What swanky things are you reading?

[libraryvixen]

This Library Vixen would officially like to start the first "Reading" thread.

This is way past Christmas, but I am reading "The Stupidest Angel" by Christopher Moore (my request FINALLY came!!). This book is hilarious so far. I'm excited to see what happens next!

What you guys reading?

[€uroMeinke]

The Inner Circle by T.C. Boyle - a fictional account from the perspective of someone inside Kinsey's Inner Circle. An awsome read, especially after seeing Kinsey, the movie.

[libraryvixen]

I wanna see Kinsey

[Motorboat Cruiser]

What swanky things am I reading? Why, these boards, of course. What could be more swanky than that? ;)

[dsnylndmom]

What swanky things am I reading? Why, these boards, of course. What could be more swany than that? ;)


I ditto that :cool:

[Gemini Cricket]

I'm still on Harry Potter 5. Love it so far. It's infuriating yet fun.
:)

[Flubber]

I started rereading Huckleberry Finn last night. Bring me the classics and a cocktail!

I know. I know. Not swanky. Square City. :(

[Eliza Hodgkins 1812]

Just finished G.L.'s Phantom of the Opera. A master of gothic horror, this novel. I just *love* it. Plus, such a human story, after all is said and done.

Almost finished with a retelling of that story by Susan Kay called Phantom.

And also near the end of Book the 11th of the Lemony Snicket books, which have really, really grown on me.

[Claire]

I read Angry Housewives Eating Bon Bons on vacation. Also, Tom Wolfe's I Am Charlotte Simmons. Neither was great, and neither was a waste of time.

Up next: something by Kent Haruf. Can't remember the title, and it's upstairs. I loved Plainsong, so hopefully this is stylistically similar.

[Not Afraid]

I grooving on a collection of novellas & stories by Paul Theroux. The first story was absolutely beautiful with some of the most graphic sex scenes I'v read outside of Penhouse Forum. Nice!

[wendybeth]

Just finished "There and back again" by Sean Astin ( bio and account of the filming of LOTR) and am now re-reading "Peter the Great" by Robert K. Massie.

[UvaGirl]

WB, what did you think of the Sean Astin bio? I've read very mixed reviews, so I'm interested to hear...

[wendybeth]

Carly- I think he has ADHD- not kidding! He is very intense, but honest. I like the book, but he over uses big words, etc. (He admits to intellectual insecurity). He is a little too honest in some areas, and I'll bet that it has caused some conflict since the books publication. It is a fairly decent read, if only for the LOTR's background stuff. His mom lives up here, so it's interesting when he refers to Spokane- I'm not used to seeing stuff about our town in books, excepting the odd serial killer tome. (We are a breeding ground for sicko's here).

[UvaGirl]

Thanks ~ that's what I've been hearing/reading. I think I'm going to read it anyway - I'm interested in some of the background to the filming, etc, and it looks like a good, light read. I didn't know his Mum lived up there - cool!:)

[MickeyD]

Lately, my reading material has absolutely defined squaresville.

I've read such fascinating titles as Dei Verbum, Sacrosanctum Concilium and Lumen Gentium. All translations, thank God, not in the original Latin. :insert geek smilie here: :insert puke smilie here:

[Prudence]

I have been busily purging my brain of any useful content by reading as many Elizabeth Peters mysteries as I can.

[Gemini Cricket]

I started rereading Huckleberry Finn last night. Bring me the classics and a cocktail!

I know. I know. Not swanky. Square City. :(
Not square at all, in my opinion. It's a tremendous book. I re-read it often. It's the most, I tell you.


I just bought 'The Intimate World of Abraham Lincoln'. I saw a news story on it and was curious.
:)

[Grumpy4]

Finishing up re-reading Return of the King AGAIN! Trying to pick up details and differences between the book and Ext Version. I know, but get over it.

In my reading queue:
Angels and Demons and Jimmy Buffet's new book A Salty Ol' Pirate. And by the time I'm done with those, HP 6 should be out. Then after that Lemony Snicket's 12th book will be along shortly(hopefully). However, JB's book might have to wait...I may want to read HP 5 again as a refresher.

[tracilicious]

I just finished reading Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides. Amazing book. It's about a hermaphrodite. He's the author of Virgin Suicides.

[Perle]

I'm reading the ultimate geek novel, Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson published in '92. So far i'm just groovin on the geekiness of the thing. We'll see how it goes.

[FEJ]

I'm reading Cryptonomicon and Learning Perl...

[lindyhop]

I just finished reading Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides. Amazing book. It's about a hermaphrodite. He's the author of Virgin Suicides.
I tried to read Middlesex a while back but only got about halfway through it...

Currently I'm not reading much but I've got The Final Solution by Michael Chabon and The Sunday Philosophy Club by Alexander McCall Smith sitting by the bed. Both were Christmas gifts.

[Not Afraid]

Middlesex is still on the bedside to-read pile.

[flippyshark]

How's this for swanky? I've been reading a bunch of Doc Savage novels - pulp action adventure from the thirties and forties, in lovely paperback reprints from the sixties. I found a stack of 'em at work in a "please take these old books for free" box. Each one is about 95 to 110 pages long, full of breathtaking action, incredibly absurd twists, nefarious villains, gadgets galore, and Doc is just such a manly man, too.

There was a completely awful Doc Savage movie back in the Seventies, which fans of the novels repudiate, but which I saw when I was about 12 and really enjoyed at the time. (Later viewing proved that they were right - it's dreadful, though I would still get it if it came out on DVD.)

If you find yourself in a used bookstore, look for one or two of these. They are written by Kenneth Robeson (a ghost name for numerous authors, but the majority of Doc Savage books were written by a guy named Lester Dent - you won't find that name on the cover though. It'll say Kenneth Robeson.) The artwork on the sixties Bantam paperbacks is worth the buck or two it'll cost you. (Beautiful photorealistic paintings by Steve Bama- always featuring Doc bursting brawnily out of his shirt.)

Still in pulpy mode, I am now trying to read the original Tarzan of the Apes by Edgar Rice Burroughs, but it's rough going. There are some jaw-dropping passages that come off as horribly racist today, and much of the story is hard to swallow, even allowing for the fact that it is a fantasy. For example, Tarzan, without ever meeting another person, learns how to read and write English all by himself, by looking at some books in his parents' old hut. Yeah, that'll happen.

Just so no one thinks I'm all about silly escapism (though I love that) I've also recently read or re-read Nabokov's Pale Fire and Umberto Eco's The Name of the Rose - both tricky but rewarding. Next I'm attacking Mark Danielewski's House of Leaves.

But really, check out Doc Savage.

[€uroMeinke]

There was a completely awful Doc Savage movie back in the Seventies, which fans of the novels repudiate, but which I saw when I was about 12 and really enjoyed at the time. (Later viewing proved that they were right - it's dreadful, though I would still get it if it came out on DVD.)

OMG - I loved that movie, made me read the books. Thanks for the warning to let that one rest - uh, but let me know if it comes out on DVD okay?

[Not Afraid]

And just when I beginning to think that Flippyshark and € are NOT separated at birth, € yells out "YES! Doc Savage Movie!"

[MickeyD]

So, yesterday, after I had a dream in Latin (I don't actually speak Latin it was basically a piecing together of all the Latin phrases I know), I decided that I had been reading way too many Vatican II documents and decided to treat myself to something I haven't done in way too many months, and I went to Borders!

I bought Rosie Dunne by Cecelia Ahern which I am about halfway done with, and so far has been the perfect fluff to purge my head of all that Latin, State of Fear by Michael Crichton, and I Am Charlotte Simmons by Tom Wolfe.

Of course, realistically, I won't have time to get to the Crichton or Wolfe books before I have to get back to the Vatican II documents....but I know they'll be waiting for me come summer!

[mousepod]

Hey flippyshark, if you dig Doc Savage, you might want to check out the "Justice, Inc" series. I admit I was introduced to it in '75 through the DC comic, but the pulps do rock.

While I was in Hawaii, I finally got around to reading "The Unlimited Dream Company" by JG Ballard - it's pretty good for one of his "minor" works. I also made another attempt at Neal Stephenson (the first book in the Baroque Cycle) - I started to drift after the first 100 pages...

Now that I'm back, I'm reading "Walt's Revolution By The Numbers" by Harrison "Buzz" Price. Expect a MousePod review in the next couple of shows.

[Mousey Girl]

Since I have found myself with extra time on my hands (and Heaven forbid I do anything productive), I have started to read again. It isn't so much reading as consuming the written word. I started with 3 books last Friday. I am now on my final book (the first 2 were gone in 2 days). After taking a few days off I picked up Angels & Demons today and am on page 100. After it is done I will be off to the book store for the DaVinci Code.

[mhrc4]

i just finished Angels and Demons, and the Da Vinci code over christmas, then just finished Deception Point a few weeks ago, all from Dan Brown.

Just picked up one of Grisham's latest to read now....

[Eliza Hodgkins 1812]

I just finished Grendel by John Gardner

And immediately I started reading it again. It's amazing.

[Not Afraid]

I finished "Running With Scissors" by Augusten Burroughs, "Middlesex" by Jeffrey Eugenides and now I'm reading "Mystical Thinking", the new collection of short stories from Augusten Burroughs. I can't get enough Augusten!

Middlesex was a great book, btw. However, it had a creepy effect on me that took several days to wash away.

[Claire]

Middlesex was a great book, btw. However, it had a creepy effect on me that took several days to wash away.

Totally. I read it about a year and a half ago, and while I thought it was well-written and an incredible story, it was one of the only books that I've purchased that I returned to Powell's for credit. I wanted to not read it again.

