What are you reading? Read lately?

[bicentennial_baby]

Just finished:

Typhoid Mary and Kitchen Confidential, both by Anthony Bourdain

Reading now:

La Peste, en Francais, by Camus
The Coming of the Third Reich, by Richard Evans.

How about you?! :bounce:

[LSK]

1. Im in the middle of Sam Seders FUBAR

[bicentennial_baby]

3. Good stuff?

i loooove Sam :D

[LSK]

19. yeah

Sam is great!

Franken's the Truth with Jokes is next for me.

Did you know Randi is coming out with a book later this year too?

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1401352480/ref=sr_11_1/103-6602191-5833412?ie=UTF8

[Dont_Bogart_the_Pretzel]

71. Me too, FUBAR so far is a great book!

[progmom]

2. I'm reading The Mercy of Thin Air

meh...it's ok.

[bicentennial_baby]

4. Fiction?

[progmom]

7. yep. she was awards with this, her first novel

personally, i think it's a little weak. i intend to finish it, and it's interesting, but i keep getting tripped up with awkward wording. she needs a better editor.

[bicentennial_baby]

I hear that!

I hate bad editing! It makes me sad...



:P

[progmom]

47. oops

:blush: just saw that.

[bicentennial_baby]

51. hahahaha...

you and sundog's comment back-n-forth is highly amusing, i must say.... :rofl:

:loveya:

[terrya]

5. I'm reading "Eleanor of Aquitaine - a Life" by Alison Weir

Very engaging biography of one of the most fascinating women of history - Eleanor of Aquitaine, wife of King Henry II of England.

[bicentennial_baby]

8. Cool

I love good history books!

[noonwitch]

23. I read that, it's really good

Allison Weir writes good british historical biographies.

[PassingFair]

62. I've read that one!

I named my first born after her.
Eleanor, not Alison Weir........

[BigMcLargehuge]

6. Factories of Death (Japan's Biological Warfare Program and the

American Cover Up 1931-1945) by Sheldon Harris

[bicentennial_baby]

10. Ooooh

sounds good!

[BigMcLargehuge]

12. extremely graphic and disturbing

but a good research tome if you're writing a novel about Unit 731.

[bicentennial_baby]

16. are you?

[BigMcLargehuge]

17. yes, the sequel to Tears of Amaterasu

which was about The Rape of Nanking

[La Lioness Priyanka]

9. maurice...e.m. forster

[jane_pippin]

20. Oooh, have you read that before or is this the first time?

It's such a beautiful book. Though, I think that about most of Forster's stuff. Are you liking it so far?

[azmouse]

11. Reading now: Deception Point by Dan Brown

Next up: Conservatives Without Conscience by John Dean

[malta blue]

24. how do you feel about Deception Point?

I found it to be very predictable. IMHO.

[azmouse]

41. A very lightweight novel... at best.

I was looking for something easy to read and boy did I find it. I haven't read Brown's other books and doubt I will. He has a very amateurish style.

[long_green]

13. i'm rereading Gothic Politics in the Deep South, by Robert Sherrill

The book is a series of sketches of some of the more famous demagogues of the 50's and 60's southern political scene. It was written at the end of the sixties so some of the names won't be so familiar to people today (eg., Leander Perez, James Eastland). It's great stuff written by one of the great underrated Americans of his time.

[Orrex]

14. I'm reading what I'm typing

And so are you. What's the big deal?


nyuk nyuk nyuk. I gotta million of 'em.


Anyway, I recently started reading Foucault's Pendulum again.

[Tyrone Slothrop]

15. The Information by Martin Amis

I'm about halfway along and thoroughly enjoying, as I do with all Amis.

[jane_pippin]

18. Still reading "Europe Central" by William Vollmann

I will finish this thing before summer is over. I will.

:D

It's taking forever, (though of course I haven't been putting as much time into it as I could either), because it's this big, fat, 700 page novel that's modeled after those big, fat, old Russian novels everybody loves. It's really good--I love a book where 200 pages in the author is still introducing characters. Also, I have a bet with a co-worker who says I won't finish it, (lots of people I work with have tried, few have done it), so I have to do it. I'll have both the satisfaction of having done it, and when I get through it everything else will seem like light, fluffy beach reading.

[malta blue]

21. The Feast of the Goat - Mario Vargas Llosa

A novel recounting the last days of the dominican strongman, Generalissimo Trujillo. Very interesting...

[Phillycat]

22. "The Omnivore's Dilemma" by Michael Pollan

Great book.

