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What are reading right now?
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| Germ |
Posted on April 05 2009 01:59 AM
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Member
Location: United Kingdom
Posts: 31
Joined: 2009-03-31
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I'm not sure what I'd do if I couldn't read and enjoy books.They got me through some rough patches in my childhood and teens.Maybe it's not so healthy to escape into literature but it's better than some of the alternatives ....and even reading "trashy" stuff can teach you something you never knew before.
I'm currently reading The quiet war by Greg Bear (sci-fi,which is my earliest and longest love in literature.Not a great book but ok.
I'm also a big fantasy fan but finding "new and original" stories is getting a bit tough...too many derivitives of "Lord of the Rings".
Stephen King is one of my all time favourites (please don't say "horror" because he writes so much more than that,in fact he's written much more non-horror imho).I'm seriously considering re-reading The Dark Tower series again,even though it made me cry and want to punch Mr.King's lights out towards the end 
By the way I'd like to thank the person who first came up with the idea of lending libraries,I'd be lost without them...and my librarian and I are on first name terms).
What I can't fathom is people I have worked with who say they've never read a book except ones they were forced to read at school and find nothing weird about that!!!
No man is an Island, entire of itself;....we can all be invaded if we don't have secure borders  |
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| downtown |
Posted on April 10 2009 12:40 AM
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Member
Location: U.S.A.
Posts: 20
Joined: 2007-05-11
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I've got through half of the book by a former fundamentalist Mormon and one of six wives of an elder in the community. It's called "Escape" by Caroline Jessop.
It reads almost like a dystopian novel, except it's real, but still hard to believe. In her childhood, her dad got a revelation from the prophet to take on another wife which added to her already large family. Mormon women are baby machines and expected to bear as many children as possible. The more children, the more status and respect she has in the community. Caroline's plans to become a doctor were changed when her parents woke her up in the middle of the night after her graduation from high school to tell her the prophet had received a revelation telling her her new husband was to be a 50 yr. old man with three wives. She was married to the man that weekend after only having been introduced to him the day before and joined his ready made family of 3, now 4, wives and 30 children. These were just the ones still living at home!
One fascinating aspect to the story is Jessop's favored wife Barbara. She rules the hen house and reports on the other wives to "the father" and when Carolines new husband allows her to go to college (to be a teacher--doctor was out of the question) it is because she would not be there all the time vying for Jessop's affections. In addition to be domineering and manipulative, Barbara was also jealous. We learn that most polygamous marriages contain rivalries and domination by a favored wife. In reality, most sister-wives are not "in harmony" with fundamentalist latter-day saint values (FLDS). They are always in conflict with one another over chores, their husband, children, and social life--what little they have.
When Caroline did go off to college, Jessop's two oldest daughters still at home went with her. Not so much for the education, but as spies. The girls would report back to favored wife Barbara on any little discretion. When Caroline caught on their scheme, it failed to rile her. So then the girls would make stuff up about her. Then when Caroline went home, she'd get lectured by Jessolp for disobedience.
Another fascinating thing about her story are the family dynamics concerning the other wives. One of them is out of favor and spends her days sleeping and nights watching tv. Another one is emotionally unstable and does weird shit like prancing around and throwing dishes to get the devil out of them and trying to take all her clothes off in the family van to nurse a baby even though she had no more milk. During this time, the new prophet has a revelation and gives Jessop two more wives that "belonged" to the previous, now deceased, prophet.
There was also an interesting story about the division in the community involving the apostles and the prophet's successors. Depending on which side a family was on in the divide depended on where they sent their kids to school and which church building they met in. That feud lasted 7 years. |
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| CheshireKat |
Posted on April 10 2009 02:17 AM
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Member
Location: United States
Posts: 1860
Joined: 2008-11-14
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I've finished "Franny and Zooey" and "All My Kin", the two books I was reading before. Now I'm working on "Coming of Age in Samoa" by Margaret Mead, and "What's So Great About Christianity?" by Dinesh D'Souza. Both are very good so far, very different reads but equally interesting.
