So Lounge, What Books Have You Read Lately?

[RetroLounge]

Recently read:

In The Hand of Dante - Nick Tosches (Good stuff. Can't believe I've never read him before...)

Losing Julia - Jonathan Hull (Heart wrenchingly beautifully sad...)

Set This House in Order - Matt Ruff (Really amazing, Great concept with the main character having multiple personality disorder)

Midnight in the garden of Good and Evil - John Berendt (Not bad, but having seen the movie first kinda wrecked the experience...)

The Yiddish Policeman's Union - Michael Chabon (Does he write anything that's not freaking amazing?)

:hi:

How about you?

RL

edited for spelling...

[Mojambo]

1. Just finishing up "Lamb" by Christopher Moore

A rare novel for me.

Picked up "The World Without Us" by Alan Weisman today.

[Lincolngirl]

3. I loved Lamb. Laughed and thought!

[Mojambo]

6. He is extremely funny, and very thoughtful

Can't wait to work my way through the rest of his stuff.

[Lincolngirl]

9. Have you read "Fluke"

I didn't like it too much. Finished it, but not as good as his other stuff...

[Mojambo]

13. I was gonna get that one next. "Lamb" was my introduction to his work. n/t

[Lincolngirl]

16. Honestly, I'd skip it

if I were you. Or maybe for right now? Perhaps I was missing something, but it was just weird. And coming from me that is saying something. I've read some odd shit!

[Mojambo]

20. Well, he's got a bunch of others so I'll check them out first. n/t

[RetroLounge]

4. I read You Suck by Moore.

Cracked me up...

:hi:

RL

[Mojambo]

8. I don't often belly laugh while reading, but I do with Moore. n/t

[Lincolngirl]

11. Have you read any Tim Dorsey?

Not quite right in the head, but LAUGH OUT LOUD funny!

[Mojambo]

14. Nope. I rarely read fiction. But I'll look him up. n/t

[Lincolngirl]

17. Dorsey is like Carl Haaisen on acid.

[Mojambo]

22. Sold! n/t

[Lincolngirl]

23. Usually does it!!! n/t

[yellowdogintexas]

53. I have been eyeing those books, thinking I might like them because I love Hiassen

and Barry and Elmore Leonard.

[Lincolngirl]

60. If you like Haaisen

I think you'd like Dorsey!

[Lincolngirl]

19. You suck

is good. Maybe that one next?

[graywarrior]

33. One of my top ten favorite books

[Rabrrrrrr]

2. Beef. Widow Cliquot. Dough. Some book on charitable giving rates of Christians in America.

The latter sounds boring, but it is actually fairly interesting, and amazingly well done and meticulously detailed. Not quite Lord of the Rings, but fascinating nonetheless.

Widow Cliquot is FANTASTIC! It's the story of the woman who made Cliquot Champagne into the worldwide powerhouse it is, set against the backdrop of the French Revolution and then Napolean's bullshit. Very well written, and also an absolutely fascinating bit of history and an incredible woman.

[Fire Walk With Me]

5. Science fiction phase once again.

Glasshouse by Charles Stross. I preffered his others to this one...and am just about to finish "The Octagonal Raven" by one of my favorites, L.E. Modessit, Jr. It appears to be a precursor in form to his outstanding novel "Flash".

[Lincolngirl]

7. What I'm working on now.

Been reading

In the Woods-Tana French

The Great Derangement-Matt Taibbi

The Radical and The Republican-(About Lincoln and Frederick Douglass and the triumph of antislavery politics)-James Oaks.

[Lyric]

10. "As I Lay Dying" by William Faulkner, and "Oral History" by Lee Smith

I loved the Lee Smith novel. It's a fantastic story.

:hi:

[JTG of the PRB]

12. I'm in up to my neck in "The Silmarillion" right now.

Before that, I read the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy in its entirety, and before that, I read "The Hobbit."

I guess I'm a little Tolkien-obsessed at the moment.

[Lyric]

15. I have a really old copy of "The Silmarillion"

I love it. It's wonderful to read all of the stories that lead up to "The Hobbit" and "LotR."

