Books: What book are you reading right now

Subject: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: DavidHannam
Date: 10 Aug 05 - 07:59 AM

Dosteyvsky's White Nights and Notes from the Underground.

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: GUEST
Date: 10 Aug 05 - 08:11 AM

Black Beauty.

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: GUEST
Date: 10 Aug 05 - 08:18 AM

History

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: el_punkoid_nouveau
Date: 10 Aug 05 - 08:22 AM

Jack Aubrey's Navy (I think that's the title); The Rise and Fall of Brtish Naval Mastery.

I finished The Half Blood Prince on holiday, and now I'm desperately waiting for the last Harry Potter book, because I want to know what happens to ... (I'm not going ot spoil it for those who haven't got that far yet!)

epn

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: jacqui.c
Date: 10 Aug 05 - 08:56 AM

The Mists of Avalon

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: Wesley S
Date: 10 Aug 05 - 09:02 AM

I've just finished the Half Blood Prince too. Now I'm on Owen Parry's "Shadows of Glory" - a mystery set in the American Civil War.

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: GUEST,Joe_F
Date: 10 Aug 05 - 09:10 AM

The Complete Works of George Orwell, Vol. 18 (two more to go).

--- Joe Fineman    [e-mail]

||: A proof tells us where to concentrate our doubts. :||

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: Little Hawk
Date: 10 Aug 05 - 09:33 AM

"A Course In Miracles" (and that's a lengthy read...)

Also "Everyday Grace" by Marianne Williamson.

Recently finished: "The Disappearance of the Universe" by Gary Renard. It's a marvelous book. Also, "Many Lives, Many Masters", which has to do with a psychiatrist's investigation of the possibilities of reincarnation...via one of his patients. Another very good book.

They're all essentially about the same thing: spiritual evolution and the development of higher consciousness.

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: Amos
Date: 10 Aug 05 - 09:43 AM

"The Blind Watchmaker" by RIchard Dawkins
"The Ancestor's Tale" by Richard Dawkins
"First Democracy", recommended by Don Firth.
"Designing GeoDatabases" by David Arctur.

..and "In Search of Albion" which my Limey pal sent me.

A

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: Peter T.
Date: 10 Aug 05 - 09:53 AM

Hey, I am reading The Ancestor's Tale too! (There is a great DVD series called The Shape of Life which I am working through forwards, rather than backwards! as I go). I expect them to meet in the middle, somewhere around the lungfish).

Just finished John Gribbin's "Deep Simplicity", which is a great book, packed with material.

For fun I have been rereading the John Carter of Mars series by Edgar Rice Burroughs (the rumour that there is finally going to be a movie got me going). I had forgotten how quirky they are, mostly because as a 13 year old I had Dejah Thoris on the brain (well, not exactly the brain, but.....)

yours,

Peter T.

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: Le Scaramouche
Date: 10 Aug 05 - 09:54 AM

The Jungle Book by Kipling.
Captain Blood (still waiting for the Marquis of Carabas to arrive in the post) by Sabatini.
The Complete Jeeves (it's an omnibus) by Wodehouse.
The Penguin edition of Hakluyt.
Conan Doyle's Brigadier Gerard stories.
Oh, and several Russian folktales.

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: Emma B
Date: 10 Aug 05 - 10:55 AM

Portugese Irregular Verbs - McCall-Smith    (humour)
Madame de Pompadour - Sex, culture and power - Margaret Crosland (biog)
Emotionally Wierd - Kate Atkinson (fiction)
The Skein of Lament (Book 2 of The Braided Path) - Chris Wooding (fantasy)
Children's Games with Things - Iona and Peter Opie (pure nostalgia!)

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: mack/misophist
Date: 10 Aug 05 - 11:25 AM

Just finished The Phantom of The Opera which was a disappointment.
Now reading No Man's Land by G M Ford, a guilty pleasure.
Comming up, the latest Harry Potter.

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: Uncle_DaveO
Date: 10 Aug 05 - 11:35 AM

The Minstrel of the Appalachians", the story of Bascom Lamar Lunsford.

He was a monumental figure in preserving (as best could be) the culture of the Appalachians, and was the organizer and for years the soul, so to speak, of the Mountain Dance and Folk Festival, in Asheville, North Carolina which is now in about its 78th year running.   A really admirable man. Not without his feet of clay, but admirable nonetheless.

Dave Oesterreich

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: GUEST
Date: 10 Aug 05 - 11:35 AM

"As much as I dare" Arnold Wesker

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: jeffp
Date: 10 Aug 05 - 11:39 AM

"Harpy Thyme" Piers Anthony

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: GUEST,noddy
Date: 10 Aug 05 - 12:03 PM

"Learning to Breathe"
by Andy Cave.

Half way through and only stared yesterday . Very good read.
True story of miner in 1980s turned mountaineer who climbs hardest route on Changabang a major Himalayan peak. Major epic ensues.

Mine is a signed copy. A birthday present from a fellow climber.

Just finished Harry Potter and Half blood Prince but still working my way through Barry Trotter.

Also reading a Maria Coffey " A Fragile Edge" a book relating to being married to or in a relation with a top climber and what happens to the partner when left behind when the climber goes off on long dangerous expeditions and sometimes does not return. As happened to her when Joe Tasker died on Everest.

Looking forward to reading "The Villan" about the late great Don Willance another top British climber. It is a bit hard going I heard but well worth the effort.

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: Don Firth
Date: 10 Aug 05 - 12:27 PM

I finished First Democracy by Paul Woodruff a few weeks ago. Then I mowed my way through Collapse by Jared Diamond (civilizations in the past that committed suicide by trying to maintain a life-style and destroyed their environment in the process—it's likely to happen again!). Soon on the list is God's Politics by Jim Wallis (a pastor, Wallis is not real happy about how fundamentalist Christians are trying to usurp "moral values"). But before I get into that, I gotta relax a bit first.

After all the heavy-duty stuff, I decided to let my brain go slack for a bit and I'm taking a shot at The Mark of Zorro by Johnston McCulley (1919). I've seen the movies, but never read the book, so I thought it was about time. I'm only a few chapters into it, but unless things improve, I may give it up (Nancy Pearl's 50 page rule:   "If I read 50 pages and a book still hasn't grabbed me, I toss it aside.   There's too much good stuff to read, so why waste my time?"). So far, it's kinda dumb. The 1940 movie with Tyrone Power, Basil Rathbone, and a young, lusciously demure Linda Darnell was probably the best realization of the Zorro character.

I just got notice from the library that Singing for Dummies, which I put on hold, is in. I figure if I keep pluggin' away at it, I may get the hang of it someday.

Apart from reading, but related to it:   I have all the videotapes of the Lord of the Rings movies (I've read the books several times), but I haven't seen the third one yet. In a couple of days I'm going to pig out and watch all three movies in a row.

I also have The Mayor of McDougal Street (the bio/autobio of Dave Van Ronk) on hold at the library, but I'm way down the list. I figure I want it in my personal library anyway, so I think I'll just haul off and buy it.

Don Firth

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: Janie
Date: 10 Aug 05 - 12:41 PM

"The Amateur Marriage" by Anne Tyler
"Geronimo" a biography and I'm blanking on the author just now.

just finished "Blood done Sign My Name" Timothy Tyson (powerful book on racismin the American South) and "HP and the Half Blood Prince."

Just bought a John LeCarre book but can't think of title right now--a newer one.

Janie

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: Ebbie
Date: 10 Aug 05 - 12:50 PM

I too am reading God's Politics, Don. In fact, for the first time in my life I am participating in a forum based on a book. GP is being dissected every two weeks by a local group of about 15 people.

I'm also reading Our Dreaming Mind by Robert Van de Castle, "a sweeping exploration of the role that dreams have played in politics, art, religion, and psychology from ancient civilizations to the present day." It's very interesting, actually. And it's BIG. I love big books.

And I'm reading Bush on the Couch by Justin Frank, MD. As one reviewer said, "An eminent and courageous psychotherapist offers us a penetrating account of the psychological makeup of the most powerful man in the world. It is compelling and persuasive and downright frightening. Most readers will end this book stunned, asking themselves how it has come about that we have chosen a leader so ill-equipped for the job."

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: Cool Beans
Date: 10 Aug 05 - 12:51 PM

"The Bridge of San Luis Rey," by Thornton Wilder. I read it quickly in high school, now find it a tough slog, even though it's short. There's a movie coming out, thaty's why I'm revisiting the novel.

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: Amos
Date: 10 Aug 05 - 12:55 PM

Don:

So far, it's kinda dumb. The 1940 movie with Tyrone Power, Basil Rathbone, and a young, lusciously demure Linda Darnell was probably the best realization of the Zorro character.


Read Isabel Allende's novel, Zorro. A remarkable job of really recreating the situation behind the fabled masked fencer.


A

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: Firecat
Date: 10 Aug 05 - 01:09 PM

I finished the latest Harry Potter about a week ago. My current reading is "Is It Me?" by Terry Wogan (his autobiography) and "Jo of the Chalet School" by Elinor M Brent-Dyer.

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: Don Firth
Date: 10 Aug 05 - 01:20 PM

Right, Amos, I'll give Allende's Zorro a shot.

Ebbie, I just googled "Bush on the Couch" and came up with lots of reviews and commentaries on Frank's book. SCARY!! But it sure seems to hit close to the mark.

Don Firth

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: Little Hawk
Date: 10 Aug 05 - 01:31 PM

Wow! A lot of good books here. Ebbie, I like your taste in reading. Peter, Dejah Thoris affected me exactly the same way as a young teenager. (grin) It must be fun reading that stuff again.

A lot of you are reading books which I was reading back in the 70's or whatever. Lately I just read the spiritual self-development stuff, although I did go through a cowboy novel period a year ago and finally read a bunch of Louis L'Amour and Zane Grey novels and some by the guy who wrote "Get Shorty", etc. They were all very entertaining.

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 10 Aug 05 - 02:11 PM

Not reading anything because I can't find my copy of 'The Dead Zone' which has gone walkabout... if anyone sees it, please tell me where it is!

LTS

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: beardedbruce
Date: 10 Aug 05 - 02:18 PM

The Spirit of Dorsai, by Dickson

Poetry: A modern guide to its understanding and enjoyment, by Drew

An 1886 textbook on poetry (at home, so don't have excat title and author)

various manuals on UltraSparc 10 and 30 workstations

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: Clinton Hammond
Date: 10 Aug 05 - 02:31 PM

"Good Omens"... for the 4th or 5th (And last) time... One last re-read to see if I could put my finger on why I think this book sucks...

After that I donno... Half Bood Prince I guess... but I really wanna revisit both Tigana and American Gods...

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: Cluin
Date: 10 Aug 05 - 02:47 PM

Several books at once, as usual...
just finished Walter Mosley's Fearless Jones;
just finishing up Geoffrey Ashe's The Discovery of King Arthur;
and the rest, well it seems I'm on a rereading binge this week:
moving back through the Harry Potter books (3/4 through Chamber of Secrets);
thick into The Portable Jung;
a chapter into Campbell's Hero With a Thousand Faces;
and most of the way through Dudley Young's Origins of the Sacred;
The Golden Bough always has a dog-ear left in it too; and
Barry Trotter and the Unnecessary Sequel sits by the bedside waiting for a start.

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: moongoddess
Date: 10 Aug 05 - 03:01 PM

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: moongoddess
Date: 10 Aug 05 - 03:05 PM

I must remember NOT to hit the TAB button when posting a message. OOPS!
    I am currently reading "The Jack Tales" - Folk Tales from the Southern Appalachians, collected and retold by Richard Chase. I started these last week with my grandchildren and find them absolutely wonderful.

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: Amos
Date: 10 Aug 05 - 03:20 PM

In addition I just saved from disposal by the library near me The Revised Golden Bough, a think book by Bronowski, several Fodor's guides to places I'd love to go to, and several other gems, all for free.

A

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: beardedbruce
Date: 10 Aug 05 - 03:25 PM

Amos,

Bring them to the Getaway- Somebody will want them.

Maybe we should all bring books we don't need, and see who does ( need them).

B

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: Don Firth
Date: 10 Aug 05 - 03:43 PM

I heard about this on NPR some time back. What an absolutely brilliant idea!!

Turn the world into a library. Release a book.

Don Firth

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: Ebbie
Date: 10 Aug 05 - 04:16 PM

Clinton, I would never have guessed you to be the patient kind. Glad to hear it. *G* I rarely give up on a book but I once started reading something with 'Purple' in the title (no, it wasn't 'The Color Purple - more like Purple Plush or maybe it was Red Plush)and flung the book (it was a paperback) across the room after realizing I had read 100 pages and still didn't care about any of the characters. Giving up on it was a guilt-producing thing for me but I feel freer now. LOL

As for 'Good Omens' here are some things people have said about it:

Review:
"What's so funny about Armageddon? More than you'd think...Good Omens has arrived just in time!" Detroit Free Press
Review:
"The Apocalypse has never been funnier." Clive Barker
Review:
"An utter delight — fresh, exciting, uproariously funny." Poul Anderson
Review:
"A steamroller of silliness that made me giggle out loud." San Diego Tribune
Review:
"Outrageous...read it for a riotous good laugh!" Orlando Sentinel
Review:
"Wacky and irreverent." Booklist

Obviously, the fault lies within you, Clinton. *G*

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: Peter T.
Date: 10 Aug 05 - 04:35 PM

Perhaps we should start a thread on summer books to stay away from.   Someone lent me the bestseller The Mermaid Chair ("You'll like this, you're spiritual!"). Aaaaargggghhhh!!!!!!!!!!

yours,

Peter T.

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: lady penelope
Date: 10 Aug 05 - 04:37 PM

Gotta agree, that's way patient Clint. I'm impressed, or sorry for you........ now I'm not sure.......

Johnathan Strange & Mr Norrell can't remember the author' name (bad girl...)
and my comfort series at the moment is the Marcus Didius Falco books by Lindsey Davis (working my way back through them before I read the latest one)

Little Hawk's right - there's a lovely big spread of books being read out there.....

TTFN Lady P.

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: Peace
Date: 10 Aug 05 - 04:38 PM

"Empire of the Stars"

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: Clinton Hammond
Date: 10 Aug 05 - 04:45 PM

Everybody I know and love are ASTOUNDED whenever conversation turns to Good Omens and I get up and leave the room....

"What? YOU didn't LOVE this book!?!?!?" they ask, as if I just said I was giving up Guinness....