"The hardest arithmetic to master is that which enables us to count our blessings." - Eric Hoffer |
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| CheshireKat |
Posted on May 29 2009 09:03 PM
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Member
Location: United States
Posts: 1860
Joined: 2008-11-14
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Well check it out, I was the last person to post here over a month ago. Maybe we're all so busy reading that we don't have time to post on the thread about it?
I finished "What's So Great About Christianity?", which was great (pun intended). I am about 2 chapters away from the end of "Coming of Age in Samoa". I have also started "The Scarlet Pimpernel" by Baroness Orczy, and am about half-way through that.
I am reading The Scarlet Pimpernel online at a website called pagebypagebooks.com, which has a ton of classics online to read for free. If anyone is looking for an easy way to get some reading in without having to trek down to the library/book store, that's one way to do it!
"The hardest arithmetic to master is that which enables us to count our blessings." - Eric Hoffer |
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| justfoundout |
Posted on May 29 2009 09:26 PM
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Member
Location: Texas USA
Posts: 6103
Joined: 2008-05-25
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5/29/09
Dear Kat,
Oh, I loved The Scarlet Pimpernel movie <clapping hands in delight>, with Jane Seymour. And once, when I had overnight visitors, I forced that movie on them. They were two young people (a brother and sister) and they wanted something scarey, but no, I brought home The Scarlet Pimpernel. They were NOT happy with me. If I'd known how unhappy they would be, I'd have gotten them something semi-scarey. But I just thought, you know, give them a really good movie. It makes me feel so much better that you like it, too. - jus' |
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| CheshireKat |
Posted on May 29 2009 09:31 PM
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Member
Location: United States
Posts: 1860
Joined: 2008-11-14
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Jus - I've never seen the movie, but I'm glad it's good. I am one of those people who refuses to see a movie if it's based on a book, until I've read the book. The only exception is when I don't actually KNOW that a movie is based off of a book... but even in those cases, I promptly go check the book out from the library and read it for comparison.  I'll have to rent that version (I know there are like 50 movie versions of The Scarlet Pimpernel) after I finish the book!
"The hardest arithmetic to master is that which enables us to count our blessings." - Eric Hoffer |
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| justfoundout |
Posted on May 29 2009 09:59 PM
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Member
Location: Texas USA
Posts: 6103
Joined: 2008-05-25
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5/29/09
Dear Kat,
Yes, I love reading the actual book, too. For example, I'd read Tom Sawyer at least a couple of years before I saw the movie, and I'm so glad that I read the book first. To me, the book was so much richer than the movie. Although the movie was darling, there was no way that it could capture all the inner reasonings of Tom and the other characters.
I'd probably go see a movie, even if I know there's a book, but this is just because my eyes often feel strained with all the college books that I have to read. For Intro to Psychology. the teacher set up the tests and extra credit in such a way that it was necessary to read the whole book. Honest. The only psychology book chapter that I didn't read was the last one, and that was because, if I didn't study for my Business Law Two final test, there was no way that I could get an 'A'. I felt like a 'quitter' for not reading that last chapter. Hey, but I got "A's" in both my Spring courses! - jus'
Edited by justfoundout on May 29 2009 10:00 PM |
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| CheshireKat |
Posted on May 30 2009 12:50 AM
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Member
Location: United States
Posts: 1860
Joined: 2008-11-14
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Jus - I know what you mean, I do so much reading for school it's ridiculous. I suppose my eyes are younger than yours though, so it doesn't bother me to read my entire Psychology textbook cover to cover (which I had to do for the class I took last semester). The problem I have with it is my attention span - while I have the physical capability to read for hours on end (I finished each of the Harry Potter books in one sitting), I do not have the mental fortitude to read a textbook for more than 20-30 minutes before my brain "maxes out" and refuses to cooperate anymore.
