Books: Whatcha readin lately?

Subject: RE: BS: Whatcha readin lately?
From: Mrrzy
Date: 13 Nov 14 - 10:22 PM

Reread 100 years of solitude when Gabriel Garcia Marquez died... what a great book.

Am looking for a good nonfiction science of thinking and communication book, any recommendations? I've read a bunch, looking for something else...

Subject: RE: BS: Whatcha readin lately?
From: GUEST,gillymor
Date: 13 Nov 14 - 08:10 PM

Rereading "Chalkstream Chronicle" by Neil Patterson. A good read even if you don't take trout on a fly.

Just finished "Such Troops as These: The Genius of Stonewall Jackson" by Bevin Alexander. It's a concise bio and analysis of Jackson's military endeavors. Highly recommended for Civil War buffs but it may not sit well with R.E. Lee fans.

Subject: RE: BS: Whatcha readin lately?
From: GUEST,saulgoldie
Date: 13 Nov 14 - 07:46 PM

I'm reading "I Am Malala" by Malala Yousafzai, the young woman who just won the Nobel Peace Prize. She is an amazing person, and the book is so well written!

Saul

Subject: RE: BS: Whatcha readin lately?
From: Firecat
Date: 13 Nov 14 - 03:58 PM

The Hunger Games trilogy again. I read it really fast first time, so now I'm taking a bit more time over it. I'm about halfway through Catching Fire.

All being well, I'll finish it before going to see Mockingjay Part 1.

Subject: RE: BS: Whatcha readin lately?
From: Sean Belt
Date: 13 Nov 14 - 11:34 AM

Just finished Herbie Hancock's Possibilities. Currently on my nightstand is Goldfinger for the third or fourth time. I'm a sucker for those old James Bond novels.

Subject: RE: BS: Whatcha readin lately?
From: Rapparee
Date: 13 Nov 14 - 09:08 AM

I just now finished "Murder of the Century" about the Guldensuppe case in NYC in 1897. Paparrezi are no new thing!

Also Tony Husband's "World War II In Cartoons." Brian Crane's latest "Pickles" collection.

Currently reading, depending on where I am in the house or car:

Hobton's "Pistols at Dawn." O'Neal's "Encyclopedia of Western Gunfighters." Sotomayor's "My Beloved World." Glass's "The Deserters." Malone's "Waterpower in Lowell." Keegan's "The Face of Battle." Grossmamn's "On Combat."

Subject: RE: BS: Whatcha readin lately?
From: GUEST,Manuel
Date: 13 Nov 14 - 07:48 AM

Very grateful to all who have already responded to my call. I do hope we'll also have the pleasure of hearing from others, such as my fellow guests, Hilo and, yes, Eliza. I know, Eliza, that you said, over four long months ago, that you'd stop posting on Mudcat. You didn't vow, however, to stop visiting the cafe. Therefore, I want to think you are reading this and, though no more than a fortunate guest myself, I put in this long overdue plea: let us hear from you again, please!

Subject: RE: BS: Whatcha readin lately?
From: ChanteyLass
Date: 13 Nov 14 - 12:25 AM

Fiction: Gone Girl, The Memory Keeper's Daughter

Nonfiction: The Wordy Shipmates, Delancey

Subject: RE: BS: Whatcha readin lately?
From: Janie
Date: 12 Nov 14 - 10:27 PM

"The Book Thief" by Markus Zusak.

"Local Souls" a collection of short stories by Alan Garganus.

Peterson's Field Guide "Birds of Eastern and Central North America" is a constant companion.

Rereading for the 3rd time "A Species of Eternity" by Joseph Kastner.

"Best of Hillbilly" edited by Otto Whittaker, author, Jim Comstock

About to reread "On the Occasion of My Last Afternoon" by Kaye Gibbons

Subject: RE: BS: Whatcha readin lately?
From: LilyFestre
Date: 12 Nov 14 - 09:21 PM

Between Sundays.

Subject: RE: BS: Whatcha readin lately?
From: Joe_F
Date: 12 Nov 14 - 09:19 PM

Rereading:
Pat Buchanan, Right from the Beginning
Norbert Wiener, The Human Use of Human Beings

Subject: RE: BS: Whatcha readin lately?
From: Bat Goddess
Date: 12 Nov 14 - 07:35 PM

Best novel I've read lately is "The Secret of Lost Things" by Sheridan Hay. Also recently finished "Expats" by Christopher Dickey -- a circa 1990 book about the Near East "from Tripoli to Tehran" and south to Oman. Good reminder of what was going on in that region from the Sixties until the late Eighties.

