WHAT IS EVERYBODY READING NOW? Showing 1,501-1,550 of 2,886

[Alisa]

Nancy, I read Night last year and as you may have already figured out, good to have the tissue close at hand. Very moving book.
by Elie Wiesel

You are doing great on the book citations. Glad you are sharing your comments on the threads. Keep it up!

[Bentley, Group Founder, Leader, Chief]

Way better Nancy....onward and upward. (smile)

[Joanne]

First post. Eager to see if I get the book/author links right the first time. Feels intuitive.

Just now finishing Bill Bryson's "At Home: A Short History of Everything." The best thing about the book is the bibliography. I'm looking forward to a new reading list based on the authors Bryson mined to create his "Whitman's Sampler" of history.

by Bill Bryson

[Alisa]

Joanne, very good job with using the links. It is three elements: bookcover, author photo (when available) and author link. You also added the book link which is not necessary when there is a book cover (almost all of them have one.) Otherwise it looks fine. You'll get the hang of it!

[Bea]

Congratulations on the great citation job! That looks like a book I would like. (You may find your TBR list growing to unmanageable proportions if you stick around here long enough ...)

[Joanne]

Bea wrote: "Congratulations on the great citation job! That looks like a book I would like. (You may find your TBR list growing to unmanageable proportions if you stick around here long enough ...)"

I'm already in serious trouble and have only been exploring the club since noon!

[Bea]

Patricrk wrote: "[bookcover:Grand Pursuit: A History of Economic Genius]by Sylvia Nasar (no photo) These are short biographical sketches of the economists who developed the theories that try to explain what happen..."

The book you mentioned won the L.A. Times Book Critic's 2011 Award for Science and Technology on April 20. It's on my TBR list.

by Sylvia Nasar

[Joanne]

Maybe "Whitman's Sampler" is a new genre! A great way to introduce tantalizing subjects to those with short periods of time to read or short attention spans.

[Nicole]

Bentley wrote: "Nicole wrote: "I finally decided to take all the books that I haven't read (around 70) off my bookshelf and not reshelve them until they have been read. Some have been on there for over 15 years a..."

Thanks Bentley. I will look for it. Right now I'm at the point of reading it just to finish it so the discussion might help me get through it.


by Herodotus

[Bentley, Group Founder, Leader, Chief]

I hope it helps Nicole and we are glad to have you with us. Great job on the citation and you can see that the author's photos are bigger - we get a cool view.

[Jim]

For all that are interested in a visit to a wonderful far off city found long long ago you might try:

City of Fortune: How Venice Won and Lost a Naval Empire
By
Roger Crowley

This is an enjoyable read.

[Patricrk]

Just starting Laurence Bergreen

[Bentley, Group Founder, Leader, Chief]

Thanks Patricrk - it is interesting that goodreads has made the author's photo bigger - looks good.

[Alisa]

Jim that looks like a great suggestion. I may add it to my every growing to-read pile! I read a book recently of an event that took place in Venice and I have to admit it aroused my curiousity about the mysterious city.
by Roger Crowley

[Jim]

Alisa wrote: "Jim that looks like a great suggestion. I may add it to my every growing to-read pile! I read a book recently of an event that took place in Venice and I have to admit it aroused my curiousity ab..."

Alisa, I have 60+ in my wish list and this book was a good pick from that list.

[Jill H.]

Just got this book from the library today and immediately started reading it......although I have so many others on my stack of TBR. Maybe it was the recent 100th anniversary of the Titanic sinking that made me so anxious to put it ahead of the others. It has started out well but there is no doubt that the author detests J. Bruce Ismay and his actions on that fateful night.

by Frances Wilson

[Alisa]

Did anyone else sign up for that 'get crackin' challenge to read a bunch of books by May 19? Ostensibly to get through stuff in your reading pile, my shelves at home have all sorts of stuff I have been meaning to get to. It didn't keep me from buying this recently and looks like a quick read, in a different story line from the usual John Grisham. From the first few pages I am already hooked.

by John Grisham

[Alisa]

That was quick! Am now onto something completely different. A small throng of humanity seems to have read this book. Am I late to the party on this one, or have others not caught up to this one?
by Lorenzo Carcaterra

[Jill H.]

It has gotten rave reviews..........but I hate to admit that I am not only late to the party, I wasn't even invited!! I am not familiar with this book at all but it looks interesting.

