What books are you reading now?

[Ray Moscow]

I had to read Silas Marner in high school, and I listened to an audiobook version of it about 10 years ago. It's a good book.

[Christina]

The nuns were very fussy about our reading assignments. If it wasn't G-rated it didn't show up on the summer reading list.

[DMB]

I'm currently reading - The Scramble for Africa - by Thomas Pakenham - nice trip through Africa's colonial period...
I have that book. I can't say I've read it, I have skimmed and dipped into it. Pakenham has a propensity for producing what George III described as a "damned thick square book" (addressed to Edward Gibbon).

*Aside* strange how 18th-century royalty had a propensity for remarks like this. I think the full quotation is: "Another damned thick square book. Always scribble, scribble, scribble, Mr Gibbon!"
And Josef II's "Too many notes, my dear Mozart!"

Heh.. aye... however, in many parts it reads like Haggard's King Solomon's Mines... from English fops talking about 'the' Negro... to Leopold's interesting idea of altruism (I hadn't previously realised it demanded quite so much death and poverty)... and the general chicanery of upper class twits from Germany through France and England...but yes, 'tis big and chunky... although it's a novella compared to Gibbon...
;)

I think Pakenham is a very worthy author. I also have his book on the Boer War. But I find his writing style turgid, whereas I read Gibbon for his wit and style. But with Gibbon too, I dip.

[DMB]

Christina, if you enjoy George Eliot, you might like Mrs (Elizabeth) Gaskell. See her wikipedia entry: Elizabeth Gaskell It's a bit heretical to say it, since Eliot is considered by far the more important writer, but I tend to prefer Gaskell.

Another interesting literary exercise: when my daughter was doing English for the International Baccalaureate, she had to read a trio of novels: Middlemarch by Eliot, Madame Bovary, by Flaubert and Anna Karenina by Tolstoy. They were grouped together for a comparative look at the position of women in the 19th-century novel. Of course, one could find a number of others just as suitable.

[Christina]

I plowed through all 900 pages of Anna Karenina because I kept thinking that it had to get better since it was supposed to be such a great novel. The only parts I really liked were the discussions of the changing Russian agrarian economy, probably because I've already done a lot of reading about the evolution of women's rights in the west and Russia seems to have been very similar. I read Madame Bovary decades ago but it's another one I want to re-read as an adult because I'm sure that I missed a lot by reading it with little to no life experience at all. Middlemarch is in the pile on my desk.

[munnki]

I'm still experiencing a good deal of confusion as to whether women exist or not. This may have implications in thinking about the changing roles of women in both literature and society...

[DMB]

I'm still experiencing a good deal of confusion as to whether women exist or not. This may have implications in thinking about the changing roles of women in both literature and society...

Are you 100% sure you aren't one yourself? That might be part of your trouble: you are looking for the other when it isn't the other.

[dug_down_deep]

I finished Flannery O'Connor's Wise Blood over the weekend, along with the 13th Oz book, Magic of Oz. Now I'm on to Catch-22 and the last Baum Oz book, Glinda of Oz.

Right now, though, I'm reading a book recommended to me by a coworker, called Time Traveler, written by a physicist named Ronald Mallett, who has a theory about how time travel might be carried out.

[munnki]

I'm still experiencing a good deal of confusion as to whether women exist or not. This may have implications in thinking about the changing roles of women in both literature and society...

Are you 100% sure you aren't one yourself? That might be part of your trouble: you are looking for the other when it isn't the other.

Jesus, now I'm really confused... this may require a course of xanax..

[DMB]

I'm still experiencing a good deal of confusion as to whether women exist or not. This may have implications in thinking about the changing roles of women in both literature and society...

Are you 100% sure you aren't one yourself? That might be part of your trouble: you are looking for the other when it isn't the other.

Jesus, now I'm really confused... this may require a course of xanax..

Or even Exlax.

[munnki]

I'm still experiencing a good deal of confusion as to whether women exist or not. This may have implications in thinking about the changing roles of women in both literature and society...