Right now I just started Gail Sheehy's book "Passages for Caregivers" which I really wish I'd read when it came out. But then I got so wrapped up in caring for Tom that I forgot I wanted to read it. Sigh. It's still worth reading now.

Linn

Subject: RE: BS: Whatcha readin lately?
From: Jim Carroll
Date: 12 Nov 14 - 06:52 PM

Great to find a masterpiece by a new author - 'Beyond Pulditch Gates' - a satire based around the building of the Poolbeg Power station in Dublin - from the 1950s to the '80s - brilliantly hilarious.
Jim Carroll

Subject: RE: BS: Whatcha readin lately?
From: gnu
Date: 12 Nov 14 - 05:30 PM

Olde Charlie Farqharson's Testament.

Subject: RE: BS: Whatcha readin lately?
From: fat B****rd
Date: 12 Nov 14 - 03:55 PM

Just finished re-reading Michael Herr's "Dispatches" (I recently visited Vietnam) and just started Alex Gray's "The Bird That Did Not Sing" an Inspector Lorimer mystery.

Subject: RE: BS: Whatcha readin lately?
From: GUEST,Manuel
Date: 12 Nov 14 - 03:12 PM

This cafe is frequented by many avid readers of books. It would be good to hear again from some of them as to what they have been reading of late. To start the ball rolling, I will say that I have recently read and re-read Juan Rulfo's Pedro Paramo, a book of which I had heard many a favourable comment and which I would certainly recommend to those who can read Spanish.

Subject: RE: BS: Whatcha readin lately?
From: katlaughing
Date: 27 Feb 12 - 12:01 AM

Joe, I am delighted you have read one of the Sister Fidelma books! IMO, they are brill. It is best to read them in order, if possible, though, as she has one relationship which develops throughout.

Thanks to whomever mentioned East of Eden. I've just finished it and loved it. Wow! I have a bunch of quotes marked to add to my collection, then I shall pass it along to my son. I think he will enjoy it, too.

Just about half-done with my first taste of the Matthew Shardlake books by C.J. Sansom. This one is called Dissolution. Thanks, NeilD, for the recommendation. I like the characters, very much, and the history. There is something about his writing which bothered me, at first, but I seem to have gotten into the rhythm of it, now.

My grandson and I are reading to one another over the phone just before he goes to bed at night. He's been hearing some of the Just So Stories and a couple of Robert W. Service poems. He esp. liked the Cremation of Sam McGee.:-) Tomorrow we are going to read a couple of stories from a book he requested: Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark ("collected from folklore and retold by Alvin Shwartz.")

kat

Subject: RE: BS: Whatcha readin lately?
From: LilyFestre
Date: 26 Feb 12 - 11:21 PM

I'm reading War Horse for my book club. :) It's an easy read and a very enjoyable book.

Michelle

Subject: RE: BS: Whatcha readin lately?
From: John on the Sunset Coast
Date: 26 Feb 12 - 10:32 PM

Currently reading Burton's "1001 Nights" for pleasure. Samuel Sandmel, "Judaism and Christian Beginnings", a bit more intense.
Today I attended a symposium which devoted two lectures to aspects of that history.

Subject: RE: BS: Whatcha readin lately?
From: ChanteyLass
Date: 26 Feb 12 - 07:32 PM

That sounds like fun. I couldn't do the brown bag exchange, though. I only buy books to give as gifts, or if I've gone to an author talk, I'll buy the author's autographed book and donate it to the library. Then I will borrow it!

My mystery rut is a personal one. In addition to wanting a book club to expose me to other genres (as a young person I read a wide variety, I wanted to discuss books with other people who had read them.

In my library book club, the members submit suggestions in the late fall and vote on them in December. The librarian eliminates the ones that are not readily available in the state library system before we vote. We each can vote for 12 books. The 12 books that get the most votes are the ones we will read in the coming year.

In my YMCA book club, we suggest books at each meeting. When we find one that we agree on and that has enough copies available in the library system (which I check by accessing the catalog on my smart phone), that is what we choose.

Most often I do not suggest a mystery. I am content to enjoy those on my own. I usually suggest something that I want to read and discuss so that I can hear other people's opinions

At both book clubs people often bring in other books they have read. Often these are new books that have long waiting lists in the library system. Some of them become our choices when they are readily available.

