As you can see, my reading has dwindled. Ah, well, I expect it will improve after the 15th. Enjoy!
Watchmen by Alan Moore: This is one of those amazing books that others strive to become. It's a graphic novel, and it rocks. That's about all I can say. It's basically about "masked adventurers" in a society that doesn't accept them.
The Time Travelor's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger: I really enjoyed this book. It's about a man who can't stay in one place in time because of a genetic defect and the woman he loves. It's very strange because he's really always a part of her life, visiting from different points in time, and as she grows up, she falls in love with him. She can't actually meet him in her own time until much later. The book basically spends a lot of time examining how complicated life would be if we could actually time travel. I found it heart wrenching and wonderful.
The Grail Bird by Tim Gallagher: This book was very interesting despite my fears that it would be dry and boring. By the end, I was beginning to wonder if the author was actually the moron of the bunch and just didn't realize it, but that didn't take away from my fascination with the topic. It's about the search for the Ivory Billed Woodpecker. You may (or may not) remember a year or two ago a group of scientists claiming to have video taped a bird that had been believed to be extinct since the 1930s or 1940s (and the controversy over whether or not the tape was authentic). This is the person who began that expedition into the swamps of Arkansas (and really all over the country) and found the Ivory Bill. I guess what I enjoyed about it the most is that he always entertains the possibility that perhaps they may have been seeing something else, but then he refutes that notion with all of their credentials and the fact that the bird does not resemble any other birds and a lot of other evidence. He also mixes in stories about the bird and the people who studied it from when it was known to be alive and from people whose careers had been ruined after claiming to have seen it since it's been believed to be extinct. Parts of it were funny because I could just see these guys crashing through the swamp wondering why on earth the bird wouldn't come out for them but it would for people hunting. Well, perhaps it's because people who are hunting are trying to be quiet and sit still, but you all are traipsing through the underbrush loudly. On the whole, I believe they saw the bird and feel a bit sorry for them that they get so much guff for it. It's just not believable to me that someone would make up having seen a bird when reported sightings have ruined so many people's lives and careers. Fascinating read. I highly reccommend it if you're interested in nature at all. (Side note: Apparently, a reprint edition came out this spring. I have not read this version, but I imagine it probably has updates in the epilogue.)
That's it for the books, kids. Feel free to share your own reads in the comments.
Posted by LoWriter at June 1, 2006 07:55 AMI've always wondered this about people with book lists... how do you find books to read?
Posted by: jeff at June 1, 2006 09:28 AMWell, I have the wonderful benefit of working in a college, so colleagues recommend them to me. Also, I have a lot of friends who read, so they recommend them as well. For example, 10 told me about The Time Travelor's Wife, numerous people to whom I mentioned my graphic novel fetish insisted that I had to read Watchmen, and a colleague recommended The Grail Bird to me.
Sometimes, I check out Amazon.com recommendations, and sometimes I ask people I work with what I should read. I also try to find more books by authors I like. Usually if I mention a book, other people will mention one like it and so on. You can also always ask a reference librarian for the type of book you like to read. (I happen to be good friends with one, so that helps.)
Currently, on my list of things to read, I have Something Wicked this Way Comes (recommended and lent to me by a good friend), Farenheit 451 (by the same author and hailed as a classic work of sci fi), Frankenstein (lent to me by a colleague who said I had to read it), The Interpretor of Maladies (has been assigned as required reading for a particular class for the last three years and I feel like I should read it), Sherlock Holmes (liked in 8th grade and found at B&N for cheap), a stack of books in a series 10 gave me for Christmas, The Dance of Anger (lent to me by a colleague), Listen to Your Life (quoted in a seminar I attended), How to Ruin Your Love/Financial Life (noticed on a shelf in B&N and picked up and laughed out loud), and many many more. Sometimes I pick them up from everybody else's reads for the month.
Mostly, books just come to me. I never run out of things that people say I should read or that I've been dying to read. But let's be honest, I am a literature geek.