I'm re-reading Naked every night before I fall asleep, and I keep waking up Kelly laughing my butt off. During the day I'm still plodding through Valley of the Dolls. But with the auction phonecalling/faxing/errandrunningathon thing I've got going now, reading has been put on the backburner. :rolleyes: Bah.

[Not Afraid]

. I wanted to not read it again.



Yeah. Wierd effect. I love books but I don't believe I've ever had one that I really liked, but wanted to just put it behind me. Strange, strange reaction.

And, I know I've said this before, but all of you David Sedaris lovers should read Running with Scissors or any of Augusten Burroughs' books. He's a much darker, more twisted but equally funny Sedaris.

[mousepod]

Y'know, I bought Running With Scissors when it first came out after hearing Burroughs on NPR (I am, of course, a huge Sedaris fan). Somehow, it sank to the bottom of my "to read" pile.

Thanks to you, I'll be reading it this weekend.

Great thread.

[UvaGirl]

I need something new to read. I keep meaning to read Part 1 of Simon Schama's History of Britain, but everytime I go to buy it, I lose interest.

Johnathan Strange and Mr Norrell is high in my list, but I'm waiting until I have lots of free time ~ that's a big book.

[Eliza Hodgkins 1812]

Johnathan Strange and Mr Norrell is high in my list, but I'm waiting until I have lots of free time ~ that's a big book.

I loved every page. Some say the pacing is very slow until the last 300 hundred pages of the book, but I love a slow burn, so I was very, very pleased.

[AllyOops!]

During the day I'm still plodding through Valley of the Dolls.

God Bless you. :) :snap: :coffee:

I'm going to be honest. I'm reading the March issue of Cosmopolitan. I keep wanting to pick up one of the novels that sits on my nightstand, but Cosmo headlines such as THRILL HIS BODY keep the cobwebs fresh on my mind (but certainly not on my heart, if you know what I mean! ;) )

So once again, I chose Cosmo over Catcher In The Rye. Sometimes, below the belt beats the intellect above it.

For now! ;)

[Prudence]

I'm re-reading Burger King Corp. v. Rudzewicz. It is not swanky at all. But last night I finished another Amelia Peabody mystery. It's not exactly literature, but it helps to cleanse the mental palate. Question -- is the DaVinci Code actually any good? Eco-esque or not so much?

[Ghoulish Delight]

I don't think I've mentioned that I've started On the Road. Goes without saying that it's fantastic. And if anyone happens to be in Iowa, the original manuscrpit, which is a 120 foot scroll of taped together pages that legend says he typed continuously in 20 days, is on display, unrolled, at the University of Iowa in DeMoines. The manuscript differs slightly in various passages from the eventual published version, and the last 5 or so pages are torn off, which a pencil note in Kerouc's handwriting on the back blames on a dog.

[Not Afraid]

Question -- is the DaVinci Code actually any good? Eco-esque or not so much?

I would call it Eco-light. It is a satisfying read, but not as intellectually intensse as Eco, but still not chopped liver.

[Ghoulish Delight]

I would call it Eco-light. It is a satisfying read, but not as intellectually intensse as Eco, but still not chopped liver.Exactly what my dad said. I need to pick up both Davinci and Focault's. I actually just bought my mom a collection of essays by Umberto on the subject of novels. Looked really interesting, I'll have to ask her what she thought of it.

[Prudence]

...And if anyone happens to be in Iowa, the original manuscrpit, which is a 120 foot scroll of taped together pages that legend says he typed continuously in 20 days, is on display, unrolled, at the University of Iowa in DeMoines.

Um, U of IA is in Iowa City. In case anyone was making travel plans.

[Prudence]

I would call it Eco-light. It is a satisfying read, but not as intellectually intensse as Eco, but still not chopped liver.

So, spooky but my head won't hurt?

[Ghoulish Delight]

Um, U of IA is in Iowa City. In case anyone was making travel plans.Oops, my bad. The article I was reading was from a DeMoines paper.

[Claire]

I'm in the midst of a few books.....I hate this thing I'm doing.

Life of Pi
Naked

Just started Vicious Circle by Margaret Case Harriman. :evil:

[Alisa]

I just read The Dirty Girls Social Club and I loved it. Maybe it has to do with the fact that the author and I share the same name.

[Eliza Hodgkins 1812]

Perfume: The Story of a Murderer by Patrick Suskind.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0375725849/qid=1109096610/sr=8-1/ref=pd_csp_1/103-3406080-3742201?v=glance&s=books&n=507846

Good stuff!

[€uroMeinke]

Perfume: The Story of a Murderer by Patrick Suskind.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0375725849/qid=1109096610/sr=8-1/ref=pd_csp_1/103-3406080-3742201?v=glance&s=books&n=507846

Good stuff!

Oooo - Grenouille, the Tick - I loved this book. It used to be bed time reading for Not Afraid and I, but I got impatient as Lisa fell asleep and I had to read ahead - Sorry.

Perhaps though, this is reason to pick it up again...

So do you find your self paying closer attentions to scents and fragrences now?

[Eliza Hodgkins 1812]

So do you find your self paying closer attentions to scents and fragrences now?

Actually, the book appealed to me because of my obsessive nose. Sometimes it fails me. I'm not someone who can whiff a meal and know the ingredients that went into it. But I've got a fairly acute sense of smell, and I’m very, very affected by scent. Moved by it, I guess. Or it brings me into a memory in a way that’s rather jarring. Our sense of smell is, in a way, our most visceral sense. I’m always making jokes about wanting to sniff people’s necks or heads, but there’s more truth in the joke than anything else.

I’m only just at the beginning of the novel, where he’s growing up in the orphanage. I’m totally loving it. I cannot wait for the depravity to begin. It’s right up my alley with all these other things I’ve been thinking about lately.

So happy to know people who are reading this book. I’m sure I’ll have more to say, and things to ask, the further in I get.

I actually came across the book while looking at Alan Rickman’s IMDB info. I was curious about his upcoming projects, and it turns out he’ll be in the movie based on this book. My curiosity was piqued, and there it was on Amazon, a book written as if tailored to my particular interests. Wheeee!

[Not Afraid]

Yuu see, Chris has this lovely reading voice and it just lulls me to sleep every time - which is perfect for bedtime stories, but not perfect for realy knovels with plots twists and other type thing. I never did read it on my own. But I did read another book about Lord Byron that made me cringe with vivid discriptions about his diseased member.

[Claire]

100 pages shy of being done with Life of Pi. Book club is tonight. :evil: Must go read.....I suck at this.

When I'm done with this book....I'm going to finish The Vicious Circle....I love this book! It's a simple read, and humorous, although some of her antecdotes suck in quality and bite.

[Eliza Hodgkins 1812]

Yuu see, Chris has this lovely reading voice and it just lulls me to sleep every time - which is perfect for bedtime stories, but not perfect for realy knovels with plots twists and other type thing. I never did read it on my own. But I did read another book about Lord Byron that made me cringe with vivid discriptions about his diseased member.

I've managed to come this far without knowing that Bryon HAD a diseased member.

There you go, NA, breaking my heart.

LMFAO.

[Claire]

I finished Life of Pi today....wowza!!! M. Night Shyamalamadingdong or whatever his name is bought the rights to the book and I can see why. Quite a twist! Loved it!! :) Went from boring to veeeery interesting in a flash!

Our next book club book is Till We Have Faces by C.S. Lewis.

I checked out Meritocracy, Love in the Time of Cholera, and Chelsea Girls.

I have the Barack Obama book on hold at the library, as well as two of the Dan Brown books for my husband...I'll probably read them, too. Love a good easy formula. ;)

[€uroMeinke]

I like Pi

[Not Afraid]

Too bad there isn't a book called Like PiCakes

[Mousey Girl]

I just finished reading The Beach. I bought it after seeing the movie a few too many times. Very trippy reading.

I am also looking forward to finally reading the DaVinci Code. I really enjoyed Angles & Demons. I have Thursday off, so it is book shopping time!

[Claire]

I read Deception Point by Dan Brown last week (I liked it), and I'm half-way through Love in the Time of Cholera (gorgeous) and before bed every night I've been reading Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them by Al Franken. Dude cracks me up. :D I'm almost done.

Next up: the Barack Obama one, Chelsea Girls, finish Valley of the Dolls, finish Mrs. Dalloway.....probably re-read Da Vinci since it's here in the house.

[UvaGirl]

I'm finishing up the March issue of In Style at the moment - man, it's big!

After that I'm going to make a start on The Queen's Fool, by Philippa Gregory. I maxed out on historical romances last year <gasp!> and never got into this one. Time to try again I think.

[Eliza Hodgkins 1812]

Just finished We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson

Have just started - only 1 chapter in - Vanity Fair.

[Not Afraid]

I want to read next
Marie Antoinette : The Journey
by Antonia Fraser

Why? Because this is the book that Sophia Copola is basing her next film on. Feeling a tad bit geeky.

[Ghoulish Delight]

Would you believe I'm STILL reading On the Road? I kinda fell out of my reading groove. I'm a very streaky reader. But I seem to be back in it and should be done by week's end. Then I've got a decission to make...keep the beat going and read Howl (and possibly other entries in the beat collection loaned to me by the Guru himself), move backwards and read some Hemmingway which inspired a lot of the beat movement, go a little further back in the genesis of the beat movement and pick up some Nitzche, or shift gears completely and finally get around to reading Fourcault's Pendulum and Davinci Code which I've been meaning to and from what I hear are right up my alley. Grrrrr. I hope this current reading groove lasts long enough to get through it all.

