What are you reading?

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gsabc
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What are you reading?

#1 Post by gsabc » Thu Nov 20, 2008 11:39 am

We already know PSM is on the Twilight trilogy.

I'm reading Watchmen by Alan Moore and David Gibbons, subject of another upcoming movie. I fully agree with the description on the back: "If you've never read a graphic novel, start with Watchmen." It is far and away the most deserving example I've seen of the term "graphic novel". It makes me regret that I gave up my comic book collecting hobby just before it originally came out. Because I'm sorry that I didn't read it back then.
I just ordered chicken and an egg from Amazon. I'll let you know.

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Re: What are you reading?

#2 Post by littlebeast13 » Thu Nov 20, 2008 11:40 am

The Bored...

lb13

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Re: What are you reading?

#3 Post by TheCalvinator24 » Thu Nov 20, 2008 11:44 am

littlebeast13 wrote:The Bored...

lb13
beast beat me to it. I was going to make the same joke.
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Re: What are you reading?

#4 Post by tlynn78 » Thu Nov 20, 2008 11:44 am

cd in my car - "What Came Before He Shot Her," Elizabeth George - heartbreaking

nightstand - "The Darkest Evening of the Year." Dean Koontz - I loves me some DK

desk at work - "The Virgin's Lover," Phillippa Gregory - intriguing


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Re: What are you reading?

#5 Post by ToLiveIsToFly » Thu Nov 20, 2008 11:46 am

Just finished Neal Stephenson's Anathem and John Sandford's Dark of the Moon. I enjoyed both immensely, though I imagine if you don't like Neal Stephenson in general, you won't Anathem. I do, very much, and I did, very much.

Trying to slog through The Malcontents, an anthology compiled by Joe Queenan (who I generally like a lot) of the best/most important satirical/sarcastic writing throughout history. I'm currently in the middle of The Clouds. I read both Frogs and Lysistrata in High School and remember enjoying them both, but The Clouds feels like a chore now. Could easily be the size of the book, though. It's too big to read comfortably on the train.

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littlebeast13
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Re: What are you reading?

#6 Post by littlebeast13 » Thu Nov 20, 2008 11:48 am

TheCalvinator24 wrote:
littlebeast13 wrote:The Bored...

lb13
beast beat me to it. I was going to make the same joke.

As an avid Bored reader, I happened to refresh right as gsabc made the post.....

I guess I am getting too bored on my 3-dayer.....

lb13

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Re: What are you reading?

#7 Post by minimetoo26 » Thu Nov 20, 2008 11:50 am

littlebeast13 wrote:
TheCalvinator24 wrote:
littlebeast13 wrote:The Bored...

lb13
beast beat me to it. I was going to make the same joke.

As an avid Bored reader, I happened to refresh right as gsabc made the post.....

I guess I am getting too bored on my 3-dayer.....

lb13
No such animal!
Knowing a great deal is not the same as being smart; intelligence is not information alone but also judgment, the manner in which information is collected and used.

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Re: What are you reading?

#8 Post by littlebeast13 » Thu Nov 20, 2008 11:51 am

minimetoo26 wrote:
littlebeast13 wrote:
TheCalvinator24 wrote: beast beat me to it. I was going to make the same joke.

As an avid Bored reader, I happened to refresh right as gsabc made the post.....

I guess I am getting too bored on my 3-dayer.....

lb13
No such animal!
You mean like an evil squirrel.....

lb13

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Re: What are you reading?

#9 Post by Bob Juch » Thu Nov 20, 2008 12:12 pm

The Greatest Traitor: The Life of Sir Roger Mortimer, Ruler of England: 1327--1330

He's my 21st great-grandfather. He deposed Edward II, my 20th great-grandfather, along with Edward's wife, Isabella, and ruled England with her as Edward III was not of age yet.

Isabella was portrayed as the lover of Braveheart in the film of the same name, but she didn't even set foot in England until she was 14, in 1308, after she married Edward II, and Braveheart was long dead by then. She and Roger were lovers however.
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Re: What are you reading?

#10 Post by earendel » Thu Nov 20, 2008 12:18 pm

gsabc wrote:We already know PSM is on the Twilight trilogy.

I'm reading Watchmen by Alan Moore and David Gibbons, subject of another upcoming movie. I fully agree with the description on the back: "If you've never read a graphic novel, start with Watchmen." It is far and away the most deserving example I've seen of the term "graphic novel". It makes me regret that I gave up my comic book collecting hobby just before it originally came out. Because I'm sorry that I didn't read it back then.
I'm reading "Hero of Ages" by Brandon Sanderson. It's the third book in his "Mistborn" series, which I started because he's been designed as the author to complete Robert Jordan's "Wheel of Time" series and I wanted to get a feel for his writing style.

