Which book(s) are you currently reading?

[Zomby Woof]

David Herbert Donald's biography "Lincoln", and Henry Adams' "History of the United States during the Administrations of James Madison (1809-1817)".

I can't read one at a time. I often start 1 or 2 more on the side, in addition to what I have going currently.

[Mojambo]

1. Quiverfull: Inside the Chritian Patriarchy Movement by Kathryn Joyce

Great book. Pretty scary movement actually.

[MountainLaurel]

10. That'd give me nightmares for weeks

It's pretty much "Handmaid's Tale" come to fruition, from what I gather.

[fishwax]

2. Play It As It Lays, by Joan Didion

[mix]

38. love her n/t

[mix]

3. Indian Killer-Sherman Alexie

just about done, very intense...

[Zomby Woof]

24. I like Alexie

Haven't read anything by him since "Reservation Blues", which I enjoyed particularly for highlighting some of my favorite college haunts in central Washington state.

[mix]

39. my first time reading him

brilliant book, Indian Killer

[Zomby Woof]

56. Allow me to recommend:

His debut work of prose (he had two works of poetry preceding), a collection of short stories called "The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight In Heaven".

[mix]

57. thank you n/t

[bif]

4. Run by Ann Patchett

[LaurenG]

5. The Five Lessons a Millionaire Taught Me for Women

I just got it and browsed through it so I don't know the lessons yet. Saving money seems to be the basis though. :hi:

[Zomby Woof]

25. I think we should write a book...

...on how to become a millionaire. The sales of the book will do the trick. :hi: ;-)

[SidneyCarton]

6. A couple...

"11th Month, 11th Day, 11th Hour World War I and its Violent Climax" by Joseph Persico
"Rites of Spring" (another book on WWI) by Modris Eksteins

I just finished "Shogun" by James Clavell

[Adsos Letter]

7. "The English Atlantic in an Age of Revolution: 1640-1664," by Carla Pestana.

[mvd]

8. President Barack Obama's book Dreams Of My Father

Then I'll read The Audacity Of Hope. Our President is a good writer.

[Zomby Woof]

27. I enjoyed "Dreams" immensely

I read both of his books in the weeks leading up to the election. He is a damn fine writer, with no help needed from a ghostwriter. Hope you enjoy them!

[mvd]

29. Yes, I have been hooked by the start even

Good sign!

[MountainLaurel]

9. "The White Lioness" by Henning Mankell

A Wallander mystery about a plot to kill then-President de Klerk by white supremacists in South Africa.

"After the Reich" and "The Selfish Gene"

Plus, I have an ILL that arrived today at the library, and I have no idea what it is.

[SecularMotion]

11. I always find good recommendations in book reading threads

I'm reading "The Wind-up Bird Chronicle" by Haruki Murakami and "Public Opinion" by Walter Lippman.

"Public Opinion" is a great education on how opinions are formed and manipulated in a democratic society. After reading this you will learn to recognize how stereotypes and talking points are used in attempt to sway opinion on DU and other discussion groups.

[Zomby Woof]

28. I learned of Lippman through reading Chomsky

And yes, once you have a grasp of his insights, many of the'discussions' reveal some of propaganda's basic building blocks.

I have also gotten many good recommendations from these threads.

[arbusto_baboso]

12. Three in progress right now.

Fire in the Sky, by Bergerud. It's an account of the air war in the South Pacific in WWII. Good stuff, and definitely some lessons to apply to the US economy right now, I think.

The second is America's War on Sex. I forget the author, as I've just started that one.

The last is The Beer Book, edited by Tim Hampson, though this one is largely a guide to the world's best beers.

[Fleshdancer]

13. Wuthering Heights

I decided to dedicate this Summer to the classics.

[timtom]

14. Clifton Fadiman's "Reading I've Liked"

"The Complete Works of Plato"
Saki
O Henry
Various college and high school literature textbooks

[trackfan]

15. The Roman Revolution

by Ronald Syme

[Callalily]

16. Just finished

Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson. Very inspiring.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_Cups_of_Tea

[book lady]

17. 'Water for Elephants' by Sara Gruen

I enjoyed the story very much...