[UvaGirl]

I want to read next
Marie Antoinette : The Journey
by Antonia Fraser

Why? Because this is the book that Sophia Copola is basing her next film on. Feeling a tad bit geeky.

Ooooh! I like Antonia Fraser's books. Might check this out too:)

[Not Afraid]

I just ordered it and Mary Queen of Scotts.

I could be back in my French/English fictionalized history mode for a while. I used to read a lot of that type of lit.

[UvaGirl]

I think she may have written one on Eleanore of Aquitaine too. I've seen it around and it looks interesting.

[Not Afraid]

UGHHHHHHHH Don't tell me these things!;)

[UvaGirl]

LOL! I look forward to hearing what you think of the Marie Antoinette one:)

[alphabassettgrrl]

I just started my borrowed book " Quicksilver" which is historical fiction (one of the characters refers to New York as New Amsterdam, and the colonies still belong to Britain) which I am told is something of a challenging read- they make you remember things.

Of course this is nicely balanced by my newly-arrived "On Our Backs" (lesbian "Playboy"). Yes, I do read the articles.

[€uroMeinke]

I started the Illuminatus Triology - love a good conspiracy theory. I'm interested to see how this compares to Dan Browns Angels and Demons.

[Gemini Cricket]

I'm not even going to pretend to be deep.

I'm reading this week's Entertainment Weekly! It's Gemini Cricket's Magazine Time, girls!

:D

[mousepod]

I started the Illuminatus Triology - love a good conspiracy theory. I'm interested to see how this compares to Dan Browns Angels and Demons.

I bet you'll love it. I've been into R.A.W. since college. The rest of his work is pretty great, too.

I must admit that I was a little disappointed with Dan Brown's stuff - probably because the reviews led me to believe it was going to be more along the lines of Wilson or even Stephenson. DB's ideas are good, and the Robert Ludlum literary style is exciting (see 'The Gemini Contenders'), but RAW will make your head spin... in a good way.

[Ghoulish Delight]

Soon, €, you will be doing double takes when you hear lines in movies like "Level 5, cell block AA 23." Conspiracy theories indeed.

[€uroMeinke]

heh heh as a Freshman in college I had a roommate who would go on at length about "23" and the illuminati - perhaps now, I will come to understand him a bit better.

[Not Afraid]

We saw Mt. Shasta once. I heard they live there. :)

[Ghoulish Delight]

heh heh as a Freshman in college I had a roommate who would go on at length about "23" and the illuminati - perhaps now, I will come to understand him a bit better.Hey, me too! And no, you won't understand him any better. A much more likely result is understanding yourself a little less.

[€uroMeinke]

inconceivable

[Cadaverous Pallor]

Hey, me too! And no, you won't understand him any better. A much more likely result is understanding yourself a little less.Hehe. Chris, meet Chris. I'll have to at least skim a copy to refresh me so I can talk to you on this one. All hail Discordia!

Sadly, I'm coming here to post because I'm really not liking Thus Spoke Zarathustra. I do love a flow-of-thought style, but not on and on and on. I am continually confused as to what the Nietzsche believes and what he is making fun of and what he's stating sarcastically. I was really enjoying the other writings, but Zarathustra is making my eyes glaze over. :( I now remember that the same thing happened to me the last time I tried to read it. Even the notations aren't helping much.

I just might have to skim Z and read the rest. Sorry €, I tried! I do love the other works though.

[€uroMeinke]

I just might have to skim Z and read the rest. Sorry €, I tried! I do love the other works though.

heh heh, he is better in small doses. He's not terribly linear, but I tend to like that about his writing. ;)

[Claire]

Been on a reading jag. All fun and non-serious.

Susan Isaac's Anywhere I Hang My Hat. Cute.

Al Franken's Lies and the Lying Liars, etc. Snort! I can see why conservatives HATE his guts. :D I want this guy on my side. What a frustrating blow-hard! I looooved this book.

I read two Dan Brown books this week.....Deception Point. Eh. And Digital Fortress. Double eh. DF felt like it wanted really bad to be a movie starring Monica Potter and that older guy on Lost.

I'm 1/3 of the way through Sammy's Hill by, don't laugh, Kristen Gore. She writes in a very appealing ADD style with thought tangents that EERILY mirror my own. I've been cracking up non-stop. She reminds me of EH. I'm very much enjoying it. The main character even idolizes and fantasizes about Steve Martin! She thinks he's a genius! :D It's so not a deep-thought book, but damn, it's good stuff. Better than Bridget Jones so far, methinks. But I'm only 1/3 of the way in. I believe Kristen Gore and I are probably twins separated by birth and four years.....and not just because I once told my dad that I'd rather have Al Gore for a father than him. It was the cruelest thing I could think of at the moment.......and perhaps rang more true than I knew......:eek:

[Not Afraid]

I am on my catalog jag again. I have 2 stories left in the Augusten Burroughs book and I just can't take the time to finish it. Part of that was my flu from hell, then I just got out of it. I have a new book on the way (like there's nothing to read here :rolleyes:). But, I need to see what J Crew has in store for spring and what Eddie Bauer has that I can exchange my pants for. The catalogs come in droves daily. I can't help it!

[Ghoulish Delight]

Well, I finally pushed through a momentum stall and finished On the Road. I liked it, but ended up feeling a little sad for Sal in the end because he had his eyes opened up to this way of living that he really did love, but didn't quite have the fortitude to stick with.

I've gone on to Focault's Pendulum. I've had several people say, "DaVinci Code was good, but Focault's Pendulum is better." Having read neither, I thought I'd start with the supposedly better one. It's a big book, it's gonna take me a while. But I'm really enjoying it so far!

[Motorboat Cruiser]

I just got done reading Mick Fleetwood's biography (from Fleetwood Mac). It was a damn entertaining read and it was fascinating to hear all of the turmoil surrounding the band while they recorded "Rumours", one of my favorite albums.

[Not Afraid]

I finished Angels and Demons. Let the real Conclave begin!

BTW, it was more propelling than The DaVinci Code.

I'm not sure what is next. I have a lot of books by my bedside.

[Eliza Hodgkins 1812]

My Sister's Hand in Mine by Jane Bowles. Short novel, stories, and plays. Just finished "Two Serious Ladies".

The Invisibles, a graphic novel written by Grant Morrison.

[Stan4dSteph]

I finished The Reader (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0375707972/qid=1113252224/sr=2-1/ref=pd_bbs_b_2_1/002-2864503-0155216) by Bernard Schlink (translated from German). I had gotten it back when it was an Oprah pick but never read it. It was a good read. Interesting issues to mull over.

I liked the LA Times quote on the cover, "A formally beautiful, disturbing and finally morally devastating novel."

[Prudence]

I'm about halfway through Angels and Demons, which I started this weekend instead of outlining civpro. So far it's nicely engaging brain candy.

[Not Afraid]

So far it's nicely engaging brain candy.

Perfect description!

[Boss Radio]

I keep starting Winesburg, Ohio, but I get distracted by work-related reading.
I was able to make it through Flat Stanley in one sitting, and it was just as good as I remembered it.

I, Robot is on my nightstand, as is the Martian Chronicles. I read them over 30 years ago, so I only remember certain scenes from selected stories. You CAN go home again.

The Illuminti made me tired. I remember it as being pretty front-loaded, but I never got past the first half of the first book. The Eye in the Pyramid, I think it was called.

Then again, I have ADD.

[CoasterMatt]

I just read something really geeky... the operations manual for a Bolliger & Mabillard inverted coaster.

[Ghoulish Delight]

So far I'm absolutely loving Focault's Pendulum. Philisohpy, cabala, grammar, a frustrated writer (or non writer), mysticism, physics, and programming in BASIC. And that's just the first 90 pages!! CP, you're getting this one next, like it or not.

[Claire]

This week I've read Heartburn by Nora Ephron. Eh. And Last Chance Saloon by um, some Irish chick whose books I've enjoyed....crap. Forgot. Next to my bed, I have been alternating between Bushwhacked by Molly Ivins (heehee) and a collection of short stories written by Irish chicks. Last night I was up with Chloe most of the night (she's had a heinous fever of 104.5 and I don't like her out of my sight), so I finally read Running With Scissors. I liked it, found it humorously horrible....but I still like Sedaris better. I think I'll look into Dry and Sellevision though, I'll probably like them, too. I also read That Yellow Bastard this morning over a cup of tea and a bagel. The last two weeks, I've re-read That Yellow Bastard, Big Fat Kill, A Dame to Kill For, and the Marv one....blanking on the title.

Next up: The Secret History, On the Road, Mrs. Dalloway (would make it the third time this year...I'm currently craving it viciously), collection of short stories by American women, The Kite Runner (book group selection), Sometimes a Great Notion, and Main Street.

[Not Afraid]

Claire, try Augesten's newly released short story collection. I really enjoyed it and it isn't quite as dark as "Running" or even "Dry" (which I loved for obvious reasons).

[Eliza Hodgkins 1812]

This week I've read Heartburn by Nora Ephron. Eh. And Last Chance Saloon I also read That Yellow Bastard this morning over a cup of tea and a bagel. The last two weeks, I've re-read That Yellow Bastard, Big Fat Kill, A Dame to Kill For, and the Marv one....blanking on the title.

The Hard Goodbye. I love that one. I haven't read A Dame To Kill For, yet.

I LOVE The Secret History. Tartt's The Little Friend isn't as terrific, but the characterizations are *amazing* in both. I'm a Bennington grad, so The Secret History really was a chilling read for a lot of reasons. I could see every place she described in vivid detail. And her Henry. Man, I love her Henry. Enjoy it, I hope!