I'm also reading "The Man with the Iron Heart" by Harry Turtledove, another alternate history story - it supposes that Richard Heydrich survived an assassination attempt in Prague in 1942 and is selected by Himmler to lead a guerilla war against the Allies when it becomes clear that Germany is going to lose the war. It's an obvious parallel to the current War on Terror - the Germans use suicide bombers, kidnapping and other terrorist techniques and the Russians respond with brutal countermeasures while the U.S. debates whether to "bring the boys home."
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Re: What are you reading?

#11 Post by MarleysGh0st » Thu Nov 20, 2008 12:59 pm

After hearing about Tony Hillerman passing away, I decided to try one of his books, so I'm "reading" The First Eagle on CD audiobook.

On my MP3 player, I'm listening to the audiobook version of The Last of the Mohicans. The movie got rid of all of the florid, archaic language of the book, along with the many casual comments that sound racist to modern ears.

I haven't been getting far with reading books actually printed on paper lately, but I'm (still) in the middle of Ring of Fire II, the latest anthology in Eric Flint's 1632 series. I guess I'll take that on vacation and get some reading done on the plane, at least.

Then, a friend who knows I enjoyed the Harry Potter series has loaned me a copy of Michael Scott's The Alchemyst: The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel, so I need to read and return that in a reasonable time frame.

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Re: What are you reading?

#12 Post by Vandal » Thu Nov 20, 2008 1:13 pm

State fo Fear by Michael Crichton

Finished:

Hatchet by Gary Paulsen

Stone Cold by David Baldacci

I started The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold but could only make it halfway. I got tired of page-after-page where NOTHING HAPPENS.
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Re: What are you reading?

#13 Post by nitrah55 » Thu Nov 20, 2008 1:26 pm

Just finished "The Way of the World," by Ron Suskind, reporter for that left-wing wacko rag, The Wall Street Journal. Eye opener about how things are and how we got here.

Reading "Liberty" by Garrison Keillor- Lake Wobegon resident has mid-life crisis. I prefer the radio show.

Just got and am looking forward to reading "Anything was Possible," (I think that's right), a chronicle of bringing the Sondheim musical "Follies" to Broadway, from a then-production assistant, and "Salesman in Bejing," Arthur Miller's account of directing the first production of Death of a Salesman in China- in Chinese.
I am about 25% sure of this.

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Re: What are you reading?

#14 Post by lilyvonschtupp26 » Thu Nov 20, 2008 2:33 pm

Reading Inkdeath by Cornelia Funke. 3rd in the series. great kid series. being made into a movie right now starring Brendan Fraser. big 800+ pages. Brendan is Mo, a bookbinder, who when he reads books out loud brings the characters to life.

Just finished re-reading Baldacci's Christmas Train. wanted a fun, light read. was in a foul mood.

Up next on my nightstand. . .
the sequel to Green Glass Sea. White Sands, Red Menace by Ellen Klages.
the companion to Life as we knew it, The Dead and the Gone by Sue Beth Pfeffer.
It is not true that we have only one life to live; if we can read, we can live as many lives as we wish. -S.I. Hayakawa

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Re: What are you reading?

#15 Post by franktangredi » Thu Nov 20, 2008 2:40 pm

I make it a point to reread one novel by Dickens every year, so I just finished Our Mutual Friend. It's probably more than thirty years since I read it. It's still fantastic.

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Re: What are you reading?

#16 Post by PlacentiaSoccerMom » Thu Nov 20, 2008 3:14 pm

I just finished New Moon. It's nice being sick, I don't feel obligated to do more than read or nap.

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Re: What are you reading?

#17 Post by tanstaafl2 » Thu Nov 20, 2008 3:49 pm

Finally got around to finishing "The Complete McAuslan" (Fraser was as entertaining as always) as well as "Whatever You Do, Don't Run: True Tales of a Botswana Safari Guide" (Nice light entertaining read for a long flight) along with "Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight: An African Childhood" (Perhaps not quite so light...)

I may track down "The Africa House" as we are considering putting a visit to it on the itinerary for the next trip to Zambia.

In the meantime I may also track down the books that were the source for the Showtime series "Dexter" for a "light" read on the long flight to Hawaii next month.
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Re: What are you reading?

