What are you reading?

[Pamela Moberg]

You must be kidding, folks, or you live on another planet!

For myself, I have hardly time to read the daily paper...

But, there is one book, I think I posted something on another thread.

"Ballet Russes" by Richard Shead.

Lovely stuff, I read a little bit every night before going to bed.

[Ed Waffle]

dirac wrote:

"Lovely Bones" is Salon's August pick (see link I posted in the first message of this thread, if interested). Looks interesting.

Alice Sebold, the author of "Lovely Bones" wrote a memoir, "Lucky". It is a wrenching story of her rape while a student at Syracuse University, her life the crime and her life afterwards.

The only reason I was able to continue reading this book (which is riveting) is that I knew the Sebold survived the attack. It is at least one indication how she was able to write a novel from the point of view of a murder victim

"Lovely Bones" is also on my list.

[Cabriole]

I've read the Pushkin biography, "Alexander Puskin: Master Teacher of Dance" by Gennady Albert and re-read, "Zen in the Art of Archery" by Eugen Herrigel.

[Guest dancing frog]

This is a great thread! I read all the time (when I have the time;) ) I just got a couple of good books out of the library.

One of them is called He Sees You While You're Sleeping , it's by Mary Higgins Clark and Carol Higgins CLark. It's about a man who died and is given a second chance at life for a week.

The other one is called Ties That Bind; Ties That Break . It's by Lensey Namioka and it's about a Chinese girl and the decisions that she makes (and the ones that are made for her)and consequences that go with them. Both of these books made me cry they were so moving.

An author that I'm always on the lookout for is Terry Pratchett. He writes mild fantasy and he's always hilariously funny.

I'll be sure to look at the books that some of you are reading, they sound very good.

d_frog

[Allegro]

I was going to say "Seabiscuit" but it has already been raved over.

I read, besides my stupid summer reading book, and interesting biography on Jackie O, called "Mrs. Kennedy." Very good, but also very eye opening and depressing.

And I am re-reading the Anne of Green Gables series. I always feel like it in the summer.

And for the ballet side of me, the autobiography of Alexandra Danilova. Fascinating stories about the Kirov Academy (not called that then).

[dirac]

I loved the Anne of Green Gables series, but I'm afraid to go back to many of the books I read growing up for fear they won't live up to my memory of them. I seriously regret going back to "Little Women," for example. (Although "The Wind in the Willows" held up just fine.)

[piccolo]

Let's see. I seem to be on a Hemingway kick right now -- rereading "A Farewell to Arms" and I'm rereading Tolkien's "The Two Towers."

Earlier this summer I was on a biography kick: Vernon Jordan, Maria Tallchief and Judith Jamison.

[dirac]

I'm impressed by the range of your interests. It's not often you see Vernon Jordan mentioned in the same sentence with Tallchief and Jamison.

[attitude]

At the moment I'm reading:

'Pride and Prejudice', which, I've read so many times I can quote it in my sleep;

'Sophie's World' - a bit slow-going at first because it seemed to state the obvious (to me anyway) but it's getting really interesting

'Herodotus - The History' - not as heavy (literally too) as Thucydides and unintentionally comic.

A Mills and Boon book:o - I don't need to give the title as they are all the same.

[Mme. Hermine]

just finished an inspector maigret mystery and making eyes at some henry james short stories....

[casloan]

I especially enjoy reading mysteries that take place in cities I know and love. I recently finished two by James Lantigua, "Player's Vendetta" and "The Ultimate Havana." They're set in Little Havana, an area with which I'm very familiar because we spend a week in Miami every December.

Another mystery I read this summer was Jane Dentiger's "Murder on Cue," which features backstage intrigue at a Broadway production and is often deliciously witty.

I've started reading my first Martha Grimes, "I Am the Only Running Footman." So far, so good.

I've just read "Tempest-Tost" by the well-known Canadian author Robertson Davies. It's about an amateur theatrical production of "The Tempest" being performed in a garden. It's hilarious. We had seen a delightful, dramatized version of it last year at the Stratford Festival.

And, for something completely different, I've been working my way slowly through the fascinating but dense "Constantine's Sword" by James Carroll, which, of course, is about the history of the relationship between the Roman Catholic Church and the Jews.

It's a good thing this thread is about SUMMER reading. I'm a teacher, and now that summer is over (alas), I won't have much time for reading (sigh).

[beckster]

There was an interview with the author of Lovely Bones in this Saturday's Guardian (UK) and I am now desperate to read it! I'm waiting for the paperback to come out here though as we've only just had the hardback.