[Claire]

The Hard Goodbye. I love that one. I haven't read A Dame To Kill For, yet.


You know all the bar scenes in the other books when Dwight is whining about Ava? She's the dame to kill for of the title. But now that I've seen Clive Owen as Dwight, I don't like it as much. But you learn how Manute loses his eye....:evil: and that's worth reading it for alone. The kill at the end of the book reminds me of the kill by Josh Hartnett's character at the beginning of Sin City.

I'm looking forward to A Secret History. Thanks for the good word.

[libraryvixen]

My sudden interest in children's chapter books has given me a lot to read in a small amount of time. The book I'm working on now is The Grim Grotto : book the eleventh of the Series of Unfortunate Events.

Books I have finished:


Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
The Princess Present (part of the Princess Diaries Series)


Other books being worked on;

Bad Ass Girl's Guide to Poker (to strengthen my game... and my horrible poker face)
Disney War

[blueerica]

I am reading The Restaurant at the End of the Universe, by Douglas Adams & re-reading A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, by James Joyce.

[lindyhop]

I just got The Annotated Brothers Grimm and I've been swept back to my childhood.

When I was a kid we had a series of books, one volume was all fairy tales. I read that book over and over and over. I still remember that "Cinderella" was on page 123, that seemed magical somehow. The illustrations were all different styles and I believed them all, I mean somewhere the world looked just like that, not like the boring place I lived.

I opened up this new book last night and found some of the same illustrations and discovered the reason they were so compelling was that they were taken from classic editions of fairy tales. I feel like I've discovered something that's been lost for a long time.

[MickeyD]

And Last Chance Saloon by um, some Irish chick whose books I've enjoyed....crap. Forgot.

I think it's Marian Keyes. I read that. I always say to people now....I'm in Last Chance Saloon.....

This weekend I was totally baaad, didn't work on my papers at all and curled up with two favorite detective novels....The Forgotten Man by Robert Crais (not bad, not great but definitely not bad) and Cold Service by Robert Parker (just eh.)

[MickeyD]

I just read Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America by Barbara Ehrenreich. I ordered it from Amazon because I thought I might use it for one of my papers. I don't think I will be able to use it, but it was a very interesting read. I actually sat down with it to scan through it, and pretty much ended up reading it all in one sitting.

[mistyisjafo]

"My Wicked Wicked Ways" by Errol Flynn. He wrote his own biography and that dude was so SWANKY. I suggest it to anyone who's a fan or even slightly interested in reading about one actor's escapades. :snap:

[Claire]

Looooved The Secret History. Very cool story. EH, I'd love to hear which parts creeped you out since you went to "Hampden." Thanks!

I'm reading To Hell and Back, re-reading HP & the Order of the Phoenix (getting in the moooood for the next book), and have been reading Main Street before bed each night. Kind of an odd assortment......I read another book last week, but I guess because I can't remember, it wasn't that great. :confused:

Thanks, Heather....Marian Keyes. I always like her books.

[Eliza Hodgkins 1812]

I'm reading Ballad of the Whiskey Robber.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0316071676/qid=1115314274/sr=8-1/ref=pd_csp_1/102-8262140-6676920?v=glance&s=books&n=507846

Amazing, so far. Just love his style of writing true crime/history. Plus, who doesn't love a real folk hero?! The Robin Hood of Hungary! It's awesome.

Just finished The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (Mostly Harmless). Man, the end really, really depressed me a lot more than I was expecting to be depressed. Though the end of So, Long and Thanks for All the Fish actually made me cry. Douglas Adams, you da' (late) man!

[Kels]

A friend gave me "He's Just Not That Into You". I think she's trying to tell me something. ;) It was a fun little read.

[Tref]

Every few years or so my obsession with Chaplin re-emerges and I re-read and re-watch every CC book and dvd I own. That said, I am currently deep into, Tramp by Joyce Milton. Its a bit trashy, but its a lot of fun, too.

You must all remember, as it is sometimes easy to forget, Giants once walked on earth! Viva Charlie!

[Eliza Hodgkins 1812]

Just started Everything is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer

[Tref]

Mostly I like to read the backs of cereal boxes.

[Tref]

Mostly I like to read the backs of cereal boxes.

Worst cereal: Proust Toasties.

[lindyhop]

I just got the copy of Something Rotten by Jasper Fforde that I ordered. More Tuesday Next! Unfortunately it will go in the pile with everything else I don't have time to read.

I don't have time to post either. :(

[CoasterMatt]

I'm reading a sales catalog from Kuka - the crazy cats who make the Robocoaster ride system that some are claiming Disney is gonna use at DCA.

[Stan4dSteph]

In the Presence of the Enemy by Elizabeth George. It's a mystery and so far is quite good. :)

[lindyhop]

In the Presence of the Enemy by Elizabeth George. It's a mystery and so far is quite good. :)
Elizabeth George is great. Her stories tend to be complicated and dense but are very worth the effort.

I'm slowly making my way through Assassination Vacation by Sarah Vowell.

[dsnylndmom]

The Manhattan Hunt Club by John Saul

[Not Afraid]

Riding the Black Ship: Japan and Tokyo - Aviad E. Raz

Very interesting sociological study of how Disney made it's home in Japan.

[libraryvixen]

I've just started Prep by Curtis Sittenfeld. It's about a small town girl who gets accepted to a fancy boarding school on scholarship. The character, Lee, has a good voice in describing the catty politics in her school.

[Cadaverous Pallor]

Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman....man, I am wishing for a night where I can stay up and really take a bite out of this. I never get tired of Alice in Wonderland-style fiction, especially as dark and rich as this.

[Ghoulish Delight]

I've finally finished Foucault's Pendulum. I really really liked it, BUT...

1) It's just too long, and it really didn't need to be. I mean, I understand that he really was trying to impart the whole process of thought these characters went through, but he could have done it without the excrutiating detail of the historical "facts". I got the point after the first meeting with the colonel, everything after that could have been FAR less detailed. By the end, I was so crammed with so many names and dates and connections that when things from the beginning of the book were brought up again, I couldn't remember what they were.

2) There was one thing I just didn't get, maybe someone who's read it can help me...

Why the fvck does he mask the name of Belbo's home town?! I kept expecting it to be revealed at the end, that the name of the town would be some sort of lynch pin in the Plan and that the revelation would change everything. But no dice. Just ***. Was that supposed to be symbolic of something, or was Eco just too lazy to find an Italian town that matched his description?

[Baileykat]

Dang it! I want more books! But alas, I was bad and now have a library fine! :eek:

[Gemini Cricket]

I think it was either GD or CP that was talking about 'The Phantom Tollbooth' on another thread. It made me want to read it. I like it so far. I'm right in the middle. I thought I had read it in the past, but I was mistaken.
:)
Me likes.

[Ghoulish Delight]

Probably me. I've probably read it 20 times, it's a wonderful book.

[Prudence]

GD: I've run into that a few different times, especially with older and/or European authors. The only thing I could think of was that it was to represent a generic place and not commit them to the specifics of any actual place. But I'm just making that up, so who knows.

[MickeyD]

I just finished reading Save Karyn by the girl who paid down all her debt with the savekaryn.com website. It was in the personal finace section of the library, but it read like chick lit. Very similar to the Shopaholic series, but IMO better.

[Eliza Hodgkins 1812]

Just finished Dear Dead Person, a collection of short stories by Benjamin Weissman.

And I've just started The Natural by Bernard Malamud.

[Claire]

I've been reading as much as I can lately.....never seems to be enough time anymore.....

Read Ellen Foster last week. Lit-tle disturbing! Also, Drowning Ruth (holy crap that was good storytelling).

I'm in the middle of a few books right now--

The Kite Runner (good!)
A Ship Made of Paper (loving it)
Broads, Booze and Bullets (or any combo of those three B words....duh, the opening scene in Sin City is in that book....wasn't very memorable, though, as I've read this one before.)

And the next ones are.....What Looks Like Crazy on an Ordinary Day and The Dangerous Husband. I also picked up The Poisonwood Bible the other day. I'm very much looking forward to that one.

[Gemini Cricket]

Claire~
The Kite Runner! Wonderful book but very hard to get through...

[Claire]

Claire~
The Kite Runner! Wonderful book but very hard to get through...

I'll admit this was my book group's pick, not my own. It's this group of young, hip, finely clad chicks....and they keep picking doozies--Til We Had Faces and Life of Pi? I still have two weeks to get it done....I keep finding other books that are more appealing at the moment, every other moment. :blush: But it's good to know I'll have someone here to discuss it with, too.

For the summer months, they've vowed to choose light and fluffy books, and I'm thinking, like what? War and Peace?

[€uroMeinke]

I just started Haruki Murakami's The Wind Up Bird Chronical (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0679775439/qid=1117241264/sr=8-2/ref=pd_csp_2/102-0719225-4505729?v=glance&s=books&n=507846)and am finding it delightfully charming, intriguing, and sexy - this looks like it will be a good read.

[€uroMeinke]

I just started Haruki Murakami's The Wind Up Bird Chronical (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0679775439/qid=1117241264/sr=8-2/ref=pd_csp_2/102-0719225-4505729?v=glance&s=books&n=507846)and am finding it delightfully charming, intriguing, and sexy - this looks like it will be a good read.

Indeed, I found this book to be brilliant and have a new favorite author - just went to borders today and picked up his entire catalogue - I'll be taking one to Chicago with me for sure.

Coolly surreal, but more contemplative and metaphysical than the Magical Realists. I saw Murakami compared to Philip K. Dick in one review, other's hail him as the next Mishima.

So fun to be captivated by a new discovery. Can't wait to read more.