"I've got more laughs outa reading stereo specs... or shampoo instructions... ", and then I shrug, pour another pint, wait for them to finish and vear the conversation to Smoke And Mirrors or American Gods...   You know... GOOD books...

Heh

And well, I finished Good Omens on the can a few hours ago... It can go I think... I won't miss it off my bookshelf...

I'm getting as signed, leather bound edition of Tigana off an online Guy-Kay-Fan chum of mine... She's selling cause her rent went up, and I'm a little more flush than I've been lately... An RL chum of mine just got a copy of it for his B-day, so I should refresh myself on it so we can yack about it...

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: Ebbie
Date: 10 Aug 05 - 07:32 PM

Like I said, Clinton, you're full of surprises. Must admit though, I hadn't heard of Good Omens.

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: Amos
Date: 10 Aug 05 - 08:21 PM

BB:
You dinna unnerstan', mon -- I gitted 'em on account o' I wanted 'em!! :D


A

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: beardedbruce
Date: 10 Aug 05 - 08:43 PM

A,

So, what else would you like? I can bring some to the Getaway, along with the tenor banjo and lots of sleeping bags...

B

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: Amos
Date: 10 Aug 05 - 09:55 PM

SHuck, I dunno, BB!! All the books on this thread sound so interesting, and there was one like it a while back. It was just the luck o' the draw I found that lot. I guess you'll have to bring what strikes you the best and we can wade through 'em!

And by the way, I love this collection of old standards you are performing in the Tavern!


A

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: beardedbruce
Date: 10 Aug 05 - 10:07 PM

boxes of books, bags of ginger, as many instruments as I can fit in, and a half dozen sleeping bags...


8-{E

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: beardedbruce
Date: 10 Aug 05 - 10:09 PM

but I would like to get somebody else singing along...

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: Shanghaiceltic
Date: 10 Aug 05 - 10:11 PM

Jung Chang's Mao and John Le Carre's Constant Gardner.

It will be intersting to see if the Chinese print version of Mao gets into China. It will certainly upset the old gits in Beijing as it utterly refutes many of the myths surrounding the man and lays bare a rather nasty and underhand person who was both dihonest with his poilticos and held the Chinese people in contempt.

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: open mike
Date: 11 Aug 05 - 01:03 AM

just finished number one ladie's detective agency
am in the middle of jJOe Merchant..by Jimmy buffet
and before that read a few Nevada Barr books.

i have read everything Tony Hillerman has written (i think)
unless there is one recent one i have missed.

my next one wil be about Belle Starr...i think she was a
female bandit or something in the wild west...so don't
tell the library, but i took it without checking it out
i will bring it back and turn it in, but sort of felt
like doing a "steal this book" like who was it? Abbie Hoffman
wrote...i wonder how many of those titles actually were
ripped off?

oh yes and i read a couple of kid's books on meteors asteroids
and comets today on the book mobile...getting ready for the
peak of the Perseid Meteor shower tomorrow.

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: Metchosin
Date: 11 Aug 05 - 01:28 AM

I've got a problem with disappearing books too, I was reading How The Scots Invented the World, but it seems to have gone AWOL.

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: Peace
Date: 11 Aug 05 - 01:30 AM

It's lookin' for the title: "How the Scots Invented the WER-uld".

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: Peter Kasin
Date: 11 Aug 05 - 02:42 AM

"The Soul of a Chef," by Michael Ruhlman. Ruhlman follows some chefs through a very rigorous trial by fire "master chef' course at the Culinary Institute of America (known as "the other CIA"), and then in other chapters shows how several other chefs strive to achieve excellence. There's a very special work ethic and drive among these chefs that shines through in this book. It is obviously an extremely physically and mentally demanding profession. I haven't yet read Ruhlman's first book, "The Making of a Chef,' about the schooling of new chefs at the "CIA," but if it's as good a read as this one...

Also re-read my sister's (sixtieschick) chapter on legumes in her cookbook Heaven's Banquet, the page entitled "The Ten Commandments of Bean Cookery." She spills the beans on what to do and not do with them.

I just ordered through Amazon "Down and Out In Paris and London", by George Orwell, and look forward to reading it.

Chanteyranger

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: freda underhill
Date: 11 Aug 05 - 02:43 AM

"Inside the Kingdom" by Carmen Bin Laden

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: Cool Beans
Date: 11 Aug 05 - 10:21 AM

Poul Anderson is still alive?!

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: gnomad
Date: 11 Aug 05 - 10:49 AM

A Testament of Youth - until it gets too much, then Jonah & Co (Dornford Yates) to cheer me up again.

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: Le Scaramouche
Date: 11 Aug 05 - 11:11 AM

I've dipped into Das Kapital again. Most of it is dreadfully dull, but some good stuff. Loathe seedy old Marx, but it's one of the most influential books written.

Strange and Norrell is terrific. I guess I'm one of the few people that actualy liked the ending.

Not a new book or a summer one, but stay away from Howard's Bonaparte's Warriors. Applingly bad novel with a lame plot and the most one-dimensional cardboard cutouts imaginable.

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: Paco Rabanne
Date: 11 Aug 05 - 11:17 AM

'Ace of spades' by Motorhead.

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: Pseudolus
Date: 11 Aug 05 - 11:45 AM

1st to Die by James Patterson.

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: Clinton Hammond
Date: 11 Aug 05 - 02:09 PM

"Poul Anderson is still alive?!"

Sorry to hear about the misfortune...

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: sixtieschick
Date: 11 Aug 05 - 02:37 PM

"They Can't Hide Us Any More" by Richie Havens. A lovely autobiography with wonderful descriptions of starting out singing doo-wop in Bedford-Stuyvesant in Brooklyn, singing in Greenwich Village in the sixties, opening the Woodstock festival, and other landmarks along his musical journey. Havens gives refreshingly equal appreciation to famous and lesser-known musicians and singer-songwriters. The man's passion and compassion for the human spirit shines through his observations, and he describes his own processes of writing songs, playing guitar and performing in detail.

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: Ebbie
Date: 11 Aug 05 - 02:55 PM

"A Testament of Youth - until it gets too much, then Jonah & Co (Dornford Yates) to cheer me up again." gnomad

Although I haven't read that particular book, I know what you mean, gnomad. Years ago when I was dating a German (formerly American POW) I read everything I could find on WWII. I'd take huge stacks of books home from the library. At the same time I took home stacks of sci fi books. When WWII got too stomach turning, I turned to science fiction. I spent four years doing that.

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: GUEST,petr
Date: 12 Aug 05 - 12:27 PM

White Slave of the Nootka,
a true story by John Jewitt, an armourer on the unlucky ship the Boston
whose crew of 22 were slaughtered by the Nootka, on the west coast of Vancouver Island in 1803. Jewitt and one other were the only survivors. Since Jewitt was a blacksmith he was spared by CHief Maquinna
and kept as a slave. He took on a Nootka wife and lived among the tribe for a few years. The journal that he kept is a remarkable record of the people of the westcoast of the time.
Petr

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: GUEST,Dani
Date: 12 Aug 05 - 12:58 PM

Walking Across Egypt by Clyde Edgerton
Hotel New Hampshire by John Irving

... among others.

Dani

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: beardedbruce
Date: 12 Aug 05 - 03:08 PM

OK, finished The Spirit of Dorsai, by Dickson. Now reading

Planet Run, by Laumer and Dickson

Still reading Poetry: A modern guide to its understanding and enjoyment, by Drew

An 1886 textbook on poetry, Poetry as a Representative Art, by G L Raymond, Prof. of Aesthetics in Princeton University

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: Peter T.
Date: 12 Aug 05 - 04:42 PM

"A Testament of Youth" is great, but don't get sucked into reading the sequel (yawn).

yours,

Peter T.

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: *Laura*
Date: 12 Aug 05 - 05:31 PM

It was Harry Potter - now Nineteen Eighty-Four - George Orwell.

after that, college requests I read 'Down and out in Paris and London' (another Orwell) and Jane Austin's 'Emma' (which I have tried, and failed, to read before)

After that I shall read 'The Time Traveller's Wife' because I bought it a while ago but need to read my college books first.
Then I think I will have a bash at Les Miserables.
And if that fails - well I haven't read Lord of the Rings in a while.

Ooh and someone gave me The Count of Monte Cristo for christmas - this is opening up a world of possibilities now I start to think about it!

xLx
p.s.
I also recommend to everyone and anyone a book called 'Lorelli's Secret' by Carolyn Parkhurst - it is lovely but it might make you cry.

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: GUEST,B
Date: 12 Aug 05 - 06:24 PM

from the ever-increasing stack:
"The Namesake" by Jhumpa Lahiri -- detailed renderings of Bengali immigrant experience, and way excellent prose.

"Die 13 1/2 Leben des Kaept'n Blaubaer" by Walter Moers -- a long story which begins in a nutshell :-)

B

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: gnomad
Date: 12 Aug 05 - 08:34 PM

Ebbie - re Testament of Youth

A tremendous work, relating to WW1 rather than 2. If it were fiction it would be in a high rank, but it is autobiography and that promotes it a good bit in my reckoning, right alongside All Quiet, and Goodbye to All That, imo.

Of course I've slipped a bit in my "high minded reader" rating, I'm now looking into The Scots Kitchen (F Marian McNeill) re the haggis thread, plus Paperweight by Stephen Fry.

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: GUEST
Date: 12 Aug 05 - 08:34 PM

The Knockout Artist - Harry Crews. So-so read.

If anyone has ever made it through Joyce's Ulysses or Sarte's Being and Nothingness and understood it, I'd appreciate some insight on how you did it.

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: Little Hawk
Date: 12 Aug 05 - 08:59 PM

Just started "The Power of Now" by Eckhart Tolle...and...WOW!

Amos, you have got to read this one.

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: wysiwyg
Date: 12 Aug 05 - 09:27 PM

What book are you reading right now?
The Mother of all BS threads!

~S~

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: Peter T.
Date: 12 Aug 05 - 09:29 PM

I read Ulysses many times, and walked through Dublin with it in my mitts. What do you want to know? (It really helps to get one of the recent guides).

The Count of Monte Cristo is really one of the great reads of all time (BUT NOT THE ABRIDGED VERSIONS!!!!). I must read it again. It is the source for many subsequent books, including James Bond.

yours,

Peter T.

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: Amos
Date: 12 Aug 05 - 10:14 PM

I did, LH -- I thought he was loverly.

A

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: GUEST,615
Date: 12 Aug 05 - 10:35 PM

I saw someone reading "A Seperate Peace" the other day. I hated it when I was forced to read it in school - but I'm tempted to pick it up again to see if it's as bad as I thought.

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: GUEST,kirsten anderberg
Date: 12 Aug 05 - 11:07 PM

I just finished reading Crimethinc's new Anarchy Cookbook/Recipes for disaster...I just published a review of it at http://resist.ca/~kirstena/pagerecipesfordisaster.html

Now I am reading The Layers of Magazine Editing by MREvans

People send me books to read and review often...another one I read not long ago that was good was The Flowers of Dinh Ba - the review of that one is at http://resist.ca/~kirstena/pageflowersofdinhba.html - The author of that one wrote me to thank me for that review, I was sent the book by a NYC magazine to review.

I am also reading a TON of zines right now...people have been sending me packages of zines from around the world and I now have a huge zine library...I review zines too at http://resist.ca/~kirstena/pagezinereviews.html

Zines are really my favorite reading material lately. Most cutting edge stuff in those zines...

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: Le Scaramouche
Date: 13 Aug 05 - 04:44 AM

The Count, one of my favourite books and one of the best ever written.
Still waiting for the Musketeers to arrive by post, haven't read in ages.

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: Dave Hanson
Date: 13 Aug 05 - 06:06 AM

The Bible According to Spike Milligan.

eric

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: GUEST
Date: 13 Aug 05 - 07:20 AM

Just finished )and thoroughly enjoyed) The Vesuvius Club by Mark Gatiss (of The League of Gentlemen)

Bagpuss

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: van lingle
Date: 13 Aug 05 - 09:12 AM

Spring Creeks by Mike Lawson which should be of great interest to anyone who's into throwing flies to finicky trout and just finishing 1776 by David McCullough which is an easy, informative read and A People's History of the United States by Howard Zinn which is an alternative view of US history.

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: Tam the man
Date: 13 Aug 05 - 09:23 AM

Oor Wullie and the Broons,

I bought Harry Potter the reason is I ran out of toilet paper, (Only Kidding)

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: GUEST
Date: 13 Aug 05 - 02:51 PM

Currently residing on my music stand are....

Tommy by Richard Holmes.

Some cuban bongo rhythms

And a classical guitar piece - Asturias by Albeniz

My music stand is 3 foot wide!

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: GUEST
Date: 13 Aug 05 - 03:07 PM

I'd like to know how you got through Ulysses - preferably an explanation that doesn't involve prerequisites like obtaining PhDs in Greek Mythology, Irish history, and intimate knowledge of the underpinnings, past and present, of Catholicism. Every other word had me referencing the dictionary or encyclopedia.

A Separate Peace was recommended to me after I'd read Catcher In The Rye. The person who'd recommended it said I'd like it better. I didn't, but then again I was about 11 years old when I read it. I read it again after I got out of high school, and liked it much better, especially the ending, or more specifically, the last line.

Recently, I've thought about going back and reading it again, just because it is such a well written book.

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: beardedbruce
Date: 18 Aug 05 - 02:28 PM

"Virtue and Happiness: The manual of Epictetus"

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: Le Scaramouche
Date: 18 Aug 05 - 02:31 PM

A nice black leather-bound 1940 edition of Gilbert and Sullivans operettas. Delightful line-drawings by Gilbert.

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: open mike
Date: 19 Aug 05 - 01:35 AM

Jitter Bug Perfume by Tom Robbins

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: Rapparee
Date: 19 Aug 05 - 12:08 PM

I'd just about to re-read Chad Carpenter's "Really Big Book Of Tundra." And Urquhart's "Eye of the Husky" will follow. I'm also finishing a book on the Inuit testimony about the Franklin expedition disaster by Woodward. And I have several more waiting in the wings.

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: Little Hawk
Date: 19 Aug 05 - 12:12 PM

If a magazine is a "zine", then is a piano a "no"? And a banjo a "jo"? And an encyclopedia, a "pedia"? And a woman, a "'man"? ;-)

Do you get that I do not much like the latest slang that has emerged off the streets of ghetto Amerika?