Are you 100% sure you aren't one yourself? That might be part of your trouble: you are looking for the other when it isn't the other.

Jesus, now I'm really confused... this may require a course of xanax..

Or even Exlax.

The gloves are on, eh!
:cool:

[Garnet]

Needed a break, so am now doing Pratchett's The Fifth Elephant. Many a giggle so far; seems like our Tel was on good form for this one.

The Fifth Elephant was excellent, best Discworld since Maskerade IMO (I'm strictly reading them in publishing order, as I used to before I got about 15 behind!). So good I've moved straight on to The Truth.

I'm also reading them in published order, at least as close as I can considering whether or not they're checked in at the local library. I couldn't get Eric. I'm currently reading Men at Arms.

I avoided reading Pratchett for the longest time because I thought that his novels were dark. I got that impression when I saw people talking about Death as a favorite character. Ha! What a surprise! Death is my favorite character now, too.

The Discworld novels are my preferred bedtime reading. All the stresses of the day tend to melt away when I read Prachett's books. I generally have a silly grin on my face when I drift off to sleep now.

[Oolon Colluphid]

I avoided reading Pratchett for the longest time because I thought that his novels were dark. I got that impression when I saw people talking about Death as a favorite character. Ha! What a surprise! Death is my favorite character now, too.
IN ANOTHER LEG OF THE TROUSERS OF TIME, I AM UNIVERSALLY LOATHED. SOME YOU WIN, SOME YOU LOSE.

[Matty]

"ITS CALLED THE PAST TENSE. DONT WORRY, YOU'LL GET USED TO IT"

top notch. I just read Going Postal, Making Money, Monstrous regiment and Carpe Jugulum whilst on hols, and am near the end of Colour of Magic now. They dont need to be in strict order as far as i can tell though it might well help from a character perspective i guess.

[Oolon Colluphid]

Yep. Old Tel seems to rely more and more on people knowing who some of the characters are. For instance, here at the start of The Truth, there's been plenty of featuring of a talking sort-of-terrier, but his name (Gaspode) hasn't been mentioned at all yet.

[Pandora]

:o I'm reading Twilight. I know - it's for teenagers. But it's a really damned captivating book. And romantic in a monstery sort of way.

[Pendaric]

I'm spending a lot of time driving at the moment, as I've just started a car transportation company. That being the case, I'm getting in to audio books. I've listened to a couple of Shakespeare plays - Hamlet and Richard III - and I've just got Terry Pratchett 'Nation', which I will listen to tomorrow night whilst driving down to Dorset, and Stephen King 'The Duma Key' which will take me over the next week.

I've joined the audio website www.audible.co.uk and will be buying them regularly.

[Anne]

Don't try this at home--- a collection of horror stories from professional kitchens

[Christina]

I finished Silas Marner. It was a sweet, simple story but I liked it a lot. The I read Willa Cather's The Song of the Lark and I liked that too. She writes about an America that I'm not sure ever really existed but I found the main character to be easy to relate to and not one of the whining childish creatures that we were often portrayed as during that time period. I've just started Arrowsmith by Sinclair Lewis but I'm only about 20 pages into it.

[munnki]

I was thinking of reading The Prophet by Kahlil Gibran.... don't jump on me for saying so... I heard somebody reading from it and thought - that sounds interesting...

[premjan]

People History of the United States (Howard Zinn).

[Sam Hunter]

The Greatest Show On Earth: The Evidence For Evolution - Richard Dawkins

and

Consider Phlebas - Iain M. Banks

Both just started.

[Ray Moscow]

The Greatest Show On Earth: The Evidence For Evolution - Richard Dawkins

and

Consider Phlebas - Iain M. Banks

Both just started.

Yes, I'm reading the new Dawkins' book, too.

I think Consider Phlebas was the second Banks book I read. It's really good. There's an interview with him in today's Guardian (http://www.guardian.co.uk/global/2009/sep/08/iain-banks-transition).

