What are you reading?

A place to discuss your favorite authors and poets, Christian and secular

Postby Kkun » Tue Nov 21, 2006 6:43 am

Orthodoxy by G.K. Chesterton.
The Cleric Quintet by R.A. Salvatore.
Blue Like Jazz by Donald Miller.
I'm a shoe-in for hater of the year.
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Postby Tenshi no Ai » Wed Nov 22, 2006 10:44 pm

Alright, finished up Voyage of the Dawn Treader (and quite fast as far as my busy schedule has gone). Now onto The Silver Chair...
神 は、 その 独り 子 を お与え に なった ほど に 世 お愛 された。
独り 子 を 信じる 者 が 一人 も滅 ひない で, 永遠 の 命 お得る ため で ある。

ヨハネ 3:16
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Postby yukinon » Thu Nov 23, 2006 6:30 am

I love the Silver Chair! Puddleglum rocks!
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Postby mitsuki lover » Thu Nov 23, 2006 4:04 pm

Tom Baker played him in the BBC version.

Currently rereading The Cartoon History of the Universe.
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Postby Technomancer » Thu Nov 23, 2006 4:38 pm

"Modelling and Inverse Problems in Image Analysis" by Bernard Chalmond. There's some sections on optimization and data analysis that I'm going over in hopes of inspiration.

I've also started "Petrified" Barbara Nadel (a murder mystery set in Istanbul).
The scientific method," Thomas Henry Huxley once wrote, "is nothing but the normal working of the human mind." That is to say, when the mind is working; that is to say further, when it is engaged in corrrecting its mistakes. Taking this point of view, we may conclude that science is not physics, biology, or chemistry—is not even a "subject"—but a moral imperative drawn from a larger narrative whose purpose is to give perspective, balance, and humility to learning.

Neil Postman
(The End of Education)

Anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge

Isaac Aasimov
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Postby Sage_Al-Kahira » Thu Nov 23, 2006 6:29 pm

Currently reading The Prince of Dogs by Kate Elliott, book 2 in the Crown of Stars Series.
Where is the Remaining Spring?
Where the waters run so swift.
Am I doomed to wonder? Forgotten? Alone?
Within this Mortal drift?


It'd be all like:
"Hey! You want to come over tonight?"
and they'd be all like:
"Sure! Where do you live?"
And we'd be all like:
"You know that Bio-dome out alittle west in the woods?"
And they'd be all like:
"...:shady: Yeah...?"
We'd say:
"There!"
Then they would slowly back away while we are all like:
:P
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Postby bigsleepj » Thu Nov 23, 2006 7:27 pm

I've almost finished CASH: The Autobiography and I'm now moving on to THUD! by Terry Pratchett.
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Postby Kokhiri Sojourn » Sun Nov 26, 2006 6:35 pm

A River Runs Through It and other Stories, by Norman McLean
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Postby Kaori » Sun Nov 26, 2006 10:25 pm

Flannery O'Connor's short story collection A Good Man is Hard to Find. As with any collection, the quality of the stories varied, but some were very good.

The Dark Shore by Adam Lee. This book looked interesting but turned out to be rather un-recommendable, aside from the author's fairly strong world-building.
Let others believe in the God who brings men to trial and judges them. I shall cling to the God who resurrects the dead.
-St. Nikolai Velimirovich

MAL
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Postby Kokhiri Sojourn » Sun Nov 26, 2006 10:30 pm

Kaori wrote:Flannery O'Connor's short story collection A Good Man is Hard to Find. As with any collection, the quality of the stories varied, but some were very good.


O'Connor is one of my favorites - this was the first book I got from her as well as the title being my introduction to her writings. She spares no discomfort in her writing, includes so much in every phrase and description. I took a class exclusively on her and Steinbeck in college (I am still trying to figure out why the two were together), but anyway, enough rambling. Great author, but not always easy reading.
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Postby Mi-Ru-Me » Mon Nov 27, 2006 8:32 pm

StarGazer By Michael Friedman
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Postby FarmGirl » Tue Nov 28, 2006 3:02 pm

The Legend of Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irving.
Not going to take long.
Until you find something worth dying for, you're not really living.
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Postby Needle Noggin » Thu Nov 30, 2006 4:05 pm

I have just finished A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess, which is fantastic, and before that I read The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas and The Color of Magic by Terry Pratchett. Both of them are fantastic as well.

Now I'm starting Hyperion by Dan Simmons.
Go young wildebeest
for you must gallop yonder
mayonaise amen
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Postby Alice » Thu Nov 30, 2006 11:15 pm

In The Company of Cheerful Ladies, by Alexander McCall Smith (a No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency mystery)

The Well of Lost Plots, by Jasper Fforde (a fantasy-mystery 3rd in the series that started with "The Eyre Affair")
People talking without speaking
People hearing without listening
People writing songs that voices never share

And no one dared
Disturb the sound of silence.
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Postby mitsuki lover » Mon Dec 04, 2006 12:02 pm

Leaving Church,a memoir of faith by Barbara Brown Taylor,the story of an Episcopalian rector who finds her true calling as part of her former flock.Just started looks promising.
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Postby uc pseudonym » Mon Dec 04, 2006 6:43 pm

Brothers in Christ by Fritz Blanke
From the Beast to the Blonde: On Fairy Tales and Their Tellers by Marina Warner
"Bakhtin's Carnival Reversed: King's The Shing as Dark Carnival" by Linda Holland-Toll

The first is radical reformation history; it's pretty basic though good as far as chronological overview. I'm reading it to study for a final exam in a few weeks. The second is another book on fairy tales, though so far I haven't found it as insightful as I had hoped. The last was for a literature class and was interesting, though I felt it overanalyzed a bit much.
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Postby Kokhiri Sojourn » Mon Dec 04, 2006 7:40 pm

[quote="uc pseudonym"]Brothers in Christ by Fritz Blanke
From the Beast to the Blonde: On Fairy Tales and Their Tellers by Marina Warner
"Bakhtin's Carnival Reversed: King's The Shing as Dark Carnival" by Linda Holland-Toll

The first is radical reformation history]

What kind of approach does From Beast to Blonde take towards fairy tales? A general summation of their themes, or content? Or is it more specifically dealing with individual fairy tales? What is it like, and would you at all recommend it? It sounds like it has potential.
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Postby uc pseudonym » Tue Dec 05, 2006 6:07 pm

I don't particularly recommend it, I suppose. It covers a variety of approaches, from individual to general, but I'm not particularly fond of the methodology that appears throughout. The feminist criticism has all been said better and more clearly by someone else, the Freudian criticism isn't particularly insightful, and while it has some more interesting things to say about the nature of the people who wrote the fairy tales and their social context it isn't anything particularly new.

That's the best I can do for a review at the moment; I hope it gives you a good enough impression of it.
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Postby Andy Reddson » Tue Dec 05, 2006 6:29 pm

Left Behind series. Just finished book ten, but I think it's casuing my PTSD to act up.
I am not your friend. In fact, I’m probably someone you hate…
But I’m the guy backing you up. So DUCK, and let me do my job.
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Postby Kokhiri Sojourn » Thu Dec 07, 2006 8:57 am

[quote="uc pseudonym"]I don't particularly recommend it, I suppose. It covers a variety of approaches, from individual to general, but I'm not particularly fond of the methodology that appears throughout. The feminist criticism has all been said better and more clearly by someone else, the Freudian criticism isn't particularly insightful, and while it has some more interesting things to say about the nature of the people who wrote the fairy tales and their social context it isn't anything particularly new.

That's the best I can do for a review at the moment]

Yeah, thanks for that. I'll probably pass it up and maybe do some research elsewhere.

Btw, I just started Eats, Shoots and Leaves by Lynne Truss. I love her tone and her humor, especially about something a little less than ideal for humor.
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Postby Alice » Thu Dec 07, 2006 9:24 am

The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency, by Alexander McCall Smith (mystery-drama)

Mr. Mysterious and Company, by Sid Fleischman (about a traveling magician and his family in the American Old West - children's fiction)

Howl's Moving Castle, by Diana Wynne Jones (fantasy)

Prospero's Children, by Jan Siegel (fantasy)
People talking without speaking
People hearing without listening
People writing songs that voices never share

And no one dared
Disturb the sound of silence.
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Postby kaji » Thu Dec 07, 2006 10:02 am

