Whats everyone reading now and/or read lately

[mybodymyself]

As for me haven't been doing that much reading lately. Found that I hardly read any more as well. Have to say do have times like this and others don't. Guess it depends on the book itself as well.

To the End of the Land, David Grossman and Jessica Cohen (Translator)

A Midwife's Tale : The Life of Martha Ballard, Based on Her Diary, 1785-1812, Laurel Thatcher Ulrich. Already viewed the dvd part of it and it was worth the watch. Now, I can't wait the book to learn even more about Ms Ballard.

Finished reading Not Afraid of Life: My Journey So Far, Bristol Palin and Nancy French

It was definitely worth the purchase and read.

This is taken from another thread and/response that I have done regarding Bristol's mother and Tripp's grandmother.

What is/are Sarah Palin stance/s on family leave act (maternity, paternity, etc)? The reason why I'm asking this here because she didn't bring up in neither of her books. In my opinion this should be a paid one. It should also nation and worldwide as well.

Is there anyone else on here besides whom are getting beyond tired of her still being in the spotlight? That also goes her putting her husband, kids, rest of her family, and friends being in the spotlight and etc. Even though I'm still like her as a person then a politician.

She should just go back to her husband and kids. Instead being in the spotlight. Do feel sorry for her kids and the rest of family and everyone whom is associated with her. Because politics have truly ruined her and her husband for sure. Yeah I could be wrong about this.

Finished reading these few books almost half a mo to 2 mo back now.

The Lost Girls: Three Friends. Four Continents.: One Unconventional Detour Around the World, Jennifer Baggett, Holly C. Corbett, Amanda Pressner.It was worth the read. Especially, returning the hardcover because found it was little worn. Had to wait until the paperback was released to read it.

Mountain of Crumbs: A Memoir, Elena Gorokhova a week ago. It was worth read. Especially, since found I learned more about the former Soviet Union then what I already knew about before reading your memoir. Can't wait to read more of Ms Gorokhova's life and/or her mothers life now.

A Father's Love: One Man's Unrelenting Battle to Bring His Abducted Son Home, David Goldman. WOW what a memoir this was and thank you, Mr. Goldman for writing about your ordeal to get Sean back home.

[Elendil's Heir]

I have more books underway at the moment than I usually do. I skip from one to the other depending on my mood, and how much time I have:

Kennedy by Theodore Sorensen - A very interesting profile of JFK by one of his top longtime aides. Lots of funny and offbeat behind-the-scenes remembrances.

Then Everything Changed by Jeff Greenfield - Generally plausible political what-if scenarios from recent American history.

The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde - Odd but intriguing novel about a literary detective taking on an over-the-top villain.

Miss Elizabeth Bennet - A 1936 play by A.A. Milne (yes, that A.A. Milne) based upon Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. Not too far into it yet, but I like it.

[Sarahfeena]

I've just started Nothing Daunted: The Unexpected Education of Two Society Girls in the West. It's pretty interesting so far.

[Marsilia]

I'm reading Cassandra Clare's City of Fallen Angels because there's little I enjoy more than fluffy urban fantasy.

[Zuul]

I just finished the final book in the Earth's Children series by Jean Auel. It was, without a doubt, the worst book I have ever finished in my life. Good God.

[Orual]

I'm reading Founding Brothers and some Star Wars novels.

I need to pick up that Martha Ballard book - I heard about it peripherally in half of my grad school classes but I never remember to get it.

[Elendil's Heir]

Founding Brothers is terrific. One of my favorite shorter books on U.S. history.

[Hatshepsut]

I just read Steve Martin's Shop Girl and found it unexpectedly touching. I had known it got good critical reviews, but didn't expect it to be such an amazingly good read. I think I'm love in with Steve Martin now.

Recently I read A Singular Woman, which was a biography of Obama's mom. It was extra interesting for me, as I know a lot of the people quoted because she lived so much of her life in Indonesia doing work rather similar to what my husband and I do. There's one story of how Anne Dunham was kind of a matchmaker, and matched up a couple who later got married. We know them rather well (they are now middle-aged with several kids) but I never knew they were match-made by Obama's mom. I guess it's not the kind of thing you can easily slip into a conversation ...

