What are you currently reading?

[Bogey]

I have a neighbor who has devoted his entire front and side yards to this kind of gardening, with great success.  He has ten foot corn in the summer and several large (look to be 8 X 16) boarded beds with green vegetables.  It requires full sun and an irrigation system - but seems to be a good way to grow your own.  If we had a section of our yard that got more sun we'd do the same thing.

Well, you may want to send him this for fun.  Check it out also, David.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=125504307

[Saul]

Completed reading this yesterday, one of the best books I have ever read my whole life.
Worldmask by Akiva Tatz

[SonicMan46]

The Anatomist: A True Story of Gray's Anatomy (2009) by Bill Hayes; bought this as a paperback earlier this year because of the topic and the numerous positive reviews from major newspapers on the back cover.

Gray's Anatomy was first published in 1858 and was mainly the efforts of two physicians, i.e. Henry Gray (1827-1861), who died tragically early from smallpox while treating his nephew (Henry had been vaccinated!) and Henry Vandyke Carter (1831-1897), a younger colleague whose father was an artist; most of the images for the original text were done (or re-done) by Carter.

This is a short text of modern story & flashback biography - i.e. Hayes (not a doctor) takes a number of 'gross anatomy' classes and intermixes his experience w/ the biographies of Gray & Carter that he uncovered from numerous sources, mainly the diary of Carter.  This is a fun read that has received a 'mixture' of reviews on Amazon HERE.

As a doctor who did 'gross anatomy' - this is a fun (superficial) read for me - reminds  me  of much that I forgot as a current radiologist; for a 'lay person' who has a wonder for the anatomy of the human body, this is a nice 'conversational' introduction - but, don't expect to come out a teacher of human anatomy - for that, you might want to pick up a recent copy of Gray's Anatomy, now in its 3 dozen edition; my current copy is from 1973, the year our son was born!   Enjoy - 

[oabmarcus]

Serving Genius

[CD]

[Scarpia]

Ooooo, nice.

[SonicMan46]

The Swamp: The Everglades, Florida, and the Politics of Paradise (2007) by Michael Grunwald (Washington Post reporter) - if you've been to the Everglades (we've been often) and want to really understand the history, area, and politics of the region, this is an enjoyable and MUST read - well researched but written by a reporter in a converstational manner - plenty of great comments on the back cover which prompted me to purchase this paperbook a few months ago!   

[Bogey]

 Dave,
Just ordered that jazz book you have been reading from my local library. 

[Harpo]

Both fun reading, issues of feminism, marriage, racism, etc.



Biography of Walls's feisty grandmother out West.



Novel about a college student who goes to work for a would-be adopting couple. Sharp observer of character, racism, college life.

[SonicMan46]

Dave,
Just ordered that jazz book you have been reading from my local library.

Bill - assume that you mean the Gary Giddins book below - excellent read; gets a little 'bogged down' after the 1950s which seems to always to a problem to summarize easily - I think that Ken Burns had the same problem in his Jazz set, i.e. lost my interest at that point; but a book that I would easily recommend as an updated 'first read' for someone just getting into this music - enjoy!     Dave

[Bogey]

Bill - assume that you mean the Gary Giddins book below - excellent read; gets a little 'bogged down' after the 1950s which seems to always to a problem to summarize easily - I think that Ken Burns had the same problem in his Jazz set, i.e. lost my interest at that point; but a book that I would easily recommend as an updated 'first read' for someone just getting into this music - enjoy!     Dave

Excellent point!

[Chosen Barley]

Re-reading Carol Shields' The Stone Diaries.  I first read it 16 years ago and thought it was the greatest thing. 

I liked it, and still do, for its many details on how people lived in the early part of the 20th century.  I love those sorts of books, novel or informational (e.g. Structures of Everyday Life by F. Braudel).

On re-read, I see the book as feminist, liberal propaganda.  Daizy Goodwill - born 1905 - was a tragic character, you see, because she got married, had children, looked after her family, and wrote a gardening column for the newspaper.  Mein Gott!  What a calamity! 

[CD]

[Drasko]

[lisa needs braces]

[Florestan]

Nadezhda Mandelstam - Hope Against Hope

[Daverz]

James Ellroy, American Tabloid.  Not sure I'm enjoying this one.  There don't seem to be any likeable characters, and it seems even more bleekly cynical and brutal than the other Ellroy's I've read, if that's possible.  Even a deeply crooked cop like Buzz Meeks in The Big Nowhere is likeable.

[MN Dave]

I'm all about adventure on other planets.

[CD]

[Scarpia]

Steig Larsson, The Girl with the Dragon Tatoo.

A decidedly low-brow thriller/crime novel.  Well done and entertaining, though.