OK Folks...What are you reading?...Current book and previous two

[Liberal In Texas]

Me:
Jimmy Buffett's A Salty Piece of Land

Before that,
Neal Stephenson's last two books of the Baroque Cycle: The Confusion and The System Of The World.

Plus some Clive Cussler in the middle.
And NEXT Tony Hillerman.

[DeposeTheBoyKing]

1. Current: Oil and Gas Law in a Nutshell

and James Wolcott's "Attack Poodles and Other Media Mutants" (am just starting it).

Previous two: "The Intimate World of Abraham Lincoln" and "The Only Girl in the Car."

[Liberal In Texas]

3. Not sure about the Oil and Gas law

...but the others sound pretty interesting.

I might have to make a note. (The "Only Girl" I've heard about someplace...NPR?)

[DeposeTheBoyKing]

4. Yes, I heard about it on NPR a year or so ago

Finally found it. Written by a woman who was quite promiscuous as a young teen. Very honest picture of adolescence.

I have to study oil and gas law to take the bar exam in YOUR state - EGAD!!

[Liberal In Texas]

6. Oh boy...

good luck.

If you end up living here, it's really not so bad.

[DeposeTheBoyKing]

8. I'm moving there in May (to Irving)

We already have a house - my husband is working at Southwestern and has been there since August. He LOVES it.

[Liberal In Texas]

10. From your icon, I'm guessing west coast SF? n/t

[DeposeTheBoyKing]

11. No, just a Niner fan (tough year!)

Grew up in Kansas - living in PA now.

[Liberal In Texas]

15. Oh, OK...I'm actually from Nebraska ...

many moons ago.

Ended up in North Texas and don't regret leaving the awful weather behind.

We have a nice house 10 minutes from downtown, a "garden" that is near an arboretum on a internal-city lake. Pretty nice.

[DeposeTheBoyKing]

16. Are you in Dallas proper?

[Liberal In Texas]

19. Yes in deed.

I refuse to live in the burbs.
If you know Dallas, we are just off Gaston by the Dallas Arboretum.

Quiet, (OK, we do have planes fly over) lots of birds, critters, etc. We have a pond with toads and the biggest gold fish you'll ever see.

[fishnfla]

2. Tender at the Bone by Ruth Reichel

editor of Goumet magazine--good read. She also wrote "Comfort Me With Apples" She is a very visceral and sensual author

Also have Cold Mountain by my bedside, and rereading Confederacy of Dunces for the 100th time

[Liberal In Texas]

13. Confederacy...

...Hmmmm, I'm not sure about this.
May have heard something about it, or maybe not.
Just not sure. I would like to at least leaf through for a bit. (I know that sounds tacky, but sometimes you get a feel for a book just by holding the thing.)

Is it available at, say, Borders?

[fishnfla]

37. I love your sense of sarcasm

We had a late night discussion of literature over the holiday, I voted this my all-time favorite book IF you could only pick one.

If you cant find it at Borders, you can have one of my 3 copies.

I'll even pay you to read it, its worth the experience ;) Thanks for the laugh

To answer your question downthread, no I am not a professional chef, just like to cook.

Ruth Reichel is a great big liberal too, as I have discovered, went to Michigan in '68, protested the war, etc.

My instincts are sound

[Dorian Gray]

50. Confederacy is a good book

though it's been ages since I've read it. You'd really choose it to be your number one choice? Perhaps I should dust off my copy and give it another go. It's been 15 years, and I remember being really annoyed at the main character's gaseous proclivities.

[Liberal In Texas]

21. I'm guessing....

your a chef?

[Midnight Rambler]

5. Fast Food Nation

Previously, I read "Fear and Loathing: On the Campaign Trail '72" and "Hell's Angels," both by Hunter S. Thompson.

[fishnfla]

7. No more drive thru's for you huh?

Fast Food Nation cured me and ours from that.

[Midnight Rambler]

12. Yeah, but sometimes, that's all I can afford.

I'm a college student :shrug:

[Phentex]

82. This book made me hungry!

I kept dreaming of hamburgers. I had hoped for the opposite effect!

[Liberal In Texas]

9. Fear and Loathing....

...it's on my "short" list.

Heard a lot about it. Want to read!

[Midnight Rambler]

14. Lot of parallels between '72 and '04

Especially with Dems like Ed Muskie and Hubert Humphrey. Seemed to me like they were the Liebermans of their day.