[Not Afraid]

I read another of Murikami's books - Sputnik Sweetheart. A shoter read but a fascinating page turner. Borders was an expensive place tonight as we also picked up Fruits and the truely fresh off the press Fresh Fruits as well as the only Augestine Burroughs I haven't read, Sellavision.

[Ghoulish Delight]

Just finished The Abarat (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0064407330/qid=1119280608/sr=2-2/ref=pd_bbs_b_2_2/104-3299922-2692744), an excellent fantasy novel by Clive Barker. Fanciful and just a little bit disturbing. Perfect. The sequel will join my queue shortly.

But first, it's on to Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0465026567/qid=1119280709/sr=8-1/ref=pd_csp_1/104-3299922-2692744?v=glance&s=books&n=507846). A recommendation from a friend, seems fascinating and right up my alley.

[Not Afraid]

OMGA! Chris got you to read Gödel, Escher, Bach (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0465026567/qid=1119280709/sr=8-1/ref=pd_csp_1/104-3299922-2692744?v=glance&s=books&n=507846)? He hasn't pushed that book for YEARS!

[Not Afraid]

OMG! Chris got you to read Gödel, Escher, Bach (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0465026567/qid=1119280709/sr=8-1/ref=pd_csp_1/104-3299922-2692744?v=glance&s=books&n=507846)? He hasn't pushed that book for YEARS!

[Ghoulish Delight]

Nope, it wasn't Chris.

[Not Afraid]

WOW! There's some other odd soul in the world? Imagine that!

[Ghoulish Delight]

WOW! There's some other odd soul in the world? Imagine that!And I'm friends with them. What are the odds?

[Not Afraid]

Pretty high! ;)

[Eliza Hodgkins 1812]

Finished Memento Mori by Muriel Spark, Hunger by Knut Hamsun, and now I'm reading Over the Hills to Fabylon by Nicholas Stuart Gray.

[Eliza Hodgkins 1812]

Also, I have 60 books on my shelves to tackle before making another purchase, but Murakami will eventually be #61. Hurrah!

[Matterhorn Fan]

I haven't been reading much lately. You all make me feel inadequate.

I also started reading The Kite Runner for a book club thingie back in March. I got to a point where, had it ended, it might have been an interesting novella. I haven't picked it back up, but then again, it's under a stack of papers in my office, where I haven't been for over a month.

I started reading The Dante Club when I was waiting for my car a couple weeks ago. That one seems interesting. But I haven't picked it up since. Except to bring it back into the house.

I both began and finished Dogs of the Iditarod. But it was mostly super-cute doggie pictures.

I've been slowly rereading some of the Harry Potter books, since there's a new one coming soon.

I went to two different bookstores today looking for a particular edition of Oroonoko, which I need to reread for a class I'm teaching. I'll have to amazon the edition I want.

I just read Day One of Prudence's WDW trip report. Now that was swanky.

[lindyhop]

I'm currently on a Terry Pratchett binge. I heard about him from A.S. Byatt of all people during a UCLA spoken word event. I've read The Amazing Maurice and his Educated Rodents (I love just saying the title) and The Wee Free Men and now I'm in the middle of Soul Music.

I'm really annoyed no one ever told me about him before.

[€uroMeinke]

I'm currently on a Terry Pratchett binge. I heard about him from A.S. Byatt of all people during a UCLA spoken word event. I've read The Amazing Maurice and his Educated Rodents (I love just saying the title) and The Wee Free Men and now I'm in the middle of Soul Music.

I'm really annoyed no one ever told me about him before.

Terry Pratchett keeps showing up on my list - perhaps someday to be purchased - or even better, read.

[Claire]

I read The Kite Runner in 2-3 days a few weeks back. Absolutely loved it! We had a great discussion about it at my book group.

I've recently read a bunch of books......

Dreams From my Father by Barack Obama (made me loooove Obama even more--what a good solid person he is, hope he's our President someday, I think he's fabulous!)

The Beach by Alex Garland (mesmerizing!)

A Very Long Engagement by Sebastian Something (liked the movie slightly better, but still really liked it)

Poisonwood Bible by ??? (eh, it was okay)

The Dangerous Husband by Jane Shapiro (darkly humorous, but not fantastic)

A Ship Made of Paper by Scott Spencer (Wow, talk about feeling very human afterward)

There have been a few others....can't remember them now. Our book group is reading The Jane Austen Book Club or something like that for our light summer pick. I liked the description of it...sounds cute.

I've also been looking through a Fantastic Four collection.....:blush:

I bought the new Nick Hornby book, blanking on the name, but I had him sign it after a reading last week. He's dead sexy smart.

[lindyhop]

I've recently read a bunch of books......
I envy you. Lately I struggle to get through just one...

Our book group is reading The Jane Austen Book Club or something like that for our light summer pick. I liked the description of it...sounds cute.
I enjoyed that one.

I bought the new Nick Hornby book, blanking on the name, but I had him sign it after a reading last week. He's dead sexy smart.
I always expect him to look like Hugh Grant. :eek: But he's got that British thing going and that's all I need.

[libraryvixen]

Claire... you blow me out of the water with your reading prowess. :snap:

I'm reading How to Make Love Like a Porn Star by Jenna Jameson, Girls in Pants (Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants #3) by Ann Brashares, and The Washingtonienne by Jessica Cutler.

But, to be fair... I've been working on the first 2 books for a good month or more. I've been a slow book reader lately.

[Tref]

I am reading a pop up book about Abraham Lincoln written by Vidal Sassoon. It's a fine read though I abhor pop up ads in pop up books and this book has several and all for hair products.

According to Vidal, Lincoln shampooed irregularly. He once carried a letter in his hat for two weeks, walking almost 25 miles to deliver it. When he finally delivered the letter, the addressee complained of it being ruined by oil and dirt. Ironically, the letter Lincoln had been carrying for so long contained a free shampoo sample. "You need this more then I do," said the addressee. Lincoln, thanked the man for his honesty and put the shampoo sample back in his hat. Lincoln carried the sample around with him for several months, until the sample began to incorporate itself into Lincoln's thick mane. Lincoln would comb his hair each morning without notice of the sample. It had become such a part of his head that soon, Abe, unbeknownst to him, was even parting the shampoo sample and not his own hair. A year later, Lincoln was dead. Sassoon warns that without proper care, the same can happen to us, too. The rest, as they say, is shampoo history.*


* those who do not know Shampoo history are likey to rinse and repeat.

[Eliza Hodgkins 1812]

Just finished:

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by The Most Evil Woman in the World

Lessons in Taxidermy by Bee Lavender

Bartleby, the Scrivener by Herman Melville

[Tref]

Just finished:

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by The Most Evil Woman in the World

Lessons in Taxidermy by Bee Lavender

Bartleby, the Scrivener by Herman Melville

And that was just this afternoon!



On the subject of children's reading material, here are my three least favorite POP-UP books:

1.The Smooth Surface of the Moon
2.Understanding Horizontal Lines
3.Making Tortillas

[Tref]

I am reading a pop up book about Abraham Lincoln written by Vidal Sassoon. It's a fine read though I abhor pop up ads in pop up books and this book has several and all for hair products.

According to Vidal, Lincoln shampooed irregularly. He once carried a letter in his hat for two weeks, walking almost 25 miles to deliver it. When he finally delivered the letter, the addressee complained of it being ruined by oil and dirt. Ironically, the letter Lincoln had been carrying for so long contained a free shampoo sample. "You need this more then I do," said the addressee. Lincoln, thanked the man for his honesty and put the shampoo sample back in his hat. Lincoln carried the sample around with him for several months, until the sample began to incorporate itself into Lincoln's thick mane. Lincoln would comb his hair each morning without notice of the sample. It had become such a part of his head that soon, Abe, unbeknownst to him, was even parting the shampoo sample and not his own hair. A year later, Lincoln was dead. Sassoon warns that without proper care, the same can happen to us, too. The rest, as they say, is shampoo history.*


* those who do not know Shampoo history are likey to rinse and repeat it.

I just finished the Sassoon Lincoln book, anditwasgood. Here are some things you may all ready not know about our sixteenth president:

1. He loved tacos.
2. He has never made it all the way through a performance of Our American Cousin.
3. He first draft of the Gettysburg Address was written on the back of a matchbook cover. The second draft was written on a single grain of rice.
4. Lincoln stood 7 foot 8 in his stocking feet and on a soap box. Off the soap box Lincoln stood 6 foot 5. Off his stocking feet he stood 6 foot 6.
5. As the average man of that era stood only 5 foot 2 many Washingtonians never actually knew what Lincoln looked like. Campaign posters of that time showed only Lincolns crotch area, as that was how he was seen by many.
6. Lincoln's favorite game was "gotcha your nose." It was said that he carried with him over seven or eight noses, which he refused to return.

[€uroMeinke]

I am still reading Haruki Murakami, this time a collection of short stories entitled The Elephant Vanashises (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0679750533/qid=1124308011/sr=8-13/ref=sr_8_xs_ap_i13_xgl14/103-5098031-8027048?v=glance&s=books&n=507846) and I continue to be delighted.


Last night I read The Dancing Dwarf, a sort of contemporary fairy tale, blending folk tale settings with contemporary attitudes, dreamlike absurdity, and a touch of darkness a la David Lynch. It was such a good read, I had to turn around and read it again, out load to Not Afraid as this was a story that demanded to be told and not just read.

I continue to be amazed by this author and am delighted that he's a contemporary presence on the literary scene. Yeah Harry Potter is waiting, but this writer has possessed me like no other.

It's lawys so great to find an artist who seems to be speaking to you.