Subject: RE: BS: Whatcha readin lately?
From: GUEST,HiLo
Date: 26 Feb 12 - 12:59 PM

Hi ChanteyLass;
I have been in the same book club for over twenty years (same eight people). The way we avoid getting into a rut is that we do not all read the same book. We just bring along whatever we have read in the lasr month. We end up with quite a variety of books, both fiction and non fiction. We also have a poetry month, we each bring along two poems..that is always great fun, goes everywhere from Chaucer to Wendy Cope. We don't meet over the summer so In June we do brown bag books. We each put two books in a brown bag and exchange them. We all do enjoy that as you never know what you might get.
Loads of fun and lots of variety.

Subject: RE: BS: Whatcha readin lately?
From: ChanteyLass
Date: 26 Feb 12 - 12:24 PM

Finished Macia Muller's City of Whispers. I'm about to reread P. D. James's Cover Her Face. I read it years ago when the Adam Dalgliesh mystery programs started appearing on public TV here. Now one of my book clubs has chosen it. We wanted to read James's new Death at Pemberley, but it is in such high demand at libraries that we won't be able to get copies for months. I suggested Cover Her Face as an alternative. I have mixed feelings when one of my clubs picks a mystery. That's my favorite genre, so there's a good chance I will like the book, but I joined the book clubs to get me out of my reading rut and expose me to other genres.

Subject: RE: BS: Whatcha readin lately?
From: GUEST,Manuel
Date: 26 Feb 12 - 12:12 PM

My fellow-guest HiLo, your comment is short and sweet. I hasten to express the fullest respect for your opinion.

Subject: RE: BS: Whatcha readin lately?
From: wysiwyg
Date: 26 Feb 12 - 11:23 AM

Book of Stories for the Storyteller, The by Coe, Fanny

http://librivox.org/the-book-of-stories-for-the-storyteller-by-various/

For my Kindle, for campfires.

~Susan

Subject: RE: BS: Whatcha readin lately?
From: GUEST,HiLo
Date: 26 Feb 12 - 11:07 AM

I too love Eliot..but let us not forget Yeats. I think he is Eliots pnly rival in the last century.

Subject: RE: BS: Whatcha readin lately?
From: MAG
Date: 25 Feb 12 - 08:51 PM

... and I have to remember not to type with a very demanding cat in my lap ...

Subject: RE: BS: Whatcha readin lately?
From: GUEST,Manuel
Date: 25 Feb 12 - 05:06 PM

Not to worry,MAG, I will gladly stand next to you and be stoned by those unfortunate folks who are unable to enjoy Eliot's poetry. I will not confess but, rather, proudly proclaim that I keep going back to his poetic works - over and over. To me, there was none greater than he in the entire twentieth century.

Subject: RE: BS: Whatcha readin lately?
From: fat B****rd
Date: 25 Feb 12 - 05:02 PM

ust finished 'That Woman' about Wallis and David. What a pair!
Light relief (light!)with Peter Robinson's "Before The Poison' and currently "French Children Don't Throw Food"
Charlie's the name - eclecticity is my game.

Subject: RE: BS: Whatcha readin lately?
From: MAG
Date: 25 Feb 12 - 04:29 PM

somebody above mentioned 'the last temptation," i just finished the new tony and carol mystery; a real downer
currentle reading "girl who fell from the sky," current Portland Reads" book.

Also very much enjoyed "city and the city" -- on a Nancy Pearl list; good source of goods reads.

confess I also reread T S Eliot, please don''t stone me, anti-pedants.

Subject: RE: BS: Whatcha readin lately?
From: EBarnacle
Date: 25 Feb 12 - 11:41 AM

"How to MAKE Friends..." is about creating androids.

Just finishing "The Other Tudors" subtitled Henry VIII's mistresses and bastards, Philippa Jones. He really did get around and there are still descendants alive.

Subject: RE: BS: Whatcha readin lately?
From: GUEST,HiLo
Date: 25 Feb 12 - 10:54 AM

I have just finished The Illiad (Rieu translation) It is a few years since I read it and I enjoyed it every bit as much this time round. Also just finished Niall Fergusons book "Civilization, The West and The Rest". Very thought provoking.

