What's everyone reading?

[Mr._johngalt]

I thought I would recycle this one. I just finished (or am into) four
(4) books. BTW, these are quite typical of what I read, i.e. no
financial/business stuff and no fiction.

The Reno Court of Inquiry (Court record of Major Reno at Custer battle)
Flyboys (History of aviation in warfare, pretty gruesome but good)
U.S. Grant memoirs (Tough read unless you are a history buff)
Gellhorn (Bio of Hemingway's 3rd wife. Enjoyed it so much I may read it again)

JG

 

[Lena]

I haven't read fiction in a long time, but recently saw a book called "1,001 books to read before you die", and I've decided to start on that. I've read many many clasics when I was young, so now I am reading more "current" stuff.

So far, I 've read "Never let me go" and moving onto "Timbuktu".

Lena

 

[justin]

Technology in World Civilization: A Thousand-Year History - Arnold Pacey (It's actually a textbook - but a good read. A little dry, but the facts are very interesting. A little overly simplistic due to covering 1000 years of technology in the entire world in 200 pages. Interesting illustrations.)

Just finished Atlas Shrugged (took 4 months : ).

Just finished Pledged: The Secret Life of Sororities - Alexandra Robbins (Interesting - the "secrets" weren't as intriguing as I had hoped.)

 

[Mr._johngalt]

I haven't read fiction in a long time, but recently saw a book called "1,001 books to read before you die", and I've decided to start on that. I've read many many clasics when I was young, so now I am reading more "current" stuff.

So far, I 've read "Never let me go" and moving onto "Timbuktu".

Lena

A woman I dated (yes, I was single) turned me onto Jane Austen.
Thought I would hate it but agreed to give it a try. I was amazed.
The stuff is timeless. My fav. was 'Emma'.

JG

 

[Martha]

I just finished The Scent of God. This is a memoir by Beryle Singleton Bissell. Very interesting woman. It is her story of growing up in Puerto Rico and then at 18, joining a cloistered order of nuns in New Jersey. She never loses her faith but does lose her vocation and ends up marrying a priest.

Now back to my usual fiction. I am debating whether to start reading PD James' Death in Holy Orders or Ha Jin's Waiting. Both are sitting here so both will get read.

 

[Mr._johngalt]

Just finished Atlas Shrugged (took 4 months : ).

Very tough read, even for me. I've read it many many times though.
Also, read most of her other stuff although A.S. is obviously her magnum opus.

JG

 

[Dawg52]

Sounds interesting. I'm ashamed to say I rarely read a book. But I do plan to read some as I move into retirement. I want to keep what brain I have active.

 

[REWahoo]

...I'm ashamed to say I rarely read a book. But I do plan to read some as I move into retirement. I want to keep what brain I have active.

Before I FIREd, I read a lot, mostly fiction/mind candy. I too was looking forward to spending more time reading in retirement, but I've only read a couple of books in the past 16 months of my new life, free from w*rk.

I'm not sure why. Maybe I no longer have a need to read as as an escape, and I always seem to find something else I'd rather be doing.

 

[Sheryl]

Reading To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf.

I thought I wouldn't like it, but it is strangely addictive.

I'm going thru a phase of reading all the stuff I've bought and left sitting in piles for years, before I buy any more books. Last week was Main Street by Sinclair Lewis. That too was better than expected.

I read all of Jane Austen in one of my phases- I agree JG Emma is the best.

 

[Gumby]

Current Book - Agincourt: Henry V and the Battle That Made England by Juliet Barker

Last week - Infidels: A History of Conflict Between Christendom and Islam by Andrew Wheatcroft

Week before - Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov

 

[Danny]

Jimmy Carter - Our Endangered Values - On cd - read by Jimmy - does a nice job summarizing what a mess Bush is making...

Five Lessons - Ben Hogan

 

[shiny]

I'm just starting "The Architecture of Happiness" by Alain de Botton. I've read almost all his books and really like them - he's going to be reading at the library here in Seattle tomorrow, so we're going.

I just finished Nora Ephron's - "I feel bad about my neck". It was v. funny.

At the same time I'm reading "How to be Idle" by Tom Hodgkinson - another member of this forum recommended it to me - its a bit silly, but fun.

And yes, I can pick up my Jane Austen books anytime I need a good read. The language itself is just brilliant.

 

[Sheryl]

I'm just starting "The Architecture of Happiness" by Alain de Botton. I've read almost all his books and really like them - he's going to be reading at the library here in Seattle tomorrow, so we're going.

Wow - never heard of it. Too busy creating the Architecture of Misery.

 

[Nords]

Science fiction-- I just finished the brand-new "Mission to Minerva" for fans of James P. Hogan's "Giants" stories.

