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Currently I am reading Jimmy Buffett's "A Pirate Looks At 50". Man, what a story teller he is.
Posts: 94 | From: Milwaukee, WI | Registered: Jul 2005
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Interesting to see what others are reading across the world... I belong to a local 'book group' and we're always looking for new authors.
I usually have 2 books going at a time, a fiction and a non-fiction. Right now I'm reading: "Rage" by Jonathan Kellerman & "100 People Who Are Screwing Up America" by Bernard Goldberg".
I'll finish up July re-reading 2 favorites: Flannery O'Connor's "Complete Short Stories" & "Chaos--Making A New Science" by James Gleick.
August read list include: "Why Do Buses Come In Threes?" by Eastaway & Wyndham, "Sinatra, The Life" by Summers & Swan, and I can't leave out Robert James Waller's new release, "High Plains Tango". (after all, he's my former neighbor!)
My favorite summer read so far has been: Jeannette Walls' memoir, "The Glass Castle". Great! twig
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"Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince" quite different from the other books in the series and well worth the 600 odd pages!
Posts: 11 | From: Bunbury, Western Australia | Registered: Jun 2005
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Okay I'll start with some of my recent reads.
Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince - excellent book
Kim Harrison's Every Which Way But Dead - 3rd book in a series that I'm hooked on.
Jim Butcher's Furies of Calderon - start of a series that I can already tell I'm going to be hooked on.
The Hidden Stars by Madeline Howard I skimmed through a great deal of it..won't be reading further offerings in this particular storyline, but I would check out something else by this author.
The Hidden Queen and Changer of Days by Alma Alexander, I finished the first book and started on the next to find out what happened to Anghara on her quest to wrest control of her stolen kingdom back from her half brother Sif.
Moon's Web by C.T. Adams & Cathy Clamp second to Hunter's Moon about shapeshifters known as the Sazi main character is Tony an assassin turned werewolf when one of his "marks" bit him.
Goddess of Spring by P.C. Cast I really enjoyed this book I've read two other books by Ms. Cast (Goddess by Mistake & Goddess of the Sea) which were awesome reads as well. A mortal woman changes bodies with Persephone and goes to the Underworld while the goddess runs a bakery in Tulsa.
Bet Me by Jennifer Crusie totally enjoyable and a fun read.
Grave Sight by Charlaine Harris author of one of my favourite series of all time, starts a new one off with Harper Connelly a woman who has the ability to find bodies and tell what their last moments in life were like. A solid start and I will be happy to continue reading about Harper in any future books.
-------------------- Avoid scattering your energies - advice from a fortune cookie. Posts: 253 | From: Newfoundland | Registered: Apr 2005
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Rhiandmoi
Ding Dong! Merrily on High Definition TV
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I just finished reading The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova. It was pretty good. There was a chunk in the middle that was very tedious though. Also, I don't think the main character has a name. At least I didn't notice if she did or not. Other than the wierd thing of not knowing if the main character has a name or not and the really tedious chunk in the middle, it was a pretty good book that was sort of about vampire mythology. There were a lot of works referenced in the book sort of like DaVinci Code, but I don't know if they were real or not and sometimes IMO too much detail was provided about them. The end was very anti climactic, which for being over 600 pages into a book is a disappointment. It might sound like I didn't like the book, but I did. It's just that it could have been better.
-------------------- I think that hyperbole is the single greatest factor contributing to the decline of society. - My friend Pat.
Fantastic piece of 'left-field' military history recounting the little-known 'Battle of Lake Tanganyika' in WWI.
(I use the word fantastic advisedly BTW, the story reads like one huge fish tale)
Great reading for anyone foolish enough to believe that its always the fittest, strongest and smartest who carry the day.
-------------------- Beware of the man who works hard to learn something, learns it, and finds himself no wiser than before ... he is full of murderous resentment of people who are ignorant without having come by their ignorance the hard way. - Kurt Vonnegut Jr Posts: 134 | From: New Zealand | Registered: Jul 2005
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just finished the Half-Blood Prince (durn thing didn't last very long) but now i'm reading Dan Brown's Angels and Demons and Tsubasa issue 3 (in japanese - can kinda understand) and XXX Holic issue 2 (in japanese - can understand very little because of lack of furigana(the easy-to-read japanese writing) reading helpers) and Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austin, but it's not going very fast (read Pride&Predjudice earlier this year - my first Jane Austin - LOVED it! where's my Mr. Darcy?!?