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: radriano
Date: 19 Aug 05 - 01:32 PM

For any mystery fans out there:

I've watched the PBS mystery series "Wire in the Blood" but the original books are much better. Right now I'm reading "The Wire in the Blood" - the author is Val McDermid. She grew up in a Scottish mining community and then went to Oxford. She was a journalist for sixteen years and now writes full time, living in South Manchester.

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: RangerSteve
Date: 20 Aug 05 - 10:10 AM

Murder on the Leviathan by Boris Akunin. The kind of murder mystery that Agatha Christie used to write, impossible but highly entertaining with no modern technology to help the detectives out. There are a lot more in the series, but only two in English. As they have to be tranlated from Russian, I imagine they'll be slow in coming.

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: Le Scaramouche
Date: 20 Aug 05 - 10:30 AM

Boris Akunin is a wonderful writer. This series is a runaway success in Russia. He decided to write it because he loves murder mysteries, but there aren't really any in Russian.

A friend just returned the copy of Scaramouche I lent him, so I think will tackle that again. Vive le Sabatini!

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: Little Hawk
Date: 20 Aug 05 - 10:46 AM

I have noted that of the reading public it goes about this way...

Interested in entertainment: 99%

Interested in facts: 5-10%

Interested in self/development or, dare I say, enlightenment: 1/2 of 1 percent!

There is some overlap, of course...some like all of the above.

Given the general situation, though, it's not surprising that a casino or a really stupid action movie will attract 30 million people, while a spiritual centre will attract 35! ;-)

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: John Hardly
Date: 20 Aug 05 - 02:51 PM

Velocity - Dean Koontz

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 21 Aug 05 - 07:10 AM

The Knocker on Death's Door - Ellis Peters.

It's one of her 'Detective Inspector Felse' series she wrote years before Brother Cadfael got popular. As with all her work, it's beautifully written and an incredible testament to the habit of people watching..... She's even written one about a folk music seminar!

LTS

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: Le Scaramouche
Date: 21 Aug 05 - 07:40 AM

Aren't they also a bit on the low end of the body-count? Aggie kills them off in droves (I'm surprised anyone was left alive in the English countryside), but both are very soothing.

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: MAG
Date: 21 Aug 05 - 11:14 AM

Harry Potter #6 was a professional requirement. I then read it again to see the many obvious clues I missed the first time.

I just finished rereadingDiana Wynne Jones' *Fire and Hemlock* for a discussion group next month. If you are into faery and tons of literary references, you would like it. I have time to read (or reread) some of the many books which make it understandable.

I started *Collapse,* realized he wasn't saying anything I didn't already believe, and put it down as too much of a downer.

I'll try some of the more philosophical stuff; thanks.

MAG

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: open mike
Date: 21 Aug 05 - 12:21 PM

The Great Taos Bank Robbery and
Other Indian Country Affairs
by Tony Hillerman

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 21 Aug 05 - 03:09 PM

A good mystery doesn't need to have a high, or any body count.... but yes, I see your point. There are certain areas of Britain where it would do you well to walk softly and carry a big stick. St Marymead & Midsomer Norton and its environs springs to mind, where last series, the body count was in the 20's over 8 episodes. An average of 3& a bit per programme.

LTS

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: Le Scaramouche
Date: 21 Aug 05 - 03:35 PM

Of course not, the emphasis should be on mystery.
I think in one episode of Midsomer they completely lost count about the bodies and one of them lay there unexplained.
This G. K. Chesterton quote is a good description of a mystery formula:

"I like detective stories; I read them, I write them; but I do not believe them. The bones and structure of a good detective story are so old and well known that it may seem banal to state them even in outline. A policeman, stupid but sweet-tempered, and always weakly erring on the side of mercy, walks along the street; and in the course of his ordinary business finds a man in Bulgarian uniform killed with an Australian boomerang in a Brompton milk-shop. Having set free all the most suspicious persons in the story, he then appeals to the bull-dog professional detective, who appeals to the hawk-like amateur detective. The latter finds near the corpse a boot-lace, a button-boot, a French newspaper, and a return ticket from the Hebrides; and so, relentlessly, link by link, brings the crime home to the Archbishop of Canterbury."

Some good essays here

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: fat B****rd
Date: 21 Aug 05 - 03:40 PM

Deliverance by James Dickey while waiting for the latest from Kathy Reichs.

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: Leadfingers
Date: 22 Aug 05 - 08:08 AM

I've run out of books to read !! Perhaps i ought to bite the bullet and pay full price for a couple , instead of depending on the charity shops . The Library here has a lousy selection !!

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: SINSULL
Date: 22 Aug 05 - 08:12 AM

Snow Squall, about the last Clipper Ship built in Maine, sunk in the Falklands, and restored- a direct result of the Falklands War.

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: Rapparee
Date: 22 Aug 05 - 08:44 AM

If your library has a lousy selection, make some suggestions. If they're ignored, be a bit forceful. If they're still ignored, ask why -- first to the Head Librarian and then, if necessary, in the local newspaper. THAT gambit is bound to get some attention. And if it still doesn't work, get yourself appointed to the Board that oversees the library....

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: Paco Rabanne
Date: 22 Aug 05 - 08:52 AM

101 is the new 100. Erh..... no that's not a book.

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: John Hardly
Date: 22 Aug 05 - 09:02 AM

Just finished Forsyth's "Avenger". Sort of pedantic style, but fascinating plot.

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: GUEST,Blind DRunk in Blind River
Date: 22 Aug 05 - 09:04 AM

I ain't read none of these flippin' books you are all talkin' about. Flip me! What a big flippin' waste of time!

I'll tell ya what I read, man. I read "Grapes" by Don Cherry. Don ia a mans' man, eh? He RULES! Both on the flippin' ice and off.

You wanta read some good stuff that, like, says what NEEDS ta be said? Go to this link, eh?

Don Cherry tells the hole flippin' WORLD where to GO!!!!

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: ranger1
Date: 22 Aug 05 - 09:16 AM

I'm currently reading "The Road to McCarthy" by Pete McCarthy (Kind of a sequel to "McCarthy's Bar") and "Dry: A Memoir" by Augusten Burroughs (kind of a sequel to "Running with Scissors").

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: Janie
Date: 22 Aug 05 - 02:16 PM

LH,

My own reading preferences have shifted with age. Until my mid 30's I mostly was interested in fiction, with a little biography and history thrown into the mix.

These days, fiction doesn't hold my interest as well. I often don't finish novels. I read much less of anything than I once did, but I read a lot more non-fiction than fiction. More times than not, I'll put a fiction book down without finishing it.

Janie

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: Divis Sweeney
Date: 22 Aug 05 - 03:56 PM

Reading "The Secret Army: the IRA". Actually, very interesting, a lot of history packed into it. It's a rather thick book so it should keep me busy for a while!

E

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: Little Hawk
Date: 22 Aug 05 - 03:57 PM

I've also lost interest in most fiction, Janie.

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: Mary in Kentucky
Date: 22 Aug 05 - 07:15 PM

Or Leadfingers, do what I do - use the Interlibrary Loan, if you have it...are you in the UK?

The last book I requested - Type II Diabetes: The First Year - they opted to buy. Which reminds me, it's overdue now!

(Good library patrons always have overdue books.)

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: GUEST
Date: 22 Aug 05 - 10:34 PM

"The New Rulers of the World" by John Pilger.

Read it and weep.

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: GUEST
Date: 22 Aug 05 - 10:55 PM

....went to my local library for a copy of Goethe's Faust and they didn't have it! I was shocked. Is it just in my jerkwater town or have libraries everywhere succumbed to the hideous practice of appealing to popular demand to bring in more revenue?

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: KT
Date: 22 Aug 05 - 11:42 PM

I'm with you, Janie and Little Hawk. I prefer non-fiction, but right now am reading Steinbeck's East of Eden as an assignment.

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: Little Hawk
Date: 23 Aug 05 - 12:04 AM

Is Pilger's book about banks and corporations?

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: Little Hawk
Date: 23 Aug 05 - 12:14 AM

Okay, I had a look at it (Pilger's book) on Amazon. Looks like something I'd be pretty much in agreement with, all right.

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: GUEST
Date: 23 Aug 05 - 01:47 AM

LH - John Pilger is a journalist who fears for free speech:

http://www.newstatesman.com/20050822001

The book I am reading is well written and factual.

Its time people stopped being deluded by propaganda and start reading the words of a true journalist.

dianavan (who is using another computer)

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 23 Aug 05 - 02:57 AM

Mary in Kentucky - I must be a fantastic library patron then... I've still got 2 books from 2000 - not set foot in a library since then... Well, they did sack me for being ill. They still haven't come for them.

LTS

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: GUEST,noddy
Date: 23 Aug 05 - 04:04 AM

Finished "Learing to Breathe " by Andy Cave last week . It is bound for classic status. And as an aside I was surprised when it mentioned my climbing partner in the acknowledgements.

Started Elton John's "Inconceivable" only to have the whole book ruined by my wife who told me it had been turned into a film and she then proceeded to tell me everything including the ending! But I shall keep reading.


OOOPS. that should be Ben Eltons book not Elton Johns however on second thoughts it would make it a very intersesting thought if Elton had wrote it!!!!!!

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: Bat Goddess
Date: 23 Aug 05 - 08:16 AM

American Scoundel by Thomas Kenneally about General Dan Sickles. I'm just past his trial for the murder of Barton Key (Francis Scott Key's son) who was having an affair with his Sickle's wife Teresa. And the American Civil War is just thinking about starting.

I'm about half way through it -- and this morning I started listening to and transcribing the tapes from Saturday's shanty sing while reading. (Multi-tasking is good.)

Linn

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: kendall
Date: 23 Aug 05 - 12:54 PM

Don't Know Much About History by Kenneth Davis.

This should be required reading in high school.

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: Le Scaramouche
Date: 23 Aug 05 - 01:02 PM

as well as 1066.....

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 23 Aug 05 - 05:13 PM

We have a series of children's books here in the UK called 'Horrible Histories' - they should DEFINATELY be required reading for children and adults alike! They are all factually correct, but they leave in the interesting bits like how the Egyptians REALLY got brains out and how they mummified cats. They cover the Ancients right up to WWII - Terrible Tudors, Measily Middle Ages, Rotten Romans... all great fun!

LTS

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: Le Scaramouche
Date: 23 Aug 05 - 05:35 PM

My favourite sort of history.

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: ranger1
Date: 23 Aug 05 - 06:08 PM

I purchased the first of Elizabeth George's Inspector Lynley series last evening. I finished it by lunch today. Good thing it's my day off.

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: Georgiansilver
Date: 23 Aug 05 - 06:55 PM

"The Purpose Driven Life" by Rick Warren.

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: Rt Revd Sir jOhn from Hull
Date: 18 Oct 05 - 06:44 AM

'm not readyning any book now.

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: GUEST,Ard Mhacha
Date: 18 Oct 05 - 07:15 AM

Almost through page 3 of the Beano.

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: Pseudolus
Date: 18 Oct 05 - 09:38 AM

Since the thread originally came out I have since read 2nd chance, also by James Patterson and I'm now reading the King or torts by John Grisham. I love John Grisham books, unfortunately I'm running out. I've read almost all of his.

Frank

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: GUEST,DB
Date: 18 Oct 05 - 10:23 AM

I'm currently reading 'Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell' by Susanna Clarke. It's huge tome about magic - the eponymous JS and Mr N. are magicians. It's set in a sort of alternative Georgian England in which 'English magic' has been revived. It reads a bit like a fantasy written by Jane Austen. Mr N. is a cantankerous old git who wants to keep English Magic to himself; JS is a sort of 'Young Turk' of a practical magician who uses his craft to help his country win the Napoleonic Wars. Mr N. unleashes forces that he can't really control and then tries to ignore the increasingly sinister consequences.
The plot involves dealings with fairies - who are definitely not cute little things with wings - they are very, very alien and very scary.
This is an extremely ambitious book, which I am enjoying immensely, and contains some very fine writing. So far I'm not sure that it is completely successful but I'll reserve judgement until I've finished it. Neverthless, if you like fantasy, as I do, I've read enough to thoroughly recommend it - and if you're as sick as I am of endless Tolkein clones I'm sure you'll get a lot out of it.

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: GUEST,Janine
Date: 18 Oct 05 - 10:35 AM

Sir John,
Would you like some back copies of the British Dental Journal?!

Liz,
Those 'Horrible Histories, are wonderful. As you say quite detailed and factual but with all the nasty bits, which the children love and remember, still there. It's taken over poking fun at history from '1066 and All That', which is still worth reading. Better than my school history which was delivered by a Professor Binns sound-alike, or probably his great grandfather. (Yes Harry Potter fan too)

Janine

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: yrlancslad
Date: 19 Oct 05 - 02:14 AM

I guess this thread is far to long for anyone to actually read it any more but I just came across a book called " The Weaver and the Factory Maid", by Deborah Grabien ( Like me, English, living in San Francisco), supposed to be the first in a new mystery series each of which will be built around characters in folk ballads.
Unfortuntately MS Grabien doesn;t write very well but if your'e a Folkie.........

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: Le Scaramouche
Date: 19 Oct 05 - 05:23 AM

Finished the Marquis of Carabas (alt. Master-at-Arms), great book.
Right now am on one of my very favourites, the Three Musketeers.

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: Flash Company
Date: 19 Oct 05 - 05:44 AM

A.N.Wilson, The Victorians. Not sure if I like it yet, but has made me LOL at some of his quirky opinions. Just up to the Indian Mutiny.

FC

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 19 Oct 05 - 06:21 AM

Just this very morning purchased another Jasper Fforde book - 'Something Rotten' - having gone into a major sulk because I left his last one 'Lost in a good book' somewhere I know not where. I've just finished 'The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy' and needed something to fill the afternoon with.

Oh, and for all Lemony Snickett fans, the latest in the 'Series of Unfortunate Events' is out as of yesterday - 'The Penultimate Peril'... and yes, it is the penultimate book. Ssh, though, Limpit doesn't know yet, I'm saving it for half term to keep her quiet for a day.

LTS

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: GUEST,David Hannam
Date: 19 Oct 05 - 10:17 AM

Sartre, Being & Nothingness

Head hurting

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: ard mhacha
Date: 19 Oct 05 - 10:35 AM

On the Net, the full book, read Internment by John McGuffin, also by McGuffin on the same Site, The Guinea Pigs, two powerful eye opening reads on the 1970s in N Ireland.

