The Reading Nook - (Recommend a book here)

Okay my literary friends-
this is where we can refer books to one another and even chat a bit about our thoughts on the book.

All I ask is that we don't give away the plots- please!

If a particular book draws a lot of attention-
I will open a thread for posts on that book alone.

Have fun and any old book will do!!

What book do you recommend?



<FONT SIZE=5 COLOR=768A76 FACE="Lucida Handwriting">~Sage~ </FONT><img src="http://ChasingDownTheBlue.homestead.com/files/femme.gif">

<FONT SIZE=2 COLOR=Black FACE="Tempus Sans ITC">Could it be that I never had the chance to grow inside?
Could it be that my habit is to find a place to hide?
Could it be that sometimes I say things just to disagree?
Could it be that I'm only being me?
Not easy living in my mind
a little peace is hard to find
my every thought is undermined
by all the history inside</FONT>
<FONT SIZE=5 COLOR=Black FACE="Freestyle Script">Staind</FONT>

I just finished reading a book called "The Lucky Ones" by Rachel Cusk. I enjoyed it, and I noticed people magazine gave it 4 stars! *smiles*

I recently finished "Jazz" by our Nobel Prize and Pulitzer Prize winner, Toni Morrison.

Brilliant! If you liked "Beloved", you will like this one.

Fairly recent bio:

http://www.distinguishedwomen.com/biographies/morrison.html

I hope that this isn't too long! It also contains spoilers (as does the first link) if you don't know the biblical story of Dinah, so do be careful :D

I have put this bit in silver so that it is hard to read and have marked it as a spoiler though it really won't spoil the story for you to know it - or at least it didn't for me :D


The Red Tent – Anita Diamant

“We have been lost to each other for so long. My name means nothing to you. My memory is dust. This is not your fault or mine. The chain connecting mother to daughter was broken and the word passed to the keeping of men, who had no way of knowing. That is why I became a footnote, my story a brief detour between the well known history of my father, Jacob, and the celebrated chronicle of Joseph, my brother. On those rare occasions where I was remembered it was as a victim”

These are the opening words of The Red Tent which is the story is the story of Dinah who is briefly mentioned in The Book of Genesis (http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?passage=GEN+34&language=english&version=NIV&showfn=on ) but this time the story is told in her own words rather than those of her male relatives or the writers of the bible. The passage is addressed to today’s women who are all her ‘daughters’ and should have inherited her legacy of women’s history, traditions and truths had the religion of Jewah not overtaken the old gods of whom women were the priestesses and protectors. Dinah’s story tells us that although things have changed so very much since biblical times some things stay the same; love, sex, marriage, relationships between women and most of all motherhood.

Dinah is the only girl among Jacob’s huge family and as such is raised by all four of his wives. Each of the four women has different qualities and all have differing relationships both to Dinah and their husband Jacob. The four women are constantly in competition with each other and yet the bond of sisterhood always stays strong. The Red Tent of the title is the place where all the ‘mysteries’ of womanhood take place, child birth, menstruation, storytelling and worship of the old gods, as the women of Jacob’s family have not yet adopted his god.

Spoilers

The story progresses through to Dinah’s own coming of age and her meeting and subsequent relationship with Shechem a prince not of a neighbouring people, the love story is beautifully told but ends tragically as Dinah’s brothers, jealous of his wealth, kill Shechem, his father and all the men of their city in a terrible act of treachery.


From here on Diamant takes us beyond the biblical story and moves on through Dinah’s life, her own motherhood, the sacrifices she makes for her son in Egypt so that he can be successful, her career as a healer and midwife and finally her last days where she finds new hope.

Dinah does have relationships of varying kinds with men throughout her life but it is the women who take centre stage and ultimately have the biggest bearing on her life, some for the better and some for the worst. . History of those times is told almost exclusively by and about men and this is a wonderful opportunity to see another side to the coin. Because of that it may seem to be more of a woman’s book but any man who wants to understand us a bit more would be well advised to read it!

I must admit that it was the beautiful cover of this book that attracted me to it http://images-eu.amazon.com/images/P/0330487965.02.LZZZZZZZ.jpg in the first place, but the story of everyday life among the tents and campfires soon had me hooked. Although we know that the story is fiction it is told so well so that it almost seems that it may be true and that the chain between the women of old who worshipped female deities and ourselves has somehow been reforged. It had me in tears several times but the overwhelming feeling I was left with at the end of the book was one of the enduring love and strength of ordinary people even when living through terrible events.

It won't help much for now, but I hope there will soon be a translation to this book by French biologist (and gardener, engineer, too!) Claude Gudin, "Une histoire naturelle de la séduction" (A natural history of Seduction), a wonderful book on how nature uses seduction to continue to exist.

It is a wonderful book that interests everybody, from the psychologist to the neurophysiologist, from the sociologist to the linguist, the doctor, you!

He sees no difference (and explains why) between the New Guinean gardener bird that paints his house in blue to attract the female bird and a gardener who built a whole garden for the woman he loves... or between the diamond that a man offers his woman and the fly wrapped in silk that Mr Spider offers Mrs Spider to seduce her...

A great book!

i am a huge JOHN IRVING fan......

"the world according to garp"(for the third time)
and " a widow for one year" and " the cider house rules" and "a prayer for owen meany"


john irving writes books the old fashioned fan...and i really even if i wanted could not give away the plots...just read them

they are comic, tragic erotic, filled with serious and ludicrous happenings...

" a widow for one year" is being released as a movie named "door in the floor" starring kim basinger and jeff bridges

small summary of the movie from movies.com

This adaptation of John Irving's 537-page novel A Widow for One Year focuses on children's book writer Ted Cole (Jeff Bridges) and his wife, Marion (Kim Basinger), who are living in East Hampton, N.Y. The two are struggling to deal with the deaths of their two sons and to care for their 4-year-old daughter, Ruth. As their marriage disintegrates, Ted hires a young personal assistant named Eddie O'Hare to work for him for a summer. Soon Eddie finds himself seduced by Marion.

this give s nothing away...

and i guess most people are familiar with " the cider house rules"
and with " a prayer for owen meany"

i love his books so much i seem to have lost focus(lol)

I just started reading David Sedaris' Me Talk Pretty One Day, and so far it is just as funny as it claims. It is a super easy and entertaining read; perfect for the summer or vacation!


p.s. I also just started Diamant's The Red Tent (see Keris' post), and I am already hooked.

trans,

i'm also a big john irving fan, i've read all of his book s except for "hotel new Hampshire" which i just couldn't get into. "a widow for one year" is one of my favorite books. i can't say that the movie adaptation looks very representative of the book, but we'll see.

I just finished reading "The Mistress of Spices" by Chitra Divakaruni. It was definitely different, but I enjoyed it. The descriptive passages in the book are so vivid...

I also really like John Irving. I think that "Setting Free The Bears" is my favorite. It was predictive of the future. Years after I read it, I saw in the news that the animals in a city zoo in Sarajevo, I believe, were starving, just like in his book. It was total deja-vu!