[Bentley, Group Founder, Leader, Chief]

Well I signed up (smile) but I quietly put it up and did not announce it.

[Alisa]

Bentley wrote: "Well I signed up (smile) but I quietly put it up and did not announce it."

Once I signed up I felt beholden to it. I was hoping someone else was limping along in their progress. :-)

[Bentley, Group Founder, Leader, Chief]

I was the one who wanted to step up my own progress so you can blame me.

[Alisa]

Bentley wrote: "I was the one who wanted to step up my own progress so you can blame me."

LOL consider it done!

[Karolina]

I haven't visited recently. Just now I am reading the biography of Mary Boleyn, by Alison Weir. There has not been a lot written about Mary, who to a large extent lived in the shadow of her sister, Anne.

Alison Weir is one of my favourite authors. Her research is impeccable and her bibliographies worth reading on their own merit.




Alison Weir

[Becky]

I played the part of Mary in a college production of "Anne of the Thousand Days." Very complex character - I'd be interested in that book. I read by Weir's Eleanor of Aquitaine.

by Maxwell Anderson (no photo) -
by Alison Weir

[Jill H.]

I have just started the book cited below......it has gotten good reviews but for some reason I can't seem to get interested in it. I'm only about two chapters into it, so I am hoping that it will improve for me. Has anyone here read it?....if so, please give me your thoughts.

by Julia P. Gelardi

[Patricrk]

Just finished by Laurence Bergreen I didn't know what happened on the other three voyages he made so this was very interesting.

finished listening to by Russell Shorto Excellent if you like early American History.

starting by David S. Reynolds

[Craig]

Patricrk wrote: "Just finished [bookcover:Columbus: The Four Voyages] by Laurence Bergreen I didn't know what happened on the other three voyages he made so this was very interestin..."
All three of those books sound very interesting. While I personally tend to gravitate more towards recent American history as compared to early American history, I think there's a huge difference in average writing describing that time period versus the really good writing by knowledgeable historians. To me, it's almost as if a novice historian can fake their way through a book on a topic that might have taken place more recently, but you really need to know your stuff to pen a readable book focusing on earlier American history.

[Patricrk]

Finished David S. Reynolds

I thought this was excellent. More people saw the plays based on it than read the book. There were professional groups on tour with the various plays (or scenes from the plays) for 77 years! The Italian version made all the evil characters protestants and Uncle Tom died because he wouldn't recant the virgin birth of Mary. The impact of the book extended internationally and probably contributed to a couple of other Civil Wars.

[Bob]

Reading
by
Amanda Foreman

It's an excellent and fascinating (though more detailed than I need) account of the responses of the British government and people to the ACW, the diplomacy conducted between the two countries, and the experiences of British expats and visitors caught up in the war. Among the surprises for me: how many British subjects served (often unwillingly) in the Union and Confederate armies, how badly both U.S. and Confederate diplomats mismanaged relations with Britain, how many blockade runners and warships were built in Britain for the Confederacy, how much residual hatred for Britain existed in the Northern states, and how close we came to going to war with Britain.

[Bea]

This is right up my alley. Your review pushes it up near the top of my TBR pile.

[Jill H.]

Forensic medicine fascinates me and this book traces the history of that discipline. The author concentrates wholly on its developments in NYC and ties it to particular cases. Each chapter deals with a specific poison and how the doctors and chemists worked to identify causes of death by each type of poison. So far, this book is very interesting.....but is not for the fainthearted.

by Deborah Blum

[Bob]

Patricrk wrote: "Finished [bookcover:Mightier Than the Sword: Uncle Tom's Cabin and the Battle for America]David S. Reynolds

...The impact of the book extended internationally and probably contributed to a couple of other Civil Wars."

Yes! According to the book I'm reading (see below), in the year after it was published, by Harriet Beecher Stowe, sold more copies in Britain than in the United States! Oddly, this didn't translate into strong support for the union side in the ACW. For a number of reasons, the British people did not view the ACW as a war about slavery; they tended to view it as essentially a dispute between rival groups of states.

[Jill H.]

Didn't Britain also want to keep the cotton import trade from the CSA alive and the blockade was interfering with the shipping lanes?

[Bob]

Jill wrote: "Didn't Britain also want to keep the cotton import trade from the CSA alive and the blockade was interfering with the shipping lanes?"

