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What are you reading?

Ailish

Ailish

Administrator Emerita
As an avid reader - I’m naturally curious what you’ve got on your bookshelf. :D Now that summer is coming - I can't wait to grab a new stack of books and head outdoors into the sunshine!

So - here are a couple of questions for you readers out there:

What are you reading right now?

Who’s your favorite author?

Aside from spiritual books – what type of books do you enjoy?

Do you have any recommendations on something you've recently read?


Aili
 
Right now I'm reading a global conspiracy book that my dad sent to me, titled "Tales from the Time Loop" by David Icke. I haven't made up my mind yet about that book.


My favorite author used to be Madeline L'Engle (spelling?) for her children's sci-fi fantasy works. I also LOVE the author from Canada that wrote "Anne of Green Gables" series but her name escapes me at the moment. I don't have a favorite author right now because I rarely read, being awfully busy with family and work.


Aside from spiritual books, I enjoy reading old classics from England, like "Jane Eyre," and I also like plain old smutty romance novels. :o After a full day working with kids, raising kids at home, cleaning, cooking etc., I like books that are junk food for my brain. ;)
 
I also LOVE the author from Canada that wrote "Anne of Green Gables" series but her name escapes me at the moment.
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:D :D:D


Lucy Maud Montgomery! She has always been a fave of mine, too. I love the Emily series as well. A friend of mine grew up just down the road from Green Gables - one day I would love to get to Prince Edward Island to see it (even if it IS touristy). :o : angel
 
Thank you Ailish! I remember writing her initials over and over and pretending I was her. Those books seemed alive to me, and I adored the Emily series also. I saw the movies about Anne of Green Gables over and over as a child and wanted SO badly to go to Prince Edward Island.
 
Right now I'm reading "A Wizard of Earthsea" by Ursula LeGuin for a second time. This time I intend to continue to finish the trilogy.


My favorite author is Marion Zimmer-Bradley, and my favorite of her books is "The Mists of Avalon". I have read several of her non-Avalon related books as well. I also like pretty much everything Madeleine L'Engle has done, and everything by J.R.R.Tolkien.


In terms of fiction, I tend towards sci-fi and fantasy. I read a lot of non-fiction as well, particularly on spirituality, science, and health-related works.
 
Great topic Aili...I love books too!!


My favorite author is probably John Irving, but there are so many favorites! Cormac McCarthy, Poet Mary Oliver, Roger Housden, James Waller...well I could go on.


I just finished a book called Snow by Orhan Pamuk it was really good. And The Road by Cormac McCarthy, I could not put it down!! Excellent!


Right now I'm reading The Kansa Indians, History of the Wind People. But I usually have two or three books going at once:eek:, does anyone else do that?


I suppose the books I recommend most lately are the poetry interpretation books by Roger Housden. He has several that are excellent.


I read the book The Kite Runner a while back and saw the movie recently. Both were well done:thumbsup: and worth seeing and reading.


Tman
 
My last two books read - Atlas Shrugged & The Secret


I have just finished reading two books. Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand and The Secret by Rhonda Byrne. I really enjoyed Atlas Shrugged and The Secret was quite good. I'm interested on anyone's thoughts on the books. It's amazing how the right book always finds you at the right time.


- Jason
 
Here's another book lover! :thumbsup: I work in publishing - and Tman, I have met John Irving, as we publish his books in Finnish. :cool :D


So I read for living, but I also want to read other books, so now I'm reading five books at the same time... A Finnish non-fiction book about grandparents and grandchildren by Merete Mazzarella, two Norwegian novels by Anne B. Ragde, Paul Auster's New York Trilogy and Michael Newton's Journey of Souls. Because of my job (and an 18-month-old daughter) I often read other (than work-related) books for months before I get to finish them. :o


Many of my favourite authors are Finnish (Eeva Tikka, Kjell Westö, Monika Fagerholm, Tove Jansson etc.), but some international favourites are for example Jane Austen, John Steinbeck, Amy Tan, Astrid Lindgren, Lionel Shriver, Marie Fredriksson - and yes, L. M. Montgomery. :D


I strongly recommend Art Spiegelman's graphic novel Maus for anybody, and especially those interested in the holocaust. :thumbsup:


Karoliina
 
Hi Karoliina how cool is that!! I hope he was as brilliant in person as he is in his writing. What books of his have you read. Probably my favorite was A Prayer for Owen Meany.