I read "The Mistress of Spices", Jody, and really liked it. It is a very sensuous book.

O.K. I'm a huge book lover although I hardley have anytime these days to read!

My favorite book is 'Hell House' by Richard Matheson. It's an awsome read. Horror.....not nasty or anything, this book gave me chills as I read it!!! I highly recommend it if you like scary kind of books.

Another is 'Wicked - The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West', by Gregory Maguire. This is very interesting because it goes into detail who the wicked witch of the west really was and where she came from.....this book is not for juvenille reading.
I have always been an Oz book fan....I own all 14 novels written by Frank L. Baum....YES there are 14 stories based on the Wizard of Oz!! Its great, the imagination just sucks you in.



Books specifically for women :
'Mr. Perfect' by Linda Howard. This story is hilarious! I know soooo many people who have read this.
And finally, 'Lucy Sullivan is Getting Married' by Marian Keyes. This is another fun, humorus book.
Its difficult for me to describe these last two books.....but if anyone has ever watched 'Sex and the City' then you will have an idea on what these books are like, :-)

I also really enjoyed MaGuire's Wicked. It was very clever. He really does get you thinking about about the nature vs. nurture debate; us evil innate or is it learned?

Oh yes Babes, I've read The Da Vinci code and the first Langdon story Angels and Demons too - they're good pulpy fun and quite ingenious if a little heavy handed with their religious themes. I'd definitely reccomend them as a good read.

I've just ordered one of the companion books too - the one by Simon Cox - is that the one you have?

I just checked out the main page to link to the Da Vinci challenge (which is good fun) and discovered that he has a new one up! :D That should give me something to do for a wee while!

http://www.danbrown.com/secrets/index.html

Oh btw this might be of interest to you too :D

http://movies.go.com/movies/D/davincicode_2004/index.html

I'm not sure if I can see Crowe in the role myself......but apparently Clooney is the favourite anyway :)

Hi All:
I was born a librarian, have been a children's librarian basically, but here goes my list:

Lakota Woman by Mary Crow Dog

Almanac of the Dead by Leslie Marmon Silko

Indian Killer by Sherman Alexie

Simple Abundance: A Daybook of Comfort and Joy by Sarah Ban
Breathnach

Gabriel's Story by David Anthony Durham

Through the Eyes of the Lens - National Geographic Greates
Photographs

ENJOY!

hey anyone likes dickens?

I just finished reading 'Lucy Sullivan is Getting Married', by marian Keyes.....and i loved it!!! I highly recommend this book to all the ladies. Its funny and totally relatable.

Hope that everyone is having a good weekend!!!

Just started reading a new book :


Symptomatic by Danzy Senna

Ms. Senna won the 2002 Whiting Writers' Award. Her first novel
CAUCASIA was a national best seller. She also writes for young adults.

I'll come back in a week or two and give my review.

ENJOY!!!

Originally posted by BellaLove
I just finished reading 'Lucy Sullivan is Getting Married', by marian Keyes.....and i loved it!!! I highly recommend this book to all the ladies. Its funny and totally relatable.

What's this book about?

Originally posted by EMCAD80
What's this book about?

Oh! Its great!!! Its about this woman, Lucy Sullivan, who gets dragged to a Palm Reader lady by her friends and the palm reader predicts Lucy will be married by the end of the year. She thiniks it all a joke but her friends believe it. Then one by one, all her friends's predictions start coming true so Lucy starts to believe that she will meet the man of her dreams any day now. Its just a great story. :-)

I just finished Gregory Maguire's Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West. This is a fantastic piece of fiction that examines the story BEFORE the story of the Wizard of Oz. In this book we see the full life of the wicked witch of the west from her birth through to her death. The story is funny and completely spellbinding. I read it in about 3 days. Its just so compelling.

This is no kids story and strongly recommend it. Talk about there being 2 or 3 sides to every story! What makes someone wicked? Why do we do the things we do? This story reminds us that we can get a totally different story with a totally different perspective.

I just finished Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri. This is her first collection of short stories and it won the Pulitzer Prize. Beautifully written. I highly recommend it.

Once again, I finished reading another Marian Keyes novel called, 'Sushi for Beginners' and it was awsome. Thats 2 books now that I've read by this author and no disappointments at all. :-) The next one by her I'm reading is called, 'Angels'. Stay tuned.

I'm really not into reading...magazines are my thing, but I'm trying...Wicked took me nearly 3 months to finish. Then I bought Pamela Anderson's Book: STAR and finished it in a week. I am now 100 pages away from completing Jenna Jameson's book: HOW TO MAKE LOVE LIKE A PORN STAR. Contrary to the title...it's her autobiography....it's pretty intense. It's double the size of the Pam Anderson book....and I'm almost done...it's been a week. What does this say about me as a reader? lol

I am currently reading Mitch Albom's The Five People You Meet in Heaven. I am about half way through and so far it is really good. It is an easy read, I think read the first half in less than two hours. Anyway, it is one of those books that I have looked foward to reading all week long!

I am reading this book that completely challenges our perception of men and what we would call their ego, macho, wandering-eyed tendencies. It is called "for women only" by Shaunti feldhahn. Yes it is written by a women, so it is even more surprising that it's not a man's bias trying to convince us just to get what he wants. Here's a copy of the excerpt:

What’s going on in a man’s mind? From their early days, every woman has struggled to understand why males behave the way they do. Even long-married women who think they understand men have only scratched the surface. Beneath a man’s rugged exterior is an even more rugged, unmapped terrain. What bestselling author Shaunti Feldhahn’s research reveals about the inner lives of men will open women’s eyes to what the men in their life—boyfriends, brothers, husbands, and sons—are really thinking and feeling. Men want to be understood, but they’re afraid to “freak out” the women they love by confessing what is happening inside their heads. This book will guide women in how to provide the loving support that modern men want and need.

She wrote another book called the "the Lights of tenth street" that I would like to read.

Originally posted by MrHedgeHog
I have just finsihed ( for the thousandth time) working my way thru my many, many Terry pratchett books. I wouldnt bat an eyelid when I say that He is undoubtedly the funniest author I have ever read. now it might not appeal to everyone so I am going to show some quotes so people can get a feel for his sense of humour:-


They are wacky and I love them too, think one was made into a movie as well?

They are making a film (to be released in 2005) based on this book. For those of you who have not read it, I highly recommend it. I read it when it was first published (in 1997 or '98) and it still ranks as one of the best books I have read yet!

If i where to recomend a book i would have to recomend two :)
Try the Hobbit and The hithhickers guide to the galaxy
Both books are really funny and entertaining.
Oh and i recomend Dune for sci-fi fans :)
So Dune,The hobbit and The hitchhickers Guide to the galaxy GO get them :D

Originally posted by Operx
If i where to recomend a book i would have to recomend two :)
Try the Hobbit and The hithhickers guide to the galaxy
Both books are really funny and entertaining.
Oh and i recomend Dune for sci-fi fans :)
So Dune,The hobbit and The hitchhickers Guide to the galaxy GO get them :D

I looooved Hitchhikers guide to the Galaxy......right now I'm reading a book called PsychoBible. Although I practice no faith and do not buy into the Bible.....religion fascinates me and this talks about how we respond psychologically to the Bible. It deals only with Christianity.....does not delve into other religions.

