Anybody reading a good book?

[Connonym]

I just started Nick Hornby's A Long Way Down. He's the author who wrote High Fidelity and About a Boy. Good stuff.

[JitterbugPerfume]

1. It Can't Happen Here by Sinclair Lewis

it was written in the 1930s , but it is strangely contemporary.

It is about a not to bright president ~~~

[Connonym]

2. Jitterbug Perfume is my favorite Tom Robbins book, cool user name!

[JitterbugPerfume]

3. Thank you

I love Tom Robbins (kinda obvious , isn't it)?

[TheCentepedeShoes]

17. Execellent book

I picked up a first edition, plus a SL trilogy (Main Street, Babbitt, and Arrowsmith) at a used bookshop, all for $5. It wasn't long after then that It Can't Happen Here was re-issued in paperback. I would like to see ICHH made into a movie. I vote Marsha Gay Hardin for Lorinda Pike.

[MorningGlow]

4. Just finished The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid

Bill Bryson--his memories (often hilariously exaggerated) of growing up in Des Moines in the '50s. I laughed out loud many times, but it also has a sad undercurrent of innocence lost, as well as loss of small-town America. I strongly recommend it.

[GumboYaYa]

32. I just finished that too...very funny book.

I am a big fan of his writing.

When i finished Thunderbolt Kid, I started reading the Kiterunner and finished that in a day.

I need a new book now.

[MorningGlow]

44. I need a new book now, too

Not sure what I want to read, now. I have read several of Bryson's books, but not A Short History of Everything, so perhaps I'll seek that one out.

As for Thunderbolt Kid, I was enchanted by his stories of Des Moines from 50 years ago, and it made me recall my hometown in the '70s--we too had an impressive downtown department store. It got all dolled up for Christmas--it was quite the event during that season when your mom finally announced that this Saturday was finally THE day you got to go Christmas shopping on Main Street.

And I had to laugh that a lot of his lamentation about the loss of the past, in his last chapter, dwelled on the demolition of the movie theaters. I guess that's a common thing for anyone who's experienced those old-fashioned theaters--my older family members tell the same tales--different town, different theaters, but same memories. That was really interesting.

[GumboYaYa]

52. I was at a film festival in Missoula, Montana last week.

It was held in one of those old 1920's theaters. I thought of Thunderbolt Kid.

Short History of Everything is a totally different subject matter for Bryson, but he manages to make even the most mundane scientific topics exquisitely interesting.

I will probably start reading Life of Pi this evening. My wife keeps telling me I need to read that one.

[MorningGlow]

59. There is (was?) a great old theater in downtown Syracuse

I was there only once--saw REM play there--many years ago. There really is something to that old, detailed architecture. I could only imagine what it was like seeing a movie there.

I'm investigating my many unread books before buying new--trying to decide between continuing with From Elsewhere, about people who feel they are not really "from" this planet, and Yeats' autobiography. Hmmm...

[bif]

56. I agree. It did have a sad ending.

Especially when he described how the newspaper destroyed all the photographs. Major league bummer. What a waste.

[peacefreak]

5. I'm reading Angry Wives Eating Bon Bons.

About a group of women in a reading group from the 60's-90's. Not great literature, but a good read. I find myself looking forward to coming home & picking it up. I've also just finished Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult. Damn, she's good.

[YankeyMCC]

6. Revelation Space

by Alasair Reynolds

Very good bit of space opera - intelligent space opera with very complex and interesting characters - even if some bare only a passing resemblence to human ;)

[fishnfla]

7. one rec and one not

The Innocent Man by Grisham. A true story

13 Moons by Charles Frazier, (author of Cold Mountain) really puts the stew in stupid. Beyond bad

[MonkeyFunk]

8. I'm reading

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.

and David Rakoff's "Don't Get Too Comfortable".

[qnr]

9. Science and Scientists. Vol. 1

Abstract Algebra to Global Warming

https://salempress.com/store/samples/science_and_scientists/science_and_scientists.htm

[hfojvt]

10. Screwed: The Undeclared War against the Middle Class

by Thom Hartmann.