Nonfiction-- "The Complete Idiot's Guide to Getting Published" and "TCIGT Writing a Novel". I picked them up on a whim and was surprised at how interesting they are. It completely changed the way I read books now, and unfortunately the first victim of my new perception will be:

Fiction-- Frederick Forsyth's "The Veteran".

 

[Dawg52]

I guess the last book I read was 'Between a Rock and a Hardplace'. They had a segment on this guy several months ago on Dateline. It was interesting.

Synopsis:

"One of the most extraordinary survival stories ever told -- Aron Ralston's searing account of his six days trapped in one of the most remote spots in America, and how one inspired act of bravery brought him home. It started out as a simple hike in the Utah canyonlands on a warm Saturday afternoon. For Aron Ralston, a twenty-seven-year-old mountaineer and outdoorsman, a walk into the remote Blue John Canyon was a chance to get a break from a winter of solo climbing Colorado's highest and toughest peaks. He'd earned this weekend vacation, and though he met two charming women along the way, by early afternoon he finally found himself in his element: alone, with just the beauty of the natural world all around him. It was 2:41 P.M. Eight miles from his truck, in a deep and narrow slot canyon, Aron was climbing down off a wedged boulder when the rock suddenly, and terrifyingly, came loose. Before he could get out of the way, the falling stone pinned his right hand and wrist against the canyon wall. And so began six days of hell for Aron Ralston. With scant water and little food, no jacket for the painfully cold nights, and the terrible knowledge that he'd told no one where he was headed, he found himself facing a lingering death -- trapped by an 800-pound boulder 100 feet down in the bottom of a canyon. As he eliminated his escape options one by one through the days, Aron faced the full horror of his predicament: By the time any possible search and rescue effort would begin, he'd most probably have died of dehydration, if a flash flood didn't drown him before that. What does one do in the face of almost certain death? Using the video camera from his pack, Aron began recording his grateful good-byes to his family and friends all over the country, thinking back over a life filled with adventure, and documenting a last will and testament with the hope that someone would find it. (For their part, his family and friends had instigated a major search for Aron, the amazing details of which are also documented here for the first time.) The knowledge of their love kept Aron Ralston alive, until a divine inspiration on Thursday morning solved the riddle of the boulder. Aron then committed the most extreme act imaginable to save himself. Between a Rock and a Hard Place -- a brilliantly written, funny, honest, inspiring, and downright astonishing report from the line where death meets life -- will surely take its place in the annals of classic adventure stories. "

 

[shiny]

Wow - never heard of it. Too busy creating the Architecture of Misery.

I think you would really like this book - it is about how architecture affects us.

My favorite of his though is "The Art of Travel" - one bit in that book really hit home with me - we go to these exotic places that look perfect on the brochure (or in a painting that we've seen) but we inadvertently bring ourselves (with our needs like hunger and tiredness) into the picture and ruin the perfection! funny

"TCIGT Writing a Novel". I picked them up on a whim and was surprised at how interesting they are. It completely changed the way I read books

I'm going to get his for DH, he says he'd like to write a novel. Maybe it will prompt him to actually ER in March.

 

[Nords]

... until a divine inspiration on Thursday morning solved the riddle of the boulder.

Isn't this is the guy they call "Lefty" now?

I'm going to get his for DH, he says he'd like to write a novel. Maybe it will prompt him to actually ER in March.

I have an even better recommendation for that situation: Stephen King's "On Writing", of course without the cocaine & booze...

 

[haha]

I'm just starting "The Architecture of Happiness" by Alain de Botton. I've read almost all his books and really like them - he's going to be reading at the library here in Seattle tomorrow, so we're going.

I read How Proust Can Change Your Life by this author. I didn’t get as much change as I had hoped for, but I did enjoy it.

The Nora Ephron book I would be afraid of. My wife read me a piece she wrote about aging-- I think from a recent Vogue. As I remember she had just lost a dear friend to some typically horrible illness- maybe pancreatic cancer?-anyway, I had to ask her to stop reading because it was definitely darkening my mood. I don't like dark moods on the weekend. Anyway I am completely capable of generating my own whenever I should need one.

Just started Recollections of My Life as a Woman, by Diane Di Prima. It’s a history of the beat years from the perspective of a woman poet and beat.

I also am always reading at least one of two financial or financial history books.

I am impressed by the reading people here choose. I plan to write down some of what you are all reading to get to myself over time.

Ha

 

[shiny]

The Nora Ephron book I would be afraid of.

