What 📔book are you reading right now?

I'm reading First Riders Call by Britain. It's ok by her writing is rather plodding for my taste.

Stephen Donaldson

I'm reading a book of short stories by Stephen Donaldson, title: "Reave the Just". He's a lively fantasy writer. I read all his Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, Unbeliever. I smiled a bit at the Tolkien derivations in the latter (a powerful ring, Berek Half Hand!, a dark lord, tree dwellers, stone dwellers, Orc-style armies etc) with a Narnia-type time difference problem; but a good read nonetheless.

I'm reading 48 Shades Of Brown cause I asked my sister to give me something to read and Cyberpunk 2020 because of the nerd I am

Ohh...okay, I'm currently reading two books...(aka - I'm a little ADD!)

First, re-reading the Unfinished Tales...and I hope I don't have to tell you who wrote that!!

And then this book. Haha, yes I'm going to make you open the link to good ol' Amazon!


I blame Barley for this habit!

There are actually 48 shades of brown mentioned in the book. I'm amazed.

A friend gave me Beowulf to read today so that will be next on my list.

Firawyn said:

Haha, yes I'm going to make you open the link to good ol' Amazon!

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I'd be interested in what you think of Heretic's Heart, Firawyn (Oops! I mentioned the book's name!).

Majimaune said:

A friend gave me Beowulf to read today so that will be next on my list

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Great stuff! You may be a bit miffed at the depiction of Grendel's mother if you've seen the film first. My daughter did Beowulf at school, which surprised me as she was in a class of 9 to 10 year olds who are usually into Jacqueline Wilson.

Eledhwen said:

Great stuff! You may be a bit miffed at the depiction of Grendel's mother if you've seen the film first. My daughter did Beowulf at school, which surprised me as she was in a class of 9 to 10 year olds who are usually into Jacqueline Wilson.

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I haven't seen the film yet for a number of reasons. It has only been out about a week here in Aussieland, my friend told me I had to read the thing first and I'm broke.

Majimaune said:

I'm broke.

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Aren't we all!
Christmas is coming, the goose is getting fat
Please put a penny in the old man's hat
If you haven't got a penny, a ha'penny will do
If you haven't got a ha'penny - God bless you!

Eledhwen said:

I'd be interested in what you think of Heretic's Heart, Firawyn (Oops! I mentioned the book's name!).

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Haha, yeah I should have been born in the 50s. I'm such a dork. While my friends are into Brittany Spears and Drew Barrymore, I lean more in the Joan Jett and classic movies! (I just saw a film called Thelma and Louise the other night...really good. Then I followed it with 9 to 5 staring Dolly Parton, Lilly Tolman, and Jane Fonda!!!)

Great stuff! You may be a bit miffed at the depiction of Grendel's mother if you've seen the film first. My daughter did Beowulf at school, which surprised me as she was in a class of 9 to 10 year olds who are usually into Jacqueline Wilson.

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Yeah, I understand that. I worked at a golf course for awhile, and spent alot of time talking to older men (the starters and rangers - I was the cart girl) Anyway, one day I was talking to one of the guys, and he had a book in his hand. I asked him what it was, and he said (I quote) "Nothing you would be interested in, too old."

I told him to try me. So he said that he was reading a Fredrick Forsyth book, and then asked me what I was reading. At the moment, I'd been working through Travels with Charlie by John Steinback, so that's what I told him.

He totally flipped out on me - he said "You read Steinback?! Someone in your generation is interested in Steinback!?"

Anyway, I found that very funny. I'm such a dork.

Firawyn said:

"You read Steinback?! Someone in your generation is interested in Steinback!?"

Anyway, I found that very funny. I'm such a dork.

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All Shakespeare's contemporaries are dead, but his stuff is still being read. It's a mark of good literature that a book is in print beyond the generation of the writer.

(Eledhwen sits back and waits for the contradictory post)

(No she doesn't - she's got to go on a speed awareness course this afternoon for being caught on camera doing a miserable 37mph. At least it will avoid points on my licence.)

Eledhwen said:

All Shakespeare's contemporaries are dead, but his stuff is still being read. It's a mark of good literature that a book is in print beyond the generation of the writer.

(Eledhwen sits back and waits for the contradictory post)

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Haha, not all of them. Steinback, Hemmingway, Chauser...