So far so good.

i am currently re-reading my Anne Rice books. i have all of them.
at moment i have 2 going and a third book by Dean Koontz, "out of the corner of his eye".
i like fantasy/fiction/horror stuff. and i like to have at least 2 books going at the same time, lol.

there is a series of books by Robert Jordon called "the wheel of time" series. they're all many paged, over 600, which i love and as of right now, i'm waiting to get off my butt and get the 11th or 12th one, i forget which number i was on.

also Stephen King's, "the regulators" is my next read.

wow i had my first quote :) i am so proud

Originally posted by Operx
wow i had my first quote :) i am so proud

lol. remember to thank the academy :p

Hey GEG, have you read Koontz's The Taking yet?? Excellent, excellent book...almost as good as Spectres.

ooo, i have not. and i'm lovin this one. i'll def. check it out tho

we have a great old bookstore here in town where you can take old books in, build up credit, and use the credit to get you some new books. i'm gonna hit up the koontz section when i go back to turn in some more books. :D

Trace

The last book I read for the fun of it was "One Hundred Years of Solitude."

I swear, I didn't know it was one of the books in Oprah's book club. I just picked it up off the shelf at Borders before I went on vacation.

Excellent, different albeit a bit complex in regard to familiar connections/family tree aspects.

I didn't finish it while on vacation, and then I set it aside when Ross first moved out here. I've tried to pick it up to finish it but can't remember who is who!

Anyway, I highly recommend this book...but don't put it down for too long. Actually, I think that there's a diagram of the family tree in the book, now that I think about it. Duh.

This was a great series of books. Not an easy read, by any stretch of the imagination, but WOW does it come together in the end... it's science fiction, although the emphasis is on "science" and not so much fiction.

Especially when I read about:
http://www.space.com/businesstechnology/technology/space_elevator_040629.html

And the thought of this after reading Red Mars just makes me cringe!!! UGH. If you haven't read the series, I HIGHLY suggest it. One of the most thought provoking, enlightening and interesting reads I've ever encountered...

... and right on target. Me thinks the author is more likely a psychic than a science fiction writer. LOL.

~phosphorescent

I usually find a book that's good and then go out and find everything I can by that author. A lot of books I throw down after the first chapter or two.

Anyway, these are a few I especially liked.....

The Clan of the Cave Bear series, by Jean Auel

'The Merlin Trilogy', by Mary Stewart

Just about anything by John Grisham, or Morgan Llywelyn.

Diana Gabaldon's Outlander series (actually about an OW/YM!)

Tolkien's LotR books, including The Hobbit.

A Woman of Substance and Her Own Rules by Barbara Taylor Bradford

Follow the River by James Alexander Thom (true story!)

Oh Lynn! I LOVED the Outlander series! And oddly enough, I wasn't involved in an OW/YM relationship then, but it was SUCH a good series. Although... life sidetracked me somewhere in the 4th novel and I never picked it back up (doesn't mean I won't). :D

Ms. Gabaldon is an excellent author, and I very much enjoyed her style of writing. The first and third books were my favorite.

~phos

phos.... yes she is a great author! Other than that series I haven't read anything else by her. Not even sure if she does have other books out. So much for my reading everything from a beloved author eh?

Anyway, that last book was great... but sad too, because it was the last of them.

I have two authors who I have done that with. :D Orson Scott Card... devoured everything he's written I can get my hands on and haven't been disappointed. And David Feintuch.

Orson Scott Card wrote the Enders Game series, The Homecoming series (the first series of his I read and cause of my addiction) and the Alvin Maker series. The first two being sci-fi, and Alvin being fantasy. Then there's his Women of Genesis series. Several other religious oriented novels (Saints, which is about the beginning of mormonism), and then a couple ghost stories: The Lost Boys and Homebody. His short stories are AMAZING, as is his War Watch articles in The Ornery American. ;)

David Feintuch wrote my all time favorite sci-fi series, called The Seafort Saga, although the books start with Midshipman's Hope and are all "Hope" titled. (Challenger's Hope, Prisoner's Hope, Fisherman's Hope, Patriach's Hope, Voices of Hope, Children of Hope). His other series is fantasy and starts with The Still and ends thusfar with The King.

And, while I haven't explored the author Kim Stanley Robinson's possible other books, I absolutely LOVED Red Mars, Blue Mars and Green Mars. They were NOT easy books to read, but they were SO amazingly well written and each had unbelievably powerful culminations. All I can say is, it FUELED my love of Mars and humanity. :o And I SHUDDER every time I read something in the news about the proposed space elevator. NOOOO.

~phos

I started rereading the Lord of the Rings series again. My daughter got me the soundtracks from the movies for Christmas..... beautiful! Anyway, it got me in the mood for the movies again, so I watched all three, then that got me in the mood for the books. LOL... I am presently about to finish the 'Fellowship'. I'd forgotten how well written and entertaining the books are.

But I'm so glad I don't live in middle earth.... :D

A very entertaining read for the uninitiated is Watchmen by Alan Moore.

It's a self-contained 12-part comic book saga from 1986, presently collected in trade paperback form for easy reading.

Even if you don't like comics, it's so well-written (widely considered to be the best or near-best example of scripting in the medium of sequential art) that you'll probably enjoy it anyway.

It's one of the big milestones in the comics medium that really set the bar for adult comics. The final nail in the coffin to the idea that either comics or superhero comics have to be just for kids. :)

Wow. No recommendations for EIGHT months? :eek:

On vacation this last week, I asked Litical to pick me up a cheap "non-harlequin" novel at the grocery store. Anything, I didn't care, I needed to read.

He came back with a book titled "Day of the Dead" by JA Jance. A mystery/horror which was on the NYTimes Bestseller list. Hell, why not.

It was a very enjoyable read and I recommend it for anyone interested in picking something up cheap for a couple days of escape.

That is all.
~phos

Re Reading Jung Chang's Wild Swans, Three Daughters of China, Simon Sebag Montefiore's Stalin, The Court of the Red Tsar, Mark Talley's India File.

Hardy's Tess of the D'Urbervilles is amazing.. I'd never ventured near Thomas Hardy books before (except in English lessons.. perhaps that's why I avoided them lol) but I keep rereading this book.

i am currently re-reading my Anne Rice books. i have all of them.



I realize this is pretty late going....but I was just wondering if you finished reading all of your Anne Rice books. When you say you have all of them...does that include the non-vampire ones?

Personally I liked Belinda...and the Beauty series that she wrote under a different name...A.N. Roquelaure.

Nadine.

Was a very enjoyable read. Of course, anyone who has read my posts over here know I am an Orson Scott Card junkie (fantasy, sci-fi, religious works, ghost stories, plays, short stories, EXCELLENT War Watch columns at The Ornery American online, etc., etc..)..

