What book are you currently reading?

[Felicia]

So after I posted last night I settled into to check out Carrie....just for a minute. I bought Christine. Given I'm not a car person....i read about Kolob again. (I would really like to do that canyon someday)

I took Christine back this morning and had to order Carrie.

This thread has got me thinking about I subject that just never comes up in my life. What are you reading? What do you want to read? What have you read? I never thought of myself a much of a reader, but it seems over the course of time I have done a fair bit of reading. (usually history, historicals, classics, travel)

I tend to read stuff again. While I was at the bookstore I tried to find the book that the movie "The Villiage of the Damned" was from. I could not remember and no one knew. Just a moment on the computer once I got home revealed that it is titled "The Midwich Cuckoos" by John Wyndham.

Now I realize that I have read several of his books...guess I have read science fiction.

Several titles have repeated in this thread and I think that I will check them out.

I the meantime I have two more Janet Evanovich books....got 20 pages left in On Writing and two thirds the way through Wurthering Heights.

[Randi]

What book or books are you reading right now?

Currently reading: It’s not about the Bike ~ Lance Armstrong (I’m liking it a lot).

Some favorite “5 star” past reads:

America’s Splendid Little Wars ~ Peter Hutchhausen
Ghost Soldiers ~ Hampton Sides
Che, A revolutionary life ~ John Anderson
South ~ Earnest Shakleton
Surviving the Extremes ~ Kenneth Kahmler
Collapse ~ Jared Diamond
The Places in Between, Prince of the Marshes ~ Rory Stewart
Bagdad without a map ~ Tony Horwitz
Into Thin Air, Into The Wild, Under The Banner Of Heaven ~ Krakauer
Shibumi ~ Travanian (Best spy book ever)
The Kite Runner ~ Khaled Hosseini
Shanturam ~ Gregory Roberts
The little Drummer Girl ~ John Le Carre
Holy War, The Spiral Staircase, The Battle for God ~ Karen Armstrong

Other books I’ve enjoyed:

Between a Rock & a Hard Place ~ YOU KNOW WHO! J
Sufferings in Africa ~ James Riley
The Long Walk ~ Slavomir Raowowitz
Failed States – Noam Chomsky

I don’t read much fiction these days, but used to.
Some of the Author’s I used to devour books by are: Ken Follet, Robert McCammon, Robert Ludlum, Dean Kootnz, and John Grisham (all great Authors).


In the queue (stacked on the bedside table)

The Secret Knowledge of Water ~ Craig Childs
Sisterhood of Spies ~ Elizabeth McIntosh
Blood & Thunder ~ Hampton Sides
Guns, Germs & Steel ~ Jared Diamond
Poisonwood Bible ~ Barbara Kingsolver
We die alone ~ David Howarth
The Egyptian ~ Mika Waltari
A peace To end all peace ~ David From
Six days of War ~ Michael Oren

And sickeningly – there are more in the library (that’s our huge bookshelf out in the garage) waiting to be read. I’m like a kid with candy when it comes to books! I can’t get enough!

~Randi

[packfish]

Danny- Champion of the World

[sparker1]

Randi, I just read Blood and Thunder a few days ago. I found it interesting, although the author seemed to draw things out too much (my opinion only). Assuming it is very accurate, it opens one's eyes to the travails of the Navajo. I had always heard about the abuse of other tribes, but never the Navajo. It also covered much of Kit Carson's life and career (highly favorable view).

[erial]

Another Country, Navigating the Emotional Terrain of Our Elders by Mary Pipher, Ph. D.

Using conversational, accessible language, Dr. Pipher illuminates the problems of the elderly and the problems between them and their children.

Early on she quotes Alex Haley: "The death of an old person is like the burning of a library." If you're a baby boomer, you'd likely find this book to be enlightening.

[greyhair biker]

Just started 'The Last of the Mohicans'

[Mtnman1830]

Just started 'The Last of the Mohicans'

Hope you enjoy it. It took me a while to read, but it is a good one.


I just started "The Monkey Wrench Gang"

[greyhair biker]

Just started 'The Last of the Mohicans'

Hope you enjoy it. It took me a while to read, but it is a good one.


I just started "The Monkey Wrench Gang"

It's one of the few books that adapted well to the screen. One of my absolutely favorite movies...mohicans, not monkey wrench gang.

[Bo_Beck]

Really enjoyed some of her books, and starting Atlas Shrugged for a second go round. It's been almost 30 years since first picking up and reading one of her novels! Am digging into "Rock Art Symbols" by Alex Peterson as well.

[Randi]

Randi, I just read Blood and Thunder a few days ago. I found it interesting, although the author seemed to draw things out too much (my opinion only). Assuming it is very accurate, it opens one's eyes to the travails of the Navajo. I had always heard about the abuse of other tribes, but never the Navajo. It also covered much of Kit Carson's life and career (highly favorable view).

It's cool that so many folks here read!
And that some of us have read, or are planning to read the same books too!

I gotta make a comment to whoever said they liked Deep Survival though: No offense but I hated that book! I bought it after reading Surviving the Extremes, cuz I was still in that "adreniline rush" adventure mode of reading, but I couldn't choke down the first few pages, or even a few pages in the middle. That Author, regardless of his credentials can't write for beans, in imnsho.

Hampton Sides got me outta my fiction phase, and into reading "real" books. I picked up Ghost Soldiers at an airport, read it on the plane and realized that "truth" is better than "fiction", as in I'm actually learning about history as I read. The book is about the Bataan death March, and the aftermath of the prisoners who actually make it to the camp. Incrediable story! I've been hooked on Military history every since.

