What are you reading?

[IrishEyes]

I'm finally reading "Our Mutual Friend" by Charles Dickens. I have a ton of classics on my shelf that I want to read and donate. Since I have time now, I thought I would do some more reading. Anyone reading anything interesting?

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

1. "Pacific" by Simon Winchester.

Absolutely amazing.

[Brother Buzz]

4. If you like Simon Winchester and want to be amazed again, you'll love....

The Professor and the Madman: A Tale of Murder, Insanity, and the Making of the Oxford English Dictionary

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

7. Oh, yes. I've read two or three of his books.

I think I need to start a project to read all of them.

[appalachiablue]

2. The Decameron, Boccaccio. Lol, JK

[betsuni]

12. Good one!

[Aquaria]

3. The Cult of Trump by Steve Hassan

White Fragility by Robin D'Angelo

Everything Trump Touches Dies by Rick Wilson

When one gets me too wound up, I switch to the next one.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

5. I've been thinking about Louisa May Alcott recently.

I just finished reading "Marmee & Louisa" by Eve LaPlante, who is a distant cousin of Louisa! The book is subtitled "The Untold Story of Louisa May Alcott and Her Mother."

Reading that made me want to re-read "Little Women." Every chapter brings a tear to my eyes. It's very well written, and it brought a great deal of good publicity to Louisa, plus a lot of money. The family had been dirt poor for ages, and she was able to single-handedly change that.

[SCantiGOP]

6. "To Serve Man"

Great little book I read about on Twilight Zone.
Might come in handy, you know?

[First Speaker]

9. If the book has that story, it might also have "Anachron"...

...also by Damon Knight, if this is a single-author collection. Anachron is a time-travel story, and I swear it has the most chilling ending of any story I've ever read...

[SCantiGOP]

18. Apparently no one caught my joke

In Twilight Zobe episode, aliens come to Earth and give different new devices to help people. Can’t communicate, but someone takes a book from their spacecraft called “To Serve Man.” This apparently proves their good intentions.
They are taking millions of people back to their planet. Final scene, one of the Earth scientists finally translates their book and runs in screaming, “It’s a cookbook.”

Sorry, my ill-attempted joke that a story on cannibalism “might come in handy” in current situation.

[First Speaker]

19. Oh, I caught the joke...just shifting off-topic a bit...

...sorry, my mind meanders now and again...

[SCantiGOP]

20. OK

We could have a good argument about whose mind meanders the most.
I’ll look into Anachron, haven’t heard of that one.

First Jules Verne, then Heinlein, Asimov and Arthur C Clarke - I guess I read at least 90% of everything they wrote from the ages of about 12 to early 20s.

[First Speaker]

23. When I was 13--in 1966--I discovered my dad's SF collection...

...and in those days, that included a lot of Golden Age Astoundings and Unknowns, still in readable condition. And lots of anthologies from the 50s, especially the single-author collections. Heinlein and Asimov, yes...but also Kuttner/Moore, Bester, Sturgeon--especially him!!--Fredric Brown, James Gunn, Wilson Tucker, Leiber, and many others. To this day, that is SF to me...and yes, Damon Knight...

[redstateblues]

8. Einstein and the Rabbi

[First Speaker]

10. Re-reading *The Greek Coffin Mystery* by Ellery Queen...

...from 1932, the Golden Age of pure detective stories, and it has a mind-boggling surprise ending. I love re-reading the book, just to see it coming. Also--Chuck Klosterman, *But What If We're Wrong*, a fascinating, different take on what will seem important to us in 100 years. And "History Play*, I forget the author, a playful take on the Marlowe-wrote-Shakespeare theory...

[PennyK]

14. ELLERY!

I fell in love with those when i was a teenager. Over the years I've hunted down and read all of them. I love the middle period ones...just a great description of NYC and the humor was wonderful Dannay and Lee rocked!