... but, I really enjoyed this story... and the afterword gave a beautiful understanding of what went into his writing the story...

Magic Street.

I now have to get the latest edition of the Ender's Game ~ Bean Series, released not that long ago. That whole series was as easily addictive to me as Harry Potter was...

~phos

I realize this is pretty late going....but I was just wondering if you finished reading all of your Anne Rice books. When you say you have all of them...does that include the non-vampire ones?

Personally I liked Belinda...and the Beauty series that she wrote under a different name...A.N. Roquelaure.

Nadine.


yup yup, ALL of em ;)

the erotica, the Mayfair Witches, the Vampire Chronicles, the one (blackwood farm?) where the witches met the vampires. i got's em all. but only half or so in hardback, i want to get em all in hardback eventually.

enthuse: I read Tess of the D'Urbervilles last year, and just read Far From the Madding Crowd. What a great book. I love Thomas Hardy.
If you like Hardy, try Ian McEwan. I read Atonement last summer, and the slight comtempt with which he treats his own characters struck me as Hardy-esque. Well, that and I think all British writers are decended from William Shakespeare genetically somehow anyway...

In a lot of ways I love that British curt-ness more than the meandering American epics that my boyfriend likes to read. His favorite book is Look Homeward Angel. I was ready to tear my hair out after the fifth page of Edmund Gant's musings en utero. Only a Hardy fan would chuckle when little Edmund gets stepped on by the horse.

By the way, anyone into the Dark Tower series by Stephen King. I just read #5, The Wolves of Calla. Going to pick up #6 ASAP. If there are fans out there, don't tell me the end.

"Go then, there are other worlds than these"

I strongly recommend this amazing autobiography Wild Swans, Three Daughters of China by Jung Chang here...though 12 years old...the book is ageless


Bursting with drama, heartbreak and horror, this extraordinary family portrait mirrors China's century of turbulence. Chang's grandmother, Yu-fang, had her feet bound at age two and in 1924 was sold as a concubine to Beijing's police chief. Yu-fang escaped slavery in a brothel by fleeing her "husband" with her infant daughter, Bao Qin, Chang's mother-to-be. Growing up during Japan's brutal occupation, free-spirited Bao Qin chose the man she would marry, a Communist Party official slavishly devoted to the revolution. In 1949, while he drove 1000 miles in a jeep to the southwestern province where they would do Mao's spadework, Bao Qin walked alongside the vehicle, sick and pregnant (she lost the child). Chang, born in 1952, saw her mother put into a detention camp in the Cultural Revolution and later "rehabilitated." Her father was denounced and publicly humiliated; his mind snapped, and he died a broken man in 1975. Working as a "barefoot doctor" with no training, Chang saw the oppressive, inhuman side of communism. She left China in 1978 and is now director of Chinese studies at London University. Her meticulous, transparent prose radiates an inner strength....

From Publishers Weekly

http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a3/asq221/WS.jpg

I read "Wild Swans", Aram. It is an amazing book! I rarely read nonfiction, but I couldn't put this one down. It really helps to understand the mentality of Chinese immigrants who grew up in that environment. That Communist brainwashing is deadly.

Hmmm...seems basic enough..ethics, morals...looks like a good read...basic...yet information that many people often need to be reminded of. :)

Taking the right steps
CNN 'Ethics Guy' brings 'refresher course in living' to Anchorage

By ANN POTEMPA
Anchorage Daily News

(Published: October 4, 2005)
Bruce Weinstein is coming all the way from New York to Anchorage to tell you that if you do good, you feel good. That may appear simple, yet this ethicist thinks you need a reminder.

Weinstein, who has doctoral degrees in philosophy and bioethics, bills himself as the "Ethics Guy." He has written books and articles on making the right decisions and talks about it on CNN.

Cora Bosshart, an Anchorage physician assistant, heard him on national news shows and invited him to the annual conference of the Alaska Academy of Physician Assistants. She reads about unethical behaviors in her morning newspaper. She has also seen patients trying to make the right decisions.

"I see people struggling -- struggling with decisions every day," she said. "A lot of time, I see that struggle turn into health problems."

Medical providers like Bosshart face hard questions that deal with medical ethics. What do you do when family members disagree on how to treat a loved one facing the end of life? How do you handle patients pressuring you for an antibiotic, even though you know that drug won't fix their problem?

"I think we all need to have a reminder now and then that we have standards that we have to hold to," Bosshart said.

1. Do no harm.

2. Make things better.

3. Respect others.

4. Be fair.

5. Be loving.

Sounds easy to follow, but Weinstein said the precepts are easily set aside.

"We're not doing a good enough job of following these principles," he said. "In the hectic lives that we lead, we tend to put these principles aside. We forget about them. We act out of a sense of short-term gain rather than long-term benefit."

His 190-page book is a quick read that's not meant to break new ground. Weinstein calls it a "refresher course" in living.

The Daily News interviewed Weinstein by phone from New York last week. Here are excerpts, edited for clarity.

Q. What does ethics mean to you?

A. Ethics is the attempt to take the interests of other people at least as seriously as we take our own interests.

Q. In your book, you say there are right and wrong answers to ethical questions. Explain that.

A. It's often believed that ethics is relative to the person holding the moral viewpoint. It's relative to culture. It's relative to time. But at least one quick example shows why there are in fact on at least some, if not many, issues, absolute ethical standards that do not vary from time to time, from place to place, or even from religion to religion. And the example I use in the book involves a psychiatrist who says that he's attracted to a patient and wants to date her. And asks his friend if that would be ethical. And clearly it's unethical. That would be a gross violation of one's professional responsibilities to place the welfare of the patient above one's own welfare. ...

So if you buy into the idea that it's wrong for a psychiatrist to sleep with a patient, (no matter) what the psychiatrist might happen to think, then it shows that in at least one area there are absolute moral standards. And of course there are many, many more.

The ultimate test case is 9/11. I mean, just because a few terrorists thought that that was an ethically praiseworthy, morally praiseworthy thing to do doesn't mean that it was.

Q. Why do people faced with ethical questions answer them the wrong way?

A. There are three things that get in the way. The first is fear. We're often afraid to confront someone -- for example, if we see someone doing something they shouldn't at work. If someone's stealing from the company or submitting personal expenses for business reasons. Or wasting time at work. We're afraid to confront them because we're afraid that they might think ill of us.

A second thing that comes up, especially in the medical context, is guilt -- and I will be talking about this in my speech Friday -- in which the patient's family member demands that everything possible be done to keep the patient alive, even if the patient would have refused life-sustaining treatment at that point and the treatment was futile.

Often what gets in the way there is not so much the patient's family member truly believing that extended heroic efforts would be in the patient's best interest, but rather we often hear family members admit that they feel guilty that they became estranged with the patient and they can't bear the thought of losing the patient forever. And so in that case what gets in the way is being straddled or being burdened by terrible feelings of guilt.

Then the third probably most common reason why we don't do the right thing, even when we know we should or even when we know what the right thing is, is self-interest. I mean, if we discover that we weren't charged for an item in a restaurant or we received too much money in change at the grocery store, we know that it doesn't belong to us, we know we should give it back, but we keep it because we'd rather have the money. Or we don't call the error to the waiter's attention because we'd rather pay less than more.

