What book are you reading now?

D_Prudence_Admonition_Drightits

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I love to read as much as I love to write. What book are you currently reading? Can you give a brief synopsis?

If you just finished a book, would you grade it on a scale of 1-10 (1 being bad book-10 being great book, could read again) and tell us if you recommend it?

I am reading a series of books by Jean Plaidy covering the Tudor dynasty, and also watching the Showtime series called "The Tudors". I love history so this has been a most rewarding journey.

The book:

The Queens of England SeriesThe Queen's Secret (Katherine of Valois) 1989

Synopsis: The secret marriage between queen Katerine of Valois and Owen Tudor. This is for those who like historical novels. There is some romance, but not the Harlequin type. But it is most fascinating to know their bloodline ruled England until Queen Elizabeth.

Books score: 10
Recommend: Highly

 

petergroot

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Seems like reading is a thing of the past. I have just started Ken Follet's Pillars of the earth, a historical novel set in Europe. Plot revolves around the building of the great European cathedrals. so far it looks good.
 

vince

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I just finished "Birds Without Wings" by Louis de Bernieres. It's a fictional account about the waning years of the Ottoman empire, the heartbreaking separation of two ancient cultures and the terrible price of love, politics, and war. The prose is beautiful, sensual and detailed.
10/10
 

D_Prudence_Admonition_Drightits

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Seems like reading is a thing of the past. I have just started Ken Follet's Pillars of the earth, a historical novel set in Europe. Plot revolves around the building of the great European cathedrals. so far it looks good.

I know what you mean. Thanks you two for posting. Glad to know someone else still shares this passion. I like the sound of your books already!!!
I hope I see others. I love getting ideas. If I don't I stay in Barnes and Nobles too long. They should reserve my chair in the coffee area!!! I like to have my shopping list.
 

petergroot

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I work offshore and are limited (weight) as to how many books I can carry which is a problem as I read a lot. Then Some-one gave me a copy of a PILE of E-books, with very good ones, so I have my own personal library to carry around. Now the problem is choice: too much(not really..)
 

ZOS23xy

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Finished off the tome SCHULZ AND PEANUTS, a biography of the creator of the cartoon. The book didn't go over well with the immediate family, but Shulz's quirks and life long melancholy rendered him incapable of enjoying himself, despite his vast accomplishments.

One reviewer on Amazon's review list wondered if he has asberger's syndrome. I think he had anhedonia and was unable to enjoy himself. The book is bittersweet and painful. But without the life he led, we'd have no PEANUTS.

Still, I was looking for the national Lampoon tiff that happened when NL printed a cartoon with a pregnant Lucy screaming "GODDAMN YOU CHARLIE BROWN!" Schulz sued and won. There were a number of topics like that that were dropped or set aside. The book is over 600 pages.

And a good number of strips appeared with commentary about how it was reflecting in his life (like his affair and his marriage crumbling).

Good book. For me.
 

snoozan

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Seems like reading is a thing of the past. I have just started Ken Follet's Pillars of the earth, a historical novel set in Europe. Plot revolves around the building of the great European cathedrals. so far it looks good.

This book was good but awful. Good in terms of it being a good light read, and Follett did a good job of researching, but awful because the plot and plot devices are so predictable and saccharine. It was impossibly fast-paced which works better for mystery and thriller novels. But I enjoyed it.

I just finished reading A Movable Feast by Ernest Hemingway. It was great and sad, too, knowing what would happen to Hemingway after the time period of the book. He writes in vignettes and doesn't stick to a linear plot and timeline, but that may just be because it's more a collection of his personal writing, I'm not sure. At any rate, I'd recommend it even if you've never read Hemingway before. I'm about to pick up a few of his novels now.
 

wi_sugargrl

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I love to read as much as I love to write. What book are you currently reading? Can you give a brief synopsis?

If you just finished a book, would you grade it on a scale of 1-10 (1 being bad book-10 being great book, could read again) and tell us if you recommend it?

I am reading a series of books by Jean Plaidy covering the Tudor dynasty, and also watching the Showtime series called "The Tudors". I love history so this has been a most rewarding journey.

I am planning to start reading some Jane Austen. I've read 5 of the six books, so I will start with the one I haven't enjoyed - Northanger Abbey.

I have some of Jean Plaidy's books but haven't started them. Maybe I'll start with the one about Eleanor of Acqutaine. Funny, but I'm also watching the Tudors!

Sugar
 
D

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I'm trying to read "Maximilian and Juarez" by Jasper Ridley in preparation for my trip to Mexico City in three weeks...but Ive been spending too much time on here lately...
 

vince

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"Gemba Kaizen," about the Japanese management technique of incrementally improving things all the time .. it's how Toyota is beating GM
I've been meaning to order that from Amazon. How do you like it?

I'm half way through Alan Moorehead's "The White Nile" (1960). To quote the preface- "There are some books that are so good one envies people who have not yet read them and are about to have that experience."

Moore head tells the story of the white man's exploration and exploitation of Africa and the search for the source of the Nile. Burton, Speke, Stanley, Livingstone, Gordon and the other explorers, missionaries, scoundrels and dreamers are the characters. The opening chapter about 19th century Zanzibar is a wonderful description of the exotic trading port that was a base for many of the expeditions that set off in to the unknown heart of the 'dark continent'.

10- worth a read of you are into history.
 

B_dumbcow

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I just finished To Kill a Mocking Bird by Harper Lee for the third time... Basically about racial justice and whatever with a few stories which seem disconnected but tie neatly together at the end...

I would give it a 9 - it's my kinda book
 

D_Chaumbrelayne_Copprehead

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I just finished To Kill a Mocking Bird by Harper Lee for the third time... Basically about racial justice and whatever with a few stories which seem disconnected but tie neatly together at the end...

I would give it a 9 - it's my kinda book

One of my faves, too. I read it a few times, saw the old movie with Gregory Peck 2x, find myself thinking about it frequently.
 

Altitude

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Right now I'm reading Ishmael by Daniel Quinn. It's pretty interesting; it's about a gorilla who is teaching a man how to 'save the world.' Basically discusses how the modern way of life is destroying the environment and what needs to be done to put things back into the natural order. There are two types of people on the planet in this book, "Takers" or agriculturalists (us) and "Leavers" or those backwoods and 'uncivilized people' (in our minds).
 

Supersized

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Anger Management for Dummies by W. Doyle Gentry, PhD.

Synopsis: a whole book full of ways you can keep form getting angry when you dont want to be angry. Its usefulness to me is that i can recognize and understand other people anger. I dont agree with the author's "never get angry" philosophy.

Book Score: 8

Recommend: Highly