What are you reading the week of January 17, 2010?

[DUgosh]

Bishop at the Lake by Andrew M. Greeley

[Ten Bears]

1. In The First Circle

by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn edite because I can't spell his name

[Ten Bears]

3. or edited

[frazzled]

2. Why the Dreyfus Affair Matters, by Louis Begley

[timeforpeace]

4. Unseen Academicals, the new Discworld novel by Terry Pratchett

[saltpoint]

5. A Seahorse Year, Stacey D'Erasmo's perfect-pitch novel about

a California family ambushed by schizophrenia.

Stacey D'Erasmo is a huge talent.

[sueh]

6. Against A Crimson Sky by James Conroyd Martin

[Skink]

7. All the Shah's Men.

Recomended.

[sam sarrha]

9. link>>.....

http://www.amazon.com/All-Shahs-Men-American-Middle/dp/047018549X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1263715877&sr=1-1

Review
"...He does so with a keen journalistic eye, and with a novelist's pen...In what is a very gripping read." -- The New York Times, July 23, 2003

"...Kinzer's book offers a cautionary tale for our current leaders...not all such changes go according to plan..." -- The Scotsman, 16 August 2003

"...a new book about the coup All the Shah's men...recalls some unwelcome parallels(with the Gulf War)..." -- The Guardian, 20 August 2003

"...a topical subject with an explanation..." -- Greenock Telegraph, 29 October 2003

"...an astonishing achievement, a thriller backed by meticulous research, a political analysis in artful prose..." -- Irish Times, 25 December 2003

"...lively popular history...brisk, vivid account.... Kinzer...offers a helpful reminder of an oft-neglected piece of Middle Eastern history". -- The New York Time Book Review, August 10, 2003

"...provides an able and often vivid summary of our knowledge..." -- BBC History Magazine, December 2003

"a thrilling tale that pits two characters worthy of a movie against each other." -- Economist, August 16, 2003

"astonishing account...Kinzer, a New York Times correspondent...tells his captivating tale with style and verve". -- Library Journal, June 15, 2003

"entertaining and sometimes shocking...serves as a useful reminder that troublesome regimes do not come out of nowhere." -- Business Week, Aug. 18-25, 2003

”…meticulously documented throughout…essential reading…” (Medicine Conflict and Survival, Vol. 21(4) October 2005)

[sam sarrha]

8. 8 pages from finishing a book by Wafa Sultan, starting one tomorrow. 'Cruel and Unusual Punishment'

non fiction, by Nonie Darwish.. Dr Wafa Sultans Biography was Fascinating..
i peeked at Nonie's book, :popcorn:

[abluelady]

10. "Lady Chatterley's Lover" by D.H. Lawrence

[fadedrose]

14. I read that back in 1960 or so, soon after I was married..

This is a book not soon, if ever, forgotten...

[abluelady]

15. I Read It Back Then, Too

I am enjoying it as if I never read it. Back then I read it for a different reason.:blush: I now see why it is such a classic.

[Jim__]

11. Everything and More - David Foster Wallace

The subtitle is A Compact History of ∞.

I've just been reading this for about the past half hour or so, and so far, it's fascinating. Wallace was brilliant and actually had a fair background in mathematics although he claims to have struggled in almost all of his math classes. I think he struggled because he didn't accept pat answers.

On page 6 of the book, he starts talking about Zeno's Paradox - the one about all motion being impossible. To get from point A to point B, you first have to get half-way between them; and before you get to the halfway point, C, you have to get halfway from point A to C, etc. Wallace has had enough calculus to understand convergent series and he knows the "solution" offered in calculus class to this is from the formula a / (1 - r), in this case (1/2) / (1 - (1/2)) giving an answer of 1. But he calls this a solution from an impoverished view. I tend to agree with him. Giving a numerical answer to Zeno's Paradox does not really resolve the problem; I'm sure Zeno was aware that we could move from A to B within a finite amount of time.

Anyway, I'm on page 71 of the book now, and we're still discussing Zeno's Paradox. Along the way we discussed the nature of number, Aristotle's Physics and Metaphysics, Plato's Idealism, etc.

The book doesn't require a math background; but it probably does require a certain curiousity about math.

[OrwellwasRight]

12. The Key to Rebecca and Google Bomb. nt.

[azmouse]

13. "Freedom From Fear" by David M. Kennedy

And also "The Forgotten Man" by Amity Shlaes

Both books are about The Great Depression.

[closeupready]

16. Two books: Agatha Christie's "A Murder Is Announced" and Chernow's "Titan", bio of JDRockefeller

It will take time to get through Titan, but I've always wanted to read it, as I am fascinated with Rockefeller, as a person.

[fadedrose]

17. ANGEL OF DEATH by Jay Brandon

Good writer, but I hated the villain, too creepy. Speed-read to get it done but am looking forward to the 2nd book in the series about Chris Sinclair, DA, in San Antonio, TX.

[terryg11]

18. straw men by mike marshall

100 pages in so far pretty good

[Jade Fox]

19. The Little Stranger-Sarah Waters

Fabulous gothic ghost story set in a crumbling English mansion (naturally) just after WWII, with a twist ending that has me wanting to go back to the beginning and re-read it.

The book is also a study of the post-war collapse of the English class system.

[krispos42]

20. "The Lost Symbol" by Dan Brown

My boss loaned it to me after I loaned him "Days of Infamy" by Harry Turtledove.




I also got 5 Turtledove books in the mail this week, so I'm all set for a while :D

[fadedrose]

21. 9 DRAGONS by Michael Connelly

I don't know if the book wasn't as good as Connelly's usually are, or was I too wrapped up in the Massachusetts election . . . Brown was a surprise and I watched TV a little more than ususal when I was reading the book.

At any rate, I speed-read the middle of the book and skipped to the end, but I liked the ending. Connelly kills off a character I think should have been offed long time ago.

[fadedrose]

22. THEREBY HANGS A TAIL by Spencer Quinn

Delightful sequel to DOG GONE IT, a private detective story where PI Bernard Little's dog, Chet, tells the story. The dog writes well.

[OrwellwasRight]

23. Just finished The Key to Rececca

by Ken Follet. Decent, not mind-blowing though.

[hippywife]

24. Have you tried

Lie Down with Lions yet? That was one of my favorites of his back when I was going through his books like water. :hi: