What are you reading?

[jcdeboever]

Back in August, I picked up The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon. I was enjoying it, but then school started and I never finished it, so I'm picking up where I left off. I did read a few things in between then and now for my book club, which I mostly can't remember right now, not because my memory is failing, but because the books were kinda boring and once I'm done reading, there's no reason to remember them.

The last thing I read was a novella by Shirley Jackson called We Always Lived in the Castle. Haunting.

Holy crap, y'all, I FINALLY finished The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay. I started it in July, left it for a few months, read more in December, then left it again during the spring semester. When I picked it up again recently, I still was only about 40% done. (In my defense, it's a 600+ page hardcover with small print). I brought it with me to Kansas City and started it again (after I finished Vonnegut's Cat's Cradle.) Got to half-way while I was there and then burned through the last half in the past week.

Part of this pattern was that at first, the story grabbed me enough to keep reading but not enough to sustain the interest once school interfered. And then, of course, school interfered. This was an anomaly, though. My tendency is to devour books, not drag them out for 10 months (even if I did "cheat" on the book and read others in the interims.)

Now I have to hold auditions for my next book.

I can send you Camera Lucida when I get it back. You can read it in one sitting. I thought of you a few times while reading this book. I think you would enjoy it. Just pass it on or whatever.
Rereading: Camera Lucida by Roland Barthes

Camera Lucida

 

[table1349]

Just finished The Colditz Story by Pat Reid.
Now reading A Bridge Too Far, by Cornelius Ryan. Saw the movie finally getting around to the book.

 

[Kenneth Walker]

Just starting "The Moral Case for Fossil Fuels" by Alex Epstein.

 

[KmH]

Masters of the Planet
The Search For Our Human Origins - Ian Tattersall PhD

Ian Tattersall is the Curator Emeritus of the Spitzer Hall of Human Origins at the American Museum of Natural History in NYC.

 

[pip_dog]

Re-reading The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera. I thought his moralizing to be self-righteous on the first read-through.
Other than that, textbooks for class.

 

[table1349]

Still working on A Bridge too Far. With all due respects to our British members, Bernard Law Montgomery had all the qualifications to make a great Staff Sergeant. As a Field Marshal he was less than a sterling leader.

Did just finish Growing Up Amish by Ira Wagler. I thought it was going to be an attack on the Amish way of life. In the end it was as much a dissertation on Wagler himself as it was the Amish. For me an interesting read as we have an Amish community a few miles away and I have Amish friends there.



Edit:
Last evening I got to the part were things went from bad to one colossal muck up. (We would have said it was FUBAR) I must say, the British troops fighting in and around Arnhem were some of the bravest bastards in the entire war.

 

[Designer]

Since I last checked in here, I've read several books, got caught up on my periodicals, and am in the middle of yet another book. They are all political, so I can't name them on here, but they're all good and very educational.

 

[terri]

Since I last checked in here, I've read several books, got caught up on my periodicals, and am in the middle of yet another book. They are all political, so I can't name them on here, but they're all good and very educational.

It's just book titles - you can name them, and their authors, if you'd like. Feel free!

 

[Designer]

It's just book titles - you can name them, and their authors, if you'd like. Feel free!

I can't remember if I mentioned this, the only photography book I've read lately: John Hedgecoe's "Complete Guide to Photography"

other books not photography related:

"notes from a small island" - Bill Bryson
"Coolidge" - Amity Shlaes
"33 Questions about American History you're not supposed to ask" - Thomas E. Woods Jr.
"Rollback" - repealing big government before the coming fiscal collapse _ Thomas E. Woods, Jr.
"Power to the People" - Laura Ingraham
"Meltdown" A free-market look at why the stock market collapsed, the economy tanked, and government bailouts will make things worse. - Thomas E. Woods Jr.
"Nullification" How to resist federal tyranny in the 21st. century - Thomas E. Woods Jr.
"Competitive Shooting" - A.A. Yur' Yev
"Service Rifle Slings" - Glen D. Zediker

And of course; The New American magazine

(current)
"Back on the Road to Serfdom" The resurgence of Statism - Thomas E. Woods Jr.

 

[waday]

Nothing at the moment.

Since I last checked in here, I've read several books, got caught up on my periodicals, and am in the middle of yet another book. They are all political, so I can't name them on here, but they're all good and very educational.

It's just book titles - you can name them, and their authors, if you'd like. Feel free!

Just a side comment. I was perusing the discussion board of a professional organization I'm a member of, and they had a similar "what are you reading" thread. There was a huge discussion because someone posted a book title on climate change and another guy flipped his lid. It was actually pretty funny.

 

[Designer]

Nothing at the moment.

Since I last checked in here, I've read several books, got caught up on my periodicals, and am in the middle of yet another book. They are all political, so I can't name them on here, but they're all good and very educational.

It's just book titles - you can name them, and their authors, if you'd like. Feel free!

Just a side comment. I was perusing the discussion board of a professional organization I'm a member of, and they had a similar "what are you reading" thread. There was a huge discussion because someone posted a book title on climate change and another guy flipped his lid. It was actually pretty funny.

Yes, I've read a couple on that topic myself.

 

[terri]

Just a side comment. I was perusing the discussion board of a professional organization I'm a member of, and they had a similar "what are you reading" thread. There was a huge discussion because someone posted a book title on climate change and another guy flipped his lid. It was actually pretty funny.

Crazy, huh? It's just a freaking list of what we've read/are reading. And like photography, we may try a few genres we end up liking, along with some we end up not liking. But everyone should feel free to post what they've read without getting that kind of pushback. Meanwhile, it's convenient and interesting to come across titles and authors we may not otherwise have heard of.

So, carry on!

Me: I'm currently reading SF, which is not something I often do. I just finished Old Man's War by John Scalzi and will probably continue the series - Scalzi has a sense of humor that I like.

 

[Designer]

I've only read one SF book in my life. It was like work for me to get through it. I don't remember the title, although the author IIRC, was Isaac Asimov.

 

[Designer]

I also don't read novels. I think the only one I remember was the Lord of the Rings trilogy, and the third book got really tedious at the end.

 

[terri]

I've only read one SF book in my life. It was like work for me to get through it. I don't remember the title, although the author IIRC, was Isaac Asimov.

It can be a tough one. Some authors get kind of carried away with tech stuff, others just don't draw characters very well.

I like fiction as well as non-fiction. A good writer can convince you on both counts, that's for sure. There is definitely a lot of plonk out there!