Books: What have people been reading recently?

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: Dorothy Parshall
Date: 08 Dec 10 - 08:36 PM

An unauthorized bio of Angelina Jolie, by Andrew Morton. Very interesting psychologically.

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: Dorothy Parshall
Date: 09 Dec 10 - 03:29 PM

Just came back from the library with and then spent about two hours reading and perusing:

What I Eat: Around the World in 80 Diets by Peter Menzel and Faith D'Alusia.

From the 800 calorie diet of the Maasai herder to a 12,300 C diet of a British "Snacker Mom", this is a trip around the world, peeks into the lives of an incredible variety of people, what they eat and how they live. Wonderful photos and some interesting essays, including The Pleasures of Eating by the wonderful Wendell Berry. In large format - must weigh over five pounds!

While not a "dieting" book, it is full of ideas about different healthy and interesting things to eat. I was so busy looking at it, I did not stop to eat.

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: EBarnacle
Date: 09 Dec 10 - 03:59 PM

A diet book which weighs more than 5 pounds seems to send the wrong message.

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: Dorothy Parshall
Date: 09 Dec 10 - 06:54 PM

Actually, I thought carrying it around would constitute useful exercise! In any case, it is not so much a "diet" book as a marvellous way of learning about people around the world - what they eat, what they do, how they live/survive... And terrific photos of the world in which they live - villages in the Andes, Africa, India, cities, hamlets... An incredible, food-based story of today's world.

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: bobad
Date: 09 Dec 10 - 07:12 PM

Confessions of an Irish Rebel by Brendan Behan

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: Eiseley
Date: 09 Dec 10 - 07:57 PM

I just finished the 17th of the Aubrey/Maturin books. Now I will go listen to some Locatelli and begin the 18th: The Yellow Admiral.

Eiseley

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: GUEST,HiLo
Date: 10 Dec 10 - 09:49 AM

I have just finished The Yellow Admiral..a grand yarn it is too..my only disappoitment is that now I have only two left to read. Have also recently read The Misalliance by Anita Brookner...very good indeed.

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: GUEST,Steamin' Willie
Date: 10 Dec 10 - 09:56 AM

"The Greatest Show on Earth" by Richard Dawkins.

I was reluctant to say that as mentioning him gets you accused of persecuting our religious brethren. But that risk apart, it makes you think....

On the fiction side of things, I am rediscovering the joy of reading Inspector Morse stories. One of the rare occasions where the books and TV series are both excellent. (James Herriot being another.)

Also reading Viz.

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: fat B****rd
Date: 10 Dec 10 - 09:56 AM

The Aubrey/Maturin film "Master and Commander", and the books, led me to Boccherini. Good stuff on several levels that Mr.O'Bryan.

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: GUEST,Shimrod
Date: 10 Dec 10 - 05:49 PM

I've just finished Richard Mabey's latest called,'Weeds'. It's a book about the relationship between our species and wild plants. If we notice them at all we despise them, or even hate them, but, at the end of the day, we couldn't do without them. Mabey reckons that when agriculture was invented in the Middle East, thousands of years ago, the topsoils in that region were very fragile and without weeds to bind them together they would have soon blown away and the 'great experiment' would have come to an abrupt end.

Like all of Mabey's books it's a profound meditation on the 'nitty-gritty' of the environment. I've come to the conclusion that vast, windy generalisations about the environment are a waste of time - God is in the details!

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: Amergin
Date: 10 Dec 10 - 05:53 PM

I read The Watchmen by Moore/Gibbons yesterday.....wow...one of the few books that sucked me right in....and I'm not even a comic book type of person....but this was a very deep novel.

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: Joe_F
Date: 10 Dec 10 - 09:22 PM

The Black Hole War: My Battle with Stephen Hawking to Make the World Safe for Quantum Mechanics, by Leonard Susskind (2008)

American Capitalism: The Concept of Countervailing Power, by John Kenneth Galbraith (1956)

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: Eiseley
Date: 10 Dec 10 - 11:55 PM

I'm so excited! When I go down to San Diego next month for the American Library Association's midwinter convention, I'll spend a day at the San Diego Maritime Museum where they have the ship Surprise that was used in the Master and Commander movie. But for me, it will be the fast privateer Aubrey sailed on so many occasions. What an adventure!

Oh, I may go to one or two library meetings as well.

Eiseley

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: robomatic
Date: 10 Dec 10 - 11:59 PM

Speaking of San Diego, I was introduced to the book 'Fragment' which I quite liked. It is a return to the kind of thing Michael Crichton started his career with, a scientific excursion to the possibilities that nature might have thrown at us, or we have yet to find out. Quite enjoyable.

