books: what are you currently reading?

[Caleb]

Just reread Lewis's The Great Divorce for about the 7th time.  Now rereading his The Problem of Pain.

[Hooked]

On now to Steve Brown's "Three Free Sins" and a reread of a lot of Ray Bradbury short stories. Both good for the soul!

[Caleb]

Finished Lewis's Problem of Pain today and am about to start my annual reading of The Screwtape Letters.  Lots of Lewis during this season. 

[Hooked]

Have you seen Max McLean's one man play of Screwtape? If not and you get a chance, don't miss it!

[Caleb]

Have you seen Max McLean's one man play of Screwtape? If not and you get a chance, don't miss it!

Saw a bit of it on Youtube.  Good stuff. 

[Danny]

I went to see LONE SURVIVOR today while it was still on the big screen.
    It was a huge Disappointment. Fabrications and Hollywood licence ruined the true version.
     Just read the book.

[eded]

I made it through the first 5 books of the Bible and had to take a break.  Now reading Wild Tales by Graham Nash.  A fast read.  I'm not sure I really like the writing style, but it's pretty interesting.

Ed

[Tuba Mike]

Finished the Erhman book and O'Brien's "They Things They Carried" and "Salvation on Sand Mountain" by Dennis Covington (about snake handling churches in Appalachia.  Incredibly well written).  Also read Naoki Higashida's "The Reason I Jump".  All good reads.  Just started "The Sense of an Ending" by Julian Barnes with Bart Erhamn's "How Jesus Became God" and Tim O'Brien's "Going After Cacciato" waiting on the night stand.  The Erhmn books are more scholarly and historical and thus require some really good fiction to counter them (although they are very well written and a good read - IMHO).   That is where the O'Brien books come in.  I had not read him before.  He is a Vietnam vet and his stories are amazing.  So well written you just can't put them down. 

[brandon]

I made it through the first 5 books of the Bible and had to take a break.  Now reading Wild Tales by Graham Nash.  A fast read.  I'm not sure I really like the writing style, but it's pretty interesting.

Ed

The Pentateuch can be tough reading at times.

I'm working on Anatomy for Runners by Jay Dicharry. It's a good read if you enjoy running and anatomy, or if you have suffered from injuries while running. He does a good job breaking the anatomy down to a basic level to ease the reading some.

[craig in indy]

Finished the Erhman book and O'Brien's "They Things They Carried" and "Salvation on Sand Mountain" by Dennis Covington (about snake handling churches in Appalachia.  Incredibly well written).  Also read Naoki Higashida's "The Reason I Jump".  All good reads.  Just started "The Sense of an Ending" by Julian Barnes with Bart Erhamn's "How Jesus Became God" and Tim O'Brien's "Going After Cacciato" waiting on the night stand.  The Erhmn books are more scholarly and historical and thus require some really good fiction to counter them (although they are very well written and a good read - IMHO).   That is where the O'Brien books come in.  I had not read him before.  He is a Vietnam vet and his stories are amazing.  So well written you just can't put them down. 

O'Brien has been one of my two favorite authors ever since "Cacciato" (the other being John Irving). "The Things They Carried" is one of the best books I've ever read, and his "In the Lake of the Woods" is a masterpiece in ambiguity.

[Caleb]

Reading lots of CS Lewis essays and just started Greenwitch by Susan Cooper, part of her The Dark is Rising series.

[Mikeymac]

All of a sudden I've finished two books and am on my third about North Korea...don't ask me how I got on this topic; I can't remember! But it's been fascinating, sad, frustrating and angering all at the same time. That we (the U.S. Government) haven't figured out a way to break the current political dynasty in that tiny, economically broken and fragile country means our government really doesn't care. Meanwhile, most of N. Korea's 23 million people live in the most oppressive conditions on earth in the 20th/21st century.

