What Books are you reading???? just curious!

[lion11]

Atlas Shrugged is awesome.  I finished that a couple of months ago.  Almost finished with The Idiot - Fyodor Dostoyevsky.  I'm thinking about reading a David Sedaris book next.

I like it, but it is kind of boring as a novel and preaching to the choir anyway. I will finish it at some point but there are way more exciting non-fiction books on the same topic. Yes, I find books about economics exciting.

She's long winded to say the least.  Some of those monologues just kill me, but her characters and outlook is what brings me back. 

[ashay]

I love non-fiction, history, and politics.  Here's my list for the past few months

LBJ:  Master of the Senate- Robert Caro
The Ascent of Wealth-Niall Ferguson
Blood and Belonging- Michael Ignatieff
Shaking Hands With the Devil:  Romeo Dallaire
Free to Choose-  Milton Friedman
A Fatal Shore-can't remember the author

Check out What the Book and/or get a kindle.  If you love to read, they're invaluable. 

[pinny]

I'd recommend Shantaram to anyone. It's beautiful, funny, and interesting as hell.

too true - I'm reading it now for the second time. I love that book. It is the definition of how a book should be (for me personally)

[karenology]

I'm reading "North Korea Kidnapped My Daughter."  You can probably guess what the book is about.

[Can-do]

Water For Elephants - Sara Gruen

I wanted to read the book before the movie comes out

[asabranca]

My girlfriend is reading that 

She couldn't recommend it high enough, so it's next on the menu.

It can be tough to find books here, eh!

Have you heard of What the Book?  www.whatthebook.com
They have hundreds of English titles that arrive at your door in 2-10 days.

As for me, I've been reading:

Hope's Edge - Frances Moore Lappe
Omnivore's Dilemma - Michael Pollan

West with the Night - Beryl Markham
No Picnic on Mount Kenya - Felice Benuzzi

The first two are about the food security/organic farming/industrial food industry etc... and the latter two are anecdocal portrayals of various African adventures. All four are excellent reads!

[Mezoti97]

"Jacob Have I Loved" and "Breaking Dawn"

[JuliusCaesar108]

Lately, I've been catching up on books which relate to my major, Biblical Studies.  Although I enjoy reading stories, such as Catch-22, I like picking up some books should I ever go back to grad school to pick up a masters or PhD in my field.

These are the books I've been reading for the last two months:

Zoroastrianism by John W. Waterhouse; a book which talks about the Persian religion during the time of Daniel, and how it's influenced Judaism and Christianity.

Misquoting Jesus by Bart Ehrman; a book talking about how biblical manuscripts have been changed throughout history, and tweaked intentionally and unintentionally.  This study falls under the category of textual criticism.  This should be an easy read for anyone, it's a bestseller with easy vocabulary.

The Historical Jesus by John Dominic Crossan; a book which uses literary criticism to determine the society during the time of Jesus.  This book is more of a difficult read than the previous one mentioned.  From my understanding of the subtitle (which I didn't put in), it describes why Jesus was viewed a peasant according to the author.  I'm reading this book now, and have yet to finish it.

[korr]

Your Republic is Calling You by Kim Young-Ha and two Civil War books: Battle Cry of Freedom and The Killer Angels, which is one of my favorite books.

I'm supposed to be a librarian, so I'm always reading a ton of books at once.^^

I majored in history, so I got used to reading eight books at the same time.  I cut that out a bit but I'm usually working on a novel, an audiobook, and one or two non-fictions at any given time.

Are you liking Your Republic is Calling You?  One of my friends recommended it, I haven't gotten a copy yet.

Hi fellow history major! Yeah, I definitely read a lot more books at once back in college. I think I was at ten at some point during senior year.

Your Republic is Calling You is okay. If you like more character-driven stuff or mysteries I wouldn't recommend it. I have no interest in the wife or daughter's plots because they're kind of 2-dimensional and not developed very well. It gets a LOT better if you approach it as a social commentary.

The Historical Jesus by John Dominic Crossan; a book which uses literary criticism to determine the society during the time of Jesus.  This book is more of a difficult read than the previous one mentioned.  From my understanding of the title, it describes why Jesus was viewed a peasant according to the author.  I'm reading this book now, and have yet to finish it.

How are you liking this so far?

[meggie107]

Ooh, lots of people mentioned Shantaram - it is my favourite book ever! if anyone wants a recommendation of what to read (and I mean ANYone - it doesn't matter what your usual taste in literature is) - read Shantaram.  It is a brilliant read.