Subject: RE: BS: Whatcha readin lately?
From: Joe Offer
Date: 24 Feb 12 - 06:28 PM

I just finished a book by Dave Eggers titled What Is the What? It's the story of a boy in South Sudan who spends 15 years as a "Lost Boy" in refugee camps in Ethiopia and Kenya, and then ends up in Atlanta with hardships that are almost as challenging. It really gave me a feeling for the refugee problem in Africa.

Somebody suggested I read some of Peter Tremayne's Sister Fidelma mysteries set in ancient Ireland. The one the library had available was Smoke in the Wind - which is set in Wales, not Ireland. I'm almost done, and it's hard to pull myself away from the book to do anything else. The plot is very well-constructed, a very satisfying mystery. I hate mysteries where the mystery isn't credible - this one is very credible.

-Joe-

Subject: RE: BS: Whatcha readin lately?
From: ChanteyLass
Date: 24 Feb 12 - 06:18 PM

I finished Jane and the Canterbury Tale (another cozy) and have started Marcia Muller's City of Whispers, the 29th in her mystery series about San Francisco private investigator Sharon McCone. This should be a hard-boiled mystery, not a cozy. It is another independent choice, but when I finish it I'll have to read the next book for one of my clubs.

Subject: RE: BS: Whatcha readin lately?
From: ChanteyLass
Date: 19 Feb 12 - 11:01 PM

I finished Tom Brokaw's Boom! Voices of the Sixties for one of my book clubs and am trying to squeeze in at least one book of my own choice before starting the book for my other club. I have started Jane and the Canterbury Tale by Stephanie Barron. It's the 11th in her series in which Jane Austen solves mysteries.

Subject: RE: BS: Whatcha readin lately?
From: ChanteyLass
Date: 05 Feb 12 - 09:49 PM

Margaret Coel's books sound interesting. I wish I wasn't so back-logged with books I want to read in between the choices of my book clubs! At least I know I'll never run out of things to read.

I hope you like the Gaslight mysteries. They are more like cozies than hard-boiled mysteries. but the info on old NYC is interesting. It's good that the author admits that she was not entirely accurate about something at Coney Island in that second book. I liked some things I learned in Murder in Chinatown, too.

Subject: RE: BS: Whatcha readin lately?
From: katlaughing
Date: 04 Feb 12 - 10:27 PM

That sounds good, ChanteyLass. I just finished the book in which my granddad wrote that warning: Messer. Marco Polo. It was really good. I'm reading The Log of a Cowboy: A Narrative of the Old Trail Days by Andy Adams. I think it first came out around 1903. Just got Margaret Coel's newest paperback Wind River Reservation mystery. I really enjoy them. They get better as she learns more of the landscape and the Arapaho and Shoshone tribes. It's one our fav. places in Wyoming, so it's been good to see her improve.

I also just got Blue Highways in the mail, plus the second of the Gaslight mysteries. The first is on its way. Now, I hope someone at paperbackswap wants some of my listed books, so I get more book credits, but I have plenty to keep me going, for now.

Oh, one more which my son recommended: The Four Agreements by don Miguel Ruiz who comes from a long line of Toltec wisdom leaders.

Subject: RE: BS: Whatcha readin lately?
From: ChanteyLass
Date: 04 Feb 12 - 01:36 PM

EdT as much as I love Moby Dick, that is one edition I won't buy or read, but what an achievement!

I finished Nevada Barr's The Rope and am now rereading Tom Brokaw's BOOM! Voices of the Sixties. About three years ago I wanted to read AND discuss it, so I suggested it to one of my book clubs who agreed on the choice. That club is organized by my local branch of the YMCA but meets at an assisted-living residence. Residents, Y members and anyone else who comes can participate. The year we read it, we had the liveliest discussion in that club that year. I then suggested it to my town library's club, but the month we were supposed to read it there was a huge storm, parts of the library were flooded, the library was closed for two months, and when we met again we moved onto the book for that month! Then we were going to read it last year, but something else went wrong (can't remember what) and by the end of the year we had skipped that book and one other! Finally we are reading it. It's a long one but interesting and easy to read.

Subject: RE: BS: Whatcha readin lately?
From: katlaughing
Date: 29 Jan 12 - 01:52 PM

Kewl!

Subject: RE: BS: Whatcha readin lately?
From: Backwoodsman
Date: 29 Jan 12 - 11:59 AM

Hi Kat, Maeve - I just bought a copy of 'Blue Highways' on E-Bay for 99p (a dollar and a half) plus postage! Thanks you guys!