[dug_down_deep]

Reading Hyperspace, by Michio Kaku, and getting lost in the math already. :O

Also, The French Lieutenant's Woman, by John Fowles. It's on my list of the 100 top novels of the 20th century. We'll see...

[Laton]

On audio books at the moment: Perdido Street Station and Day of the Triffids - both favorites of mine.

When we head to NZ I'll take along The Scar by China Meville

[Sam Hunter]

I think Consider Phlebas was the second Banks book I read. It's really good. There's an interview with him in today's Guardian (http://www.guardian.co.uk/global/2009/sep/08/iain-banks-transition).

I tried Consider Phlebas years ago and didn't get on with it. But I've read Banks since and I think that maybe I was too young then. I'm expecting better things this time.

Thanks for pointing out the interview.

Christianity would be a great religion for a terrorist; Catholicism especially because nobody's innocent, everybody's guilty. Babies are born guilty. Absolutely sick idea.

Hah! That should get some people outraged. Great! :D (Is it wrong for me to be smiling about that?)

[Sam Hunter]

Reading Hyperspace, by Michio Kaku, and getting lost in the math already. :O

I haven't read Hyperspace. Have you tried Physics of the Impossible and Parallel Worlds, both also by Michio Kaku? I found them both very accessible.

[Oolon Colluphid]

Yes, I'm reading the new Dawkins' book, too.

Me three, purchased yesterday.

I had been reading -- as in, actually reading -- Tithe by Holly Black, on the basis of the reviews. I believe it's what's called 'urban fantasy', mixing allegedly 'gritty' reality (in other words, characters sometimes say 'fuck') with the world of Faery. I was drawn to it due to a mention either on or inside the cover of Tam Lin.

I am (or was, in light of Dawkins's arrival ;)) about halfway through. So far, it's just about interesting enough, but it feels very superficial and not exactly a taxing read: I've done some Charles de Lint, and he pees all over this, frankly. I gather it was originally marketed as Young Adult fantasy, and unlike Philip Pullman (pbuh) that is probably the best audience. I could be wrong, but I'm not anticipating any profound thinking, and the storytelling's not exactly Stephen King either. Writing's not bad though.

Meanwhile, in audiobooks, the Pratchett catching-up continues, with Thief of Time. I suspect I'm not going to like it much, it being one of those where I'm perpetually confused and confunded. The Nature of Time (note the caps) does that to me.

[Matty]

solid Banks interview there. Good stuff and i await the books arrival in Canadian stores, sometime in 2225 with anticipation.

[dug_down_deep]

Reading Hyperspace, by Michio Kaku, and getting lost in the math already. :O

I haven't read Hyperspace. Have you tried Physics of the Impossible and Parallel Worlds, both also by Michio Kaku? I found them both very accessible.
Not yet, but I already like Kaku's style, so probably will get to them eventually.

[munnki]

Just halfway through Hope and Glory - Peter Clarke ...fairly pedestrian history of modern Britain... was tossed out of an old school's library... meh

[Goodchild]

Just finished a re-reading of Shadow of the Giant by Orson Scott Card. Makes me want to re-read all the Ender/Bean books all over again.

[Ray Moscow]

Just finished a re-reading of Shadow of the Giant by Orson Scott Card. Makes me want to re-read all the Ender/Bean books all over again.

Yeah, those are pretty good.

I'm reading Dawkins' The Greatest Show on Earth and Jerry Coyne's Why Evolution Is True.

[Garnet]

I just finished Hogfather and I've started Jingo by Terry Pratchett.

[diana]

Hogfather was fun. I just read Dexter in the Dark, and I'm in between fun reading right now.

I didn't like the first Dexter book much (mainly how it ended), but the next two are progressively better. Fun reading.

d

[Joykins]

Read _Sarah's Key_ by Tatiana de Rosnay. An excellent, and extremely sad book.

[Oolon Colluphid]

Finished Pratchett's Thief of Time, and contrary to initial impressions, it wasn't up its own indecipherable arse with philosophical profundities I didn't understand, but was, rather, pretty damned brilliant.