-------------------- "Let's enjoying!" Posts: 122 | From: New Orleanian in Japan | Registered: Apr 2005
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After I finished the latest Harry Potter I'm now reading Neal Stephenson's "The System of the World", third book of his "Baroque Cycle". A fantastic read, just like the first two books of that series!
-------------------- My spelling is Wobbly. It's good spelling, but it Wobbles, and the letters get in the wrong places. - Pooh Bear Posts: 2209 | From: Hamburg, Germany | Registered: Oct 2004
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Just finished Jim Butcher's Furies of Calderon (probably off topic, but one of the nicest guys you'll ever meet) and reading the new Harry Potter for the third time.
quote:Originally posted by Joe Bentley: Stephen King's "Danse Macabre" was a good example of this, as are most of Bill Bryson's books, and the A.J. Jacobs "Know it All."
Wonderful books all. Anyone know of any other books with a similar writing style?
Hey, I helped make the index for Know it All!
Do you know Tony Horwitz? His boook Confederates in the Attic combines Civil War history with an account of Horwitz's own journey through the present day South. I just started Blue Latitudes, his book retracing Captain Cook's journeys. So far so good.
Posts: 1699 | From: New York | Registered: Oct 2002
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Right now I'm reading Into Thin Air, an account of the 1996 Mt. Everest tragedy. I read it several years ago, but I saw it in a thrift store and thought it was worth buying. Great reading material for a hot summer day!
-------------------- Leashes?! We don't need no stinking leashes!! Posts: 4771 | From: The Berkeley of the East Coast: Montgomery County MD | Registered: Mar 2003
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Richard W
Ding Dong! Merrily on High Definition TV
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quote:Originally posted by DawnStorm: Right now I'm reading Into Thin Air, an account of the 1996 Mt. Everest tragedy.
I read my brother's copy in May... one of the climbers mentioned in it (Anatoli Boukreev) was later killed on Annapurna in an avalanche. We saw his memorial at the Annapurna base camp.
Posts: 8725 | From: Ipswich - the UK's 9th Best Place to Sleep! | Registered: Feb 2000
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I just finished the new Harry Potter, The Death of Free Speech by John Ziegler, and 100 People Who Are Screwing Up America by Bernard Goldberg.
I am currently reading: Treason by Ann Coulter, The Encyclodpedia of Urban Legends by Jan Brunvand, and An Underground Education : The Unauthorized and Outrageous Supplement to Everything You Thought You Knew About Art, Sex, Business, Crime, Science, Medicine, and Other Fields of Human Knowledge by Richard Zacks (this is a very interesting read).
-------------------- "May you make the Yuletide pay!" Posts: 811 | From: Arcadia, CA | Registered: Jul 2005
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I started "East of Eden" by John Steinbeck a few nights ago.
-------------------- "My name is the symbol for my identity and must not be lost." Motto of the Lucy Stone League. Posts: 1815 | From: Pennsylvania | Registered: Jul 2004
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ladibugs
The Red and the Green Stamps
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I am right in the middle of Harry Potter the half blood prince. Although i know everything that happens, thanks to my mother. But I still want to read it through. I just got finished reading Puppet by Joy Fielding. Very Very good book
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I just finished Sylvia Browne's Secrets and Mysteries of the World. I was sort of disappointed in it.
I'm currently awaiting my copy of Why Do Men Have Nipples? by Mark Leyner.
-------------------- "Is it ME? Am I a MAGNET for these idiots?"~Pearl Forrester MST3K Die-Hard Engineers, Big Red One my Dad's website "Must be a 'snopes' thing..." ~my entire family when I try to explain something. Posts: 4524 | From: South of Madison, Wisconsin | Registered: May 2005
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i just finished fierce invalids home from harsh climates by tom robbins. that man makes me laugh like no other author. dont know what ill start next...
Posts: 48 | From: Seattle | Registered: Jul 2005
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-------------------- I said your name. I wore it like a badge of teenage film stars, hash bars, cherry mash and tin foil tiaras. Dreaming of Maria Callas, whoever she is. Posts: 52 | From: Tuscaloosa, Alabama | Registered: Jul 2002
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quote:Originally posted by sureshot: Player Piano by Kurt Vonnegut.
sureshot
Vonnegut :respect:
Cat's Cradle & Slaughterhouse 5 rank as two of the best books i've ever read.
I've just started The Bible According to Mark Twain
-------------------- Beware of the man who works hard to learn something, learns it, and finds himself no wiser than before ... he is full of murderous resentment of people who are ignorant without having come by their ignorance the hard way. - Kurt Vonnegut Jr Posts: 134 | From: New Zealand | Registered: Jul 2005
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Just read Heinlein's Job: A Comedy of Justice. Great book, I'd definitely recommend it.