I've also been enjoying a fair bit of well-written junk. My job requires me to read tons of really boring material, so I like to retreat into fast-paced entertainment when I get to choose the reading material. I've read several books by Thomas Perry and Lisa Gardner - they both write extremely well-plotted, nicely observed, and gripping mystery/thriller type novels.

I also just read Bossypants by Tina Fey. That was hilarious.

Oh, and here's a book I adored, although it was rather depressing: In Other Rooms, Other Wonders by Daniyal Mueenuddin. I choose it while browsing the Kindle Store - it was probably recommended for me, I don't know for sure how I came across it. But I was so struck by the title - I knew immediately I would love it, and I did. It is a series of short stories set primarily in modern Pakistan, featuring everything from downtrodden, impoverished household staff to rich yuppies. Each story is every-so-delicately related to the other stories.

That's all I can think of off of the top of my head. If I went to get my Kindle it would refresh my memory of other recent reads, but then I would want to stop working and read right now. (Yes, obviously I'm not working as i type this, but this can be held to a 10-minute break instead of an afternoon!

[Zuul]

Recently I read A Singular Woman, which was a biography of Obama's mom. It was extra interesting for me, as I know a lot of the people quoted because she lived so much of her life in Indonesia doing work rather similar to what my husband and I do. There's one story of how Anne Dunham was kind of a matchmaker, and matched up a couple who later got married. We know them rather well (they are now middle-aged with several kids) but I never knew they were match-made by Obama's mom. I guess it's not the kind of thing you can easily slip into a conversation ...

Interesting! Aside from those sorts of little tidbits, did you enjoy the writing? I've been thinking about picking it up.

[Hatshepsut]

It's really hard for me to answer your question, Zuul. I think it was a pretty good book simply as a biography ... certainly Anne Dunham led a fascinating life, setting aside the fact that her child eventually became president. But would I have enjoyed it nearly as much without the personal touch of knowing about the milieu and people mentioned? Hard to say. The only relevant data point I have to answer that question is my mother, who generally tends toward a "thumbs down" view of life and who doesn't have the same connection to Indonesia that I do. She also read the book and enjoyed it a great deal, which is strong evidence that the book is pretty darn good.

So...yeah, I think it is probably a good book no matter what.

And if you hate it blame my mother not me please.

[Glazer]

Just went to Borders yesterday to reload. I go to the hospital tomorrow so I'll start "Brass Man" by Neal Asher. It's about a insane killer android and a human cop in a universe ran by AI's. I also picked up "The Philip K. Dick Reader" a collection of his short stories. "Deep State" by Walter John Williams, sequel to his book "This is Not a Game". And "Zendegi" by Greg Egan about a revolution in Iran and an expatriate scientist who goes home.

Mybodymyself, just wondering is English your first language?

[Elendil's Heir]

...I also just read Bossypants by Tina Fey. That was hilarious....

Did she have anything to say about when her face was slashed in her childhood? Or about her Sarah Palin alter ego?

[The Original An Gadaí]

I'm still stuck into this, it's taken me ages to read cos of work commitments eating up most of my time.



I find it quite fascinating, and it's written in a modular way, some chapters might be not so interesting but they can be skimmed over. It's almost a collection of short stories. The interesting thing for me about it is that it's largely "faction", he uses real people and events where possible and has provided comprehensive notes about the documentary nature of each chapter in the appendices. So he'll readily admit, some characters are made up whole cloth, others are comprised of a composite of elements of historic individuals, and then others he describes as accurately as possible with the information he has. It must have taken so much time to put it together and it's amazing that it reads as well as it does.

[Hatshepsut]

...I also just read Bossypants by Tina Fey. That was hilarious....

Did she have anything to say about when her face was slashed in her childhood? Or about her Sarah Palin alter ego?

