Books you're currently reading???

[wolf]

Wow, I've not been keeping up with my posting here ... okay, not on any thread, but I'm clearly behind on listing my recent literary choices. Luckily, I have kept a chronological list since 1984.

FINISHED
Doppelganger - Marie Brennan
The Bone Collector - Jeffrey Deaver
The Coffin Dancer - Jeffrey Deaver
Gods and Myths of Northern Europe - H.R. Ellis Davidson
The Sentinel - Gerald Petievich
The Complete Idiot's Guide to Being Psychic - Lynne A. Robinson and LaVonne Carlson-Finnerty
The Wire in the Blood - Val McDermid
Love is the Bond - M.R. Sellars
All Acts of Pleasure - M.R. Sellars
Divination for Beginners - Scott Cunningham
The Sinister Pig - Tony Hillerman

ONGOING PROJECTS
The Old Testament
The Complete Fairy Tales of the Brother's Grimm, All New Third Edition
I like fairy tales before bedtime

Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell - Susanna Clarke
this is a very, very long book. Not a lot happens. But these things don't happen in very interesting, nicely described ways.

Do As I Say, Not as I Do: Profiles in Liberal Hypocrisy - Peter Schweizer
I get so mad reading this I can only do a little at a time, so I keep it in the bathroom.

The Robin Wood Tarot - Robin Wood
I love this tarot deck, and recently learned that the artist had written a book about it's creation, and gives details regarding the symbolism she chose for each card. So far I think it's a much better guide to the deck than Tarot Made Simple, which uses her cards also.

[Clodfobble]

Originally Posted by wolf

FINISHED
Doppelganger - Marie Brennan

What did you think about this one?

[wolf]

I bought it on your recommendation, and actually really liked it, for the most part. I think that the loss of dramatic tension after the ... you know, big thing that's a major plot point that I won't reveal out loud in case someone else wants to read it ... didn't serve the story well. But overall I liked the characters, I liked the world, thought the richness of the backstory was a very good thing.

I look forward to more from her.

[Clodfobble]

In that case, I should tell you that the sequel just hit stores a couple of weeks ago.

[wolf]

Oooooh. I'm surprised that amazon didn't send me an email telling me about that.

[skysidhe]

The Forest by Edward Rutherfurd.


The Footprints Of God by Greg Iles.


I havn't started either of them.

[Cicero]

There is a memorial site at the Library of Congress for Hannah Arendt. There are tons of beautiful manuscripts 1st, 2nd, and 3rd drafts etc. of her work there. She was a great philosopher and had an extraordinary writing skill set. She redefined the art of thinking. She was a student of Heidegger, Husserl, and Jaspers. Yeah, she's the real deal. Here's a link:http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/arendthtml/arendthome.html

[Sheldonrs]

"Team Of Rivals" Goodwin. A great book.

[Urbane Guerrilla]

Originally Posted by JayMcGee

Early Heinlein was very good. The Moon.. and Stranger... are probably his two finest works. 'Time Enough for Love' is also not bad, but by this time he was letting his politics show. Check out his early stuff 'The Puppet Masters', The Man Who Sold The Moon, Orphans of the Sky.

Jay, the man's politics always showed. Even his first juvies from the very late forties and early fifties, Red Planet, Rocket Ship Galileo, Space Cadet, Farmer In The Sky, all include their Heinlein Lecture at some point. It's perhaps easiest to spot when you read a fistful of them one after another. Some of his later material conceals the Lectures more invisibly and smoothly, usually by spreading it throughout the plot and dialogue. Starship Troopers and Tunnel In The Sky come to mind, both of which have a coming of age as the backbone of their plots. The Lecture hits several points: liberty is good; competence also, and the more varied the better; maturity is essential; skill at arms can save you when nothing else will do; discipline is accomplishment's handmaiden; government should be minimal, for a government that governs most governs worst -- and that was the essential plot of more than one of his novels. It's all through Time Enough... with its hero who sticks around long enough to take a very long perspective -- personally. I'd call that one his masterpiece. You can run your life around his Lazarus Long's Notebooks entry on "A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects."

Some Heinleinery, including other links

[wolf]

Originally Posted by wolf

Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell - Susanna Clarke
this is a very, very long book. Not a lot happens. But these things don't happen in very interesting, nicely described ways.

I have managed to reach an approximate halfway point (page 500ish of slightly over 1K, the book is in my briefcase and I'm too lazy to look.)

I will only recognize the Old Testament and Grimm .


I am APPALLED , Wolf . Truly APPALLED .

Stop reading crap .

Come and look at my books .

[Trilby]

Originally Posted by Buddug

Come and look at my books .

Is it concieveable that buddug is...drunk?

I'm reading 12th Night; finished a four-week study of Austen's "Emma" and have really grown to hate that uptight wench. (Austen, that is. Well, Emma, too.)

[KinkyVixen]

No Brianna, Buddug being drunk would be too easy. She obviously doesn't understand the edit button.

Right now I'm reading the anthroplogy of religion. Can I slit my wrists now?