[Liberal In Texas]

17. Yeah, I was a kid then...

Early 70's...working for a TV station in Omaha, meeting the candidates. It's got to be right up my alley!

[Senior citizen]

18. Current: Into the Buzzsaw

Previous two:

Confessions of an Economic Hitman

Dime's Worth of Difference

Next up: The Sorrows of Empire

[Liberal In Texas]

20. OOOh, the Economic Hitman book

...heard the guy on AAR, a must read!

[Raiden]

22. I just read "The Cobra Event" by Richard Preston

It was a frightening book about a terrorist who is seeking to unleash an extremely deadly biological weapon in New York City. It begins with a young girl going into seizures and eating her lips off due to the biological agent. I'd recommend it to anyone.


Right now, I'm reading "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" by Robert Louis Stevenson for a Special Topics in Lit. class. Good so far, but pretty hard to read.

[Liberal In Texas]

23. "Cobra Event" is now on the list

...as for the others, well been there and done that. <yawn>

[chenGOD]

24. Current reading:

Henry Miller: "Nexus"
James Herriot: "The Lord God Made Them All"

previous to that were Joseph Heller - "Catch 22" and Vonnegut - "Slaughterhouse 5"

Next up might be another Heller- "Good as Gold" or a book by David Icke called "And the Truth Shall Set you Free".

[Liberal In Texas]

26. Loved Heller's "Catch 22" but

his other and last(?) book left me cold.
I've heard some about Icke. May have to add to the "possible" list.

[6000eliot]

25. Now: Gaskell's Wives and Daughters

Previously:

Snow Crash
Trollope's "The Way We Live Now."

[Liberal In Texas]

27. Snow Crash...hmmm

is that Sthepenson?

[6000eliot]

28. Yes

And it's excellent, in case you haven't read it.

[Liberal In Texas]

30. I have not

...and this pretty much goes without saying.

Stephenson just amazes me. I waded through three volumes of the Baroque Cycle and Cryptonomicon. In all, a total of around 4000 pages. Was it in the end worth it?

Yes.

[6000eliot]

31. I'm going for Cryptonomicon next.

You say it's good?

[Liberal In Texas]

33. Very

I read Cryptonomicon before the Baroque Cycle and actually felt that it should have been the other way around.

Crypto is pretty much set in present day (well not really) and the Cycle is set about 1650-1730-ish. Many of the same characters or their ancestors keep popping up all over the place. Enoch, is a constant character, apparently he is immortal. ! Stephenson has him woven throughout his books.

By all means read it. It is not an easy read, and you will be confused for ages. But, as the Brits say, Roger through. You'll eventually fall in love.

[Name removed]

29. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Sufi Marmot]

32. "The Years of Rice and Salt" by Kim Stanley Robinson....

...as well as "Peoples and Plagues" by William McNeill. Recently finished "If on a winter's night a traveler" by Italo Calvino

-SM, who has at least a year's worth of books in his "to read" pile

[Liberal In Texas]

34. I'm making note of these...

...can't say that I've heard of them, but that's how we find new gems.

I will look them up on one of my many voyages through Borders.

[donheld]

35. Eats, Shoots & Leaves by Lynne Truss

before that was

Blackboy by Richard Wright

[Liberal In Texas]

36. You've got me on these

...not heard of them.

Written down, however, to check out.

[tjwmason]

51. Eats, Shoots and Leaves is a gloriously bitchy grammar book

The title derives from a joke based on the proposition of bad punctuation.

A panda walks into a cafe. He orders a sandwich, eats it, then draws a gun and fires two shots in the air.

"Why?" asks the confused waiter, as the panda makes towards the exit. The panda produces a badly punctuated wildlife manual and tosses it over his shoulder.

"I'm a pand," he says, at the door. "Look it up."

The waiter turns to the relevant entry and, sure enough, finds an explanation.


"Panda. Large black-and-white bear-like mammal, native to China. Eats, shoots and leaves."