Q. You say there are personal benefits to acting ethically? What do you mean by this?

A. Oh yes, and I think that's why I subtitled the book "Feeling Good by Doing Good," because when I first started teaching ethics after getting my Ph.D. in 1989, I thought everybody would be on the same page and that we're coming to the table in agreement that it's important to take ethics seriously. And yet what I found in teaching across the country ... is that most people want to know: "What's in it for me? Why should I care about doing the right thing?"

In fact, at the end of my seminar ... I'll ask a very simple question: Why should we be ethical? ...

What I found in my travels is that whether I was asking the question in Anchorage, Alaska, Jacksonville, Florida, Memphis, Tennessee, you name it, the overwhelming response to that question was: "So I can look myself in the mirror, so I can go to sleep at night, so I can have a clear conscience."

In other words, what I discovered is that what actually motivates people is a self-referential reason. People wanted to feel good about themselves. And for a long time, I resisted that because I thought, well, ethics is really about, or should be about, taking the interests of other people seriously. ...

I thought, if I can show people why doing the right thing is not just the right thing to do, it's the smart thing to do, it's the best way to enrich your lives, then that would really be the key to unlocking this and truly making it a popular idea. And so that was the approach that I took with this latest book.

But I also take great pains to show that feeling good about yourself should not be the main justification for doing the right thing.

Q. "Do no harm" has a real meaning in medicine. In your book, you acknowledge that it's impossible to apply this principle completely or in every circumstance. Can you give a real-life medical example of what you mean?

A. When you take a child to the doctor for their yearly inoculation, from the child's point of view, it sure feels like a harm to get a shot. And perhaps to a more extreme degree, having surgery feels like a harm. I mean it's not just unpleasant, it's not just uncomfortable. It hurts. And yet the short-term pain is worthwhile for the long-term benefit. And in fact one would be a poor parent if one said, "Well, I don't want to cause my child any discomfort whatsoever, so I'm not going to take them to the doctor." That would be ridiculous. It would be abdicating their moral responsibilities.

Q. Recently, there was an article in our paper relaying details of a deadly car accident that was likely caused by road rage. In your book, you talk about the principle "Be loving" and say that applies to your fellow driver on the highway. Can you explain that?

A. No system of ethics, no account of a moral life, would be complete without some reference to love or kindness or compassion. In other words, it's not enough to simply avoid harming people, to treat them with respect, to be fair and to make things better. A fully rich, moral life means to incorporate compassion and love into one's life. ...

I present a case study in which you see a driver pull in front of you (and you have children in the back seat) and you have three options -- yell at them, call the cops on your cell phone or ... wait until you can get to safe place and then take action. And many people would in fact choose "A" because it produces a lot of anger when that happens. It frightens us. It scares us, and then it makes us angry, that someone would endanger us and our children. ...

And the compassionate thing to do would be to resist giving in to one's anger and also to resist picking up the cell phone and calling the cops. ... You are more likely to endanger yourself and your children and other people ... by yelling at the person or calling the police on your cell phone while you're driving.

The other thing -- this is where compassion comes in -- what kind of lesson are we teaching our children when we yell at someone who has made us angry? When we return hostility with more hostility? Well, we are teaching them something that we probably would not really want to teach or shouldn't want to teach ... that tit-for-tat is a fair response.

What we want to show is that the best way to protect yourself and other people is to calmly assess the situation, as hard as that may be, get out of harm's way and then take action.


he Anchorage Daily News (www.adn.com)

There is a valid reason why people don't generally read philosophy. Most books about the subject are irrelevant to modern, daily life.

This is not true of Friedrich Nietzsche's "Beyond Good and Evil."

In this volume, Friedrich the Great analyzes religion, art, history, and yes, women. I think he also touches on reality tv shows (just kidding).

Not bad for a late, 19th century, sickly German.



"Books for the general reader are always ill-smelling books, the odour of paltry people clings to them." -- Friedrich Nietzsche

This is not true of Friedrich Nietzsche's "Beyond Good and Evil."

*spits* Friedrich Nietzsche is why I QUIT studying philosophy as my major after 3 years. A more bigoted, sexist PIG I have never been forced to endure under the "guise" of achieving an "education." Of course, it didn't help that the professor who taught the course on Nietzsche and Kant was equally a bigotted and sexist, as he truly bought into the disgusting bile this "sickly german" sycophant spewed in his writing. :rolleyes:

~phos

Originally Posted by fos4snt*spits* Friedrich Nietzsche is why I QUIT studying philosophy as my major after 3 years. A more bigoted, sexist PIG I have never been forced to endure under the "guise" of achieving an "education."

What a shame. Think of it. If you had only held your nose and persevered for another year, you could have earned your philosophy degree and rebuked dead ol' Friedrich Nietzche's antiquated ideas about men and women.

Alas, his legacy will persist, despite your angry but articulate spittle. :cool:

ROFLAO. Actually, I got a degree all the same... just decided I had stomached enough bile for one lifetime. The degree I carry is much more fun anyway. :p

LOL
~phos

i am currently re-reading my Anne Rice books. i have all of them.
at moment i have 2 going and a third book by Dean Koontz, "out of the corner of his eye".
i like fantasy/fiction/horror stuff. and i like to have at least 2 books going at the same time, lol.

there is a series of books by Robert Jordon called "the wheel of time" series. they're all many paged, over 600, which i love and as of right now, i'm waiting to get off my butt and get the 11th or 12th one, i forget which number i was on.

also Stephen King's, "the regulators" is my next read.

Oh GEG! I've read all the Wheel of Time books as well. Great reads, yet sometimes Jordan dwaddles a bit. I haven't read the latest one though I read the prequel New Spring.

Currently, I just finished reading "The Alchemist", which was amazing. I highly recommend it.

I'm re-reading Camille Paglia's 1990 surprise best seller, Sexual Personae. Rather than write a lengthy discourse on the 700 page scholarly text, I thought I'd post a few quotes from the book. Maybe they'll encourage some people to delve into Ms. Paglia's ideas.

Liberalism defines government as a tyrant father but demands it behave as nurturant mother.

Sexual freedom, sexual liberation. A modern delusion. We are hierarchical animals. Sweep one hierarchy away, and another will take its place, perhaps less palatable than the first.

My theory is that whenever sexual freedom is sought or achieved, sadomasochism will not be far behind. Romanticism always turns into decadence.

Western love is a displacement of cosmic realities.

We must ask whether the equivalence of male and female in Far Eastern symbolism was as culturally efficacious as the hierarchization of male over female has been in the west. Which system has ultimately benefited women more?

Most of western culture is a distortion of reality. Bu reality should be distorted; that is, imaginatively amended.

Mystification will always remain the disorderly companion of love and art.

When the prestige of marriage is low, all the nasty daemonism of sexual instinct pops out. Individualism, the self unconstrained by society, leads to the coarser servitude of constraint by nature. Every road from Rousseau leads to Sade.