That's what I had assumed . . . but in fact the Confederates were pursuing an idiotic "King Cotton" policy in which they themselves embargoed any cotton exports to Europe. Also, the British were strongly antislavery and didn't want to recognize a slavery-based nation - but faulted the Union side for not pushing emancipation initially.

[Bentley, Group Founder, Leader, Chief]

Bob, we do not see any book below. Try to go back in and edit 1547 and place the book in. We have citation rules.

Here is how the citation should look: (three parts - book cover, author's photo and always author's link)

by Harriet Beecher Stowe

If you need some additional assistance, all of the folders are in alphabetical order - look for the folder titled Help Desk and the thread called Mechanics of the Board.

I am not sure what book you are reading right now Bob.

[Jill H.]

Thanks for the information, Bob. Looks like I will have to read that book since I was always under the impression that cotton played a large part in Britain's participation in the war......who knows what other misconceptions I may have. History taught in states below the Mason-Dixon Line, back in the day, often reflected a regional flavor!!

[Mike]

I my ongoing effort to read about things I know nothing about, I'm currently reading "The Balkans: A Short History."

by Mark Mazower

[Jill H.]

Nancy.....that sound absolutely fascinating. It will have to go on my TBR list which is getting out of control!!!! The British Raj fascinates and although I was aware of the Edwina/Nehru love affair, I don't know much about it. Thanks for posting.

by Alex von Tunzelmann

[Morgiana]

Currently I am reading
by Sebastian Barry

this book is about 1914, Dublin, Irish people are leving for WWI - sounds fascinating for me.

[Becky]

I'm currently reading The House of Blue Mangoes by David Davidar which has been sitting on my TBR shelf for way, way too long.

by David Davidar (no photo)

This generational saga takes place in southern India starting in 1899 and continuing through 1947. It touches on society as it was and as it changed in one small area of India in the days leading up to independence.

[Jill H.]

Although my TBR list is never-ending, I picked up this book the other day and immediately began reading........it tells the story of NYC in the unsettling year of 1977 when the Son of Sam was on the loose, the blackout occurred, the City was bankrupt,racial tensions were simmering, and Billy Martin was the coach of the Yankees. It is a dandy, especially for the person who loves all things NYC.

by Jonathan Mahler

[Craig]

ESPN later made an eight-episode mini-series based on this book which aired a few years ago. I caught a few episodes and they were pretty good. As someone who was living in the Bronx during the summer of 1977 (as a young kid), I enjoyed the TV show and definitely need to read the book one day too.

Son of Sam (David Berkowitz) went to the same high school as my older brothers although I don't think he's part of the Christopher Columbus HS Hall of Fame.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0790477/c...

[Jill H.]

Craig wrote: "ESPN later made an eight-episode mini-series based on this book which aired a few years ago. I caught a few episodes and they were pretty good. As someone who was living in the Bronx during the s..."

I missed that documentary, Craig but I will tell you that the book is fascinating. Thanks for the link but we don't like to use the IMDB for information as it really clutters up the thread. But I appreciate you calling my attention to the documentary which I didn't know existed and would love to see.

I hope your brother wasn't a close buddy of Berkowitz!!! (smile)

[Rebecca]

I'm reading Midnight in Peking: How the Murder of a Young Englishwoman Haunted the Last Days of Old China. It's very interesting. I'm over halfway done and my curiosity of period and location is growing. Might be doing some further reading on it all.

[Jill H.]

Rebecca: Please use the citation guidelines when posting a book. It includes the book cover, the author's photo (if available) and the author's link. The book you mentioned should look like this:

by Paul French

The citation guidelines can be found at this link:

http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/2...

[Morgiana]

Started this book:

by Guido Knopp

(also available in English)

[Jill H.]

I am currently reading a book about London in the mid-Victorian era. It covers everything from the sewers to trade to daily life to what people ate, etc. It is quite fascinating, especially when you compare it to present day London (which I love as one of the great cities of the world).

by Liza Picard

[Bob]

Jill wrote: "Thanks for the information, Bob. Looks like I will have to read that book since I was always under the impression that cotton played a large part in Britain's participation in the war......who know..."

I didn't mean to suggest that cotton didn't play a large part - just that it wasn't quite as simple as we may have thought.

[Jill H.]

Yes, there were many variables at work during that time and as you say, it wasn't quite as simple as it appeared.