What are you reading the week of October 30, 2011?

[DUgosh]

In Pursuit of the Proper Sinner by Elizabeth George - Lynley & Havers book # 10

[applegrove]

1. "Better Angels of Our Nature" by Stephen Pinker. Wondeful book about

how violence has gone down over the ages and why. Really infomative.

[PETRUS]

2. Have you read any other Pinker?

I haven't checked out the new one, but I've found things of value in several of his previous books.

[PETRUS]

3. .

[applegrove]

7. Yes. I read "The Blank Slate" or whatever it was called. Years ago. I am getting more

out of this book. He not only makes his case he publisizes many theories of other people too. It is a great round-up.

[PETRUS]

8. Cool, I'll probably get to it before long.

I appreciated The Blank Slate (also How the Mind Works, Stuff of Thought, and The Language Instinct).

[Sarah Ibarruri]

4. King, Warrior, Magician, Lover. An explanation of men's psyche. nt

[PETRUS]

6. That's on my shelf!

But I still haven't opened it. What do you think (so far)?

[Sarah Ibarruri]

9. Wonderful! Read it. :) nt

[PETRUS]

5. Waiting to get my hands on a copy of

"Hermeneutic Communism," by Gianni Vattimo and Santiago Zabala.

But browsing for good fiction in the meantime. I haven't read a novel since "Water for Elephants" about two or three months ago.

[Rabblevox]

10. Freedom by Jonathan Franzen (and I'm bummed by it)...

after all the great reviews, I'm extremely put-off by it.

Franzen is a gifted writer, no doubt (I thought The Corrections was brilliant). Some of his passages just sing, and he can nail dialog with perfect pitch.

But...Almost all the characters in the book are unlikable on multiple levels, maybe Franzen wants us to hate them all, maybe he wants us to dig deep for one drop of forgiveness, but whichever, it doesn't work.

And the politics...argggh! It starts off seeming like the book will have a decidedly liberal slant, but you soon realize that he hates his Dem. characters as much as his rethug ones.

Oh, and everyone in the book either is rich, came from money, or is selling their soul to make money to pay for their vacation homes.

I've still got about 100 pg. to go, so maybe it will redeem at the end, but I'm not holding my breath.

[Rabblevox]

17. Freedom did NOT improve at the end, got markedly worse...

A complete "cheat" ending that a talented 10 year-old would be ashamed of.

I would not recommend this to anyone. I should have quit after the first 50 pages.

But I took the bullet, so you don't have to.

Now for something to cleanse the palate after that monstrosity, I'm off to the new collection of Stephen King short stories, "Full Dark, No Stars". Man knows how to tell a story, write a character, and almost never leaves you feeling cheated at the end.

[Mac1949]

11. Asterix books. I just got done with 'The Forsaken' by

Tim Tzouliadis (highly recommended) and I need something light and amusing.

[Rabblevox]

12. Many fond memories of Asterix and Obelix, gotta see if they have them at the library. /nt

[fadedrose]

13. A COOL BREEZE ON THE UNDERGROUND by Don Winslow

It's an older series, first of five. It's okay, but have a few novels that I want to get to and may not finish this series....


Book 80



DUGosh - R'd, appreciatively

[bemildred]

14. "Lonely Crusade" -- Chester Himes nt

[JitterbugPerfume]

15. Re Rev Re read of Brave New World

It has been years since I read this book and it is time for another look.The Forward by Christopher Hitchens was interesting He made some comparisons with Orwells 1984. I am re reading 1984 next if I can pry my copy out of my neighbors hands.

[Rabblevox]

16. "Full Dark, No Stars" Quartet of long short stories by Stephen King...

Same format as his "4 Past Midnight" or "Different Seasons"

I haven't gotten some King on in awhile (hey, we've all got our guilty pleasures)

I've just started, but so far, dark, bleak, disturbing and oh-so yummy for Halloween(or Samhain as it should be known).

The horror in it is almost entirely non-supernatural, after all, people are the scariest damn thing in the known universe.

[soleft]

21. Let me know what you think when you're done

As I posted later in the thread, I'm reading The Stand. Have read a lot of recent King, Cell, Under the Dome, From a Buick 8, Duma Key, After Sunset, Lisey's Story. I have a late appreciate for him. I never saw the Mini Series for the Stand, so I thought it would be a good early book to read.

[Rabblevox]

22. I will. His recent work has been a mixed bag...

I thought Under The Dome was magnificent, Duma Key left me cold. Sometimes he drifts and gets lost in his own story, but damn does the man know how to tell a story!

The Stand is one of my favorites, not just of his, but one of the best apocalyptic novels ever. The mini-series was well done, but nowhere near the book.

ps. I hope you are reading the more recent "Unabridged" edition. That's the book that King and his editor wanted to release, but the publisher refused until he cut 200 pages (of which at least 100 is important but offensive scenes)

I'll pm you when I'm done. Prob late next week.

[RebelOne]

40. Read both versions of "The Stand."

That was one of his best writings ever. Saw the mini-series, but it could not compare with the book.

[Louisiana1976]

18. Beaglemania by Linda O. Johnston.

It's a mystery.

