I'm reading 'The Salt Road' for my book club.  I'll be interested in the discussion.  It contains two stories, both set in the Sahara Desert of Northern Africa - one of a modern day Englishwoman, the other of a woman several centuries earlier.  The story switches bac and forth between the two.  Not my favourite type of book.  I'm about three quarters of the way through.  Both women are in extreme danger.  I just get to the point where one woman has a loaded gun pointed at her head, and it switches to the other. 

Has anybody out there read it?  What did you think?  (Don't give away the ending just yet.  I'm not finished.  Book Club neets on the 25th.

"Lost and Found" by Alan Dean Foster.  A guy gets abducted by aliens to be sold by aliens and spends the book trying to figure out how to remain free against a technologically superior foe far far far away from Earth...I just found out that it is part of a series...

My favourite book by him is "Cyberway" which does a cool job mixing Navajo myths and cyberspace and is a murder mystery :3

(I also still have a copy of his book that started the whole 'book of the movie' genre, ' Splinter of the Mind's Eye')

My favourite anthology of his is "With Friends Like These..."

Alan Dean Foster is kinda like Robert Heinlein light...his writing won't win any Pulitzers, but he has solid characters and is a good craftsman...

a book I would LOVE to touch is the Codex Gigas

Now THAT'S a book:

Mendella that sounds really cool. I will keep my eye out for that one. Is it a new release?

I just reread "Pillars of the Earth" and am now rereading the 'sequel', "World Without End".  It takes place roughly two hundred years after Pillars but the characters are the decendants of Jack, Tom, etc. 

It has been long enough since I first read them that parts are somewhat new again.

I'm always reading books years after everyone else has. No need to be on long library wait lists though.
I just enjoyed two novels - "The Midwife's Tale" and "Bride of New France". Both nicely-researched and satisfying reads. I like the way history comes alive in the details.

Can anyone recommend similar books to take to the cottage this fall?

Relatively. It came out in April.

Mendalla

I'm reading several books at the same time, as usual  (and as usual, I don't always finish all of them!):

- "The First World War" by John Keegan. I only knew the basic outline of WWI, so started this book on holiday this summer. First take: Now there's a gastly war that didn't have to happen!

- "Love in the Time of Cholera" by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. One of my all-time favourite authors, but I've never read this classic before!

- ""Christianity After Religion" by Diana Butler Bass.. because she's so awesome.

speaking of history coming alive through fiction, I needed a book to read on the main floor of the house (I have my upstaris book. A book for every floor!)

At the library book sell-off that happens every May, my husband went kind of crazy as usual so we end up with a random collection. Some of it is good and some is "WTF?"  Ahhhhh randomness, it  keeps life interesting does it not?

So last night I picked up a book called "Pride of Cartthage". It is about Hannibal.  I have only just started but he is getting read to march on Rome. Should be good.

Let me know if it's as good as it sounds and who wrote it. I'm always game for reading about that period of history. IIRC, one of my profs (I have an Honour BA in Classics from Waterloo) rated Hannibal second only to Alexander the Great among the ancient generals. Third was, I think, Julius Caesar.

Mendalla

Thanks for the chance to publish my list! I'm reading up a storm lately because I am on sabbatical. So, I'm not only going to tell you what I'm reading, but what I've read - with a two or three sentence review as well.

In reverse order chronologically:  (in other words, I read the first one most recently, and the last one least recently!)

Currently reading: The Hacker Ethic by Pekka Himanen with a prologue by Linus Torvalds and an epilogue by Manuel Castells. This is a re-read for me. I first read it when it was first published (2001). Note: Hacker is used in the original positive sense, not the later sense (which really should be "cracker"). I'm on a personal mission to restore the original "good" meaning. Review: fascinating and ground breaking, should be read by  a lot more people - especially in the faith community.

Theology in a Digital World by David Lochhead. David was a professor of theology at the Vancouver School of Theology. This was written not long after the personal computer revolution. Much deep thought on the influences that computers would (and do) have on our present day world. Reads like it was written last week, even though it is twenty-four years or more old!

The Wisdom of Crowds by James Surowiecki. Interesting, but a bit scattered. I like the thesis, but I'm not sure Surowiecki completely proves it. 

The Cuckoo's Egg by Cliff Stoll. Read for pleasure, but it turned out to be more appropriate than I imagined. Reads like a spy thriller, except it is true!

Hackers by Stephen Levy. Fascinating look at how the (good) hacker culture got started. Updated in 2010. 

We Think by Charles Leadbeater. Every person of faith needs to read this book! Fantastic, Insightful, Inspiring. The way we need to be in 2012 and beyond!

If you are catching a theme here, and like it, perhaps you would like to follow my sabbatical blog: opensourcespiritseeker.wordpress.com

abraham lincoln: vampire hunter

seth grahame-smith

History lesson of lincoln life - made more interesting as he kills vampires.

First two books of the Hunter Games.

Dreams from my father

Barack Obama

He wrote it in '95. I bought it 4 yrs ago, but didn't read it till now. Story of a troubled dangerous man with a lot of chips on his shoulder.

Forgotten God

Erasing Hell

Crazy Love

Three Francis Chan titles. Very good reads.

11-22-63

Stephen King

Time travel - going back and trying to stop Kennedy assassination in Dallas. Typical King stuff. I liked it.

One Second After

William Forstchen

US is hit by EMP device, knocking them back into the stone age. graeme's dream.

NKJV - ongoing.

Mendalla - I just finished Sacre Bleu last week, after my sweetheart recommended it.  We enjoyed Moore's Lamb, but I hardly get a chance to read.  My sweetheart has read them all and belly-laughs all the while.  Now, I did not belly laugh at the amusing 15-yr old boy humor (lol) but it was a fun read anyway.  A bit odd at times, but I really enjoyed the intro to impressionists and now I know what absinthe is ;D

I read Persuasion by Arlene Dickenson (Dragon's Den) - I just like her anyway.

And Katherine, by Anya Seton - historical stuff,  - that was a while ago, but good.

Otherwise, I'm a magazine girl - at least I can finish a whole story in my busy scattered life. 

Days of Destruction, Days of Revolt by Chris Hedges & Joe Sacco.  Its a book for those concerned about social justice and the environment.  I can imagine that it is a book that a person like graeme would appreciate.  It has illustrated stories (by Sacco) interspersed with regular text (by Hedges). Compelling and disturbing stuff.

I like that Oregonian Joe Sacco -- I've enjoyed his Palestine and Safe Area Gorazde.  He's very blessed to be able to express his passion, his bliss, for a wide audience and to make a living off of it...

His story would probably be encouraging for graeme as well...

Me too,

but he would prefer this one, where he gets to blame everybody for finally doing what he's been warning everybody about forever and then he gets the girl who can't talk but listens to him intently.

The average salary in West Virginia at the coal mines is 65,000.

I have been to almost every open pit mine in Canada.  I know hundreds of miners - who love their lives, hunting, fishing, outdoors. Health and safety are priority one.

They make a decent living.

This weekend, I went with my wife to a creek about 2 km downstream from an open pit coal mine to look for rocks for our garden. It was clean and just a beautiful day, and a guy came up to tell us how big of fish he had seen just a little way down by the bridge.

There may be old guys dealing with black lung and such from days gone by, but mining is not as unhealthy of an occupation as it used to be, and the pay is reasonable.

My favourite part of mines is the tailings pile--that's where some really good mineral finds can be found because it tends to get thrown away.  There are a lot of good sites in British Columbia

Do you ever go panning?

Update: 

I just finished Journey to the Common Good by Walter Brueggemann. As usual Brueggemann has good things to say - based on his deep knowledge of the Hebrew Scriptures. An earnest, well-argued case for neighbourliness in contrast to the evils of empire. 

I should not be surprised that there is much connection between this book and the other books I've read since the beginning of August, but in reality I was surprised. Perhaps it is just because I am so focused on the topic I've been studying that everything seems to have a connection. Although having said that, my theology is deeply based on "connections".

I don't want to make this thread about mining but will note that when Saul-now-Paul (SNP) states that "the average salary in West Virginia at the coal mines is $65,000" one must consider that despite the soothing quality of this factoid the "average salary" of people working in the coal mines is only part of the equation.  This is explored in the book. Hedges writes:

"Draglines, which cost upward of $100 million and can be twenty stories tall, are among the largest pieces of mobile equipment built on land.  Bulldozers, container trucks, and backhoes ... look like childrens toys next to the draglines.  The draglines do the work of hundreds of miners.  Half a century ago it took a miner a day to dig and haul sixteen tons of coal out of the ground.  A dragline, once a few hundred feet are blasted off the top of a mountain, can fill the back of a truck with sixty tons of bituminous coal rock in a few minutes.  Jobs in the mining industry have fallen from a high of about one hundred and thirty thousand a few decades ago to about fourteen thousand workers.  Once the unions were broken and the mines were mechanized, the coal companies began to strip mine and then blast off the tops of mountains.  Most "miners" are, in fact, heavy machine operators...

... There are today 861 people in Gary (West Virginia).  There were 98,887 in McDowell County in 1950.  Today there are fewer than 23,000.  The countywide per capita average income is $12,585.  The median home value is $30,500. ... Those who want fresh produce or meat, or those who need a doctor, have to find a ride into the county seat of Welch, which has seen its boom population in the 1950s of one hundred thousand reduced to 2,180.  Welch, like Gary, is little more than a ghost town.  But at least it still has a hospital and a supermarket. ... Nearly thirthy percent of those in Welch live on less than $10,000 a year.  ... Forty percent of families with children in the city ,  live below the poverty line a proposition that skyrockets to seventy-five percent of families with children under the age of five.  The high school drop out rate is twenty eight percent ..."

This is a very unpleasant and depressing scenario involving the sacrifice of an environment and a landscape and most all of the people in it so that a very few most of whom reside outside the area (if not the country) may profit and "the average salary in West Virginia at the coal mines is $65,000" does not even begin to explain it although it goes a long way to obscuring it and sweeping it under the rug.

Read the book.

You can see the draglines and destruction here. Now many $65,000 a year miners do you see in this video?

me am a slimy bilge rat, cap'n Mendalla -- send me to th' brig fer startin a mutiny* on yer ship...it twasn't the grog

* Pirate for the French term: de rail

Okay another book I read in the last couple of weeks was What's the Matter with Kansas? How Conservatives Won the Heart of America.  It is witty, humorous and insightful.  It explains the distressing political and cultural changes we have seen in the U.S. and the U.S electorate in the last few years.  It is a good read ... hard to put down.  It, too, touches upon the issue of "sacrifice zones", mostly in the agricultural and meat packing sectors.

So what is it about you ask?  I'll leave you with this quote:

Not long ago, Kansas would have responded to the current situation by making the bastards pay. This would have been a political certainty, as predictable as what happens when you touch a match to a puddle of gasoline. When business screwed the farmers and the workers – when it implemented monopoly strategies invasive beyond the Populists' furthest imaginings – when it ripped off shareholders and casually tossed thousands out of work – you could be damned sure about what would follow.

Not these days. Out here the gravity of discontent pulls in only one direction: to the right, to the right, further to the right. Strip today's Kansans of their job security, and they head out to become registered Republicans. Push them off their land, and next thing you know they're protesting in front of abortion clinics. Squander their life savings on manicures for the CEO, and there's a good chance they'll join the John Birch Society. But ask them about the remedies their ancestors proposed (unions, antitrust, public ownership), and you might as well be referring to the days when knighthood was in flower.

(Frank, T. 2004 "What's the Matter with Kansas?", pp. 67-68)

As a result of pcchynoweth's recommendation of Journey to the Common Good by Walter Brueggemann I checked out a book review at http://spectrummagazine.org/review/2010/05/08/journey-common-good.  This book would appear to attempt address some of the questions that are inevitably raised by the situations and trends described in the two books I have mentioned above.  Judging by the review, I would estimate that it has important insights to impart.  