[roguevalley]

38. Tony Hillerman's latest and the Jonathan Strange/Dr. Norrell tome

[AngryAmish]

39. Counter-Clock World

Before that "Inventing Japan" and "The Great Mutiny 1857"

[B Calm]

40. How to avoid speeding tickets.

[Carson]

41. Current, Herodotus: The Histories.

Last two: Dark Descent (a collection of short horror stories) and Eye Witness: Ancient Egypt.

edited for spelling

[Slippery_Hammer]

42. Current... B. F. Skinner

The shaping of a behaviorist : part two of an autobiography

And

The United States of Europe : the new superpower and the end of American supremacy /
by T. R. Reid

Previous two,

Beyond beef : the rise and fall of the cattle culture /
by Jeremy Rifkin

The age of manipulation : the con in confidence, the sin in sincere /
by Bryan Wilson Key

[bikebloke]

43. A Peoples Histroy of the American Revolution by Ray Raphael

Bugatti Queen by Miranda Seymour
State of Crap by Michael Crichton

[greendog]

44. Current: Tropic Of Capricorn...Henry Miller

Previous:
The Gnostic Gospels...Elaine Pagels
The Dark Side Of Christian History...Helen Ellerbe

[liberalitch]

45. Just finished a book of ghost stories before xmas and then I ...

started Mark Twain's the Damned Human Race when I had to put it down to read 75 term papers by history students.... on the industrial age

[XNASA]

46. Currently reading "Foucault's Pendulum". It's great.

Just read "Digital Fortress" by the DaVinci Code guy. It was not all that interesting.

Before that? Hmmm.....reread "All Quiet on the Western Front".

[Liberal In Texas]

70. Liked "Foucalt's Pendulum"

...although struggled through, as I remember. Name of the Rose by Eco is also good.

Dan Brown's stuff is kind of fun to read, but he has holes in his polts you can drive trucks through.

[tjwmason]

47. Current books

Aristotle - The Athenian Constitution (not likely to be by Aristotle, but by an anonymous member of his school),

Martin Cruz-Smith - Red Square (fiction to help me get to sleep without making me think),

ed. David Wootton - Divine Right and Democracy (an anthology of political writing in Stuart England).

Just finished R.H. Malden - The English Church and Nation (history thereof).

[Shananigans]

48. Currently, struggling through "Class War in America"

Previously I read Alex Hailey's "Roots" and "Giving Up America" by Pearl Abraham.

[Dorian Gray]

49. Mine...

Currently reading The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay.

I just finished The Kite Runner.

Before that, I read the His Dark Materials trilogy. (The Golden Compass, The Subtle Knife, and The Amber Spyglass.)

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

52. Cabal

(I saw Weaveworld again and got an urge to reread)

B4 that... America, DaVinci Code and Big Dog's book!

[Liberal In Texas]

57. Love your screen name. n/t

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

71. Why thank you sir or ma'am.

[BikeWriter]

53. Oh, my own fiction books, mostly. I've been writing for the last several

years. Oh, I did read some Sherlock Holmes recently.

[BenDavid]

54. To read or not to read,

That is the question one should ask concerning these two books. The first is, " Inside Bush's Ass: An Indepth View " by Sean Hannity, and the second book, " Inside Hannity's Ass:An Indepth View " by Alan Colmes.....

[Catshrink]

55. Uncle Tungsten by Oliver Sacks

Great book for a chemistry teacher! Sacks (he of Awakenings fame) writes of growing up in London during WWII and after. His uncle owned a lightbulb factory where the young Sacks hung out. A lot of science woven into the narrative.

previous: "His Excellency" by Ellis about George Washington. An easy read that focuses more on Washington the Man rather than battles.

previous: Some cat mystery by Sneakie Pie and Rita Mae Brown. I like them because they have animals talking to each other commenting on the behavior of humans. The setting is Albemarle Co, VA where many of my ancestors lived.

science, history, cats. That's me!

[DrZeeLit]

56. Ack.... Lucas.. The Art of Public Speaking... "they" gave me....

a new course to teach. It starts Wednesday. I figure that I ought to read the textbook, eh?

Deep in Syllabusville,
Z

[jandrok]

58. Currently I'm reading "Shadow Divers".....

True story of shipwreck divers who find an undocumentd U-boat off the New Jersey coast.

My last one before that was Jenna Jameson's "How To Make Love Like a Porn Star". True story of a porn star and her adventures in the business. Bills itself as "a cautionary tale".

Before that it was "Isaac's Storm". True story of the great Galveston hurricane of 1900.

[Lex]

59. I got "Shadow Divers' for Christmas, but haven't started it.

Is it as good as the hype about it? I've heard it is a really good read.