[JTG of the PRB]

24. This is my first time reading "The Silmarillion," and I'm enjoying it so far.

I wasn't sure what to expect because I've heard it's incredibly dense. It's not so bad, though there are a ton of names. I'm not even bothering to remember some of them... Too much to try and remember!

[LeftyMom]

18. My profs seem to be conspiring to keep me too busy to read non-school stuff

I picked up a copy of The Tyranny of Oil and I've barely had time to glance at it.

After finals I have a month off school, so I should be able to make some real headway into my to-read pile.

[sniffa]

21. "All Souls" thanks to a wonderful DUer

She's now reading "Black Mass."

[Lincolngirl]

25. Is there any book I should read first

of Michael Chabon? Never read him, but it looks interesting.

[RetroLounge]

36. I started with The Mysteries of Pittsburgh

then read Wonder Boys. Both good.

But The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay was his pulitzer winner and his best imho.

:hi:

RL

[Lincolngirl]

37. Just ordered Kavalier & Clay and

The Yiddish Policemen's Union.
I'm sure I'll read them all. Always looking for a good author, and when I find one, I read everything!
Thanks a bunch RL


:yourock:

[RetroLounge]

38. Those are both really really really really really good!

:hi:

RL

[Lincolngirl]

41. K

I saw Wonderboys, and always intended to buy it, but always forget!!!

Yeah for 1/2 price books!

And Alibris. Cheap used on line.

[RevolutionaryActs]

26. I'm such a nerd. I'm reading "Brisinger."

:P

[TZ]

28. Do you like it?

Its in my reading queue...

[yellowdogintexas]

54. I just bought it , and it will be next after I finish the mystery. Also a NERD

waiting for the next George R R Martin, and thinking I need to re read the first four

[GOPisEvil]

27. Two recent movies from the following: "Miracle At St. Anna" and "Body of Lies"

Both were interesting and entertaining. Good airplane reads. :)

[TZ]

29. I'm trying to finish the Sword of Truth series

as annoying as some of the latter novels got with Goodkind's RW preachiness, I decided I did want to know how he ended it..I'm in the middle of the second to last book Phantom..So far the ending trilogy is better than the few before them....

[yellowdogintexas]

55. I thought that too. Sort of like he got bogged down, then took a new track with

these three books. I read Chainfire and Phantom and am waiting for Confessor to hit paper back.


I read he has started new series NON FANTASY which could be interesting.

[VoodooGuru]

30. Quite a few, incl. some advance copies

Here's one that's coming out in February that's excellent:

The Local News, Miriam Gershow, Spiegel & Grau.

This first novel is a story of a life built around loss, centering on Lydia Pasternak, bookish teen whose popular older brother goes missing. The subject matter here could have been dealt with in any number of bad ways, yet Gershow succeeds brilliantly. Lydia is completely believable, and the relationship she had with her older brother is nuanced and complex. It's not a very happy book, but it's compelling. I put everything aside for this one, randomly picked up off my store's galley shelf. I read the first chapter on break and it grabbed me pretty hard right off, so I finished it over the next two days.

Also read lately:

The Mysteries of Pittsburgh, Michael Chabon,

In fact, it may well be that this man's never done a bad or even a mediocre book, all the ones I've read have been great. I can't improve on the review that said that anyone could write a book about his post-graduation summer, but it takes something close to genius to make it into the stuff of legend.

Fraction of the Whole, Steve Toltz, Spiegel & Grau.

Just came out in paperback, I read it back in February but I'm reading it again now that I heard it got shortlisted for the Booker Prize. It's something you don't see every day in that it's from an Australian writer, and it is very funny, but with the ability to get to you at unexpected moments. The characters are hilariously warped.

Nixonland, Rick Perlstein.

This book, much more than a biography of Nixon, was a serious undertaking, but it was very enlightening and provided a lot of insight into the rise of conservatism and its psychology. I did not get to finish it before the election, I was right in the middle of the part about Watergate, close to the end of the book. I plan to go back right after I finish:

No Angel, Jay Dobyns.