What kind of books do you like? Or are you just curious as to the process and not really looking for anything to read?
Posted by: Lo at June 1, 2006 10:23 AMmost of my book choices come from gifts. usually i get a good load at Christmas time from friends and family. otherwise, i like to peruse the suggestion tables at bookstores. my favorite suggestion table is at Micawber's in St. Paul. i found quite a few fascinating books that way.
also, i get my audiobooks based on what the library has in stock. i walk in, scan the audiobook section and grab what interests me.
i know i should get back into the list of "books to read before i die", but it's hard to do so when i have a great Bill Bryson book about Australia sitting on my shelf... anyway, i also get book suggestions from people's reading lists. :o)
so here's what i read this month:
Where I'm Calling From, by Raymond Carver
short stories. very well crafted. i recommend reading them in small doeses though. perhaps 1/3 of the book at a time, over the course of a year. i love Carver's clean style, but his story lines of burdened love, broken marriages and lack of money are as heavy as the cloud of cigarette smoke his characters are constantly making.
Wuthering Heights, by Emily Bronte
this was one of those "need to read before i die" books, via audiobook. it was a lot more interesting than i thought it would be! i'd read it again, like i like to re-read The Importance of Being Ernest and Emma. do they have a movie about this one?? if not, lets get Colin Firth in on it... anyway, it's about 2 very disfunctional families and how they intertwine via marriage, love and revenge.
A Walk in the Woods, by Bill Bryson
ever wanted to walk the whole of the Appalacian Trail?? Bryson does so, with a partner of nigh 300 lbs. a beautiful book - chock full of info, but not overbearing. good humor and bizzare characters everywhere. i am hooked on his travel writing and will most likely persue his other books (including the one mentioned above!).
light month, folks... and most likely next month will be too.
Posted by: dr gonzo at June 1, 2006 12:56 PMoh, i forgot... i also read the Da Vinci Code. if i wanted a free ticket to the movie, i had to read it first. so i did. APPLE!!! dammit!!! APPLE!!! that's all i have to say.
Posted by: dr gonzo at June 2, 2006 09:48 AMI forgot to bring my list in with me today, but I mostly re-read a lot of books especially Sharon Shinn and Tamora Pierce variety, then I bought a new book and lost it on the plane. (sniff) and then I bought another new book, and it is pretty good so far.
I also get many reccommendations from friends and family. I've been promising to read Gates of Fire for my brother for the past three years. I bet you'd like that book Jeff, it is about the Spartans battling the Persians during the Battle of Thermopylae. There were only 300 Spartans to 60,000 - 300,000 Persians but because of the narrow gates they had to march in almost single file. Famous line, when asked to lay down the weapons by Xerxes, Leonidas the Spartan responds 'Come get them'. Oh, amazing battle. Don't know why I haven't read the book yet.... anyway, get them from lots of friends and stuff, also book reviews give good reccommendations (although who thought the DaVinci Code was well written?? - entertaining, not well written).
I'll stop talking now...
Posted by: 10lees at June 5, 2006 01:49 PMI guess I mostly like reference books (magazines and web sites too) and read them almost exclusively. Manuals, HowTo guides, or other technical texts. I enjoy teaching myself new things so reference fits in perfectly. I've always been kind of a builder and fixer so things that I don't know how to build or fix, I read and teach myself. Currently, I'm teaching myself about home remodeling and electronics. I think the last book that I read for pleasure was the last Harry Potter book a week after it came out.
Posted by: jeff at June 7, 2006 03:56 PMspeaking of - when is the next one coming out? next summer?? I can always hope right...
Posted by: 10lees at June 8, 2006 10:17 AMThe rumor is that it is coming out in 2007, but it has not been confirmed yet.
That's cool that you can read manuals and teach yourself how to do stuff. Way to be.
Posted by: Lo at June 8, 2006 12:02 PM