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Book club 📖 What are we reading right now? (Planning related or not)

Just finished 1984 by Orwell. Hadn't read it since high school, thought it needed a refresh. There are definitely times in this County when 2+2=5 :)

Prior to that I read Everville by Clive Barker (Part of a series), Invasion by Robin Cook, Next by Michael Crichton, Polar Shift by Clive Cussler.

Next up is a book in the Dune saga, just can't remember which one I stopped with so I don't know which one's next :)
 
otterpop said:
In keeping with the holiday season I am reading "A Christmas Carol" by Charles Dickens. I think someone made a movie out of it once or twice.

Please don't spoil the ending for me! :-x :-D
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little late...but that is a fun book to read aloud.
 
Finished - Toujours Provence by Peter Mayle because I like wine, garlic, truffles and suntan lotion.

Started - Miracle at Philadelphia - The Story of the Constitutional Convention May to September 1787 by Catherine Drinker Bowen because I like to know the details of things that matter.

Rereading - Animal Farm by George Orwell so I can see what's coming next.

On the Shelf - Brave New World by Aldous Huxley so I can learn how to be a good "American" before I die.
 
I'm reading "The World Without Us". It basically covers how quickly everything human civilization has created will crumble away if we weren't here.
 
I am reading The Great Deluge, by David Brinkley (not the dead newsman), which is about New Orleans on the days just before and after Hurricane Katrina. Interesting. A little preachy. I am just to the part where the hurricane is about 24 hours from landfall and many people are realizing that maybe they should get the hell out.
 
"Kissing Babies at the Piggly Wiggly"; sequel to "Waltzing at the Piggy Wiggly". Good read for southerners. Quirky Mississippi small-town doings.

Also just finished the new Tim Dorsey serial killer Serge novel, "Atomic Lobster". Another fine novel with unique ways to off people you detest....;)
 
All this unemployment! At least I am putting it to good use. In the past 3 weeks I have read:

Naked Lunch (Burroughs)
Glass Castles
Million Little Pieces
The Adultry Diet
So B. It

And right now: Food and Loathing

Million Little Pieces and Glass Castles were by far the best (IMO) - both true stories, told by the author
 
I just finished the Glass Castle. I am in the minority because I thought the author was feeding us a line of BS at times. Not that she wasnt poor or had neglectful parents, i just found parts of her story line contradicting, embellished and questionable.

And her story left me cold, I had no compassion for her or her backwoods southern aristocratic hill billy family that kept to themselves and refused outside assistance. . :-c (i had to vent about that)

Jaxspra hope you get some good job mojo soon!
 
I liked Glass Castle but I was upset with her parents, not her necessarily, she got out of it at least -

I got this emailed to me today by a fellow book club member to update me since I missed last week's meeting/book:

"comeback" by Claire & Mia Fontaine. It is a true story of Mia's drug addition and Claire's attempts to sober her up. I hear that it's hard to read, but engrossing.
You know, something light to read to the kids!
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:r:great...given my daughter turned 15 yesterday, can't wait to go buythis one! :-c
 
A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier
by Ishmael Beah

finished it this weekend. very touching book about a child soldier from Sierra Leone. how any of these children come out alive and live semi-normal lives is a true miracle.


recently finished:

Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See

an interesting look at the lives of women and female relationships in China during the age of footbinding. it made me thank the lord for sneakers.
 
Jaxspra said:
Million Little Pieces [snip] - both true stories, told by the author
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Frey was ousted by Oprah when it was found that he made the "true story" bit up in order to get a publisher to look at the manuscript.

Regardless, a good story and one I may read again.
 
Breach of Faith by Jed Horne

The author is a son of my HS Principle and worked for The NO Times-Picayune.

Anybody else read his Desire Street: A True Story of Death and Deliverance in New Orleans
 
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I am just starting Richard Florida's, "The Rise of the Creative Class"

I figured I would see for myself what all the hype is about. :r:
 
zmanPLAN said:
Frey was ousted by Oprah when it was found that he made the "true story" bit up in order to get a publisher to look at the manuscript.

Regardless, a good story and one I may read again.
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I don't get why he said it was true...so many people liked the book, whether or not it's true shouldn't matter. Eh. Oh well.

I'm re-reading childhood favorites, Anne of Green Gables and such. I'm trying out One Hundred Years of Solitude (again)...it seems like I should like it, so I keep trying. It may be futile, though.:r:
 
Twoaday said:
I'm reading "The World Without Us". It basically covers how quickly everything human civilization has created will crumble away if we weren't here.
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I read part of this. I put the book down and never picked it up again once I was 3/4 of the way through it. Great concept, interesting, but it became repetitive to me after a while.

