Read any good books lately?

kotich · Post by **kotich** » Mon, 01 Oct 2007 11:20 am

'The Age of Turbulence' by Alan Greenspan, inner thoughts of the most powerful person in modern economics in recent years.

Lilo · Post by **Lilo** » Wed, 03 Oct 2007 7:24 pm

Wind In My Hair wrote:
FannyAdams wrote:Mitch Albom's stuff looks a little religious to me...am I completely wrong? If I am, I may take up your recommendation. Thanks!

I'll check out Painted Veil too. I'd quite like to read a book a week...
Nah, not religious. Sentimental and mushy though so if that's ok with you, go ahead. Read one and decide if you want to read the rest. Tuesdays with Morrie is certainly a must-read.

A book a week was my resolution this year too and so far I'm keeping up. Jung's autobiography is setting me back though... have to read some parts several times to understand what he's saying and even then I'm sure I'm missing 80% of the point. Very "deep".

You're idea for this thread is great FannyAdams.

"The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time" dragging at first but after you find out why he thinks like that, it gets really interesting.

Mitch Album - Yep I agree with 'Wind In My Hair.' Tuesdays With Morrie is nice. If you are in a more...reflective mood.

Although I didn't like 5 Ppl You Meet in Heaven all that much. I thought it was a little too gory hehe Or maybe I'm just a wuss :p

One of my favorites: "The Time Traveller's Wife" - the man time travels involuntarily backward and forward into time. He developed his relationship with his wife meeting her at different times; as in years, but not in chronological order. hehe Not REALLY a love story. I was more interested in the time travel bit.

FannyAdams · Post by **FannyAdams** » Thu, 04 Oct 2007 10:20 am

I've been a bit remiss in my reading of late but I'm going out to get one of the books suggested on this thread today.

Thinking back, I'm pretty sure someone gave me a Mitch A book as a leaving present once. Thing is, because she was a happy clappy type person and wrote some sentimental & spiritual inscription in the book, I think I must have cringed and thrown it out (it's not on my bookshelf). I must be getting a bit mellow in my old age cos I now think that that's an awful thing to do. I shall make amends.

Has anyone read anything by Armistad Maupin (too lazy to google correct spelling) which seems to be all the rage in America recently?

zhoumulian · Post by **zhoumulian** » Thu, 04 Oct 2007 10:26 am

i recently read "First Person Plural" by Andrew W.M. Beierle and "A Thousand Splendid Suns" by Khaled Hosseini. First person was quite interesting... a story about conjoined twins, and I thought Suns was much better than Hosseini's first book, Kite Runner.

I love reading, but find books here rather expensive. anyone want to set up a loan system (no money involved) ?

Post by **sundaymorningstaple** » Thu, 04 Oct 2007 1:55 pm

zhoumulian wrote: I love reading, but find books here rather expensive. anyone want to set up a loan system (no money involved) ?

You idea is good but I think it would pose a logistical problem as you indicate that you are in Washington DC and most of us are here in Singapore.

It's a shame I wasn't connect with this board back in '99 (wasn't a forum here back then). When I shifted to my HDB flat from landed property I virtually gave away almost 600 paperbacks (of which 90% were bought new and read once only) via garage sale.

zhoumulian · Post by **zhoumulian** » Thu, 04 Oct 2007 3:02 pm

oh. i'm here in singapore now...i just never changed the location...there was a restaurant in kunming that did this and it was such a relief after travelling for a month in china, to be able to just pick up som books and read. maybe one of you lifers can do the same.

nillahcootie · Post by **nillahcootie** » Fri, 05 Oct 2007 11:08 pm

I too find the prices here very high for pleasure reading, however, the library is a good place to visit...

and I joined a group : BookCrossings http://www.bookcrossing.com/home (this is not an advertisement, this is just a link to a non-profit group attempting to do something good and fun in the world) more than a few years ago, and I see that there are some books being freed here in Singapore too

might be fun to do again...have a look at what they are promoting...free your books into the wild

FannyAdams · Post by **FannyAdams** » Mon, 08 Oct 2007 3:41 pm

I read Tuesdays With Morrie. Not my kind of thing but I can understand the appeal. Nicely written, likeable 2 main characters, but for me there was no unacknowledged truth revealed to me. I think a couple of lines sum up the entire thing:- "We all know we're going to die. We just don't believe it. If we did, we would do things differently" or words to that effect. I am glad I read it though.

I think I want to read to escape at the moment. I mean, I'm one of those dreadful people who liked the Da Vinci Code (book, not the movie). So I probably need something a little more shallow. I picked up just that kind of book for $8 at the same time as I bought Tuesdays - so you'll be pleased to know that there are some dirt cheap books out there

lefthanded · Post by **lefthanded** » Mon, 08 Oct 2007 4:05 pm

Have you guys tried those 2nd hand bookstores? The books are on "rent" for a certain amount and if you return within the stipulated time they will pay back about a third of the amount.

Ha, other than tues with morrie, I think I belong to a different genre altogether. I only enjoy thriller/horror/mysteries. Currently I'm into Bentley Little's books, in my view, he's terrific in the horrific sense!

sprite · Post by **sprite** » Mon, 08 Oct 2007 5:41 pm

Just finished Daughter of Fortune by Isabel Allende. I liked it very much, rich in detail -- really puts into the place. She is a gifted author in this respect. Also recently read Love in the Time of Cholera, which won Gabriel Garcia Marquez the pulitzer prize. A gorgeous novel I thought, I'm a sucker for a good love story. I'm glad I already read it because I don't always like Oprah picks, and I guess she just named it as her next book club novel.

Superglide · Post by **Superglide** » Mon, 08 Oct 2007 5:44 pm

sprite wrote:Just finished Daughter of Fortune by Isabel Allende. I liked it very much, rich in detail -- really puts into the place. She is a gifted author in this respect. Also recently read Love in the Time of Cholera, which won Gabriel Garcia Marquez the pulitzer prize. A gorgeous novel I thought, I'm a sucker for a good love story. I'm glad I already read it because I don't always like Oprah picks, and I guess she just named it as her next book club novel.

Two fantastic books, I agree.

Magical realism, best performed by these 2 latin american authors.

sprite · Post by **sprite** » Mon, 08 Oct 2007 5:53 pm

I guess they are making Cholera into a movie. More's the pity really. I guess Marquez was willing to sell out to his evil neighbor's to the north. The man's a raving anti-American but I guess everyone has a price. Wonder how he feels about the Oprah nod? Well -- all is forgiven, if you can write like that, you can be rude and brutish once in a while. Maybe a deserving Latino director will get to do it. Like Innarrtiu or del Toro?

Superglide · Post by **Superglide** » Mon, 08 Oct 2007 6:02 pm

I remember "The house of the spirits" by Isabelle Allende being filmed.

Wasn't the magic of the book...

sprite · Post by **sprite** » Mon, 08 Oct 2007 6:06 pm

Rarely, rarely is. Fantastic read, I agree.

rb74 · Post by **rb74** » Tue, 09 Oct 2007 12:59 am

if someone is into mushy stuff, the kind of tear jerker novels, i can recommend "sam's letters to jennifer"... its about letters written to a granddaughter from her grandmom and how it intertwines with what each of them is going through at present.....
its written by james patterson, but very unlike his other books...

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Read any good books lately?

mushy stuff

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