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

I just ordered three books from Jhumpa Lahiri that were highly recommended. They should be here in a few days. I'm stoked to have something new to read! :-D
 
I was in the mood for something light, so I picked up one of the Bernie Rhodenbarr mysteries by Lawrence Block at the library. This one is The Burglar on the Prowl. Block is a terrifically talented writer. He autographed one of his books for me when he read from his latest work at a local bookstore years ago.
 
Dreams from my father is an excellent book.

I am reading

The Endless City - Huge and Expensive, but it's amazing none-the-less
Unaccustomed Earth - yes, another Lahiri fan, she is amazing
Who's your City - Interesting, first half is for planning and economics, second is a how-to guide for where to live
The Concrete Dragon - I haven't cracked this one yet but it looks promising
 
corncob06 said:
Dreams from my father is an excellent book.

I am reading

The Endless City - Huge and Expensive, but it's amazing none-the-less
Unaccustomed Earth - yes, another Lahiri fan, she is amazing
Who's your City - Interesting, first half is for planning and economics, second is a how-to guide for where to live
The Concrete Dragon - I haven't cracked this one yet but it looks promising
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I just finished Lahiri's Interpreter of Maladies. I'm getting started on Unaccustomed Earth.
 
I'm reading: Sprawl Kills: How Blandburbs Steal Your Time, Health, and Money

It's an easy read and very informative.
 
corncob06 said:
Who's your City - Interesting, first half is for planning and economics, second is a how-to guide for where to live
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I'm too reading this book. I'm only at the fifth chapter so far.

I wonder if it will get me thinking about which parts of the world I want to live in...
 
I am currently reading American Psycho. I had seen the movie years ago and loved it so I decided to finally get around to reading the book.

For it being so dense, it is a suprisingly quick read. And so far, the book is about 1,000 times funnier than the movie... in a dark, dark sort of way.
 
Just finished Kathy Reichs' Bones & Ashes (with forensic anthropologist Temperance Brennan) in 2.5 days. It would have been quicker if I didn't have work to do. :r:

Then I received a very timely phone call from the library telling me that the new Nevada Barr book (which I had put in a request for) was being held for me. I know several of you have already read it... it's finally my turn. :)
 
I started Bill O'Reilly's Culture Warrior last week after my wife finished it. I'm about 3/4 through it. I'm still holding off judgment until I'm done, however I will say this: I'm not used to such a casual writing style.
 
The classic tale of vengeance, 'The Count of Monte Cristo' by Alexander [strikeout]Dumbass[/strikeout] Dumas.

I'm a bit disappointed so far with the book. Already half way through and it has yet to make even an oblique reference to sandwiches.
 
For $1 :-D at our annual library book sale I got the hardback edition of

Cornelia Dean's Against The Tide The Battle for America's Beaches.

On Amazon.com the hardback is listed at $83.50
 
Well. a very interesting book over India

by Gurcharan Das "India Unbound"................... A very nice book written to explain the policies defined in Indian Economies and their pros and cons

Also, it shares the life and steps taken by very famous business Entrepreneurs
 
Just finished the planner's epic "The Power Broker" about Robert Moses. Now I am reading the more recent book about Moses that is more sympathetic to him by Jackson, etc. with lots of great photos.

Putting aside the Moses debate (and as an aside I didn't think that Caro was as harsh to Moses as some have said.), its a fascinating study in the balance between getting "things done" and making sure everyone is happy with what you are doing. Moses clearly went way too far but the issue is a real one nonetheless.
 
Masswich said:
Just finished the planner's epic "The Power Broker" about Robert Moses. Now I am reading the more recent book about Moses that is more sympathetic to him by Jackson, etc. with lots of great photos...
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As I think I have mentioned before, that book inspired me to get into this field in the first place... but I haven't given it a 2nd read, or if I did, it was a long time ago. I wonder if I would feel the same, reading it again 25 years later.

Was this the first time you read "The Power Broker"?
 
Mud Princess said:
As I think I have mentioned before, that book inspired me to get into this field in the first place... but I haven't given it a 2nd read, or if I did, it was a long time ago. I wonder if I would feel the same, reading it again 25 years later.

Was this the first time you read "The Power Broker"?
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It is the first time. Its a much more nuanced perspective than I thought- although clearly Caro thinks that Moses lost it after Roosevelt was guv. The new book "Robert Moses and the Modern City" is a series of essays - the general theme is that he did a lot more good than he is given credit for, and also that much of what he did wrong (building freeways instead of transit, for example) was more an issue of what the conventional wisdom was at the time, not just Moses.
 
a whole bunch of pure and utter SciFI crap, and enjoying every minute of it.