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: katlaughing
Date: 11 Dec 10 - 05:13 AM

Just finished World Without End by Ken Follet. Kept me up at night to read on...his characters are so compelling and historical research so well done.

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: GUEST,bankley
Date: 11 Dec 10 - 09:02 AM

Cobb

God is not Great

Tom Waits The Wild Years

Whispering Pines /The Northern Roots of American Music

The Autobiography of Charles Chaplin

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: Bat Goddess
Date: 11 Dec 10 - 12:22 PM

Joe, a friend gave me "Black Hole War" a few weeks ago -- not sure when I'll get a chance to slip it into my reading stream.

Linn

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: Joe_F
Date: 11 Dec 10 - 08:13 PM

Bat Goddess: I don't pretend to have followed it all (even tho I have a degree in physics), but it is entertaining.

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: kendall
Date: 11 Dec 10 - 08:51 PM

Seize the Fire by Adam Nicholson.
It's about Admiral Lord Horatio Nelson. It goes into some detail about the condition of the French and Spanish fleets. Quite an eye opener. Haven't gotten to the battle of Trafalgar yet.

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: Bat Goddess
Date: 12 Dec 10 - 10:37 AM

And I've just started the 1968 biography of Ian Fleming -- to tie in to my rereading the James Bond books.

Did an assessment yesterday and see that I need a couple of the old (1960s) Signet paperbacks to fill in my collection: Casino Royale, Goldfinger and The Man With the Golden Gun.

Readily available cheaply (more or less) at Bookfinder.com when I save up enough pennies.

Linn

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: GUEST,HiLo
Date: 24 Dec 10 - 12:46 PM

I have just finished the last of the Patrick O'Brien books..I am so lonesome for Jack and Stephen..what great characters and wonderful stories..I will miss them.
Have just begun A History of Warfare by John Keegan..but will put it aside til after Christmas, not very cheerful reading.
   A Happy Christmas to you all..and many thanks for all the great book suggestions.

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: fat B****rd
Date: 24 Dec 10 - 03:36 PM

I'm back to working my way through the Sherlock Holmes Short Stories.

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: Little Hawk
Date: 24 Dec 10 - 05:33 PM

Ken Follett - Fall of Giants

I just finished it, and it's very good, though it can't match the absolute brilliance of "The Pillars of the Earth" and "World Without End".

The only criticism I'd make of Follett's writing in "Fall of Giants" is that he puts too many overwrought sex scenes into the story. I imagine he's found that doing that helps to sell books! ;-) However, his grasp of the historical period is great, he shows very clearly the political motivations of the various people in the UK, Germany, Russia, and America, and why the various decisions were made that led to war. He's very even-handed and fair in his treatment of the Germans and Russians, which is refreshing to see from an English-language author. I really enjoyed it, and I look forward to the next part of the trilogy which will obviously focus on the Depression years and the WWII era.

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: ChanteyLass
Date: 25 Dec 10 - 12:06 AM

Recently finished Chaim Potok's The Chosen and am almost done with David Ebershoff's The Nineteenth Wife.My favorite books take me to another place, another time, or another culture. Some do all three. Both of these books were selections of my local YMCA's book club. In between I read Bill Bryson's In a Sunburned Country which I chose myself.

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: Rapparee
Date: 25 Dec 10 - 12:48 PM

Phillip Longman's "Best Care Anywhere: Why VA Health Care Is Better Than Yours" -- I very, very, very highly recommend it. (By the way, it started under "Fortune" magazines auspices and has been recommended by such people as the Cato Institute).

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 25 Dec 10 - 11:38 PM

"Kiki's memoirs" - intro by Ernest Hemingway, photos by Man Ray - Kiki was Queen of Montparnasse, free spirit, artist's model & artist in Paris in the 20s, Man Ray was one of the greatest photographers of the period. Originally published in France in 1929, the English translation of her infamous memoirs was banned in the US, & the 1996 Eco Press edition is the first US edition.

Dorothy L Sayers "Complete Short Stories" & Lord Peter Whimsey novels

"Textile Arts of Japan" by Sunny Yang & Rochelle M Narasin - a feast for the eyes

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: GUEST,Shimrod
Date: 26 Dec 10 - 04:54 AM

'Eradicating Ecocide' by Polly Higgins. A fascinating book about the ongoing destruction of the environment by big corporations, why they are allowed to get away with it and what we could do to stop them.

