How did you like Hit List?

Bonk by Mary Roach

The Curious Coupling
Of Science and Sex

It isn't as good as Stiff.

just finished
galapagos - kurt vonnegut

A Man in Full
 

A Man in Full (1998) by Tom Wolfe

Some interesting characters, thoughts and concepts woven with good writing and a fast-pace story.

I've just finished reading

'The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making' by Catherynne M. Valente

It is YA fiction, it was sweet and quirky and charming; but quite a slow read. Probably best for the 10 and under crowd.

Now I'm thinking perhaps this...

'The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ' by Philip Pullman
(the author of the His Dark Materials Trilogy including the Golden Compass)

from amazon:
"The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ is the remarkable new piece of fiction from best-selling and famously atheistic author Philip Pullman. By challenging the events of the gospels, Pullman puts forward his own compelling and plausible version of the life of Jesus, and in so doing, does what all great books do: makes the reader ask questions.

In Pullman’s own words, “The story I tell comes out of the tension within the dual nature of Jesus Christ, but what I do with it is my responsibility alone. Parts of it read like a novel, parts like history, and parts like a fairy tale; I wanted it to be like that because it is, among other things, a story about how stories become stories.”

Written with unstinting authority, The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ is a pithy, erudite, subtle, and powerful book by a controversial and beloved author. It is a text to be read and reread, studied and unpacked, much like the Good Book itself."

Is anyone here a Haruki Murakami fan?

I'm looking for a recommendation.

I enjoyed 'Sputnik Sweetheart' quite a bit -but- couldn't get through the first few chapters of 'Hardboiled Wonderland and the End of the World' it was incomprehensible to me.

I think I found 'Sputnik Sweetheart' a bit easier because it was more linear with less layers and layers of fantasy and I didn't have to wait so long to "get it".

I love the surrealism & the post-modernism of his writing. I like the themes and his humour. But some of his works feel so barren, so stripped of emotional depth that I just can't get in to them. Or maybe its a cultural thing? Anyone?

Hi Sparkle,

I have read a Wild Sheep Chase by this author. It is a very short read 110 ten pages total. It is very Monty Python-ish. So, if you like that type of humor you will like this book.

It is a mock-detective tale that follows an unnamed Japanese man through Tokyo and Hokkaidō in 1978. The passive, chain-smoking main character gets swept away on an adventure that leads him on a hunt for a sheep that hasn’t been seen for years. The apathetic protagonist meets a woman with magically seductive ears and a strange man who dresses as a sheep and talks in slurs; in this way there are elements of Japanese animism or Shinto.

There is a sequel to it as well entitled Dance, Dance, Dance which follows the adventures of the Sheep Man and the protagonist from the first book.

I have not read the ones you have mentioned. However, you did ask for a recommendation so I would try the short read and see what you think.

Happy Reading !!

Torture at the back forty. The gang rape and slaying of Margaret Anderson. By Mike Dauplaise

I was 11 years old when this all happened within 10 miles of my childhood home. From what I can tell, the book doesn't have the detail of the crime that was reported on the local news at the time. (that's ok. it's just sickening.) I have met relatives of a few involved in this over the years, still not much willingness to talk about it though. I saw the book in the bargain bin at B and N. Thought I would give it a try. I can only read it in little bits but, it is helping me understand somethings I just had no way of understanding when I was 11.

I agree. Well drawn characters and some good political points in an interesting story.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. Somehow I've missed it.

Just finished the new Sookie Stackhouse and #9 in the James Patterson Murder Club books.

I really liked "Death Match" by Lincoln Child. It was an interesting look at technology and the uses and abuses of it.

Geek Love by Katherine Dunn


I read it when it came out and then picked it up again this weekend. I bet a lot of people here have read it. No use trying to summarize--any blurb I've seen has trouble describing it.

If you've ever read Infinite Jest--and if you have, you're a better man than I--it's something like that. Except, with Infinite Jest, it didn't matter how much I longed to read it. I just... couldn't... do it. Geek Love has the power without requiring that level of commitment.

I just read a great book "Loud in the House of Myself: Memoir of a Strange Girl" by Stacey Pershall. It's a memoir of a girl who grew up in Arkansas with an eating disorder and was eventually diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder. She then came into her own as an alternative type. Her writing is hilarious when it wants to be and very moving. Big thumbs up! I want to be friends with her (always the mark of a great book for me).

I'm also reading Jaycee Duggard's memoir "a stolen life." It's beyond upsetting. I had nightmares about it last night. It's very well-written, also very graphic, and Jaycee is beyond likable. Jaycee has the spirit of a survivor, and that's what gets the reader through the book (at least for me). Some of the proceeds from the book go to her foundation for helping others in traumatic situations. Jaycee was an amazing girl, and now is an amazing woman.