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 19 Oct 05 - 10:51 AM

Hunting Season by Nevada Barr.

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: number 6
Date: 19 Oct 05 - 11:20 AM

The Salmon of Doubt by Douglas Adams

sIx

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: Micca
Date: 19 Oct 05 - 11:35 AM

I am 5 chapters into the "DaVinci Code" (orthe convince me code as a friend puts it) bought for reading on the plane at Heathrow!!

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: GUEST,Art Thieme
Date: 19 Oct 05 - 03:17 PM

Chita -- by Lafcadio Hearn

and

Hemingway In Cuba -- by Hilary Hemingway and Carlene Brennen

Art Thieme

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: open mike
Date: 19 Oct 05 - 03:23 PM

Ramona by Helen Hunt Jackson
southern california historical
novel set in the itmes of the
Missions--probably 1800's

it has been made into a movie
at leaast 3 times...once was
black and white silent film
and ne was one of the first
color flicks.

speaking of flick
i just thought about that term
maybe called that because earely ones
flickered? (blinked on and off as the
frames moved?)

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: Cluin
Date: 05 Dec 06 - 03:47 AM

Umberto Eco's Foucalt's Pendulum
Joseph Campbell's Masks of God, Volume 2: Oriental Mythology
Ronald Embleton & Frank Graham's Hadrian's Wall in the Days of the Romans

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 05 Dec 06 - 06:51 AM

As it is now December, I'm reading, as I always do, the Susan Cooper books 'The Dark is Rising' sequence. It's a set of 5 books, beginning with 'Over sea, Under stone'. This is the story of how the three Drew children and a mysterious 'great uncle' Merriman Lyon hunt for a golden chalice, hidden in Cornwall in the days of King Arthur. The chalice, or grail is an important weapon in the battle between the Dark and the Light - two forces that have been opposed since the dawn of time, in constant battle for domination over man.

The second book in the sequence is 'The Dark is Rising', which continues the battle with a new protagonist for the Light - it tells how Will Stanton became the youngest member of the great Circle that battles the Dark, from his 11th birthday on 21st Dec, his meeting with Merriman and their quest until 12th Night.

The Drews and Will Stanton meet in the third book, 'Greenwitch'. The Dark have stolen something from the Light and the children must go again to Cornwall to retrieve it, and hopefully take one more step along the path to defeating the Dark.

The fourth book, 'The Grey King' tells how Will met Bran, a Welsh boy of uncertain descent, how they battle with the Grey King at Cader Idris and the tasks they must fulfil.

The final book 'Silver on the Tree' is a stunning piece of work. It brings together the Drew children, Will and Bran, binding elements of the previous 4 books into the last task, culminating in one final, desperate race against the Dark.

I've read these books at this time of year, every year for at least the last 20. When the rest of the country is racing around, spending too much on things people don't really want, it's a wonderful way to step out of the world, to read of people risking all for an ideal, not for themselves or glory, or fame and riches, but that the whole of mankind might have hope.

LTS

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: bobad
Date: 05 Dec 06 - 07:46 AM

The Crying of Lot 49 - Thomas Pynchon

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: kendall
Date: 05 Dec 06 - 07:49 AM

"The Nightingale's Song"
About a group of military men, such as John McCain, John Poindexter, and Oliver North. It's a beautiful insight into what makes these guys tick. McCain, for instance, was an authority defying screwup. The typical underachiever. Poindexter, sharp mind, but dedicated to the military. Ollie North meathead Marine.
These guys are all very different now, not surprising considering what they have been through.

All republicans, of course.

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: Dave (the ancient mariner)
Date: 05 Dec 06 - 07:51 AM

Psychology of Survival by John W.P. Leach

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: Rapparee
Date: 05 Dec 06 - 07:56 AM

Scrum Bums, by Darby Conley.
The Complete Idiot's Guide to Playing the Piano.
Bad Deaths, by Spider Robinson.
The Stardance Trilogy, by Spider and Jeanne Robinson.
Variable Star, by Robert Heinlein and Spider Robinson.
The Cartoon Guide to Chemistry.

Well, you asked....

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: Bunnahabhain
Date: 05 Dec 06 - 08:01 AM

I'm buried in the Royal Scottish Country Dance Society Manual, as I am starting the teachers course on sunday. Eeeep!

Also, various bits of Leiths cookery bibles, and my scattered notes, as I work on some interesting new bits of baking, and am looking for a copy of Godel, Escher, Bach as light relief.

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 05 Dec 06 - 08:02 AM

I'm also reading through a couple of Christmas presents before I wrap them, but I can't say what they are in case the recipients read this!!

But they're funny!

LTS

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: Becca72
Date: 05 Dec 06 - 08:07 AM

"The Sea Shall Embrace Them" by David Shaw, about the steamship Arctic.

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: Rapparee
Date: 05 Dec 06 - 08:24 AM

Oh, and I'm still reading "Godel, Escher, Bach" -- as I have been for the last 20 years.

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: ranger1
Date: 05 Dec 06 - 08:52 AM

I've got George R. R. Martin's "A Feast for Crows" going at the moment. And, when I find where I put it after I got back from the Getaway, Joseph Campbell's "Hero With a Thousand Faces".

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: Sorcha
Date: 05 Dec 06 - 09:01 AM

Companions, by Sheri S. Tepper.

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: GUEST,thurg
Date: 05 Dec 06 - 09:02 AM

Tom Jones.

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: Tweed
Date: 05 Dec 06 - 09:12 AM

"Escaping the Delta" by Elijah Wald, wherein he illustrates the versatility of black blues musicians in the pre-war blues era, explodes the Robert Johnson myth crap, and celebrates the blues women of that time. It's pretty dry reading. I believe I like Deep Blues by Robert Palmer and the Lomax book, "Land Where Blues Began" better.

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: Bat Goddess
Date: 05 Dec 06 - 09:27 AM

Just finished (this morning before coming to work) "The Monkey Wrench Gang" by Edward Abbey.

How did I miss this wonderful novel for 30 years?!? It was just loaned to me by a musician friend (pressed on him by his son in Utah) who said, "You've GOT to read this!"

Anyway, the use of language, turns of phrase, etc. is a delight. It's the first book in a long time that I've read with a notebook next to me to jot down quotations and unfamiliar words. I love a novel that expands my vocabulary!

Here's a description of his plans for his funeral --

"As for graveside ceremony: He wanted gunfire, and a little music. "No formal speeches desired, though the deceased will not interfere if someone feels the urge. But keep it all simple and brief." And then a big happy raucous wake. He wanted more music, gay and lively music. He wanted bagpipes. "And a flood of beer and booze! Lots of singing, dancing, talking, hollering, laughing, and lovemaking." said the message. And meat! Beans and chilis! And corn on the cob. Only a man deeply in love with life and hopelessly soft on humanity would specify, from beyond the grave, that his mourners receive corn on the cob."

Especially -- "Only a man deeply in love with life and hopelessly soft on humanity would specify, from beyond the grave, that his mourners receive corn on the cob." Yeah!

Linn

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: bobad
Date: 05 Dec 06 - 10:37 AM

"The Monkey Wrench Gang" by Edward Abbey.

That one's been on my mental list of books to read but I keep forgetting about it. Thanks for reminding me Bat Goddess.

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: Scoville
Date: 05 Dec 06 - 11:00 AM

Just finished The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, which I thought was OK but not "brilliant" or whatever the dust jacket said. Maybe writing the perspective of an autistic teenager doesn't seem that creative to an Aspie.

Before that it was To Err Is Divine by Agota Bozai, which I mostly liked although I think I missed something at the end. I thought the premise of a staunch atheist and nonseeker of publicity waking up one morning with a halo and a healing touch was imaginative.

Currently reading Cage of Stars by . . . I forget the author. Again, it's OK, but I'll have to wait until the ending to see if it's actually interesting.

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: GUEST,memyself
Date: 05 Dec 06 - 11:15 AM

"explodes the Robert Johnson myth crap"

Seems to me that "myth crap" has been exploded more times than it's been constructed - or crapped ...

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: Wesley S
Date: 05 Dec 06 - 11:20 AM

The Man in the High Castle - by Philip K Dick.

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: katlaughing
Date: 05 Dec 06 - 11:24 AM

Just finished "Alburquerque" by Rudolfo Anaya. Loved his "Bless Me, Ultima." He says of the former, that it was originally spelled with the extra "r" but when the anglo stationmaster was lettering a sign for the new RR depot, he couldn't pronounce it that way, so dropped the "r." Odd that we've always prnounced it "alber-cur-key."

Just started a new mystery..I am insatiable when it comes to them.:-)

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: number 6
Date: 05 Dec 06 - 12:03 PM

"The Unconscious Civilization" by John Ralston Saul

Kendall ... I read "The Nightingale's Song" a while back ... your post says it all ... it was an interesting read.

biLL

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: Scoville
Date: 05 Dec 06 - 12:06 PM

I didn't think that anyone who wasn't just scratching the surface of blues still believed the Robert Johnson myth[s], anyway. I mean, I like Robert Johnson, but there's always a lot more to the story--any story--than just one guy.

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: Cluin
Date: 05 Dec 06 - 12:10 PM

Read "RL's Dream" by Walter Mosley. Deals with Mr. Johnson quite a bit.

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: autolycus
Date: 05 Dec 06 - 12:21 PM

Just finished The War for Children's Minds by Stephen Law, an interesting toh' inadequate defence of Kantian liberalism against religious fundamentalism and authoritarianism.

   In the midst of Closely Observed Train by Hrabal, a slender novella. And dipping into lots of books, like History's Worst Decisions. An Encyclopedia Idiotica by Stephen Weir.

   Recently read Francis Wheen's How Mumbo-Jumbo Conquered the World, a thorough recommendation.






       Ivor

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: mrdux
Date: 06 Dec 06 - 01:03 AM

right now i'm reading On Stranger Tides, by Tim Powers (pirates, voodoo and zombies), and Robert Fagles' excellent new translation of the Aeneid.

just finished Carl Hiaasen's latest, Nature Girl (very funny, if not the best Hiaasen); Purity of Blood, by Arturo Perez-Reverte (Captain Alatriste faces off against the Inquisition); and All the Bells on Earth, a James Blaylock fanatsy. All three are worth reading.

and still sitting there in the stack of to-be-continueds is my trusty copy of Godel, Escher, Bach. . .

michael

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: GUEST,heric
Date: 06 Dec 06 - 01:33 AM

The Testament of Gideon Mack

(The purchasing of which taught me an interesting lesson: Check amazonUK before you buy at amazon.com. Long story short.)

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: Rapparee
Date: 06 Dec 06 - 09:13 AM

And then, waiting in the wings, are

Westering Women: westering women and the frontier experience, 1800-1915, by Sandra L. Myers
Faith and Betrayal: a pioneer woman's passage in the American West, by Sally Denton
The Doctor Wore Petticoats: women physicians of the Old West, by Chris Enss
A Lady's Life in the Rocky Mountains, by Isabella Bird (started, must finish)
Women and Indians on the Frontier, 1825-1915, by Glenda Riley

This is not a study of women in the American West, it just happened that way.

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: katlaughing
Date: 06 Dec 06 - 09:34 AM

Rapaire, would highly recommend adding "Doc Susie: High Country Physician" to that list.

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: Tweed
Date: 06 Dec 06 - 11:21 AM

Re: the Robert Johnson myth crap being dead.
A Google search reveals that the crap is still going strong out there. But it's a good thing, as it draws interest to the music via the "mysterious" manner in which he gained extraordinary guitar skills in a short time. I've always figured he went out and stayed in the woodshed after Son House dissed him so bad in front of folks.

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: Cluin
Date: 06 Dec 06 - 05:49 PM

Yeh, but what happened in that woodshed?

Deal with the Devil?

Aliens?

Guitar steroids?



The plot thins.

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: Skivee
Date: 06 Dec 06 - 08:58 PM

Re-reading "Dark Sun" by Richard Rhodes. The history of the developement of the hydrogen bomb. An interesting, thick book about the military, political, and social considerations that drove The US and USSR to scramble towards Armageddon.
It's a really interesting and scarey read.

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: Genie
Date: 06 Dec 06 - 09:07 PM

Thom Hartmann's
Screwed: The Undeclared War Against The Middle Class (and what we can do about it

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: Miken
Date: 07 Dec 06 - 12:01 AM

Backwards from the present
"Essays and Sketches of Mark Twain"
"South" by Earnest Shackleton. The Antarctic explorer of the early 20th century.
"The Woman Who Walked Into Doors" by Roddy Doyle.
"Gods and Generals" by Jeff Shaara.
"A Salty Piece of Land" by Jimmy Buffet
"River Horse" by William Least Heat-Moon

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: GUEST,Blind DRunk in Blind River
Date: 07 Dec 06 - 12:22 AM

I read, like, 3 books in the last 3 to 4 years, eh? One was "Grapes" by Don Cherry. It rocked! A nother was "How To Get a Date With a Sudbury Skank!" I had high hopes for that one, but it turned out to be a total crock becoz I tried everything the idiot that wrote it sugjested and almost nothin' worked worth a bunkhouse flip in Wawa! I got slapped by at least 15 stoopid girls and yelled at by a whole lot more. I would want my money back except I stole that book, so it don't matter that much. Still, I would like to get my time back, eh? He owes me that.

I am now readin' one called "How To Marry Shania Twain and Live Happlessly Ever After". Wow, eh? I think this one is the real thing...

Shania, BABY, get ready, cos Shane is on the way!

- Shane

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: Skivee
Date: 07 Dec 06 - 12:10 PM

Shane, I'm sorry to say that this won't work out for a lot of reasons.
But one right off the bat is that you would have to change your name to "Shane Twain". Then people would laugh at you.

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: Rapparee
Date: 07 Dec 06 - 03:36 PM

Yeah, and you'd have to go with her and Travis Tritt to New Jersey. They're doing a tour highlighting the work of the late Conway Twitty. And you'd have to say, "The Tritt-Twain Trenton Twitty Tribute Tour" several times a night.

I don't think you can do that, drunk, stoned or sober.

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: Elmer Fudd
Date: 07 Dec 06 - 04:42 PM

I'll add another recommendation to Kat's for "Doc Susie." It's quite a story. Anyone who has an interest in the history of the Rockies or Colorado, or frontier medicine, or pioneer women, or who enjoys an adventure tale would enjoy it.

