What are y'all reading now?

[d_douglas]

I bought the new David Sedaris collection for my wife for Christmas. She said it was a laugh, so it is now on my bedside table.

I just finished my albatross - 'My Year of Meats'. Good book, but it took me four months to read. Sleepless baby and little motivation made it a hard book to get through.

[wc1934]

Getting hooked on biographies - currently reading The Lance and the Shield, the life and times of Sitting Bull - by Robert Utley

[sherok]

What is the What: If you ever think you have a bad life read this book.
What Is the What tells the story of a refugee from the second Sudanese civil war (1983–2005), one of the 20,000 so-called Lost Boys who walked thousands of miles from their decimated villages (their homes burned by Arab militiamen, most of the adults slaughtered) to relative safety in Ethiopia and later Kenya.

[97CSI]

Timothy Egan's "The Worst Hard Times". Pretty much the story of the dust bowel. Glad I did not have to live through it.

[benb]

I just finished reading:

Blind Descent: The Quest to find the deepest place on earth

Interesting material but not all that well written. It's about two competing teams over the last 20 years, one American, one Ukranian, that were attempting to explore "supercaves" to the deepest possible point.

I just started reading Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson.. it has been sitting on my shelf for at least 5 years and for some reason I never started it.. I've never read any of his books but 50 pages in it sure seems very well written.

[troymac]

Just read Heft on Wheels .. Enjoyed it went online to find out further about Mike Magnuson the author found his blog ( kind of stange postings about a bathroom). His blog hadn't been updated since last year. Oh good read none the less.

[Volant]

Originally Posted by troymac

Just read Heft on Wheels .. Enjoyed it went online to find out further about Mike Magnuson the author found his blog ( kind of stange postings about a bathroom). His blog hadn't been updated since last year. Oh good read none the less.

I can still see the cover of that one....and since Mike was down in Carbondale (familiar with the area),....agree, a good read.

Right now, I'm actually reading the Qur'an (actually The Meaning of the Holy Qur'an by Abdullah Yusuf Ali). Quite interesting. I had no idea of the similarities and contrasts with the Bible.

Also reading Your Creative Brain by Shelley Carson.

And, helping my daughter write/illustrate her first book (we used to make-up stories together, off-the-cuff, when she was 3 or 4 y.o. Well, she remembers them and wants to add to them and create a book.). A little fun project to do together. It got put on hold yesterday, because we finally got a little snow and we went sledding and built an igloo together (Mom, Dad and her could all fit inside). Something a little different than your average snowman!

[Seramount]

Originally Posted by benb

I just finished reading:

Blind Descent: The Quest to find the deepest place on earth

Interesting material but not all that well written. It's about two competing teams over the last 20 years, one American, one Ukranian, that were attempting to explore "supercaves" to the deepest possible point.

I'm reading it now, have no problem with the author's style. I have met Bill Stone and have done several cave dives with James Brown, so the personal connections makes it quite entertaining to me.

[alpsantos]

I just finished War by Sebastian Junger.

Very touching book and extremely well written.

[KeithS]

On the Kindle app on my Android I'm reading or better slogging through Bill Brysons latest - AT HOME: A Short History of Private Life. He's interesting, I'm unfocused.

Spending the weekend on the north shore of Lake Superior and it may get above zero on Saturday, but not on Sunday or Monday so I stocked up on the old fashioned hardcover with paper. Fireplace, bottle of wine, kids hanging out reading a book, looking out over the big lake the call Gitche Gummi - perfect weekend.

Brad Meltzer's newest The Inner Circle and Unbroken, by Laura Hillenbrand. I don't read too much non fiction but I heard that Unbroken is very inspirational.

[hookookadoo]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferrol_Sams

Only half way through but proving to be a great, amusing, well-written book. It's about a boy growing up in the South(Georgia) during the depression living in a house with multiple sisters, a grandmother, an uncle, etc. The story is about the boy's childhood(at least so far) as he encounters new, sometimes awkward and sometimes confusing moments that us boys experienced growing up ranging from girls, to funerals, to exchanging xmas gifts, to infatuations with his teachers, etc. The book has an uncanny ability of describing those moments in the exact way you remember them growing up.

Highly recommend.

[William]

I just finished reading Animal Factory: A very interesting read about Industrial Animal Farming (“Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations,” or CAFOs) and it's effects on the environment, our health, and the political process. Don't think I can look at pork, chicken, or dairy the same way again.




http://animalfactorybook.com/

"Swine flu. MRSA. Unusual concentrations of cancer and other diseases. Massive fish kills from algal blooms and flesh-eating parasites. Recalls of meats, vegetables, and fruits because of deadly E-coli bacteria contamination. Recent public health crises raise urgent questions about how our animal-derived food is raised and brought to market. In Animal Factory, bestselling investigative journalist David Kirby exposes the powerful business and political interests behind large-scale factory farms, and tracks the far-reaching fallout that can contaminate our air, land, and water supply.

In this thoroughly researched book, Kirby follows three families and communities whose lives are utterly changed by immense neighboring animal farms. These facilities, known as “Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations,” or CAFOs, confine thousands of pigs, dairy cattle, and poultry in small spaces, often under stressful conditions, and generate enormous volumes of fecal and biological waste as well as other toxins. Weaving science, politics, big business, and everyday life, Kirby accompanies these families in their 20-year struggle against animal factories. A North Carolina fisherman takes on pig farms upstream to preserve his river, his family’s life, and his home. A mother in a small Illinois town pushes back against an outsized cattle farm and its devastating impact. And, a Washington state grandmother becomes an unlikely activist when her home is covered with soot and her water supply is compromised by runoff from leaking lagoons of animal waste.

Animal Factory is an important book about our American food system gone terribly wrong—and the people who are fighting to restore sustainable farming practices and safe natural resources."

[gdw]

I just finished Nathaniel Philbrick's In The Heart of the Sea,
The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex. Don't think I can look at the ocean, whales, or New Englanders the same way again.

[97CSI]

Animal Factory makes eating less meat pretty easy. There is a recent book on fish farming that is quite similar. Now we need an expose' on vegetable and fruit farming/processing.

Just finished Peter Snow's "To War with Wellington: From the Peninsula to Waterloo". Excellent. War is truly hell and it was even worse 200 years ago. Just starting Barbara Tuchman's "The Proud Tower". She is one of the most readable of history writers.

[William]

Currently reading "The Gun" by CJ Chivers. Basically covering the history of the AK-47, it's variants and knock-offs, and it's effect on turmoil and violence across the globe. So far a very interesting book.



http://cjchivers.com/

"An incisive examination of modern conflict and official folly, THE GUN mixes historical research, investigative reporting and battlefield reportage to illuminate the origins of the world's most abundant weapon - the Kalashnikov assault rifle - and the consequences of its spread. THE GUN is more than a rigorous history of a gun. Told through character sketches and reconstructions of battles, and drawing from years of interviews, meticulous archival research, extensive travel and declassified documents revealed for the first time, it is a feat of storytelling that presents a richly human account of an evolution in war."