I just started, "Discover Your Inner Economist" by Tyler Cowen. It is mezza-mezza so far.
 
zmanPLAN said:
Frey was ousted by Oprah when it was found that he made the "true story" bit up in order to get a publisher to look at the manuscript.

Regardless, a good story and one I may read again.
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Yep, yep...heard that the other day when looking for another book in Borders (I had a gift card, I am a big fan of the FREE library ;)) either way, I agree it was a good read.

I am reading Random Families right now, its about coming of age in the Bronx...really good book, taking me sometime to get through but its because I can't speed read through it, so much happens on each page, i find myself reading every single line....
LP - the book you described sounds great, I'm always lookin for books just as you described!! I am going to go pick that one up this evening!!!

I haven't read in years (I mean really gotten to read something by choice) and over the past 3 months I have read more than I did in the past 3 years...its been nice!!! So keep throwin titles out there for me guys, I'm enjoyin it!!
 
Tresmo said:
I'm trying out One Hundred Years of Solitude (again)...it seems like I should like it, so I keep trying. It may be futile, though.:r:
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it literally took me over a year to read that book. i kept picking it up and putting it back down. i think it had to do with the names being similar.

i finished Love in the Time of Cholera a few months ago and i liked it much better than Solitude. granted i read Solitude in high school so maybe i was too immature for it.
 
zmanPLAN said:
The Fountainhead -- Rand. :-|
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Your reading it now? Thats one of my favorite books. I have read it many times, first time in high school. I think most people either love it or hate it. I loved it, haven't read it in years, need to pick it back up!
 
dandy_warhol said:
it literally took me over a year to read that book. i kept picking it up and putting it back down. i think it had to do with the names being similar.

i finished Love in the Time of Cholera a few months ago and i liked it much better than Solitude. granted i read Solitude in high school so maybe i was too immature for it.
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Hmm, maybe I'll give another GGM book a try. After I enjoy another one I might like it better because I'd be used to the names, style, etc. :) Something to try! :D
 
Back issues getting caught up on The Advocate. Damn what a shitting fag rag. (sorry fellow fags)
 
there, 3k - done

I finished Comeback - what did you think Jaxspra - in the beginnign I thought, I shouldn't be reading this considering I have a 15 yo daughter and it's just going to upset me but then I got into it and it truly is an amazing journey those 2 went through -

now I'm reading a book called "Your Nine Year Old" - these are great series for your parents out there - some of the language is old-fashioned but it's still accurate today -
 
Currently reading Chi Town by Norbert Blei. Its a collection of short stories dealing with Chicago - its people, places, etc. The copyright is 1990 but the stories are somewhat older. A lot has changed in the last few decades. Chicago may have seen a revival but lost a lot of its personality.
 
"Wee Free Men" by Terry Pratchett and "Life, The Universe and Everything" by Douglas Adams. Trying to keep the reading light right now to distract me from the anxiety of hearing back from schools! :)
 
My book club is reading "The Way Life Should Be" Christina Baker Kline (about Maine obviously)

and I am also reading "the art of war" because I've had it with office crap...and just to keep it real, I also just ordered "the way of zen" ;):-o:-$:a:
 
The Power Broker...

...Robert Moses was a genius and a dick of stupefying proportions...

It goes to prove that planning would be easy if you didn't give a sh*t about the public.
 
Recently read a story about a teenager girl who has Asperger's Syndrome, spends her first summer away from home in a community close to a national park, and figures out her ways to become connected with few people in the local community. It's called "Wild Orchid" by Beverley Brenna.

The next book that I'm thinking about reading is: "House Thinking: A Room-by-Room Look at How We Live" by Winifred Gallagher.

Has anyone read it?
 
"The Looming Tower - al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11" by Lawrence Wright.

I plan on finishing it tomorrow by the pool. This book demonstrates the stupidity of our federal government.
 
Today my kid swiped RJ's copy of "The Onion: Our Dumb World" and took it to h.s. If you are anal about political correctness, don't read this book. BTW, H, they have FSU on the gulf, research is kinda bad on this one.
 
Plan-it said:
I stopped reading it years ago because I felt like I was losing brain cells and started to feel numb.:s:
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Me too. I used to subscribe. Maybe it's also a sign of being out for twenty years (god, am I really that old?) and that the world is a different place now, but it became a lot less important to me. Maybe that's a bad thing?

Tranplanner, what is your favourite cheapy bookstore in TO?
 
Still working my way through the Fountainhead but I want to finish up as I have many used books on order that are currently being shipped.
 
Grabbed from the library this past weekend Flow my tears, the policeman said by Philip K. Dick.