First book was about the only person ever born inside one of N. Korea's gulag style prison camps ever to escape and get out of N. Korea. Book is entitled Escape From Camp 14: One Man's Remarkable Odessey From North Korea to Freedom in the West. It honestly confirms everything you've heard - and worse - about life inside these prison camps (where between 200,000 and 400,000 of the population is being held).

Second book is about an American soldier, Sgt. Charles Robert Jenkins, who in 1965 deserted and walked across the DMZ from his post in S. Korea to N. Korea. He was afraid his unit was going to be shipped to Vietnam, and he was angry about some other things about his assignment there. But he never realized he'd be stuck in N. Korea for 40 years! The only reason he was finally released was because he was married to a Japanese woman who was abducted and taken into the regime to be used as a concubine for someone (and the Japanese government finally demanded the release of these persons who had been abducted over the years)... another fascinating story, both about N. Korea, but also about Jenkins and 3 other American soldiers who shared his plight: The Reluctant Communist: My Desertion, Court-Martial, and 40 Year Imprisonment in North Korea.

Now reading the third by a journalist, Barbara Demick, who has interviewed a number of North Koreans who successfully escaped the country (as did the author of Escape From Camp 14 above). She tells the story of half a dozen people who escaped, weaving in love stories and other "human interest" pieces with detailed facts about life inside the country since Kim Il Sung camp to power around 1958 (around the time Castro took over Cuba, no?). It's another one that's hard to put down because of the human interest side: Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea. Bland title but well written book.

Reading all of these on my ol' Kindle, by the way... 

[robwms]

Paris - the novel

[Caleb]

Been on my list for years and I've finally started read The Counte of Monte Christo. Huge book. Huge undertaking.  I'm in chapter five and have loved every page so far.

[Mikeymac]

Now into fourth book on North Korea - I suspect this will be my last, but who knows? It will definitely take the longest to read, it's quite a tome - Under the Loving Care of the Fatherly Leader: North Korea and the Kim Dynasty. Probably the most well-researched book on North Korea to date - not an easy task, since the Kim's have kept much of the country so inaccessible to outsiders.

Little known fact: Kim Sung-Il - who started the modern Kim regime - grew up in the Christian church and even played the organ in church when he was younger. He dismisses much of this in his rewriting of his own history. Christianity was very prevalent in Korea before the Korean War: Kim has crushed most of it out of the North...it wouldn't allow for him to be the "god" he portrayed himself to be for his people...

[rockstar_not]

Started two last night:

"Love Does" by Bob Goff.
"Start with Why" by Simon Sinek.

I'm about 40 pages in on both of them (1/5 way through both).  Bob Goff seems to be much more interesting when other people talk about him and his whimsy, than his actual writing.  So far it's a ho-hum read.  The same can be said for the other book.  Both of these came fairly highly recommended to me.

I just finished off "The Return of Sherlock Holmes" which was far more engaging and entertaining than either of these.

[Strings4Him]

I have been reading The Gospel Focus of Charles Spurgeon (Long Line of Godly Men Profiles).  It is simple and compelling.

[Danny]

I have been reading The Gospel Focus of Charles Spurgeon (Long Line of Godly Men Profiles).  It is simple and compelling.

Spurgeon has my deepest respect. In a time before microphones and amplified speakers he would speak to very large audiences. He had to speak loud and strongly to be heard, when his voice weakened he ate a pepper which he kept with him at the podium to clear his voice and continue speaking.

       After watching season 1 and 2 of "LONGMIRE" I started reading Craig Johnson`s mystery series regarding sherrif Longmire.
        I found two of the books for $5 total at Half Price Books. That is a huge savings from the list price and the books were in new condition.

          This is my first fiction reading in a long time, so far I find them interesting.

[Caleb]

I detoured from Monte Cristo to read a bio on Socrates by Christopher Taylor, a dry dud of a book.   Picked back up Monte Christo and am at about chapter 45. Huge book but some chapters have been among the best reading I've ever done.

[Spiritinthesky]

Keith Richards Life, if you don't own a copy, buy it.