I am a constant reader. Living in university accomodation over the summer means I spend a lot of time alone, so I am reading more than ever. I'm quite into biographies at the moment - I've been reading about Jane Austen and Darwin, and I'd like to find some dancer's biographies too. Recently I've read "The Joy Luck Club" by Amy Tan and "Extra Virgin" by Annie Hawes, both of which were fabulous. I'm re-reading "Dancing Away" by Deborah Bull (of the RB) and as always I have Harry Potter and Jane Austen on the go - I read these books cyclically and constantly! I love having books which I know really well. I can pick them up and open them at any page and be able to read for 5 minutes or 50 minutes and know exactly what's going on. I am a very fast reader, almost a skim reader, which means that every time I re-read a book, I see different things in it.

[Xena]

At the moment I am reading James Joyces' Ulysses, and a book called Life on Earth by David Attenborough. I had the last book for at least 15 years and never read it, althoguh now I'm glad I am, and Ulysses ..well I was intrigued. Lots of people had mentioned how difficult it was too read, but I am absolutely loving it, it makes me chuckle when I read it on a dreary monday morning on the train to work.

I was also going to read Lovely bones, but then read the first chapter that amazon gives you and with all the dreadful abductions over here in the US (and in the UK), it put me off reading it.

Jeanette

[Perfect Performer]

Right now I am reading J.R.R Tolkien's "The Fellowship of the Ring." It's very good.

[dirac]

I think Ulysses has developed such a rep as a famously impenetrable book that people forget how funny it is.

Perfect Performer, I envy you. The Ring books are so famous that I would like to be more familiar with them, but try as I might I can never get past the first third or so of "The Hobbit." I'm sure it's me.....

[Tancos]

Originally posted by dirac

The Ring books are so famous that I would like to be more familiar with them, but try as I might I can never get past the first third or so of "The Hobbit."  I'm sure it's me.....

Skip _The Hobbit_ and go directly to _The Fellowship of the Ring_.

[dirac]

I'll try that. Thanks for the tip.

[kfw]

I’ve just started Jeffrey Hart’s “Smiling Through the Cultural Catastrophe,” a book about how the tension and interplay between Athens and Jerusalem shaped Western culture. Also, I’m finally reading – and laughing my way through -- a “classic” I’ve been meaning to get around to for years, G.K. Chesterton’s “The Man Who Was Thursday.” Sometimes when I’ve had just a minute or two to spare in the midst of other tasks recently I’ve been grabbing Marcus Aurelius’ “Meditations,” in a new translation by one Gregory Hays. This was one of those, I-only-meant-to-go-hear-the-reading, not-get-the-book buys. And although I never read mysteries, I did read Stephen L. Carter’s “The Emperor of Ocean Park” this summer, because I’ve enjoyed his non-fiction. It’s 500-some pages long and I got a little tired of it about 2/3 of the way through, but only for a short while.

[MJ]

Ann Coulter's Book "Slander" Ann is so Connecticut!

"Jihad: the trail of political Islam" by Gilles Kepel. A very boring, authoritative, book on 20th century Islam.

MJ

[MJ]

I think the best way to read Ulysses is to go to Dublin on Bloomsday (someday in June) and follow other Joyce Fans from Pub to Pub. There are bronze plaques in the sidewalks to help you.The book truly is impenetrable, even to most comp lit professors. The more Guiness you imbibe, the eaiser it is to understand Joyce. This is one of the few books I would recommend using Cliff Notes along with the book.

MJ

[Tancos]

Originally posted by kfw

Also, I’m finally reading – and laughing my way through -- a “classic” I’ve been meaning to get around to for years, G.K. Chesterton’s “The Man Who Was Thursday.”

That's an old favorite of mine, along with the Father Brown stories. It's probably about time to re-read it again.

[dirac]

I love the Father Brown stories. (There's a good movie, too, with Alec Guinness and Peter Finch, if you can track it down.)

[Treefrog]

A big "thanks" to whomever suggested "The Lovely Bones". I took it off on vacation and just loved it. Who would have thought that such a grisly topic could be handled so gently, so lovingly, so unexpectedly?

Following "Bones", I launched off into "Seabiscuit". Good, but not nearly as captivating as "Bones".

What a great resource you all are!

[dirac]

Thank you. We try Any other reading suggestions out there?

[photoguy]

If you're into history/biography/WWII, then I suggest:

Leo Marks: Between Silk and Cyanide

Leo was a WWII code maker/breaker. An aspect I find fascinating is some connections to fairly well known people and events where Leo was initimately involved - but we never knew.

Example:

His father owned the bookshop at 84 Charing Cross Road

I won't spoil it by revealing anything else. It is a wonderful read. One of those books where laughter and tears follow in quick succession.

Leo's code making features with some fairly complete explanations - but not in a way which intrudes into the narrative. There is the opportunity to play with some of his coding exercises if you want to - or not, as you please.

A book full of compassion for the people sent to fight covert war and tinged with bitterness towards some of those who sent them there. It certainly had a profound impact on me - I'd be interested to hear how it affects other readers.