Meanwhile, I was ploughing through Dawkins's The Greatest Show on Earth in book form... but have already heard the abridged audiobook version (very heavily abridged -- don't bother except as an overview), and have started it again in the unabridged version (the *cough* torrent *cough* of which arrived overnight). Already mid-way through Chapter 2 on selective breeding.

So far, it's not as sheerly brilliant as his others, mainly because (so far in the unabridged / hard copy version) it's telling me very little I didn't already know nor haven't tried to explain to others many a time. But he can turn a phrase well, and I do enjoy the intercutting of who's reading between himself and his missus, which keeps it alive audially. And he's a damned good explainer: I may steal the 'hairpin bend' thought experiment (given that he was following the rabbit lineage back bafore going forward to a leopard, I'd have called it a harepin bend, but that's just me ;)).

[Christina]

I made it halfway through The House of the Seven Gables by Hawthorne but it had the same effect that James did in terms of putting me to sleep. I guess I don't like dark gothic novels because they make me feel like I'm locked in a musty drawing room with some very boring people who use far too many commas. I set it aside and started Pynchon's Mason and Dixon instead.

[Matty]

Unweaving the Rainbow.
Pretty awesome so far.

[Matty]

I tried Consider Phlebas years ago and didn't get on with it. But I've read Banks since and I think that maybe I was too young then. I'm expecting better things this time.

See i think CP is a fine book and a helluva story but it is undoubtedly differnt in style, and of course focus from the rest of the M Banks books. Its the only one that comes from a predominantly anti culture perspective.

I do however think it would make a spectacularly good film.


as far as the M banks books go Look To Windward is pretty special. There is a mandlebrot set type feel to the plot of MAtter which i tohught was epic. Lots of changes of scale and perspective.

Possibly my favourite, (though i love all of them with the possible exception of State of the Art becasue i dont think he lends himself to short stories as well) , is non culture Against a Dark Background.


(yeah i'm a fanboy. I even seriously dug his NF scotch book Raw Spirit. :) )

[Mediancat]

Philip K. Dick's VALIS Trilogy.

Followed by Michael Bishop's excellent homage, Philip K. Dick is Dead, Alas.

Rob

[diana]

Right now, I'm reading The Tragedy of Mariam, The Fair Queen of Jewry, by Elizabeth Cary, circa 1613. Yeah, I'm writing a paper, but...who knew there were accomplished female writers then?

d

[Garnet]

I finished Hogfatther by Terry Pratchett. I'm reading Jingo now.

[diana]

What did you think of Hogfather, Garnet?

d

[Pendaric]

Having a bit of a Stephen King session at the moment. Just finished 'Duma Key', and am halfway through 'Lisey's Story'. These are on audiobook, which is a fine way to read. Also partway through 'The God Delusion' by Dawkins on audiobook.

In traditional printed matter, I've just picked up 'The Selfish Gene' by Dawkins. I read it back in the mists of time when I was a teenager, but worth doing again now I think.

[diana]

Just finished The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man, by James Weldon Johnson (and I highly recommend this short book).

Before that, I read The Tragedy of Mariam, Fair Queen of Jewry, a 1613 closet play by Elizabeth Cary, the earliest known Brit lit published by a woman (but never staged in her lifetime). It's brilliant iambic pentameter play about the wife of Herod the Great (although the play conflates all three of the bible's Herods, as well as his sister Salome with the traditional woman who asked for John the Baptist's head on a platter; the conflation is part of the fun, though). It's like Othello in a lot of ways, but her "Iago" is Salome.

The only drawback: if you don't ensure you thoroughly understand the somewhat obscure history the play assumes (about family trees and intermarriages between the Edomites and the Maccabeans), you'll be lost.