Elmer

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: Naemanson
Date: 07 Dec 06 - 05:27 PM

I just recovered from wrist surgery. While healing I re-read the entire Patrick O'Brian series, all 20 books plus the reference books written to make sense of the times featured in the stories. Whew! Now I'm reading a history of the San Francisco 1906 earthquake.

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: GUEST,Blind DRunk in Blind River
Date: 07 Dec 06 - 06:08 PM

Flip ME!!! You think I am gonna change my name to "Shane Twain", do ya? Well yuo are a flippin' goof, eh? I ain't changin' my name fer no one. Ya hear that? I am a flippin' McBride till I die and that ain't gonna change. Never. They broke the flippin' mold when they made me.

- Shane

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: Uncle_DaveO
Date: 07 Dec 06 - 06:13 PM

When I was at the University of Minnesota, in the late 40's and early 50's, someone gave me a little pocket address book, "To keep the girls' phone numbers in."

Frankly, I suffered from F.A.A. (female-approach anxiety), and didn't realize that the girls were just as interested in the boys as the boys were in the girls. (Hold on, have faith! I'll get to the subject of the thread in a little bit here.) So I had no girls' telephone numbers to put in my little book.

So what did I do with the little book? I kept a list of books that I intended to read. I had Greek philosophy in there, and semantics, and Freud, and so on. Lots of 'em! Lots and lots of 'em!

Unfortunately, at some point the little book, now dirty and tattered, was lost. But thinking back, over the years I've read a large proportion, maybe even most of those classics that I'd intended to read.

AND NOW TO THE SUBJECT OF THE THREAD:

I'm about half way through Darwin's Origin of Species. I'd had a general idea of the general shape of his theory, but reading his own explication of it is enlightening. Fascinating.

Dave Oesterreich

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: Tom Hamilton frae Saltcoats Scotland
Date: 08 Dec 06 - 05:30 AM

the broons and Oor Wullie.

(Scottish Books)

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: Adrianel
Date: 08 Dec 06 - 10:09 PM

"The System of the World" by Neal Stephenson, third in his Baroque Trilogy. My son turned me on to them, and they're great. I've barely read any fiction for 35 years (Douglas Adams is the big exception), but this has got me interested again.

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: John on the Sunset Coast
Date: 08 Dec 06 - 10:31 PM

Isabel Allende's retelling of Johnson McCully's masked hero of early California, "Zorro." It is very entertaining and accessible; quite a change from her weightier fiction.
While I am only in about 15%, I suspect that this is not Walt Disney's paragon. [Please, if you have read this don't tell me about it.]

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: Wolfgang
Date: 09 Dec 06 - 03:48 PM

Reginald Scot's The discoverie of witchcraft

Wolfgang

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: fat B****rd
Date: 09 Dec 06 - 03:59 PM

Hannibal Rising by Thomas Harris and after last Sunday's UK Radio 3 profile I'm descending towards H.P. Lovecraft after about 40 years.

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: GUEST,282RA
Date: 09 Dec 06 - 04:07 PM

Currently working on Stephen King's "Insomnia." Not really sure where it's going yet. Picked it up at the airport to kill time after missing a flight.

A couple of novels mentioned earlier I've read such as Neil Gaiden's "American Gods" which was a fun book to read. My favorite part of the account of Atsula and Nunnyanunu or however that was spelled.

Also Pynchon's "The Crying of Lot 49" which I first encountered back around '84. That's a very strange one. I even went to and looked at various stamp books and found all the ones he mentioned and tried to imagine how WASTE altered them.

In fact, both American Gods and Lot 49 seem to be saying similar things about a subconscious and subversive (?) undercurrent in America.

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: John O'L
Date: 09 Dec 06 - 04:46 PM

I've just finished Steinbeck's "The Grapes of Wrath", which had somehow managed to slip through unread so far.
Reinforces the truth in the adage "The more things change, the more they remain the same".

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: Severn
Date: 09 Dec 06 - 05:27 PM

"Women & Children Of The Cut" by Wendy Freer and "Mud Blood" by K.C. Constantine.

Just finished Dave Van Ronk's autobiography.

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: GUEST,282RA
Date: 09 Dec 06 - 05:41 PM

If you want to read something truly weird, try Poe's "The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket" (sometimes called "The Narrative of A. Gordon Pym").

If you read it and want to discuss it, let me know.

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: John O'L
Date: 09 Dec 06 - 06:33 PM

I read Van Ronk's book just before "Grapes".

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: Alice
Date: 10 Dec 06 - 10:28 AM

Cancer Ward by Alexander Solzhenitsyn

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: Janie
Date: 10 Dec 06 - 11:42 PM

"On Agate Hill" by Lee Smith.

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: Don Firth
Date: 12 Dec 06 - 07:55 PM

An old friend of mine has been around the folk scene in Seattle for years. He's not really a performer. He doesn't play an instrument, and although he will occasionally chime in with a song or two, these are rare occasions. He's a poet and writer by trade, and recently he's been into brain research. He ran across a book that he figured would be of interest to his musician friends such me and bought a stack of them to give to the bunch of us! Thank you, Richard!!!

I'm about a quarter of the way into it now, and it's bloody fascinating! I think it would be of interest to anyone who listens to music, and of serious interest to anyone who makes music.

This Is Your Brain on Music : The Science of a Human Obsession, by Daniel J. Levitin. Info and reviews HERE.

Levitin is not some ivory-tower music professor. He was a rock musician, a sound engineer, and a record producer before he got into neuroscience. Early in the book, he gives you the basics of music theory, clearly and concisely, without getting bogged down in a lot of technical jargon (relatively painless way of learning the essential ideas). Throughout the book, he names pieces of music—some classic, but more often, rock and pop songs—as examples of what he's talking about. There is the occasional dry spot where he, of necessity, has to get a bit technical, but they only last for a paragraph or two. For the most part, it's an easy read and it breezes along like a novel.

I've had a couple of years of music theory classes in college, and I've also take a course in the physics of music, so I already knew a lot of this, but the neuroscience of music is an area that I knew was there, but never actually explored. What sneaky things do composers and arrangers do and why do they do them? And why do people respond to music the way they do? Why do you respond the way you do?

Fascinating! Highly recommended! Thanks again, Richard!

Don Firth

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: Peter Kasin
Date: 13 Dec 06 - 02:06 AM

Someone's actually READING Darwin's "Origin of Species"? Dang, Dave, what are you, intelligent or something? *BG*

I'm reading Barack Obama's new book, "The Audacity of Hope.' It's a very good read, full of wisdom, and we are lucky to have him in public life.

Chanteyranger

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: jacqui.c
Date: 13 Dec 06 - 08:02 AM

Two just finished.

Dies The Fire - S M Stirling. Midchick lent me the book, which has a very interesting premise and provided a good intellectual exercise for me.

House of Spirits - Isabel Allende. There was quite a sea-change in the tenor of the book as it goes on - I ended up being loathe to put it down before reading a little more.

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 13 Dec 06 - 08:22 AM

Edith Sitwell - 'English Eccentrics', and Catherine Arnold's 'Necropolis - London & it's Dead'.

When I finish them I'll start a wonderful (coffee table-like) book called 'Living with books' full of wonderful pics of people's libraries & bookshelves, and Lisa Picard's 'Elizabeth's London - Everyday Life in Elizabethan London'

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: kendall
Date: 13 Dec 06 - 08:40 AM

DAVE BARRY TALKS BACK by Dave Barry.
This guy is the funniest republican I have ever encountered.

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: GUEST
Date: 13 Dec 06 - 06:55 PM

Monkey Wrench Gang is a great book. We were recently unpacking boxes of books, and came across a whole box of "that era" books & our 22 year old daughter was thrilled!

Besides that one, we discovered these gems:

Hear That Lonesome Whistle Blow by Dee Brown--excellent account of the building of the transcontinental railway

Creek Mary's Blood also by Dee Brown (he did Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee, for those wondering why the name is familiar)

If you loved Monkey Wrench you MUST read The Milagro Beanfield War by John Nichols!

We also have the complete set (5 vols) of A Theology for Artisans of a New Humanity by Juan Luis Segundo, SJ - the books he wrote just prior to writing The Liberation of Theology. Yes, he was one of the major Latin American priests that were central to the Liberation Theology movement.

Also in the box: my fave Peter Mathiessen book, At Play in the Fields of the Lord. God I love that book!

I'm also a huge Isabel Allende fan (actually, the whole family is). I'd love to hear how Zorro is. House of the Spirits is one of my all time faves. I still have Portraits of Sepia on my shelf unread--anyone here read it?

Just finished Moliere's The Miser & Other Plays (the Penguin Classic), because I went ans saw The Miser last weekend & will see Tartuffe this weekend.

Just started (last night) The Tree Bride by Bharti Mukherjee. First one by that author.

Waiting for winter break to start the book I just ordered from Amazon yesterday I've been meaning to read for a long time: Freethinkers A History of American Secularism by Susan Jacoby.

And also, I hope to great read over the holidays One Thousand White Women The Journals of May Dodd by Jim Fergus, and The Seven Daughters of Eve by Bryan Sykes.

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: Epona
Date: 13 Dec 06 - 07:45 PM

Just finished "Holy Cross" by Anne Cadwallader. Moving on to "Out of Order: The Political Imprisonment of Women in Northern Ireland 1972-1998" by Mary Corcoran. Nothing like a little light reading....

E

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: Peter Kasin
Date: 13 Dec 06 - 10:06 PM

GUEST. is Tartuffe the one with Mrs. Malaprop? Or do I have that confused with a Sheridan play?

Chanteyranger

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: Cluin
Date: 13 Dec 06 - 10:11 PM

Robinson Crusoe

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: jacqui.c
Date: 14 Dec 06 - 08:00 AM

Chanteyranger - Mrs Malaprop came from Sheridan's 'The Rivals'. Read it at school many, many years ago.

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: GUEST
Date: 14 Dec 06 - 08:02 AM

Why you pineapple of politeness, Mr.Chanteyranger! Mrs. M is from The Rivals.

Perhaps you are thinking of Madame Pernelle. Or just les devots in general?

Religious frauds and hypocrites, a timeless theme.

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: Cluin
Date: 02 Jan 07 - 07:15 PM

Went to the library to return a couple of books and took out a couple more.

Got Charles de Lint's "Dreams Underfoot" (a collection of short stories) and got about halfway through the first story when I realized I read it before. Not one of de Lint's best efforts, but... oh well, I just picked it up for some light reading anyway, so I'll reread it.

Queued up in the bull-pen: Poul Anderson's "Mother of Kings". But now I have a sneaking suspicion that I've read it already as well.

I must be getting old...

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: jacqui.c
Date: 02 Jan 07 - 07:56 PM

Just finished Bill Bryson's "A Walk In The Woods' and am starting Stephen King's CELL.

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: GUEST,riverboat annie
Date: 02 Jan 07 - 08:32 PM

I just read "Deep Survival" by Laurence Gonzales and I am reading "Mayflower" by Nathaniel Philbrick, "Becoming Attached" by Robert Karan and then "the Tenth Circle" by Jodi Picoult. She is new to me. Anyone read her other books?

I start a graduate English folklore class next week and that should have some interesting reading....just have to come off the riverboat one night a week....okay though, the river is muddy this time of year...

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: GUEST
Date: 02 Jan 07 - 08:45 PM

Just finished Cage of Stars by Jacquelyn Mitchard, which was lame. Currently reading Bound for Glory.

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: Slag
Date: 02 Jan 07 - 10:24 PM

Still slugging through THE HISTORY OF PHYSICS, Vol III. I am also reading 90 MINUTES IN HEAVEN and CULTURE WARRIOR.

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: heric
Date: 02 Jan 07 - 10:28 PM

Black Swan Green.

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: fat B****rd
Date: 03 Jan 07 - 04:55 AM

Forgot H.P.Lovecraft.I am determined to plough through Peter Ackroyd's "London".

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: Hollowfox
Date: 03 Jan 07 - 05:57 PM

1) O My Sweet Fuzzy Ducklings, what a bunch of bookaholics we've got here.
2) Kendall.. Dave Baeey is a Republican!?!
3) Oh yeah, I'm reading Chas Addams: A Cartoonist's Life by Linda H. Davis.

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: number 6
Date: 03 Jan 07 - 06:10 PM

"Peter Ackroyd's "London"."

I read that FatB ... a little while ago. Good. When I finished reading it, I had the feeling he left quite a bit out.

biLL

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: Becca72
Date: 03 Jan 07 - 07:04 PM

I just finished "A is for Alibi" and am now starting "B is for Burgler" both by Sue Grafton.

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: GUEST,Ravenheart
Date: 03 Jan 07 - 09:43 PM

The Ringbearer's Diary by Peter Kjærulff. This is a thoroughly weird but (I think) engrossing book that tries to show that the Ring (as a literary device in Tolkien and Wagner) symbolizes a complex of ideas that has influenced human history.

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: katlaughing
Date: 03 Jan 07 - 10:52 PM

I've just started The Wire in the Blood by Val McDermid, but i am nto sure I will keep reading. I thought the first one I read by her, A Place of Execution, was brilliant, but in this one, possibly, and one other for sure which I tried, she gets way too graphic for my taste.

Also just finished a couple of mysteries by Michael McGarrity and one by James D. Doss, a Charlie Moon mystery. Good, fast, and fun reads, all three.

Also, reread The Other Wise Man by Henry Van Dyke. Loved it just as much, if not more, this time.

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 04 Jan 07 - 02:31 AM

Under the Tuscan Sun by Frances Mayes. This book just oozes vine-ripe tomatoes, fresh cut herbs, plates of cheese and fruit, and drips olive oil.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: GUEST,Art Thieme
Date: 04 Jan 07 - 10:48 PM

Carol just gave me Cormac McCarthy's new one--- THE ROAD -- for our fortieth anniversary yesterday---January 3rd. I wanted that book in the worst way and had left several hints around the place.---And she came through. I'm really looking forward to it.

Art Thieme

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: GUEST,Anne Thrax
Date: 04 Jan 07 - 10:56 PM

The bible.

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: GUEST,Scoville
Date: 05 Jan 07 - 12:04 AM

Oops--GUEST Jan 2, 07 8:45 was me. Forgot to put my name in the window. Sorry.

