what are you reading?

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Spirit Wind 7 said:
I am just into a book called, 'The Book Thief'. It is about a young girl who is in Germany in the 2nd WW and picks up a book and falls in love with learning and reading. She steals books to read and even dares grab them from Nazi book burnings. I am looking forward to just how she deals with this voracious hunger. I will let you know how it goes.
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I didn't read this book, but I did see the movie version which I thought was amazingly well done. So many layers of story going on.
 
We just read and discussed "Indian Horse" at our bookclub. Excellent book. An easy read, but one you will remember.
 
Carolla said:
somebody upthread mentioned book club - ours at church recently read "My Bright Abyss" by Chris Wiman; seems to feature the personal journey of an atheist following diagnosis of cancer, through a questioning & eventual adoption of common Christianity.
I didn't get it read, but it does look pretty interesting as outlined in this review - so it's on 'my list' -
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/26/books/review/my-bright-abyss-by-christian-wiman.html?smid=pl-share
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I just read the review - it sounds like it might be a book I would enjoy.
 
"The Rapture of the Nerds" by Charles Stross & Cory Doctorow. a laughoutloud of a novel for me. reminds me very much of douglas adams. in jokes, bad puns, space opera & wackery everywhere


rapture of the nerds can be d/l here http://craphound.com/rotn/download/

"Little Brother" and "Homeland" by Corey Doctorow, two novels riffing on the current global surveillance state, aboot one teen getting caught in its grip and then him trying to figure out how to live in that world...has a lot of real life practical tips, full of references, and some words from actual real life people who are actively involved in fighting this terror...

all 3 are available by a creative commons license & DRM free

"little bro" & the sequel "homeland" can be d/l here http://craphound.com/littlebrother/download/ http://craphound.com/homeland/download/
 
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Just read Parick Rothfuss' the slow regard of silent things. I loved the words. I loved the story the learning of the character. I love it is a book for folks like me who love books like that..

i am also reading The Redeemer by Jo Nesbo. good so far.
 
Just started Waking Up by Sam Harris last night (broke down and bought it since we had some other stuff to order from Amazon anyhow). So far so good, though he is clearly fighting the urge to launch into an atheist screed at times. Basically, he's arguing for a definition of spirituality that is about leaving the self behind and becoming more connected to others rather than about a supernatural "spirit". It appears that he finds a "pure" form of Buddhism and the closely related Advaita Vedanta as the best path in terms of ideas and practice. He also spends time dissecting the old "all religions are the same" idea as part of showing why he rejects religion (in the sense of traditional organized religion) as part of the solution. The Abrahamic faiths take a few hits, needless to say.
 
I realize that I have forgotten to put in a plug for What If? by Randall Munroe. Munroe is the NASA roboticist turned web-comic artist responsible for xkcd (http://xkcd.com/).

What If? is the result of another project of Munroe's, though it features the familiar stick figure art style of xkcd. He asked readers to email outlandish "what if" questions, which he then tries to apply some semblance of science to answering.

"What would happen if you built a periodic table out of cube-shaped bricks where each brick was made of the element it represents in the table?"

The answer (short version): don't do it.

While the scenarios are outlandish and sometimes, strictly speaking, impossible Munroe does his level best to come up with answers that are consistent with current scientific knowledge but also slightly (or not so slightly) tongue-in-cheek.

In between, he puts out the questions that he thought were too weird or potentially dangerous with quick, witty responses.

It's a fun book with some neat science and if you like xkcd, you'll likely love it. Even if not a fan or are new to Munroe, it's entertaining and, best of all, each question is standalone so you can easily read it in small chunks (which is all that would be left of the book if you actually did some of the things people asked about).
 
I just got Borg's newest book "Convictions" for my birthday. We will be discussing it at church in a couple of weeks.
 
Jo Nesbo - I read an earlier book by him ... it was quite gruesome in parts, but an intriguing story. Is this one gruesome pinga?

I received an early Xmas gift today from one of the docs I work with - non fiction book - "On Immunity - An Inoculation" by Eula Biss. He spoke very highly of it & it's got great reviews. A little reading for the plane on Wed. night. From the inside cover - "A thoughtful and probing analysis of the cultural myths surrounding vaccination. Biss mines within herself & within her community to understand how and why such myths gain traction in society."
 
Really enjoying reading "Effective Church Leadership" by Kennon Callahan. Yes - it's a school text. It discusses why attractional churches run by professional ministers are reaching the end of their lifespan - and why the current need is for Missional faith communities led by missional ministers.
 
BetteTheRed said:
I had no idea Borg had a new book; must add that to my never-ending "to read" list.
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If my "to read" list even ended, I'd be worried. No books of interest to me being published would be a sign of the Apocalypse or something like that. :eek::D
 
I hope that my novel is on everybody's "Must read" list.
Today I was interviewed by the local newspaper about my book. I'm looking forward to the article in Saturday's paper.
 
"Falling Upward" by Richard Rohr. If you are asking mid-life or later sort of spiritual questions this is a good book to help with the journey.
 
Seeler said:
I hope that my novel is on everybody's "Must read" list.
Today I was interviewed by the local newspaper about my book. I'm looking forward to the article in Saturday's paper.
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I got to the end of the story, but not the extras ie. a timeline and there's other stuff that I can't even think of. That will wait for a day when I'm more alert.
 
You just never know said:
"Falling Upward" by Richard Rohr. If you are asking mid-life or later sort of spiritual questions this is a good book to help with the journey.
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I haven't read that book by Rohr, but I've heard on the radio (Tapestry, I think) and listened to some of the homilies from his website and he has some interesting ideas though I can't figure out for the life of me why the RC thought police have left him alone. I'll track it down. Might be of interest (given that I'm midlife and perpetually asking spiritual questions :D).
 
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