About to read The History of Sexuality: An Introduction, but Michel Foulcault.

d

[Oolon Colluphid]

Also partway through 'The God Delusion' by Dawkins on audiobook.
Abridged or unabridged? (You know why I'm asking ;))

[Pendaric]

Unabridged, read by Mr Dawkins himself, together with a lady who I presume is his wife.

[DMB]

Does anyone beside me love Iain Pears? I fell in love with An Instance of the Fingerpost and since then have read a few of his modern art/detective stories. I am now on The Dream of Scipio, but not making much headway because I have loads of subscription magazines to catch up on. Have just caught up with New Scientist and am now going through 3 editions of Private Eye.

Scipio seems interesting and, as always, beautifully written.

[Goodchild]

Unabridged, read by Mr Dawkins himself, together with a lady who I presume is his wife.

She's not just his wife, she was also Romana on Dr. Who :)

[Laton]

Just re-starting the Honor Harrington series.

[Daynna]

I'm reading An Echo In The Bone by Diana Gabaldon -woo woo! :) got it for my birthday!

[dug_down_deep]

Sick: The Untold Story of America's Health Care Crisis---and the People Who Pay the Price by Jonathan Cohn

Still in the first chapter. Already informative and affecting.

[Matty]

non Fiction.

just finished Greatest Show on Earth. Awesome. Very nicely laid out and well explained collation of al lthe currently known evidecne for natural selection.

Just finished Sagans Cosmos recently too, awesome as well, although i actually preferred the more updated imagery and theorising in Varieities of Scientific Experiences.



Fiction.
The Complaints - Ian Rankin. Firstly i've been a Rankin fanboy for a long time. The inspector rebus series was to me one of the best, grittiest and smartest crime detective series of books ever,

Following the retirement of Rebus in Exit Music, Rankin took a different route with Doors Open, a fun (but i thought slightly predictable) art heist jaunt. I was excited for this novel but it didnt deliver fully as a Rankin niovel, even if it was decent enough in its own right IMO.

Then came The Complaints.
Back. To. Form.
Following the story of an internal affairs detective and the cop he has been tasked to check up on under suspiscion of being into child porn . Is he a nonce, is he victim of identity theft and can you be sure of any of this enough to risk blasting the guys life apart with professional and life damaging accusations?

The darkness is back, the grit is back, the noire feel is back as well as the conflicted unsurety that rankin does so well. The there are the almost familiar Edinburgh crime families, rough house black humoured coppers, strip bars, massage parlours and seedy after house drinking sports with their variety of clientèle. Nicely done, and even a wee cameo type nod to Rebus in there as an unnamed but not too popular "You know who" at St Leonards.

If you lie Rankin, and you liked Rebus, this is back on form.

[diana]

Rituals of Blood, Orlando Patterson. (Nonfiction. I'm doing a paper on the ritualistic nature of lynching.)

Also, Wolf Whistle, a fictional (presumably comedic) version of the Emmett Till lynching. The fact that people would even try to make comedy out of something like this is disturbing to me.

d

[Bright Life]

Finally getting around to reading "The God Delusion."

[VenDexter]

I just finished reading Why Does E=mc2? by Brian Cox and Jeff Forshaw.

They did a very good job of explaining relativity and spacetime although I got a bit bogged down in the spacetime explanation and had to reread some of it before it became somewhat understandable.

Now, I'm about to start a book on the review of physical chemistry. I know, it's ultra exciting!

[diana]

Violence and the Sacred, by Rene Girard. Fascinating theory about the role of sacrifice in primitive societies.

d

[Christina]

I just finished reading Babbit again because I hadn't read it since high school. It was a bit annoying because someone had written notes all along the margins and I disagreed with most of their interpretations but such is life when you buy all used books.

[diana]

I just finished reading Babbit again because I hadn't read it since high school. It was a bit annoying because someone had written notes all along the margins and I disagreed with most of their interpretations but such is life when you buy all used books.I know what you mean. I used to find that so annoying and disrespectful.

Now, I want to read their thoughts, actually.