I've also got lined up one called Stagolee Shot Billy, by Cecil Brown, about the variants and historical references of the song "Stagolee". I gave it to my dad for his birthday a few years ago and he says it was pretty good.

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 05 Jan 07 - 01:51 AM

Art, Cormac McCarthy produces some of the most stunningly powerful prose written today. Have you read Blood Meridian?

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: autolycus
Date: 05 Jan 07 - 03:33 AM

But Is It Art? by Cynthia Freeland,professor of philosophy uni.of Houston, an introduction to thinking about art.

    The intro begins,"This is a book about what art is,what it means,, and why we value it.."





      Ivor

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: katlaughing
Date: 05 Jan 07 - 05:26 AM

Art and Carol, CONGRATUALTIONS!! Forty years, wow!!!!! Sorry we missed noting this!

luvyakat

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: Joe_F
Date: 05 Jan 07 - 09:11 PM

Rereading _Brighter than a Thousand Suns_ by Robert Jungk. Starting _Names on the Globe_ by George R. Stewart.

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 05 Jan 07 - 10:09 PM

What's Peter Ackroyd ever done for you? Sod the book, if you don't like it.

I don't know how you could write a boring book about Oscar Wilde, but he managed to.

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: katlaughing
Date: 05 Jan 07 - 10:13 PM

Gave up Val McDermid's books. Am rereading The Midwive's Advice" by Gay Courter. One of my favourite books, as well as her earlier one The Midwife.

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: Amos
Date: 05 Jan 07 - 10:16 PM

"2000 Years of Disbelief-- Famous People with the Courage to Doubt", by James Haught. Just began it.


A

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 06 Jan 07 - 11:47 AM

John Dillinger - America's first celebrity criminal
by Dary Matera

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: katlaughing
Date: 18 Jan 07 - 01:23 AM

Just finished Jimmy Buffet's "A Salty PIece of Land." Quite good, imo.

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: Cluin
Date: 18 Jan 07 - 02:51 AM

I read Cormac McCarthy's "Border Trilogy" a few years ago. WOW!

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: kendall
Date: 18 Jan 07 - 08:04 AM

Elements of style by Strunk and White. (E B that is)
I'm surprised at how much I don't know, and it reminds me of a remark by George Carlin who said "I never watch Sesame Street. I know most of that stuff."

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: jacqui.c
Date: 18 Jan 07 - 08:14 AM

A Mix Of Years - William S Morse - Bigchuck's grandfather.

On loan from the Midchucks.

It's basically a description of life in New Hampshire and Vermont in the early 20th century. Interesting reading.

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: Wesley S
Date: 18 Jan 07 - 09:13 AM

Cluin - Have you read Cormac McCarthy's "The Road" yet? It's on eof the darkest novels I've ever read. Not for the faint of heart.

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: GUEST,Noddy
Date: 18 Jan 07 - 09:52 AM

I am reading/just finished a great book called "365 ways to change the world" ( see my thread on it) by Michael Norton.

The title is self explanatory and the content is very illuminating.

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: GUEST,heric
Date: 18 Jan 07 - 09:58 AM

Seven Lies

I just read Cormac McCarthy's "No Country for Old Men." A little (a lot) too much brain matter sprayed over cheap motel room walls for my taste)

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: Midchuck
Date: 18 Jan 07 - 01:06 PM

A Mix Of Years - William S Morse - Bigchuck's grandfather.

Father, actually. Sandy's pretty venerable. Nyuck, Nyuck.

Peter.

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: JeremyC
Date: 18 Jan 07 - 01:34 PM

Just finished "The Teenage Liberation Handbook: How to Quit School and Get a Real Life and Education" by Grace Llewellyn, and while I disagree with some of her assumptions, I think it has some compelling arguments against public schooling (or any kind of "school" setting as we commonly understand the term).

Right now I'm dividing my time between "Branded: The Buying and Selling of Teenagers," by Alissa Quart, about the weird influence of brands among teens and children (it's not exactly unbiased, so I'm giving it a critical read, but it's interesting, at least) and "The Glory and the Dream," by William Manchester, a big thick book on the history of the US from the '30s to the '70s. I'm hoping this one will give me some answers on what caused the cultural earthquake of 1968 and its aftershock in 1973 (or so), because that will give me a foothold on understanding Why We're Here.

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: DougR
Date: 18 Jan 07 - 01:51 PM

Just finished "Berlin" by Pierre Frei (enjoyed it very much) and am now reading "The Good German," by Joseph Kanon and it shows real promise.

DougR

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: Kim C
Date: 18 Jan 07 - 01:52 PM

The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger.

I haven't decided yet what I think about it. The story is intriguing, but the author's writing style doesn't impress me much.

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: Rapparee
Date: 18 Jan 07 - 02:21 PM

Italian Rapier Fencing (Jared Kirby translation) by Ridolfo Capo Ferro.

The Book of Deeds of Arms and of Chivalry by Christine De Pizan (Sumner Willard translation).

The Inner Game of Fencing by Nick Evangilista.

Renaissance Swordsmanship : The Illustrated Use of Rapiers and Cut-And-Thrust Swords by John Clements.

And I just finished The Secret History of the Sword by J. Christoph Amberger.

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: GUEST,heric
Date: 18 Jan 07 - 02:23 PM

Sounds like something's goin on in your life, there, Rap.

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: Kim C
Date: 18 Jan 07 - 03:00 PM

Rap, I bet Mister would like some of those books.

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: Rapparee
Date: 18 Jan 07 - 03:51 PM

I gotten interested in historical fencing and Western Martial Arts, that's all. Or rather, I'm indulging an interest in them. I already fence epee and foil and a little saber, but only "dry" -- I'm in it for exercise and enjoyment, not scores.

(I wanted to join the Society for Creative Anachronism but the local group wouldn't let me be a leper.)

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: Alec
Date: 18 Jan 07 - 03:56 PM

I have just finished reading Michael Palin's Diaries 1969-1979
which,like their author I found to be witty,perceptive & informative in equal measure.

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: LilyFestre
Date: 18 Jan 07 - 05:16 PM

Marrying Mozart

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: Kim C
Date: 18 Jan 07 - 05:26 PM

"(I wanted to join the Society for Creative Anachronism but the local group wouldn't let me be a leper.)"

How's come?

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: Cluin
Date: 19 Jan 07 - 12:17 AM

Q. What'd the leper say to the prostitute?

A. Keep the tip.

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: kendall
Date: 19 Jan 07 - 08:48 AM

Doug, I'm sure you would enjoy THE NIGHTINGALE'S SONG. It is so right wing, yet very interesting.

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: katlaughing
Date: 11 Feb 07 - 06:48 PM

Just finished Volume I of the "The Heaven Tree" trilogy by Edith Pargeter who wrote the Brother Cadfael mysteries using the name Ellis Peters. This one was really breathtakingly good. I'll be looking for the other two, now.

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: GUEST,LilyFestre
Date: 11 Feb 07 - 06:54 PM

The Knitting Circle by Ann Hood.

A nice story to curl up with on a cold winter's day...heartwarming.

:) Michelle

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: heric
Date: 11 Feb 07 - 11:26 PM

Horned Man

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: Riginslinger
Date: 11 Feb 07 - 11:40 PM

"Breaking the Spell: Religion as a Natural Phenomenon" by Daniel C. Dennett.

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: Peace
Date: 12 Feb 07 - 12:48 AM

I just finished "Great Thoughts" by George W Bush. It was a waste of eleven seconds.

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: mrdux
Date: 12 Feb 07 - 02:26 AM

Just finished the "Bartimaeus" trilogy, a nicely written fantasy by Jonathan Stroud. About to start "The Name of the Rose" (Umberto Eco).

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: Rapparee
Date: 12 Feb 07 - 08:48 AM

"On Fencing" by Aldo Naldi
"Trials and Tribulations" ed. by White
"Against the Gods: the Story of Risk" by Bernstein
"Renaissance Fencing" (I forget the author)
"Godel, Escher, Bach: an Eternal Golden Braid" (as I have been for the past 17 years).

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: GUEST,ib48
Date: 12 Feb 07 - 11:39 AM

The bible,god bless you all.

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: DougR
Date: 12 Feb 07 - 03:13 PM

"Spymistress," by William Stevensen.
Kendall: I'll give "The Nightingale's Song" a look see.
DougR

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: ragdall
Date: 12 Feb 07 - 06:33 PM

The Stone Diaries by Carol Shields

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: skipy
Date: 12 Feb 07 - 06:40 PM

The roman nights at the tomb of the scipion. Dated 1825, only taking a little look through it, as I found it in a skip today. It is now on Ebay!
Skipy

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: katlaughing
Date: 12 Feb 07 - 07:49 PM

skipy! That looks like quite a find!!

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: robomatic
Date: 12 Feb 07 - 08:11 PM

Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: Wesley S
Date: 13 Feb 07 - 03:06 PM

Orwell's 1984

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: Cluin
Date: 28 Jun 07 - 01:57 AM

Just finished "Will You Miss Me When I'm Gone?", a Carter Family biography.

Just finishing Morley Torgov's "A Good Place to Come From".

Just starting "I Never Sold My Saddle", the Ian Tyson autobigraphy.

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: Ruth Archer
Date: 28 Jun 07 - 03:03 AM

Just finished A Short History of Tractors in Ukranian, and have started Tom Robbins' Skinny Legs and All, but I'm trying to be good and save it for my olidays next week.

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: Joe Offer
Date: 28 Jun 07 - 04:35 AM

Hey, don't scoff. I'm reading My Life With the Saints by a young Jesuit priest named James Martin. He describes real people with warts. Right now I'm on the section on Thomas Merton, the Trappist monk and inspiring thinker and writer who practiced Zen, fell madly in love with his nurse when he was in the hospital, and somehow died in Thailand when an electric heater fell into his bathtub.

-Joe-

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: Ron Davies
Date: 28 Jun 07 - 07:06 AM

Cluin--

What did you think of Will You Miss Me When I'm Gone? I thought it was fascinating. Particularly the insights into the music business in the 20's and 30's.





Right now I'm finishing An Imperfect God (Washington's relations with his slaves--and how it changed--drastically). Also fascinating--and a very complex relationship.

And starting Rough Crossings (the relations between slaves and the British during the Revolution.) Also looks excellent.

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: Rapparee
Date: 28 Jun 07 - 09:34 AM

An anthology called "The Rendezvous Reader" -- a collection of writings by and about the fur trade and mountain men of the American West.

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: heric
Date: 28 Jun 07 - 09:46 AM

Mister Pip

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: JennyO
Date: 28 Jun 07 - 10:24 AM

I'm a one-book-at-a-time person, and at the moment, the book is "Interesting Times" by Terry Pratchett. Just getting started on it.

I'm trying to gradually work my way through all the Pratchetts. Funny stuff!

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: jacqui.c
Date: 28 Jun 07 - 11:29 AM

Thanks to Liz the Squeak I'm onto the fifth book in the Dark Is Rising series and can't put the @*$#($&* thing down. As a result I'm getting to be sleep deprived, but the story is good. There are some really good books around for younger readers now.

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: Lonesome EJ
Date: 28 Jun 07 - 11:59 AM

Look Homeward, Angel by Thomas Wolfe. Yes, I know, I should have read it years ago, since it's a seminal work of 20th century American Literature. I recently finished Jack's Book, a biography of Kerouac, and Angel was a major influence on him, Ginsburg, Miller, and the other beats.
Last one prior to this was an autobio by Gabriel Garcia Marquez called Living to Tell the Tale, and I found it exceedingly slow going.
from Look Homeward, Angel, as exact a description of greed as I've come across...
" He ground out the life of his cigarette against an ashtray, and began a rapid window calculation of his horses, asses, kine, swine, and hens; the stored plenitude of his great barn, the heavy fruitage of his fields and orchards. A man came toward the house with a bucket of eggs in one hand and a bucket of butter in the other; each cake was stamped qwith a sheaf of wheat and wrapped loosely in clean white linen cloths. He smiled grimly: If attacked he could withstand a prolonged seige."

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: Bill D
Date: 28 Jun 07 - 12:12 PM

Thanks to a gift, brought all the way from OZ by a friend, I am just starting "Folklore of the Australian Pub" by Bill Wannan. It's full of stories, poems, songs...all put in the context of pubs and their place in the culture...

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: Gulliver
Date: 28 Jun 07 - 01:38 PM

Finished "Death of Achilles" by Boris Akunin (who is mentioned above), which was a great read. Can't wait to get more by him.

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: Becca72
Date: 28 Jun 07 - 02:45 PM

I'm almost finished with "Missing; the execution of Charles Horman" by Thomas Hauser, something my Spanish teacher recommended, oh, 15 years ago and I'm just now getting around to reading.

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: HouseCat
Date: 28 Jun 07 - 03:31 PM

Hey Joe, you should try Thomas Merton's "Seeds". I read his "Seven-Storey Mountain" when I was too young to comprehend much of it and I need to go back and read it again.

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: Rog Peek
Date: 28 Jun 07 - 04:25 PM

The Squad by T Ryle Dwyer.

The story of the intelligence opertions of Michael Collins, based on interviews with members of the group of assasins who were recruited by Collins to eliminate those considered to be enemies of the Irish fight for independance. They did this by targeting detectives and army personel who were engaged to quell the insurgency. These iterviews were carried out by the Bureau of Military History in the early fifties, interviewees being given an assursnce that the material would not be released in their lifetimes.
This is the first book to make use of these interviews.

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: Raedwulf
Date: 28 Jun 07 - 06:28 PM

Old Soldiers Never Die, Pvte Frank Richards, DCM & MM, 2nd Btn Royal Welch Fusiliers, WWI.

Simple, straightforward & utterly readable - almost exactly as though you were talking to him.

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: Cluin
Date: 28 Jun 07 - 09:31 PM

Ron,

I also found "Will You Miss Me..." fascinating. Those Carters sure got around for a long time. Some of the stories about their dealings with Ralph Peer and Jimmie Rodgers and "Doctor" Brinkley (the quack who "cured" erectile disfunction by cutting a chunk out of your testicle and replacing it with a hunk of dried goat's testicle), and Hank Williams and Johnny Cash. They wouldn't turn their backs on John R. during the worst of his drug addiction because of guilt over Hank Williams early demise, apparently.

And yes, the picture it shows of the recording industry in the 30s and 30s is a real eye-opener. Ralph Peer apparently looked down on the hillbilly and "coloured" music that made him a rich man.

