampires, but lots of cat vampires, led by Chet, who is both huge and shaved. If you find the exclamation "Fucksocks!" offensive, it's probably not for you.

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: John on the Sunset Coast
Date: 19 Jun 11 - 12:51 AM

As I am old and afflicted with cataracts, I don't read much fiction these days, saving my eye strain mostly for tomes of history and archaeology. However, I plan to read THE FINKLER QUESTION by Howard Jacobson. Has anyone here read it? If so, what think you of it?

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: Ebbie
Date: 19 Jun 11 - 02:32 PM

John-in-the-sunset, I too have cataracts and I find I need really good light to read more than just a few minutes. Cataract removal is on my list to have done this year - involves flying to a city 600 miles away - and then maybe I can read again to my heart's content.

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: Ebbie
Date: 19 Jun 11 - 02:32 PM

I meant to add that at the moment I am re-reading 'The Bible, according to Mark Twain'.

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: Max Johnson
Date: 19 Jun 11 - 02:57 PM

Just finishing John Le Carre's Our Game.

I tend to alternate what I read with a Patrick O' Brien, and regret to say that I have to disagree with Ebarnacle, with the possible exception of a couple of short stories in The Chian Wine.

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: Monique
Date: 19 Jun 11 - 03:33 PM

Understanding Cultural Differences, Germans, French and Americans by Edward T. Hall, Mildred Reed Hall. Interesting, I'd have liked it to deal with more than business but it's meant to improve business relations, so I can't complain! Now I'm reading Green Paradise #5 by Max Rouquette. Only #1 has been translated into English -btw, Amazon review is somewhat outdated, he passed away 6 years ago.