Posts: 34 | From: Illinois | Registered: Oct 2004
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I am reading some old book that smells funny. I am not sure what it is...
...OK it is "Don't Look Now," by Daphne du Maurier. It is a compelation of short stories. I am still not sure if I like her writing or not. I already read "Rebecca," but I am not sure if I even liked that.
I guess that sounds really stupid. The thing with me though, is that it takes a lot for me to actually "like" an author and want to read all of their books.
-------------------- "My Very Educated Mother Just Said Uh-oh! No...Pluto..."~ Steven Colbert Posts: 3256 | From: Somewhere in Ohio | Registered: Apr 2004
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Got my copy of "Why Do Men Have Nipples?" by Mark Leyner and Billy Goldberg MD.
Quite funny.
-------------------- "Is it ME? Am I a MAGNET for these idiots?"~Pearl Forrester MST3K Die-Hard Engineers, Big Red One my Dad's website "Must be a 'snopes' thing..." ~my entire family when I try to explain something. Posts: 4524 | From: South of Madison, Wisconsin | Registered: May 2005
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Greenwich: the place where days begin and end by Charles Jennings. A history of the place.
Seaboe
-------------------- Education is not the filling of a hard drive, but the lighting of a bulb. -- Yeats via Esprise Me Posts: 5562 | From: Seattle, WA | Registered: Jun 2005
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I'm currently about 1/2 done. Sure you can borrow it. It was another of my finds from B&N on Sunday (75% off).
Seaboe
-------------------- Education is not the filling of a hard drive, but the lighting of a bulb. -- Yeats via Esprise Me Posts: 5562 | From: Seattle, WA | Registered: Jun 2005
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Rhiandmoi
Ding Dong! Merrily on High Definition TV
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Well I just read The Traveller by that living off the grid guy. Not bad. Not really all that great, but not bad either. It was an interesting idea and I will probably read the series as it comes out.
-------------------- I think that hyperbole is the single greatest factor contributing to the decline of society. - My friend Pat.
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I've just finished Paris 1919 by Margaret MacMillan. It's about how Woodrow Wilson, Lloyd George, and Clemenceau met in Paris to form a lasting peace.
I'm presently reading a book of essays, Into the Unknown by Tyler Menssen. Tyler is a friend of mine. He suffers from Goldenhar Syndrome and was born without ears and only half a jaw.
-------------------- Ad astra per asparagus. Posts: 4806 | From: Groton, CT | Registered: Jul 2005
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quote:Originally posted by Buzzbomb: Just read Heinlein's Job: A Comedy of Justice. Great book, I'd definitely recommend it.
For the record, I'm currently reading "Black Bass on the Fly Rod".
As far as Heinlein goes - does anyone else get the feeling that his sixties-style free-love shenanigans get to be too much? I love his books and he's got a great style, but I get tripped up on the preachy quality of the open sex.
-------------------- "I have a cunning plan" Posts: 287 | From: Bloomington, IN | Registered: Aug 2005
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As far as Heinlein goes - does anyone else get the feeling that his sixties-style free-love shenanigans get to be too much? I love his books and he's got a great style, but I get tripped up on the preachy quality of the open sex.
Heinlein wrote one very popular book, Stranger in a Strange Land, which had large amounts of sex. He spent the rest of his life trying to duplicate Stranger and put sex in all of his later books.
The worst example, IMHO, is Time Enough for Love, which is a collection of interrelated novellas and short stories. The last novella has the protagonist, the immortal Lazarus Long, so bored that he wants to die. So his friends invent a time machine so he can fulfill his deepest desire, to NFBSK his mother! No, I am not making that up. The image of Long's mother giving him a lock of her pubic hair as a keepsake is still disturbing to me after 30 years.
-------------------- Ad astra per asparagus. Posts: 4806 | From: Groton, CT | Registered: Jul 2005
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I'm finally reading The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell, and it IS as good as I'd hoped. Pop sociology tends to make me nervous. Also Bushworld by Maureen Dowd, which isn't quite as good as I'd hoped. She's such a great writer, I wish the pieces were more than 1000 words or so. And I'm now in month 5 of The Expectant Father by Armin Brott and Jennifer Ash. This will have to be the gold standard until my book on getting someone knocked up comes out.
-------------------- The book says, "We might be through with the past, but the past ain't through with us." - Magnolia Posts: 252 | From: East Greenwich, RI, what! | Registered: Aug 2005
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