What Are You Reading??

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Stil

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Re: What Are You Reading??
« Reply #450 on: August 03, 2009, 04:23:22 PM »
You should talk to Eric. He's a big fan of Dan Brown and I think he has all his works in autographed first editions. I do believe Mr. Brown (or 'my Danny' as Eric calls him) made a mistake with the restraining order.

Re: What Are You Reading??
« Reply #451 on: August 03, 2009, 05:26:20 PM »
Just got back from the cottage. In the past week I've gone through 1) Bernard Cornwell's Azincourt, 2) Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, thanks CDog! and 3) Lamb, which Decurso describes above. All very good reading, but unfortunately I didn't touch Curriculum Development in Language Teaching. I don't know why, that one always fell to the bottom of the pile when I reached for a new book. I'll probably pick it up again in one of the airports on my way home. Between now and then, however, I've got Neil Gaiman, Terry Pratchett and John LeCarre to keep me distracted and away from anything that even remotely resembles work.

Re: What Are You Reading??
« Reply #452 on: August 04, 2009, 09:52:46 AM »
Finished reading my review copy of The Beijing of Possibilities. It's a mostly enjoyable collection of short stories (Only one I really didn't like). Have to go write my review for it now.

Think I'll sift through the huge pile of literary journals that are sitting on my shelves.
"I don't need to compromise my principles, because they don't have the slightest bearing on what happens to me anyway." -Calvin
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AMonk

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Re: What Are You Reading??
« Reply #453 on: August 04, 2009, 10:58:10 AM »
Last night I concluded a re-read of Elizabeth Moon's trilogy about Heris Serrano, and today I have just "cracked the spine" on Eric Flint's 1632 (first in his series)...with the others awaiting my pleasure/leisure. ahahahahah
Moderation....in most things...

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Lotus Eater

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Re: What Are You Reading??
« Reply #454 on: August 27, 2009, 02:18:52 AM »
Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin, "Three Cups of Tea".  Fascinating story of an ex (sort of failed) mountain climber, building schools in North Eastern Pakistan.  Mortenson didn't summit K2, got lost returning to base camp, found his porter, got lost again, wandered into a tiny village, spent some time there to recover his health. Decided to repay the villagers by building a school because the village was too poor for a school building and could only share a teacher with another village, so the students walked long distances to study and on the days when they had no teacher, sat outside and tried to study by themselves.  He went home, lived out of the back of his car (literally) and took about a year to raise the money.  Fell in love at home, but she ditched him. 

Of course much more happens ...

BUT.. he achieved his aims.

Good story, writing a bit melodramatic, but still a good read.

Re: What Are You Reading??
« Reply #455 on: August 30, 2009, 11:27:34 PM »
Got obsessed by a book, my life grinding to a halt until I finished it.  "It" is Anathem by Neal Stephenson.

Knocked off 2 light reads, then tucked into The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy.  It won the Booker Prize; I can thus far say that the prose is wonderful- I'm about 90 pages in, and haven't figured out the direction of the plot.
And there is no liar like the indignant man... -Nietszche

Nothing is so fatiguing as the eternal hanging on of an uncompleted task. -William James

englishmoose.com

Re: What Are You Reading??
« Reply #456 on: August 31, 2009, 12:08:45 AM »
"The God of Small Things" is a great book, give it time. It all makes sense in the end.

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Lotus Eater

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Re: What Are You Reading??
« Reply #457 on: September 05, 2009, 03:22:57 PM »
Steven Pinker "The Stuff of Thought: Language as a Window into Human Nature".  

Fascinating psycholinguistic discussion - which answers, along with a whole bunch of other stuff, WHY using 'taboo' words is offensive!  Not 'just' words! ahahahahah ahahahahah ahahahahah
« Last Edit: September 05, 2009, 03:54:12 PM by Lotus Eater »

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Pashley

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Re: What Are You Reading??
« Reply #458 on: September 05, 2009, 04:18:56 PM »
Got obsessed by a book, my life grinding to a halt until I finished it.  "It" is Anathem by Neal Stephenson.

My copy is in the mail. I love Neal's stuff.

Perhaps his best book is "Diamond Age: or, A Young Lady's Illustrated Primer", taking place mostly in Shanghai, but in a world radically transformed by nanotechnology.
Who put a stop payment on my reality check?

Re: What Are You Reading??
« Reply #459 on: September 18, 2009, 01:00:03 AM »
Yes, I'm trying to get that book read by as many people as possible.

I'm currently blazing through a book written by a guy about the previous 37 generations of his Qin ancestors.  Terrific history lesson.

I'm also reading The God of Small Things by an Indian chick whose name eludes me.  Amazing prose!  And 20th century India is about as dramatic as it gets.

Just checked Rupert Murdoch out of the Bookworm.  I've long suspected that he's the devil himself; I'm only a few pages in, but the author clearly agrees with me.
And there is no liar like the indignant man... -Nietszche

Nothing is so fatiguing as the eternal hanging on of an uncompleted task. -William James

englishmoose.com

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Schnerby

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Re: What Are You Reading??
« Reply #460 on: September 18, 2009, 02:24:59 AM »
Steven Pinker "The Stuff of Thought: Language as a Window into Human Nature".  

Fascinating psycholinguistic discussion - which answers, along with a whole bunch of other stuff, WHY using 'taboo' words is offensive!  Not 'just' words! ahahahahah ahahahahah ahahahahah

Oh I love reading about the use of taboo words. It's a fascinating topic. Why words can have such an effect.

I'm reading a Robert Ludlum and a fascinating book called Reverence about the virtue (you guessed it) reverence. Greek and Chinese philosophy, mainstream religion and psychology all get a look in. An excellent book.

Re: What Are You Reading??
« Reply #461 on: September 19, 2009, 12:44:06 AM »
Just finished 'Beijing Coma' by Ma Jian. I cant recommend this book enough. Without a doubt the best china book i have read for a long time.
The future's so bright i gotta wear shades

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El Macho

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Re: What Are You Reading??
« Reply #462 on: September 19, 2009, 04:20:35 AM »
Finished Dan Brown's The Lost Symbol today. Pretty forgettable. Am mid-way through The Snowball: Warren Buffett and the Business of Life, which I find fascinating even though I'm not a business type. The writing isn't great and it sometimes goes into details that most people won't care about, but it's a great behavioural study of what makes a capable person a success.

Also, The Savage Detectives by Roberto Bolaño is fantastic. Read it if you can find it.

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Lotus Eater

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Re: What Are You Reading??
« Reply #463 on: September 26, 2009, 02:58:53 PM »
Ha Jin's "The Crazed'.  Interesting.  I like Ha Jin's writing very much.  He and Ma Jian are a couple of my favourite Chinese writers.

Re: What Are You Reading??
« Reply #464 on: September 27, 2009, 12:40:52 AM »
Just started reading "The Good Earth" by Pearl S. Buck. It's rather good.
I also picked up a book called "Shanghai Baby" which was apparently banned and burned in China. Should be an interesting read.
"Anyone who lives within their means suffers from a lack of imagination." Oscar Wilde.

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