:cool:

[Ghoulish Delight]

I'm reading "Fibre Channel: A Comprehensive Introduction"

Not very swanky, but I figure it's about time I understood the technology I work with on a daily basis.

[Tref]

I'm reading "Fibre Channel: A Comprehensive Introduction"

Not very swanky, but I figure it's about time I understood the technology I work with on a daily basis.

I got as far as the chapter on Whole Wheat.

[Ghoulish Delight]

I got as far as the chapter on Whole Wheat.That'd be fiber. I'm talkin' fibre.

[Motorboat Cruiser]

I'm reading Dean Koontz's "Frankenstein" right now, a new twist on an old classic. It's actually really good so far.

[TheatreTech]

I just finished reading Sarah by J.T. LeRoy.
I highly suggest it.

Now, I'm starting The Heart is Deceitful Above All Things also by J.T. LeRoy.

[Drince88]

That'd be fiber. I'm talkin' fibre.
I used to do some work for a company with Fibre in their name - and they were talking pulp.

(Anyone who drove from Portland to Seattle on I-5 probaby 'appreciated' their 'aroma')

I'm just getting started on a Mary Jane Clark novel - "Dancing in the Dark" Not exactly swanky - but enjoyable brain candy (kind of like a decent chocolate, as opposed to a full on chick-lit/romance that's hard candy)

[Eliza Hodgkins 1812]

Everyone Into the Pool by Beth Lisick

Just finished Kelly Link's Stranger Things Happen.

I highly recommend them both.

[Prudence]

I'm reading "The Beekeeper's Apprentice." I've read the other books in the series and I'm only just now getting around to the first one. It's of the Sherlock Holmes genre -- what if Holmes, in his later years, partnered with a young woman of similar skill that he eventually married? And it's much less lame than that description sounds. They're written from the perspective of the woman and they're really quite entertaining.

[Cadaverous Pallor]

Just finished Freakonomics (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/006073132X/qid=1124333598/sr=8-1/ref=pd_bbs_1/103-4060710-1544664?v=glance&s=books&n=507846) by Steven Levitt. Awesome, awesome book. Really opens your head up. Recommended for Liberals and Conservatives alike, because it's numbers, not politics.

[Not Afraid]

I was talking with a friend about Vampires last night and I just got a hankering for some good blood sucking. I picked up a copy of The Historian. I've both read and heard good things, but I'm going in with my eyes wide open (and garlic around my neck - to attract the vampires, of course). We'll see.

[Tref]

That'd be fiber. I'm talkin' fibre.

Well, you say, fibre, I say fiber. So long as its good for your potty, then why quibble, right? The thing is folks, no matter what the spelling, we need plenty of it in our diets.

Myself, lately I have been reading a lot the stuff left on my windshield at night. It seems Lyndon LaRouche is running for president again and 24 Fitness is having a sale.

[Boss Angeles]

black dahlia avenger and disneywar. The pictures in disneywar were more gruesome for sure.

[€uroMeinke]

I won't catch up entirely - but I recently finished a couple noteworthy titles:

The Flash of LIghtening Behind the Mountains: New Poems by Charles Bukowski - I've always been a bukowski fan, but when I picked up this "new" book, I was pleased to discover that while Bukowski was alive, he'd sit with his editor selecting his best poems - only to put them away to publish only after his death. Apparently, Bukowski was more prolific than imagined as there apparently is several books worth waiting to be published - and in many ways this really is some of his best stuff and perfect reading for riding the LA Metro.

Magical Thinking: True Stories by Agusten Burroughs - cool little twisted vingnets a la David Sedaris, only a bit darker and sometimes cring-inducing. also made for a quick fun read especially if you like this genre.

At the moment I took on another Murakami - this time Kafka on the Shore, which had me a bit suspicious to begin with, but now that I'm dealing with Picnic at Hanging Rock type experiences and a man who talks to cats, I am once again possessed.

[Ghoulish Delight]

Well, having finally finished reading Goedel, Escher, Bach (yeah it took like 8 months. In my defense I did read several other books long the way, but mostly I'm slow and it's a dense book), I wanted to stay in the realm of discussing AI/human though. I considered picking up a collection of writings by the same author, but a quick glance showed that, while updated by a few decades, it covered the same basic themes and would probably be pretty repetative.

So instead I grabbed The Cambridge Quintet by John Casti. It's a work of what he calls "scientific fiction." It's in the style of Plato's Symposium. It's an account of an imagined dinner party attended by very real scientists, mathemeticians, philosophers. A "what would happen if..." The 5 players are C.P. Snow (physcist who worked to unite the humanities and the sciences), J.B.S. Holdane (genetecist), Ludwig Wittgenstein (philosopher who within his lifetime fathered 2 completely conflicting philosophies regarding human thought), Alan Turing (father of computing as we know it and a pioneer in the theoretical side of AI), and Erwin Schrödinger (yes, that Schrödinger).

It's short, at seems to not probe particularly deeply, especially considering the thurough dismantling of many of these concepts I just got through with GEB. But it is entertaining so far.

[blueerica]

Due to my coursework this year, I'm being afforded the opportunity to read a lot of books I've either read before, or have had some interest in reading.

Just read Conquest of America, by Tzevetan Todorov, a compelling case for the sense of otherness, in terms of ethnicity and actually, racism, and what role communication (and definition of communication) played for Columbus, Cortez and Las Casas in the discovery and conquest of the Americas..

I just started reading Blood Meridian, by Cormac McCarthy (the guy who wrote All The Pretty Horses, a book I never read, but remember something about a movie made after it...). Only a chapter in, and there are countless acts of brutal violence, though it seems intriguing, this tale of the Kid, and what I know is to come in the book, a tale of Americas' westward expansion.

I'm pretty stoked about the other books for my Ethnic Literature in America class, though they're all super heavy.

In another class, the Comic Spirit, I'm reading Lysistrata, Aristophanes comedy of acheiving peace for warring Greece through the women's movement to not give the warriors any nookie. Nookie for the win!

I'll also soon be reading Waiting for Godot, and Candide...

Such a happy girl, am I! However, it has made me stop reading the Wind Up Bird Chronicle. I'll have to pick that back up over Spring Break, or after the semester's over...

[Not Afraid]

After Murakami's Kafka on the Shore, I sped through the latest collection of short stories by favorite T. C. Boyle and now I'm on to the latest Gabriel Garcia Marquez novel - his first work of fiction in over 10 years. I so love his writing, but it makes me want to read One Hundred Years of Sollitude for the umteenth time.

[The Shadoe]

I'm reading a few books simultaneously:

Ethan Frome - A classic. I don't think anything has to be said.

The Prince - The end justifies the means. What Macchiavelli meant by this is that it is a "Prince's" (or ruler's) job to keep a nation together, no matter what.

Hand in hand with the Prince, I am reading The Compleated Autobiography by Bengamin Franklin. I really like reading books about American history, especially ones like this which are his own words and provide lots of insight into why things are the way they are, yet be able to see that our country was set up by regular people. It goes hand-in-hand with The Prince because I am writing a paper and delivering a speech for extra credit about the level of Machiavellian politics/attitudes thatBenjamin Franklin has.

Norton Anthology of African-American Literature - A huge book full of short stories that gives you a completely different perspective on what living in the United States as an African-American is like.

[Eliza Hodgkins 1812]

Wodehouse's Life With Jeeves.

Impossible to feel sad when you read his stories. Impossible.

[wendybeth]

Reader's Digest.


No! Just kidding- really! I'm reading the collected letters of Gustave Flaubert, which I've read many times before but felt like reading again.

[lindyhop]

After I saw the 4th Harry Potter movie last Thanksgiving I decided to re-read all the books before finally reading the 6th for the first time. I'm really enjoying reading one book after another but there have been so many distractions in my life that I just finished book 5 this past week. Half Blood Prince, here I come!

Someday I'll complete this project and get to read a non-HP book again. On Beauty by Zadie Smith has been tempting me since I received it at Christmas.

[Ghoulish Delight]

I'm back to Hofstadter. I'm about a third of the way through Metamagical Themas: Questioning for the Essence of Mind and Pattern.

It's a compendium of columns he wrote for Scientific American over the span of a couple of years plus some commentary he added when he compiled them. While each column stands more or loss on its own, he's reordered them into several conceptual groups, all of which work to build on an overall discussion on the structure of human thought and the nature of creativity (which is Hofstadter's constant obsession, and what he feels is the key concept to pin down if we're ever to create true human-like artificial intelligence). Being a collection of columns, it's far less penetrating than Goedel, Escher, Bach (dispite the comparable lenght), which is both good and bad. And he gets a tad preachy at points.

But what I'm really loving about this book so far is that it's a total product of its time. The columns were written between '81 and '82. he compiled them and wrote his post-scripta in '85. Here are a few of the more amusing things that have popped up:

* "Did you know that in some city centers, a single family home can sell for as much as a quarter of a million dollars?!"

* "A really fancy single-user computer costs approximately $75,000"

* A column devoted to the inequity of sexist language. Including his pleasure that the term "flight attendant" is beginning to be used, and the resistance to the use of "Ms." as opposed to "Miss" or "Mrs."

* Mention of computers that can do an astounding 1 Million operations per second!

* A wholly unnatural obsession with Rubik's Cube, or "the Cube" as he often refers to it.

:D

[Capt Jack]

re reading
SUN TZU ON THE ART OF WAR
Translated from the Chinese
By LIONEL GILES, M.A. (1910)

not sure how it ranks on the swankage scale, but its great stuff.

[BarTopDancer]

Java script and sql queries.

[Prudence]

I'm finally reading Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell, or whatever it's called. I'm about halfway through at this point. Also halfway through Eats, Shoots, and Leaves and Talk to the Hand. Maybe I should actually finish something...