That might be because I've spent so long on internet fora that I feel like the conversation is unfairly one-sided when I read a book with no "feedback." ;)

d

[Christina]

That's why it was annoying. I wanted to give the person feedback about how I thought that they entirely missed the point.

[hecaterin]

I'm ploughing through a great pile of Nero Wolfe novels, by Rex Stout. Love them.

[Christina]

I started reading a book by Kay Jamison called Exuberance but it's not holding my interest much. It's a bit too much like preaching to the choir for me. I found a pile of hardcover classics in a thrift store and one of them is A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. I haven't read that since I was in grade school and I remember loving it so I might read that next.

[Sidhe747]

I'm reading Fools Fate by Robin Hobb.

[Christina]

I just finished A Tree Grows in Brooklyn and it was like a flashback to growing up in the Bronx and listening to my grandmother's stories about growing up as a first generation Irish immigrant in Hell's Kitchen. I remember reading it as a child and begging my mother to let me sit out on the fire escape next to a tree so that I could read just like Francie did. I got to sit on the windowsill but that was it. As usual, it read like a completely different book as an adult than it did as a child. I'm just starting Lost Horizons now, which I also read in grade school.

[Celsus]

Violence and the Sacred, by Rene Girard. Fascinating theory about the role of sacrifice in primitive societies. Ooh I love Girard, especially his use of mimesis. Do you know Robert Price extended it quite a bit in his mythic Jesus construction (it was Price that introduced me to Girard)?

What did you think of Girard?

Edit to be on topic: Mark Duffield, Development, Security & Unending War; David Keen, Complex Emergencies; Elke Krahmann, New Threats and New Actors in International Security. Bleh all for school.

[Pendaric]

Max Brooks, World War Z: An oral history of the Zombie War.

[Matty]

Good Omens - Pratchet and Gaiman. So far awesome.

I read Super Freakonomics before this one, and had some significant issues with it. I intend to do a fuller review dreckly but for starters they claim that Global warming is not only a myth but that they could cure it worldwide for less than 20million bucks.

that was the biggie but i called bullshit on a few of their assertions in this book, funny really because Freakonomics was genuinely interesting.

More to come, i might re read it first just to make sure i didnt misinterpret their respective stances, but i dont think i did.

[The Naked Mage]

The Darkness That Comes Before, R. Scott Bakker.

The Bridge of San Luis Rey, Thornton Wilder.

[Christina]

I've been taking forever to read A Passage to India because I was on that movie kick for a few weeks trying to get to the point where I could sit through a whole one. I can't and I'm tired of the experiment and of trying to beat my brain into submission. Now I'm listening to audio books and crocheting. That works better because I can think more slowly if my hands move quickly.

[diana]

Interesting, Christina! I've just started crocheting again and have ordered a Kindle that can read books to me while I work. And Passage to India is next on my reading list (it's for a class this upcoming semester, which I'm getting a start on since I'll have to read 32 books + before May).

Right now: The God of Small Things, by Arundhati Roy. Lyrical and a bit jerky in delivery (she overdoes sentence fragments, IMO, and it's a bit annoying until you get used to it), but absorbing nonetheless.

Matty: Good Omens is one of my favoritist books ever. :)

d

[Christina]

I'm enjoying A Passage to India whenever I sit down to read it. I'm temporarily out of projects until I finish designing the jacket I want to do next and get all of the yarn so I'm sure that I'll get back to it today as soon as the sun hits my favorite chair on the porch.

[larkin31]

God is Not Great, Hitchens

[Cath B]

I've just started reading Shogun which I requested for Christmas from my son after randomly recalling watching the TV series years back. Over the past eighteen months a lot of my reading has been with the aim of keeping insomniac dark thoughts in check during the wee small hours.

Now I am sleeping better so reading less but enjoying and following the books a lot more.

[Pendaric]

I read Shogun years ago as a teenager, and whilst I can't recall the specifics of it very well I do remember enjoying it.