I really love his work. :-D
 
:) Just picked up Nevada Barr's latest - Winter Study
Anna Pigeon is back on Isle Royale.
 
I'm reading a 3-book fantasy series I got for my son. He read two of them in a week; that's gotta be a record. It's the Olympians by Rick Riordan; I guess they'd be Young Adult books. The premise is that the Greek gods are still around and operating in today's world. As civilization has moved west, so have they, so that now Mount Olympus is over the Empire State Building, and the the entrance to Hades is in L.A. It's a Harry Potterish thing, a boy discovers he's a demigod and goes on adventures. I'm enjoying it.
 
A Land Remembered by Patrick Smith. An historical novel about the early (late 1800's to early 1900's), development of Florida. Three generations from crackers to land tycoons. Makes me shake my head and brings tears to my eyes.
 
Just finished reading Middlesex.

Basically, it's a story about three-generations of a Greek family that immigrated to Detroit in the 1920s. The catch...the narrator and grandaughter is a hermaphrodite. The book does an awesome job of bringing the city of Detroit to life and the story is wrapped around real life events that took place in the city, such as the '67 riots. I highly recommend this book for anyone who wants to read a story set in Detroit (if you can get past the whole hermaphrodite thing ;-)).

The author also wrote Virgin Suicides, which was later made into a movie.
 
nice thread .... NHplanner: the other vegas book i liked was "positvely 5th street" by james mcmanus .... he was a writer covering the world series of poker, then instead covered a local murder and actually made the final table himself ... very interesting book...
ZG: that is a great series! another good one for the kids (and moms and dads) in a similar vein is "summerland" by michael chabon .... baseball, inventions, and gods ... and more for adults, "american gods" by neil gaiman .... all excellent reads i think :)

right now, i am reading "stardust" by neil gaiman ... so far, so good...
 
JNA said:
:) Just picked up Nevada Barr's latest - Winter Study
Anna Pigeon is back on Isle Royale.
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RichmondJake said:
A Land Remembered by Patrick Smith. An historical novel about the early (late 1800's to early 1900's), development of Florida.
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Just finished both of the above.

Next up, Sheila Weller's "Girls Like Us". A biography of Carly Simon, Joni Mitchell, and Carole King. I'm thinking their lives in the '60's and '70's must have been pretty darn interesting.

Oh, and tee bone, thanks for the suggestion!
 
will finish up I Dreamed of Africa by Kuki Gallmann this weekend.

she lives the life i wish i could have, with the exception of having her son killed by a snake bite and her husband die in a car accident. fascinating stories of life in Africa.

before that i read The Hundred Secret Senses by Amy Tan. a good read. another exploration by Tan regarding life & culture of the Chinese-American.
 
I just finished The Innocent Man by John Grisham (appropriate, since I finished it right before serving jury duty... and now I'm reading Eat Pray Love by Elizabeth Gilbert. It's a personal memoir about the author's travels around the world for a year after a messy divorce. I read an excerpt from it about two years ago and never took the time to get the book... I wish I had picked it up sooner!

I'm also slowly browsing Everyday Ethics for Practicing Planners in the hopes of taking the AICP exam in November... Speaking of which, any particular recommended readings to prep for AICP? :p
 
I'm reading Planet of Slums. The premise of the book is that the cities of the future in the Global South will consist of outer rings of squalor surrounded by an private, gated inner core where the elites live, and we're already seeing this in the present. Fascinating, though dreadful at the same time.
 
I am currently reading the book Break Through: From the Death of Environmentalism to the Politics of Possibility by Nordhaus and Shellenberger. It has certainly challenged my prevailing views about the environmental movement. I'm particularly intrigued with the author's argument that economic growth rather than limits is the key to creating environmental buy-in.
 
MacheteJames said:
I'm reading Planet of Slums. The premise of the book is that the cities of the future in the Global South will consist of outer rings of squalor surrounded by an private, gated inner core where the elites live, and we're already seeing this in the present. Fascinating, though dreadful at the same time.
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I am too! An excerpt of the book was part of my reader for my semester abroad and it was interesting enough that I wanted to read the rest of it. I had the opportunity to visit the Dharavi slum in Mumbai and speak with the developer who is running the redevelopment/slum clearance project, several community activists, academics that have studied Dharavi extensively, and a journalist that has in depth knowledge of and experience in Dharavi. Next up will be Shadow Cities by Robert Neuwirth which also deals with the same issues but in a different vein.
 
5-4-08

Finished - Confessions of an Economics Hit Man by John Perkins
Started - Save Your Job, Save Our Country by Ross Perot and Pat Choate
On the Shelf - Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey (Ski's Favorite)
 
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