Subject: Book suggestions?
Date: Wed May 1 08:25:00 2013
User: hotnurse
Message:I know we have talked about this before, but it's been a long time.
I need a few good reading suggestions.
I have been re-reading a few of my favorites lately and now want to order something new. Today I ordered Prince Of Tides which was suggested by a friend. Any other suggestions out there? I enjoy a vast genre of subjects.
Date: Wed May 1 08:53:44 2013
User: Snowguy
Message:I have a rather long reading list, but at present I am engrossed in one, to which I returned. (Hadn't complete it for some reason.) It's "King Coal" by Upton Sinclair. Some may recall the classic "The Jungle" also by Sinclair.
THis one details the story of a wealthy young college student who takes on the anonymous role of a new coal miner in a western mine. Amazing book. I will bring you some others I have read recently or intend to read.
Good luck on your search! (By the way, I believe all of Sinclair's works are in the public domain and can be downloaded from the Guttenberg Project, where so many classics--and others--may be had at the pretty price of $0.00!
Link: The Guttenberg Project
Date: Wed May 1 08:58:09 2013
User: TNmountainman
Message:I have a book I'm willing to give away, to an interested party, although I will not ship for free. "Ultrapurification of Semiconductor Materials". Does that fit within your "vast genre", hotnurse?
Date: Wed May 1 09:07:17 2013
User: hotnurse
Message:TN, I think I have already read that and found it quite exhilarating. ;)
Date: Wed May 1 09:10:28 2013
User: mrbuck
Message:I read that book. I didn't find the protagonist to be particularly believable. All to often I found I had to suspend reality and move on to the next chapter. In addition I felt that killing the femme fatale in chapter nine, Method and Materials for Purifying Hydride Gases, Inert Gases and Non-Reactive Gases left the book with a storyline that finished too early and had she been allowed to live could have built up incredible tension, possibly culminating in a car chase.
Just my opinion though.
mrbuck
Date: Wed May 1 09:14:47 2013
User: TNmountainman
Message:So...none of that "I laughed; I cried" stuff?
Date: Wed May 1 09:17:50 2013
User: mrbuck
Message:Only at your posts, TN, only at your posts.
mrbuck
Date: Wed May 1 09:20:09 2013
User: TNmountainman
Message:Touche. Again....
Date: Wed May 1 09:23:25 2013
User: BuzzClik
Message:Not a big reader for recreation. My collection is more like TN's. I recently bought "Experimenting on a Small Planet" by William Hay. Although it's science based, it is accessible to non-scientists who are willing and interested to slog through a few hundred years of the history of the science behind global warming theories. I bought both the paper version and the iPad version. If somebody wants the paper version, I'll throw a stamp on it.
Date: Wed May 1 09:37:09 2013
User: hotnurse
Message:That too, Buzz, is too frivolous for my taste. But I do like science stuff, along the lines of Stephen Hawking and Carl Sagan. For sure I *don't* read romance novels...too much like my own life.
Ok, any more great suggestions?
Date: Wed May 1 09:51:55 2013
User: BuzzClik
Message:The only Carl Sagan book I read was "Contact." Found it in a used bookstore about six months before the movie was released. I like it.
Date: Wed May 1 09:55:12 2013
User: firenze
Message:Hotty, anything by Thomas Hardy.
Date: Wed May 1 10:24:16 2013
User: xeena
Message:"The P&R Boards may be toast"
Date: Wed May 1 10:29:25 2013
User: The_Interpreter
Message:xeena: "It's all about me, me, me, me, me, me."
Date: Wed May 1 10:34:18 2013
User: hotnurse
Message:Check the photo page and see if you can guess who this reminds us of.
Date: Wed May 1 10:34:32 2013
User: SAB
Message:A Woman of Stone by Todd James Pierce
Have you read it Dede?
Date: Wed May 1 10:46:53 2013
User: xeena
Message:firenze: "I'm so jealous of xeena."
Date: Wed May 1 10:48:53 2013
User: xeena
Message:firenze: "I'm so jealous of xeena that she thought of that one first and made a funny, so now I'll insult her some more with my strapon on."
Date: Wed May 1 10:50:30 2013
User: xeena
Message:firenze: "I'm so jealous of xeena, because it's really all about me me me me me me meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee. Damn it."
Date: Wed May 1 10:55:27 2013
User: The_Interpreter
Message:xeena: "I've got nuttin."
Date: Wed May 1 10:58:18 2013
User: Snowguy
Message:So, at post 14, and only a few minutes into a thread about books, she co-ops another thread.
It's no longer about books. Nice hi-jack.
Date: Wed May 1 11:00:42 2013
User: hotnurse
Message:Case in point: here again, a nice thread started by someone other than xeena...who says that she doesn't read threads with names of those she doesn't care for as the authors.