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: Riginslinger
Date: 28 Jun 07 - 10:45 PM

"Big Bill Haywood & The Radical Union Movement," by Joseph R. Conlin.

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: John on the Sunset Coast
Date: 28 Jun 07 - 11:40 PM

"JESUS and YAHWEH, The Names Divine," by Harold Bloom. It has interested me for the last few years why the followers of Jesus broke away from the normative Judaism of the time, and also made him God.

"White Noise," by Don DeLileo. This is a comic novel of a small mid-western college where the protagonist/narrator is the head of the Department of Hitler Studies...and he doesn't even know German! So much for doing research using primary sources.

BTW, I read them serially, not at the same time, holding each in front of the alternate eye at the same time.

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: Bill D
Date: 29 Jun 07 - 01:44 PM

".. holding each in front of the alternate eye at the same time."

and who did the split brain surgery? ;>)

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: kendall
Date: 22 May 13 - 02:48 PM

Churchill's Triumph by Michael Dobbs.

It's about the meeting of Churchill, Roosevelt and Stalin in Yalta. I can hardly put it down. Stalin was an evil bastard, Roosevelt a sick, dying old man and Churchill a Monarchist, somewhat egotistical has been, but, damn he was right.

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: ChanteyLass
Date: 22 May 13 - 07:12 PM

Wish You Well by David Baldacci. It's for my YMCA'x book club.

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: Dorothy Parshall
Date: 22 May 13 - 08:08 PM

Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford: being Chinese or Japanese in Seattle 1942 and 40 years later. Very interesting.

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: Ron Davies
Date: 22 May 13 - 08:56 PM

1775:    A Good Year For Revolution, by Kevin Phillips

Among many other points, explores the aftermath of Lexington and Concord.   " The First Continental Congress had specified that the other colonies' support for Boston....would depend on the British being the aggressors". The Patriots were aware of this and acted immediately, sending the news that this had been the case , "prefaced and packaged" on a chain of couriers and fresh horses, Massachusetts to Georgia, with newspapers along the way "embroidering the apocryphal details of atrocities".

In addition, they sent the news on a fast schooner to London so that it could--and was--published in quite a few newspapers there.

They were determined to win the propaganda war on this. And they did.

General Gage sent a terse report-- stating that the Americans had fired first-- which arrived weeks later.   By that time quite a few Britons did not believe him.

It is actually unclear who fired first.

Now, according to a friend of mine who visited Lexington just recently, Lexington is perfectly fine with the idea that the Americans fired --"the shot heard 'round the world"---first.

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: Ron Davies
Date: 22 May 13 - 09:06 PM

Of course there were many Britons who already were against the American policy of the king and his ministers--and were therefore predisposed to believe the Americans over their own government.

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: Bee-dubya-ell
Date: 22 May 13 - 09:16 PM

Just finished Z by Therese Ann Fowler. It's a novelized account of the life of Zelda Fitzgerald. Highly recommended.

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: Joe Offer
Date: 22 May 13 - 09:24 PM

MtheGM has been wanting me to read a 1987 book by David Lodge titled How Far Can You Go?, a humorous look at young people growing up in the Catholic Church in the 1950s to the 1970s. Right now, the young people are in the early 1960s, and in the process of losing their virginities.

Brings back a lot of funny memories of my growing up Catholic.

-Joe-

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: bobad
Date: 22 May 13 - 11:39 PM

"Fug You"....No, I am not railing invective upon the Mudcat community, this is the title of the book I am currently reading. It is Ed Sanders account of the flowering years of New York's downtown bohemia in the '60s starting with his founding of the underground magazine Fuck You/A Magazine of the Arts, the travails of running his Peace Eye Bookstore and the founding of (along with Tuli Kupferberg) and career of his band The Fugs.

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: Becca72
Date: 23 May 13 - 12:50 PM

Just started "No Regrets - A Rock'n'Roll Memoir" by Ace Frehley

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: Bill D
Date: 23 May 13 - 12:59 PM

Once again (never finished it in 2-3 tries)delving into Wonderful Life by Harvard paleontologist Stephen Jay Gould.

Much of it is technical detail, but the overall descriptions and astounding implications make my brain churn.

"Gould's thesis in Wonderful Life was that chance was one of the decisive factors in the evolution of life on earth. He based this argument on the wonderfully preserved fossil fauna of the Burgess Shale, animals from around 505 million years ago, just after the Cambrian explosion"

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: Rog Peek
Date: 23 May 13 - 01:08 PM

Recently read "Woody, Cisco and Me" - Brilliant, couldn't put it down.

Rog

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: May Queen
Date: 23 May 13 - 03:59 PM

I Bought "Contented Dementia" as recommended on here and the A L Lloyd biography at the same time and am trying to read both at once! I know I can learn a lot to help my poorly mum from the former but the latter is just sooo interesting!

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: jacqui.c
Date: 23 May 13 - 07:45 PM

I'm reading the second book of the Game of Thrones series. Now thinking of joining Netflix just to get hold of the DVDs.

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: John on the Sunset Coast
Date: 23 May 13 - 10:20 PM

I'm reading "Law Collections from Mesopotamia and Asia Minor". Actually, I'm reading about half the book, the side by side transliteration of the cuneiform being beyond my ken.

For relaxation I've recently completed the series of Shardlake mysteries, and John Shakespeare mysteries published to date. It is interesting that two authors would place the setting of their series in Tudor times covering Henry VIII and Elizabeth I, respectively. Having read each series in immediate consecutive order added to my enjoyment of them.

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 24 May 13 - 07:19 AM

I've just finished 2 Police Procedural books by Swedish authors.

The Golden Calf / Helene Tursten ; translation by Laura A. Wideburg, 2013

The princess of Burundi / Kjell Eriksson ; translated from the Swedish by Ebba Segerberg, 2006

My local library has further books by each author & I'll be borrowing them asap.

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 24 May 13 - 08:25 AM

The Harlot by the Side of the Road: Forbidden Stories of the Bible by Jonathan Kirsch

It's about all those bizarre stories in the Old Testament that preachers never mention because nobody quite knows how to make sense of them. Examples:

Genesis 19: Lot offers his daughters to a mob of would-be rapists. Later, after the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, the daughters get Lot drunk and rape him in order to get themselves pregnant.

Genesis 34: Shechem rapes Dinah, then wants to marry her. Dinah's father and brothers negotiate a marriage contract which requires Shechem and his whole tribe to get circumcised. They do so, but then Dinah's brothers attack Shechem's city and kill everyone.

Genesis 38: Tamar, a widow, wants one of her husband's brothers to impregnate her, in accordance with custom, but her father-in-law won't allow it. So Tamar disguises herself as a prostitute and tricks her father-in-law into impregnating her himself.

Judges 11: Jephthah, bargaining for God's support in an upcoming battle, vows to make a sacrifice of whoever first greets him when he returns home. It turns out to be his daughter. Unlike the story of the Binding of Isaac, this one does not end happily.

Kirsch has no definitive answer to what these stories mean and why they are in the Bible, but he reviews all the commentary from the Talmud on down to the latest scholars.

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: Elmore
Date: 24 May 13 - 09:47 AM

Sons and Lovers by D. H. Lawrence.

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: kendall
Date: 24 May 13 - 09:52 AM

I'm reading a book on gravity; can't put it down.

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: Elmore
Date: 24 May 13 - 01:09 PM

Groan

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: Max Johnson
Date: 24 May 13 - 02:13 PM

So Disdained Nevil Shute. Really good.

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: GUEST
Date: 24 May 13 - 03:31 PM

'How to Furnish Your House' by Walter Wall Carpeting.

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 24 May 13 - 04:14 PM

'Collecting Antique Furniture' by Chester Drawers.

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: kendall
Date: 24 May 13 - 07:32 PM

The Tiger's Revenge by Claude Balls.

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: Joe_F
Date: 24 May 13 - 07:39 PM

Pulled Winwood Reade's _Martyrdom of Man_ off the shelf. He doesn't half give it to the Christians.

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: Neil D
Date: 25 May 13 - 12:27 AM

"Death of Kings" by Bernard Cornwell

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: Claire M
Date: 25 May 13 - 02:57 PM

Hiya,

[i]50 Shades Of Grey.[/i] Saw it at a free book sharing scheme. I used to have 2 carers who were obsessed with the series, it was all they talked about, so I thought it must be worth picking up.

I just don't get why – I don't think I've ever read anything so boring. If it had been something like this:

"Hence, wench!" he snaps. "Look not at me for I like it not!"
From the look in his burning eyes I can tell he's ready to reave me in twain with his impressive broadsword.
"Lankin, I......" I whisper, my eyes spilling over.
Why, when there's men all over the world, does it have to be him I can't function without??

I can't wait till I get to the end of the real book, so I can start on one of my folklore books. But then I could read fantasy till it comes out my ears so I probably shouldn't have bothered with it in the 1st place!

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: John on the Sunset Coast
Date: 25 May 13 - 06:35 PM

Claire, where is it written that one must read a book to the end?
You don't like, go on to the next one.

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: Midchuck
Date: 25 May 13 - 08:30 PM

The Irish General: Thomas Francis Meagher, by Paul R. Wylie

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: ChanteyLass
Date: 25 May 13 - 10:20 PM

Looking for Yesterday by Marcia Muller, the 2012 addition to her 30 mysteries about San Francisco PI Sharon McCone. This is my own choice, not a selection for one of my book clubs.

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: kendall
Date: 26 May 13 - 07:31 PM

I'm wading through Bernard Cornwells books. Born a thousand years too late I guess.

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 26 May 13 - 08:33 PM

The latest by Donna Leon.

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: GUEST,Blind DRunk in Blind River
Date: 26 May 13 - 10:41 PM

Fer flip's sake! If I was readin' a book right now...would I be on the flippin' compyuder???? How stoopid can peeple BE? I pity youse!

- Shane

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: Claire M
Date: 27 May 13 - 02:28 PM

Hiya,

I would, John, but I like to finish things I start. Also a couple of psychic mags. Can anyone recommend me a good folk book?? Just passed on a Led Zep book which was brilliant.

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: Joe_F
Date: 27 May 13 - 06:25 PM

I took a big collection of H. L. Mencken's journalism to Fellsmere Park. Also, there was a swan there, as well as ducks & geese & a lot of proles out for the holiday.

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: Bat Goddess
Date: 27 May 13 - 07:37 PM

I never read just one book at a time, but I just read pretty singlemindedly through the three books that Philip R. Craig and William G. Tapply wrote together, combining both their characters J.W. Jackson and Brady Coyne on Martha's Vineyard.

But I've also been reading Aldous Huxley's "The Perennial Philosophy", Murial Spark's "Memento Mori", and I'm reading (I'm rereading, but Tom's hearing it for the first time) aloud to Tom Lawrence Millman's "Last Places", his trek following the Viking sea routes from Shetland Islands, the Faeroes, Iceland, Greenland, and Labrador.

Linn

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: ChanteyLass
Date: 27 May 13 - 09:56 PM

Anne Perry's A Christmas Garland. It's still belongs on the library's new book shelf, but now that the season is done I guess it is no longer in demand. Once again this was a personal choice not for a book club.

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: Larry The Radio Guy
Date: 28 May 13 - 12:40 AM

"If You Meet the Buddah On The Road Kill Him":The Pilgrimage of Psychotherapy Patients, by Sheldon B. Kopp. (from 1972)

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: John on the Sunset Coast
Date: 28 May 13 - 06:05 PM

Alan Dershowitz, "The Case For Israel".

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: J-boy
Date: 29 May 13 - 01:45 AM

"A Death in Belmont" by Sebastian Junger

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: MartinRyan
Date: 29 May 13 - 01:00 PM

Miles Davis's autobiography (for the first time) and RH Dana'a Two Years before the Mast (not for the first time).

Regards

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: GUEST,Eliza
Date: 29 May 13 - 02:19 PM

Hugh Dennis's Britty Britty Bang Bang. Disappointing. I like his humour on TV, but this book is lightweight to say the least. Purports to give a jokey insight into life in Britain, but Dennis manages to get himself into every paragraph!

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: GUEST,EBarnacle
Date: 29 May 13 - 10:52 PM

Just getting into Philbrick's Bunker Hill. More about the history than I knew and well written.

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: GUEST,CS
Date: 07 Jun 13 - 03:55 PM

Right now I'm just on the verge of completing 'A Clash of Kings' by George R R Martin which is the second volume in his 'A Song of Ice and Fire' series (currently at seven volumes, but reckoned to reach nine before it's conclusion). I'd say it's one of the best fantasy series I've ever read, maybe the best. Reads more like a historical saga with magical elements than a typical swords and sorcery affair, and I like it the more for it - George gets that all essential 'suspension of disbelief' suspending very well I think.

Today however I was rifling through a box of books (we still haven't sorted out our 'study' room so books are stacked in boxes still, near two years after the move) and found some 'proper' lit including Madame Bovary and Anna Karenina, neither of which I've ever got around to reading. Which set me to thinking I should really get around to reading some classics after wallowing fantasy for months!

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 07 Jun 13 - 04:06 PM

What book you should all be reading right now - Walkabouts: travels and conclusions in verse

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: fat B****rd
Date: 07 Jun 13 - 04:56 PM

The Chessmen by Peter May.

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: Elmore
Date: 07 Jun 13 - 05:37 PM

The Longest Journey by E.M. Forster

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: Joe_F
Date: 07 Jun 13 - 08:49 PM

Just began _Robert Oppenheimer: A Life Inside the Center_ by Ray Monk, given me by my best buddy Jim. I have read a lot about Oppenheimer, beginning with the transcript of the Personnel Security Board hearings in the '50s, and it is interesting to get some background. I was put off by the title (a center is a point, dammit, and has no inside; you are *at* a center) & by the identity talk on the first page (I think Erik Erikson was a crackpot), but after that, the information about New York German Jews in the late 19th century was interesting.

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: ChanteyLass
Date: 10 Jun 13 - 08:44 PM

"What Remains," a memoir by Carole DiFalco Radziwill, widow of Anthony Radziwill. Carolyn Bessette Kennedy was her bast friend; John Kennedy, Jr. was her husband's first cousin. It's another book club picks and more interesting than I expected.

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: Edthefolkie
Date: 11 Jun 13 - 10:33 AM

Just finished "Bring Up The Bodies" by Hilary Mantel. Astounding, better than "Wolf Hall". She actually manages to make Thomas Cromwell sympathetic in both the books.