Subject: RE: BS: Whatcha readin lately?
From: katlaughing
Date: 29 Jan 12 - 11:40 AM

maeve, what an inspiration! I can't wait to show that to Morgan.

EdT. LOL!

Neil, that sounds really interesting!

Subject: RE: BS: Whatcha readin lately?
From: Neil D
Date: 29 Jan 12 - 11:31 AM

I just finished "Drood" by Dan Simmons, an entertainingly bizarre fictionalization of the last five years in the life of Charles Dickens, from the Staplehurst Rail Disaster to his death exactly five years later. It includes his involvement with a demonic underworld master criminal named Drood and mesmerism. The story is being narrated by his increasingly drug-addled collaborator Wilkie Collins, author of "the Moonstone". I hear that Guillermo del Toro will be making it into a movie, which should make for a spectrally atmospheric period piece.

Subject: RE: BS: Whatcha readin lately?
From: Ed T
Date: 29 Jan 12 - 10:00 AM

Try reading this:
Washroom reader

Subject: RE: BS: Whatcha readin lately?
From: maeve
Date: 29 Jan 12 - 08:27 AM

This seems interesting: Fisherman teaches himself to read, then writes his autobiography

There is an advertisement at the start, but the story is worth the wait, IMO.

Subject: RE: BS: Whatcha readin lately?
From: GUEST,Eliza
Date: 29 Jan 12 - 04:21 AM

OH! The Bobbsey Twins! My auntie in Canada used to send me those for Christmas and I absolutely adored them. I'd forgotten all about them. I also seem to remember she sent a book called (I think) 'Raggedy Ann and Raggedy Andy' and a game called Howdy-Doody. Thank you for the memories!

Subject: RE: BS: Whatcha readin lately?
From: ChanteyLass
Date: 29 Jan 12 - 01:36 AM

I had a lending library of my books in my basement! Bobbsey Twins, Honey Bunch, Trixie Belden, Cherry Ames, Vicky Barr, Nancy Drew, Tom Corbett, Hardy Boys, etc.! As the only only child in the neighborhood, I had more time to read than my friends did, and my parents had a little more disposable income than their parents did. However, I also toted home a stack of good literature from the library each week.

Subject: RE: BS: Whatcha readin lately?
From: katlaughing
Date: 28 Jan 12 - 03:57 PM

CLass(how do ya like that for a name contraction?*bg*), my maternal grandfather had the first lending library in New Castle, Colorado - his own private collection. Each book had an ink stamp "From the private library of" with his name and the book number.

Subject: RE: BS: Whatcha readin lately?
From: ChanteyLass
Date: 28 Jan 12 - 03:19 PM

Kat, this grandfather of yours sounds like one of my kindred spirits.

Subject: RE: BS: Whatcha readin lately?
From: katlaughing
Date: 28 Jan 12 - 12:00 PM

I thought some of you might like to read this. It is an inscription in a book, Messer Marco Polo by Don Byrne, of my paternal grandfather's:

This volume is the property of one Frank Hudson a resident of (a) village hamlet (in?) town of Carbondale which is situated near the foot of (Mount) Sopris. Whosoever shall steal this book may the hungry hounds of hell pursue his soul through the eternal fires of damnation until the same are congealed by the frost of the big winter.

No wonder my family is passionate about our books!:-)

Subject: RE: BS: Whatcha readin lately?
From: katlaughing
Date: 28 Jan 12 - 10:20 AM

Backwoodsman, I just checked paperbackswap.com. There are 3 copies available of Blue Highways (different copyrights: 1983, 1986, 1991). If you aren't a member, I could purchase a credit (I just used up the ones I had) and get it sent directly to you. It's only 2-3 bucks and the mailer pays the postage. Send me a PM if you'd like me to do that,okay? With your mailing addy, of course.:-)

kat

Subject: RE: BS: Whatcha readin lately?
From: Backwoodsman
Date: 28 Jan 12 - 06:05 AM

"Backwoodsman, thanks for the info about Blue Highways. I've just ordered it from paprebackswap.com."

Kat, I'm so hacked off - I thought I'd bought the book from the Kindle store, but after a few pages of what I thought must be the Foreword, I realised I'd bought a study manual which summarised each chapter down to half a page or so. The Amazon Kindle Store didn't make it clear that it wasn't actually the book, which isn't available for the Kindle!

I'm currently searching for a hard-copy version! Grrrrrrrr!!