There was no need for her to butt in and make a comment about another thread that has nothing to so with this one, or her. But, when anyone makes a remark about or to her, it's picking on her, or being "jealous" of her, lol with that one!
Anyway, please get back on track here. I enjoy the suggestions...well, most of them anyway.
Btw SAB, I have considered that book before. I will check out the reviews.
Date: Wed May 1 11:02:04 2013
User: FairyGrandma
Message:A few suggestions, depending on what you like:
Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell
Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel,
Wild by Cheryl Starayed
Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes
Lets Pretend this Never Happened by Jenny Lawson (profanity a plenty!)
Mostly, I read history or veg out with sci-fi/fantasy (and tell myself I am not a geek).
Date: Wed May 1 11:02:55 2013
User: BuzzClik
Message:I forgot to mention I am reading a book entitled, "The Environmental Impacts of Hydraulic Fracturing" by Spellman. It's even better than it sounds -- the last 200 pages are dedicated to all environmental regulations covering the fracking industry.
Date: Wed May 1 11:06:40 2013
User: The_Interpreter
Message:BuzzClik: "Better than NoDoz."
Date: Wed May 1 11:10:00 2013
User: xeena
Message:holy fork. it was a joke. lol. I thought it was funny.
Date: Wed May 1 11:11:19 2013
User: BuzzClik
Message:The_Interpreter: "BuzzClik: 'Better than NoDoz.'"
More like Sominex. Not a fan of reading regulations.
However, hottie might like this section: "Subpart I: Personal Protective Equipment." wink wink nudge nudge say no more
Date: Wed May 1 11:11:41 2013
User: xeena
Message:the Interpreter (firenze) can make his little "quotes" after every post I make, about a thousand times, and when I turn it around on him, suddenly it's all me. Wow hotty, get a grip.
Date: Wed May 1 11:16:14 2013
User: The_Interpreter
Message:xeena: "I think Firenze could make me happy again."
Date: Wed May 1 11:18:44 2013
User: xeena
Message:Hottie: "Damn. I am so jealous of xeena! Firenze likes her better than me."
Date: Wed May 1 11:43:09 2013
User: xeena
Message:Hotty, you posted a picture of yourself? You are the one that stirred up that thread of snow's, ya know. I just asked him a question and I got attacked en masse, starting with you. And I didn't dream that up.
Date: Wed May 1 12:27:57 2013
User: Snowguy
Message:Books?
Sharks of Lake Nicaragua -- Randy Wayne White
Hey Jack! -- Barry Hanna
Sky of Stone -- Homer Hickam
And So it Goes -- Kurt Vonnegut: A Life
The Unbearable Lightness of Scones -- Alexander McCall Smith
Date: Wed May 1 13:38:05 2013
User: bil
Message:This Witch For Hire Kim Harrison
Cold Days Jim Butcher
Wards of Faerie Terry Brooks
The Open Church Michael Novak
Date: Wed May 1 13:52:49 2013
User: FairyGrandma
Message:bil,
Good suggestions for me at least! I have not read Cold Days yet, but really enjoyed most of the Dresden series.
Date: Wed May 1 14:32:01 2013
User: bil
Message:FG, the witch is much the same, only in this world the nonhumans are not hiding and it is also a series
Date: Thu May 2 00:26:53 2013
User: lilshedvl
Message:Wow, thought I could read an entire thread without xeena spouting off about nothing, yet again. xeena you just don't see it do you? It would have been a joke if it had been done by someone who is not ALWAYS trying to get the thread turned towards her. However, done by you, it is another pathetic attempt to cause damage. If you could be nice, play fair and on occasion not make it all about you, maybe we would all laugh. Laughing with you is completely different that laughing at you!
Date: Thu May 2 01:26:34 2013
User: caharris
Message:Roses (I forgot the author's name) is a generational fiction novel - a big book but a good read.
Calico Joe is lighter - a baseball story that I loved and a quick read.
James Patterson Private series. (Don't bother with Zoo)
I read for pleasure and enjoyment. If you want more, please let me know.
Date: Thu May 2 13:58:22 2013
User: hotnurse
Message:Thanks everyone, now I have a new wish list for my Amazon account.
Continue to post for other's enjoyment.
Date: Sat May 4 00:23:49 2013
User: Kaos
Message:Hottie - I'm guessing your book taste might be somewhat in the realm of what I like (a mix of pulp, lit, non-fiction, and other as long as it is well-written)
Books I've liked:
Lit/Quasi Lit:
The curious incident of the dog in the night-time
The brief, wondrous life of Oscar Wao
Love in the time of cholera
Snow falling on cedars
Smilla's sense of snow
East of Eden
Pulp:
The girl series: "the girl who played with fire, ..."