LAst serious read was Kurt Vonnegut's Armageddon in Retrospect.

Only 2 more weeks of fun then back to school.
 
I always keep something in the car in case I get stuck at the docs'. Currently, it's "The Best Laid Plans," by contrarian/libertarian Randal O'Toole.
Also reading "Washington: The Making of the American Capital," by Fergus Bordewich.
Deb, in southern NJ
 
what are we reading right now?

Half Broken Things by Morag Joss (Scottish novel)

The Hill Bachelors by William Trevor (Irish short fiction, unsurpassed!)

The Masks of God by Joseph Campbell (four volumes...all done before, but worth revisiting over and over)
 
What am I reading?

Last three were "Micro Trends", The Art of the Long View" and the "Rise of the Creative Class" of any value. All interetsing and helpful at work. Outside reading was a book on John Newton ("Amazing Grace") and "When God Whispers at You" both good.

H2O Planner
 
my September book club book was The Lace Reader by Brunonia Barry - it's an excellent book and I highly recommend it - it's riveting but I will warn you the ending is not what it seems and I think there are holes the author should have filled in - but it kept me riveted this past weekend in Vermont, I had to see what happens next

http://search.barnesandnoble.com/The-Lace-Reader/Brunonia-Barry/e/9780061624766/?itm=1

I meant to add that I am leaving my book club - it's a long and sordid story of its own as to why that I will spare you the details of - but I am cheating and still will read their books because they pick great books!
 
Now that I have read about all there is about Robert Moses I have finally started reading Jane Jacobs' Death and Life of Great American Cities. Its pretty accurate, although she does idealize street life in the city a little too much for my taste. Her idea of utopia is a busy, dirty street with kids playing on the sidewalk, storekeepers watching them and TV's plugged in through long extension cords broadcasting Yankees games.
 
I just finished Unaccustimed Earth, and now I am on to my third Jhumpa Lahiri book, The Namesake.

After that, I may need to start breaking out the technical and planning-specific books. Both to refresh my memory on theory and practice and also to begin studying for the May '09 AICP exam. :-|
 
Picking up this weekend - Naked Economics: Understanding the Dismal Science
 
I am re-reading Joseph Cambell's, 'The Power of Myth'. This guy was an interesting thinker. The book is as good as I rember it from 10 yrs ago.
 
Zoning Goddess said:
I have said this before, to no effect, so I feel I need to reiterate.

I find it hard to believe that every Cyb who reads a book reads only the Oprah Book Club, NYT Non-Fictions Best-Sellers List, Russian or other foreign authors,or whatever APA is endorsing. Cybs seem to need to make a point that they are reading SERIOUS stuff. From being a former bookstore owner.... to being a planner with a bunch of planner friends who read trash.... come on.

Am I the only Cyb who reads Danielle Steele? No. Tim Dorsey? No. Janet Evanovich? No. I just see a real lack of acknowlegment that people read regular fiction anymore. Is it a brand of shame?
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HEAR HEAR!!! I was skimming through this thread thinking the same exact thing. As an English major, I've read my share of serious literature. Now all I read is pure, escapist trash, and I LOVE IT!!! :p:D
 
I decided to change up my selections. Waiting on Unaccustomed Earth, and I'm instead going to read Close Range: Wyoming Stories by Annie Proulx. Looking forward to it.
 
Herman Melville's "The Piazza Tales", contained in a slim volume along with "Billy Bud". As part of my propaganda campaign to introduce what I call "real" literature to my teenaged daughters, I have a running joke with one where I regularly threaten to make her listen to my reading Billy Bud aloud. Repeated empty threats made me finally sit down with the Piazza Tales myself.

Melville is a great sampler of rich English vocabulary and syntax.
 
I just finished "Isaac's Storm" by Erik Larson about the meteorologist assigned to Galveston during the hurricane of 1900. A good read.
 
RichmondJake said:
I just finished "Isaac's Storm" by Erik Larson about the meteorologist assigned to Galveston during the hurricane of 1900. A good read.
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Always wanted to read that...heard its really good.

Right now I'm reading "The Wealthy Barber" by David Chilton as I'm trying to get more serious about my finances and "The Celebration of Discipline" by Richard Foster for a Sunday school class my wife and I have been attended. The jury's still out on that last one.
 