[bicentennial_baby]

33. I want to read that one!

:bounce:

[SeattleGirl]

25. "Dispatches from the Edge"

Anderson Cooper's book. I just finished it. It was quite good, actually.

[noonwitch]

26. Kushiel's Scion by Jacqueline Carey

It's kinky, fantasy fun.

Prior to that, I read:

The Cost of Discipleship by Dietrich Bonhoeffer
The Burning of Rainbow Farm by Dean Kuipers

[Monkey see Monkey Do]

27. Bruce Campbell's autobiography "If Chins Could Kill:

Confessions of a B Movie Actor."

[bicentennial_baby]

32. I have the autographed copy

Met him at a signing/talk at Mt. Holyoke..He smells good. :D

[Monkey see Monkey Do]

57. I'm incredibly jealous!

I'm struggling to contain the urge to watch one if not all the Evil Dead's for the gazillionth time. Happily Darkman is on TV tomorrow night which is a film I haven't seen in at least a decade & one I never knew Campbell was connected with (although it's Raimi so he's never that far behind!)

[mitchum]

28. John Strasbaugh's "Black Like You"...

an examination of blackface, whiteface, insult and imitation in American popular culture.
I snatched the book up as soon as I saw it because I am a student of the complex history of minstrelsy, its implications, and continuation.
On the same subject, I also recommend "Love And Theft" and "Blacking Up"

[Katina]

29. Terrorist by John Updike

recently read The Dew Breaker by Edwidge Danticat & Night by Elie Weisel.

[RetroLounge]

30. Hey, this looks familiar!

:hi:

I am reading or have just finished:

The Power of Now by Eckart Tolle
Dark Nights of the Soul by Thomas Moore
Bird by Bird by Anne Lammott
Poets Companion - Dorianne Laux & Kim Addonizio
PoemCrazy - ???

RL

[bicentennial_baby]

31. Familiar?

Yes, I have a penchant for the book threads...I'm a thread count whore, I know :blush:

Hi baby!! :loveya:

[RetroLounge]

35. Hey Hot Stuff!

I loves me the book threads!

How are ya?

:loveya:

RL

[bicentennial_baby]

37. Yeah, it was just Paul-bait...hehe....

:loveya:

I am excellent! I went to bed (i.e. passed out) early, got lots of sleep, and woke up feeling magnificent! I've done nothing all day, and posted many a silly MySpace bulletin. Check my latest, it's my own creation :D

I miss you!! How are you love?

:*

[RetroLounge]

38. Much better now that you are here!

:9

RL

[bicentennial_baby]

39. dirty...

Likewise hottie... :9

[trackfan]

34. Varro: On Agriculture

and the Letters of Angelo Poliziano

[Gormy Cuss]

36. There's a theme

Just finished:
Nine Mile Bridge by Helen Hamlin. It's a narrative of her three years in the remote Maine woods during the 1930s.

and The Lobster Chronicles by Linda Greenlaw.

Now reading The Lobster Gangs of Maine by James Acheson.

[jobycom]

40. Nothing--so I'm taking notes. Started "The Red Tent," but just can't

make myself read it. Don't know why, I like the writing, like the subject... it just doesn't work for me. Was considering re-reading my Tracy Chevalier collections, or my Raymond Chandler books... Yeah, I have varied tastes.

[Sequoia]

42. "Overthrow" with "Mayflower" coming up next.

Finished "Terrorist" by Updike. Sped read that one, not that impressed.

[huskerlaw]

43. House of War by James Carroll

Very interesting book about the Pentagon and how it (or rather the leaders within it) have influenced US presidents/diplomacy/basically everything.

[deutsey]

44. "The Upanishads" and "Ruling America--A History of Wealth and Power in

a Democracy"

[Mojambo]

45. The End of Faith by Sam Harris

I just started it, but it's very good.

[Nickster]

46. Just finished Armed Madhouse-Palast. I may have to re-read that one, he

throws so much information at you that it gets a bit overwhelming and I fear losing important data.

[joneschick]

48. The Disposable American

Layoffs and their consequences by Louis Uchitelle

--eh, I have time on my hands. sigh.

[grannylib]

49. "French for Dummies" and re-reading all of Sig Olsen's stuff...

On the waiting list for the latest John Sanford "Prey" book at the library
Also reading Jim Wallis (Sojourner's guy) "Why the Right gets it wrong and the Left Doesn't Get It." It's OK, but he unfortunately has bought into quite a bit of the media lies (hasn't done his fact-checking) but it's a pretty decent read.