Aesthetics stop where sex begins.

Perfect objectivity does not exist.

Everything sacred and inviolable provokes profanation and violation. Every crime that can be committed will be.

Modern feminism's most naive formulation is its assertion that rape is a crime of violence but not of sex, that it is merely power masquerading as sex. But sex is power, and all power is inherently aggressive. Rape is male power fighting female power.

No transcendental religion can compete with the spectacular pagan nearness and concreteness of the carnal-red media.

Male sex is quest romance, exploration and speculation. Promiscuity in men may cheapen love but sharpen thought. Promiscuity in women is illness, a leakage of identity.

Every subject localized and honored by art is endangered by it opposite. Art is a shutting in, in order to shut out.

Islam is wise to drape women in black, for the eye is the avenue of eros.

The idea that emotion can be seperated from sex is is a Christian illusion, one of the most ingenious but finally unworkable strategies in Christianity's ancient campaign against pagan nature. Agape, spiritual love, belongs to eros but has run away from home.

Marxism is a flight from from the magic of person and the mystique of hierarchy. It distorts the character of western culture, which is based on charismatic power of person. Marxism can only work in pre-industrial societies of homogeneous populations. Raise the standard of living and the rainbow riot of individualism will break out. Personality and art, which Marxism fears and censors, rebound from every effort to repress them.

A fantasy dogging feminist writing is that there was once a peaceable matriarchy overthrown by warmongering men, founders of patriarchal society. Not a shred of evidence supports the existence of matriarchy anywhere in the world at any time. Matriarchy, political rule by women, must not be confused with matrilineage, passive transmission of property or authority through the female side.


And there you have it. A few golden thoughts from the mind of Hurricane Camille. :cool:

Today is: Saturday, November 26, 2005*

Published on*Tuesday, October 4, 2005 2:22 PM CDT

MIND GAMES CAN RATTLE THE HUMANS

Remember the book "Games People Play"? This wasn't a publication about canasta, bingo or spin the bottle. It was a work about psychological games, such things as control, manipulation, getting one's own way, etc.

I'm considering writing a similar one. Only I'm calling it "Games Cats Play."

It won't be so very different from the people version. It, too, will be about such things as control, manipulation, getting one's way, etc.

I could cite myriad possibilities. For instance, there could be chapters named:

1. You Just Thought You Wanted to Read the Newspaper.

2. And You Thought You Were Going to Work on the Computer?

3. Tilt the Pictures.

4. Rattle the Blinds.

5. Knock Over the Glass (cup/can/ etc.).

6. Clear the Desktop. (Variations are clear the dresser top or table top, etc.)

7. Run, Jump and Attack.

8. Hide and Hop.

9. Take the High Road.

10. Would You Like to Swing on a Towel.

11. Run Up and Down the Bed and Jump on a Brother/Sister/Cousin/Friend.

12. Ride the Door Facing (at its highest point, of course).

13. You'll Never Finish Writing That Note.

I'll address these in sequence.

You Just Thought You Wanted to Read the Newspaper.

Ed and I love to sit at the kitchen table and read newspapers. It's a habit we both developed early in life.

We didn't count on Dennis and Archy, however. They have other ideas. Their reaction is to pounce on the top of the paper and send the pages flying, or to execute a kamikaze-like dive through a double page, creating a nice frame around their furry little faces.

And You Thought You Were Going to Work on the Computer?

I've seen cats that will lie atop a computer and not bother a thing. It simply becomes their perch.

The late Kit Kit, the resident cat at Benton Veterinary Hospital who lived for a phenomenal length of time - at least 25 years, maybe more since she was grown when she was rescued and no one knew her age for certain - would lie for hours across one of the computers in the lobby. She seemed to have no interest whatsoever in what the employees or clients were doing.

Any cat that's ever resided in our house expects to participate. Make one keystroke with a kitty atop the computer and the cat will make the next strike for you. And the next and the next ...

Tilt the Pictures.

I have a thing about pictures that don't hang straight. I thrive midst clutter, but a crooked picture bothers me so much that I attach tiny pieces of masking tape to the backs of each one in our house to anchor it securely. When I'm in other people's homes and the residents turn in another direction, I have been known to gently straighten a frame gone askew.

My spouse has tried to break me of this, but old habits die hard. The cats at our house, however, are determined to cure me of what they consider a flaw in my personality. They apparently prefer any hanging item to be off center.

I can't tell you how many times I've walked into the living room and been able to tell at a glance that they've been playing Tilt the Pictures. This appears to be one of their favorite pastimes.

Rattle the Blinds is something they play when they want us to get up.

It's an early morning, or at least earlier than I want it to be morning, game for them.

Knock Over the Glass (whatever) is another regular happening.

This never takes place when said glass/cup/whatever is empty. The container must be full or nearly so or it isn't worth their while.

Clear the Desktop is also at the top of the feline activity list.

This is usually done in slide mode. One will jump from a goodly distance, land on the desk and slide to one end, sending everything crashing to the floor.

Run, Jump and Attack is self-explanatory.

They love to play this especially when the attackee least expects it. Ankles are good targets.

Hide and Hop is best accomplished when a cat is underneath a bed.

When you're unaware the cat is anywhere near, it will spring forward, hop upward and land on a foot, leg or some other body part.

Tarzan and Jane is probably my husband's least favorite exercise for the cats to engage in. This is when they jump from one high perch to another, then another and another. It's the feline version of vine-swinging through the jungle.

Would You Like to Swing on a Towel ought to be another obvious one.

The cat jumps from somewhere, attaches to the end of the towel, swings a few seconds, then drop, leaving the towel in a clump on the floor.

Run Up and Down the Bed and Scare the Daylights out of a Brother/Sister/Cousin/

Friend is done with a great deal of regularity.

They find this especially enjoyable when the jumpee is in full slumber. Sometimes it can turn into a full-scale cat fight (pardon the pun) because there are felines that don't appreciate being startled out of deep sleep.

Ride the Door Facing is something only the youngest and most agile felines choose to do, but they do so with gusto, usually sending clothing flying. (I attach clothing rods to the backs of bedroom doors to catch some of the closet overflow.)

This is especially endearing if you should happen to walk into a room as they're in mid-jump and the two of you collide.

You'll Never Finish Writing That Note.

I rarely write anything by hand anymore. I'm so accustomed to doing everything on a computer that I've almost forgotten how to compose thoughts the old-fashioned way.

There are times, though, when it's necessary. When I sit down to work on anything like this, I get into marathon mission mode and want to get through right away. It would be so much easier to accomplish if the cats would accept the fact that pens occasionally need to move back and forth on paper for some purpose other than for their enjoyment.

The following is one of those Internet things that has gone all over creation perhaps and came my way via Gayla McCoy.

I thought it was hilarious, but then I laugh out loud at lots of things. My husband is mainly a smiler when it comes to reacting to funny stuff. This one, though, got a belly laugh out of him, so I think it's worth passing on here. Just wish I knew who was clever enough to come up with it in the first place.