[LSK]

39. I want to read this one

So many books, so little time.

[blogslut]

11. Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee

I had always wanted to read it and now I am.

[TheCentepedeShoes]

19. It's good

I had read it back in the early 70's. Stopped a few months ago, on impulse, at a garage sale while on the way to the supermarket and found a copy. Haven't re-read it yet.

[JitterbugPerfume]

29. Me too

I have a copy of it here somewhere and Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee is on my list

[Momgonepostal]

31. I started it several years ago but couldn't finish because...

it was just so sad.

[Crabby Appleton]

48. read it many years ago, good book

[KitchenWitch]

12. The Secret

[Jimbo S]

13. Freakonomics

[GCP]

14. "My Sister's Keeper" - Jodi Picoult

Excellent read.

[ceile]

41. I just finished one of her books-

"Salem Falls", and I thought the ending was horrible. Have you read it? If so, do you think My Sister's Keeper is better? I really like her writing style, so I don't want to write her off after reading only one book.

[jonnyblitz]

15. I just bought "Brainless, the Lies and Lunacy of Ann Coulter"

by Joe Maguire but I haven't started it yet. I also bought, "The Angry Right, Why Conservatives Keep Getting It Wrong" by S.T. Joshi. I am about to finish "Capote" by Gerald Clarke. very good book.

[Oeditpus Rex]

16. Nuh-uh

All I read is crap.



But you knew that. :hi:

[Fran Kubelik]

18. Ooooh - I need to read that.

Right now I am reading a book called \"The Sparrow\" which is kind of science-fiction-y but still really good.

Amazon.com
In 2019, humanity finally finds proof of extraterrestrial life when a listening post in Puerto Rico picks up exquisite singing from a planet which will come to be known as Rakhat. While United Nations diplomats endlessly debate a possible first contact mission, the Society of Jesus quietly organizes an eight-person scientific expedition of its own. What the Jesuits find is a world so beyond comprehension that it will lead them to question the meaning of being \"human.\" When the lone survivor of the expedition, Emilio Sandoz, returns to Earth in 2059, he will try to explain what went wrong... Words like \"provocative\" and \"compelling\" will come to mind as you read this shocking novel about first contact with a race that creates music akin to both poetry and prayer.

[Chan790]

20. The Evil B.B. Chow by Steve Almond.

He's one of my favorite authors. Definitely an NC-17 writer though and not recommended to easily offended or people who don't want to read books by a guy who delights in being a pervert.

[Habibi]

21. The Poisonwood Bible

based on recs from the Fiction DU group. Took a while to get into it, now I'm utterly hooked. Nice big-ass book, too, perfect for long winter evenings.

[JitterbugPerfume]

30. Have you read anything else by B Kingsolver?

she is a wonderful author

[GumboYaYa]

33. That is a great book.

It shook me to my core when I read that.

[China_cat]

22. I just finished "Take Big Bites" by Linda Ellerbee

Small bites of a life lived pretty large. With recipes.

[Spider Jerusalem]

23. "My Name Is Red", by Orhan Pamuk.

Murder, intrigue, and the clash of Western cultural influence and the mores of the 16th century Ottoman Empire. (Pamuk recently won the Nobel Prize in literature; I'd also recommend his novel "Snow", which is amazingly good.)

[Unvanguard]

24. Recently I finished two of Randall Kenan's:

A Visitation of Spirits and Let the Dead Bury the Dead. Both were fairly good.

Currently I'm reading Robert Nozick's Anarchy, State, and Utopia, which is interesting and thoughtful, though I disagree radically with the conclusions.

[WCGreen]

25. I read that and thought he was over reaching a bit by trying to

tell the story from all those points of view...

It weakened the story for me...

[Rhythm]

26. Reading my sociology textbook...

i was supposed to have a mid-term exam tomorrow, but i got subpoenaed for court tomorrow...

make-up exam!!!

[MedleyMisty]

27. The Tao of Physics, by Frijtof Capra

Also am in the midst of several other books.

