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

[MelC]

Reading "The Book of Awesome". In three words? "Not so Awesome...". I have given it a valiant try but it is killing me with its unawesomeness and I believe I must move on (you know this is the case when I would rather get out of bed and go to work in the morning than read a chapter or two).


Mel

[poohbear_nc]

Originally Posted by recluse

I enjoyed Hill's "The Stranger House" and plan to read "Death's Jest Book" eventually.

"The Stranger House" was quite different - and intriguing! "Death's Jest Book" is great too - IMHO.

[TC Beacham]

I'm reading an author who is new to me, though not new on the scene - PRIVILEGED WITNESS by Rebecca Forster.

[jgaiser]

Finished Raymond Feist's Magician. Great book...

Now reading Cherie Priest's Boneshaker on my Kindle and Jeff Vandermeer's City of Saints and Madmen and Anthony Bourdain's Medium Raw on paper.

[recluse]

Trying to choose between Michael A. Stackpole's "A Secret Atlas", Blake Crouch's "Locked Doors" or Conrad A. Williams "Decay Inevitable".

[Mindy]

Originally Posted by FlorenceArt

Did you know they drive on the wrong side?

Nope, we most definitely drive on the correct side - it's all to do with the majority of the population being right-handed and being able to slash at your opponent from horseback apparently, so it's everyone else that's wrong really.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by Mindy

Nope, we most definitely drive on the correct side [...] it's everyone else that's wrong really.

Not quite everyone else. As well as the UK, all these countries also drive on the correct side of the road:

Anguilla, Antigua & Barbuda, Australia, Bahamas, Bangladesh, Barbados, Bermuda, Bhutan, Bophuthatswana, Botswana, British Virgin Islands, Brunei, Cayman Islands, Channel Islands, Ciskei, Cyprus, Dominica, Falkland Islands, Fiji, Grenada, Guyana, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Jamaica, Japan, Kenya, Lesotho, Macau, Malawi, Malaysia, Malta, Mauritius, Montserrat, Mozambique, Namibia, Nepal, New Zealand, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, St. Vincent & Grenadines, Seychelles, Sikkim, Singapore, Solomon Islands, Somalia, South Africa, Sri Lanka, St Kitts & Nevis, St. Helena, St. Lucia, Surinam, Swaziland, Tanzania, Thailand, Tonga, Trinidad & Tobago, Uganda, US Virgin Islands, Venda, Zambia, Zimbabwe

Wikipedia has a pretty map: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File%3A...t_or_right.svg

Of the approximately 6 billion people in the world, about 4 billion (poor fellows) live in countries that follow Napoleon and drive on the wrong side of the road. About 2 billion (fortunate souls) live in countries that follow the British and drive on the left

And the tide has started to turn... on 7 September 2009 Samoa (population 189,000) became the first country ever to change from right- to left-hand driving. Three cheers for Samoa!

[FlorenceArt]

Originally Posted by Mindy

Nope, we most definitely drive on the correct side - it's all to do with the majority of the population being right-handed and being able to slash at your opponent from horseback apparently, so it's everyone else that's wrong really.

Well, It think I might leave my sword at home, I'm going to need both hands to drive anyway.

I heard that we drive on the right side because of a custom established so that gentlemen could draw their sword (worn on the left side if you are right-handed) quickly without hitting the walls when walking in the narrow streets of Paris, or elsewhere.

[recluse]

In New York, we drive on both sides of the road. Cars, trucks, motorcycles and bicycles. Even in the wrong direction. That way, we are free to make obscene hand gestures or open fire with either hand.

[chkngreez]

I just started reading "Haunted" by Chuck Palahniuk. I'm sure it will be just as bizarre and twisted as everything else he's written.

[FlorenceArt]

Reading Montesquieu's "Essay on Taste". Nothing unforgettable but a nice read. I bought Siddartha by Hermann Hesse in paperback but haven't started reading it yet.

[poohbear_nc]

I'm just finishing "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo" - it was OK - but the ending's a bit unrealistic and very rushed - with every gimmick/cliche of popular thriller fiction

Spoiler:

serial killer with secret room in basement, murder victim really alive, father-son serial killer team, evil industrialist and his spies, the best hacker in the nation, etc.

OK but not thrilling. Have the next 2 in my TBR list - are they better?

[WT Sharpe]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

Not quite everyone else. As well as the UK, all these countries also drive on the correct side of the road:

Anguilla, Antigua & Barbuda, Australia, Bahamas, Bangladesh, Barbados, Bermuda, Bhutan, Bophuthatswana, Botswana, British Virgin Islands, Brunei, Cayman Islands, Channel Islands, Ciskei, Cyprus, Dominica, Falkland Islands, Fiji, Grenada, Guyana, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Jamaica, Japan, Kenya, Lesotho, Macau, Malawi, Malaysia, Malta, Mauritius, Montserrat, Mozambique, Namibia, Nepal, New Zealand, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, St. Vincent & Grenadines, Seychelles, Sikkim, Singapore, Solomon Islands, Somalia, South Africa, Sri Lanka, St Kitts & Nevis, St. Helena, St. Lucia, Surinam, Swaziland, Tanzania, Thailand, Tonga, Trinidad & Tobago, Uganda, US Virgin Islands, Venda, Zambia, Zimbabwe

Wikipedia has a pretty map: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File%3A...t_or_right.svg

Of the approximately 6 billion people in the world, about 4 billion (poor fellows) live in countries that follow Napoleon and drive on the wrong side of the road. About 2 billion (fortunate souls) live in countries that follow the British and drive on the left

And the tide has started to turn... on 7 September 2009 Samoa (population 189,000) became the first country ever to change from right- to left-hand driving. Three cheers for Samoa!

When I went on R&R to Sydney, Australia back in 1969, we were forbidden to drive while there. During my first cab ride, the logic behind that prohibition was driven home quickly. For someone who's been brought up to drive on the right side of the road, seeing cars turning left from a side street without regard of your approach to the intersection can be unnerving. No doubt those who have always driven on the left side of the road find the adjustment to driving on the right-hand side equally startling at first.

Back to books. This week the quotations thread inspired me to buy two books of quotations for the Kindle. Barrett's Book of Familiar Quotations is in the Kindle's To Be Read Collection. The one I started reading is The Oxford Dictionary of Modern Quotations edited by Elizabeth Knowles. Wonderful stuff she has in there, but I'm perplexed by her inclusion of LBJ's "If I've lost Walter Cronkite, I've lost Mr. Average citizen" in the Introduction. It's my understanding that no one has ever been able to adequately source that quote.

I really wish The Great Quotations by George Seldes was available as an ebook. I've read it a couple of times cover to cover, and it's one of the best books of its kind anywhere. Quotations are longer, and give a sense of context. In addition, various differing viewpoints on controversial subjects are represented. Amazon, are you listening?

[Bilbo1967]

As a Brit, I've driven in Canada, America and mainland Europe. It does take a little getting used to, but it's surprising how quickly you adjust. I do still task the kids with shouting "Drive on the right" every time we get in the car anew though.

[edbro]

I'm an American who lived in England for a few years. I found the driving easy to adjust to. The hard thing for me to adjust to is as a pedestrian looking initially in the wrong direction when crossing the street.

I had one British car and one American car while I was there. There were several times when I would absent mindly get in the wrong side of the car. Of course, then I had to rummage around in the glove compartment to make it look like I meant to be sitting in the passenger seat. I didn't fool anyone.