Give him my regards if he comes in again!! ;)


Tman
 
Yes, he made an impression as a person, too. :) I haven't actually read many of his books, but have liked the classics, like The Hotel New Hampshire and The Cider House Rules. :thumbsup: I have liked his books as films, too.


BTW - they visit Helsinki in Until I Find You. ;)


Karoliina
 
Ah, count me in as a book lover. Although I mainly read books on archeology I can always sqeeze in a good novel. I just re-read Vladimir Nabokov's 'Lolita' which is brilliant. I love how he manages to make me at once feel sympathy with Mr. Humbert and hatred. Because he is a horrible person - it's just that sometimes you forget it and feel that Lolita should treat him better, which again makes me feel guilty :rolleyes: :D I love that book.


I also love the works of Paul Auster and Haruki Murakami. I just began reading Norwegian Wood by the latter and so far so good :thumbsup:


Other than fiction I read a book on climate changes in prehistory, which is really, really interesting. It's nice to get a bigger perspective on what's going on and compared to the ice age and the time immediately after our current (and immediate future) climate changes is a piece of cake! ;) :D
 
Tinkerman said:
But I usually have two or three books going at once, does anyone else do that?
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Always! :D


A Prayer for Owen Meany was a great book, Tman :thumbsup:


I love the Brontë Sisters, too - Emily wrote some amazing poetry, imo. And I love Jane Eyre (by Charlotte) and Wuthering Heights (by Emily).


I am hoping to see Haworth Parsonage (where they grew up) when I am in England next summer!
 
I love the Brontës, too, Aili. :) Old British literature in general is very much my thing. :D


I hope you get to go to Haworth Parsonage!


Btw, I forgot to mention I'm also reading a Ghanaian novel Tail of the Blue Bird by David Godwin (not published yet). I have just started, but am looking forward to getting further, as I have usually liked all the African books I've read. :thumbsup:


Karoliina
 
on both of our shelves the books oile very high as we are both book addicted :D


at the very moment Iam reading an absolutely fascinating book on Multi level marketing - never thought I couldfind something like that interesting:D


apsrt of that I love to read a good thriller - don't have a favourite author as such - but like authors like Dean Koontz
 
A few days ago I finished Sense and sensibility by Jane Austen. :)


But I decided to get no more books from the library for a while and read what I have at home...so many unread books. Today I finished a dutch book that my children had to read for school, some kind of teenage psychological work.


I also am reading Pieter Daens, by Louis Paul Boon, an older work (famous here) about the politics/socialism in the early 1900's in Belgium.


And I am also reading a biography on Cleopatra.


Eevee
 
Also a reader of many books at once...


Home With God in a Life That Never Ends, A Different Mirror, The Power of Now, Eat Pray Love...


There is also plenty of reading required for school, all of which is interesting since I'm doing something that I love!!
 
I'm reading Jane Austen's 'Persuasion' and 'Sense and Sensibility.'


My favorite author is Dickens, although Charlotte Bronte runs a close second.


Mostly, I enjoy the classics. Modern fiction leaves me cold. The stuff that passes for literature, these days, is fairly laughable (in my humble opinion).


If I had one book to recommend, it would be 'Jane Eyre,' by Charlotte Bronte. I consider it one of the greatest works of art ever achieved.
 
It's interesting that so few of you read modern literature. I am very drawn by Auster's and Murakami's atmospheres and themes of loneliness. I realize my last incarnation was very much like the main characters in their works, which must be why I'm drawn to them like a magnet.


In contrast, I can't drag myself through the works of Jane Austen and the Brontë's (no offense :) ). What is it about their works that you find so compelling and do you think it's past life related?


I'm just curious :)
 
martydee said:
I'm reading Jane Austen's 'Persuasion' and 'Sense and Sensibility.'
My favorite author is Dickens, although Charlotte Bronte runs a close second.


Mostly, I enjoy the classics. Modern fiction leaves me cold. The stuff that passes for literature, these days, is fairly laughable (in my humble opinion).


