Books: What have people been reading recently?

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!