I don't normally read books like this but for some reason I got into this one. It's a memoir by an ATF agent about the infiltration and prosecution of the Hells Angels in Arizona. He went undercover, gained full-patch status as a Hells Angel, and lived to tell the tale. Kind of impressive. It also gives you a bit of insight into what a long time spent undercover living as an outlaw biker will do to your mind, body, and marriage.

[Zomby Woof]

31. "American Lion" by Jon Meacham

It's an examination of Andrew Jackson's presidency. Since reading both of Obama's books recently, I am on a presidential biography jag (which as a genre has more or less been a recurring hobby all my life, lol).

[Tom Kitten]

32. Last few I've read

"Ordeal By Sea, The Tragedy of the U.S.S. Indianapolis" by Thomas Helm
"South: The Endurance Expedition" by Ernest Shackleton
"Aku-Aku" by Thor Heyerdahl
"Woman Aboard" by Janet Stevenson
"The Eaten Word" by Jay Jacobs
"Southern California in the Fifties" by Charles Phoenix

all but the last books I picked up at yard sales or thrift stores...

Right now I'm reading "Myths and Legends of Hawaii".

[mvd]

34. Armed Madhouse by Greg Palast

So glad they couldn't steal this election after all. His words helped make him wrong.

[underpants]

35. How to Rig an Election. Now reading The Shock Doctrine

[ghostsofgiants]

49. The Shock Doctrine is great.

:thumbsup:

[Guava Jelly]

39. a few

He hee

[RetroLounge]

43. for you...

:hi:

RL

[Guava Jelly]

44. So what are you saying

:sarcasm: :dunce::P

[RetroLounge]

45. No Picture For You!

:9

RL

[dynasaw]

40. All on my New Kindle :-)

The Man Who Loved China by Simon Winchester (Biography of Arthur Needham)
The Professor and the Mad Man by Simon Winchester (Fascinating tale of one of the contributors to the Oxford English dictionary, an American civil War veteran who was incarcerated in a lunatic assylum during the time he was making contributions to the OED)
Arthur and George by Julian Barnes (Recreation of the tale of George Edaji and arthur Conan Doyle)
Careless in Red by Susan George
The Anti-Social Behavior of Horace Rumpole by John Mortimer
The Hemmings of Monticello by Annette Gordon Reed

[Heidi]

42. Christmas is coming, so I've mainly been reading the new Taschen catalog

and putting little X's by the books I want. :)

[applegrove]

46. I'm reading the 'omnivore's dilemma'. Also an Elizabeth George mystery novel.

Also 'Hawaii' by James A. Mitchener. Also 'Halifax' by Thomas Radall (great book this last one..I read it a few years ago and loved it).

I'm not really all that focussed. Sometimes I do that.

[YellowRubberDuckie]

47. I'm still going through the Kathy Reichs series that spawned the TV series Bones.

Of course the books are NOTHING like the show at all, well, except for the name Temperance Brennan.
They're really good, and I've learned a lot about anthropology and Montreal.
Duckie

[Aristus]

48. Basic Pathology, by Robbins and Kumar.

Sorry, school is my biggest priority right now. Haven't read a book for leisure recreation in seven weeks...

[RetroLounge]

50. Sounds like a real page turner...

:hi:

How's school going?

RL

[Aristus]

64. Meh. I'm getting a little burned out from the constant pressure...

:hangover:

[mokawanis]

51. Riding the Iron Rooster and Dark Star Safari

both travel books by Paul Theroux. He's an excellent writer and bold in his adventures.

[yellowdogintexas]

52. just finished 'The Messenger' by Daniel Silva. I really like his books.

Now I have started a medieval mystery, 'Dragon's Lair' by Sharon Kay Penman. I have read a couple of her big War of the Roses novels and she is a good author. There are several in this series so I may be hooked on a new one for a while.

[bridgit]

56. Eh, I read the high-end stuff @ university, these days it's mysteries i.e. Dark Tort

[Bluzmann57]

57. "Double Cross" by James Patterson

Ok, so it isn't as "intellectual" as what you all read, but I liked it. Mr. Patterson has written many books and the Cross series are his best, in my opinion. Lots of plot twists and intrigue.
Novels are better than true life stuff anyway because the imagination can run wild.

