What are you currently reading?

Started by facehugger, April 07, 2007, 12:36:10 AM

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karlhenning

Found in an encyclopedia of rock music:

Quote. . . (featuring that classic paeon [sic] to the larger woman 'WHOLE LOTTA ROSIE', no anorexic waifs for this lot!) . . .

Or maybe "paeon" is in praise of a peon . . . ?

MN Dave

Quote from: karlhenning on April 23, 2008, 10:48:43 AM
Found in an encyclopedia of rock music:

Or maybe "paeon" is in praise of a peon . . . ?

I'm finished with rock music.

FINISHED!

Maybe...  ;D

Bunny

The Three Trillion Dollar War: The True Cost of the Iraq Conflict, by Joseph E. Stiglitz and Linda J. Bilmes.

It's so well written that it's not boring, which is saying a lot for something like this.  Unfortunately, it's so upsetting that I find myself self-medicating with shots of Slivovitz (100 proof - Kosher for Passover).  I'll bet John, Hillary and Barack have it on their reading list.



Next on my list:

The Bin Ladens: An Arabian Family in the American Century, by Steve Coll. 

MN Dave

I prefer to escape into fantasy. Reality is too depressing.  :'(

SonicMan46

Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers (2003) by Mary Roach - about a third through this engrossing book, a mixture of modern & historical attitudes toward the dead - a delightful read for a physician & those w/ similar minds!  ;) ;D

Death, Dissection and the Destitute (2001) by Ruth Richardson - just ordered this book while reading the other (mentioned as a reference that sounded interesting) - will report later - I'm curious, however, why women seem to be writing all of these 'morbid' books!  ;D

CLICK on the images for a short synopsis of each & some Amazonian comments -  :)

 

Haffner

Quote from: MN Brahms on April 23, 2008, 11:03:19 AM
Reality is too depressing.  :'(



That's why I don't read the news. Or watch any sort of network television.

bhodges

Jack Finney: Invasion of the Body Snatchers - Haven't read this in probably 30 years, and was sparked by recently seeing the Donald Sutherland film version.

--Bruce

Anne

#1227
"I'm curious, however, why women seem to be writing all of these 'morbid' books!"

As you and some others of us know, they delve into areas we know nothing about.  At least that is my reason for reading them.   ;D  Thanks for the recommendations!

I am reading a book "Escape" by Carolyn Jessop with Laura Palmer.  It tells the story of Carolyn Jessop who escaped with all her 8 children from a radical polygamist cult.  She had been born into that cult.  At 18 she became the 4th wife of a fifty-year-old man.  She had 8 children in 15 years.  When their leader began to preach the apocalypse, she said she knew it was time to escape and get her children out also.

The book is very well written.  There is also a good deal on it now - $13 or $14 for hardback book.


George


Haffner

Quote from: bhodges on April 27, 2008, 02:11:50 PM
Jack Finney: Invasion of the Body Snatchers - Haven't read this in probably 30 years, and was sparked by recently seeing the Donald Sutherland film version.

--Bruce


Saw that fantastic remake when I was very young (first in theaters). Both it and the book are personal favorites of mine. Talk about para-noi-A!


Matheson's I Am Legend (forget that remake) is even better in the Paranoid Pantheon, in my humble opinion.

Saul

Quote from: M forever on April 21, 2008, 11:16:06 PM
That surprises me. I thought you were into stuff like that. I was under the impression you like to read the Old Testament or Tanakh which is just as fictional as Tolkien's writings.

I enjoyed reading "The Lord of the Rings", too, but never managed to read "The Silmarillion" either. I also stopped after a couple dozen pages or so.

Darn, where is a nation that follows the laws and customs of Tolkien's world?
Even he said that it was a mythological story that he invented.

But the Torah, you have an entire nation following the 613 divine commandments for 3300 years non stop against all odds.

Your over simplifications are ok with idiots, but intelligent folk view your comments as nothing more then a hiss in the air.


karlhenning


Danny



Both are nifty; enjoy "The Gambler" a little more, 'tho.

lisa needs braces

I've recently gotten into the habit of reading several books at once.







I am enjoying them all.


Danny



Cinematographer John Alton's classic book from the late 40's illustrating and describing the various uses of light in cinema; the reviewers say its dated, but for noir fanatics like myself that hardly matters! 

karlhenning

Quote from: -abe- on April 29, 2008, 01:11:03 AM
I've recently gotten into the habit of reading several books at once.

Mencken is perfect for that mode, of course;  he's always a delight to dip into/

Myself, when I'm reading Dickens, I like to just read the Dickens (so to speak) and focus on that narrative.

karlhenning

Oh! And before taking up the Shake-scene bio, I had re-read:



I first read this back when it was fairly new;  so I was taken aback at the notice on this cover that it was a "25th anniversary edition."  A really brilliant first novel;  and the fact is, that while I went on to read four subsequent novels or so, and a few collections of short stories . . . there's some spark to this one which doesn't quite catch in the others I've read, well written and enjoyable though they all have been.  Of all of his writing, this was the book I wanted to return to, to re-read.

MN Dave

THE 5TH WITCH - Graham Masterton

jwinter



Very good detective series in the Raymond Chandler style.  A bit grim -- I miss some of the wit that Robert Parker brings to this genre -- but the main character, Harry Bosch, is well-drawn and complex enough to keep things interesting.



Excellent read so far, one of those big sprawling novels that cover several decades, with lots of neat touches.  Great if you are into cryptography, the Enigma Project in WWII, etc.  Reminds me a lot of Thomas Pynchon.



Just picked this up yesterday.  A survey of major historians and trends in historical writing, from Herodotus to the present.  Heavy focus on the classics, as one might expect.
The man that hath no music in himself,
Nor is not moved with concord of sweet sounds,
Is fit for treasons, stratagems, and spoils.
The motions of his spirit are dull as night,
And his affections dark as Erebus.
Let no such man be trusted.

-- William Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice