For the past couple of weeks, my son and granddaughter are slooowly moving to their own place. As soon as that's accomplished, I'll be recapturing the guest room/my office and redoing it, so now's the time to grab some reading time.

I have two books going right now. One is "Charlie Wilson's War" by George Crile, which is my little guilty pleasure. The woman in the book (played in the movie by Julia Roberts) is someone who I now realize is a woman I've seen and chatted with, many times at gatherings here, so to be able to really visualize the book character, complete with personality (which is soooo southern belle) is fun. But in the midst of that book, I got hooked on David Halberstam's last book before his death, "The Coldest Winter". The title seemed just right for this winter. It's probably going to take me into our hot summer to finish this one. It's a (long 700 page) detailed history of the Korean War, which I feel I never really have known much about other than M*A*S*H. Although, I do know North and South Korea are not the same country, even though I can't see them from my house (snark).

I also have three books in the hopper, which my kids got me for Christmas, that I'm really looking forward to getting started. Probably the first I'll get into is "Family of Secrets" by Russell Baker. The other two in-waiting are "The War Conspiracy" by Peter Scott and "JFK and the Unspeakable" by James Douglass

Geez, re-reading this, I'm overwhelmed. Maybe I'll just be lazy and hop into bed and start watching the first two seasons of "Mad Men", which my husband bought me for Christmas. Everyone talks about it, but I need to see the first two seasons, before I try to start watching the third season when it starts reruns.

Right now I'm reading Beach Music by Pat Conroy - I am on a mini Conroy kick having finished South of Broad prior to this one.  And if I have to recommend a book that I think is a MUST READ, buy or borrow The Help by Kathryn Stockett.  Absolutely amazing book.

I want to get Under the Dome, too and am very interested in opinions (not spoilers LOL) - I see SM below likes it a lot :-)

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KO, can't remember, but I think you're a Margaret Atwood fan? I just finished The Year of the Flood, which is a sequel/prequel/companion piece to Oryx and Crake, and it was much better, IMO. It was like Atwood wanted a do-over, and this time she got it right. //SqueezeMe

I AM an Atwood fan, and thanks for the recco! eom Kelly Oh!!

I thought so. Enjoy! //SM

i started under the dome but i can't find the time to sit and read. although 1 would argue i could be doing that vs. computer and they are right! i think i'll go get my reader and start it up again! so far i am lovingly disturbed by the book! IT'S GREAT!---carmen

Under The Dome---I have several hundred pages left to go...it is INCREDIBLE! Comparisons to The Stand are accurate. Old school SK.

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Posted by: Peridot
Date posted: Sun Jan 17 9:57:24 2010
Message:

Farmer, we miss you too.  Bigtime!  Dickens is one of my favorite authors as well.  I especially love A Tale of Two Cities.

I just finished Greg Mortenson's Stones Into Schools, about building schools in Afghanistan and educating girls, in particular.  This book is nonfiction but reads like an adventure.  I was particularly thrilled to read that some of Mortenson's dedicated staff are former members of the Taliban.  He feels that the most effective way to fight terrorism is through education, and I agree.

I just started Sarah Dunant's In the Company of the Courtesan.  It's a historical novel about Venice in the years following the Reformation.  I had read another Dunant book last month and admire her ability to evoke time and place.

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Peridot, have you read The Shack? I'm looking for an opinion from a religious person who has read it. //SqueezeMe

I've never heard of it, SM. Who's the author? - Peridot

The author is Wm. Paul Young (yeah, I never heard of him either). The book has made news because it is considered Christian literature, which is normally read mostly by the faithful, but it has been on the NYTimes bestseller list for some time. I wrestled with whether or not to read it, and I had a hard time with parts of it, but I can honestly say it changed the way I think about God. //SqueezeMe

Thanks for the recommendation, SM. I'll have to check it out. - Peridot

SM, did you really enjoy the Shack? I thought it was horrible new age drivel. At the end of the book, I was just so.......arrrrgh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!........CleoJ

Peridot, I don't really recommend it (although I can see how it came across that way). But if you do read it, please come back and tell me what you thought. //SqueezeMe