She acknowledges the face-slashing right away but gives no details ... basically "yeah, I know you are gonna ask, so: yep, I did get my face slashed as a kid." Then it just comes up tangentially later in the book, but no real details.

She talks in much more detail about playing Sarah Palin.

[Elendil's Heir]

Thanks. What does she say about the whole Palin experience, in a nutshell (or as much as you care to say)?

[Hatshepsut]

Nothing especially exciting - just that as soon as Palin broke on the national scene, everyone Tina Fey knew started pointing out how they look alike. And (surprisingly in retrospect) SNL didn't automatically cast TF as SP. And of course, Tina Fey became much better known because of the Palin resemblence. She and the SNL crew also got lots of thanks from Hilary and Bill Clinton (each separately sending notes) after a particular sketch that was widely interpreted as very pro-Democrat; TF found that somewhat disconcerting. Finally, she said that Palin was a real trouper when she appeared on the show.

Sounds pretty boring, and in encapsulated form it is. What makes the book so good is not the story of Tina Fey's experiences, but the hilarious way she tells them.

[Elendil's Heir]

OK, thanks! I'll have to check that out.

[OneCentStamp]

I've been on a kick recently of grabbing books from Project Gutenberg and reading them on my Kindle on the way to and from work. Since Gutenberg only contains works in the public domain (i.e. at least 80 years old), it means I've been reading a lot of classics. In the last two weeks:

Lewis Carroll, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
Mary Shelley, Frankenstein
Jules Verne, Around the World in 80 Days
H.G. Wells, The Time Machine
J.M. Barrie, Peter Pan
Jack London, The Scarlet Plague

[Orual]

I've had Spenser's Faerie Queene sitting on my Nook for months, but the formatting is so rough I haven't been able to get into it.

[OneCentStamp]

I've had Spenser's Faerie Queene sitting on my Nook for months, but the formatting is so rough I haven't been able to get into it.

What format is it in? Whenever I put pdf files on my Kindle, the formatting is screwy.

[Orual]

I got it from the nook store, so that's not the problem. I thought it was an official publisher's version when it is, in fact, somebody's cheapass digitization of public domain literature. I bought it before I learned to be careful.

[Oliveloaf]

I am reading The Jungle for, like, the tenth time. Safety in familiarity.

I am 6 books into an 8-volume Sherlock Holmes anthology that I cannot make myself finish.
Need to wrap that up.

[Orual]

The last couple volumes of Holmes stories are not the best.

[Oliveloaf]

The last couple volumes of Holmes stories are not the best.

Thank you! I really thought there was something wrong with me. Once Watson moved out, things got strange.

The back-from-retirement stuff is sluggish, too.

[Orual]

Doyle realllly wanted to kill Holmes in "The Final Problem". I don't think his heart was much in it afterwords, Hound of the Baskervilles excepted.

Of course, I will read them all. All day and twice on Sundays because I love them so.

[Oliveloaf]

The good stories are really good. Had to take a break, though.

[Elendil's Heir]

As an ardent Holmes fan, I encourage you to check out June Thomson's short-story pastiches - she's very, very good. Gets the Holmes and Watson relationship, and the mood, dialogue, clever plots and settings just right. If you'd never read any Conan Doyle you'd be hard-pressed to tell the difference. Start with this 1990 collection first: http://www.amazon.com/Secret-Files-S...0443395&sr=1-5

[OneCentStamp]

I picked up Dracula from Gutenberg and began digging in last night. So far it's worlds better than Frankenstein. It's amazing what a difference the Victorian Era made in readability - there's only 80 years between the two books, and it might as well be 200.

[Oliveloaf]

I picked up Dracula from Gutenberg and began digging in last night. So far it's worlds better than Frankenstein. It's amazing what a difference the Victorian Era made in readability - there's only 80 years between the two books, and it might as well be 200.

Read Frankenstein in high school. Hated it then. Seem to recall knowing that our teacher hated it, too. I should have another look at it. Not because I expect to like it, but because I don't really remember anything about it.

[OneCentStamp]

Let me put my obligatory plug in here for Goodreads (link in sig). It's easy to use, takes as much or as little of your time as you care to spare, and is a nice way to find new reading material. I'm probably friends with a dozen Dopers/Mellos on there, including Zuul, artifex, Sleeps w/Butterflies, and MsPurl, and it's an interesting other context in which to interact.

[Zuul]

One of my favorite parts is when I can see a really bad review from someone I know.

[OneCentStamp]

One of my favorite parts is when I can see a really bad review from someone I know.

I trashed Frankenstein (the book generally as well as the titular character specifically) pretty good a few days back.

[Marsilia]

I've started reading Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children and it's pretty fabulous so far. I just haven't had time to get too far into it yet.

[Orual]

I'm now reading The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, because I had a gap in my Brontënanity.

[Zuul]

I just finished Sexing the Body by Anne Fausto-Sterling. I regret not reading it sooner, because it was an amazing experience. I love scientific history anyway, so reading all about how science/medicine intersected with sex and gender and our modern understanding was fascinating.

[What Exit?]

I'm ripping through the 4 book "The Dreamers" series by David and Leigh Eddings.

[OneCentStamp]

I'm still in "throw public domain books that I've always wanted to read onto the Kindle" mode. Because of the nature of public domain, most of them are from the turn of the 20th century. Recently:

L. Frank Baum, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
W. Somerset Maugham, The Magician
W. Somerset Maugham, The Explorer
Lewis Carroll, Through the Looking-Glass
Bram Stoker, Dracula
Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland

[The Original An Gadaí]

I'm bookless at the minute but will be starting either Retromania: Pop Culture's Addiction to its Own Past or 33 Revolutions per Minute: A History of Protest Songs presently.

[Orual]

I just finished the Hunger Games trilogy. It was awesome.

[Elendil's Heir]

Just finished Steven Pressfield's The Afghan Campaign, about Alexander the Great's 330s BC effort to conquer what is now Afghanistan, as told by a young Macedonian soldier who gets more world-weary, cynical and numb to the endless violence as time passes. It's pretty good, all in all, although the author tries to use slang (the Macedonians are "Macks," food is "mooch," a discharge is a "skip") to give it a sense of immediacy - sometimes you forget that this was more than 2000 years ago, which I suppose might have been Pressfield's intent. His attempts to draw parallels to the current US/NATO effort in Afghanistan are a bit labored.

Next up: Return to Midway by Robert Ballard, and finishing Kennedy by Theodore Sorensen (I've been at that one for awhile; it's thick but good).

[OneCentStamp]

I'm finishing Arthur Conan Doyle's "The Hound of the Baskervilles." It has been an amazingly fun read.

[CatInASuit]

Multiple books of Kakuro, perhaps writing rather than reading.

[The Original An Gadaí]

CIAS is the only man who ever got on the kakuro bandwagon!

[Orual]

...

I just looked up 'Kakuro' because I thought it was an author's name ...

[Sarahfeena]

I'm reading Taking Charge of ADHD by Russell Barkley, and it's blowing my mind. That's my "assigned" reading. The one I'm reading for fun is Clara and Mr. Tiffany, which I'm quite enjoying so far. Love love love stuff written about the Gilded Age.

[CatInASuit]

...

I just looked up 'Kakuro' because I thought it was an author's name ...

Sorry Orual, nothing so exciting.

[OneCentStamp]

...

I just looked up 'Kakuro' because I thought it was an author's name ...

Sorry Orual, nothing so exciting.

Not to be confused with its close cousin, bukkakuro, where you arrange 81 of your closest friends in a 9x9 grid pattern and...

[Marsilia]

I just finished the Hunger Games trilogy. It was awesome.

Yes. Yes, it was. So, so awesome.

[Orual]

I followed it up with a re-read of the complete Little House series, because I needed to feel happy feelings again.

[Marsilia]

Yeah. The Hunger Games are a little...intense.