[jandrok]

79. Yeah, it's excellent so far....

I was familiar with the story because I had seen a NOVA special about the search for this submarine a while back, but it doesn't take away from the suspense of the tale. It's very well written and goes very deep (no pun intended) into the lives of these guys and explains their motivations for going on these dangerous dives. Robert Kurson really did his research for this one. The descriptions of what it's like to be diving in 230 feet of water in extreme conditions are fantastic.

Very, very good. It's hard to put down once you start it.

[Lex]

60. Currently I'm on a Willa Cather jag.

I'm reading "O! Pioneers" right now.

Just finished "My Antonia" and "Death Comes for the Archbishop."

No, not for school or anything. Just because she is a fabulous writer, easy to read, paints wonderful pictures with her words, and somehow I missed her in my high school and college lit courses.

[Zomby Woof]

61. Complete Writings of Benjamin Franklin

Kind of appropriate, discovering recently through some genealogical research that my PA roots go back 300 years.

Previous:

Bill Clinton - "My Life", and a collection of writings from the American Revolution - all primary source material, the best to this historian.

[Lex]

62. A friend of mine who is blind says that Clinton reading "My Life"

on the audio book (CD) is a joy. He really enjoyed Clinton's voice and the way he reads his own stories within the book.

Even tho' I have the actual book, I'm considering getting the audio CD--half.com has them for around 15.00.

[Zomby Woof]

63. I imagine that's a kick!

You probably noticed what I did - that you can hear his voice just by the printed page. :-)

[nickgutierrez]

64. "Jailbird" by Kurt Vonnegut

Before that, the "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" series by Douglas Adams.

[Zomby Woof]

65. Vonnegut is one of my gods

:thumbsup:

[nickgutierrez]

67. Same here.

I've made it one of my goals in life to read every book he writes.

[Midlodemocrat]

66. Current - The Family by Kitty Kelley

previous:

My Life by the Big Dog
Five People you meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom.

[eyepaddle]

68. I'm reading

The Discoverers by Boorstin--which is a general history of humanity's quest for understanding. For me this is a very compelling idea.
before that it was "The Last of the Cape Horners" a collection of Sea Anecdotes to give the total picture of what life was like in the last days of sail with the large windjammers sailing around Cape Horn--quite possibly the worst non-slavery job of all time.

And before that I re-read Shermer's "Why people Believe Weird Things."

I think I might go get a copy of "Eats, Shoots and Leaves" this afternoon though!

[Cuban_Liberal]

69. Re-reading 'First man in Rome', by Colleen McCullough.

:)

[Liberal In Texas]

72. Hmmm, is this fiction? n/t

[mojavekid]

77. A great series of books

Though the last installment "The October Horse" was a disappointment, seemed rushed.

[johnhorne]

73. mine ...

currently -- Douglas Coupland "Hey, Nostradamous"

previous 2 -- Susanna Kaysen "Girl, Interrupted"

& Carl Hiaasen "Tourist Season"

[mojavekid]

74. H.Potter & The Sorcerer's Stone and Charlotte's Web...

To my Son.........Haven't had too much time to read for myself outside of the news I can get off the Internet(S)! That and I am determined to boost my post count here after too much lurking!

[vixengrl]

75. Just finished Dan Brown's "Angels & Demons"

and Stephen King's "Bag of Bones", currently in the middle of "From a Buick 8".

[fleabert]

76. all knitting books...

got a few over the holidays and I am a woman obsessed! Finally made MYSELF a scarf, after giving away about 10!

[mvd]

78. Lisa Scottoline - Mistaken Identity

Just started it. It seems more straightforward with less grandiose sarcasm/social humor than her later books. Nice change.

I know that Lisa made Bennie a Democrat, so perhaps she is too.

Previous 2:

A Christmas Carol - original story
Lisa Scottoline - Dead Ringer

[Skinner]

80. Current: The Diversity of Life, by Edward O. Wilson

Before that:
The Preservationist, by David Maine

And before that:
America (The Book), by Jon Stewart & the Daily Show Writers (Does this count as a real book?)

[HuskiesHowls]

81. Currently, Patrick O'Brian's book

Book number twenty in the series, Blue at the Mizzen and before that (of course) The Yellow Admiral and The Hundred Days..books numbers 18 and 19.

Also have going David Brock's Blinded by the Right, R.H. Dana's Two Years before the Mast and some Voltaire and some Plato.

I keep several books going at once :)