If I had one book to recommend, it would be 'Jane Eyre,' by Charlotte Bronte. I consider it one of the greatest works of art ever achieved.
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Jane Eyre is also one of my very favorite works of art. I like how you termed that. :) I also forgot to list Gabriel Garcia Marquez' book "One Hundred Years of Solitude."
 
Just started reading Entangled Minds: Extrasensory Experiences in a Quantum Reality by Dean Radin and although I was a bit skeptical at first whether I would like it or even understand it :rolleyes: (being rather on the scientific end as it is), I found myself pleasantly surprised that it's quite an interesting and easy read.
 
I'm reading the Dark Queen by Susan Carroll. It's the first book in a trilogy about three sisters of the earth (aka witches).


It's quite interesting so far.
 
I am reading Karen Blixen at the moment.


Concerning authors of spiritual books, I am a great fan of classics like C. G. Jung, Paracelsus or the the collection of various writings titled Rosarium philosophorum.


Skarphedinn
 
Sunniva said:
In contrast, I can't drag myself through the works of Jane Austen and the Brontë's (no offense :) ). What is it about their works that you find so compelling and do you think it's past life related?
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I can't say if I like old literature better than modern, as I have favourites in both, and I think a good novel and writer are good no matter when they were written/born. :D But yes, I also think we often like to read about eras/cultures we have lived in in our past lives, and for me British literature is important also for this very reason.


It's been years since I last read the Brontës, but I think they were very powerful novels with interesting characters and great description of the scenery. Big emotions that were almost too much for a teenager. Jane Austen, on the other hand, is just so witty, sharp and observant, you have to love her. Very different from the Brontë sisters, and maybe more suitable for my more cynical age now. :o


Karoliina
 
What are you reading right now?
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The Fabric of the Cosmos: Space, Time, and the Texture of Reality (Brian Green) a great book about the string theory :)


Yesterday I've ordered the Holographic Universe.

Who’s your favorite author?
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H. P. Lovecraft :eek: :laugh:

Aside from spiritual books – what type of books do you enjoy?
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Quantum mechanics & sci-fi. One of my favorite is Time Patrol by Poul Anderson

Do you have any recommendations on something you've recently read?
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La straordinaria storia della vita by Piero Angela. I think the english title is The Extraordinary Story of Life on Earth but I'm not sure :)
 
I'm reading "The Youth Gang Problem: A community approach". It's a really boring textbook, written in pompous and turgid prose, about street gangs.


I'd rather be reading a novel by **** Francis or Marion Zimmer Bradley or Heinlein.


Phoenix
 
Kazuo Ishiguro: 'Never Let Me Go'


Interesting novel about a dystopian society set in England where people are are raised as clones to be donors for the medical community.
 
Right now I'm reading course material "World Religions" for my class at University of Metaphysical Sciences. Other than spirituality, I admit to loving the Romance magazines like True Romance, True Story, etc. I love reading True Crime too. I guess I'm kind of ecletic in my reading desires. : ) : ) For the next year though I'll be doing a ton of reading for my classes w/ the university. : )


Eso


Love to learn
 
I really wish I had time for pleasure reading... wait I take that back I do have time I'm just so burned out from reading academic books I don't even want to look at a newspaper.


Every morning when I get to work I read a page of "The Buddha's Book of Daily Meditations" Edited by Christopher Titmuss, it is a book of short quotes with big meanings and it gives me something to think on for the day.


I am currently reading "The Buddhist Tradition of Mental Development" written by Peter Della Santina, a close personal friend of mine and the Philosophy and Religion department here at Chiang Mai University, Peter passed away in 2006, we are currently translating all of his books into the Thai language. All of his books are for free distribution (in Thailand anyway). In any event the ISBN for the English version is 978-974-05-1300-1 I don't know if you can get it free where you live or not.


I am also reading and editing for a second edition "Karma for today's traveler" which was written by Phra Bhasakorn Bhavilai a Buddhist monk and one of my graduate students. This book is also free for distribution I don't know if you can get it in North America or Europe though, the ISBN is 974-656-846-9


If anyone is seriously interested in or busting to have either one of these books let me know and I will get you a copy worse case you may have to pay the postage.
 
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