I wish I could sit and read a textbook for as long as I can sit and read a novel... last month I re-read my favorite book, "To Kill a Mockingbird", in 6 straight hours, without as much as changing positions. Even when I know I really, really need to sit down and do my required readings, I just can't do it. I start re-reading the same lines over and over again, or getting through a page and realizing that even though I read it, I didn't actually READ it, if you know what I mean. Then I get frustrated and just quit. I have even considered asking my doctor for a prescription of Strattera in the fall, as much as I dislike being on prescription medication. Every semester my course load gets more difficult, and my ability to focus on the material is worse and worse.
"The hardest arithmetic to master is that which enables us to count our blessings." - Eric Hoffer |
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| justfoundout |
Posted on May 30 2009 01:28 PM
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Member
Location: Texas USA
Posts: 6103
Joined: 2008-05-25
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5/30/09
Dear Kat,
Yes, my eyes get tired more quickly than yours due to my age.
On the subject of reading, yet not knowing what's just been read,... it's true that I don't have the 'attention span' problem. However, there was one very notable time when I was young that what you are describing happened to me. And this forum is just the place for this type of discussion, so I'll mention it here, in response to the problem that you've brought up. I was in High School, probably about my Junior year, and I had to read some very 'dry' chapter from a History book. It was small print and written in a style that made total attention necessary for even minimal comprehension. Our TV was in the 'den', at the foot of the stairs. My bedroom, where I was studying, was upstairs, above the TV. My mother had tuned in to some program on TV which was either funny, or else she thought it was funny, and she was giving out peels of laughter constantly, for hours, while I was trying to read my History homework. I'd probably already done several hours of homework and saved the worst for last, but I had to get it done.
I'll explain here that my mother, though highly intelligent, had only a 7th grade education herself, and that she may have been 'medicated'. Asking her to 'stop making noise' was completely 'out of the question'. And we lived 'out in the country', so there was nowhere else I could go to study,... snakes, bugs, weeds, temperature, and fear of strangers would have prevented leaving the house. I can remember reading and re-reading those pages, probably three times, until I was sick of it. And each time, just as you described, I couldn't remember anything about what I'd just read. So, yes, I do know what you mean. - jus'
Edited by justfoundout on May 30 2009 01:34 PM |
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| evie dee 2 |
Posted on June 02 2009 10:59 PM
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Member
Location: Detroit, MI
Posts: 260
Joined: 2008-12-29
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A Walk to Remember-Noicholas Sparks |
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| CheshireKat |
Posted on June 03 2009 01:20 AM
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Member
Location: United States
Posts: 1860
Joined: 2008-11-14
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Evie - I have never read the book, but I LOVE the movie. I have a bad track record with Nicholas Sparks books, as far as seeing the movie before reading the book. To be fair, I didn't realize "A Walk to Remember" was based on a book when I saw the movie. Since his books have been made into two of my all-time favorite movies, though, maybe I should read them!
"The hardest arithmetic to master is that which enables us to count our blessings." - Eric Hoffer |
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| evie dee 2 |
Posted on June 05 2009 05:33 PM
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Member
Location: Detroit, MI
Posts: 260
Joined: 2008-12-29
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CheshireKat wrote:
Evie - I have never read the book, but I LOVE the movie. I have a bad track record with Nicholas Sparks books, as far as seeing the movie before reading the book. To be fair, I didn't realize "A Walk to Remember" was based on a book when I saw the movie. Since his books have been made into two of my all-time favorite movies, though, maybe I should read them!
I'm halfway done with the book.