[Fleshdancer]

32. I love that book. n/t

[hellbound-liberal]

Just got that one from the library. I haven't started it yet.

I'm reading Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell right now.

[Starbucks Anarchist]

18. "Something Like An Autobiography" by Akira Kurosawa.

Just finished "Brother Ray" by Ray Charles, and maybe I'll finally finish up David Simon's "The Corner" after that.

[Scooter24]

19. Just finished "Call Me by Your Name" by Andre Aciman and starting "Le Grande Meaulnes"

by Alain-Fournier.

Aciman's book was an incredible read.

[hippywife]

20. Just finished

Bonk: The Curious Coupling of Science and Sex. It's non-fiction but is a pretty easy read and hysterical! The author takes you through the history of sexual research and adds her own very witty observations that will at times have you laughing out loud. :rofl:

http://www.maryroach.net/books.html

[CaliforniaPeggy]

21. My dear hippywife!

I loved that one!

:hi:

[hippywife]

23. I'm so glad!

I emailed Mary to tell her how much I've enjoyed all of her books but that Bonk! was my favorite. She was very, very nice. We exchanged a few emails and she told me her next one will be on astronauts/space travel. She asked if I had any suggestions and I offered up adding her voice to the absurdity of what's considered food and farm policy in this country. She told me she knows Christopher D. Cook who wrote Diet for a Dead Planet (which is also excellent) and she's considering it.

Very cool and funny lady!

There were some passages in Bonk that were so funny, I had to read them aloud to my husband. LOL

:hi:

[trof]

22. Clyde Edgerton's 'Walking Across Egypt'.

His name popped up and we have similar backgrounds.
Both recce pilots and a few other things.
Mildly enjoyable.
Will read his 'The Floatplane Notebooks' next.
Not sure if I'm that wild about his work yet.
He gets good reviews.

[AllenVanAllen]

26. this one

Light hearted and insightful reading.

[femmocrat]

30. "Pillars of the Earth" by Ken Follett.... I bought it to read at the beach.

And The One-Percent Doctrine by Ron Suskind.

[Fleshdancer]

33. Pillars of the Earth is a wonderful novel. n/t

[bikebloke]

31. Idiot America by Charles P. Pierce

Finished a few minutes ago.

About to start;
Knots and Crosses by Ian Rankin

[shugah]

34. i'm currently wading (slo-o-o-o-o-ly) thru "The Gravedigger's Daughter"

not joyce carol oates' best...

[Zomby Woof]

44. Where are you going, shugah?

Where have you been? ;-)

[Brigid]

35. The new expanded edition of "The Stand."

I had read it years ago, and don't know why I had forgotten just how riveting it is.

[azmouse]

36. "Blood and Thunder" by Hampton Sides

[eauclaireliberal]

37. The Story of O

Just kidding...actually, I just got done with The Bourne Sanction.

[applegrove]

40. The Book of Negroes by Lawrence Hill. Excellent book so far though

I have read a bit about slave narratives and African novels so it isn't completely mind blowing for me at this juncture.

[NMDemDist2]

41. I'm reading Edward Abbey's first book on Arches NP n/t

[SeattleGirl]

42. "Fire Lover" by Joseph Wambaugh

True story of an arson investigator in Glendale, CA, who was also one of the most prolific serial arsonists in the country.

Quite interesting.

[JTG of the PRB]

43. "Sphere"

I've never read it before, and so far it's very interesting. I also just finished reading "The Andromeda Strain."

[Duer 157099]

45. The Lost City of Z

about Percy Fawcett, an explorer who went looking for El Dorado back in the early 1900s and disappeared (with his son and a friend of his son's) in the Amazon.

[Cant trust em]

46. Einstein. nt

[Chan790]

47. Mason & Dixon by Thomas Pynchon.

It's part of my ongoing effort to pursue a self-directed well-read equivalency of a Ph.D in contemporary world literature since I cannot afford to go to graduate school. Next up is Coin Locker Babies by Japanese neo-surrealist author Ryu Murakami, followed by some readings from Proust and another stab at Finnegan's Wake by James Joyce.

