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Any good books we should know about?

Hello

I am reading "Money and the law of Attraction-The Teachings of Abraham" by Ester and Jerry Hicks. It is the first book on law of attraction that has actually given me step by step practical advice.

I don't read fiction as a rule. What are you reading?

Protect and Defend by Vince Flynn. He's one my many favorites...:-6

They need to start making movies from his books!

Tan;1144587 wrote: Any good books we should know about?


Recently finished Guns, Germs and Steel by Jarid Diamond (as recommended by Accountable) - excellent take on the drivers behind world history on the grand scale.

Too busy being on holiday to have picked another book up yet.

I'm reading a series of books that begins with the Chisellers by Brendan O"carroll. This is a saga a family who lives in Dublin during the 1970' Great books:-4

This week I have read selected poetry by Rossetti and Hopkins for one half of my course and Hard Times, Dickens, for the other part........



Next week is the The Tempest, Shakespeare and Dubliners, Joyce.



See you around sometime......... :rolleyes::D

Julie Walter's Autobiography..."That's another story" on loan off a friend:-6

sun tzu the are of war

I've just finished reading Nick Hornby "A long way down"

Read some pretty heavy crime books lately, so this one made a refreshing change. A bit of twisted humour made for a good giggle

sunny104;1144676 wrote: Protect and Defend by Vince Flynn. He's one my many favorites...:-6

They need to start making movies from his books!


the finally are! woohoo! I hope they're good, Mitch Rapp is a cool character. :-6

I got Jimmy Buffet's "A Pirate Looks at Fifty" in the mail yesterday. That's my next book.

I'm currently enjoying "The Gift of Years - Growing Older Gracefully" by Joan Chittister and have begun "The Last Week" by Marcus J. Borg & John Dominic Crossan for my Lenten meditation reading.

I need to begin and read "The Story of Edgar Sawtelle" by David Wroblewski and "Dark Lantern" by Gerri Brightwell by March 9th for my book discussion group.

I then will finish "My Lady Judge" (A mystery of medieval Ireland) by Cora Harrison, as everyone in my book group really enjoyed it.

The Bunker, James P. O'Donnel

The Steel Bonnets. Basically, how two bunches of thieving, murdering sociopaths (one Scottish, one English) terrified two kingdoms.

I'm usingSalvation in Death by J D Robb as a little light relief....

Bede's Ecclesiastical History of the English People

R.V.Jones' Most Secret War

Spock Speak



Then imitate the action of the tiger. Stiffen the sinews, summon up the blood, disguise fair nature with hard-favoured rage. Then lend the eye a terrible aspect, let pry through the portage of the head like the brass cannon; let the brow overwhelm it as fearfully as doth a galled rock overhang and jutty his confounded base swilled with the wild and wasteful ocean. Now set the teeth and stretch the nostril wide, hold hard the breath and bend up every spirit to his full height.

That ought to get it over with pretty quickly, you'll feel better after.

Nomad;1150099 wrote: Spock Speak huh????? :-2:-2:-2

Im almost finished 'Not Without My Sister'....true story..very good, yet disturbing.

Ive completed Wolf at the Table-Augusten Burroughs...

I can recommend Gillian Flynn's Dark Places. As in her first novel Sharp Objects, she creates a heroine quite unique (to say the least!) in thriller fiction. Crackin' good read full of shuddery goodness.

The History of Rasselas, Prince of Abissinia - Samuel Johnson.

The latest issue of "Shotgun news".

A short story by William Tenn, "The Liberation Of Earth". It should be read and discussed at primary schools.

Just concluded the entire Sookie Stackhouse vampire series from which the TV series TrueBlood is taken. Next book in the series is due out October 8th. I shall grab it and read it as soon as it is available.

spot;1248929 wrote: A short story by William Tenn, "The Liberation Of Earth". It should be read and discussed at primary schools.


What makes you think primary school children of today will be able to read, let alone understand, satire?

A recent spelling test with my class of 8 year olds resulted in:

Spell 'by' - biy

Spell 'when' - wen

Spell 'door' - dore

Spell 'call' - cool / cole

Spell 'called' - cald / cold / calt

Spell 'can't' - c***

Spell 'won't' - want

Spell 'first' - fast

Spell 'last' - lust

I don't mispronounce my words. They didn't mis-hear. They cannot write or spell for toffee. Most have parents who can't or won't help with homework. The kids are usually shuffled in front of an XBox or Playstation which destroys their ability to imagine.

