What are you reading the week of May 17, 2009?

[DUgosh]

Irish Linen by Andrew M Greeley

[Bluzmann57]

1. Re-reading a book

Entitled "The Avenger" by Frederick Forsyth. I like his writing and I haven't read this book for a while. And also a James Patterson book entitled "Step on a Crack". I really like most of his stuff too. Supposed to be real nice outside this week, so maybe I'll sit out on the front porch and read away.

[kestrel91316]

2. Authentic Mexican by Rick Bayless. A cookbook. It's actually a very good

read, and I am looking forward to actually USING it, too. You'd think I would have lots of Mexican cookbooks, living here in LA for 25 years, but NOOOOOOO. I never got one until a few weeks ago, and then I picked this one up at my local used bookstore yesterday (I traded, and also got what appears to be a first American edition of The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood).

With so many great Mexican eateries, I just never felt the need to actually cook much Mexican, lol.

[obliviously]

3. Great idea

I would like to learn to cooh mexican food to.

[grasswire]

4. a book of letters from the Depression era

...written to FDR, Eleanor Roosevelt, and some officials.

Heartbreaking and infuriating.

Women wrote to the First Lady to beg for her old castoff clothing because their only dress was in shreds, or to beg for a blanket for a baby, or for a bit of relief in order to have a bit of heat in the house. Men wrote to beg for work. Old people with not a scrap to eat wrote to beg for some kind of pension.

Heartbreaking.

[asjr]

5. I'm reading City of the Sun by

David Levien. So far, so good. I love James patterson and Jonathan Kellerman.

[azmouse]

6. I'm re-reading The Three Musketeers.

Read it many years ago and enjoyed it. Thought it would be fun to revisit an old friend.

[eleny]

7. Terror On Tuesday by Ann Purser

One of a "lite" mystery series.

[PetrusMonsFormicarum]

8. System of the World by Neal Stephenson

The third and final (voluminous) novel in Stephenson's Baroque Cycle. eye-opening hilarity and swashbuckling at the dawn of modern commerce, computing, mathematics, etc. etc.

[pscot]

26. I read the Broque Cycle about a year ago

Stephenson is a great story teller; smart, funny and wildly imaginative. Terrific read.

[Onceuponalife]

33. about 200 pages into Cryptonomicon

I'm loving it. It's hilarious which I didn't expect.

[Mira]

9. Just finished "Emergency" by Neil Strauss

I thoroughly enjoyed this book, which he touts as : This book will save your life.
He got so discouraged about ** being "re-elected" after all he destroyed in his first term, that he went about getting a second citizenship/foreign passport, wilderness and survival training and many other paths to a point where with great humor, and in a fascinating way, he chronicles an awakening to his higher self.

[Thirtieschild]

10. Re-reading Rogue Male by Geoffrey Household

Gripping every time I read it

[emilyg]

11. My last IRA statement - I'm crying.

[ConcernedCanuk]

12. Red Rabbit by Tom Clancy

.
.
.

[YankeyMCC]

13. The July Issue of Asimov's

also still working through "Zen's Chinese History"

I'll probably finish the Asimov's tomorrow so I'll pick up another fiction work. I think I'm going to re-read something..haven't decided yet.

Orrex's review of Frankenstein (in the thread with one of the best subject lines evah) makes me want to revisit that, also 1984 has been in my mind a lot. But I recently finished "The Naked and the Dead" and I think I need to stick to some more cheerful or hopeful at least, stories for a while. I'm also kinda feeling the urge to read the ancient classics again, maybe the Odyssey or the Aeneid.

[FirstLight]

14. The Shack - Wm Paul Young

very moving...

[Jim__]

15. Nazi Literature in the Americas – Bolaño

I’m reading this book because I wanted to read more Bolaño.

It’s an easy read. Short biographies of fictional nazi writers in the Americas. I’ve only read a few of the biographies so far, and there is a biting irony in some of the stories. For instance, the writer who wants to purify Latin American culture by killing all the Indians and encouraging immigration of Northern Europeans who will lighten the skin color of the people.