I just finished with Stealing Your Life by Frank Abagnale. Frank was the guy who was played by Leonardo di Caprio in Catch Me If You Can, the check forger par excellence who was finally caught by an FBI agent and was in the end hired by the FBI to help them catch defrauders and bunko artists. This book tells you the ins and outs of identity theft, how ubiquitous it really is, how easy it is to perpetrate, how it's just a matter of time before someone steals yours, and how you can protect yourself from it. This one's required reading, and you can start with the reader reviews at the Amazon link above.

Barley

Hummm that's been on my Films to see for a while....

Okay...add it to my book list!

Barliman Butterbur said:

I just finished with Stealing Your Life by Frank Abagnale. Frank was the guy who was played by Leonardo di Caprio in Catch Me If You Can, the check forger par excellence who was finally caught by an FBI agent and was in the end hired by the FBI to help them catch defrauders and bunko artists. This book tells you the ins and outs of identity theft, how ubiquitous it really is, how easy it is to perpetrate, how it's just a matter of time before someone steals yours, and how you can protect yourself from it. This one's required reading, and you can start with the reader reviews at the Amazon link above.

Barley

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This looks useful! I watch The Real Hustle and am astonished at the inventiveness of the criminal fraternity. One guy left his utility bills out in his paper recycling bin. One of the 'hustlers' (the pretty blonde) took them, used a pocket laminator to create a fake gym club card, then phoned a locksmith, claiming to be locked out of her home. She showed the locksmith the ID card and the utility bills and he opened the house for her. The hustlers then removed the living room furniture and set up hidden cameras, waiting for the victim to return home (his face was a picture!). I bought a cross-shredder after that.

Eledhwen said:

...I bought a cross-shredder...

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We have one too. Abagnale says it's a must-have for every home.

Barley

From the New Yorker: THE TWILIGHT OF THE BOOKS

"Reading is in mortal decline and no effort of will can make it popular again. In a few decades, people will have shed old habits like newspapers and novels."

One cannot do a better thing for oneself than to develop oneself into a fluent retentive reader, and for passing this ability on to one's children.

Barley

Barliman Butterbur said:

From the New Yorker: THE TWILIGHT OF THE BOOKS

"Reading is in mortal decline and no effort of will can make it popular again. In a few decades, people will have shed old habits like newspapers and novels."

One cannot do a better thing for oneself than to develop oneself into a fluent retentive reader, and for passing this ability on to one's children.

Barley

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My children all read. It is encouraged at their schools and also at home (they are allowed bedroom lights on after bed time only if there's a book involved). However, I did have to augment the school's grim "Ginn Reading Scheme" books with Tolkien and Rowling to bring my youngest daughter up to speed (she is now two years ahead in her reading age).

I never understood why people relied on film instead of books for their stories, until I was speaking with a group of friends and mentioned the living scenes that run through one's head whilst reading a good book. Half of my friends did not know what I meant, as they had never experienced this.

I don't know whether this lack of connection with books is the result of not getting really good at reading when young, or if it's just something people suffer from. My friends are all reasonably well educated, so I assumed the latter, until I read the article Barley linked to. There seems to be a correlation between a rise in the quantity and availability of visual storytelling (film and TV) and the decline in reading. I wish I knew what the 1937 poll respondents were reading (ie: what constituted 'a book' in their positive answer), what the socio-economic breakdown of the respondents was, and whether people might have been embarrassed to admit they weren't reading anything.

To Eledhwen:

Evidently, the difference between how the brain works when reading and when viewing alters the brain's capability: The reader can do everything and think the way the viewer can, but the viewer can't (or at least has great difficulty with) doing and thinking the way the reader can.

That's why the act of reading (whether words or music or math) equips the brain to handle things that require more complex reasoning. Alas, it still, evidently, does not save one from believing ideologies at the expense of reality.

But the bottom line is: reading equips one's brain better than viewing; the more one reads, the "smarter" one becomes. There is a 1:1 correlation between the extent of one's functional vocabulary and performance on intelligence tests of all sorts, be they verbal or pictorial.

(I wonder how many TTFers who saw my post actually read the article I linked to? The New Yorker has, for all the years of its existence, been the one well-known magazine (at least in America) to offer consistent reading challenge to its readers.)

Barley

The Chaser Annual 2007 and before that 'The Bumper Book of Bunny Suicides'

Noldor_returned said:

The Chaser Annual 2007 and before that 'The Bumper Book of Bunny Suicides'

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That Bunny Suicides book is funny but not in the right way if you know what I mean. Can I borrow The Chaser once your done and I've read all my books?

I'm reading Isard's Revenge (Star Wars book) Almost finished it. The next one I'll be reading is probably going to be A Game Of Thrones By George RR Martin. Nice and thick.