I have been enjoying A Faith for all Seasons by Dr. Ted M. Dorman. Its a bit of a heavy read, but does an excelent job laying out historic Christian belief in its classical expression. If you have ever wondered why you believe what you believe, dont pass this book up.
Depend on it. God's work done in God's way will never lack God's supply. He is too wise a God to frustrate His purposes for lack of funds, and He can just as easily supply them ahead of time as afterwards, and He much prefers doing so.
- J. Hudson Taylor
I remember that one fateful day when Coach took me aside. I knew what was coming. "You don't have to tell me," I said. "I'm off the team, aren't I?" "Well," said Coach, "you never were really ON the team. You made that uniform you're wearing out of rags and towels, and your helmet is a toy space helmet. You show up at practice and then either steal the ball and make us chase you to get it back, or you try to tackle people at inappropriate times." It was all true what he was saying. And yet, I thought something is brewing inside the head of this Coach. He sees something in me, some kind of raw talent that he can mold. But that's when I felt the handcuffs go on.
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
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Postby mitsuki lover » Thu Dec 07, 2006 12:22 pm

My America,What My Country Means To Me By 150 Americans From All Walks Of
Life edited and with an introduction by Hugh Downs

Produced after 9/11/01 it includes comments from such celebs as:
Alan Alda
Desi Arnaz,Jr.
Yogi Berra
Walter Cronkite
Jamie Farr
Paul Harvey
Art Linkletter
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Postby Htom Sirveaux » Sun Dec 10, 2006 5:51 pm

The Dark Tower book III: The Waste Lands. Next I'll finish up the Circle Trilogy with White.
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Postby uc pseudonym » Sun Dec 10, 2006 5:58 pm

The Bloody Chamber by Angela Carter

Given by a friend because it was about fairy tales. Seems decidedly odd so far; I'm not sure if I want to make a judgment call on it yet. It is mostly traditional stories in "novelized" form with a variety of endings.
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Postby Technomancer » Sun Dec 10, 2006 6:28 pm

When Red is Black by Qiu Xiolong

When Yin Lige, the author of a banned book, is found murdered in her Shanghai apartment, detective Yu Guangming and his boss, Chief Inspector Chen Cao, must solve a case that may have far-reaching political and social implications. (The "red" of the title refers to Mao Zedong's Red Guard, the "black" to the supposed enemies of the working class denounced during the Cultural Revolution.) Yu doggedly pursues all leads, even as personal misfortunes threaten to ruin his life. Chen must help from afar as he takes time off to earn extra income translating business documents for an ambitious entrepreneur. Suspects range from the poignant "shrimp woman," who peels shrimp for a living, to possible enemies from the distant past. Yu soon uncovers the long-ago romance between the victim and Yang Bing, a college professor. This love affair, delicately rendered, allows the author to include many fragile but beautiful Chinese poems. Deftly depicting a China fractured along class and party lines even in matters of love, Qiu also dramatically demonstrates how the past affects the daily lives of Chinese people today.
The scientific method," Thomas Henry Huxley once wrote, "is nothing but the normal working of the human mind." That is to say, when the mind is working; that is to say further, when it is engaged in corrrecting its mistakes. Taking this point of view, we may conclude that science is not physics, biology, or chemistry—is not even a "subject"—but a moral imperative drawn from a larger narrative whose purpose is to give perspective, balance, and humility to learning.

Neil Postman
(The End of Education)

Anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge

Isaac Aasimov
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Postby Alice » Sun Dec 10, 2006 9:53 pm

Tears of the Giraffe, by Alexander McCall Smith (more No. 1... mysteries)

Second Time Around, by Nancy Moser (Christian time travel - sequel to Time Lottery - which is great!)
People talking without speaking
People hearing without listening
People writing songs that voices never share

And no one dared
Disturb the sound of silence.
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Postby Tenshi no Ai » Mon Dec 11, 2006 10:59 am

Ok, finally got around to finishing the last 2 chapters of The Silver Chair last night! (Been busy...) Now onto wrapping up the chronicles with The Last Battle...
神 は、 その 独り 子 を お与え に なった ほど に 世 お愛 された。
独り 子 を 信じる 者 が 一人 も滅 ひない で, 永遠 の 命 お得る ため で ある。

ヨハネ 3:16
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Postby yukinon » Tue Dec 12, 2006 8:58 am

Yay! What did you think of the Silver Chair?
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Postby Tenshi no Ai » Tue Dec 12, 2006 10:02 am

yukinon wrote:Yay! What did you think of the Silver Chair?


Pretty good (just like the others^^) although I was sitting there reading through for the longest time thinking "I don't see ANYTHING here about a silver chair yet!". Although the title was relevant and all, I guess maybe a different choice of a title would've been better. Unless I was the only one wondering when this special chair would show up^^
神 は、 その 独り 子 を お与え に なった ほど に 世 お愛 された。
独り 子 を 信じる 者 が 一人 も滅 ひない で, 永遠 の 命 お得る ため で ある。

ヨハネ 3:16
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