Remedial Queer
 

I tend toward rather trashy reading. Vampires, werewolves, magic users of all kinds, I love them. Unfortunately, all the series I love don't have new books coming out for months, so I'm reduced to reading paranormal romance. Not that there's anything wrong with romance novels, but they're not usually my thing. So I'm currently reading Nalini Singh's Psy/Changeling series. I just started book 3, not sure if I'm going to actually make it through this one, much less the whole series.

I'm also listening to the audiobook version of Kitty's Greatest Hits, a collection of short stories set in the Kitty Norville universe by Carrie Vaughn.

I'm not usually so much with the chick lit - but someone at work gave me a copy of The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake by Aimee Bender. I started it on my way home today and it's not a bad subway read, sort of a magic food experience with chocolate emotional frosting.

the world in six songs: how the musical brain created human nature - daniel j. levitin

i was super excited about the premise of this book and i found his first book, this is your brain on music, completely fascinating
this offering was a bit of a disappointment - a lot like ancient aliens on the history channel stuff here

"The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes" by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Rereading Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen

I will most likely always be an Elinor.

Yes, quoting my own post. I just finished this book and I have to say, I was really surprised. Sort of chick-lit meets sci-fi/fantasy. Still with a heavy food emphasis. I'll definitely be looking out for her other novels.

The Survivors Club: The Secrets and Science that Could Save Your Life
 

(Figured I'd toss this in this thread, too. I first posted it in the Hurricane Irene thread.)


This book is a fav of mine. It is a good read and full of interesting and compelling info, written more like a story, than a manual so it keeps your attention, while educating you.


The Survivors Club: The Secrets and Science that Could Save Your Life

[ame="http://www.amazon.com/Survivors-Club-Secrets-Science-Could/dp/0446580244"]Amazon.com: The Survivors Club: The Secrets and Science that Could Save Your Life (9780446580243): Ben Sherwood: Books[/ame]

I'm reading How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe by Charles Yu, and re-reading Audre Lorde's Zami, as well as Will Grayson, Will Grayson by John Green and David Levithan. Oh, and I've been reading bits and pieces from Ivan Coyote's Missed Her, as well as a couple of essays from a James Baldwin collection.

Since the girl left, I've had a lot of time on my hands.

Are you familiar with Joan Nestle's The Persistent Desire? How do you think the two match up?

This book, "Deep Survival: Who Lives, Who Dies, and Why," was written in a similar style to what you described. I just love these types of books, and strongly recommend this one.

[ame="http://www.amazon.com/Deep-Survival-Who-Lives-Dies/dp/0393326152/ref=pd_sim_b_3"]Amazon.com: Deep Survival: Who Lives, Who Dies, and Why (9780393326154): Laurence Gonzales: Books[/ame]

Yes, I have read The Persistent Desire. I have got to tell you my Joan Nestle story. Back in the 80's Joan came through Los Angeles. My ex-girlfriend was the founder of the Lesbian Writers Series in Los Angeles. This is how I got to meet Joan. Joan wanted to see Disneyland and I was the butch that got to escort her to Disneyland. I got to hear much of the BF herstory that day and during her visit. This is a memory that I hold dear to my butch heart.

As for the book editied by Ivan and Zena, Joan Nestle wrote the forwardfor the book. Does it match up? I am enjoying reading the stories. I will say it is pleasant to read the stories about Butches and Femmes that from other countries besides the States.

I will keep your question in mind as I continue to read the book and try to come back and give a fuller answer to the question. Thanks.

OOOH. Jealous. After reading The Persistent Desire, I briefly flirted with the idea of becoming an historian and/or archivist so I could work with the Lesbian Herstory Project.

I think I just have a soft sport in my heart for Nestle's book because it came out at such an important part in my life. I appreciate how Ivan and Zena wanted to be more inclusive to represent the ways that LGBTQ communities have changed since the mid 90s, but in some ways, Persistence doesn't feel like it's a book meant for me. But that's more of a commentary on me than it is on the book itself.

Book Nine of the Dresden Files series...


I like my P.I.s to be wizards... mmmhmmm

Just finished reading...

Larson, Steig. The Girl Who Played with Fire. (New York: Random House, 2006).

ISBN-10: 030745455X
ISBN-13: 978-0307454553
(yep book nerd)

Amazing book, better paced that the first in the series. I was suprised at the out come and the depth of the characters. I can not wait to read book three.

hp

*peace*