Ms. Higgins is a British barrister who has decided to devote her talents and professional expertise to challenging the thoughtless, profit-driven destruction going on all around us. She believes that, what she calls 'Ecocide' should be made a fifth international Crime Against Peace along with: Genocide, Crimes Against Humanity, War Crimes and Crimes of Agression. Company Executives should be in the dock and not allowed to be able to hide behind the legal trickery which declares a corporation to be a 'fictional person' with rights but few responsibilities - apart from maximising profits.

Ms. Higgins has a website at: www.thisisecocide.com. She is also a mesmerising public speaker.

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: gnu
Date: 26 Dec 10 - 11:22 AM

Directions.

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: JHW
Date: 26 Dec 10 - 01:52 PM

On my request the town library kindly bought Larkin's 'Letters to Monica'
I'd only read a quarter when my time was up but I was glad someone else was awaiting it. I'll borrow it again.

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: LilyFestre
Date: 29 Dec 10 - 11:22 PM

The Emperor of All Maladies, A Biography of Cancer by Siddhartha Mukherjee

Michelle

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: EBarnacle
Date: 30 Dec 10 - 10:56 PM

On the lighter side, I have been catching the Carrie Vaughn series which begins with "Kitty and the Midnight Hour." The series is a totally interesting confection about wherewolves,vampires and other beings who inhabit the night. There is discussion of both lycanthropy and vampirism as disorders with peculiar advantages.

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: Ebbie
Date: 30 Dec 10 - 11:00 PM

I'm extra busy these days so my reading is fairly fragmented.

One I am reading/re-reading is Mary Mapes book, Of Truth and Duty, about the Dubya Bush National Guard Years and the political fallout she and the other investigators suffered.

One that I'm excited about - bought a couple of days ago - and haven't yet got through the Introduction is 'Autobiography of Mark Twain, Volume 1;
He stipulated, about four months before he died in 1910 that it was not to be published for 100 years. It came out this year.

It is a big book- about 650 pages - followed by a number of pages of footnotes, index and commentary.

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: framus
Date: 30 Dec 10 - 11:28 PM

Re - reading "the best of myles" flann o'brien. Almost a laugh a line.

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 31 Dec 10 - 09:56 AM

Re-read 'The Dark is Rising' by Susan Cooper, as is my habit at this time of year.. not helped by having the dreadful film adaptation on TV several times this last week...

Also reading 'Voyage of the Dawn Treader' preparatory to going to see the film soon.. hope I'm not disappointed, the others have been quite well done.

In the last couple of days I've read 'Heartstone' by C J Sansom... brilliant and so evocative of Tudor England, smells included.

Also have a copy of the writings of Hildegard of Bingen to read on the train but suspect 'Tale of two cities' might get in there first.... been 33 years since I read it so hopefully I'll get a bit more out of it...

LTS

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: katlaughing
Date: 31 Dec 10 - 11:48 AM

Just finished Ian Frazier's "Family." His writing is so stream of conciousness, he'll go off on a tangent which you think is not going to lead anywhere and then suddenly he's summed it all up, brilliantly, and you've just finished a great book that wasn't just self-absorbed looking back, but a history of our country with a myriad of personal stories and "big picture" touches. Whether one read the whole book or not, anyone who wants to talk about religion should read the last chapter, imo. It's brilliant.

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: Charmion
Date: 31 Dec 10 - 12:02 PM

Happily reading "Paris to the Moon", the first of two volumes of essays by Adam Gopnik that dear Edmund gave me for Christmas, and listening to an audio version of "A Dance to the Music of Time" by Anthony Powell. I'm into "At Lady Molly's," the fourth of the twelve volumes of the Powell; the cycle should keep me entertained through gym workouts and household chores until at least Easter.

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: Lonesome EJ
Date: 31 Dec 10 - 12:55 PM

Keef's Autobiography right now. Previously, read Coming into the Country, a nonfiction study of Alaska from the 1970s, and before that an account of the Battle of Chancellorsville in the American Civil War.

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: Joe_F
Date: 31 Dec 10 - 08:43 PM

I have just been given a copy of _Tales from the Bear Cult_, which is about furry men doing what & with which & to whom. I haven't read it yet.

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: Ebbie
Date: 01 Jan 11 - 04:28 PM

EJ, 'Coming into the Country' (John McPhee) was the first Alaska book I read when I got here; that first summer I worked at a wilderness lodge and they had a copy of it.