Here goes ...

Three men were sitting together bragging about how they had given duties to their new wives.

The first man had married a woman from Alabama and bragged that he had told his wife she was going to do all the dishes and housecleaning that

needed done at their house. He said that it took a couple of days, but on the third day he came home to a clean house and the dishes were all washed and put away.

The second man had married a woman from Florida. He bragged that he had given his wife orders to do all the cleaning, dishes and the cooking. He told his buddies that the first day he didn't see any results, but the next day it was better. By the third day, his house was clean, the dishes were done and he had a huge dinner on the table.

The third man had married an Arkansas girl. He boasted that he told her that her duties were to keep the house cleaned, dishes washed, lawn mowed, laundry washed and hot meals on the table three times a day. He said the first day he didn't see anything, the second day he didn't see anything, but by the third day most of the swelling had gone down and he could see a little out of his left eye. Enough to fix himself a bite to eat, load the dishwasher and telephone a lawn service.

Gotta love them Arkansas girls.

Lynda Hollenbeck is associate editor of the Benton Courier. She receives e-mail at bencour@sbcglobal.net or lyndahollenbeck@aol.com.


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Copyright © 2005 The Benton Courier
No portion of this site may be published or broadcast without the newspapers' permission.

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Has anyone read "A Million Little Pieces" by James Frey???

It's a true story about the author's rehab from years of substance abuse. The pictures he paints and the pain that comes thru is horrific, but it is a must read!
The writing style is unique but very compelling as it fits so well with his ordeal.

Oprah had picked this book for her book club several months ago and today she had the author on her show. I cried many times thru out the reading, and at times had to put it down and go to something else....but I am glad that I did finish it.

Has anyone read "A Million Little Pieces" by James Frey???

It's a true story about the author's rehab from years of substance abuse. The pictures he paints and the pain that comes thru is horrific, but it is a must read!
The writing style is unique but very compelling as it fits so well with his ordeal.

Oprah had picked this book for her book club several months ago and today she had the author on her show. I cried many times thru out the reading, and at times had to put it down and go to something else....but I am glad that I did finish it.


Is this the same guy that admitted he fabricated lots of it? Oprah went ballistic about having been tricked into reviewing his book?

The last book I read was 'Dumbing Us Down" by John Taylor Gatto. It is his indictment of the public schooling system. He's got some points.

Martin Gross also has a book out, Conspiracy of Ignorance: Failure of the American Public Schools. A particular concern of mine, as children are our future. Seems they have a hard road ahead with the public schools having failed them. Many parents also have failed their children, too busy sorting out their own problems in a complex and "sophisticated" society.

Martin Gross also has a book out, Conspiracy of Ignorance: Failure of the American Public Schools. A particular concern of mine, as children are our future. Seems they have a hard road ahead with the public schools having failed them. Many parents also have failed their children, too busy sorting out their own problems in a complex and "sophisticated" society.


Martin Gross is so depressing, I cannot ever finish one of his books. I've tried but he's humorless. Nothing is right with the world for him. Unfortunately, he's brought lots of problems to light.

Yeah, if you ever saw Gross' pic, you could easily guess he is a sadsack! But macabre or not, he tells it like it is.:rolleyes:

I like the author and talk show commentator, Tammy Bruce. Don't remember her latest out. But the one book I have of hers is The New Thought Police, she relates to all the presumed crimes one could be accused of by the ever present PC Brigade which permeates the planet now.:(

the last 3 books I've read and I highly recommend:

The Visitation~Frank Peretti. Peretti is one of my absolute favorite Christian writers. His style reminds me a lot of Steven King (another favorite of mine). In The Visitition, a small town in Washington is suddenly rocked by various "miracles" such as a weeping crucifix, and sightings of angels. During this time a man arrives in town with healing powers and an uncanny knowledge of the citizens. While many in the town believe he is Jesus, a small group of people are suspicious and seek to expose this stranger for who he really is.

Monster~Frank Peretti. This book really was a page turner for me. Monster opens with a young married couple (Reed and Beck(y) ) on their first day camping. That night they hear a horrible noise, like an uneartly cry and realize something is following them and Beck is carried off into the wilderness by a creature. With the help of Reed's friends and the townspeople, the seach begins for Beck. But all is not what it seems and the real "monsters" here are not what you think.

The Five People You Meet In Heaven~Mitch Albom. I saw the movie based on the book a few years ago and I always wanted to read the book. Wonderful book and its just as good if not better than the movie.

Thought Id revive this thread...........

Im reading The Sky is Falling by Sidney Sheldon

I love James Patterson, Sidney Sheldon, Dean Koontz, Michael Palmer and Michael Connelly.

Next one Im going to read is The Mermaid Chair by Sue Monk Kidd, cant wait.

What is everyone else escaping into???

Well, I'm not into escape, but am reading John Stossel's new book, Myths, Lies and Downright Stupidity.

Well, I'm not into escape, but am reading John Stossel's new book, Myths, Lies and Downright Stupidity.

I like Stossel, but find he tends to oversimplify. Like almost everyone, I don't agree on all his stuff. While I have the book, I haven't found time to read it. There is a very interesting forum at 20/20 on abcnews.com that is reaction and discussion of just Stossel thinking...very active, very interesting. He does generate controversy.

How do you like the book?

A brilliant and funny writer, Steyn! Harsh, but insightful. His book is about demographics and he analyzes birthrates in western cultures to predict an ending that will not be happy.

This book is an eyeopener, full of facts that indict the FBI and other intelligence communities and their failures at predicting and preventing 9/11. Anyone reading this book would certainly not feel secure in the thought that we are protected by these agencies. Indeed, government can't seem to do much right. Patrick Fitzgerald, prosecutor of Libby, is one of the targets for his incompetence and covering up. But it's really the entire government that is incompetent to manage the task.

I fear Vance narrows the enemy down too much, and that while his facts and information are useful, they don't demonstrate the real size of the problem we face with islamofascist terror campaigns occurring all over the globe.

I just read A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson, which was wonderful, although most of the last chapter made me possibly more misanthropic than I already was. I really think this is a must read book. Very well done.

Since I'm through with that I'm on to Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged. I'd started it several months ago but put it down because its length was so daunting. But now I'm back into it and it's absolutely amazing. I find it hard to believe that people actually think the way some of the characters think, but perhaps they do. I know a lot of people think in ways I don't understand. Anyways, it's great so far. Thanks to bijou for reminding me that I was supposed to be reading it! (Muahahahaha! :D )

I just read A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson, which was wonderful, although most of the last chapter made me possibly more misanthropic than I already was. I really think this is a must read book. Very well done.

Since I'm through with that I'm on to Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged. I'd started it several months ago but put it down because its length was so daunting. But now I'm back into it and it's absolutely amazing. I find it hard to believe that people actually think the way some of the characters think, but perhaps they do. I know a lot of people think in ways I don't understand. Anyways, it's great so far. Thanks to bijou for reminding me that I was supposed to be reading it! (Muahahahaha! :D )


I knew it, I knew it, I knew it!:yes:

It's years since I read Ayn Rand, but as I recall, her characters are vehicles for her ideas rather than people we might meet in life.