And I LOVED the movie, too. |
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| reverend blamo |
Posted on June 24 2009 01:30 AM
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Member
Location: Island of Misfit Toys
Posts: 620
Joined: 2007-10-25
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I just finished a book called " Look me in the eye" by John Elder Robison. John has Asperger's, which went undiagnoised most of his life, however his ability for intense focus allowed him to become amazingly good at designing and building electronics for rock bands then Milton Bradley (the toy co.) It's a great book and made me very happy to read as he did well in his life. He was born and still lives about 45 minutes from me in Massachusetts to this day were he runs a high quality auto restoration service. (I wonder if he needs a qualified, certified auto electrician?)
"I used to be disgusted, now I try to be amused..."
Elvis Costello |
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| CheshireKat |
Posted on June 24 2009 02:16 AM
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Member
Location: United States
Posts: 1860
Joined: 2008-11-14
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I finished The Scarlet Pimpernel - awesome book! I am now about 1/3 of the way through "A Tale of Two Cities", and about 1/2 way through "Girl Meets God: A Memoir" by Lauren F. Winner. I am about a chapter away from being done with "Coming of Age in Samoa", which I think I am going to finish tonight so I can take it back to the library tomorrow... they have started sending me e-mails asking for their books back, LOL. I should've never given them my e-mail address!
"The hardest arithmetic to master is that which enables us to count our blessings." - Eric Hoffer |
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| justfoundout |
Posted on June 24 2009 03:40 AM
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Member
Location: Texas USA
Posts: 6103
Joined: 2008-05-25
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6/23/09
Dear Blamo,
I would definitely look into meeting that author/inventor. Living so close to you and having Aspergers'?... yes, you two should meet. Tell us about it later. - jus' |
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| elena532 |
Posted on June 24 2009 07:48 AM
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Member
Location: Derry, N.ireland UK
Posts: 196
Joined: 2009-05-02
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What am i reding right now?
this thread. duh
Don't annoy me, I am running out of places to hid the bodies |
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| justfoundout |
Posted on June 24 2009 09:12 PM
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Member
Location: Texas USA
Posts: 6103
Joined: 2008-05-25
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6/24/09
Okay, so here we might use the qualifiers "presently" and "currently".
I am presently writing on this Thread.
I am currently reading a Logic textbook.
 - jus'
Edited by justfoundout on June 24 2009 09:14 PM |
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| CheshireKat |
Posted on June 24 2009 10:43 PM
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Member
Location: United States
Posts: 1860
Joined: 2008-11-14
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Haha thank you Jus.
I am pretty sure my library has me on a blacklist somewhere. I was going to finish "Coming of Age in Samoa" last night so I could return it today, but that never happened. That book was due back on the 5th of June. Oops! Whatever, they have another copy and when I was there today I SAW IT on the shelf in the Social Sciences section, so I know nobody is hurting for that book. That's how I rationalize my gross abuse of the public library system, anyway.
"The hardest arithmetic to master is that which enables us to count our blessings." - Eric Hoffer |
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| reverend blamo |
Posted on June 25 2009 10:01 AM
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Member
Location: Island of Misfit Toys
Posts: 620
Joined: 2007-10-25
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elena532 wrote:
What am i reding right now?
this thread. duh
Oh, a wise guy, heh?
"I used to be disgusted, now I try to be amused..."
Elvis Costello |
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| reverend blamo |
Posted on June 25 2009 10:10 AM
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Member
Location: Island of Misfit Toys
Posts: 620
Joined: 2007-10-25
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justfoundout wrote:
6/23/09
Dear Blamo,
I would definitely look into meeting that author/inventor. Living so close to you and having Aspergers'?... yes, you two should meet. Tell us about it later. - jus'
Funny you should say that, after I posted that I sent him an E-mail via his web site telling him how I loved the book and commented on his blog about mechanics/LDs and how a lot of good mechanics seem to have LDs. They, or we I guess, seem to have an odd way of thinking, socializing, problem solving and tend to focus on logic not emotion. The best mechanics I know all work this way, they are also the folks I tend to get along with best.
"I used to be disgusted, now I try to be amused..."
Elvis Costello |
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