Perhaps we should all work at bringing back the phrase "the common good" which is one that is hardly heard any more and which, sadly, imparts a sort of antiquated tone to any sentence in which it is used.  "The common good" carries within its meaning something entirely more personal and human than other parallel phrases such as "in the national interest" which is both abstract and impersonal (in the sense that it may not actually include you or any other human being).  Mr. Harper and his men use "in the national interest" quite regularly but they use "in the common good" not at all.  Perhaps that is because corporate interests which our government so obviously serve would feel slighted by "in the common good" while "in the national interest" subtly (but insistently) implies the preferred position corporations occupy in the plans of our present government ministers.  If for no other reason than this, we should have what is "in the common good" on our lips and in our minds at every possible opportunity.

qwerty,

Your mention of the "common good" fits in well with my ethics and morality philosophy course that I'm grappling with - these days having a somewhat rusty brain......

Sadly, there seems to be a devaluing of ethics and morality questions in today's society, IMO.

Our universities favour business, engineering and science courses - and undervalue philosophy, psychology, theology and the arts generally.

Also, with modern society becoming more secular, less is discussed about the ethics and values of Jesus.

Perhaps an unforseen consequence of mother's working, means that there is less time for the day to day moral lessons imparted traditionally by mothers?

So, to the subject at hand......

I'm at present enjoying the "Sunday Philosophy Club" series by Scottish author Alexander Mc Call Smith.

In the course of a novel the reader is gently prompted with moral dilemmas in everyday life.

They take me back to walks with my grandmother when I was a kid - when I heard such things as "Handsome is as handsome does" and "You catch more flies with honey than vinegar"............

My grandmother was the same and, yes, she did say "Handsome is as handsome does."  Her little sayings come back to me periodically.  I can't force them to come.  They come unbidden and I can hear her saying them as if she were right there in front of me.  I am always struck by the aptness of those sayings and the kernal of truth ... or wisdom ... that lies inside them.

My current favorite saying is "there is no gain without risk". It has always worked for me.

So first of all, I must admit, that I am not a very good reader, and get through maybe one a year, and have several others on the go that can sit for months at a time. Shameful, I know. I wish I were more adept.

My current book is our very own Arminius' novel: "Non Nobis Domine", which of cource is very special being Arminius's, and I am enjoying the the plunge into medieval history and into our friend's particular thoughts, feelings and enlightenments. : ) 

And just today I discovered my old hearthrob John Taylor of Duran Duran has written an autobiography of his life, only recently released in England (not yet in Canada), and I managed to track down an online book store that takes Paypal and ordered me one from Britain for $18. with free shipping! Really looking forward to finding out what fame did to him, and how he recovered from the psychological trauma of stardom and drug use, to be the thoughtful, reflective gentleman he is now.

So, I was picking up some travel books for my wife at the library. Checked them out at the self-charge terminal, turned to go and there, staring at me from the new books shelf, was a new collection of the stories of Lord Dunsany edited by American fantasy scholar S. T. Joshi. Grab, back to checkout with smile on face.

For those not in the know, Lord Dunsany (his full name was Edward John Moreton Drax Plunkett, 18th Baron of Dunsany) was an Anglo-Irish nobleman and a seminal writer of fantasy fiction in the first half of the 20th century. His first book came out in 1905 and he kept writing up until his death in 1957. He was also successful as a poet and playwright in addition to his prose fiction. His work inspired numerous other writers of fantasy (including Lovecraft and Tolkien who were both very influential on subsequent writers) and he could reasonably called one of the fathers of modern fantasy.

Mendalla

That's nice Mendalla.

I asked hubby and he recons I get in more like 3 or 4 books a year, so had to put in that correction.

I just finished a big audiobook about Elizabeth the first's pre-queen life. It was very much enjoyed, and pretty close to historic truth except for one episode. The author explained in the end.

Hey Mendalla.  Yeah, call me slow but just found this thread at a time I was thinking of starting one.  Always on the hunt for good titles, and his is a great starting place (well, after visiting Chapters that is LOL).  There's assorted reading here, some a little too "heady" for me but that's ok. 

