books: what are you currently reading?

[Woodbadger]

Currently reading Blood and Thunder by Hampton Sides. This on the basis of a piece done on CBS Sunday Morning News. A history of the westward expansion starting in the 1840s told around the life and exploits of Kit Carson.

[canoe65]

Right now, I am reading, "The Life of Pi" by Yann Martel.

I just finished, "Three Day Road", by Joseph Boyden.

My next book will be, "The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid", by Bill Bryson.

[Fergy07]

'What Paul Meant' by Gary Willis. Not a bad book about St. Paul's various letters.

Andy

[little fingers]

The last three: The Valkyries; Paulo Coelho, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close; Jonathan Safran Foer and The History of Love; NIcole Krauss.
currently reading: War Trash; Ha Jin and Inner Circle; TC Boyle.

[bob_d]

I just started The Jazz Theory Book by Mark Levine.

[bogie]

you might enjoy "The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test" by Ken Kesey
"Are you ON the BUS?"

I'm originally from Edmonton, Alberta. At one point in my youth, I worked at a Cajun restaurant. The owners of it are wonderful people. The wife was a total hippie (and still is today) who had migrated from California to Edmonton in order to take her Masters Degree in Slavic studies. She told me that she was well acquainted with Ken Kesey and her first husband was one of the characters in The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test, the "frantic piano player" if I remember correctly.

Anyway, I'm currently reading Berlin 1945 by Anthony Beevor, he also wrote Stalingrad.

[Caleb]

I'm currently reading "The Life of Benjamin Franklin: From Boyhood to Manhood" by William Thayer. 

[ElJefe]

Skeptical Guitarist- Yeah, I'm trying to learn how to read music.

[jeremy3220]

i just finished Sartre's "The Age of Reason". It was ok, kinda bland.

I never gave my thoughts on "On the Road". It was good, but I didn't think it was as great as its reputation would have you believe. The characters were interesting because they were free but didn't have much say. I didn't find a lot of great ideas or much I could take from it, nor was the plot itself of great importance. If there were any great revelations in the book, they weren't anything that hadn't been revealed to me before.

I started reading Hemingway's "The Green Hills of Africa". I've got high hopes for it. Actually I got the idea from "On the Road", where the narrator says he thinks it was Hemingway's best work, but I'm not new to Hemingway. I liked all his stuff so far, which is why I think it will probably get a thumbs up.

[scotchtape]

The Collapse of Globalism by John Ralston Saul.

going to read The rebel sell next.

[poki]

just finished Comm Check: the Final Flight of Shuttle Columbia by Michael Cabbage and William Harwood.  at times a painfull and frustrating read of human fallibility and the tragic consequences.

The Dam Busters by Janathan Falconer.  the telling of the WWII British "Chastise" mission to breach the dams in western germany and it's aftermath.

currently reading    A Short History of the Korean War by James L. Stokesbury

[Blue in VT]

I've been on an end of the world kick for some reason lately...maybe I'm a pessimist after all...

So last few weeks I've read..."Alas Babylon" about a full scale nuclear exchange between the US and USSR...kinda slow...written in the late 50's so a bit to upbeat considering the consequences of such a "war"

"Lucifer's Hammer" about a Comet striking the earth...and the decline of civilization afterward....very well written and fun to read....in a depressing sort of way.

I'm currently working thru "Children of Men" the book version of the recent movie....this is one of the few instances where I would say that the movie is better than the book!!!  For those who haven't seen it (or read it) its about a future in which human reproduction has stopped and the last generation of humans (25 years old in the book) are dealing with the decline of the race and struggling to learn why this catastrophe occurred.

Any way...a weird rut I'm in...but it has exposed me to some new and intersting books!



Blue

[dmw]

Reading The Grace Awakening by Chuck Swindoll

[Caleb]

Reading The Grace Awakening by Chuck Swindoll

Great book on a great subject.  Swindoll is truly a gifted man. Speaking of Swindoll, I get his sermons on CD mailed to my house each month from his church in Frisco, TX.  It's only $20 a month and well worth it, in my view.

[robv]

Yann Martel's Life of Pi is a fine book, enjoyed it very much. I also came across an interesting link that Yann has created.. it seems he has some issues with our PM Stephen Harper. This could be an interesting thread to follow as well as some good reading suggestiions.

http://www.whatisstephenharperreading.ca

Rob

[dmw]

Great book on a great subject.  Swindoll is truly a gifted man. Speaking of Swindoll, I get his sermons on CD mailed to my house each month from his church in Frisco, TX.  It's only $20 a month and well worth it, in my view.

I'll have to look into that.  I enjoy hearing him. My wife listens everyday to his radio program.  This particular book is the best I have read.  I guess it is the subject that interest me.  I am also doing a study of the Book of Galatians and so Swindoll's book has been very insightful.

[Caleb]

I'm currently reading:

The Long Road Home - A Story of War and Family by Martha Raddatz

She works for ABC and was in Iraq in 04 when Sadr City was nuts.  This book is basically about the family members and the service members.  Very interesting reading.  Makes you completely apprecaite what the troops have gone through and are still going through. 

[poki]

Over the edge of the World: Magellan's Terrifying Circumnavigation of the Globe by Laurence Bergreen

In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex by Nathaniel Philbrick

The Complete Idiots Guide to the Roman Empire by Eric Nelson

[Caleb]

I'm rereading The Light and the Glory by Peter Marshall and David Manuel. 

[Caleb]

The Confessions of Augustine

The Works of Aquinas Vol. 1