[orbitalpunk]

I just recieved "The Complete Letters of Vincent Van Gogh". Its been absolutely amazing so far.

http://207.234.168.201/vangogh.jpg

[wendybeth]

Okay, that's cool, OP. :snap:

I don't know why, but I get off on reading stuff like that, particularily when it's from an artist or author whose work I like. I love the commentaries they give on comtemporary culture and politics, and the reading about how they agonised for weeks over a single line of prose or got beat up by their jealous spouses when busted for infidelities.

Am re-reading 'The Hot Zone'. Just getting ready for when the avian flu hits.

[Not Afraid]

I just finished yet another Murakami novel called Norwegian Wood. It was his first really big "hit" in Japan. It was quite good and a bit different from the others I have read, although it is interesting to see some of the same icons, themes and accidental characters appear throughout his novels.

Man is he a great writer.

I have no idea what I'm going to read next, but I'm out of the house with my Dalmatian for the next week, so I'd better find something quick.

[wendybeth]

101 Dalmations?

Sorry- it's been a long day.:D

[Not Afraid]

LOL. No, one is enough.

[AllyOops!]

My Grandma just bought me Marley & Me by John Grogan. :)

I've been so excited to read this book! I've heard so many glowing & positive reviews, and it's now #1 on the New York Times Best Seller list. Even Howard Stern has been giving this book lots of attention on his morning show. I think it's going to remind me very much of my little snowpea that recently passed away. In fact, I think this would be a wonderful read for anybody that has a beloved dog, cat, or pet of any kind! :)

Here is a link!

http://www.marleyandme.com

[Ghoulish Delight]

I've begun Palm Sunday: An Autobiographical Collage by Kurt Vonnegut. It's a collection of writings, transcribed speeches, personal letters, etc. by Vonnegut (and some by people close to him) that he complied and added commentary to. I'm only through a chapter and a half and I LOVE it. He's such a prick sometimes, but a damned amusing one.

[Motorboat Cruiser]

While not quite as cerebral as some of the other offerings posted here, I'm reading "Angels and Demons" right now. So far, it's been an enjoyable little romp around the Vatican. I'm liking it quite a bit better than The DaVinci Code.

[Snowflake]

:cool: MoleHILL MOUntain

[Stan4dSteph]

The Bone People (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0140089225/ref=pd_kar_gw_1/104-6283177-4528707?%5Fencoding=UTF8&v=glance&n=283155) by Keri Hulme - it's turned into a really fantastic read. I'm loving the nontraditional narrative style and descriptions of the New Zealand settings.

Next up is Devil in the White City (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0375725601/sr=1-1/qid=1145480168/ref=pd_bbs_1/104-6283177-4528707?%5Fencoding=UTF8&s=books).

[Not Afraid]

I started reading Baudalino by Name of the Rose author Umberto Eco but I took a break to read a more portable book while in Boston. Of course, I choose another Murakami. This time it was South of the Border, West of the Sun. Different than his other books (but with some of the same alligories and references). I found it very bittersweet but wonderful.

I've now returned to Baudalino.

[Matterhorn Fan]

I own a Murakami.

Back during spring break I read the first two chapters.

I haven't read anything since. I figure if I'm going to read, it ought to be papers that I should be grading.

I shall get back to it in a few weeks.

[Not Afraid]

Which Murakami did you decide on?

And, reading Murakami is much more interesting than grading papers - and I bet the writing is better too. ;)

[Matterhorn Fan]

Obviously, but reading Murakami doesn't get the papers off my desk.

I got Kafka on the Shore, which was the one recommended to me.

[Eliza Hodgkins 1812]

The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro. I'm now in love with Kazuo.

[€uroMeinke]

I just started Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere, but I'm still coming off a Murakami high after reading his Dance Dance Dance which still has me thinking, pondering, and imagining - so I think I need to take Neverwhere a bit slowly at first so I can devote myself to it more fully in a day or so...

[lindyhop]

I'm reading On Beauty by Zadie Smith. Great characters, lovely writing.

[Prudence]

I finally finished both Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell and Son of a Witch (the Wicked sequel.) The first was odd. It seems like it was written to mimic the style of the period, not just describe it. It unfolded very slowly, more so than more contemporary popular fiction - at least the ones that I read. The second was better that I expected. Not as good as Wicked, of course, which was absolutely amazing, but better than some of his others.

[Not Afraid]

Have you read Mirror Mirror? I bought that at one time and it's been taking up space at the bedside for ever, but I can't bring myself to read it for some reason. (Murakami)

[Prudence]

Yup, read the almost whole "fairytale" series - Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister, Lost, Mirror Mirror... but now I see I missed Dream Stealer - and it's a Baba Yaga-esque tale. How could I have missed that?

[lindyhop]

I finally finished both Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell and Son of a Witch (the Wicked sequel.) The first was odd. It seems like it was written to mimic the style of the period, not just describe it. It unfolded very slowly, more so than more contemporary popular fiction - at least the ones that I read.
It took me ages to drag myself through that book. I really wanted to like it but I just couldn't. I thought it ended up making magic boring.

[blueerica]

Finishing (again!) The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison, and have started on Maxine Hong Kingston's Woman Warrior


Have read a lot of interesting books for my ethnic lit class, some of them I have already read, so many of which are just breaking my heart repeatedly. Who'd 'a thunk a fluffy little class would be making me think so much?

[BarTopDancer]

I'm reading this (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0764539884/sr=8-2/qid=1145377526/ref=pd_bbs_2/002-2469976-7451252?%5Fencoding=UTF8). I know you are all jealous.

[Motorboat Cruiser]

I'm reading this (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0764539884/sr=8-2/qid=1145377526/ref=pd_bbs_2/002-2469976-7451252?%5Fencoding=UTF8). I know you are all jealous.

Been there, done that. :)

I have the access bible and also access programming for dummies if you would like to borrow either.

[Not Afraid]

I used to have those. I hate those books.

[BarTopDancer]

Been there, done that. :)

I have the access bible and also access programming for dummies if you would like to borrow either.

I may take you up on that. Work will buy us the books we need, and I try to pick the least painful reads.

[scaeagles]

Perhaps I am a neanderthal, but ever since college I have lost any enjoyment for reading books. Fiction, non fiction, whatever. Can't do it anymore. I'd rather do most anything than read a book.

I read articles, certain magazines, columns, internet bulletin board threads that interest me.....but if I can't finish the whole thing in one setting, then it isn't for me.

Plus my wife says I'm ADD, so perhaps that's why, too.

[Ghoulish Delight]

Perhaps I am a neanderthal, but ever since college I have lost any enjoyment for reading books. Fiction, non fiction, whatever. Can't do it anymore. I'd rather do most anything than read a book.It all becomes clear now.

[Eliza Hodgkins 1812]

I finally finished both Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell and Son of a Witch (the Wicked sequel.) The first was odd. It seems like it was written to mimic the style of the period, not just describe it. It unfolded very slowly, more so than more contemporary popular fiction - at least the ones that I read. The second was better that I expected. Not as good as Wicked, of course, which was absolutely amazing, but better than some of his others.

I LOVED Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell. It's probably one of my favorite books. I really enjoyed the slow unravelling of the first 600 pages, and the crazy non-stop action of the last 300. Dickens and Austen meet fantasy. Just loved it. And she writes just about the scariest traditional vision of faery folk I've ever read. The footnotes were, for me, captivating. And I positively crushed all over Childermass.

[Prudence]

Oh yeah - I got a kick out of the footnotes.

[€uroMeinke]

I read over a 100 pages of Neverwhere today - somehow this book is improved greatly when reading on public transportation.

[Ghoulish Delight]

I'm taking my first foray into Murakami. I suppose I should have perused the recommendations here for what would be a good one to start with...but I just grabbed the first one that I liked the description for, Hard-boiled Wonderland and the End of the World. So far, I like.

[Motorboat Cruiser]

I picked up two books today...

"The Best Short Stories of O. Henry"

and

"Skinny Legs and All", one of the Tom Robbins books that I somehow overlooked.

Should be interesting to go back and forth between the two. :)

[Scrooge McSam]

Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim, David Sedaris

Light, easy to read in short snatches

[Not Afraid]

GD: That Murakami if one of the 3 neither of us have read. We've both been on quite a Murakami jag latel.

Sinny Legs and All! I completely remember the time and place I was when I read that. I am 22 years old and lying on the bed in the first "room" Chris and I shared and reading that particular TR book. How funy to have such a strong memory of place and time.

Sam - LOVE LOVE LOVE Sedaris. We saw him read again recently and he only gets better and better.

I'm finishing p a collection of Murakami short stories titled "The Elephant Vanishes". I keep bouncing around between books which is very unusual for me.

[€uroMeinke]

Just Finished Norwegian Wood, by Murakami - unlike his other books, this one has none of the fantastical elements - but the characters and situations were very compeling, I say it's one of my favorites - but I haven't read any I didn't like yet.

Next up I, Lucifer

[Scrooge McSam]

Sam - LOVE LOVE LOVE Sedaris. We saw him read again recently and he only gets better and better.


He he he Just found audio of Front Row Center with Thaddeus Bristol (http://audio.wbez.org/tal/87.m3u)

His reading is about 6 minutes in.

:snap: :snap:

[scaeagles]

Another thread has inspired me to reread (again, as who knows how many times I've read it) Animal Farm by George Orwell.

[FEJ]

Just finished The Diamond Age, or A Young Lady's Illustrated Prime by Neal Stephenson

I am almost done with The Wind Up Bird Chroniclesby Murakami as well as A Natural History of the Senses by Diane Ackerman

[wendybeth]

I'm re-reading the short stories of Guy de Maupessant. I love his writing.

