Hey!! Let's get some action going! What are we reading?

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by alansplace

well i just read the first and last page of each chapter, don't you do it that way

You must vote! https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=155189

[kennyc]

I think I mentioned earlier this years "Best American Essays 2011" which this year is available in ebook format. I've read the first half dozen or so and am terribly impressed with the selections. I've been reading a lot of essays recently and I must say these first few certainly stand out even amongst the best essays of the century and others.

Port-au-Prince - a first person experience of the earthquake
What Broke My Father's Heart - a view of the current state of medicine (extending life at all costs) and medical insurance.
After the Ice - living with the death of an abused child at the hands of a stepfather.
Beds - Growing up with an abusive father

Not sure about the rest yet, but I can say that if you are interested in the Essay form at all these few stories are worth the cost of the book IMO.

As I said, I've been reading many essays and collections of essays including other years of this series and I can only attribute this to their selection by this years editor Edwidge Danticat who I've taken it upon myself to find more about. She's a Haitian-American author - McArthur Fellow Award winner with many other book and writing awards. I will certainly seek out more of her work.

So for my local library's monthly book club for October we read and discussed Doc by Mary Doria Russell. This was a very entertaining if fanciful tale about the early life of Doc Holliday, and to a lesser extent the Earp brothers, before they all became American west legends from the shootout at the O.K. Corral.

I had never heard of this book until it was put forth as the book club selection, nor had I ever heard of the author. When the subject turned to discussing Russell's other books I found out that here first big success was The Sparrow. I suppose most SciFi fans will already be familiar with this, but it reminded me of a discussion here (maybe in the Mobile Read book club selection of A Canticle For Leibowitz thread) about SciFi books that incorporate religion.

[poohbear_nc]

In honor of Halloween, I am reading Ambrose Bierce's story collection "Can Such Things Be?" - fun short tales with O. Henry-ish twists at the ends.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

Murder in Mesopotamia by Agatha Christie.

Well, that was fun. Hercules Poirot, but a different amanuensis. I should have worked out the murderer half way through, but I tend to read them more for the fun of watching it happen than to really use them as a puzzle.

I think I'll move on to her next book, Cards on the Table, her 27th book.

[coderserdar]

dorothy l. sayers - the man with copper fingers

a good story about the lord peter wimsey which is the hero of dorothy l. sayers novels.
from this forum's ebook pages i download
i recommend this book

[coderserdar]

dorothy l. sayers - 2 lord peter wimsey sotries

2 stories about the lord peter wimsey.
from this forum's ebook pages i download
i recommend this book

[Dr. Drib]

Originally Posted by ATDrake

But this is simply the "What are we reading?" thread which happens to be contained within Reading Recommendations and does not in and of itself imply any need to recommend, only to indicate what one is reading. That gives it at least 1 out of 2 of the named forum elements.

Although I suppose a post comment of "I'm currently plowing my way through [INSERT TITLE HERE], which is worst book I've ever tried, to see how far I get before I give up in sheer disgust" counts as a sort of recommendation to avoid.

I sit corrected! I was reading my own thread the wrong way, not looking at the end of the file name!



Don

[Dr. Drib]

Originally Posted by coderserdar

dorothy l. sayers - the man with copper fingers

a good story about the lord peter wimsey which is the hero of dorothy l. sayers novels.
from this forum's ebook pages i download
i recommend this book

codeerserdar - My apologies! I was not reading my own thread title correctly.

I'm glad you enjoy detective novels. Have you tried reading Raymond Chandler, and some of the hard-boiled school of detective fiction.



Don

[coderserdar]

Originally Posted by Dr. Drib

codeerserdar - My apologies! I was not reading my own thread title correctly.

I'm glad you enjoy detective novels. Have you tried reading Raymond Chandler, and some of the hard-boiled school of detective fiction.



Don

yes
i read hard boiled novels
like

mickey spillane
donald hamilton
raymond chandler
dashiell hammett
ian fleming

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by coderserdar

yes
i read hard boiled novels
like

mickey spillane
donald hamilton
raymond chandler
dashiell hammett
ian fleming

[orlok]

Originally Posted by coderserdar

yes
i read hard boiled novels
like

mickey spillane
donald hamilton
raymond chandler
dashiell hammett
ian fleming

All good . Talking of hard boiled, have you read any of the Parker books by Richard Stark? They get a bit samey after a while, but I enjoy reading one every now and then to cleanse the pallet.

[WT Sharpe]

Originally Posted by poohbear_nc

In honor of Halloween, I am reading Ambrose Bierce's story collection "Can Such Things Be?" - fun short tales with O. Henry-ish twists at the ends.

Also in honor of Halloween, I just H.P. Lovecraft's terrifying tale, "The Dreams in the Witch House"; first brought to my attention when bthrowsnaill described it as his "favorite scary story", and a few posts later when chrisanthropic replied it was his "absolute favorite Lovecraft story." There's a moral to this frightening fable: Never mix studies in Quantum Electrodynamics with studies in the occult.

[alansplace]

just started reading The Case of the Toxic Spell Dump by Harry Turtledove. the writing style reminds me of 60's heinlein

[alansplace]

well scratch the above (The Case of the Toxic Spell Dump by Harry Turtledove), i got into it a short way and was never grabbed by anything substantial to care about. so i put it aside and began reading Retribution Falls by Chris Wooding. it seems to be a whole lot more more in the vein of what attracts me to a book/author, at least so far