The Making of the Fittest: DNA and the Ultimate Forensic Record of Evolution, by Sean Carrol

Peter Singer's Writings on an Ethical Life

Terry Pratchett's Thief of Time. I figured it was about time for a rereading of Discworld, and chose Thief of Time to start with because I'm currently on a physics kick.

I've been mostly reading nonfiction lately, and I'm contemplating taking a break from it and reading Jane Eyre. Again. :) Sigh. I love Jane Eyre. It's been my favorite book since middle school. I identify with Jane so much.

But first I must finish The Tao of Physics, which is absolutely fascinating. I saw the parallels between Eastern mysticism and quantum physics, but I certainly wasn't expecting to find a book about it at Barnes & Noble. I guess that's one good thing about their science section being mostly about religion.

[mduffy31]

28. Uncle John's Bathroom Reader

It is fun to read and you really do learn some rather interesting things.

[enigmatic]

34. I'm re-reading "Winesburg, Ohio" by Sherwood Anderson

First time in a couple of years; it's in my top 5 favorite books. Here's an online copy you can read:

http://www.bartleby.com/156/

[Momgonepostal]

35. I just finished "The Glass Castle," by Jeannette Walls

It's non-fiction and about her experiences growing up in poverty with very neglectful parents. It was one of those that if it had been fiction, I would have thought it was too far fetched. Reminiscent of Angela's Ashes a bit, except that the author is not as lyrical as Frank McCourt.

All in all, an excellent book, and confirms my believe that is good public school system is vital.

http://www.amazon.com/Glass-Castle-Memoir-Jeannette-Walls/dp/074324754X/sr=8-1/qid=1172524975/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/105-1795209-0081220?ie=UTF8&s=books

[Katina]

36. Middlesex

excellent book.

[Fran Kubelik]

37. I loved that book.

:hi:

[GenDem]

55. Me, too

:hi:

[bif]

58. My wife's relatives where from the same hometown

In Asia Minor. They were close friends. I'm almost related! Sort of...

[LSK]

38. Fiasco by Thomas Ricks

[ceile]

40. "The Good German" Joseph Kanon

Reading it before I go see the movie. Like it a lot so far.

[huskerlaw]

42. Suite Francaise

by Irene Nemirovsky.

From Amazon: Celebrated in pre-WWII France for her bestselling fiction, the Jewish Russian-born Némirovsky was shipped to Auschwitz in the summer of 1942, months after this long-lost masterwork was composed. Némirovsky, a convert to Catholicism, began a planned five-novel cycle as Nazi forces overran northern France in 1940. This gripping "suite," collecting the first two unpolished but wondrously literary sections of a work cut short, have surfaced more than six decades after her death. The first, "Storm in June," chronicles the connecting lives of a disparate clutch of Parisians, among them a snobbish author, a venal banker, a noble priest shepherding churlish orphans, a foppish aesthete and a loving lower-class couple, all fleeing city comforts for the chaotic countryside, mere hours ahead of the advancing Germans. The second, "Dolce," set in 1941 in a farming village under German occupation, tells how peasant farmers, their pretty daughters and petit bourgeois collaborationists coexisted with their Nazi rulers. In a workbook entry penned just weeks before her arrest, Némirovsky noted that her goal was to describe "daily life, the emotional life and especially the comedy it provides." This heroic work does just that, by focusing—with compassion and clarity—on individual human dramas.

[Z_I_Peevey]

43. Frank Rich's The Greatest Story Ever Sold.

It's a very readable overview of the last six years. I'd recommend it to anyone who still watches corporate news on the tube. DUers already know most everything he recounts, but he recounts it well.

[trof]

45. M. F. K. Fisher. If you have not yet discovered her, do so NOW!

I have three of her books, and they are some of the most delightful reads ABOUT food and it's preparation I have ever read.

"Mary Frances Kennedy Fisher (July 3, 1908 - June 22, 1992) was a prolific and well-respected writer, writing more than 20 books during her lifetime and also publishing two volumes of journals and correspondence shortly before her death in 1992. Her first book, Serve it Forth, was published in 1937. Her books dealt primarily with food, considering it from many aspects: preparation, natural history, culture, and philosophy. She understood that eating well was just one of the arts of life, always her second theme, and she wrote with the pacing and precision of a first rate essayist or short story writer.