[Preno]

If you like Shogun, I can also recommend Taiko (http://www.amazon.com/Taiko-Eiji-Yoshikawa/dp/4770026099), which is set in the period immediately preceding the Shogun and follows the actual historical story of a peasant/servant become ruler of Japan.

[Cath B]

Thanks, I'll bear that in mind.

[Copernicus]

I just finished Gandhi and Churchill: The Epic Rivalry That Destroyed an Empire and Forged Our Age (http://www.commentarymagazine.com/viewarticle.cfm/gandhi-and-churchill-by-arthur-herman-11381). I learned a lot about both men. Arthur Herman did not hesitate to point out the flaws and the strengths in both men. I found the rivalry between them fascinating, but what I hadn't known before reading the book was Churchill's overwhelming lifelong obsession with India. It was amazing that both men only met once, and that was early in their careers. By the ends of their lives, they would perhaps have been able to understand each other better, and even possibly become friends. But it wasn't in the cards.

[David B]

I'm reading a light but entertaining book called 'The Curious Cures of Old England'.

I learn that medical bodies were saying that homeopathy was bunk back in the 1850s.

And am finding it less and less surprising that life expectancy was so short. Treating people by bleeding 4/5 of thier blood, or with antimony, among many others, don't appear to be the best of treatments.

That Culpepper bloke had some very odd ideas!

David

[Matty]

God is Not Great, Hitchens

Thats a solid read. He might be an arrogant alcoholic tool but hes a damn good writer IMO.

[Pendaric]

Got a Waterstones book token for Christmas, so I went down and cashed it in this morning.

Iain Banks - The Crow Road

Sebastian Faulks - Birdsong

Might be a few days before I get chance to get started on them though.

[Ray Moscow]

I just got a copy of 50 Voices of Disbelief: Why We Are Atheists (http://www.amazon.com/50-Voices-Disbelief-Why-Atheists/dp/1405190450/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1262794489&sr=8-1).

I've only read the first few essays so far, but I like it.

[munnki]

I just got a copy of 50 Voices of Disbelief: Why We Are Atheists (http://www.amazon.com/50-Voices-Disbelief-Why-Atheists/dp/1405190450/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1262794489&sr=8-1).

I've only read the first few essays so far, but I like it.

J£$us, it's $80...

[LoneWolf]

The Men Who Stare at Goats

I wanted to read it before seeing the movie.

[LoneWolf]

I just got a copy of 50 Voices of Disbelief: Why We Are Atheists (http://www.amazon.com/50-Voices-Disbelief-Why-Atheists/dp/1405190450/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1262794489&sr=8-1).

I've only read the first few essays so far, but I like it.

J£$us, it's $80...

Stellar reviews but why so expensive?

[Ray Moscow]

Buy the paperback -- it's £13 on Amazon UK (http://www.amazon.co.uk/50-Voices-Disbelief-Why-Atheists/dp/1405190469/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1262799845&sr=1-1). (I just linked the US Amazon since I figured it was more useful to more SC denizens.)

I tried to find it at Barnes & Noble in the US, but they listed it as a "textbook" and would only order it on a prepaid basis. I wrote Russell (one of the editors) about it, but he couldn't do much except push the publisher a bit to push the bookstores.

[Gawen]

STALIN by Edvard Radzinsky

[larkin31]

God is Not Great, Hitchens

Thats a solid read. He might be an arrogant alcoholic tool but hes a damn good writer IMO.
:pint: :yup:

[Sodong]

The Year of the Flood. Margaret Atwood's new novel. Dystopic fiction - one of my favorite genres. It's another story related to her earlier Oryx and Crake, a post-apocalyptic tale, though the new one is told from the perspective of a less privileged, fringe group of survivors. God's Gardeners; a group whose beliefs are an odd (often hilarious) mixture of religion and science. I can always rely on Atwood to shake things up. I'm enjoying it quite a lot. About a third of the way through it.

[Zygote]

The Omnivore's Dilemma is on my bedside table. I've just gotten started and it looks like an intriguing read.