[Lethe]

48. Best Ghost Stories of Algernon Blackwood

also right in the middle of Of Human Bondage

[Broken_Hero]

49. Just finished A Spell for Chameleon

by Piers Anthony, and started The Source of Magic by Piers Anthony about an hour ago.

[Graybeard]

50. Vermeer's Hat

The author, Timothy Brook, uses objects seen in the paintings of Johannes Vermeer, ( a porcelain bowl, pipe tobacco, a beaver hat) to trace the ever expanding circles of cultural exchange leading to modern globalization. Fascinating read.

[I Have A Dream]

51. "Labyrinth" by Kate Mosse. nt

[bbernardini]

52. "Gone Bamboo" - Anthony Bourdain

I'm on a Bourdain kick lately.

[BurtWorm]

53. Before the Storm, by Rick Perlstein.

I just read Nixonland by the same author and recommend it whole-heartedly. This one (about Goldwater and how the wingers won the 1960s) is just as good so far.

I also recently read a book coming out in September: The Adderall Diaries, by Stephen Elliott. It's bound to become a cult classic--if it isn't, there's no justice in the world. (Google it.)

And I'm reading Something in the Air about the 1968 Mexico City Olympics, another book due out in September.

[enigmatic]

54. re-reading "The Music Of Chance" by Paul Auster

[Rambis]

55. In a dry season / Peter Robinson

I ran out of Ken Bruen and Ian Rankin books:(

[EndersDame]

58. Mort by Terry Pratchett

gotta love the Discworld!

[Gormy Cuss]

59. A Roomful of Hovings by John McPhee

In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan
and for lighter reading I'm about to start a J.A. Jance mystery

[raccoon]

60. Inside the Mind of Scott Peterson by Keith Ablow. nt

[seemunkee]

61. Voice from the Forest: Memoirs of a Jewish Partisan

Written by a member of the partisan group my grandfather-in-law and mother-in-law belonged to during the war. Poorly written but when my MiL tells us she worked in the hospital and her father blew up trains we get more of a picture as to what her early teen years were like.

[Mira]

62. "Renegade" Richard Wolffe

[Arugula Latte]

63. Just finished "The God of Small Things" and I'm working on the 4th Harry Potter

God of Small Things -- I found it hard to get through. I was happy when I finished it.

[Burma Jones]

64. In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan and Status Anxiety by Alain de Botton

I'm feeling nervous about whether the stuff I eat is gourmet enough.........

[martymar64]

65. Electric Koolaid Acid Test and a collection of HP Lovecraft stories

I'm also listening to the Silmarillion on audiobook at night

[Sheltiemama]

66. "Mary, Queen of Scotland and the Isles"

By Margaret George. It's a novel.

I just finished "American Wife." Highly recommended.

[ThatsMyBarack]

67. "Someone Named Eva", by Joan M. Wolf

It takes place in Nazi Europe during WWII. It's about this girl who lives in Czechoslovakia but is taken from her home by the Nazis and transformed into the "perfect German."

[ashling]

68. The Age of American Unreason, by Susan Jacoby

History of Political, by Leo Strauss and Joseph Cropsey ( actually, just finished)

recently read
The Violent Bear It Away, Flannery O'Conner;

A Lake Beyond the Wind, Yahya Yakhlif (Palestinian)

Fragments of Memory, Hanna Mina (Syrian)

The Setting Sun, Dazai Osamu (Japanese)

The Assault, Harry Mulisch (Dutch)

[Steely_Dan]

69. The Catcher In The Rye

for about the 50th time.

-P

[travelingtypist]

70. Owen Barfield Saving the Appearances

It's 100-page book and it's taken me nearly a year to read it. It's about the same stuff as Pirsig talked about in Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance.

I've got a Ravi Batra book started. Not sure which one.

Jennifer Fallon, Warlord, Book 3 of the Wolfblade Trilogy.

