The Next Best Book Club discussion
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What are you reading?
Cait wrote: "Lori wrote: "I gotta get my hands on Tinkers. How was it, Cait?"I will know today. Yesterday I got a bit sidetracked; my 2 year old managed to get a sequin in her eye (seriously, wtf) and we spe..."
I really want to read this too. I'd also love to hear what you think. I hope your daughter is ok!
Oh man, a sequin in the eye. Sheesh. Well, I bet her eye looked very pretty and sparkly. And the nice thing is, some of these childhood injury stories don't get funnier with time, but this one will. :) Hope she's feeling better today.
I'm a little more than halfway through Water for Elephants. So far, it gets 3 stars. I love feeling like I'm actually there- in a grungy, Depression-era, travelling circus. I want to be knocked out by a book though, and this book isn't doing it.
Eliza wrote: "I'm a little more than halfway through Water for Elephants. So far, it gets 3 stars. I love feeling like I'm actually there- in a grungy, Depression-era, travelling circus. I want t...Don't give up Eliza, I think you'll be glad you didn't. (I hope).
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I will know today. Yesterday I got a bit sidetracked; my 2 year old managed to get a sequin in her eye (seriously, wtf) and we spe..."
OUCH!
Cait, when my daughter was 2, we were supposed to meet with some people at a restaurant and she picked that time(is there ever a good time) to stick some pebbles up her nose. Hubby managed to get them out with tweezers. Now, she gets eyelashes in her eyes a lot and it's always a struggle with her to get it out and yet she keeps crying. Then she always wants to make a wish and is disappointed when she can't.
I guess I was lucky, my kids never put things up or in strange places. But the things that came out of their mouths. I always had to have them whisper to me what they were thinking when they said Mommy you know what.
Ha...pebbles in the nose. Ridiculous stories about other peoples' kids entertain the hell out of me.
Alex: Really? Well, here's another one. Just this past week, my daughter left her markers uncapped on the sofa. Hubby sat on them in his white pants. He went to a couple meetings with dark blue and green splotches on the seat of his pants until someone told him. At least it wasn't a brown marker.
Yes! That story was also entertaining! Bring it on!
Alex, we'll she what she comes up with next :).
I am currently reading Kate Morton's The Forgotten Garden and finally getting around to the remaining two books of Dante's The Divine Comedy =)
Cool, Li! Like almost everyone else, I stopped after Inferno. You'll have to let us know if the other two are any good.
The kid stories are entertaining. My kids are old (9 and 21) so they haven't done anything funny like that in a long time. Mona, luckily your hubby was able to get the pebbles out. I knew a kid when I was kind of young who stuck a marble up his nose and his parents couldn't get it out. They spent hours in the ER waiting for someone to extract it. I bet that kind of hurt, too. And the sequin in the eye? Ouch!!!!!!! The thought of that is making my eyes water.
I am currently reading Eat, Pray, Love: One Woman's Search for Everything Across Italy, India and Indonesia also. I had heard so much about it plus I want to read it before the movie comes out. So far, I really like it.
Beth, I honestly am at a loss as to why kids do these things. I can't believe the poor kid and his parents had to wait that long in the ER. I guess there must have either been more serious medical issues or maybe there was a staff or space shortage.
Although I love reading great books, I only manage time for a precious few each year, so I try to make sure they really count. I particularly love books that open my eyes to a new or deeper understanding of the world around me, with my top 3 being "
Chaos
" by James Gleick, "
Complexity
" by Mitchell M. Waldrop, and most importantly "
The Final Theory
" by Mark McCutcheon. Why these three?
* " Chaos " because it very accessibly brought into broad awareness key phenomena in nature, such as 'fractals', 'strange attractors', 'the butterfly effect', and all that great stuff.
* " Complexity " because it also very accessibly introduced the next range of concepts beyond "Chaos", such as 'order, intelligence and complexity emerging from random processes', 'genetic algorithms', ' artificial life', etc.