Currently, I am reading Perfect From Now On: How Indie Rock Saved My Life by John Sellers. It chronicles his growing up in a boring suburban town and then (many years too late) being exposed to good music and his growing obsession with a particular band.

The book may as well be about my life instead of John Sellers right down to his Michigan childhood and his fascination with the playcounts on his iTunes.
 
Earlier this year I discovered Paul Doherty at the library. I'm currently reading another of his Hugh Corbett mysteries, and I also like his Amoerotke (not sure on the spelling) Ancient Egyptian mysteries.
Recently finished another Nora Roberts novel, and am on the waiting list for some other romance/mystery/suspense authors at the library. Sometimes I just wander the shelves, looking for something to jump out at me. That's how I discovered C.E. Murphy.

My library is small, but it's very convenient. I could get a library card for Big D, but there's none close to my work - except downtown, where I would have to pay for parking. No thanks.
 
I am reading In Open Spaces, by Russell Rowland, a Montana author. I recently was in a class he held on fiction writing and was impressed by him. The novel is about a Montana ranch family in the first decades of the 20th century. What is most impressive is how Rowland writes compellingly about ordinary incidents that shape this family's life - a local baseball game, getting a cow unstuck from a bog, deaths in the family and so on.

Montana writing almost always has the land as a major character and Rowland eloquently describes the open spaces of eastern Montana and its effect on the people who live there.

Good stuff.

PLANERELLA and ZONING GODDESS: I just got back from a three-book spree of low-brow readings. My name is Otterpop. I like to read Max Brand westerns!
 
On the recommendation of my grandmother, I'm reading Fearless Fourteen, by Janet Evanovich. She said it was funny, so I said I'd check it out. I'm not sure if my grandmother and I have the same sense of humor. :-|
 
I'm in the process of reading This Noble Land: My Vision for America by the late James Michener. I've always been a big fan of his historical novels but this one is a series of his reflections on different aspects of the United States. Published in 1996, he analyzed the trends that he saw happening in our culture and offered his recommendations for making course corrections. Twelve years later, it is still a sobering read that doesn't spare anyone of their responsibilities.
 
Titanic's Last Secrets by Brad Matsen.
interesting background on the White Star Line, and Harland & Wolff (ship builder).
 
I finally finished The Lincolns: Portrait of a Marriage by Daniel Epstein last week. Excellent book, just too heavy (500+ pgs) to carry around during all of my recent travels, so it took me awhile to get through it.

I'd really like to read Doris Kearns Goodwin's book about Lincoln and his cabinet - Team of Rivals - but it's another 500+ pager - I can't commit to it right now!
 
I just read Cormac McCarthy's The Road in one sitting.

It was an absolutely amazing story - one that had me genuinely concerned for the characters throughout (I guess that's what made it so hard to put it down).
 
luckless pedestrian said:
currently I am working on all the Tintin series of books/adventures with my kids

http://www.tintin.com/
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THAT IS AWESOME!

I have wanted to expand my Tintin collection for a while. Did yo know that they are planning a movie? I think Spielberg was tapped to produce/direct. Sometime in 2009 we have more news.

Right now, I am finishing a couple library books about travel in Siberia. I started World Made By Hand on Google Books, but ran out of pages. Now I want to read more, but it is checked out at the library. I may just have to buy it.

I've also thought about picking up some Cormac McCarthy as well.
 
Currently reading Downhill Lie by Carl Haissen - a very good and funny writer out of Florida, in this book he decribes how he is brought back to playing golf after a 32 year hiatus. Doesn't follow his previous books, but just as funny.In one of his lines he talks about getting a new set of clubs and they were so nice he hesitated to throw them the first time.
 
Planit said:
Currently reading Downhill Lie by Carl Haissen - a very good and funny writer out of Florida, in this book he decribes how he is brought back to playing golf after a 32 year hiatus. Doesn't follow his previous books, but just as funny.In one of his lines he talks about getting a new set of clubs and they were so nice he hesitated to throw them the first time.
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Recently read that book and thought it was great. I like all of Hiassen's work and this was good.
 
RichmondJake said:
I just finished "Isaac's Storm" by Erik Larson about the meteorologist assigned to Galveston during the hurricane of 1900. A good read.
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Just found that book in a used book place - started it last night as I sat through a long meeting waiting for an agenda item that never came up.
 
I need the laughs

I'm re-reading Ferrol Sams book 'Run with the Horsemen' -- it's the funniest thing I've read in a while and I need the laughs.
 
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