[yellowdogintexas]

71. Charlaine Harris, Ice Cold Grave (same author as True Blood series)

totally different concept, and a fun read.


Just finished InkHeart

[jus_the_facts]

72. Darwin's Children...sequel to Darwin's Radio by Greg Bear......

....decided to read them both again. :hug:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darwins_Radio

In the novel, a new form of endogenous retrovirus has emerged, SHEVA. It controls human evolution by rapidly evolving the next generation while in the womb, leading to speciation.

The novel follows several characters as the "plague" is discovered as well as the panicked reaction of the public and the U.S. government to the disease.

Built into the human genome are non-coding sequences of DNA called introns. In Darwin's Radio, certain portions of these "non-sense" sequences, remnants of prehistoric retroviruses, have been activated (SHEVA) and are translating numerous LPCs (large protein complex). The activation of SHEVA and its consequential sudden speciation was postulated to be either controlled by a complex genetic network that perceives a need for modification or a human adaptive response to overcrowding. The disease, or rather, gene activation, is passed on laterally from male to female as per an STD. If impregnated, a woman in her first trimester who has contracted SHEVA will miscarry a deformed female fetus made of little more than two ovaries. This "first stage fetus" leaves behind a fertilized egg with fifty-two chromosomes rather than the typical forty-six characteristic of Homo sapiens sapiens.

During the third trimester of the second stage pregnancy, both parents go into a pre-speciation puberty to prepare them for the needs of their novel child. Facial pigmentation changes underneath the old skin which begins sloughing off like a mask. Vocal organs and olfactory glands alter and sensitize respectively, to adapt for a new form of communication. For over a year after the first SHEVA outbreak in the United States, no second stage fetus was recorded to have been born alive. The new human species was highly sensitive to all varieties of herpes and could not be viably born to a mother who had ever been infected with any of the virus' many forms, including Epstein-Barr and the chickenpox — thus eliminating 95% of the female population. Anesthetics and pitocin administered during childbirth were also lethal. So while many women would contract activated SHEVA, few would be able to successfully give birth, making the transition from Homo sapiens sapiens to the new human species very gradual.

The international response to the threat of SHEVA was to form a special task force that would work alongside the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to find a vaccine. Because the "disease", called "Herod's Flu", was already in the genome of every person on Earth, the only two options were to either inhibit the activation of the SHEVA gene by discovering the signal it used or to abort the second stage fetus. Due to the rapid mutation rate of the missing-link signal molecule, preventing the activation of the gene was infeasible. The second option, abortion, was already a controversial issue and the proposal of handing out free RU 486 was met with social upheaval, adding to the already chaotic social scene. The general public believed that the government was either not placing due importance on the death of countless fetuses, or already had a cure and refused to release it. In response, government research facilities were forced to test prospective treatments prematurely and could not pursue explanations for SHEVA outside of the "disease" category because of the potential reactions from the masses. It was not until viable second stage fetuses were born that the idea of SHEVA being a part of evolution rather than a disease began to grow from a few isolated sources.

The novel's notable taglines included 'The next great war will start inside us' and 'In the next stage of evolution, mankind is history'.

[MissMillie]

73. Shadow Puppets

the 3rd book of the Ender's Shadow series.

[pecwae]

74. Lion Throne by Jennifer Roberson.

It's a 4 omnibus collection and I'm on my third reading.

[Ohio Joe]

75. I just finished American Psycho

What a turd burger... I thought the movie was bad but this was simply awful. A friend and I had talked about the movie and he was surprised I did not really like it, told me the book was much better. Usually they are but in this case... It gave me a new appreciation for the movie it was so bad. 30 pages in and I was already sick of the endless descriptions of everything everyone was wearing, and everything he bought, YES, I GOT THE POINT ALREADY! Damn, but no, it goes on endlessly through the entire freakin book. It reads like a commercial and was just as interesting. If they cut just half the descriptions of clothes, the book would be half the size and still have too much of it. It really should have been a 30-40 page story, then it might have been enjoyable.