So...what are you reading (Vol VI)

Discussion in 'Books' started by chazsoccer, Feb 20, 2009.

  1. elbp

    elbp Member

    Feb 1, 2007
    Cordoba, ARG
    Club:
    --other--
    Nat'l Team:
    Argentina
    Just finished:

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    Compelling story and some fine writing.

    I have just started:

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  2. Iceblink

    Iceblink Member

    Oct 11, 1999
    Chicago
    Club:
    Ipswich Town FC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Man! I had a similar idea for a book YEARS ago! Not quite the same thing, but I wanted to write about a class of students who get the assignment from their teacher to invent slang terms and get them injected into various groups' common vernacular. Each chapter was going to be the adventure of one of the words. Sucks to be a procrastinator.
     
  3. Iceblink

    Iceblink Member

    Oct 11, 1999
    Chicago
    Club:
    Ipswich Town FC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Just finished this:

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    Beat the Reaper by Jeff Bazell. Lots of fun. Some really gross and frightening medical stuff.


    Currently continuing to read this:

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    The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest (though I wonder why there's only one hornet for this title... and why I keep typing horney).

    (on the kindle, just like in the picture).

    Also listening to this in the car:

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    Mockingjay
     
  4. HerthaBerwyn

    HerthaBerwyn Member+

    May 24, 2003
    Chicago
    Colleen McCullough is a researching and filling in the personalities genius.

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    Lucius Cornelius Sulla having it out with Gaius Marius. I cant recommend this series enough. It sputters a bit in the last book (Antony and Cleopatra) because McCullough is in poor health and she didnt intend on carrying the story past the death of the last of Caesars assassins. Apparently she was hounded into going all the way to the coronation of Augustus.
     
  5. DoctorJones24

    DoctorJones24 Member

    Aug 26, 1999
    OH
    You're reading it through a second time? Wow. I loved the first one and am also in the middle of Grass Crown right now. But I got sidetracked by other stuff a few months ago and need to get back to it. It's fantastic, though.
     
  6. johan neeskens

    Jan 14, 2004
    I'm a woman and stay as far away as possible from book hypes. Maybe I'm an exception to the rule though.
     
  7. Dr. Wankler

    Dr. Wankler Member+

    May 2, 2001
    The Electric City
    Club:
    Chicago Fire
    Yeah, that's exactly what he's doing, only he's trying to get into the OED. I'm a little over half way through and he's having some bad luck, but "pratdigger" (basically, someone who attracts prats) has some hope. Most promising is "honk" as a snyonym for money, as in, "Wordwatching is worth the honk I paid for it." I read ahead and I think Steven Gerard used the term in an interview.
     
  8. Ian Lozada

    Ian Lozada Member

    May 29, 2001
    The Pick Four Pool
    Club:
    Arsenal FC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    [​IMG]

    I know, I know, what are the odds of me reading a racetrack book?

    Actually, this one was the recent surprise winner of the National Book Award, and just a tough, scrappy read about the hard luck types who inhabit a fictional West Virginia track decidedly at the bottom of racing's barrel. There are no royal pedigrees and no celebrity chef owners here, but the dialogue rings as true as can be. Centers on a horse trainer who tries to sneak into a low level track with a string of horses who are ready to fire, with an eye towards stealing a few races and their purses before anyone can realize what's going on and claim their horses, who running for significantly less than their market value.

    Gritty, dark, but feels as real in its 1970 setting as it would even if it were today.

    ***

    Also recommended for great racing reading: Jane Smiley's Horse Heaven.
     
  9. Ismitje

    Ismitje Super Moderator

    Dec 30, 2000
    The Palouse
    Club:
    Real Salt Lake
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Before posting my between-books reading, a quick word of thanks not just for posting what you're reading, but brief commentary as well. When Mrs. Ismitje asked what books I want for Christmas, I looked here. A jillion book reviews on the web, and I turn to BigSoccer! :)

    So, reading a couple of stories from this between each novel or monograph:

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    Lots of interesting stuff in this collection of Card's stories. Almost as interesting is his refelction on what prompted/shaped the writing of each story, and his own feelings about particular stories.
     
  10. Norsk Troll

    Norsk Troll Member+

    Sep 7, 2000
    Central NJ
    Be Near Me
    by Andrew O'Hagan

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  11. Black.White&Red

    Sep 9, 2009
    Club:
    DC United
  12. malby

    malby Member+

    Liverpool FC
    Republic of Ireland
    May 11, 2004
    Rep of Ireland
    Club:
    Drogheda United
    Nat'l Team:
    Ireland Republic
    You haven't been giving up on any lately! This crime spree you're on must suit you. :)
     
  13. HerthaBerwyn

    HerthaBerwyn Member+

    May 24, 2003
    Chicago
    The Musketeers have gone their separate ways since chopping up Milady de Winter (now THERE is a villain.) It seems they are getting the band back together to save Charles I of England. Think they can pull it off?

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  14. Rhand

    Rhand Member

    Sep 27, 2009
    Mol, Belgium
    Nat'l Team:
    Belgium
    Victor Hugo - The Hunchback of the Notre Dame
     
  15. Chesco United

    Chesco United Member+

    DC United
    Jun 24, 2001
    Chester County, PA
    Club:
    DC United
    Nat'l Team:
    Argentina
    [​IMG]
    Greg Grandin-Fordlandia
    About Henry Ford's ill-fated property in Amazonian Brazil.
     
  16. Dr. Wankler

    Dr. Wankler Member+

    May 2, 2001
    The Electric City
    Club:
    Chicago Fire
    Taking a break on language books to get through one I bought at a Friends of the Library sale. Fridays With Red by Bob Edwards, a memoir based largely on his weekly interviews with former baseball announcer Red Barber. Much better than I expected, and worth more than the quarter I dropped on it.

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    On deck, because I'm a fan of Montaigne, a new book by British writer Sarah Bakewell:

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    Better be good, since I spent 100 times the honk on it than I did on Bob Edwards' book.
     
  17. Ismitje

    Ismitje Super Moderator

    Dec 30, 2000
    The Palouse
    Club:
    Real Salt Lake
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    On your recommendation I snagged this at the library yesterday on the way home. Terrific fun so far.
     
  18. Atouk

    Atouk BigSoccer Supporter

    DC United
    Apr 16, 2001
    Arlington, VA
    Club:
    Queens Park Rangers FC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    [​IMG]

    Louis L'Amour -- Mustang Man
     
  19. bungadiri

    bungadiri Super Moderator
    Staff Member

    Jan 25, 2002
    Acnestia
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    I really liked it. The snarky asides and footnotes are great and the dialogue is sharp as hell.
     
  20. Atouk

    Atouk BigSoccer Supporter

    DC United
    Apr 16, 2001
    Arlington, VA
    Club:
    Queens Park Rangers FC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    [​IMG]

    Charles Dickens -- The Haunted Man and The Ghost's Bargain
     
  21. Uppa 90

    Uppa 90 Member

    Jan 16, 2004
    K.C. MO
    Club:
    Kansas City Wizards
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    is that a picture book?
     
  22. Black.White&Red

    Sep 9, 2009
    Club:
    DC United
  23. Felixx219

    Felixx219 BigSoccer Supporter

    Nov 8, 2004
    Kansas City, MO
    Club:
    Kansas City Wizards
    Nat'l Team:
    United States

    When her first book came out, I saw it at a used book store for a dollar within 2 months. I almost bought it so I could throw it in my fireplace but I didnt want to pollute the air with her words.
     

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