What Are You Reading

[John Boyer]

I am currently reading Simone Weil: An Anthology Edited by Sian Miles. I remain infatuated with this complex and mysterious, 1930s-1940s, philosopher and personality; properly noted as a"great soul and brilliant mind", "almost visionary" and "able to draw together strands of knowledge from many different fields."

On the lighter side, I am reading Back from the Ashes: Uncovering the Lost History of G.L. Hunt and the Falcon Pipe. This is a great story of business ingenuity and entreprenuership on the manufacturing of a great vintage Pipe. Which is still in production, by the way.

 

[Joie DeVive]

I'm just finishing: Oval Office Oddities; An Irreverent Collection of Presidential Facts, Follies and Foibles.

I am about to start: The Art of the Personal Letter; A Guide to Connecting Through the Written Word by Margaret Shepherd.

And for fun I am perusing: Vintage Shoes by Caroline Cox. Great pictures!!

 

[Harp]

Simone

I am currently reading Simone Weil: An Anthology Edited by Sian Miles. I remain infatuated with this complex and mysterious, 1930s-1940s, philosopher and personality; properly noted as a"great soul and brilliant mind", "almost visionary" and "able to draw together strands of knowledge from many different fields."

I'm similarly smitten by her, John; though I suspect she will always prove
elusive, shades of Poe's "a dream within a dream."

 

[carter]

Archaeology Lite (in a good way)

American Buffalo, In Search of a Lost Icon by Steven Rinella. In 2005, Rinella won a lottery permit to hunt a wild buffalo, or American Bison, in Alaska. The hunt is merely the basis for a fascinating exploration of the history of this iconic animal and the human history associated with it. A good read.

 

[K.D. Lightner]

I have read the first three books in Laura Lippman's Tess Monaghan detective series, Baltimore Blues, Charm City and Butcher's Hill, just started a fourth.

I am trying to read them in order as this detective has a personal life and, if I skip a book, will probably not understand things that have happened to her.

Good writer, I like the series.

karol

 

[just_me]

I really liked the McCabe bio.
Million Dollar Movie brings back memories!

Even though this clip is from the 70s, it will definitely bring back memories (I started watching MDM in the 50s.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wnX00UuHJFA&NR=1

 

[captcouv]

I just started Killing Rommel by Steven Pressfield. This novel is based on the exploits of the Long Range Desert Group during WWII and an effort to kill German Field Marshall Erwin Rommel, the Desert Fox. Forty-three pages in and our main character is barely beginnning his military service. So far there has been an engaging recounting of his days as a schoolboy and university man prior to Britain's entry into WWII. This promises to be an enjoyable read.

Great book and story!

 

[captcouv]

Daniel Boone

Frontiersman: Daniel Boone and the Making of America
by Meredith Mason Brown

My wife bought me this for Christmas - I'll start reading on a plane trip this Friday. Old Dan'l was a hero of mine as a child (from books not the TV show -though I did enjoy that, too).

 

[WH1]

just began reading Wodehouse, by Robert McCrum. I have been looking forward to this as he is a favorite author of mine.

 

[Lamplight]

Currently reading Tender Is The Night by F. Scott Fitzgerald.

 

[MEDIUMMYND]

Currently reading Shutting Up Shop (the decline of the traditional small shop) by John Londel a great pictorial history of the small shop in the UK.

 

[imported_the_librarian]

Outwitting the Hun!

http://books.google.com/books?id=HKcMAAAAYAAJ

 

[Lancealot]

Finished Drop Dead, My Lovely and 3/4 of the way through The Big Boat To Bye Bye by Ellis Weiner

 

[nola89]

The Poetics of Music by Igor Stravinsky

It's actually a collection of the transcribed lectures he gave at Harvard in 1939 (or 1940, 39-40 was the school year)

 

[carebear]

Just finished World War I: The African Front: An Imperial War on the Dark Continent.

A very detailed look at what has long been dismissed as a sideshow to the slaughter in Europe and why it was far more than a sideshow.

 

[Feraud]

Just finished my third James Cain story. Double Indemnity was good, The Postman Always Rings Twice was better but Mildred Pierce was a dud. If the point of the story is failed families and parenthood then the author succeeds admirably... but what a dreary story. The relationship between Mildred and her daughter was annoyingly excruciating for a reader to have to suffer through. The Veda character needed discipline to get her off the high horse she was riding on. It boggles the mind as to why the mother gave this spoiled brat so much. The material goods only served to reinforce the daughter's haughty attitude.
The only positive point in the story was Midred's sense of fiscal independence. Although she eventually fails in every aspect of her life, she starts out with good intentions.

 

[VintageRed]

Currently reading...

....The Shack.

Probably one of the most interesting books I've ever read. Definitely a must read if you want to provoke thoughtful and insightful conversation.

http://theshackbook.com/


~Red

 

[Mike1939]

Laugh and Live, by Douglas Fairbanks

 

[Maguire]

I read Kahlil Gibran's The Prophet about an hour ago and now i'm starting up 10 Days that Shook the World by John Reed, regarding the Bolshevik Revolution.

 

[JME2]

In terms of printed literature, I'm rereading S.D. Perry's novelization of the third Resident Evil game, Resident Evil: Nemesis (Book 5). In terms of audibooks (I listen to audiobooks when I exercise in the morning), I've just begun listening to Gregory Magurie's A Lion Among Men, ie Book 3 of the Wicked Cycle (I've had the audiobook since October, but I decided first to re-listen to the preceding novels and then work up to Book 3).