They're studying mythology at the mo. They've looked at Jason and the Golden Fleece, now they're looking at Isis and Osiris. So you tell them "Isis left her golden palace, what do you think her beautiful, golden palace looked like? How would you describe it? Who can tell me some great adjectives you might use?"

"Ooh, ooh, me miss, me miss" hands wave wildly in the air . . .

"Yes Angel?"

"It was golden miss"

"Ok, yes Summer?"

"Er . . . I forgot"

"Never mind, keep thinking. Yes, Sebasteen?" (pronounced Sebastian, but his parents can't spell)

"It was a palace miss"

"Good, yes Summer again. Have you remembered?"

Summer giggles, then . . . "Er . . . I forgot"

"Never mind, keep thinking. Yes Bethany?" (1 of 5 Bethany's)

"It was beautiful miss"

"Good, now can anyone think of any other great adjectives to describe Isis' palace?"

"Yes Summer?"

"Er . . . I forgot who Isis was again . . ."

Explanation.

"Yes Jordan?" (1 of 3 Jordans)

"It was golden miss"

:-5 :-5 :-5



Satire? They are more of a study in sad irony. What have we created as the yoof of today?

The Girls of Riyadh by Rajaa Alsanea.

I just started it this morning. So far so good

Actually have three books on the go. John Daly, autobiography. Bernard Langher, autobiography and Dean Koontz's third Frankenstein novel.

I just finished a 4 book series by Larry McMurtry

The Berrybender Narratives

An excellent account of one British Family's (including servents) trek the early frontier times of America. (yes it's fiction)

http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/m/lar ... killer.htm

Rapunzel;1248973 wrote: What makes you think primary school children of today will be able to read, let alone understand, satire?



A recent spelling test with my class of 8 year olds resulted in:

Spell 'by' - biy

Spell 'when' - wen

Spell 'door' - dore

Spell 'call' - cool / cole

Spell 'called' - cald / cold / calt

Spell 'can't' - c***

Spell 'won't' - want

Spell 'first' - fast

Spell 'last' - lust



I don't mispronounce my words. They didn't mis-hear. They cannot write or spell for toffee. Most have parents who can't or won't help with homework. The kids are usually shuffled in front of an XBox or Playstation which destroys their ability to imagine.



They're studying mythology at the mo. They've looked at Jason and the Golden Fleece, now they're looking at Isis and Osiris. So you tell them "Isis left her golden palace, what do you think her beautiful, golden palace looked like? How would you describe it? Who can tell me some great adjectives you might use?"



"Ooh, ooh, me miss, me miss" hands wave wildly in the air . . .

"Yes Angel?"

"It was golden miss"

"Ok, yes Summer?"

"Er . . . I forgot"

"Never mind, keep thinking. Yes, Sebasteen?" (pronounced Sebastian, but his parents can't spell)

"It was a palace miss"

"Good, yes Summer again. Have you remembered?"

Summer giggles, then . . . "Er . . . I forgot"

"Never mind, keep thinking. Yes Bethany?" (1 of 5 Bethany's)

"It was beautiful miss"

"Good, now can anyone think of any other great adjectives to describe Isis' palace?"

"Yes Summer?"

"Er . . . I forgot who Isis was again . . ."

Explanation.

"Yes Jordan?" (1 of 3 Jordans)

"It was golden miss"



:-5 :-5 :-5





Satire? They are more of a study in sad irony. What have we created as the yoof of today?
But you are not asking them something they know about! Like Nintendo Wii or Bebo. It's really sad isnt it, when kids dont get excited by their little seed growing in that cup of dirt anymore.

I'm reading a few things now... I got a copy of Stephen King's latest epic novel... in fact, I got ALL of his novels and I'm reading his work and a few other novelest's works for research on a novel that I'm in the process of writing. [ It's a murder/mystery/horror type novel... not sure what label the publisher will slap on it. It chose me not the other way around, btw. I only knew I wanted to write popular fiction, just wasn't sure what I would end up writing, but this I never would have expected! :wah: ]

I'm also reading some literary works (I have an extensive Easton Press collection of books that I began collecting since I was five... yeah, I started really early!), I have Pearl S. Buck on my iPod, I'm reading every book I can get my hands on concerning the topic of writing novels and I'm reading pulitzer-prize winning author/journalist John Sandford's Prey series about serial killers.