I have re-read it a couple of times and enjoy it. The only thing wrong with it is that McPhee didn't like Juneau, but I comfort myself with the fact that he didn't know the people I know or the life I lead.

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: framus
Date: 01 Jan 11 - 09:58 PM

I still insist that the "Best of Myles" is required reading for any body who aspires to Irish ancestry. Though they may not understand it.

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: katlaughing
Date: 01 Jan 11 - 10:05 PM

framus, I see several editions, any one in particular?

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: Dorothy Parshall
Date: 04 Jan 11 - 03:25 PM

Time to take it back to the library. What I Eat has been a fascinating trip around the world and through the diets of a huge variety of persons. I doubt there is anyone who would not find something of interest - the photos are memorable , from scenery to people to the tent in a valley in Tibet with satellite dish and solar panels. The variety of foods, of occupations...

What I have been left wondering is: people who eat under 2000 calories and maintain a reasonable weight - or do not and people who eat over 4000 calories and maintain reasonable weights - or do not. It does not always appear to be the more active occupation. Is it the difference in types of foods? Do some foods utilize more calories in digestion than others? We know about glycemic index; does it make a huge difference. Is 1000 calories from junk food worse than 1000 calories from cornmeal porridge, eg.?

I have a whole new area to consider. The web site:

http://www.aroundtheworldin80diets.com/home/home.php

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: Eiseley
Date: 04 Jan 11 - 03:32 PM

I've decided NOT to read the last Patrick O'Brian book yet---I will be too sad when that wonderful series is done. So instead I just reread Jane Eyre and have begun Ulysses. Maybe after a bit of Joyce I can bravely advance to that final 20th book.

Eiseley

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: EBarnacle
Date: 04 Jan 11 - 10:33 PM

If you wish to read O'Brian, consider his other books, most of which are better written the than the Aubrey/Maturin series.

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: Allen in Oz
Date: 04 Jan 11 - 11:15 PM

Stephen Fry's Autobiography

AD

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: Songster Bob
Date: 04 Jan 11 - 11:32 PM

Just recently I've been re-re-re-re-re-reading the Harry Potter series (I do this whenever a new film comes out). Also reading "A Mission of Honor" in Dave Webber's Honor Harrington series of Sci-Fi books. But the interesting thing to me is just discovering Terry Pratchett -- just finished "Night Watch," which was pretty enjoyable, though it had a lot fewer puns than the other one, "Lords and Ladies."

I'm also addicted to the "Ring of Fire" series (a West Virginia town is transported to the middle of the 30 years' war, in central Germany -- Thurinigia, to be specific) by Eric Flynt and others.

You may notice that all of these are Science Fiction. I occasionally read mysteries, plus an even more occasional history book. One non-mystery-non-sci-fi-non-history I read recently is "Fool," a hilarious retelling of King Lear. I don't recall the author, but it's findable at Amazon.

Bob

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: katlaughing
Date: 04 Jan 11 - 11:45 PM

Terry Pratchett is brill! Have you read Good Omens: the Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch, yet?

We're trying to decided what to do with all of our SciFi...MZBradley, Charles de Lint, and a few others. May be time to re-read a few.

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: EBarnacle
Date: 04 Jan 11 - 11:50 PM

I hope you are reading the Honor Harrington series from the beginning: On Basilisk Station. Even though the novels stand alone, they work best as a sequence. Also, consider reading the secondary stories and anthologies if you can get them.

Eric Flint's 1632 series, aka the Ring of Fire series and its related stuff is also very good, especially as he brings in other writers who are producing in his alternate universe.

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: GUEST,Songbob
Date: 05 Jan 11 - 01:42 PM

As to the Honor Harrington series, yes, I've read, and re-read, "On Basilisk Station," and all the others, including the ancillary ones, like "Torch of Freedom," and the anthologies of short stories ("Ms Midshipman Harrington" occurs in something like three different collections, which is overkill). I suspect there isn't one I haven't read, and most of them I've read at least twice.

Ditto the Grantville/Ring of Fire ones, complete with the anthologies, which include fan-fic as well as alternate authors.

And I'm going to look up a bunch of the Pratchett books, mostly at one or another of the used book stores around here. I can't tell you what it's like to be looked askance at by other subway/Metro riders because I'm chortling, guffawing, and outright laughing while reading. Then again, I don't much care what they think of me on the Metro.


Bob

Subject: RE: BS: Books-What have people been reading recently?
From: EBarnacle
Date: 05 Jan 11 - 02:17 PM

Ignore them. They are barbarians and believe that their ways should be the ways of all people.