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The Booklist

Started by jrosebud, May 02, 2008, 05:02:56 AM

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jrosebud

Is anyone interested in a thread for book recommendations/preferences?

Perhaps we could start by proclaiming our favorite authors/genres and then go from there?  Maybe suggest a genre every week or so and if you have a few favorite books in that category, you could give a blurb promoting them?  Eh?


Editing to note that this is my 42nd post.   ;)
"Every post you can hitch your faith on
Is a pie in the sky,
Chock full of lies,
A tool we devise
To make sinking stones fly."

~from A Comet Apears by The Shins

rlrose328

I'm currently juggling two books... "The Portable Atheist: Essential Readings for the Nonbeliever" by Christopher Hitchens (reading for fun and comfort) and "Creationism's Trojan Horse: The Wedge of Intelligent Design" by Barbara Forrest and Paul R. Gross (reading for research).  

With my son, we're reading through Harry Potter again (we're on book 3 right now) because it's just so fun to read.  

There is another book I want to read again... but I can't remember the name so I can find the book!  It's about a man who suddenly ends up as his teenage self and he keeps bouncing about times in his life, until he catches up with his real age... he's in love with a woman he keeps finding each time, too.  Does that sound familiar to anyone??
**Kerri**
The Rogue Atheist Scrapbooker
Come visit me on Facebook!


SteveS

Quote from: "jrosebud"Does that sound familiar to anyone??
Eh, sorry, stumped me completely.  I am not familiar with a book along those lines.

I'm currently reading "Wizard's First Rule" by Terry Goodkind.  The writing isn't particularly eloquent, but the moral dilemmas the characters face are somewhat torturous, and the story line is complex and involved, so I'm enjoying it.  The story is really a sort of medium to convey his objectivist philosophy (Ayn Rand style), which I find very enjoyable.

I'm also on book 19 of the Patrick O'Brian Aubrey/Maturin series, which has been absolutely excellent.  This is historical fiction, with no real message (that I can tell) about a philosophy or religion or anything.  Just a great story.  O'Brian is, IMHO, a brilliant author.  Just reading the damn words he writes is enjoyable --- the language is fantastic.  Even if a person isn't really intrigued by sailing or 19th century naval warfare, the characters are deep and wonderful and the writing is unbelievably good.  I would recommend this to anybody to give it a go and see if they like it.  The first book is "Master and Commander".  They made a movie with this title, but the movie was sort of a conglomeration of events throughout the series with some artistic liberties (in the books, they go to the "Far Side of the World" after an American frigate during the war of 1812, not a French one --- I presume they changed this so it would "play better" in the US).  For what its worth, I think the books get better after this first one.  The second and third are particularly good.

On my list, but unstarted, is a book about the Hillstrand brothers and their "Time Bandit" crab fishing boat (one of the boats on Discovery Channel's "Deadliest Catch" show).  Should be interesting ---- I love "Deadliest Catch".  There's something primal about the age-old struggle of man & machine vs. nature.

I would love to know what the other's on this board have read and/or are reading --- I love to read.

rlrose328

Quote from: "rlrose328"There is another book I want to read again... but I can't remember the name so I can find the book!  It's about a man who suddenly ends up as his teenage self and he keeps bouncing about times in his life, until he catches up with his real age... he's in love with a woman he keeps finding each time, too.  Does that sound familiar to anyone??

Found it!  It's called "Replay" by Ken Grimwood... my hubby recommended it when we first got together and I loved it.  Now it's on its way from Amazon.   :D
**Kerri**
The Rogue Atheist Scrapbooker
Come visit me on Facebook!


pjkeeley

I'm currently reading a book of essays by Bertrand Russel, the theme is scepticism. The essays are mainly about scepticism in the political and social arena rather than religious skepticism, though he has written a fine selection of material on that topic; apparently his ''Why I am not a Christian" is a very good read. I'm enjoying his cleverness and highly logical outlook and the book is full of gems that I can see myself referring to later, but I have to admit that some trains of thought come off as confusing, out of date or just plain wrong. Still, a good read, would definitely recommend for all philosophy buffs and dedicated sceptics. "Sceptical Essays" by Bertrand Russel, Routledge Press.

Tom62

I'm now reading "The Elysium Commission" of L.E. Modesitt, Jr. Basically this is an action-packed space opera. hardboiled detective story. From the back cover: A brilliant scientist on the planet Devanta has created a small universe contigious to ours - and a utopian city on one of the planets. The question becomes, though, a utopia for whom? And why is a shady entertainment mogul subsidizing the scientist? More critical than that, does this new universe require the destruction of a portial - or all - of our universe in order to grow and stabilize? Blaine Donne is hired to find out and has to decide by himself what to do about it.
The universe never did make sense; I suspect it was built on government contract.
Robert A. Heinlein