Cleo, no, I didn't think it was a particularly good book. I enjoyed the first part about the family tragedy, but as soon as the protagonist met God, I was rolling my eyes and saying ''Really?'' every other page. I did, however, like some of the things it said about Jesus. I'm an agnostic for the most part -- meaning I have lots of questions and no real answers -- but I am open-minded enough to believe there are things going on in the the universe I don't understand, and maybe God (for lack of a better term) is one of them. Anyway, despite the fantastical story, and almost against my will, I came upon a pearl or two of what felt like truth. But I can see where someone who is already in a comfortable place with their faith/spirituality would hate the book. //SqueezeMe

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Posted by: DebS
Date posted: Sun Jan 17 9:56:48 2010
Message:
I'm currently reading two books by Wiccan author Christopher Penczak. I love this guy. Met him at a Sabbat a few months ago, and OMG, he is such a nice, down-to-earth, amazing person. I should have had him sign my books! I'll be going to many more of his Sabbats in the future, so there will always be other chances.

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Posted by: SqueezeMe
Date posted: Sun Jan 17 9:38:03 2010
Message:

Finally finished Joyce Carol Oates' The Gravedigger's Daughter.  I love JCO, but her stuff is always dark and therefore sometimes hard to read.

I'm about 200 pages into Stephen King's Under The Dome, and it is *made* of awesome.

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I just finished Under the Dome last night. I thought it was pretty good, it definitely held my interest until the end. Ginger G

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Posted by: Paige
Date posted: Sun Jan 17 9:37:29 2010
Message:
I just started reading There Is A God [How the World's Most Notorious Atheist Changed His Mind] by Antony Flew. I've only read the first chapter, but so far I am enjoying it. I have Three Cups of Tea (recommended in an earlier topic) waiting when I finish this one. Really looking forward to reading it.

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Paige, I read the Flew book a couple of years ago and enjoyed it. I admire the fact that someone his age can still rethink and reconsider. - Peridot

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Posted by: Duffy
Date posted: Sun Jan 17 8:27:14 2010
Message:

Glad you can still drop in occassionally, farmer brown!

I just finished THE LAW OF SIMILARS by Chris Bohjalian, a very interesting writer.  I had previously read his book THE DOUBLE BIND.

I have now started WHAT WAS LOST by Catherine O'Flynn and it is gripping.

Have you ever read Dickens' BLEAK HOUSE?  I always wanted to!

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Duffy, I've read two by Chris Bohjalian -- Midwives and Before You Know Kindness. Both were excellent, so I'm adding the two you read to my list. //SqueezeMe

SqueezeMe, now I remember that I have read MIDWIVES, too. A good one! ~ Duffy

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Posted by: Ashley
Date posted: Sun Jan 17 8:17:19 2010
Message:
I seem to have gotten hooked on some light fiction, so I'm working my way through the works of Janet Evanovich. Just finished number 11 - but I'm not reading them in order. Nice and light and not too much thought necessary - which is a good break from all the gloom and doom in the world these days.

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Posted by: Rose Bush
Date posted: Sun Jan 17 7:55:31 2010
Message:

I am finishing off Tony Abbott's book, Battlelines. Tony Abbott is our new Leader of the Opposition. The book was given to me by a friend for Christmas. It is a really good read, much better than I expected - funny, thought-provoking, and accessible. What a contrast Abbott is in person and in print to our dreadful Prime Minister, the smug Kevin Rudd (who has turned a lifetime Labor voter like me away from the Labor Party).

I was reading Sarah Palin's Going Rogue, but put it down to read Abbott's book. So far, Palin's book has been enlightening even though I disagree with almost everything that Palin stands for (except her scepticism of the Climate Change cult). Which brings me to the next book I have racked up and ready to read...Christopher Booker's The Real Global Warming Disaster.

And to prove that I don' just spend my time wading through turgid political tomes, I recently finished off Clinton Walker's fantastic biography of Bon Scott, Highway to Hell. Scott was the lead singer of AC/DC who died in 1980. Great book. AC/DC played their first gig at our High School so I feel a real connection to them, even though I am hardly a head-bangin' heavy metal freak. Such wonderful memories. In my mind's eye, I can still see Bon leering at all us school girls from the Assembly Hall stage, Angus Young (who was wearing a real school uniform because he was still in high school at the time) going mental on his guitar, and the whole joint goin' off. I can hardly believe it was 35+ years ago.

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