What book are you reading?

[Mikala43]

With temps like those, I would never get out of bed. My new uniform would be a snuggie.

[netwit]

It keeps getting warmer - -4C (25F). I'm running around in shorts due to the heat wave.

I am reading a book I plucked out of the bargain bin on my last trip to the city - Angelology by Danielle Trussoni. Not my usual cup of tea but it was a bargain and it isn't bad at all. It is along the lines of Dan Brown's religion related thriller books. The theme is fallen angels among us. I'm not far enough along to know where it is going.

And - *making an excited face* - my Amazon order came today, so I should be set with books until the holiday hoopla dies down in the New Year and I can dare to venture into the city to regular bookstores.

[jazzcat22]

Finally I get to play with the cool kids and post here because I can say I loved a book I just finished: The Middlesteins by Jami Attenberg. There was a blurb where my fantasy literary boyfriend Jonathan Franzen highly praised it---and he he wouldn't steer me wrong. I find the book compassionate and wryly humrous. It's about a Jewish middle class family in Chicago that falls apart due to the mother's extreme overeating:

The Middlesteins: A Novel: Jami Attenberg: 9781455507214: Amazon.com: Books

But now to resume our regular programming, here's another book that really disappointed me: This Is How by Augesten Burroughs ("Running With Scissors"). He decided that writing six memoirs of his dysfunctional younger life was enough and so wrote a self-help book of sorts, advising people how to be happy, deal with grief, etc. Very simplistic, like an earnest yet jaded high schooler wrote it.

[LookinForMayberry]

Originally Posted by jazzcat22

.... But now to resume our regular programming, here's another book that really disappointed me: This Is How by Augesten Burroughs ("Running With Scissors"). He decided that writing six memoirs of his dysfunctional younger life was enough and so wrote a self-help book of sorts, advising people how to be happy, deal with grief, etc. Very simplistic, like an earnest yet jaded high schooler wrote it.

From what I gather from articles and comments on the man, your perception of him may be accurate, he IS an earnest but jaded high schooler!

Nice write up, by the way. My DH is a big Franzen fan, too.

[cloven]

Originally Posted by Ringo1

Or the Power of Habit - which I keep meaning to get around to.

I read Charles Duhigg's "The Power of Habit" a few months ago-it was okay, just that it seemed like the sort of thing that would fill a pamphlet but instead they've fluffed it up into a whole book. Not knocking it, merely noting that it felt hard to justify at that size/length/# of pages (and I could say that about plenty of other "self-help" books that I do like, too). The anecdotes are fun to read, though.

Just got my reserved book from library: Oliver Sacks' "Hallucinations".
Have read so many interviews w/him on NPR about this title (in advance of it being released) that it feels like I've read it already-but I have 2 weeks (as it is a new book) to actually get around to reading it properly before it must be returned. His tales of neurological phenomena always draw me in...

[cloven]

Originally Posted by jazzcat22

But now to resume our regular programming, here's another book that really disappointed me: This Is How by Augesten Burroughs ("Running With Scissors").

That is the last book I read, and I did enjoy it quite a bit. But I'm not arguing, taste is a subjective matter.

Originally Posted by LookinForMayberry

Nice write up, by the way. My DH is a big Franzen fan, too.

Nice to see props to Franzen, I favor his nonfiction essay collections like "How To Be Alone" and "The Discomfort Zone" (but that's just me & my preferences). Think he has new one out, too.

[Hiromant]

Anvil Of Stars - Greg Bear.

[LookinForMayberry]

Uh boy, I am in it, now. "East of Eden" is waiting for download, and I have less than 10% of the 718 ppgs finished in "The Oldest Living Confederate Widow Tells All." Three more library books sit waiting on my stand. I feel like the kid with her cheeks bulging, a hand in the cookie jar, and mom just walks in the kitchen.

That's okay. I told my friend I would stop everything when "EoE" showed up, and my word is good -- as soon as I can get the download cable from the bedroom (where DH is now sleeping). There is no such thing as sacrifice where friends are concerned. I will not let Dawn face that demon woman alone.

[DawnMTL]

Originally Posted by LookinForMayberry

Uh boy, I am in it, now. "East of Eden" is waiting for download, and I have less than 10% of the 718 ppgs finished in "The Oldest Living Confederate Widow Tells All." Three more library books sit waiting on my stand. I feel like the kid with her cheeks bulging, a hand in the cookie jar, and mom just walks in the kitchen.

That's okay. I told my friend I would stop everything when "EoE" showed up, and my word is good -- as soon as I can get the download cable from the bedroom (where DH is now sleeping). There is no such thing as sacrifice where friends are concerned. I will not let Dawn face that demon woman alone.

Hahahahaha!!!! YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

You're going to love this book, my friend. The Bible talk is a bit over my head (and boring to me) but the characters. Oh my, the characters! I have such a soft spot for Samuel Hamilton -- what a guy. And Lee -- how how I love Lee.

The narrator's name is "John" (as in Steinbeck) and there's been one mention so far of his last name being "Steinbeck" (as in John Steinbeck!), so I wonder how much of this story is autobiographical. I think I'll look into that after I finish the book. Or I might not -- sometimes some things are best left unknown.

Deb, if you prefer to read something else first, go ahead. Really, I don't want to pressure you.

[SPECFRCE]

The Junction boys