While studying at the University of California in 1929, Fisher met her first husband, Alfred Young Fisher. The couple spent the first formative years of their marriage in Europe, primarily at the University of Dijon in France. At the time, Dijon was known as one of the major culinary centers of the world and this certainly had an impact on Fisher, who later went on to become one of the great culinary writers of the twentieth century.

In 1932, the couple returned from France to a country ravaged by the Great Depression. Having lived for years as students on a fixed stipend, they were wholly unprepared for the economic situation that faced them. Al got odd jobs cleaning out houses before finally landing a teaching job at Occidental College in Los Angeles. Fisher did her part teaching a few lessons at an all-girls' school and working in a frame shop.

During the Fishers' years in California, they formed a friendship with Dillwyn "Timmy" Parrish and his wife, Gigi. Later, in 1938, Fisher was to leave Alfred for Timmy, referred to as "Chexbres" in many of her books, named after the small Swiss village on Lake Geneva close to where they had lived. The second marriage, while passionate, was short. Only a year into the marriage, Parrish lost his leg due to a circulatory disease, and in 1941 took his own life. She was involved in a number of other turbulent romantic relationships with men and women."

There's a list of her books here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M._F._K._Fisher

[MedleyMisty]

46. The Tao of Physics, by Frijtof Capra

I'd noticed the connections between quantum physics and Eastern mysticism, but I certainly wasn't expecting to find a book about it at Barnes & Noble. I guess that's one good thing about their science section being mostly about religion.

I'm also reading The Making of the Fittest: DNA and the Ultimate Foresic Record of Evolution. And Peter Singer's Writings on an Ethical Life.

And Terry Pratchett's Thief of Time. I wanted to reread the Discworld series and started with Thief of Time since I'm currently on a physics kick.

[jane_pippin]

47. I just started "Finn," which I think will be good

but I just started it so I'm not quite sure yet. The author, Jon Clinch, imagines what Huck Finn's father's life was like, horrible things he may or may not have done, and what the circumstances around his bizarre death (that Twain hinted at in Huck Finn) were.

So far so good, but I won't know for sure what I think of it until I'm done.

[crim son]

49. Selected Poems by Jorge Luis Borges.

I'm reading it very slowly so I can feel every word. The poem appears in its original spanish on the left-hand page and an english translation on the right-hand page. I can recommend this one.

[Generic Brad]

50. Does Non-Fiction Count?

"Fooled Again: How the Right Stole the 2004 Election & Why They'll Steal the Next One Too (Unless We Stop Them)" by Mark Crispin Miller.

[Shine]

51. "The Soul of Money, Transforming your Relationship with Money and Life"

by Lynne Twist.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0393050971/bookstorenow57-20

Excellent, uplifting stuff. :thumbsup:

[SayWhatYo]

53. Domain-Driven Design: Tackling Complexity in the Heart of Software

Wait, not what you're looking for? I don't read non-boring books.

[otherlander]

54. Leaves of Grass.

[GoneOffShore]

57. I've got 7 going at once

Remembrance of Things Paris, edited by Ruth Reichl
Goose Fat and Garlic by Jeanne Strang
Omnivores Dilemma by Michael Pollan
The Les Halles Cookbook by Anthony Bourdain
Bouchon Cookbook by Thomas Keller
Cooking of Southwest France by Paula Wolfert (Revised edition)
Bouquet de France by Samuel Chamberlain

[JennyH]

60. Songs of Distant Earth

Arthur C. Clark - just finishing up with 2 short chapters left. Wanted to read it because I love Mike Oldfield's CD of the same name, and, now, I can see where the story and the music relate.

I also have a soft spot for Bill Bryson. Thunderbolt Kid is on order. Maybe I'm easily amused, but Bryson's books make me chuckle out loud all the way through.

Middlesex - another favorite - read it last spring.