[bicentennial_baby]

50. How's "French for Dummies"?

:)

[grannylib]

52. Pretty good; it's mostly conversational, but they do get into conjugations

and all, and there is a good CD with it, so you can hear the phrases pronounced properly. I'd recommend it as a good starter. I do speak some Spanish, so I can read a lot of French, but need to work on pronunciation (which is MUCH more straightforward in Spanish!)

[bicentennial_baby]

53. Oh I know!

I'm going into my 3rd/4th year of French. (Took 2nd and 3rd year courses simultaneously). I like the Dummies books, for some things, they really are the best. I'll have to give it a look. :)

[grannylib]

54. My youngest is taking French in college, so I am going to get her to help

me practice.
She's really good at it...very gifted at languages.

She writes all of her cards to me (b-day, Mother's Day, etc.) in French now, and I love it!

[greendog]

55. Just finished "American Pastoral" by Philip Roth

Before that, Don DeLillo's "Libra".

[Radical Activist]

56. The Kingdom of God is Within You by Leo Tolstoy

I read it was a big inspiration for MLK and Gandhi so I wanted to read it for myself. Pretty amazing.

[ismnotwasm]

58. Standing Alone

By Asra Nomani
Next: Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books by Azar Nafisi

My before sleep books are a reread of the "Otherland" Series by Tad Williams and the "Deathstalker" Series by Simon Green.

[yellowdogintexas]

59. Just finished "The Kite Runner" an extraordinary book

I encourage all to read this amazing novel.


Current read is 'Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister" by the author of 'Wicked'

[Bullwinkle925]

60. Currently into "The History of Love" -

just finished "The Devil in the White City".

[ashling]

61. The Origins of the Bill of Rights

by Leonard W. Levy

[hiro]

63. School books

"Orientalism", by Edward Said. This book is amazing, if a tad dry and long.

"Aizu Boshin Senshi" and "Hoshu Aizu Byakkotai Jukyushi-den", both by Yamakawa Kenjiro. For a pair of incredibly detailed texts on northern Japan's political/military situation in 1868-9, they sure hit the spot for my curiosity!

-H.

[bicentennial_baby]

65. LOVE "Orientalism"

But yes, you have to be in the mood for it. :)

welcome to DU hiro!! :hi:

[hiro]

66. :)

Thanks.

[PassingFair]

64. Just finished "A Widow for One Year" by John Irving

He always writes such INTERESTING books....
he tends to bog down a few times along
the way, but he ALWAYS wraps up expertly
and memorably.

"Don't cry, honey, it's just me and Eddie".

:cry:

Also reading a history of medieval europe
and re-reading Candide in my car between
appointments!

[mvd]

67. I'm still reading..

Rednecks and Bluenecks: The Politics of Country Music by Chris Willman. It's a good read; I'm about half-way through. Willman lets the country personalities speak for much of the book, which is a good idea. It flows nicely. Willman gets zingers in to both sides (though I think he's a Democrat.) I knew about who is conservative and liberal in country, with a couple exceptions. It seems like most of the conservatives talked to are the terribly ignorant/misinformed types instead of bad people. I wished I could have shouted corrections at them. Lee Ann Womack was very frustrating: she calls her views mixed, but believes in Bush and his "war on terror." Those are the type of blind followers they preyed on.

[lizziegrace]

68. Linger by Viggo Mortensen

So many layers

[Chan790]

69. I read too much perhaps.

Read recently(I mean in the last week)

Portnoy's Complaint by Phillip Roth
An American Dream by Norman Mailer
Sexual Personae by Camille Paglia
Bel Canto by Ann Patchett
1984 by George Orwell (for the 30th time)
Vile Bodies by Evelyn Waugh

Reading currently

The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood

[FuzzySlippers]

70. "American Theocracy" by Kevin Phillips n/t

[kiraboo]

72. Pickwick Papers. Dickens.

I just started it and it's very funny. Of course.

[femmocrat]

73. Great topic! I am almost done with "The Family" by Kitty Kelly.

I bought it last year... it's ok for summer reading. I bought two books today: The One Percent Doctrine by Ron Suskind and John Dean's Conservatives without Conscience. I hope to get them both in before school starts in August. Then I won't have time to read again until next summer! LOL

[NMMNG]

74. "My Sister The Moon"

by Sue Harrison

also Ordinary People, Unspeakable Acts by John Conroy