* And " The Final Theory " because, well, where do I begin? It puts all of today's science and its legacy of beliefs and theories under the microscope and shows why our science is now filled with quantum paradoxes, relativity mysteries, exotic 'dark matter', mysterious 'dark energy', etc. It shows how ideas from far simpler times, coupled with formal logical fallacies of human thought, have taken science way off track. But that's not the half of it. The book actually presents a very compelling and surprisingly simple new scientific theory in plain English that re-explains gravity, the nature of electricity, magnetism and light, atomic structure, the theories of quantum mechanics, special and general relativity, and, well, everything really! It actually claims to be the final 'Theory of Everything' (hence the name of the book), and as incredulous as I know it sounds, I have a solid science background and I couldn't really dispute it at this point.
If interested, you can check out my Squidoo lens where I discuss these great books and ideas further, with much more information, links, free chapters, etc.:
squidoo.com/important-and-influential...
I finally finished Blood Song which I really enjoyed. Now I'm starting Lady of the Butterflies I've only read the first 10 pages but its already capturing my attention. Wonderfully descriptive.
I am reading Extravagance by Gary Krist. Involves a set of people who are living parallel times of 1690 London and 1990 New York. Some have been less than complimentary about the book, but it has grabbed my attention and deals with the birth of the stock market in London and then the wild times with IPO's etc. in modern times.
Rayna wrote: "I loved Brave New World. I read it a while ago and I think I may have had a bit of trouble getting into it for the first few pages, but then it really grabbed me. I hope you enjoy it, Claire."Thanks, Alex and Rayna. I'm sure I'll like it.
Believe it or not I am re-read A Farewell to Arms after many many many moons. I am appreciating it more now than I did then.
Trish wrote: "I am on some sort of YA fantasy kick lately.Just finished The House of Night Series and now I am on book #2 of The Vampire Academy series ( which I am loving) I have also read The Sookie Stackhou..."
I just started #2 of Vampire Academy as well. I figured since my classes have started back, instead of reading nothing at all, that I would read something quick and easy that doesn't require much thought.
I've started Mary by Janis Newman. It's a novel about Mary Todd Lincoln's life. Very interesting, so far.I'm also listening to The Cold Moon by Jeffrey Deaver. I've enjoyed all of the Lincoln Rhyme/Amelia Sachs series and this one has started out with a Bang.
I finished Gunpowder by Joe Hill and picked up Bag of Bones by Stephen King, about 4 chapters in, enjoying it so far. I left it at my mom's house when I went for dinner so tonight I also started Stories edited by Neil Gaiman. I read the first two stories which were really good.
I finished the first Maisie Dobbs.. I WILL keep reading them. Now I am reading House Lights: A Novel for the local book club.
Carol (akittykat) wrote: "Believe it or not I am re-read A Farewell to Arms after many many many moons. I am appreciating it more now than I did then."I love A Farewell to Arms. I'm glad you're enjoying it again. What made you decide to re-read it?
I like Hemingway. It has been several years since I had read something from him. The last one I read wasIslands in the Stream : A Novel.
cracked open my father-in-law's Steinbrenner: The Last Lion of Baseball this weekend when i was at there for Father's Day. Surprisingly, this was a great book. Got about halfway through before I had to leave. Man is Steinbrenner an ass.
Carol (akittykat) wrote: "I like Hemingway. It has been several years since I had read something from him. The last one I read wasIslands in the Stream : A Novel."me too
do you remember his poemso much depends
upon
a red wheel
barrow
glazed with rain
water
beside the white
chickens.
the red wheelbarrow
I'm reading Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West.... I started it in High School and didn't like it AT ALL... and I'm still having a really hard time getting attached to any of the characters but I guess at least I'm trying!
gökçe wrote: "Carol (akittykat) wrote: "I like Hemingway. It has been several years since I had read something from him. The last one I read wasIslands in the Stream : A Novel."me too
do you rememb..."
i remember the first time we came across this poem in our 10th grade literature books. we were all dumbfounded that something like that was consider an important poem. i remember that our teacher said that although it was simple, and as someone in class said, "i could do that!", the reality was that no one DID do it, and that's what made it so important. or something like that.
i finished Love the One You're With by Emily Giffin. i liked it, but i didn't really like the main character, and wondered about why she did or didn't say or do certain things. i'll probably read her other books though, as i liked the way she told the story overall.i went back to The Calligrapher's Daughter and i'm hoping i can make it the whole way through now.
my library book group is in a little bit, we read The Lace Reader for this month's discussion, i'm excited to hear what the other (much, much, MUCH) older ladies have to say about this. they are rather vocal in their thoughts and opinions when they dislike something, and this is one book that i think a few of them won't care for. should be fun!