I'm busy reading On Writing by Stephen King.  It is an autobiography/memoir of 'the craft' (writing fiction) and it is really good so far.  If anyone writes at all, or is interested in writing, I would say it is a very helpful resource.

[bork]

Just finished White Tiger by Aravind Adiga. It's a great read, especially for those who enjoyed Shantaram. It shows a different side of India and is a lot more believable - I still enjoyed Shantaram though. Anyway, it has you in suspense from the start and won't let you go till the end.

I have also downloaded the Disc World series which are great inbetweeners.

[shhowse]

I always have several on the go at once. Currently:

The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova
Misogyny, The World's Oldest Prejudice by Jack Holland
Downhill Chance by Donna Morrissey
Wicked by Gregory Maguire (About to begin)

I'm also, very slowly, trying to work my way through the BBC's 100 books that everyone should read. I have no ideas who gets final say in the books they choose for it, but it will feel like an accomplishment when I get through them all!

I recently discovered I can occassionly find books a little cheaper than on What the book, on ebay, surprisingly! Even with shipping, I have gotten some good deals on there.

Plus, down here in Mokpo we have a Book Swap about once every two months, which is becoming a pretty good place to find some books.

[teacherjenni]

Water For Elephants - Sara Gruen

I wanted to read the book before the movie comes out

I read that before coming to Korea last summer. It was really good. I hope the movie will be worth seeing. I've read The Count of Monte Cristo and (forgive me) Twilight since I've been here. I can't seem to decide what I want as my next book. I think I want a classic, possibly something by Charlotte Bronte (Wuthering Heights is my favorite, but since I've read it before I kinda want something new; I just watched the movie Jane Eyre, so it made me want that genre). But since summer is coming on, I kinda want something more modern. I like my classics in fall/winter and current/exciting books in spring/summer.....

[ammyleee]

I also like to get books from Kyobo bookstore--no used books though and the prices are what you'd pay for a book back "home."

Just finished David Sedaris' "Me Talk Pretty One Day" and totally related to his account of living in a foreign country trying to learn its language

In the middle of "A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius" by Dave Eggers.

I read "Me Talk Pretty One Day" a few months back and LOVED IT! I've been buying all my books at Kyobo because they are reasonably priced! All the classics are around 8,000 won! It's great!

[notinKS]

Great thread and great ideas!!

I just started "One Hundred Years of Solitude" and so far it's quite interesting. I stumbled across *ahem* a large grouping of books for my Kindle, so I'm working on catching up on a lot of the classics.

[dwebsterlfc]

I'm currently reading 'dead man running, from alcohol to Atacama' pretty interesting book. The English is reasonably basic but it's still a good read so far.

I'd also recommend Shantaram like a few others have.

Highly recommend any Ben Mezrich Books, he's awesome it's all 'true-fiction'. Ugly Americans, Rigged and Bringing down the house are all awesome. I know he's brought a new book out about the creator of Facebook but I've not read that yet.

[erinrae]

hey there! 

i just finished little bee by chris cleave. i HIGHLY recommend it.
http://www.amazon.com/Little-Bee-Novel-Chris-Cleave/dp/1416589643/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1303447887&sr=8-1

and now i'm on to el zahir by paulo coehlo. we'll see...
http://www.amazon.com/Zahir-Novel-Obsession-P-S/dp/0060832819/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1303448033&sr=1-2

cheers!  happy reading.

[Jittery Jedi]

Please don't assualt me...I am well aware of the hypocrisies of the catholic and christian communities...But I am reading Ezekiel...from the bible... and also watching Drunvalo Malchizidek on you tube and I have been practicing the merkaba meditation techniques...really incredibly powerful stuff for all of humanity if you can wrap your head around it and open your heart and occasionally take the right entheogens
( not coffee or beer of course!) We're all connected in the matrix of love...if we can accept it that is...with 4 wings...two wrapped around ourselves..and the other two outstretched and connecting to others : )

[mrajyandy]

"Do you like Phil Collins? I've been a big Genesis fan ever since the release of their 1980 album, Duke."

I can't believe nobody has mentioned American Psycho. I suppose you've all already read it.

Lolitia is also brilliant. Nobody portrays insanity quite like Nabokov. Ada or Ardor is also quite staggering in imagination, scope and incest.

[pinky80027]

I have been reading 'Justice' in Korea.
But it is not easy for me to understand.
After finishing it, I want to read in English.
It is raining. Have a good day and wonderful weekend.