But what I really want to read tonight is the 16th Cadfael Chronicle. I had gotten it from the library before the holidays and was waiting for a peaceful chance to read it. I had it in my hand this afternoon, got distracted, set it down, and now can't find it anywhere.

[Cath B]

The Omnivore's Dilemma is on my bedside table. I've just gotten started and it looks like an intriguing read.



It is! I use info I've gleaned from it to help me choose what food to buy and it's been influential in my decision to grow more food and keep chickens for eggs.

I love Pollan's earlier book The Botany of Desire. (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Botany-Desire-Plants-eye-View-World/dp/0747563004/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1262849391&sr=8-1)

[Cath B]

The Year of the Flood. Margaret Atwood's new novel. Dystopic fiction - one of my favorite genres. It's another story related to her earlier Oryx and Crake, a post-apocalyptic tale, though the new one is told from the perspective of a less privileged, fringe group of survivors. God's Gardeners; a group whose beliefs are an odd (often hilarious) mixture of religion and science. I can always rely on Atwood to shake things up. I'm enjoying it quite a lot. About a third of the way through it.

I'd like to read that. Atwood's so perceptive though Oryx and Crake was rather too depressive for me to handle - all the more so because it seemed all too plausible.

[Monad]

I'd like to read that. Atwood's so perceptive though Oryx and Crake was rather too depressive for me to handle - all the more so because it seemed all too plausible.

I've always preferred her excellent poetry to her novels although "Surfacing" was good (if a bit Bell Jar ish)

[larkin31]

I'd like to read that. Atwood's so perceptive though Oryx and Crake was rather too depressive for me to handle - all the more so because it seemed all too plausible.

I've always preferred her excellent poetry to her novels although "Surfacing" was good (if a bit Bell Jar ish)

I look forward to reading Flood (I teach Oryx and Crake in high school). And yes, Atwood's poetry is her top performance. It knocks me out, repeatedly.

[munnki]

I'm currently reading All Under Heaven - A Complete History of China by Rayne Kruger which is reasonably good but I'd suspect Chinese history is so large that you need to get books on each of its chunks. I'd be grateful for any recommendations.

[Monad]

I look forward to reading Flood (I teach Oryx and Crake in high school). And yes, Atwood's poetry is her top performance. It knocks me out, repeatedly.

I think you're the first person I've come across who knows her poetry. Most people seem to read her popular novels but her poetry deserves greater attention. Really powerful, visceral writing - probably one of the best poets around at the moment

[Matty]

Really, i only read Oryx and Crake tbh. I did enjoy it.
What do you recommend?

:pint: :yup:

that looks mouthwateringly like a pint of Guinnes.
Well played :)

[Monad]

Really, i only read Oryx and Crake tbh. I did enjoy it.
What do you recommend?

Well there is a fairly recent compilation:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Eating-Fire-Selected-1965-1995-1965-95/dp/1860495052/ref=sr_1_24?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1262893957&sr=8-24

the best pieces imho are the ones from "True Stories" such as:

Notes towards a poem that can never be written
Flying inside your own body
Last poem
Variations on the word love
Small poems for the winter solstice

these poems burn. I love them.

[larkin31]

Really, i only read Oryx and Crake tbh. I did enjoy it.
What do you recommend?

Well there is a fairly recent compilation:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Eating-Fire-Selected-1965-1995-1965-95/dp/1860495052/ref=sr_1_24?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1262893957&sr=8-24

the best pieces imho are the ones from "True Stories" such as:

Notes towards a poem that can never be written
Flying inside your own body
Last poem
Variations on the word love
Small poems for the winter solstice

these poems burn. I love them.

My interest in Atwood's poetry came from a chance encounter with morning in the burned house in a used book store. After reading two of those poems, I moved left on the shelf and bought Eating Fire as well.

burn, baby, burn

[Sodong]

You folks will love The Flood then, because there's a poem at the beginning of every chapter. :D

This stuff is her typical dry humor which I love but at the same time it's been giving me nightmares. Poignant and eerie would be understatements.