What book are you reading right now?

[Lois]

Read a good book lately?  Or even a really bad one?

I read a lot.  I always have.  I've been reading even more lately becuase of my long commute in and out of the city of San Francisco.  I'd like to share with everyone the books I've enjoyed, and perhaps warn folks off what I thoguht were real dogs. Others are welcome to share too.

INFIDEL by Ayaan Hirsi Ali
I would highly recommend this book. It was well written and enjoyable.  The one message I really took from this book is that secularism is foreign to Islam because Islam never experienced an "enlightenment" as Christianity has.  So think Christianity before the enlightenment if you want to understand Islamic thought.



More from Google Books:
In this profoundly affecting memoir from the internationally renowned author of The Caged Virgin, Ayaan Hirsi Ali tells her astonishing life story, from her traditional Muslim childhood in Somalia, Saudi Arabia, and Kenya, to her intellectual awakening and activism in the Netherlands, and her current life under armed guard in the West.One of today's most admired and controversial political figures, Ayaan Hirsi Ali burst into international headlines following an Islamist's murder of her colleague, Theo van Gogh, with whom she made the movie Submission.Infidel is the eagerly awaited story of the coming of age of this elegant, distinguished -- and sometimes reviled -- political superstar and champion of free speech. With a gimlet eye and measured, often ironic, voice, Hirsi Ali recounts the evolution of her beliefs, her ironclad will, and her extraordinary resolve to fight injustice done in the name of religion. Raised in a strict Muslim family and extended clan, Hirsi Ali survived civil war, female mutilation, brutal beatings, adolescence as a devout believer during the rise of the Muslim Brotherhood, and life in four troubled, unstable countries largely ruled by despots. In her early twenties, she escaped from a forced marriage and sought asylum in the Netherlands, where she earned a college degree in political science, tried to help her tragically depressed sister adjust to the West, and fought for the rights of Muslim immigrant women and the reform of Islam as a member of Parliament. Even though she is under constant threat -- demonized by reactionary Islamists and politicians, disowned by her father, and expelled from her family and clan -- she refuses to be silenced.Ultimately a celebration of triumph over adversity, Hirsi Ali's story tells how a bright little girl evolved out of dutiful obedience to become an outspoken, pioneering freedom fighter. As Western governments struggle to balance democratic ideals with religious pressures, no story could be timelier or more significant.

[AvatarofTruth]

Better: A Surgeon's Notes on Performance by Atul Gawande, MD PhD

I have had the distinct pleasure of meeting Dr. Gawande here in Boston. A close friend of mine works for him at Brigham and Women's, and he is an amazing surgeon with very little personal time. His case load is enormous and unenviable. That he had time to grab a beer with us and talk about our med school plans was amazing. Yes, I'm gushing.

Without getting into the contents of the book (doing so would probably ruin it), being a doctor, especially a surgeon, requires a level of tenacity most of us do not have. Not just because of the inherent complications of medical science, but the bureaucracy that has shrouded the profession, especially since the 1980's. Any person who thinks they might one day require surgery in the US should read this book.

On Infidel: I've yet to read it, but I have heard from numerous people that it is Islamophobic.

[buddyChrist]

I read The Road by Cormack McCarthy. Took some getting used to, but it was a quick read. Dark, and depressing, but it held my interest. Between reading that book, and watching I Am Legend, I am surprised I did not commit suicide.
Anyone not familiar with it, it is about a boy and his father who are trying to get to warmer climates after Armageddon. Does not tell what happened to bring them there, just focused on their journey.

[Spectreofhell]

I just finished reading Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil by John Berendt.  To my surprise, it's nonfiction, and I loved it.  I knew there had been a movie made based on the book, starring Kevin Spacey among others, so I thought the book was going to be fiction as well.  The author is a writer/editor who lives primarily in New York and took up part time residence in Savannah, GA, beginning in the early 80's.  It's an intriguing look into old-South culture and filled with fascinating characters.  As a native of South Carolina, I'm biased to believe Charleston is the better city, but if you live in the south at all you'll recognize what Berendt portrays as something everyone down here lives with.  Social inequities and the tendency of older white families to consider themselves as aristocracy. 

If, however, you live in the North (you damn Yankee) then you might be inclined to feel your belief in the southern stereotype to be reinforced, but don't be so smug.  New York City has it's own "aristocracy" and the same social divisions as the south, only we have a much cooler accent.

Any way, I enjoyed the book, and I think you will too.  If you don't, feel free to tell me "I told you so!" (even if you didn't really tell me).

[Lois]

I've heard Midnight In the Garden of Good and Evil is a very good book.  It's on my list!

[Miss_Kitty]

Hello! i just read F is for Fugitive by Sue Grafton. if you're really into detective stories, especially female detectives, then you should check this out.  i don't want to say anything more, its more fun to read it than hear it from me anyway.

[Lois]

I've not read any Sue Grafton but she is very popular. 

For me the brain candy of the moment are books by Kim Harrison.  Her main character is a witch named Rachel Morgan.  It is set in alternative universe with vampires, werewolves, elves, faries and pixies.  Fun stuff!

