What's on Your (end of) Summer Reading List?

[NWFlyer 2]

Time for another round of "whatcha reading?" on dropzone.com. I've been doing a ton of reading this summer, mostly non-fiction, for some reason. Of course there was Harry Potter, but I think everyone's pretty aware of that one.

My nonfiction has fallen into general themes ...

Food Production & Distribution
The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan. This book kicks ass; I've recommended it to pretty much everyone and I don't know anyone who's read it that didn't thoroughly enjoy it.

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver. One family's attempt to eat only things that they grew themselves or obtained from a local source. Makes you realize just how much we eat out of season in this day and age.

Twinkie, Deconstructed by Steve Ettlinger. A little too much information about what goes into the average twinkie. More than you ever wanted to know about soy lecithin.

Dead Bodies
Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers. This one's fun, if you're not at all squeamish.

Body of work : meditations on mortality from the human anatomy lab by Christine Montross. All about the use of human cadavers in medical education.

Live Bodies
How Doctors Think by Jerome Groopman and Better: A Surgeon’s Notes on Performance by Atul Gawande. Life as a doctor.

International Politics/Religion/Economics
The Crisis of Islam by Bernard Lewis. A compact and remarkably easy-to-read book that traces the history of conflicts between Islam and other religions/cultures. It's very balanced and I learned a lot about how we got where we are today.

Confessions of an Economic Hit Man by John Perkins. It's way over the top, very biased, and probably partly his imagination, but it's still a good education on the impact US investment can have around the world.

Memoirs/Biography
Ten Points by Bill Strickland. Tough read but still very funny. Bike racing as therapy to move beyond an abused childhood.

No Shortcuts to the Top by Ed Viesturs. Climb every mountain, search high and low
Follow every by way, every path you know. Or something like that. Except you can't really sing when you're climbing 8000 meters high without oxygen.

Opening Day: The Story of Jackie Robinson's First Season by Jonathan Eig. Great story, as always.

That's all I can remember right now ... it's been a busy summer of reading; I've definitely been getting my tax dollars' worth at the library.

"There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

[JohnMitchell 16]

Instructions for wood floor installation.

That and a Seattle newspaper article that talked about Krisanne Combs, a really cool babe who lives in Seattle (Ballard). Good on you, sweetie.

[Coreece 190]

Barabbas by Marie Corelli (1893)
I've had this book on my list for a while. I began reading it but was unable to finish before I had to move and return it to the library. This book and others by Marie Corelli have been highly recommended to me. she was the most widely read author of fiction in her time but came under harsh criticism from many of the literary elite for her overly melodramatic and emotional writing. She has been called "a woman of deplorable talent who imagined that she was a genius, and was accepted as a genius by a public to whose commonplace sentimentalities and prejudices she gave a glamorous setting" and represented as having "the imagination of a Poe with the style of an Ouida and the mentality of a nursemaid."

Knowing God by J.I packer
A must read for Christians or anybody looking for more insight into the Bible. The reviews have been great across the board.

A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking

The World As I See It and Ideas and Opinions by Albert Einstein
I already have these two e-books, but I can't stand reading books on a computer anymore. I have over 450 e-books and have came to the conclusion that there is something to be said about sitting back in a Lazy-Boy with a good old hard cover.

I think I will also add The Crisis of Islam by Bernard Lewis that you have listed.

I have also started writing a book about a man fighting for his son in California's family law system. It will just be a basic template allowing me to write a screenplay. I haven't decided if it will be a book on victory, revenge, or redemption. I think I would rather have an independant film focusing on revenge and redemption, and than writing a seperate novel on victory. The true story ended in a boring drawn out compromise that entailed almost three years of negotiations. (This does not make for an entertaining story.)

Thanks for the post

Best Regards

Your secrets are the true reflection of who you really are...

[skysprite 0]

I read the latest young adult book "craze" (if you can call it that - not HP status yet but has potential I think)

Twilight
New Moon
Eclipse

All by Stephenie Meyer

I want the next one to hurry up and come out! I've really enjoyed the series thus far.

Yeah, I'm a big kid.

~skysprite

[nerdgirl 0]

Great topic!