Some of it could be a little dark, but its mostly just funny - like she questions why women spend so much money on purses just to keep their linty stray tic tacs in it ! Also, being still in my 30s it made me realize that I should not be so critical of my body now cause its probably the best it will ever be! (maybe I should have put that on the women's thread)

 

[Lena]

JG,

believe it or not, I never read Jane Austin. I am, however, very familiar with many other European and Russian authors from 18th, beggining of 19th century.

I was surprised to see that Ayn Rand never made the list. May be that should tell me something about it.

However, "never let me go" turned out to be a very good read. Never expected to be science fiction, though.

Lena

 

[Mr._johngalt]

JG,

believe it or not, I never read Jane Austin. I am, however, very familiar with many other European and Russian authors from 18th, beggining of 19th century.

I was surprised to see that Ayn Rand never made the list. May be that should tell me something about it.

However, "never let me go" turned out to be a very good read. Never expected to be science fiction, though.

Lena

I posted this before, so I apologize in advance. However, after 8000
posts mol, I hope you will cut me some slack.

A few years ago The Book of the Month Club and The Library of Congress
(or 2 other such distinguished bodies - I forget which) declared that 'Atlas
Shrugged' was the most influential book ever published in America, after The Bible. Similar results have come from internal Mensa polls.

JG

 

[donheff]

I'm reading Fiasco: The American Adventure in Iraq. I think it would be a worthwhile read for eveyone, particularly you vets who are concerned about how our military is being used/abused. The book does a great job of laying out the mistakes that were made. What I think will probably take decades to arrive at is a good analysis of the why's of the Cheney/Rumsfeld/Wolfowicz thinking and to a degree the why's of Paul Bremer and General Sanchez.

It does a credible job of showing how the war could have been turned around with a good occupation plan regardless whether the war itself was merited. That failure he lays on the lap of top civilian leadership - principally Rumsfeld. Of course, that is all speculation and we will never know the reality of the coulda, shouldas.

 

[sgeeeee]

I read a lot -- not all of it books. As editor for a number of engineering handbooks and a technical magazine, I read several dozen technical manuscripts every month. I read a dozen or more archaeology manuscripts each year doing research for my volunteer archaeology outings. I review and edit technical books for three publishers (which amounts to only 2 or three books a year). I typically read a few dozen fiction titles a year with a handful of non-fiction (usually history). The fiction tends to be light and entertaining. Here's the embarrassing thing. I almost never remember titles or authors of the fiction. I can be in the middle of a book I am enjoying and not be able to tell you the author or the title without closing the book and looking at the cover. On my trip last weekend to Los Angeles I read a book that is part of a detective series. I've read 3 or 4 books from the series and enjoyed this book. I can tell you the main character is Hieronymus Bosch (the same name as the Dutch painter) and describe the plot, but since I never remember authors or titles and I've already returned the book to the library, I can't give you the book details.

I'm actually in the middle of another book right now that is about a forensic anthropologist. It's pretty good, but I couldn't tell you who wrote it or what the title is. The next time I go to the library and start browsing for books to check out, I will see names and titles that are familiar and remember whether I've read the books or not. I might even look for other books by the same authors then.

I do know that I have "The World is Flat" by Thomas Friedman on deck. I can tell you that because it is sitting on the desk in front of me.

When I was a researcher and individual contributor I really needed to remember where research ideas came from. It was easy for me to recall important research conclusions but not the articles they came from. I used to take notes that consisted of nothing but the citation and 1 or 2 hand sketched figures or tables that came from the article. Maybe I should do that with the books I read now.

 

[Zoocat]

Ah, reading, one of my favorite activities!

I just finished "The Price of Loyalty: George W. Bush, the White House, and the Education of Paul O'Neill" by Ron Suskind. Very interesting account of O'Neill's stint as US Treasury Secretary in first Bush administration.

"Straight Man" by Richard Russo, a wonderful writer. About academic politics in a small midwestern college and the midlife meltdown of a professor. Very very funny! Especially if you happen to know something about academia.

"The Ice Queen" by Alice Hoffman, a lovely writer of magical fiction.

"8 Weeks to Vibrant Health" by Hyla Cass, MD. Lots of good stuff in there.

And now I am returning to "Snow" by Orhan Pamuk. Didn't finish it before, but since he just won the Nobel prize for literature I want to see what I missed.

Also, not to disparage Ayn Rand in any way, I think she's a great writer. But I read Atlas Shrugged several times in high school.

 

[shiny]

I just finished "The Price of Loyalty: George W. Bush, the White House, and the Education of Paul O'Neill" by Ron Suskind. Very interesting account of O'Neill's stint as US Treasury Secretary in first Bush administration.

I have Paul O'Neill's book on my list to read, but haven't gotten around to it. Have you read it as well? Would you recommend this one instead?