Used to be quite an avid reader then slowed up as work required to much of a specialized (and disciplined) kind.  Now finally back to reading the kind of books I enjoy.  Recent readings include "Secret Daughter" (fabulous read), "Hunger Games" (trilogy, dark but drew me into that world), and the books of Mitch Albom who I think is quite brilliant - "Tuesdays With Morrie" (a book about life... and death... one I think everyone should read), "The Time Keeper" (a fable type story about how the focus on measuring and keeping of time has impacted our lives), and now reading "The Five People You Meet in Heaven". 

While I have a great many yet-to-be-read titles on my (many) book shelves, always looking for more good recommends.  Maybe my entry here will bring this thread back to life!  cheers all.

I just started reading Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions, written in 1884 by Edwin Abbott Abbott.

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

I hadn't heard of it actually- or maybe I had but it didn't stand out (no pun intended). I downloaded a "classic books" app onto my iphone- and several of the others that come  with it, I'd already read. So, knowing nothing about it- decided to give it a try. Interesting so far. Must admit though, I'd prefer if it were on paper- I find ebooks hard for me to focus on. Don't know why because I read WC entries all the time! The turning of pages effect is fun for the first 5 minutes.

Just finishing Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut and will probably move on to Slaughterhouse Five next. Have known about Vonnegut for decades but somehow never got around to reading him.

I love that book. A. K. Dewdney, a math prof at Western in the 80s, wrote a riff on it called Planiverse where he creates a much more detailed 2-D world, exploring the biology, physics, etc. Read it in the mid-eighties and then, by complete coincidence, took a course with his wife while in library school.

Mendalla

I just finished "Good Christian Bitches" on my mini kobo. I admit the tittle drew me in.

Light, funny, totally unrealistic about $ but totally realistic about how to backstab someone at prayer meetings.

How do you like the Mini, Tabitha? I have to replace my old Touch and I'm probably just going to get another Touch but I am looking at the rest of the line. The Mini strikes me as a bit small even for me and my wife would be right out with it (she even finds the 6" readers like the Touch and the Glo too small).

Mendalla

Re-reading Laurie R. King's Mary Russell / Sherlock Holmes novels.

Also recently read Robert J. Sawyer's Hominds/Humans/Hybrids trilogy (aka the Neanderthal Parallax books)

aaah, rowan...they are fabulous novels..(laurie r king)

The mini was a Xmas gift. I'd go bigger if I was buying one.

Recently finished "The Virgin of Small Plains" by Nancy Pickard - enjoyed it a lot.  Quick read, suspenseful mystery, interesting characters & setting.  She's apparently written a number of other books, but none seem to be held by my library, despite her status as an award winning author.

I'm continuing my discovery of Kurt Vonnegut Jr. Finished Cat's Cradle and Slaughterhouse Five, now starting Breakfast of Champions. I can't say he's my favorite author of all time or anything, but his style definitely suits me. I'd say that I enjoyed Cat's Cradle better than Slaugherhouse as a read, but still not sure which one I'd really say is better. The mock religion (as in it mocks religion) Bokononism in Cat's Cradle is perhaps what tipped me towards that novel. He uses it and its ideas as a link to tie the otherwise rather chaotic proceedings together.

Mendalla

Just finished The Exotic Marigold Hotel and am reading Carrot Cake Murder.

I also read Sussex Drive recently.

Just read A Walk Across the Sun by Corgan Addison and would highly recommend it! It is a look at the exploitation of children in the international sex trade. Disturbing but not graphic in its presentation of the issue.

I thought it was a brilliant multi-faceted novel.

Everinjeans,

Totally loved Secret Daughter. We did it in book club at church last year.

I am always interested to know what others are reading.  When patients come into the office with a book in their hands I always ask what they are reading and make notes if is something of interest to me.  I have an ongoing list of potential upcoming reads.

I love historical fiction and have recently read Ken Follet's The Fall of Giants, which is a world war one epic, and Tobsha Learner's  The Witch of Cologne, which is set in the mid-1600's. Both were hard to put down. 