I just got Barry Kellman's "Bioviolence: Preventing Biological Terror and Crime" to review.

The other one sitting on my desk that looks very good (to me (not the political one).

VR/Marg

Act as if everything you do matters, while laughing at yourself for thinking anything you do matters.
Tibetan Buddhist saying

[Brittentay 0]

Into The Wild, Jon Krakauer
Deep Survival, Laurence Gonzales
pilot/flight attendant contracts and FAR's (not for enjoyment!!!!)

thats it for right now

thank you for sharing yours with us though! im definitely going to check some of them out. (especially the food ones! )

[lauraliscious 0]

Wow, Krisanne you have been busy reading!!! I seem to have slacked off lately. What is this article in the newspaper that JohnMitchell mentioned?? I'd love to read that!

Anyway, this summer I re-read all the Harry Potter books in anticipation of #7.

Lately I've been spending some time with the SIM and IRM to get my coaches rating.

Last book I read was Life of Pi by Yann Martel, which I thoroughly enjoyed.
Currently reading One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez.
Next up is probably House of Sand and Fog by Andre Dubus III.

Now that I think about it, that sounds like a list straight out of Oprah's book club. I think I need to expand my horizons.

Enemiga Rodriguez, PMS #369, OrFun #25, Team Dirty Sanchez #116, Pelt Head #29, Muff #4091

[Brittentay 0]

i read one hundred years of solitude last summer, and really liked it! but i did find it incredibly hard to keep all the names/families/storylines straight. have you had this problem at all? id almost like to read it again and keep a notebook of some kind! i feel like i missed out on some things b/c i was so busy trying to understand Who he was talking about!

i liked love in the time of cholera much better.

[normiss 892]

I am almost half way through everything written by Katy Reichs.
I got bored with Patricia Cornwell, I had read a number of her books and was starting to have some issues or difficulties with her odd writing style...then I tried Isle of Dogs and was through! What an odd book...just nonsense to me!
I'm also starting to get quite a mafia read going, as I currently read Made Men and have The Last Gangster, Murder Machine, and Blood and Honor on the shelf waiting. Other than that....2 new cookbooks to review, Mexican and Firehouse cooking, and some SonicWall firewall technical manuals.
I just can't stop reading...

[nerdgirl 0]

One other that I requested last week, which may be more appropriate for Speaker's Corner , is

Dissenting Voices in America's Rise to Power
by David Mayers (Boston University)

"This book offers a major rereading of US foreign policy from Thomas Jefferson's purchase of Louisiana expanse to the Korean War. This period of one hundred and fifty years saw the expansion of the United States from fragile republic to transcontinental giant. David Mayers explores the dissenting voices which accompanied this dramatic ascent, focusing on dissenters within the political and military establishment and on the recurrent patterns of dissent that have transcended particular policies and crises. The most stubborn of these sprang from anxiety over the material and political costs of empire while other strands of dissent have been rooted in ideas of exigent justice, realpolitik, and moral duties existing beyond borders. Such dissent is evident again in the contemporary world when the US occupies the position of preeminent global power. Professor Mayers's study reminds us that America's path to power was not as straightforward as it might now seem."

Marg

Act as if everything you do matters, while laughing at yourself for thinking anything you do matters.
Tibetan Buddhist saying

[freethefly 6]

Just finished reading the Missouri Drivers Handbook last week. Had to take the written and driving test after a 12 year revocation for DWI's (2 extra years for driving while revoked, twice). Ironically, the only question I got wrong was the question concerning drunk driving

"...And once you're gone, you can't come back
When you're out of the blue and into the black."
Neil Young

[HeatherB 0]

Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver (good, but could have been edited waaaay down)

Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius by Dave Eggers (it was a re-read for me, someone chose it for book club)

While I Was Gone by Sue Miller (it was just okay)

Can you keep a secret? by Sophie Kinsella (short, fairly funny, girly story)

Lord Vishnu's Love Handles by Will Clarke (goofy, amusing, by a local author)

The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros (short, sad, good read)

The Stolen Child by Keith Donohue (one of my favorites this year, might have read it in Spring, not summer, it's a fantasy/fairies story...uniquely done)

Couldn't get through Vanishing Acts by Jodi Picoult, because it was just booooring and lame. (So many women seem to like her, but I just don't get it)

American Gods by Neil Gaiman (not finished with it yet)

And the 1st Harry Potter book (not finished with it yet)

And a bunch of work-related books.

