What book is everyone reading at the moment?

[Fengirl]

Sock by Penn Jillette. Loving it.

 

[Worm]

Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdaine

Yowsa! What a class book - Anthony Bourdaine is a classy guy.

Anyway....

Book..singular? I never read just one.

On my current 'being read' list are (in no particular order):

Dr.Johnson's Dictionary - Henry Hitchings
Titus Groan - Mervyn Peake
The Commnd of The Ocean (A Naval History of Britain 1649 - 1815) - N.A.M. Rodger
U.S. History for Dummies - Steve Wiegand
Spike : An Intimate Memoir - Norma Farnes

 

[Esperdome]

Just started The Ringworld Throne.

I doubt it equals Ringworld, but hope it matches The Ringworld Engineers.

 

[Jon.]

Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden; I'm about halfway through and enjoying it thoroughly. Very compelling characters.

 

[elaine]

Weather Makers by Tim Flannery

 

[Serenity]

Yowsa! What a class book - Anthony Bourdaine is a classy guy.

Anyway....

Book..singular? I never read just one.

On my current 'being read' list are (in no particular order):

Dr.Johnson's Dictionary - Henry Hitchings
Titus Groan - Mervyn Peake
The Commnd of The Ocean (A Naval History of Britain 1649 - 1815) - N.A.M. Rodger
U.S. History for Dummies - Steve Wiegand
Spike : An Intimate Memoir - Norma Farnes

Hey, have some respect for the uncouth line cooks.

Who do you think whips up your grub at Denny’s— Chef Gordon Ramsay?

Anyway….

Next read: Just Six Numbers by Martin Rees

 

[Polaris]

Pocahontas and the Powhatan Dilemma, Camilla Townshend.

Very good, very readable, and very well-researched. I love a good mythbusting history book.

 

[brooklyn44]

"Never Let Me Go," by Kazuo Ishiguro (of "Remains of the Day" fame.) It's very well done and very disturbing (about cloning to harvest body parts.)
Renee

 

[Meffy]

Pocahontas and the Powhatan Dilemma, Camilla Townshend.

Very good, very readable, and very well-researched. I love a good mythbusting history book.

I live in Powhatan's and Pocahontas' old stomping grounds, and have some Powhatan-confederation blood in my ancestry. I try to remember to call the "James" River the Powhatan River as it deserves.

 

[Worm]

Hey, have some respect for the uncouth line cooks.

I have every respect for them - I used to BE one

Perhaps I wasn't as clear as I intended - Anthony Bourdain is one of the few chefs I admire for their attitude as much as their food.

(Gordon Ramsay is another one - but in a very different way)

 

[orpheus]

Several:

The Unconsoled by Kazuo Ishiguro.

La Maison de Rendez-Vous by Alain Robbe-Grillet

Dipping into Yves Bonnefoy's monograph on Giacometti

and re-reading bits and pieces of Russell Hoban's novels (e.g. The Medusa Frequency; Kleinzeit; Her Name was Lola) - the seem to get better with each reading...

and always, Beckett. Can't get away from him.

 

[Ketyk]

I don't know how anyone can read more books than one at a time. I can read newspapers, magazine, countless threads, but only one book.

Anyway, I am read "Wish You Well" by David Baldacci. (Warner Books)

I love it. It's part mystery, coming-of-age, and the-little-guy-fighting-back.

The last book I read was "Under the Tuscan Sun" by (I forget). I hated it. Every page was torture, as she rambled on about nothing. I have no idea why it was so popular.

 

[Meffy]

God Save the Mark -- Donald Westlake

The world's most gullible victim, preyed upon by every con artist in New York City, inherits $300,000 from a mysterious uncle. What could go wrong with a setup like that? Well, if Westlake wrote the story, just about everything. Wonderful light comic reading from the creator of master burglar John Dortmunder.

[edit] You can read an excerpt from the first chapter on amazon.com.

 

[antihippy]

I've just finished Accelerando by Charles Stross.

I've just picked up the "Decline and Fall .." by Gibbon. It was either that or Nostromo. I've recently finished The Peloponnesian War by Donald Kagan so I thought I would read a bit more classical history. Oh; and I also finished The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes as well.

I don't normally read more than one book but as I have a backlog to clear I've been reading a LOT.

 

[Aurelian]

Finished reading The Devil in the White City, which was a little flat for me since I've never been to Chicago, though it changed my perspective on a lot of common things like Pabst Blue Ribbon beer, world fairs, Ferris Wheels, and the El...though the previous perspective was mostly due to ignorance. Didn't change my opinions on serial killers, though...

I'll also be finishing "Never Let Me Go", probably today, and am enjoying the subtle subversion-by-language in it. Haven't read up on the author, but I think he has a fascination with the control of groups of humans by other people that is centered loosely around WW2.

A good historical mythbusting book...Orphans Preferred (with a long subtitle) by Corbett, about the Pony Express.

I'm sure the kids will be clamoring for Where the Wild Things Are tonight (a decent break from Goodnight Moon)

 

[Hutch]

America Theocracy by Kevin Phillips. Tries to develop the idea that the Republican "Southern stragety" of the 1970's has led to more and more control by the Religious right (including Southern Baptists/Conservative Lutherans/and Mormons among others) that may end up with the Republican party becone a defacto religious party. And combined with the oil and debt crisis, this type of mindset may not be a good thing.

About 1/2 way through, I am not sure that I buy all the premises the author does, but it is well researched and amply footnoted and worth the effort.

 

[Terry]

On the plane back from vacation, I read Things my girlfriend and I have argued about (Mil Millgrom) and Learning the World (Ken Macleod)

 

[Chris Haynes]

Extraordinary Popular Delusions & the Madness of Crowds ... I had it from the library before this weeks Randi commentary!

 

[Meffy]

Foundation -- Isaac Asimov

Because I was reminded of it in a thread here at JREF.

 

[Bikewer]

Just got Bart Ehrman's "Misquoting Jesus". One of his previous books, Lost Christianities, is a must for any skeptic. This one promises to explore the earliest Christian scribes, and why they altered various texts.