[bridgit]

58. Patterson is one of my friend Betsey's fav authors, I like him too...

And for that matter, the way some things hit DUer's all freaking sidways and stuff (shit! fuck! the sky is falling!!!); maybe several rounds of mystery novels w/twists & turns in tow might be just what the doctor ordered, yes ;)

[PeaceNikki]

59. I just got "Hot, Flat, and Crowded"

Why We Need a Green Revolution - And How it Can Renew America

http://www.thomaslfriedman.com/bookshelf/hot-flat-and-crowded

Thomas L. Friedman's no. 1 bestseller The World Is Flat has helped millions of readers to see globalization in a new way. Now Friedman brings a fresh outlook to the crises of destabilizing climate change and rising competition for energy—both of which could poison our world if we do not act quickly and collectively. His argument speaks to all of us who are concerned about the state of America in the global future.

Friedman proposes that an ambitious national strategy—which he calls "Geo-Greenism"—is not only what we need to save the planet from overheating; it is what we need to make America healthier, richer, more innovative, more productive, and more secure.

As in The World Is Flat, he explains a new era—the Energy-Climate era—through an illuminating account of recent events. He shows how 9/11, Hurricane Katrina, and the flattening of the world by the Internet (which brought 3 billion new consumers onto the world stage) have combined to bring climate and energy issues to Main Street. But they have not gone very far down Main Street; the much-touted "green revolution" has hardly begun. With all that in mind, Friedman sets out the clean-technology breakthroughs we, and the world, will need; he shows that the ET (Energy Technology) revolution will be both transformative and disruptive; and he explains why America must lead this revolution—with the first Green President and a Green New Deal, spurred by the Greenest Generation.

Hot, Flat, and Crowded is classic Thomas L. Friedman—fearless, incisive, forward-looking, and rich in surprising common sense about the world we live in today.

[Sisaruus]

61. Too many books, not enough time....

What I've read (so far) in November:
Two or Three Things I Know for Sure by Dorothy Allison
An Unspoken Hunger: Stories from the Field by Terry Tempest Williams
Desire: Where Sex Meets Addiction by Susan Cheever
The Wordy Shipmates by Sarah Vowell
Factory Girls: From Village to City in a Changing China by Leslie T. Chang

What I'm reading now:
Finding Beauty in a Broken World by Terry Tempest Williams
Shock Doctrine by Naomi Klein

What I've been pretending to read for the last year:
Living My Life: Volume One by Emma Goldman

But the to-be-read pile just keeps growing and growing.

[RetroLounge]

67. "the to-be-read pile just keeps growing and growing"

I understand. I just brought home about 200 books to add to the list...

Had to get 2 more bookshelves for them too.

:hi:

RL

[Sisaruus]

72. 200? We'd be dangerous together.

Me:
http://www.librarything.com/profile/sisaruus

[RetroLounge]

75. Oh, definitely...

Nice City Lights Pic there...

Here's mine from about 15 yrs ago.



:hi:

RL

[krispos42]

62. "Imperial Hubris" was my most recent new read

And "Shock Doctrine" on audiobook.


I've been re-reading some older Niven, and now I'm back on a Harry Turtledove kick.

[EFerrari]

63. Rummaging around in the collected Didion.

It must be nice to be so important that someone collects you so no bits wander off and get lost. :)

[XemaSab]

65. 2 I'm in the middle of, 1 I finished

1776- Well written, but not that engrossing.

The Worst Hard Time- Terrific account of the dust bowl.

Albion's Seed- Really gives good descriptions of the British cultures that settled America.

[ashling]

66. just finished

Thurgood Marshall: American Revolutionaryby Juan Williams

I am also simultaneously reading Supercapitalismby Robert Reich,

Created Unequal: The Crisis in American Pay by James Gailbraith,

The Conscience of a Liberal by Paul Krugman,

The Moral Measure of the Economy, and a lot of journals for Political Science

recently (within the last year)read:

The Essence of Liberty: Free Black Women during the Slave Era,

The American People in the Great Depression by David M. Kennedy,

James Madison: A Biographyby Ralph Ketcham,

Aaron Burr: Conspiracy to Treason, by Buckner F. Melton,

Mr. Jefferson's Lost Cause. by Roger Kennedy,

Slavery and the Founders: Race and Liberty in the Age of Jefferson by Paul Finkelman

and some other stuff.