[NWFlyer 2]

Quote

What is this article in the newspaper that JohnMitchell mentioned?? I'd love to read that!

In my local newspaper's business section.

edited by request

"There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

[freethefly 6]

Sick Puppy by Carl Hiaasen, great book, great writer and Florida evironmentalist. The guy has an extreme hatred for politicians in Florida.

"...And once you're gone, you can't come back
When you're out of the blue and into the black."
Neil Young

[normiss 892]

and all things Disney.

Skinny Dip is my favorite of his, although I do have an autographed copy of Nature Girl that I also enjoyed a lot.

[lauraliscious 0]

Quote

i read one hundred years of solitude last summer, and really liked it! but i did find it incredibly hard to keep all the names/families/storylines straight. have you had this problem at all? id almost like to read it again and keep a notebook of some kind! i feel like i missed out on some things b/c i was so busy trying to understand Who he was talking about!

i liked love in the time of cholera much better.

I'm doing okay with the names/families/storyline so far, although there are A LOT of repetitive names through the generations! Seems to be getting more complicated the farther into it I get. I'm about halfway through, so I'll let you know what I think when I finish. Haven't read Love in the Time of Cholera yet, have to put it on my list.

And Krisanne, that article is awesome! You're even more famous now!!!

Enemiga Rodriguez, PMS #369, OrFun #25, Team Dirty Sanchez #116, Pelt Head #29, Muff #4091

[Shotgun 1]

I'm currently reading Chaplin and American Culture by Charles Maland... and a few school books, which limits the time I have for reading anything else.

[fields 0]

Recently read-
Spook Country by William Gibson.
Twins Study: Stories by Stacey Richter
Love Medicine by Louise Erdrich
The Year's Best SF 12 editted by David Hartwell and Kathryn Cramer
The Thin Tear in the Fabric of Space by Douglas Trevor

and several O'Henry Prize Stories collections.

"And the sky is blue and righteous in every direction" Survivor Chuck Palahniuk

[airkid 0]

i am too busy living a real life and writing my own pages to read someone elses....

[ChasingBlueSky 0]

Let's see, this summer I read:

All seven Harry Potter books. I was surprised at just how much I got sucked into these books and how great the entire story line is. I'm glad I was able to sit down and read them all over a period of one month without waiting.

The Great Transformation: The Beginning of Our Religious Traditions by Karen Armstrong (a tough, dry read by very informative. Have had the book for some time and finally sat down and read it recently)

Charlie Wilson's War by george Crille (An amazing book esp. in light of everything that is going on in the world. Will be a movie this winter).

Hocus Pocus and Cat's Cradle by Vonnegut. Don't bother with Hocus Pocus. Cat's Cradle is something I tend to re-read every year and to date is one of my all time favorite books.

Prey and State of Fear by Michael Crichton. Prey has to be his best book to date and doesn't fail on the end like all his other books.

Failed States by Chomsky. A very sobering reading experience.

Everything's Eventual by Steven King

Watchmen graphic novel - even if you are not into comics, this is a must read. It redefined the standard of how a comic book could spin a complex story with real character development much like any other novel. Some of this you have already seen stolen by the TV show Heroes (even thou the creator of that show claims to have never read a comic book in his life).

House of M graphic novel.

Civil War graphic novel(s).

Currently reading the entire Bourne Trilogy

I know I forgot a book or two in there, but I'm pretty much kicking out a book a week now. I have no pattern to what I read either. I go to Border's or Barne's and just wander in there for an hour or two until I find something that catches my eye.

_________________________________________
you can burn the land and boil the sea, but you can't take the sky from me....
I WILL fly again.....

[TheCapt 7]

I read "Infidel" by Ayaan Hirsi Ali and was so moved I bought six copies and sent them to friends.

[shropshire 0]

S.U.M.O (Shut Up & Move On) By Paul McGee

(.)Y(.)
Chivalry is not dead; it only sleeps for want of work to do. - Jerome K Jerome