[Grm]

Emily: So think Christianity before the enlightenment if you want to understand Islamic thought.

A bit like much of 'middle America' and the Republican party then.
Having seen the film(review in movie thread,)I read the book The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini, Turbulent Afghanistan in the 1970s, a moving story of two friends and a journey to redemption.

[Lois]

I have read Kite Runner also, a truly excellent read!

I am currently reading The Academy: Tales of the Marketplace by Laura Antoniou

This is very high quality BDSM literature.  Laura is a Domme from the leather tradition.  Her Marketplace series is well written and the characters are real and complex.  She brings the archetype to life: The so-serious protocol driven Masters and slaves, the transsexual sissy maid, the loud and brash Dommes.

And yet I have so far found this story about a secret society of trainers, owners and slaves to be depressing.  I suppose that is because I really can't understand wanting to be "owned", and no longer have any aspirations of my own.  It feels like a death.

[bigteentitties]

My all time favorite book is the Power of One.  It tells the story of a young boy growing up in South Africa. 

If you liked the Kite Runner, his other novel, A Thousand Splendid Suns, is equally moving.  This is the story of two women, first unable to get along and married to the same man.  They form a very close bond and the older woman becomes a mother figure for the younger. 


Another novel that I read recently and thought was really funny was My Horizontal Life: A collection of One night Stands, by Chelsea Handler.  Very, very funny. 

[Pan]

It tells the story of a young boy growing up in South Africa. 

I enjoyed Youth by J. M. Coetzee.
A semi-fictionalised autobiographical novel, recounting his life in 1960s London after leaving Cape Town. 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Youth:_Scenes_from_Provincial_Life_II

[Missy]

I just got done reading a novel by Stephanie Meyers, "Twilight"...Its an incredibly romantic story about a girl in highschool falling in love with a 17 year old vampire.

[stefanwolf]

I get into a book mood every now and then.  I was asked by a friend what kind of book was my favorite, I said mostly historical fiction/nonfiction.  Sometimes a story pops out in a discussion or another bibliography.  Its almost like a thread here where one thing leads to another and before it is done Ive read everything in that directioin I can get my hands on.  To me James Mitchner was like that.  I have read most of his works, but have on my shelf two prized books.  The first is called "The World is My Home".  The second is "the Novel"  Both are autobiographical and show his life as a lifelong scholar and writer.  There are some great revelations in each, giving one a view of the world as seen by a dedicated author.  In this same vein is "The Fifties" by David Halberstam.   It takes us thru the myths and truths of the decade consevatives like to refer to as ameican Ideal.  A must read for any sceptic. 

[So_Yummy]

Kudos to the Twilight Series and the Chelsea Handler book.  Twilight made made me yearn, there is no other word for it, for the relationship that these teenagers (one of whom is a vampire) have and fight for.  It's sexy and really sweet, too. 

I love Rubyfruit Jungle.  It's about a girl (who turns into a woman throughout the course of the book) coming to terms with her sexuality and feelings for other women against opposing forces.  She basically refuses to give in or back down for anyone.  I heart it, it's one of my all time favorites.

Anybody else read Richard Bach?  I was obsessed with him at first, then drifted back to reality a little bit. 

I'm a big Dean Koontz fan, too.  Or, was.  Haven't read much of his newer stuff.

Another of my all time favorites if Of Mice and Men.

[AvatarofTruth]

Most recent books read:

The Rum Diary by Hunter S Thompson

Petropolis by Anya Ulinich

The Coldest Winter by David Hallberstam

Snuff Chuck Palahniuk

[Pan]

I love Rubyfruit Jungle.  It's about a girl (who turns into a woman throughout the course of the book) coming to terms with her sexuality and feelings for other women against opposing forces.  She basically refuses to give in or back down for anyone.  I heart it, it's one of my all time favorites.

Try Jeffrey Eugenides's 2002 novel, Middlesex.
A family saga about a brother and sister falling in love.
Set around the end of the Greco–Turkish War of 1919–1922 and in later in Detroit, Michigan.  As for the middlesex part, think intersexuality ;-)

Plot summary:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Middlesex_(novel)

[daddytom]

the last book i read was Down the highway,The life of Bob Dylan,if you like biographies it's good and if you like Dylan it's real good although i thought it kind of made him sound like a bit of a prick.

[noritheevil]

i just read 21: Bringing Down the House.

The book was awsome.

[browndoggie37]

I would like to recomend The Time Traverlers Wife. It was a great cook too read or The Paino Tuner

[bothari]

Does listening to books on CD in the car count?  That's when I find the time for it.

I'm currently listening to Thirteen, titled Black Man in the UK by Richard Morgan.  It's a near future Sci Fi (a century from now). 

First I've come across by Morgan and I'll be looking for more.  IMHO, very good characterizations and well thought out consequences to the premise (unregulated expansion of the genetic engineering industry, unmitigated rise of the religious right...).

An intense man-hunt for a genetic variant (variant 13) killer by the protagonist, also a variant 13 killer .