#18 Post by themanintheseersuckersuit » Thu Nov 20, 2008 3:54 pm

I'm reading Dexter in the Dark, now I liked Darkly Dreaming Dexter. What does that say about me?
Suitguy is not bitter.

feels he represents the many educated and rational onlookers who believe that the hysterical denouncement of lay scepticism is both unwarranted and counter-productive

The problem, then, is that such calls do not address an opposition audience so much as they signal virtue. They talk past those who need convincing. They ignore actual facts and counterargument. And they are irreparably smug.

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Re: What are you reading?

#19 Post by tanstaafl2 » Thu Nov 20, 2008 4:08 pm

themanintheseersuckersuit wrote:I'm reading Dexter in the Dark, now I liked Darkly Dreaming Dexter. What does that say about me?
Umm, you like good fiction?

Seems there was a bit of a ripple amongst the faithful caused by "Dexter in the Dark" based on the Amazon reviews compared to the first two in the series.
If you pick up a starving dog and make him prosperous, he will not bite you. This is the principal difference between a dog and a man.
~Mark Twain

Some people are like a Slinky. They are not really good for anything, but you still can't help but smile when you shove them down the stairs...
~tanstaafl2

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Re: What are you reading?

#20 Post by themanintheseersuckersuit » Thu Nov 20, 2008 4:16 pm

tanstaafl2 wrote:
themanintheseersuckersuit wrote:I'm reading Dexter in the Dark, now I liked Darkly Dreaming Dexter. What does that say about me?
Umm, you like good fiction?

Seems there was a bit of a ripple amongst the faithful caused by "Dexter in the Dark" based on the Amazon reviews compared to the first two in the series.
I'm about 2/3 through it, so far so good, it is different what with Dexter getting married and dealing with Pastors and Caterers.
Suitguy is not bitter.

feels he represents the many educated and rational onlookers who believe that the hysterical denouncement of lay scepticism is both unwarranted and counter-productive

The problem, then, is that such calls do not address an opposition audience so much as they signal virtue. They talk past those who need convincing. They ignore actual facts and counterargument. And they are irreparably smug.

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Re: What are you reading?

#21 Post by Catfish » Thu Nov 20, 2008 4:57 pm

print: The Bible, by God's helpers

audiobook: The Lace Reader: A Novel, by Brunonia Barry

e-mail: A Place So Foreign and Eight More, by Cory Doctorow
Catfish

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Re: What are you reading?

#22 Post by KillerTomato » Thu Nov 20, 2008 5:46 pm

Prior to this past week, I had never actually read any of the James Bond books, but I got a copy of Casino Royale at Half-Price Books and read it on the way to Vegas (I thought it appropriate). Mucho better than the movies, and I LOVE the movies. Since I finished it while out there, and didn't have anything to read on the way home, I picked up Neal Stephenson's Anathem (I love his stuff, too, although I haven't actually finished the Baroque Cycle yet....don't tell anyone!). So far, so good on that one.

I did have the latest Lincoln Rhyme mystery (The Broken Window) started here at home, and I'm going to finish that before getting too deep into Anathem. Then I'm headed to Half-Price books to see if they have any more Bonds hanging around cheap.
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Re: What are you reading?

#23 Post by Ritterskoop » Thu Nov 20, 2008 9:07 pm

I am not reading anything at the moment, though a stack of books await. I've been running through a bunch of movies, though:

To Sir, With Love
Lillies of the Field
In the Heat of the Night

Malcolm X
Do the Right Thing

Juno
Educating Rita

next up:

WALL-E
Charlotte Gray
Michael Clayton
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Re: What are you reading?

#24 Post by Bob78164 » Fri Nov 21, 2008 3:12 pm

I've really enjoyed reading during my vacation. I brought nine books with me. I'm currently working on the ninth.

In no particular order, they were
The Magicians and Mrs. Quent by Galen Beckett
Singularity Sky by Charles Stross
The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman
The Philosopher's Apprentice by James Morrow
The Fire by Katherine Neville (sequel to The Eight, which was written approximately 20 years ago)
The Last Theorem, by Arthur C. Clarke and Frederik Pohl
An Evil Guest by Gene Wolfe
Platinum Pohl, a collection by Frederik Pohl

and one other I can't remember at the moment. Sadly, this is but a small dent in my collection of unread books. --Bob
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Re: What are you reading?

#25 Post by secondchance » Fri Nov 21, 2008 3:30 pm

Ritterskoop wrote:I am not reading anything at the moment, though a stack of books await. I've been running through a bunch of movies, though:

To Sir, With Love
Lillies of the Field
In the Heat of the Night
I highly recommend adding "A Patch of Blue," also w/ Poitier. Book and/or movie; both on my all time faves list.

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