[Lost Boy]

I read only fun books, non of this "heavy" reading stuff. I have enough problems in real life. That's why I go to Disneyland anyway, to get away from the real world.

So, I have read both the American and English versions of all six HP books and love them to death.:snap:

About a year or more ago a book was released titled "Peter and the Starcatchers". This is an excellent book on the origin of Peter Pan which is totally different from what we have believed, and just a whole lot of fun to read. This coming July they (Disney Books) are releasing the sequel, but the same authors titled, "Peter and the Shadow Thieves". It can be pre-ordered from Amazon dot com now. The story synopsis looks like a lot of fun. Disney wants to make the first book into a movie. I hope they do.:cheers:

[Perle]

Just finished The Diamond Age, or A Young Lady's Illustrated Prime by Neal Stephenson

I am almost done with The Wind Up Bird Chroniclesby Murakami as well as A Natural History of the Senses by Diane Ackerman
Diamond Age is a good one. I should re-read it. I get all his novels mixed up in my head

[Matterhorn Fan]

I just (finally) finished The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle and I'm halfway through A Wild Sheep Chase.

[Not Afraid]

I just finished Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman - a collection of short stories by Murakami. I started reading another collection of short stories put together by David Sedaris last night.

[Gemini Cricket]

NA & SMcS,
Amy Sedaris' book "I Like You" is good, too. If you get a chance listen to the Audio book... it's hysterical.
:)

[Stan4dSteph]

I finished The Thief Taker (http://www.amazon.com/Thief-Taker-Novel-Janet-Gleeson/dp/0743290186/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/104-6569248-7665527?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1181159803&sr=8-1) by Janet Gleeson. Very interesting look into the lives of servants in Georgian London, with a nice mystery woven in.

I have started on Assassination Vacation by Sarah Vowell.

[Ghoulish Delight]

I made my first book purchase for myself in a long time. Douglas Hofstadter's I am a Strange Loop (http://www.amazon.com/Am-Strange-Loop-Douglas-Hofstadter/dp/0465030785/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/102-3142518-6753753?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1181164011&sr=1-1). I swear, the collection of symbols that, in aggregate, form the larger, highly complex, self-referential symbol referred to as "I" loves every word that man writes.

Meanwhile, he mentions Vehicles: Experiments in Synthetic Psychology (http://www.amazon.com/Vehicles-Experiments-Psychology-Valentino-Braitenberg/dp/0262521121/ref=pd_bbs_1/102-3142518-6753753?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1181163973&sr=1-1) by Valentino Braitenberg. If I can find it without paying for it I think that's next on my list.

[€uroMeinke]

I'm reading an IEEE publication on Engineering Design Changes to Nuclear Generating Facilities.

[mousepod]

I'm reading an IEEE publication on Engineering Design Changes to Nuclear Generating Facilities.

I'm waiting for the movie.

[CoasterMatt]

I'm reading a sales catalog from Mack Engineering. I WILL have one of these spinny coasters in my backyard.

[alphabassettgrrl]

I haven't finished the reading that was previously waiting for me but I bought more books at the Huntington today.

[libraryvixen]

I'm compiling a list of books that I'd like to take with me on a very VERY long flight overseas. I'll riffle through them at the bookstore this weekend and purchase accordingly (I'm thinking I'll buy 3 or 4)

I'd like a book I can start and stop at ease and (preferably) paperback!

Thanks everyone!!

[Snowflake]

I'm reading an IEEE publication on Engineering Design Changes to Nuclear Generating Facilities.

I probably just cited this in an IDS for a patent application. ugh

[Snowflake]

Just started re-reading Brideshead Revisted after learning about the movie remake in the works.

I'm feeling the need to hit a used book store, failing that, a trip to www.addall.com to see what I can find.

[Ghoulish Delight]

Crazy. Yesterday was the first time I'd opened this thread in god knows how long. Reading it and posting to it prompted me to remember the thread about Alex giving away books and I wondered what ever happened to that. Lo and behold, I get home and there's a package from one Mr. Alex Stroup sitting on my doorstep. :eek: *cue Rod Serling*

[Stan4dSteph]

I received my package yesterday as well. Thanks, Alex.

[libraryvixen]

Alex, the post office put my package under my doormat and I thought it was an animal! Luckily it was a thoughtful package of books! :) Thank you!

[Alex]

You're all welcome. Remember me in your wills.

[libraryvixen]

You're all welcome. Remember me in your wills.

I'll bequeath to you the books you sent me. :evil:

[scaeagles]

I rarely am enthusiastic about a book I read. However, a book was recommended to me that really has helped my attitude in most things. It's called The Question Behind the Question, by John G. Miller.

It's a rather short self-help motivation type book - something that even more rarely excites me. It discusses the elimination of blame and complaining by what questions you ask yourself. I've always been a person that constantly asks myself negative rhetorical questions, and this book has helped me see how that is never a good thing. In the two weeks since I've read it, my attitude and productivity at work has really increased.

[Bornieo: Fully Loaded]

I just finished "The Prince of the Magic Kingdom" by Joe Flower.

[Bornieo: Fully Loaded]

(Bump!) from February? Hmmm


Just finished Wired by Bob Woodward on the life of John Belushi. What a totally f**ked up life he lead. Facinatingly f**ked up.

Starting to read The Learners by Chip Kidd

[flippyshark]

I'm about two thirds of the way through Cormac McCarthy's The Road. It's beautifully written, but I'm dreading each turn of the page. (To say that it is bleak is an understatement.)

[Stan4dSteph]

I'm about two thirds of the way through Cormac McCarthy's The Road. It's beautifully written, but I'm dreading each turn of the page. (To say that it is bleak is an understatement.)I bought that one, but haven't started it yet.

[Andrew]

Princeps' Fury (http://www.amazon.com/Princeps-Fury-Codex-Alera-Book/dp/0441016383) - book five of Jim Butcher's non-Dresden (http://www.jim-butcher.com/books/dresden/) series, the Codex Alera (http://www.jim-butcher.com/books/alera/). Liking it a lot so far.

[Eliza Hodgkins 1812]

Swann's Way. I am reading it very, very slowly.

[JWBear]

Right now, I'm just trying to work my way through the ginormous stack of magazines I haven't gotten around to reading.

[NickO'Time]

Roadie. By Jamie Smith, I hope that a few people that don't understand a bike racers life will pick this up.
It's comical and surreal at the same time. Quick read for sure. Pretty much the reality of it all.

[Ghoulish Delight]

I've put down The Secular Conscience (http://www.amazon.com/Secular-Conscience-Belief-Belongs-Public/dp/1591026040) which, besides heading in a direction I didn't agree with, began arguing statements that weren't even accurate (what hell do you mean no one's been willing to take the position that zygotes aren't people?).

But, still being inspired by recent board chatter to embrace my atheism, I've picked up The God Delusion (http://www.amazon.com/God-Delusion-Richard-Dawkins/dp/0618918248/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1229115930&sr=1-1). I am certainly the choir for this preacher so it's not really going to do much to make me think, but it's nice to see my own positions so well argued.

[Alex]

Actually, I still found it very thought provoking at several points. Unfortunately, if you are in that choir, it is repretitive because he takes the arguments in favor of god's existence on individually (because frequently the response to an argument against one god is responded to with "well, mine is different" even when it really isn't) and the response is generally the same with at most minor tweaking.

But it put into succinct form many arguments I've made in the past and presses home the point that many "all things are possible" arguments miss in that while all things may be possible they are not all equally probable. Or that the existence of god just pushes back all of the same questions one layer.

[Strangler Lewis]

Having embraced your atheism, of which I was unaware, are you still planning to ritually take a knife to your son's penis?

[Alex]

As for me, I've just given up on The Wettest County in the World (http://www.amazon.com/Wettest-County-World-Novel-Based/dp/1416561390). Sometimes you just know immediately that you're not going to get along with a writing style. I did this time and I don't think I made it 40 pages in. The reviews are generally positive so I'm going to take the blame for this failure.

Started in its place both Sarah Vowell's The Wordy Shipmates (http://www.amazon.com/Wordy-Shipmates-Sarah-Vowell/dp/1594489998) about the Puritans and American Lion (http://www.amazon.com/American-Lion-Andrew-Jackson-White/dp/1400063256), the new Andrew Jackson biography from Jon Meacham. Since I consider Andrew Jackson a good candidate for worst person (not necessarily worst president) to hold the office it'll be interesting to see if my opinion changes (I haven't done deep reading on Jackson since college; maybe I've mellowed since).

[alphabassettgrrl]

Just checked out "Bill of Wrongs" about how the executive branch has stomped on our rights lately. Maybe I'll start it tonight.

[Alex]

Also recently read the swanky seeming Me of Little Faith from Lewis Black. I know most comedian books are horrible but I had hopes. They were dashed.

[Ghoulish Delight]

I think I'm over Lewis Black.

[Andrew]

I think I'm over Lewis Black.
We're seeing him in Phoenix on New Years Eve. I'll tell him you said so.

[Kevy Baby]

I am currently reading Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris, the first book in the Southern Vampire series (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlaine_Harris#Sookie_Stackhouse_.28Southern_Vam pire.29_Series) upon which the HBO show, True Blood (http://www.hbo.com/trueblood/) is based.

[Not Afraid]

I'm reading The Death of Vishnu (http://www.amazon.com/Death-Vishnu-Novel-Manil-Suri/dp/006000438X/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1229205450&sr=8-1) at the moment and enjoying it so far.