[First Speaker]

16. Hear, hear!

...in some ways, Ellery, to me, is the archetypical mid-20th century American man. Cat of Many Tails is the definitive NYC mystery. And the Wrightsville novels make me nostalgic for an era I never knew, the old New England small towns that my parents grew up in...they--the Wrightsville books--were so sad, too. Glad to see a fellow Queenian here. I don't know why he--they?--have been forgotten, but Agatha remains famous, since he's at least as good...

[Jamastiene]

11. I decided to re-read The Stand.

Anybody know where our Mother Abagail is? Is there one? We need one.

[northoftheborder]

29. I've got The Stand ready to listen to next.

[betsuni]

13. I'm reading these:

Anya von Bremzen, "Mastering the Art of Soviet Cooking."
Michael W. Twitty, "The Cooking Gene."
Jane Ziegelman and Andrew Coe, "A Square Meal, A Culinary History of The Great Depression."
Xazier de Maistre, "Voyage Around My Room."
Jack Kerouac, "Desolation Angels."
Lesley M. M. Blume, "Everybody Behaves Badly, The True Story Behind Hemingway's Masterpiece 'The Sun Also Rises.'"
Rereading Paul Fussell, "Class, A Guide Through the American Status System."
Rereading Knut Hamsun, "Hunger."

[abqtommy]

15. I'm re-reading an anthology of great science fiction that was produced during the 1940s. It's

good stuff...

[First Speaker]

17. Is it by any chance "Adventures in Time and Space"...?

...that's one of the best SF volumes ever...

[abqtommy]

31. As a matter of fact, it is!

[Demsrule86]

21. James Patterson his latest Michael Bennett is out...

Also, Heather Graham...pure lite trash...but I need entertainment and distraction. I am re-reading the Elizabeth Peters Amelia Peabody series...also some of her supernatural book under the name Barbara Michaels. Also read Dr. Sleep...from Stephen King...the Shining sequel. It was really good.

[zanana1]

22. I'm also reading Patterson.

These are my first days of self isolation, and I'm finding it hard to adjust., Patterson is always a fun read. I think I'll get to the classics in month three.

[Demsrule86]

33. I love Patterson...I have a weakness for light fiction...entertainment! I did download the classics

on my tablet and I have a new I phone 11 to play with and my computer failed so I have that also;they are giving away computers practically on EBAY. I am trying not to feel trapped in the house. I never owned an Apple...always went with Android... I love my new phone.

I will recommend one book that I read in college and recently re-read...Kate Chopin's 'The Awakening'. It is a remarkable novel. And for fun... the Amelia Peabody series...The Lion in the Valley is hilarious. My nerves are shattered at the moment.

[mnhtnbb]

24. American Dirt

I scored a copy from the library last Friday as a librarian was putting it on the "Lucky Day" shelves, which is a section where they put a copy of high demand books. I think I was about 150 in line for a hold copy.

Brought home a dozen books. Good thing, since our county libraries were closed as of yesterday. Wish I'd gotten more, now. But between Netflix, news, playing online, I guess the library books will last about a month.

[panader0]

25. 'Barbarian Days' by William Finnegan,

we were in the same surf club (Southern Unit).

[Randomthought]

26. old Robert Heinlein novels

from the days when he was a "flaming liberal" especially the juveniles

[lynintenn]

27. Radium Girls

next A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara

[northoftheborder]

28. Self Made, by A'Leiia Bundles

biography of Madam C. J. Walker

[Borchkins]

30. Sing Unburied Sing

[sarge43]

32. Carl Sagan's The Demon Haunted World - again. n/t

[lastlib]

34. "The Hammer of God"--Arthur C. Clarke

It's not "The City And The Stars" or "Childhood's End," but pretty good.

[KY_EnviroGuy]

35. Your nice post on DU. Actually....

a bunch of research papers on coronavirus safety and stuff.

I've been book-lazy lately and need to get back at it........

[The Magistrate]

36. 'The Amazons', Ma'am

By Ms. Adrienne Mayor.

A Christmas present from my daughter.

[Totally Tunsie]

37. With so much misery in the world, I just started something low-brow, fluffy, and snarky...

"Ladies Who Punch", which is the inside story of the ladies of The View.

I need something these days that will bring a laugh or smile.