What books are you reading?

[BigMac]

I've recently rediscovered the joys of the local library and have been paying frequent visits. I have little time to read, but few things are more fulfilling to me than spending a half hour or so before bed with a good book.

Currently reading:

Memorial Day by Vince Flynn
City in the Sky: The Rise and Fall of the World Trade Center by James Glanz and Eric Lipton
Who's Looking Out For You? by Bill O'Reilly

Just completed:

The Dark Tower VI: Song of Susannah by Stephen King
The Taking by Dean Koontz
The Janson Directive by Robert Ludlum

[Gulcrapek]

Starting The Great Gatsby tomorrow.

This past year in English I read a crapload of books. Probably double what the other classes did. I don't have English this coming year so I'm trying to read stuff anyway.

Edit: I'm waiting for a delayed flight and should be reading TGG, but instead I'm on LaGuardia's free internet thing. On the plane, I think, I hope, I've been staring at that book for weeks now...

[Archit_K]

I do not like Bill O'Rielly as a person so that might make me refuse to read any of his books.

The Great Gatsby is an excellent book. Make sure you watch the video after reading the book. It’s slightly different from the book.

Oh yeah the book that I'm forced to read is Brunelleschi's Dome: How a Renaissance Genius Reinvented Architecture by Ross King.

[Schadenfrau]

I've got a big stack of summer reading, as I have a broken leg and am spending most of my time inside. My list has been heavy on the non-fiction and I would really appreciate some good fiction recommendations.

"What's the Matter With Kansas?" by Thomas Frank

"When Work Disappears: The World of the New Urban Poor" by William Julius Wilson

"The Big Rumpus" by Ayun Halliday

And I've just finished the new David Sedaris.

[NYatKNIGHT]

I just finished Pompeii, by Robert Harris - it was an enjoyable summer read. Fiction backed by factual setting and, obviously, eruption.

Bummer about your leg.

[londonlawyer]

I just finished re-reading the Heart of Darkness for the fourth time ("The horror!") and before that, I finished Crime and Punishment for the third time. There's a lot of Nietschean blood in those books.

[RandySavage]

"Strategic Ignorance" by Carl Pope - an indictment of the W. Bush Administration's environmental policies. Gets me simmering.

In honor of Reagan and Cold War nostalgia I am re-reading "Red Storm Rising" by Tom Clancy- it's by far my favorite tecnho-thriller.

Just finished "The Future of Life" by E.O. Wilson. Great book on the extinction crisis.

[LuPeRcALiO]

Ross Macdonald isn't bad if you like Raymond Chandler type stuff.. Drowning Pool and Sleeping Beauty are pretty good in case you do..

[krulltime]

Worse Than Watergate:The Secret Presidency of George W. Bush
By John W. Dean
Former Councel to President Richard Nixon

I am sorry but I had to do it. :| I couldnt help it.

[Avenue A]

Ever read Dorian by Will Self? A reworking of the Wilde story exept placed in the early 80's with AIDS afflicted characters. Morbid yes but an interesting read.
Terry NY :twisted:

[LuPeRcALiO]

Drunk in the Afternoon...

Realtor wins Hemingway look-alike contest

Reuters News Service
July 25, 2004, 11:05AM

KEY WEST, Fla. -- A North Carolina realtor beat out a teetotalling short story writer from Kazakhstan and nearly 140 other snowy-haired, bearded men from around the world in this year's Ernest Hemingway Look-Alike Contest.

http://images.chron.com/content/news/photos/04/07/25/acontest.jpg
John Stubbings, center, of Kill Devil Hills, N.C., receives congratulations from Fred Johnson, lower right, and other past winners of the "Papa" Ernest Hemingway Look-Alike Contest after Stubbings won the 2004 competition late Saturday at Sloppy Joe's Bar in Key West, Fla.

John Stubbings, 65, attributed his victory to persistence -- this was the eighth time he'd entered the contest in Key West, Fla.

"You've got to pay your dues," Stubbings said after a spirited celebration on Saturday night.

The 24th Hemingway Days festival celebrated the July 21 birthday of the storied U.S. writer, born 105 years ago.

Look-alike hopefuls from Hungary, Ireland, Kazakhstan and the United States descended on the tip of Florida over the weekend for the celebration.

In a memorable tribute, first-time contestant Vladimir Malikov -- a pensioner from Almaty, Kazakhstan -- presented Stubbings with a gold-trimmed emerald green hat and a symbolic donkey representing good luck.

An avid Hemingway fan and short story writer, Malikov, 65, sold his possessions and collected donations to fulfill his dream of attending the event.

One of 25 finalists, he told a cheering crowd that he will present a white T-shirt signed by Hemingway contestants and past winners to the National Museum of Kazakhstan.

"This is a big honor in my life. I love you all, my brothers, and every year I will make a toast to you," said Malikov, a teetotaler.

Arriving in Key West without a credit card and with little cash, Malikov was unable to book a hotel room.

John Klausing, general manager emeritus of Sloppy Joe's, the renowned Hemingway watering hole where the famed author met third wife Martha Gellhorn in 1936, helped Malikov find accommodations at a youth hostel.

Hemingway, who lived in Key West during the 1930s, used the town as the setting for his novel "To Have and Have Not." Royalty checks and original manuscripts of that novel were found at Sloppy Joe's after Hemingway's 1961 suicide in Ketchum, Idaho.

"This is probably our best year because of the international flavor with three new contestants," said Rick Kirvan, president of the 175-member Hemingway Look-Alike Society. "We're bringing this out for the rest of the world."

The Hemingway Days celebration included literary events, including a short story competition directed by Hemingway's granddaughter, Lorian Hemingway.

On Saturday, huffing Hemingway Days participants also jogged around a block in a "Running of the Bulls" salute to the rowdy sporting challenge in Pamplona, Spain. An arm-wrestling competition today concluded the event.

REUTERS

[Ptarmigan]

I read a book by Simon Wiesenthal, The Murderers Among Us. It talks about Nazis war criminals and some being caught in Argentina, Europe, and America. He even talks of Nazis fleeing to the Middle East, like Egypt and Syria.

[ZippyTheChimp]

Just finished Reagan and Gorbachev by Jack Matlock Jr.

I plan to spend the GOP convention reading Maureen Dowd's Bushworld, so I can laugh at the delegates.

She was on Imus a few days ago (with trepidation I guess). She seemed like she was on medication, but it didn't take effect, so she was funny.

[Bob]

Picked up a paperback copy of the 9/11 Commission Report the other day. Haven't been able to put it down since. Amazing stuff. What an incredible document. As I write this, am only in the 200s, but every page is a nail-biter.

Two observations thus far:

1. As an FAA employee familiar with the events and some of the people cited in the report, I can tell you, the report's findings and timelines regarding FAA's involvement appear to be dead-on accurate. Phenomenal scholarship.
2. The tax dollars spent on the 9/11 Commission were worth it.

[ube]

Currently Reading:
The Years of LBJ Vol 3.:Master of the Senate by Robert Caro


Just Finished:

The Years of LBJ Vol 1.:The path to power by Robert Caro
The Years of LBJ Vol 2.:Means of Accent by Robert Caro

[TLOZ Link5]

I have no time to read! I'm currently on a Tolkien high at the moment, so maybe I'll read The Silmarillion or The Atlas of Middle Earth.

[TLOZ Link5]

I just finished reading The Devil Wears Prada. Takes "Boss from Hell" stories to a whole new level.

[Miss Liberty]

Just started "The little prince"- Antoine de Saint-Exupéry in French
(Horrible for everyone who's just learning French --> like me)

Want to read: "New York Trilogy"-Paul Auster (incredible stuff for every person who's in love with NYC

[YesIsaidYesIwillYes]

A la recherche du Temps perdu - or in English, Remembrance of Things Past by Marcel Proust.

[thomasjfletcher]

I read that Auster book. Very good.
Currently reading "Murder on the Nile" by Agatha Christy
recently read
"Hornblower in the West Indies" CS Forester
"DaVinci Code"
"Lolita" V Nabokov
"Bonfire of the Vanities" Tom Wolfe
"Patrimony" Tim Roth
"A Tree Grows in Brooklyn" Betty Smith

[BrooklynRider]

I'm reading "Collapse: How Societies Choose To Fail or Succed" by Jared Diamond. I have a friend at a publisher who gave me an advance copy. Excellent reading.

[thomasjfletcher]

That book must rock. I read "Guns Germs and Steel". Was fantastic.

[Pilaro]

Yeah, I read "Great Gatsby" in english too, it is pretty good. The video is funny (the "accident") :lol: I just finished "The Tortilla Curtain" by T.C. Boyle, it is marginal.

Anyway, BrooklynRider if "Collapse: How Societies Choose To Fail or Succed" is good, I suggest checking into Morris Berman. I read "The Twilight of American Culture" last year for school and found it rather interesting.