books: what are you currently reading?

[wyodeb]

Just finished Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen. I really enjoyed it. I've always loved circus novels, and this is one of the best I've read. I've been reading an anthology of Science Fiction short stories that has been pretty good. Some are amazing, like Green is the Color by John Ford. I've been on a real short story kick since January.

Deb

[poki]

Desparate Passage: The Donner Party's Perilous Journey west by Ethan Rarick
Your Inner Fish: A Journey Into The 3.5 Billion Year History of the Human Body by Neal Shubin

currently reading Timeline by Michael Crichton

[teh]

Truman by David McCullough

[limnephilidae]

Currently in progress....

Suttree by Cormac McCarthy
Beautiful Losers by Leonard Cohen
Evolution in Four Dimensions by Eva Jablonka and Marion J. Lamb
Down the Highway: The Life of Bob Dylan by Howard Sounes

Read on...

[ducktrapper]

Im exchange for getting him to read Mark Steyn's America Alone my friend has insisted that I read Frank Rich's The Greatest Story Ever Sold. This is torture and so far Frank Rich has convinced me that he's the idiot in this story but ... I'm trying. Turn around is fair play but America Alone is a better book and actually uses facts to back up the argument. Rich should try that approach. Over 200 pages of outright opinion is tiring when he's not convincing and has nothing but more opinion to back it up his "everyone agrees" arguments.       

[geei]

My Life In and Out of the Rough - John Daly

I'm  also addicted to golf.

But I don't really recommend the book.   It gets very redundant.

[geei]

I do, however, recommend my last read.  Shooter - by Sgt. Jack Coughlin and Capt. Casey Kuhlman

Marine Sniper Book.  Autobiography

[Kona]

Currently reading Walden by Thoreau, next is Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.  Quite a jump!   

[Queequeg]

Over the Edge of the World: Magellan's Terrifying Circumnavigation of the Globe
From Publishers Weekly:
Journalist Bergreen, who has penned biographies of James Agee, Louis Armstrong, Irving Berlin and Al Capone, superbly recreates Portuguese navigator Ferdinand Magellan's obsessive 16th-century quest, an ill-fated journey that altered Europe's perception of the planet: "It was a dream as old as the imagination: a voyage to the ends of the earth.... Mariners feared they could literally sail over the edge of the world." In 2001, Bergreen traveled the South American strait that bears Magellan's name, and he adds to that firsthand knowledge satellite images of Magellan's route plus international archival research. His day-by-day account incorporates the testimony of sailors, Francisco Albo's pilot's log and the eyewitness accounts of Venetian scholar Antonio Pigafetta, who was on the journey. Magellan's mission for Spain was to find a water route to the fabled Spice Islands, and in 1519, the Armada de Molucca (five ships and some 260 sailors) sailed into the pages of history. Many misfortunes befell the expedition, including the brutal killing of Magellan in the Philippines. Three years later, one weather-beaten ship, "a vessel of desolation and anguish," returned to Spain with a skeleton crew of 18, yet "what a story those few survivors had to tell-a tale of mutiny, of orgies on distant shores, and of the exploration of the entire globe," providing proof that the world was round. Illuminating the Age of Discovery, Bergreen writes this powerful tale of adventure with a strong presence and rich detail.

[buzzard]

I just finished The Conscience of a Liberal by Paul Krugman and Odd Hours by Dean Koontz.  The former was an incredible manifesto, and the latter really needs a more thoughtful ending.

I'm starting A Drug War Carol by Susan W. Wells and The Darkest Evening of the Year by Dean Koontz

[wyodeb]

Finished A Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood. Currently reading The Gun Seller by Hugh Laurie.

Deb

[Caleb]

Finally finished Flannery O'Connor's complete book of short stories.  It was really good.  Excellent in many places, in fact.

I'm currently reading The Catcher In The Rye by JD Salinger.  It's a classic, but it's my first go round with it.  Good stuff so far.  I'm about half-way through it. 

[jeremy3220]

I just started Science and Sanity, it seems pretty complex. It's always strange to read scientific books from other eras.

I also bought Huckleberry Finn. I think both Dylan and Hemingway refer to it as the great American novel or something like that. Those are pretty good endorsements.

Here it is... “All modern American literature comes from one book by Mark Twain called ‘Huckleberry Finn.’  There was nothing before.  And there has been nothing as good since.” from the Green Hills of Africa. I still can't remember what Dylan said, oh well.

[Caleb]

Finished Catcher in the Rye.  Great book.  I'll probably read it again sometime in the future.

I'm continuing on my Salinger journey with 9 Stories, which is a little book of his short stories.  The first one was really bizarre, which is right up my alley.

I've started and never finished Huck Finn before.  Maybe I'll take a closer look.  That was a while back and I guess I wasn't in the mood.

[Buckeye67]

I'm currently reading Call of Duty: My Life Before, During and After the Band of Brothers by Lynn "Buck" Compton.

Great book so far, if you're a Band of Brothers (the WW2 HBO mini-series) fan, I recommend giving it a read. 

[Capodave]

 America The Last Best Hope by William Bennett.
 It's a great read for American History
Dave

[Caleb]

America The Last Best Hope by William Bennett.
 It's a great read for American History
Dave

I may check this one out.  I have a copy of The Book of Virtues and like it alot. 

[bearsville0]

I just started Science and Sanity, it seems pretty complex. It's always strange to read scientific books from other eras.

 

The map is not the territory.

Are you familier with Gregory Bateson?He brought those ideas into the seventies.

[jeremy3220]

The map is not the territory.

Are you familier with Gregory Bateson?He brought those ideas into the seventies.

I'm not familar with him but believe I've heard of him.

[bearsville0]

I'm not familar with him but believe I've heard of him.

If you like the Korzybski, Bateson is an easier read, Try "Mind and Nature" or the collection of his published works "Steps to an Ecology of Mind"

Enjoy.