[clyrc]

68. Right now I'm reading "The Wasted Vigil" by Nadeem Aslam

just today, this novel has left me tearful, sitting on the floor with my head in my hands fending off a panic attack, and angry. It is set in Afghanistan, and I may never read another novel set in that country again.
It doesn't help that the last book I read was "Trespassing," a novel set in Pakistan and rather sad, too, or that the one before that was "The Fall of the House of Bush." In the last month I've also finally finished "The Shock Doctrine" and Al Gore's "The Assault on Reason." I have already decided that in December, I'm only reading light, happy, fluffy bunny and rainbow type books. The only problem is that I've got a depressing Iranian novel, and a non-fiction book about genocide waiting around for me to read. I'm suspecting they won't be read anytime soon, though, because I don't really want to feel so depressed anymore.

[Godhumor]

69. Rereading all the main Discworld novels

Just finished up all the "Witches" books, and now moving on to the city guard centered ones.

Shame Pratchett is dealing with early onset Alzheimer's. He says he thinks he can get three more out, and I really hope so--supposedly we're getting book three of the Moist cycle soon.

[6000eliot]

70. Rereading The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins right now.

Amazing mystery novel about a stolen diamond and the problems it causes, told in the context of British imperialism.

[MissHoneychurch]

71. "The Emigrants" by Vilhelm Moberg

4 volumes. Currently reading volume 3.

It is about Swedish settlers in Minnesota in the 19th century. It was written in the 1950s and damn it is interesting. A really good read.

[YankeyMCC]

73. Currently: "The Dharma Bums"

Also, "The Automatic Detective" by A. Lee Martinez

Recently re-read Asimov's Robot novels

[old mark]

74. White Jazz, James Ellroy.

Read a lot of his stuff, but I can't read too many in succession - gets a little warped.

mark

[Fire Walk With Me]

76. Back to basics: Going to finish "The Essential Kabbalah".

Considering the "culture" we inhabit, true spiritual literature is exceedingly refreshing.

[Orsino]

77. Dick Hoagland's Dark Mission (A Secret History of NASA)

I thought it would be hilarious, but it seems mostly just mean-spirited and paranoid. There are alien artifacts on Mars, NASA suppresses this knowledge and conspired against the heroic Hoagland, who has a new theory of physics "proven" by obscure geometric ratios in the shapes of the Martian ruins. Blah, blah, blah. It's loony, but not loony enough to be a lot of fun.

I'm putting off reading Marilynne Robinson's Home, a companion piece to the Pulizer-winning Gilead. As soon as my head gets back in a place suitable for reading good literature, I'm all over it.

[Bertha Venation]

78. _Into Thin Air_ by Jon Krakauer. Read it on Saturday. It's about

a disaster that happened on Mt. Everest in May 1996. A number of climbers were killed when they were caught in a massive storm. A very good read.

[Lincolngirl]

79. Yes it is!!!

I liked it!

[Bertha Venation]

80. Did you read his _Under the Banner of Heaven_? Excellent research

and very well written.

[noonwitch]

81. "Prophet's Daughter" by Erin Propher (daughter of Elizabeth Clare Prophet)

Interesting reading, in light of this week's 30 anniversary of the Jonestown massacre.

The author is very honest about her own involvement in her mother's organization, and reveals a great deal about the Church Universal and Triumphant. It is easy to see why people compare them to the People's Temple (they built all those bomb shelters and went to hide from the nuclear war ECP predicted), but it is also clear the differences between the groups and why CUT didn't end in a mass tragedy like Jonestown or Waco.

ECP is not a violent woman. I think that's the main difference. Manipulative and domineering, perhaps, but not bent on suicide or homicide, even when her prophecies were proven false.

[redqueen]

82. I recently read At Swim: Two Boys by Jamie O'Neill

Thoroughly enjoyable... beautiful writing.