Also "How Do We Fix This Mess" by Robert Peston. A good gallop through the pain that banks, governments and international organisations have put us all through since 2008. No real solutions given though!

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: Bat Goddess
Date: 12 Jun 13 - 08:57 AM

Our bedtime read aloud book right now is a delight (really) -- "Holy Shit: Managing Manure to Save Mankind".

It's provoking reminiscences about my early experiences on my grandparents' small dairy farm in Wisconsin and Tom's (few) farming experiences here in New Hampshire. Plus, we've been living with a self-contained composting toilet for the past 35 years. Believe me, I know where my shit is at!

Linn

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: GUEST,Spleen Cringe
Date: 12 Jun 13 - 11:48 AM

"To Live Outside the Law" by Leaf Fielding. From-the-inside account of Operation Julie, the drugs bust in the 1970s that targeted the UK's biggest ever acid factory. The things the products of a British private education get up to!

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: kendall
Date: 21 Jun 13 - 01:41 PM

I just finished "Churchill's triumph" by Michael Dobbs.
It's about the conference at Yalta when FDR gave Stalin all he demanded over the objections of Churchill.

In my not so humble opinion, SIR Winston Churchill, was the greatest Englishman ever. And, FDR should never have been given another term. He was old, sick and totally unfit to serve as president.

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: ChanteyLass
Date: 21 Jun 13 - 09:12 PM

Simple Genius by David Baldacci. It was chosen by members of one of my book clubs.

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: Bill D
Date: 21 Jun 13 - 09:51 PM

Right now? Well...I just re-started Isaac Asimov's "Foundation" series. It's been 40 years since the last time.

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: Claire M
Date: 22 Jun 13 - 11:54 AM

Hiya,

Finally given up on 50 Shades.

Started one of my 30th bday presents, 'Wintersmith' – like being in the desert & then finding a glass of water; like relief after being er, "blocked up". Aaaaahhh!
Can "hear" said tunes/ songs. It's as if Pratchett's written about my upbringing – it's quite creepy actually.

The other half's always freezing & I'm always hot, I'm always asleep when he's awake.

Post-gig, after hearing the songs to go on said cd (one of the reasons I wanted said book of same name), I was babbling on about said songs cos I was so happy, & one of the night carers, who's foreign, looks at me gone out & says:

"Oo eez Cherry Patch-It?"

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: Elmore
Date: 22 Jun 13 - 12:58 PM

Hit Me by Lawrence Block.

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: GUEST,JotSC from diff. browser
Date: 22 Jun 13 - 01:13 PM

"The New York Times Bridge Book" by Truscott & Truscott
This is not an engineering tome.

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: Mrrzy
Date: 22 Jun 13 - 01:18 PM

Working my way back through JAJance's Beaumont series. Alternating with rereading Lawrence Sanders - I've done the commandment and deadly sin series, and will likely do Timothy next.

Subject: RE: BS: What book are you reading right now
From: Jim Carroll
Date: 23 Jun 13 - 03:43 AM

'Dominion' by C.J. Sansom
A novel set in a fictional Britain which surrendered after Dunkirk and became a Nazi dominion.
Fascinating to find out who collaborated and who didn't.
Good entertaining stuff.
Jim Carroll

Subject: RE: Books: What book are you reading right now
From: Joe Offer
Date: 22 May 19 - 05:19 PM

Our book group is reading Being Mortal, by surgeon and Harvard Professor Atul Gawande. It's an examination of how we should respond to the end of life. The first two-thirds of the book discussed nursing homes and alternative approaches. Now I'm reading about hospice care. It's an interesting topic to explore, and very relevant to most of it. I like his common-sense, compassionate approach.

There's also an interview of Gawande on the PBS Frontline program:

https://www.pbs.org/video/university-place-being-mortal-medicine-and-what-matters-end/

-Joe-

Subject: RE: Books: What book are you reading right now
From: keberoxu
Date: 22 May 19 - 06:21 PM

I am discovering the Australian quokka. Seriously.

And the author to thank for that is
Anne Bishop, a USA citizen like myself.

She introduces a quokka-like animal in her
fantasy novel, Lake Silence;
however, her more recent book, Wild Country,
is a quokka-free zone populated by , let's see,
bears, panthers, crows, hawks, owls, wolves,
and an over-population of humans which
is rather brutally, shall we say, culled.

The violence in her fantasy novels can be startling,
but it is leavened with
a mordant black humor.
For me, the books get better with more reading.

Subject: RE: Books: What book are you reading right now
From: Mrrzy
Date: 22 May 19 - 09:28 PM

Funny what I was reading before... Anyway, Behave. Human kinda cognition book.

Subject: RE: Books: What book are you reading right now
From: Joe_F
Date: 22 May 19 - 09:58 PM

_Machines Like Me_ by Ian McEwan. Alternative (improbable) 1980s. Weird.

Subject: RE: Books: What book are you reading right now
From: GUEST
Date: 23 May 19 - 11:53 PM

This one.

The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics
Book by Daniel James Brown

Subject: RE: Books: What book are you reading right now
From: Helen
Date: 24 May 19 - 12:40 AM

In the few weeks prior to my last day at work, i.e. now on leave and will submit resignation form in a week or so, I was reading a couple of Scott Adams' books: Dogbert's Top Secret Management Handbook; and The Dilbert Principle. They would be extremely funny if they weren't exactly like the management antics at my ex-workplace, so in fact, the books are so real they are scary. I am so glad to be out of that funny farm!

Every now and then I re-read a Clare Francis mystery fiction book. I like her clever, careful plot twists and interesting characters.

I also re-read Margaret Atwood now and then. I re-read The Handmaid's Tale before the TV series started but the series was slow, annoying and not really relating to the book and then they dragged it out into another long, slow series 2, and in a couple of weeks series 3 will start here in Oz. In total, I probably fast forwarded at least 50% of the first two series by skipping the atmospheric/emotion charged scenes so I probably won't bother watching series 3 anyway. I did read an article which said that Margaret Atwood had a lot of communications from her readers and she is planning to write her own sequel. Bring it on, Ms Atwood. I can't wait for the real/intended story rather than the overdone, Hollywood-style treatment.

Subject: RE: Books: What book are you reading right now
From: Charmion
Date: 24 May 19 - 10:02 AM

I tried to read "The Handmaid's Tale" and failed. Too, too sad; I can't stand to feel that angry about anything that isn't in front of my face.

The top item in my bedside stack is William Manchester's "A World Lit Only By Fire". It's about the transition from medieval to Renaissance culture in Europe -- imagine a pop-lit take on Johan Huizinga's "The Waning of the Middle Ages". It was on special at our favourite bookstore, and not a bad way to while away a cold, wet spring; Manchester is a really good writer, if annoyingly prone to judge past times by the standards of today (well, 1990).

I'm also picking away at a collection of A.J. Liebling, and a detective story by Peter Robinson.

Subject: RE: Books: What book are you reading right now
From: ChanteyLass
Date: 24 May 19 - 09:52 PM

That was me reading The Boys in the Boat yesterday and posting at 23 May 19 - 11:53 PM. I had just logged in, which. Need to do after every time I charge this device, and I'd done so just before going to Mudcat. I'm surprised I was able to post as a guest. When I realized I needed to log in again, I did.

Subject: RE: Books: What book are you reading right now
From: EBarnacle
Date: 25 May 19 - 12:48 AM

Working by Robert Caro   I was able to get some family history as a result of reading this book and asking the last survivor of the appropriate age cohort about the events in the book.
Lyndon by Merle Miller Both of these first two books gave me new perspectives on LBJ. I am reading them for a play in progress.
Ringworld by Niven
America in Chains by Maclean
The latest releases from Flint and Weber
The latest from Dewey Lambdin and Robert Macomber
I always have several books going at a time. It keeps me from becoming stale.

Subject: RE: Books: What book are you reading right now
From: Bonzo3legs
Date: 25 May 19 - 02:07 AM

The Complete Works of Thomas Chatterton.

Subject: RE: Books: What book are you reading right now
From: Jack Campin
Date: 25 May 19 - 04:37 AM

Carlo Levi's "Christ Stopped at Eboli" - I was in Matera a couple of months ago.

Subject: RE: Books: What book are you reading right now
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 25 May 19 - 06:42 AM

I have been steadily re-reading all of Terry Pratchett's work but having a bit of a break now to read 'A Confederacy of Dunces' by John Kennedy Toole. Very funny book and I think I am missing a lot of the humour that originates in New Orleans. I guess the humour applies to all situations though and I can relate some of the US themes to anywhere and anyone.

Subject: RE: Books: What book are you reading right now
From: Rapparee
Date: 26 May 19 - 06:40 PM

“How chance and stupidity have changed history” by Erik Durshmied.

Subject: RE: Books: What book are you reading right now
From: Bonzo3legs
Date: 27 May 19 - 05:46 AM

Born to Run by Michael Morpurgo - about a greyhound!!

Subject: RE: Books: What book are you reading right now
From: fat B****rd
Date: 27 May 19 - 04:43 PM

I have almost finished working my way through Jonathan Kellerman's "Alec Delaware" series and am on with "Private Eyes".

Subject: RE: Books: What book are you reading right now
From: keberoxu
Date: 30 May 19 - 03:02 PM

"Heir to the Shadows" by Anne Bishop,
which has mind-speaking dogs --
a precursor to her talking wolves.
As the title suggests,
the fantasy in this book is dark,
so the sapient dogs are a welcome relief.

Subject: RE: Books: What book are you reading right now
From: Mrrzy
Date: 31 May 19 - 02:33 PM

Any recommendations for a scifi something short?

Subject: RE: Books: What book are you reading right now
From: Joe_F
Date: 31 May 19 - 06:03 PM

H. L. Mencken's diary.

Subject: RE: Books: What book are you reading right now
From: Jack Campin
Date: 31 May 19 - 06:20 PM

Peter Singer's little book on Hegel.

Subject: RE: Books: What book are you reading right now
From: The Sandman
Date: 01 Jun 19 - 01:18 PM

DeValera by David McCullagh

Subject: RE: Books: What book are you reading right now
From: Jack Campin
Date: 03 Jun 19 - 07:49 AM

Daphne Du Maurier's "Rule Britannia". Future dystopian novel about Brexit written in 1972 and set a few years later. The UK has pulled out of the EU after a rigged referendum and is under armed occupation by the US and its British collaborators. I'm only a short way into it and so far she's spent time developing her cast of very odd but completely convincing characters than in working out the political issues, but iit's looking good. I don't think it's been reprinted recently, which seems really odd.

Subject: RE: Books: What book are you reading right now
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 04 Jun 19 - 04:06 AM

I must look that one up, Jack. Sounds very prophetic!

Subject: RE: Books: What book are you reading right now
From: Joe Offer
Date: 02 Nov 19 - 04:17 AM

I'm reading "Underground Railroad" by Colson Whitehead. In this book, the "railroad" is an actual underground train. I hesitated to read it because it sounded a bit too weird, like steampunk. But I soon got used to the device and got hooked. It's a fascinating book.
Joe

Subject: RE: Books: What book are you reading right now
From: DMcG
Date: 02 Nov 19 - 07:21 AM

I am reading Invisible Women : Exposing Data Bias in a World Designed for Men"


Here is clip from one review:
Imagine a world where your phone is too big for your hand, where your doctor prescribes a drug that is wrong for your body, where in a car accident you are 47% more likely to be seriously injured, where every week the countless hours of work you do are not recognised or valued.

If any of this sounds familiar, chances are that you're a woman.

Invisible Women shows us how, in a world largely built for and by men, we are systematically ignoring half the population. It exposes the gender data gap - a gap in our knowledge that is at the root of perpetual, systemic discrimination against women, and that has created a pervasive but invisible bias with a profound effect on women's lives.

From government policy and medical research, to technology, workplaces, urban planning and the media, Invisible Women reveals the biased data that excludes women.

A book like this could easily be a polemical attack on how horrible men are: it is not. It is a calm, thorough account of the scientific basis of many bias issues. So much so that it has recently won the Royal Society science boom prize.

It is one of those books that would make a great textbook for senior school 'personal development' courses.

Subject: RE: Books: What book are you reading right now
From: DMcG
Date: 02 Nov 19 - 07:32 AM

Sorry to go on about it, but an article based on an extract from "Invisible Women" is here

Subject: RE: Books: What book are you reading right now
From: keberoxu
Date: 02 Nov 19 - 05:05 PM

"Feathering your Nest"
by an Australian columnist,
about keeping a clean and tidy house

--written while said columnist
was on maternity leave
with her newborn son.

Subject: RE: Books: What book are you reading right now
From: fat B****rd
Date: 02 Nov 19 - 05:10 PM

Another book about "The Real Peaky Blinders".

Subject: RE: Books: What book are you reading right now
From: Jim Carroll
Date: 02 Nov 19 - 08:33 PM

Have just finished (at long last) C J Sansom's 'Tombland, concerning the 1549 Peasants Revolt lead by Robert Kett
this 7 volume 'Richard Shardlake' series has, in my opinion, marked Sansom out as Britain's finest historical novelist - this seems to be the best yet
Sansom has been quite ill, hence the gap - cant wait for the next

Just started Edna O'Brien's 'In the forest' - a depressingly violent fictionalised account of the effects of the equally depressingly violent treatment meted out to an Irish boy left in clerical care in my home County, Clare
Worth reading - so far - if you're in the mood for it
Jim Carroll

Subject: RE: Books: What book are you reading right now
From: ChanteyLass
Date: 03 Nov 19 - 07:55 PM

Jonathan Harr's A Civil Action, nonfiction, about a legal proceeding because of pollution from two factories that seeped into wells in Woburn, MA, causing a high rate of leukemia in children who drank the water from those wells. Hard to read, hard to put down.

Subject: RE: Books: What book are you reading right now
From: Mrrzy
Date: 05 Nov 19 - 05:03 PM

Kindle finally got all the Dick Francises so I am rereading them. I'm up to Whip Hand [publication order].

Subject: RE: Books: What book are you reading right now
From: Joe_F
Date: 07 Nov 19 - 06:30 PM

H. L. Mencken's (What? Him again? I do read books by other people) _A New [1942] Dictionary of Quotations_. Among quotation books, it is weird. There is no index, so it is useless for looking up a quotation; but it has copious cross references, so for browsing it is supreme.