Books: What have people been reading recently?

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: 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 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 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: 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 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: 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 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: 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: 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 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: 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 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: 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 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: 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 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: 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,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: 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: 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 - 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: 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: 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 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: 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: 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: 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 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: 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: 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: 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: 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: 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: 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 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: 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 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 - 11:05 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: 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 - 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: 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: Riginslinger
Date: 25 Nov 09 - 07:29 PM

Short stories by Vladimir Nabokov.

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 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: 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 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: 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: 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
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.