Taipan, Shogun
the game of thrones books
Non-fiction
Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage - Lansing
Voyage of the Beagle - Darwin
Captain Sir Richard Francis Burton: A Biography
Anything by Robert Caro
Black Hawk Down
If you really want to work:
Anything written by David Foster Wallace
If you are lazy: subscribe to the New Yorker
Date: Sat May 4 10:32:29 2013
User: hotnurse
Message:Kaos, I've read several of the books you listed. You are only the second person, ever, that I've known to read Love In The Time of Cholera. I almost put it down a few times, but finished it and kinda liked it.
I've also read several books about voyages on the sea, but most of them were in the early 1800 or earlier. I love those stories of whale fishing and how the men endured the hardships of the sea; some even having to cannibalize their dead to survive. Now those were hard times!
Thanks for the suggestions.
Just curious; have you ever read any of Faulkner's works? I just cant get into his style of writing. Wish I could because they are classics.
Date: Sun May 5 16:03:35 2013
User: Katya
Message:Here's one for you, Hot Nurse - bought it on an internet clearance at B & N.
"Daring Genius of the Enlightenment" - it's about a French marquise who was a math genius. Translated Newton's Principia into French. She was also Voltaire's lover. Nough said.
Or I could lend you that fascinating series of organic chemistry books by Fieser and Fieser. Thinks it's still around someplace. Had a whole collection back in postdoc days.
Katya
Date: Sun May 5 17:11:46 2013
User: hotnurse
Message:Kat, maybe the first book listed, but forget the ones about organic chem!
Btw, have you ever read any of the books by Oliver Sacks? Very interesting books on psychiatry and neurology rolled into one.
Date: Mon May 6 02:57:57 2013
User: Katya
Message:Hi, Cath.
Thanks for reminding me about the Oliver Sacks books. I was going to read one in the past, but never got around to it. One was called something like The Lady Who Thought She was a Hat or something like that. Have to look for one.
Date: Mon May 6 12:06:17 2013
User: bil
Message:didn't we talk about Garcia Marquez in the past, I read a short story collection: "No One Writes to the Colonel" long time ago and then in addition to "Love In The Time Of Cholera", I've read "One Hundred Years Of Solitude, "The General In His Labyrinth", and "Memorie Of My Melancoly Whores"
enjoyed them all, espescially his take on Simon Bolivar
Date: Tue May 7 10:55:25 2013
User: TNmountainman
Message:Ok, here's something that may seem out of left field....
Go to your local library (or possibly bookstore if it's a real good one with lots of literary stuff) and dig into Wendell Berry, especially his poetry. I'll post a link about him below. He's a giant of poetry, imo, and a giant in terms of activism in terms of things he believes in - like sustainable agriculture and the stopping of mountaintop-removal coal mining. He's also just recently become a "Fellow" of the American Academy of Arts and Science, too.
I've only read one of his short stories, and it was good, but some of his poetry is incredible - maybe like little else you've read.
I very strongly recommend "The Wheel". If you have a soul, you'll dig it. Also look at "The Country of Marriage", "Leavings", and probably any of his collections. I haven't nearly explored all his work, but haven't yet found much that's not worthwhile. It's meditative, contemplative stuff, not to be taken lightly. I think his poetry would resonate with very many of you here, if you dare give it a chance. I have not read any of his novels, both because I practically never read novels, and because I can't imagine liking them more than his poetry.
Hotnurse, he lives in Northern KY, so hopefully the Indy library would have a good collection of his stuff. I believe he still lives on his farm - still with no electricity, last I heard. I know this is not the kind of thing you had in mind with your initial post, but at least go to a good library and delve in a bit. I recommend reading his poetry slowly, to let it fully settle in.
Without naming names, I can almost guarantee that several others here that I can think of would really "get" him and his way of looking at the world.
Link: Wendell Berry
Date: Tue May 7 11:35:01 2013
User: Snowguy
Message:Not being familiar with his works, I tend to think I would be counted in that number.
Date: Tue May 7 12:14:30 2013
User: BuzzClik
Message:TN --
Are you familiar with Berry's "Unsettling of America"? It caught my eye but was not on your recommend list.
I have asked our library system to ship "The Country of Marriage" and "Leavings" to be a little closer to me, but they don't carry "The Wheel."
Date: Tue May 7 12:35:00 2013
User: TNmountainman
Message:No, I'm not familiar with that one - I don't think. It's possible I've perused it and just don't remember that title. Of his works I've read, "The Wheel" just resonated with me the strongest. I doubt anything by him would be disappointing, but I can't say that for sure. Let me know what you think after discovering him for yourself...
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