books: what are you currently reading?

[ryler]

The Pillars of the Earth, Ken Follett.  So far, very good.  Lots and lots of it to go.

[Zingo]

I, Alex Cross by James Patterson. Only recently got into murder mysteries, but this is a really good one.

Chris

[wyodeb]

Just finished Devil in the White City. I'm struggling through Blue Like Jazz. Also reading I Shall Wear Midnight. Hubby recently gave me a Kindle. I didn't know how I would like it but I've gotten some classics I have been meaning to read. I really like being able to change the font size. And not having to remember where I put my book.

Deb

[Caleb]

I read Blue Like Jazz.   
I do recommend Miller's book Through Painted Deserts though. Very good stuff.  I just don't care for his take on theological matters.  There are just too many other great minds out there for me to spend much time listening to Miller pontificate and ask questions ad nauseum.

Currently reading a ton of Emily Dickinson poetry. 

[wyodeb]

I read Blue Like Jazz.   
I do recommend Miller's book Through Painted Deserts though. Very good stuff. 

Maybe I'll give that a try. I just find myself getting really annoyed with him. I like Edna Hong's books on theology, as well as some of Brennan Manning.

[Caleb]

Maybe I'll give that a try. I just find myself getting really annoyed with him. I like Edna Hong's books on theology, as well as some of Brennan Manning.

"Deserts" is a travel-log kind of book about Miller and a friend making their way through the country in a van back in the 90s. I really like that book and might read it again someday.  I guess he annoys me as well.  Manning is a more solid thinker than Miller, in my opinion.  I'm not crazy about his theology necessarily, but I at least like the fact that he's got more miles under his belt and seems to be coming from a place of conviction and experience.  Miller is too flavor-of-the-week (and too young) for me to take that seriously, theologically.  I like seasoned thinkers and writers on the subject, not folks who sell theological books by constantly asking questions they don't really want any answers to (my take, I realize). 

[wyodeb]

His book just reminds me of when we were in seminary (in our 20s) and we used to sit around the tables in the cafeteria and spout profundities about which we really had no idea. We liked to think of our conversations as deeply theological. In hindsight, we were all pretty ridiculous.

[Caleb]

"All nonsense questions are unanswerable. How many hours are there in a mile? Is yellow square or round? Probably half the questions we ask—half of our great theological and metaphysical problems—are like that."
-C.S. Lewis

[Danny]

"All nonsense questions are unanswerable. How many hours are there in a mile? Is yellow square or round? Probably half the questions we ask—half of our great theological and metaphysical problems—are like that."
-C.S. Lewis

That is wisdom.

[Caleb]

Hondo - Louis L'Amour

[Dr. LJ]

Just finished The Dome by Stephan King.  It is about 9,000,000 pages long but I really enjoyed it.  I have not read any King in a while so it was fun to get back into one of his books.

LJ

[Danny]

   I finished Cold Mountain. There are several chapters with a lot of musical reference. That was a surprise and made the story much more interesting.
 
  Started "Band of Brothers" last night and finished the first chapter. I am already liking it better than the HBO series. Though I thought that was well done.

  I had read "Citizen Soldier" which is the broader view of WW II in Europe and enjoyed it very much. Looking forward to this one as well.

[ryler]

Almost done with Start Where You Are by Pema Chodron. 

[Caleb]

I'm just into my annual go-round with The Lord of the Rings. 

[Opy]

I've been reading a lot of Wilbur Smith lately and James Patterson - Alex Cross. I just got the audiobook Life by Keith Richards. That is pretty interesting.

[Danny]

   I finished "Band of Brothers" and was wanting it to be longer. I have heard of a book written by Major Winters, who was the "real" leader of E company and will try to find it as well.
   
   Meanwhile I am back to "Undaunted Courage" by Stephen E. Ambrose. This is a must read for me, as I was a high school drop out many moons ago and this history of Meriwether Lewis, Thomas Jefferson, and the opening of the American west is an eye opener. I don't get the feeling this was a history re-write to please the current political climate. Just the facts gathered from letters and other scholars presented in a fashion that may be construed as tedious with all the small added details.
   But for me the details put me in the moment and that is good writing IMHO. Much better than the "Hollywood" re-writes about Jefferson to sell movie tickets and tickle the ears of the daytime TV gossip groups.

[ducktrapper]

Sean Wilentz - Bob Dylan in America. Highly recommended. Especially for history buffs.

[Caleb]

Dan - I, too, want to learn more about Lewis and Clark.  I got that book (twice!) by Ambrose and just could not make it come to life for me. I want a book about half that size that focuses more on the actual experience and no so much the political ramifications of the expedition.  I think there was just way more detail by Ambrose than I was/am looking for.   And like you, I blew off my school years and am learning all this stuff later in life.  But in hindsight, I don't think I'd change a thing. 

[Danny]

                             

I just finished UNDAUNTED COURAGE, by Stephen E. Ambrose

   It was a book full of meticulous details, but in the end the understanding you gain regarding the culture and power struggles in U.S. politics and among the Indians is an enlarging experience.

    Ambrose did his research well and he did not give into the myths and politically correct present re-writing of American history.

                                 Highly recommended and well worth the investment in time.

[WPete]

Also just finished this series - if you start them - be prepared to end up reading very late or all night. No guitar content tho.

The girl with the Dragon Tattoo,by Stieg Larsson.
This book is the first of a 3 set thriller  series. ...
I found that once you got into the story it was a nail biter.
The sad thing about the author was he turned in the 3 manuscripts to the publisher,and died a short time later at the age of 52.
He never knew his books got published, and all three of them are in the top 10 selling book charts, 6 years after his death......