I'm actually reading Nomad's dads book "SECRETS" started it today waiting for my sister to come out of surgery. It is really good I didn't want to stop reading it I will finish it this weekend. :-6

G-man;1269316 wrote: I'm reading a few things now... I got a copy of Stephen King's latest epic novel... in fact, I got ALL of his novels and I'm reading his work and a few other novelst's works for research on a novel that I'm in the process of writing. [ It's a murder/mystery/horror type novel... not sure what label the publisher will slap on it. It chose me not the other way around, btw. I only knew I wanted to write popular fiction, jst wasn't sure what I would end up writing, but this I never would have expected! :wah: ]

I'm also reading some literary works (I have an extensive Easton Press collection of books that I began collecting since I was five... yeah, I started really early!), I have Pearl S. Buck on my iPod, I'm reading every book I can get my hands on concerning the topic of writing novels and I'm reading pulitzer-prize winning author, John Sandford's Prey series about serial killers.


Impressive!

Zapata;1269319 wrote: Impressive!


Those who really know me would say that compulsive was a more apt description. :wah:

Just finished Haunted, by Chuck Palahniuk. This novel now stands as one of the most twisted stories I've read (although Geek Love by Katherine Dunn, another Northwestern USA writer, may still be reigning champeen of the grotesque, if only by a fraction).

Dryden, Absalom and Achitophel and selected cavalier poetry,

Mary Wollstonecraft, A Short Residence in Sweden, Norway and Denmark, and William Godwin Memoirs of the Author of the ‘Vindication of the Rights of Woman’



All to be read this week - yikes.

Peter Kay, Saturday night peter..........Crap

Just finished Ozzie Osbourne's I am Ozzie.......Bloody fantastic!

abbey;1269929 wrote: Peter Kay, Saturday night peter..........Crap

Just finished Ozzie Osbourne's I am Ozzie.......Bloody fantastic!


Oh im gonna look for that in the sales then! THE Ozzy book:D I love biographies

On and off at the moment im reading Everything you know is wrong, by Russ Kicks:)

Bleak House, Charles Dickens.

It's not a book for a single sitting.

Paperback: 1088 pages.

Exciting, though. Packed with social observation.

The Encyclopedia Britannica. I'm up to "P".:yh_rotfl

hoppy;1269950 wrote: The Encyclopedia Britannica. I'm up to "P".:yh_rotfl


Been there, done that. It's why I was no good at sports at school.

spot;1269941 wrote: Bleak House, Charles Dickens.

It's not a book for a single sitting.

Paperback: 1088 pages.

Exciting, though. Packed with social observation.


That's not what this years third year students said, I have to read it next term. It appears Bleak House was their nightmare of the second year :wah:

I've got my hands on a very old copy of The Golden Age of Science Fiction Pt. I" edited by Asimov. Boy, I sure do love the old stuff.

I have just finished reading 'Street boys' a non-fiction book recording gang related events in Angell Town a council estate in Brixton, London. It was very interesting but also very depressing. People who used to make a living dealing and robbing and grew up into adulthood to be constantly in and out of Jail and getting such a bad reputation so that the police were blaming them for crimes that they weren't always involved in. It seems easy to point the finger at people who cause trouble. It seems that the tragedy of being institutionalised made them grow up and stop causing trouble and make something of there life it was good in the last chapter to see that each charachter had finished by leading a normal life with steady jobs rather than the life of a hoodlum!

Just finished David Baldacci's "Divine Justice" A good read.

I just finished that two weeks ago, it is a good book.

I just started "Unconfessed" by Yvette Christianse. I haven't gotten too far into it but so far so good!

"The salamander" about an Italian investigator, investigating the death of a general who apparently was supposed to be the next Mousillini.

ooohhhh another good book if you're living in Britain is "Silvertown" by Melanie McGrath and great historical biography of a normal person. "An east end family memoir." from poverty at he docks and pubs in 1914 as a child, to the council flats of old age . Brilliant book.

Just finished "Destroyer of Worlds" by Larry Niven and Edward Lerner.

Have been a Niven fan for decades.

Also reading "the Eternal Now" by Paul Tillich.

One I can certainly recommend, "The Time Traveller's Guide to Medieval England".

A history book based, not in terms of names and dates but in terms of the sights and smells you'd experience and the conversations you might have. Using this different perspective gives a lot more immediacy and makes the time come alive far more than a traditional history book would without the doubt you get from reading a work of historical fiction.

Pillars of the Earth

Bez;1343559 wrote: Pillars of the Earth
You've finished reading the bible?