[formercia]

19. Orchid Fever by Eric Hansen

People with too much Money.

[soleft]

20. The Stand

Yes, that one. I'm a little behind the times.

[Rabblevox]

23. That's a CLASSIC! hope it's the newer "unabridged" version...

200 pages longer, and at least 100 are disturbing and graphic and important to the story. It makes it a superior, more complex and "adult" version.

[soleft]

26. It is the expanded version

I'm up to the part where Frannie Stu et al get ambused on the road on their way out west.

[matt819]

24. No Nobel prize winners, but entertaining

The Fitzgerald Ruse by Mark deCastrique. The second in the Sam Blackman series. Entertaining, lightweight.

Trespasser by Paul Doiron. Also the second in a series, this one of self-destructive Maine Game Warden Mike Bowditch. Good detective, though, unfortunately, that's not his job. But if there's a body to be found, Mike's your man. I'm about half way through, and he's wrecked an ATV, broken his hand, found two bodies, and incurred the wrath of every police officer in or around his small town of Seal Cove, Maine, apparently a hotbed of crime and the home to the sorriest group of law enforcement officers east of the Mississippi.

[fadedrose]

25. Sounds like my kind of book

My library has them all and I put them on my "list," soon to be ordered...nice thing about them is that they're all fairly new books and they're fairly short. Good job, matt...

[Onceuponalife]

27. Age of Consent by Howard Mittelmark n/t

[jtuck004]

28. Biopunk: DIY Scientists Hack the Software of Life

by Marcus Wohlsen

An overview of some of the work people are doing in garages, closets, and basements. Creating substitutes for expensive tools on the cheap, and sharing. Talented and interesting people doing the stuff of microbiology without a university or a self-interested pharmacological company.

Who knows what they might find?

[Viva_La_Revolution]

31. that sounds facinating!

:)

[jtuck004]

34. I normally don't read non-fiction all the way through without pausing

for, say, sleep, but I was grabbing this one up at every opportunity. There are several resources listed for little labs that are open to the public, people who just want to play with science outside the usual confines or strictures, such as

http://biocurious.org/

You can walk in off the street and manipulate DNA. John Dewey used to say you could evaluate whether students were learning by whether or not you could see them using what they learned. And here it is...

I think back to when I was 17 and working on the Chevy or VW under the tree - today it could be working in the garage, with a microscope, and DNA separator I built myself or bought cheap off ebay through the work of folks like this. I was more a liberal arts kinda fella, but this made me start doing some looking into bio science again.

This one could be a opening into a whole new way to study something...

[Jim Lane]

29. Hubris: The Inside Story of Spin, Scandal, and the Selling of the Iraq War

I hope I can say I'm "reading" it when I'm listening to the audiobook.

It's fifteen CD's saying, essentially, "Bush lied, people died." That much I already knew, but the authors, Michael Isikoff and David Corn, have compiled a staggering level of detail to flesh out that slogan.

Sometimes I have to switch over to a music CD because I'm just getting too angry at what I'm learning.

[Viva_La_Revolution]

30. finishing Lucy's Child in the next few days

it's non-fiction. Next will be the 4th Game of Thrones - A Feast of Crows

[DisgustipatedinCA]

32. 1Q84, Haruki Murakami's new book

.

[Melissa G]

33. Just finished Cordelia's Honor by Lois Mc Master Bujold

I read some of her books a long time ago. Just started Young Miles. Enjoying them both!

[fadedrose]

35. DISAPPEARED by Gary Alexander

About Buster Hightower, a standup comic who gets entangled in international intrigue.





Book 81

[fadedrose]

43. Hated it.

Dumb story. And the pages were in pure white. Reminds me home-typing paper or bank statements....Just looked in the back to see if the main characters survived, and, they did....

[fadedrose]

44. PIGEON BLOOD by Gary Alexander

This is a 1988 book and it's better than Disappeared mentioned above. About a ficticious country below China, and Police Superintendent Kiet...short and sweet, only 182 pp...




Book 82

[Lydia Leftcoast]

36. Continuing with the Sherlock Holmes canon

all available for free in e-book form.

[MaineDem]

37. About to start David Baldacci's latest "Zero Day"

He introduces a new hero. It's a short book, though. I like them longer.

[MaineDem]

45. Audible screwed up

Just got an email from them, after I finished the book, saying they had given me the abridged version. I never read abridged books! They sent me the complete book but now that I've finished it I'm not sure I want to go back and listen to the entire book. I did think it was kind of short, to say the least.

I asked them for a refund. We'll see.

[MaineDem]

46. Thank you, Audible

They refunded the price of the book! Great customer service!

[Goblinmonger]

38. Paper Towns

Student of mine recommended it. So far a very good read. Just starting. Nice narrator. Awesome voice.

[didact]

39. The God Theory - Bernard Haisch

ftf

[SheilaT]

41. Sarah's Key.

Haven't seen the movie, but the book is incredibly good so far.

[TheCentepedeShoes]

42. Blood Royal by Barbara Cleverly

and Two for Sorrow by Nicola Upson (both mysteries)
And Cascadia's Fault by I don't know cause the book is in the other room - non fiction about the geology of the NW US
All from the library