I also loved the Dovekeepers by Alice Hoffman, and the People of the Book, by Geraldine Brooks. 

The Best Laid Plans by Terry Fallis was a change of pace and laugh out loud funny, which is always entertaining to others who are around while I am reading.....

I probably read two books a month, sometimes three.   

I am now reading Pope Joan by Donna Woolfolk Cross; the persistent myth of a woman in the mid 800's who pretended to be a man and managed to become Pope.  I cannot imagagine what it would have been like to be a woman in those times.

Re-reading The Lady of Hay by Barbara Erskine, I haven't read it since I was in Jr High so it's been a while.   Also re-reading A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness. I wish she'd hurry up and write book 3 in that series.

I read 2 or 3 books a week and I rarely have only 1 on the go at a time.   I love my Kobo. I can carry tons of books with me.

I'm looking forward to buying "The Runaway King" by Jennifer Nielsen today, which is a sequel to "The False Prince".  A short, fast, but highly entertaining and witty read.  I'm a sucker for entertaining young adult fiction. 

I've also been reading a book called "Genesis and the Rise of Civilization" by J. Snodgrass, an American theologist.  He was highly inspired by one of my favourite-ever books - Ishmael, by Daniel Quinn - and it comes across in the book.  Certainly not a light read, but Snodgrass injects enough humour into it to make it very readable indeed.

Just finshed "Left Neglected" a novel about a women who had a stroke. The author, Lisa Genova,  also wrote "Still Alce" and this book is in the same style. Really enjoyed it.

also finished "Inside" by Alix Ohlin. I'm more mixed on this one.  *Spoiler alert*  -there seems to be a bunch of novels out there where in the end people all get back together with former partners. I truly hope we can live life bigger than that and new adventures and relationships can really await us!

Circled back around to an old favorite that I haven't re-read in a couple decades: Tolkien's The Hobbit. Not so much because of the movies (I haven't seen the new one yet and I'm actually a big fan of the 1978 animated version so not in a rush to do so) but because we bought a copy for our Kobo when my son was studying it in school last term and I see it in my library all the time.

Now I'm seriously considering buying Lord of the Rings to read it again. Only question is - paper or Kobo? LOTR is one of those books that sentiment dictates I should have in a good paper edition. OTOH, owning the first four volumes of George Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire (the basis for the TV series A Game of Thrones) on Kobo has taught me the value of e-books for large, rather unwieldy books (I have mild RSIs in both wrists due to too many years in IT).

Mendalla

I've just finished reading Kylie Chan's linked trilogies 'Dark Heavens' and 'Journey to Wudang'. I went through 6 books (approx 400 pgs each) in less than a week and they are definitely on my 'books to re-read' list. I am very much looking forward to her next book. It actually looks like there will be a third linked trilogy.  They would have been a tad easier read if I'd had a bit more background knowledge of Chinese mythology but she covers / explains the stuff that applies to her 'fantasy universe' pretty well. From the list at the end of her novels she certainly did her research at least. 

I've also been working through some of the disc-world novels (Small Gods, Guards Guards, The Truth), but I can only read so much of Pratchett's stuff at one go before my brain starts to hurt.

Must check out Chan. Hadn't heard of her before. The last fantasy that I read that was explicitly based on Chinese folklore and mythology was Barry Hughart's Bridge of Birds.

Finished The Hobbit and it is as wonderful as I remembered. Started writing a blog on it but we'll see if I finish it to a point where it's actually postable.

Mendalla

I've been tackling the Stephen Mitchell translation of the Tao Te Ching. Given how often the Tao is referenced in Kylie Chan's novels I thought it would be worth it. So far what I mainly have is a headache and the feeling I am going to be looking for some reference books that analyse the thing. In one of Chan's novels the Tao Te Ching is said to read 'like the clues to a particularly cryptic crossword puzzle' and I have come to the conclusion that I couldn't have put it better myself.

Just finished "Indian Horse". Will be meeting the author tnext month as we have just started a reading circle of First Nation's Perpectives.

Excellant book by the way-it is fiction but is true to life in many scenarios