I haven’t read enough to have formed any opinion about his overall point of view.

[LWolf]

16. Good Omens, by Gaiman and Pratchett.

:thumbsup: :thumbsup:

[japple]

23. I love that book, and thanks for bringing it up. Time to

read it again. Have you read American Gods (I think that's the name of it)?

[LWolf]

25. Yes. I read AG some years ago, and

really enjoyed it. I was at Powell's last month, stocking up on reading material, and found "Omens."

I loved it. :D

[raccoon]

17. GALLOWS VIEW by Peter Robinson. nt

[fadedrose]

18. CAPS

You must be an old raccoon like I am an old fadedrose...

Nobody else puts the name of the books they are referring to in CAPS except for you and me. I learned that that was the proper way in high school, how about you?

It must have changed somewhere along the way cause nobody else in the group does it.

[raccoon]

19. Well, I learned to underline book titles in high school, but since you can't

underline here,AFAIK, I put them in all caps. :-)



"You must be an old raccoon like I am an old fadedrose..." Yep!

[Jim__]

20. You can underline

You have to use square brackets but - You can underline. Look in the HTML lookup table (it's there when you're typing a reply). So, using a square bracket rather than a "(", type (u)underlined words(/u).

[raccoon]

21. Thanks for the heads up. But Can I decree that EVERYONE has to type

book titles in ALL CAPS, BECAUSE I WANT TO? :silly:

[fadedrose]

22. Experiment

Thank you for your informative reply. It is nice to learn something new even if it is time-consuming, mind-boggling, and a lot of trouble. Thank you indeed.

I think raccoon has the right idea by declaring that everyone use caps because he says so. It's a lot easier. Maybe you're young and frisky, Jim, but me and raccoon are very old.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

24. Just about to start The Private Patient by PD James

who is still going strong over the age of eighty.

[MaineDem]

28. A new book?

I'll have to look for it.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

30. Her newest

I managed to read only the first few pages before getting drowsy after today's mini heat wave (97°), but so far, I like it. It's about a woman who engages a plastic surgeon who's in private practice (non-NHS) to remove an old scar. Obviously that's not the whole story, but it's what has happened up to this point.

[MaineDem]

31. Thanks

I'll definitely have to get it.

[pscot]

27. I'm reading 3 PLAYS, by Thornton Wilder

and THE PREDATOR STATE, by James Galbraith. And I'm putting the titles in CAPS, as per Racoon's diktat.

[LWolf]

29. Little Bee,Chris Cleave. nt

[Mz Pip]

32. White Noise

Don De Lillo. Just started it so I don't have anything to say about it yet.

[fadedrose]

34. Just finished SKELETON MAN by Tony Hillerman

Didn't care for it. Interesting plot, but it seemed like they dropped the manuscript and put it together with some pages out of place. Hard to follow, but I like Chee and Leaphorn.

[fadedrose]

35. Just started COLD CHOICES by Larry Bond

Engrossing. By the time I finish this book (400 plus pages) with all the naval terminology I will be qualified to have earned a silver dolphin pin.

[yellowdogintexas]

36. The Sunday Philosophy Club by Alexander McCall Smith nt

[MrCoffee]

37. I finally got Pride and Prejudice and Zombies from the library, and it is glorious.

[mentalsolstice]

38. "My Sister's Keeper" by Jodi Picoult

It's pretty good so far. I have no empathy for the mom, but all of the other characters are human and struggling. I'm a retired lawyer, so I love books about morals v. ethics, and I'm always interested about how the conundrum figures out.

[fair trade soy chai]

39. I have been trying to find a copy of "Mommie Dearest" by Joan Crawford's daughter

library, but it is surprisingly hard to find.

(More high-brow fare? I read more than one book at a time. I want to read more fiction. Most of my reading is nonfiction and I want to get into more fiction. Perhaps some short stories by Raymond Carver...)

[deoxyribonuclease]

40. Red Mars, by Kim Stanley Robinson

I'm about 1/3 of the way through. So far it's been a good read.

[fadedrose]

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