What are you reading?

[the_wolfs_howl]

Re-read Oedipus Rex for class

[ich1990]

“From the Dust Returnedâ€

[rocklobster]

Currently reading Raymond Arroyo's bio of Mother Angelica, foundress of EWTN.

[SierraLea]

Surprise, surprise! Not all college textbooks are dreary facts!
For one of my classes, I had to read a memoir about the life of a homeless person called Breakfast at Sally's. It made me laugh, cry, and gasp, and I would heartily recommend it to anyone who wants to take a closer look at this portion of the population.
P.S. The author of the book, who is also the main character, is coming as a guest speaker to the class that I read the book for. He's from Bremerton Washington!

[Neane]

Just Finished The Dead Hand: The Untold Story of the Cold War Arms Race and its Dangerous Legacy by David E. Hoffman. It won the Pulitzer prize in 2010 for nonficiton. It is one of the best accounts of the real life arms race in the late cold war. The author presents the real story of the late cold war arms race, including accounts of the massive, secret Soviet Bioweapons program, the relationship between Reagan and Gorbachev, SDI, the Soviet command and control systems, along with other interesting and disturbing history. Much of it comes from declassified sources.

The book also describes several Soviet weapons facilities, and reveals aspects of the nonproliferation problem we deal with today, including several first hand accounts. Almost makes me want to book a flight to Kazakhstan to go explore some of these haunting places.


Also reading Metro 2033 by Dmitry Glukhovsky
Basically, there's been a nuclear war and the survivors of it (those that we know of, anyway) are living in the Moscow Metro. Governments form based on the stations (that is, each station has it's own government, or none, or is in a union with other stations). All kinds of freaky stuff going on, currency is bullets and what makes it interesting is that it's good at making you feel what it would be like to live in the metro, but also everyone is getting all superstitious and stuff and there could be two explanations for most stuff - whether it's mysticism or science. Some of it is over the top, some interesting topics are barely scratched, but it's kept me totally engrossed for the last two days where I've read about 350 pages. Think it was also turned into a game or something.

[Bobtheduck]

Textbooks. I was reading the 5 love languages with my wife, but that sort of fell through. I'm reading Larsen-Freeman's English teaching methods book, Snow's English teaching as Christian Mission, Penny ur's book that I can't remember the name, and Teaching EFL to Children.

Fun times.

[SierraLea]

I just finished Mockingjay. That may be one of the saddest books I have ever read.

[Furen]

working on Black, put Infidel on the back burner for now, makes sense to do it in order so... yeah

[SierraLea]

I'm going to try the original Darren Shan books. I already read the seventh one, and loved having more detailed descriptions, although the manga does a better job with some events like the one at the end with Vancha and the sun.

[the_wolfs_howl]

Perelandra by C.S. Lewis - Really great book; made me think a lot. Also completely freaked me out ._.

The Integration of Psychology and Christianity - What it says on the tin. Just the basics, really.

Oh, and I also re-read Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone.

[ST. Attidude]

Sayonara by James Michener. Awesome read thus far. Nice to learn about Takarazuka.

[Atria35]

Anne of Green Gables - I never actually read the book when I was little. I did Little House on the Prairie, but I didn't particularly care for these types of books, so I'm remedying that now.

[rocklobster]

finished book 5 of Conspiracy 365. Good stuff so far!
Will be rereading the first Harry Potter book for a project for Aspie Catholic

[SierraLea]

Finished book ten of the Darren Shan Chronicles. That was a great twist at the end, but they should have ended right after the big revelation.

[Atria35]

Finished Anne of Green Gables, now onto Anne of Avonlea.

[Neane]

Finished Metro 2033

The book definitely has its moments, though it has its downs too. Generally, what is easily noticeable is that the writing improves over time, this being an Internet novel originally, and as the author himself states, a lot of the improvement comes from the readers who gave constructive criticism at time where it was needed - mainly regarding the technical bits (e.g. metro construction and its characteristics, military tech and weapons etc.). Only thing where it somewhat "fails" when regarding this stuff is science - a lot of stuff is just left to the allmighty radiation to mutate, alter, twist and corrupt - which I personally find somewhat annoying. Anyway, this isn't really the down factor.

The setting is pretty awesome and quite original, and the characters and story set in it are pretty good too. It suffers from some seen-before moments, especially in the beginning of the novel, where it is a standard bildungsroman - it stays like that until the end, but with a lot of philosophy involved. Whereas in itself it isn't something new, it is cleverly used.
The story itself is pretty dynamic with a lot of characters (again, it was an Internet novel), and though certain chapters can be marked boring (at least to some extent), it is all combined well in the pretty powerful ending that is extremely depressing.

Personally, I recommend the book. It's not the best on the shelves, definitely, but it is very good.




Currently reading The Road now, it's so pretty. With its cannibals and baby eaters and a father and son running around, starving in the gray wastelands.

[rocklobster]

started The Casual Vacancy

[Alectify]

Recently started 'The Room.'

[Neane]

Reading Sapkowski's God Warriors trilogy: Narrenturm, God Warriors and Lux Perpetua
Set during the 15th century, it accurately depicts the brutality, hypocrisy and oversexed nature of the medieval times.

[SierraLea]

Witch and Wizard. It's the dystopian kind, but with a refreshing bit of fantasy. Wisteria is awesome, with her dry wit and crazy abilities. I love her!

[Neane]

I'm reading the 7th book in the 'Temeraire' series by Naomi Novik, 'Crucible of Gold'.

Awesome series of books dealing with a 'what if' alternate reality where dragons are being used by Napolean during his battles of conquest.

[the_wolfs_howl]

The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkien <3

[rocklobster]

Finished The Casual Vacancy.

[sarahjoy78]

Right now I'm reading a book called "The Shifter." But I'm also leading a teen girl bible study and we are reading the book,"Battlefield of the mind." Both GREAT books!

[Atria35]

Two books at once:
The Red Tent - I eat historical novels for breakfast, and this little treasure is one of the better ones I've read in a while.

Urban Legends - because I love these sorts of stories. It's a lot of fun to think of how these stories are changing and evolving.

[MomentOfInertia]

I'm reading the 7th book in the 'Temeraire' series by Naomi Novik, 'Crucible of Gold'.

Awesome series of books dealing with a 'what if' alternate reality where dragons are being used by Napolean during his battles of conquest.

Ooh, that's out already?
Cool.

[SierraLea]

I'm reading Guardians of Ga'Hoole again. I still love Soren. The scripters did a seriously good job of catching all his good qualities in the movie they made of this series.

[rocklobster]

currently re-reading Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets for my blog project. I forgot how annoying Gilderoy Lockheart is. Man, am I glad we only had to put up with him for one book!

[Neane]

Started reading Greg Egan's The Clockwork Rocket, and a couple of chapters in I'm wondering whether I can sit through another of his Mary Sues who all happen to be Newton and Einstein rolled into one (as per his earlier Incandescence) so he can work through the physics at us.

[rocklobster]

Decided to take a break from Harry Potter since I'm halfway through and it wouldn't hurt to start over before the deadline I set for myself. Now I'm reading Mugged by Ann Coulter. And no, I'm not talking about it. She's a political writer.