Most of those "big" bible size books do drag things out to some extent. Takes me a loooong time to get through em too. I'm poised to read a few shorter ones before jumping itto another Epic, but I'm pretty excited about reading that one at some point.

~Randi

[Randi]

Really enjoyed some of her books, and starting Atlas Shrugged for a second go round. It's been almost 30 years since first picking up and reading one of her novels! Am digging into "Rock Art Symbols" by Alex Peterson as well.

Hi Bo! Hey, I forgot all about Atlas Shrugged. It's on my list too!

~Randi

[Bo_Beck]

Really enjoyed some of her books, and starting Atlas Shrugged for a second go round. It's been almost 30 years since first picking up and reading one of her novels! Am digging into "Rock Art Symbols" by Alex Peterson as well.

Hi Bo! Hey, I forgot all about Atlas Shrugged. It's on my list too!

~Randi

I saw your list Randi, and saw Shibumi, and remembered that I had read it just after reading Atlas Shrugged. Shogun was another one I really enjoyed! Got to hunker down though to delve into Atlas Shrugged! It sort of drags on, but certainly keeps one wondering.

[Rev. Coyote]

Speaking of classics, my pick for a top-notch slot would be "Frankenstein" by Mary Shelly. It's as relevant a statement on the human condition today as it was when first penned.

For adventure "classics," I'd pick "The North Pole" by Peary (I have a 1st edition) and Powell's diaries.

[asdf]

Just started 'The Last of the Mohicans'

Hope you enjoy it. It took me a while to read, but it is a good one.


I just started "The Monkey Wrench Gang"

It's one of the few books that adapted well to the screen. One of my absolutely favorite movies...mohicans, not monkey wrench gang.

Monkey Wrench gang is being made into a movie... in new mexico.

[Cirrus2000]

I've really been enjoying reading this thread, and meaning to chime in for ages. I'm a voracious reader of all kinds of books.

There are a number of fiction authors whose entire oeuvres have graced my nightstand. Everything by:

Wilbur Smith
Leon Uris
Jack Whyte - amazing Arthurian stuff
James Clavell - I read Shogun in 8th grade - had to get King Rat and Tai-Pan immediately. Tai-Pan still rates as one of my all time favourites!
Stephen King - yeah, kind of a guilty pleasure. I can do Lowest Common Denominator pretty well.
Tad Williams - such unconventional fantasy
David Gemmel - Wrote such rollicking good heroic fantasy. I could tear through one in a day, and a week later have no idea what I'd read. Light and fluffy, but so much fun!
Most of Robert Ludlum, Michael Chrichton, Diana Gabaldon, Robert Jordan, Katharine Kerr. Many John Grisham, Herman Wouk and Jeffrey Archer. A number of Tom Clancy, Edward Rutherfurd, and Clive Barker. Smatterings of Michener, Solzhenitsyn and even Frank Herbert (back when Dune was, like, a trilogy). Tolkein, of course.

Recently, a mix of fiction and non. Some other favourites from the last few years:

Fiction (heavy on my wife's book club stuff)
Don Quixote - Cervantes.
A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius - Dave Eggers
Life of Pi - Yann Martel
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time - Mark Haddon
Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden
A Song of Ice and Fire - series by George RR Martin

Non-Fiction
The Elegant Universe - Brian Greene
Guns Germs & Steel - Jared Diamond
Collapse - Jared Diamond
The Selfish Gene - Richard Dawkins
The God Delusion - Richard Dawkins
Eats, Shoots and Leaves - Lynne Truss
A Test of Will - Warren MacDonald
The Exploration of the Colorado River and Its Canyons - Powell
Desert Solitaire - Edward Abbey
God is Not Great - Christopher Hitchens
A History of Britain - 3 volumes - Simon Schama
How the Scots Invented the Modern World - Arthur Herman
The Map that Changed the World - Simon Winchester
The Professor and the Madman - Simon Winchester
Letter to a Christian Nation - Sam Harris
Why Darwin Matters - Michael Shermer
Flushed: How the Plumber Saved Civilization - W. Hodding Carter
and of course,
Canyoneering 3 - Steve Allen
Zion: Canyoneering - Tom Jones

Lately, a lot of computer manuals as well - teaching myself ASP, JavaScript, and now working on PHP. (Geek!)

[Mtnman1830]

[quote+"greyhair"]Mtnman1830 wrote:
greyhair biker wrote:
Just started 'The Last of the Mohicans'


Hope you enjoy it. It took me a while to read, but it is a good one.


I just started "The Monkey Wrench Gang"


It's one of the few books that adapted well to the screen. One of my absolutely favorite movies...mohicans, not monkey wrench gang.[/quote]

Dances with Wolves also made a good movie. The sequel, 'The Holy Road' is also very good.

Jeff Long writes some good books,
Year Zero, and The Descent

[sparker1]

Read this one last year: The Exploration of the Colorado River and Its Canyons - Powell. Most impressed by how one-armed Powell was able to do so much, and so nonchalantly.

[sparker1]

Sorry, double post.

[Brewhaha]

Right now I'm making my way through:

Foundation by Isaac Asimov
Prime Obsession by John Derbyshire
Cure for the Common Life by Max Lucado
Arches and Bridges by Fran Barnes

[Cirrus2000]

Most impressed by how one-armed Powell was able to do so much, and so nonchalantly.

Absolutely. It's amazing how he would just throw out a "and it took 12 hours to get back," or "all hands disappeared as the boat flipped and we thought they were lost. Met up again below the falls..." kind of thing.

By the way, right now I'm reading a book on "Dynamic Web Forms" by: Dan Ransom! (I had no idea...)