I just finished (and really loved) Girl in Translation & although I have a ton of TBR books, I just happened upon this next one that stole my interest. Started Kitchen Chinese: A Novel About Food, Family, and Finding Yourself by Ann Mah. Since "...Translation" was about a Chinese girl who moved to NY, maybe this one of a girl moving from NYC to Beijing will be a bit of a full circle for me.
Currently reading The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter, Feed, Anna Karenina, Will Grayson, Will Grayson, Gone With the Wind, A Clash of Kings and Fingersmith. A lot, I know :)
Esther wrote: "...TV show that was based on the series: The Dresden Files. Did anyone see it?..."I thought it was pretty good, too bad it only lasted a year.
Hillamonster wrote: "Currently reading The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter, Feed, Anna Karenina, Will Grayson, Will Grayson, Gone With the Wind, [book:A Clash..."hi hillamonster.. i got the heart is a lonely hunter on my TBR. I've been wanting to read this for a long time and my friend just bought this for me from his trip. Let me know how it is.. because I'm still finishing the millenium trilogy :) thank you..
I Am Reading Vampire Academy It Is Great Its Way Better Than Twilight I Have To Addmit That There Are Five Books So Far The Next Book ThaT Is Coming Out In December You Should So Read It The First Book Is Called Vampire Academy, The Secound One Is Called Vampire Academy FrostBite, The Third One Is Called Shaddow Kissed, The Fourth One Is Called Blood Promise, The Fith One Is Called Spirit Bound And The Last One Is That Is Coming Out Is Called Last Sacrifice There Is Going To Be A Spin_Off Series Aswell About Not A Main Character And There Will Be Six Of Those Books Aswell!!! They Are Great Books And I Recomend You To Read Them They Are Great Books :)
Oh I Almost Forgot To Tell You That The Author Is Called Richelle Mead
I see by your avatar name you really like vampires. Have you read the classic Dracula-by Bram Stoker. That is the original vampire tale.
I Luv Vampire Academy wrote: "I Am Reading Vampire Academy It Is Great Its Way Better Than Twilight"Ooh - there's also a new compilation of short stories, Dracula's Guest: and other Victorian Vampire Stories. It collects a bunch of the way early vampire stories, even before Dracula.
I finished The Lovely Bones and I just statred reading The Gun Seller by Hugh Laurie. It's very funny.
im reading the half blood prince(harry potter) for the second time i love it.every time i find something i missed the last time
In addition to reading all of the books I posted about earlier in this thread, I just started Eat, Pray, Love and I'm devouring it (no pun intended... well maybe a little). Every once in a while something bothers me. I don't know if it's her writing style or something else, but I can't put my finger on it. Either way, I'm loving it so far.
Hugh Laurie wrote a book?! I had no idea. That dude is funny.
Alex wrote: "Hugh Laurie wrote a book?! I had no idea. That dude is funny."Yes! It's pretty good so far.
Wild. I'd love to hear your thoughts at the end. My wife is interested too. We're big fans of that guy.
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The Next Best Book Club
Books mentioned in this topic
Little Bee (other topics)Canada (other topics)
Her Fearful Symmetry (other topics)
I Have America Surrounded: A Biography of Timothy Leary (other topics)
Inferno (other topics)
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Authors mentioned in this topic
William Shakespeare (other topics)Kevin Wilson (other topics)
Andrea Levy (other topics)
Lauren Carr (other topics)
Lauren Carr (other topics)
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For the first time? Ohhhhh I loved this book!!"
Yes it is the first time. It's very interesting. I am taking it slow and really thinking about it.