I read Bryson's Short History... last year and loved it. Laughed a lot, learned a lot.

Have you read his travel books? They're hilarious and I especially love Notes From a Small Island, about his trip around the UK.

And also Mother Tongue, which is a study of the English language and much like A Short History... - funny and smart and packed with stuff you're glad to learn.

WOO HOO! Just found this section! I am a historical fiction reader, and always on the hunt for a new book/series. I have read all of Sharon Kay Penman/Margaret George/Philippa Gregory/Diane Gabaldon (historical romance)/several Michners. And ANYTHING on Henry II, Eleanor of Aquitaine, Thomas Beckett. My favorite book of all time is "Pillars of the Earth" by Ken Follette. I have read Lonesome Dove, and LOVED IT, even tho I am not into westerns. (it was SO much more than that). Of course, Gone with the Wind many times. Several books on Queen Elizabeth I. Of course Jean Auels Earth Childrens series several times! I am waiting for a just published book on Nefertiti.

Can anyone recommend anything??????

Thanks! Nandara

Just finished The Other Bolyne Girl and just couldn't get into it! Phillipa Gregory is getting rusty with the forumla!! (I know her personally so I can rag on her, lol) I have an editor buddy at Random, let me email her and see what's coming out for historical fiction in the near future!

As for my recommendation, I just finished Heartshaped Box for the second time, this book totally rocks...if you've ever thought about buying a ghost on the internet, this book is for you!!

Thank you Molly. I liked Gregory's The Queens Fool the best! The Virgins Lover was good, too. I have read a lot about Queen Elizabeth. Bloody Mary was rather new to me. I recently picked up Wideacre by Gregory, and read it with my mouth open in horror. I checked out the 2 sequels from the library, and after reading a few chapters, gave them back. It wasn't the incest that bothered me so much as the deliberate cruelty.

I am in the middle of Nefertiti now, and it is quite good. Having been to Egypt twice, I have always wanted to know more about her.

I LOVE to read. Has always been my number 1 hobby, but now that I am married to this wonderful guy, I do read less, as we are always out doing things together. I want to get back to it tho.

Anything you can recommend would be great!

Bijou, I read Atlas Shrugged about 10 years ago. It took me several months to get thru it, as it is a very deep book. It was very good.

Nandara

I had to read Sister Carrie by Theodore Dreiser as part of my course and I think its a brilliant book. Set in 1890's it speaks to the mass migration to Chicago and the repercussions this had on individuals who found themselves addicted to the whirlwind of the city. Dreiser ingeniously explains how the city as a zone of ambiguous freedom is one where only the strong will survive and the fate of innocence and naivety in an ever changing space; a place where people continually reinvent themselves and appearances are more important than the real you! Dreiser reserves judgment and it is this fact that stirs up so many varied reactions to his characters. Our morals compel us to despise the central characters, but with reference to its historical background you'll be left somewhat ambivalent.

Its a good read and it allows us to reflect on the society in which we now live (if you live in a city or based on your experiences of city life) and you'll realize that the more things change, the more things remain the same! :yes::bgrin2:

i agree totally, its a good read, starts off a bit slow to me but it picks up after a while. It seems to be written for a female imo. Dreiser spends so much time describing things that i just usually skip through all of that to get to the meat of the matter, lol. anywho....we are doing this course together by the way, so nice to see you voicing your views.

I'm currently reading all the Outlander series novels by Diana Gabaldon. Love them. Anyone interested in historicals should enjoy them. I hear she's set to release a book #7 sometime in 2008 continuing the saga of Claire and Jamie.

LOVE that series. Have read all the books thru twice in the last 10 years or so! Jamie is my ultimate hero!

Have you read any of Sharon Kay Penmans books? She is also historical fiction. She is a favorite of mine. Mostly english, but my favorite of hers was "Here be Dragons" about the last Welsh Princes, Llewellyn the great and Llewellyn the last. She is in the middle of a series about Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine. 2 amazing historical figures. A lot has been written about these 2 (Henry II was the king that had Thomas Becket killed, and his wife Eleanor was married to Louis VII King of France before divorcing him and marrying Henry II. She had 10 children, several of them subsiquent kings (Richard the Lionheart and King John of the Magna Carta) and lived into her 80's), and I have read everything I can get my hands on about them, but her account is one of the best. She has been sick these last few years, and the books are coming out slowly.

Of course my all time favorite book "Pillars of the Earth" which started me on my 17 year search of historical (mostly english) fiction has just come out with a sequel. I am in the middle of it now. Good, not quite the caliber of Pillars, but VERY good! Ken Follett is the author.

As you can see, reading historical fiction is my passion.

Nandara

Thanks for the recommendations, Nandara! I haven't read any of Penman's books but will definitely put them on my "to read" list. I'm currently reading "The Fiery Cross" in Gabaldon's series and will move onto "A Breath of Snow and Ashes" fairly soon. I still think the first "Outlander" is my favorite. Thanks for listing other books as well. I love historicals too. I think I was born in the wrong time period.. then again I know I'd miss a few modern conveniences such as indoor plumbing! LOL:bgrin2:

Secret Lovers - Affairs Happen...How to Cope

by Dr Luann Linquist

I must say that I hardly ever read self-help, but this book as stories from couples which have been through affairs, and I could identify with some of them so much. It's an amazing book and really opens up my eyes.

I am presently teaching:
Siddhartha
Oedipus Rex
Canterbury Tales

if anyone wants to chat about them!! :)

I picked up Cormac McCarthy's The Road today and read about the first hundred pages tonight. It's about a father and son who are among the few survivors of what appears to be a nuclear annihilation. It's a bit violent, but fittingly so given the setting and the author. I don't read much fiction at all and I'm very picky about what I do read, and I'm glad I found this one. I don't want to say too much about it for anyone who hasn't read it, but if you like dystopian survivalist stories, it's really fantastic.

I am presently teaching:
Siddhartha
Oedipus Rex
Canterbury Tales

if anyone wants to chat about them!! :)

Which version of Canterbury Tales are you using?? My favorite is contained in "The Riverside Chaucer" Even though I had to learn 'Middle English' to read it!!!

Here bygynneth the book of the Tales of Caunterbury

Whan that April with his shoures soote
The droghte of March hath perced to the roote,
And bathed every veyne in swich licour
Of which vertu engendred is the flour;

Anyone read the book Jerry Lewis wrote, 'Dean and Me'?? I just finished it and it was the best read ever! I learned soooo much about the two of them and how much love they had for each other. It was also heartbreaking...I have to admit I feel a bit depressed right now. But it was so good that I may read it again.

I've started reading the great women writers of the American South from the mid-20th century - Carson McCullers, Harper Lee, Eudora Welty...and Flannery O'Connor (thanks, whyme!)

I'm about two-thirds of the way through Welty's short but superb novel "The Optimist's Daughter," which won the Pulitzer Prize. It tells of the strange limbo-land we numbly inhabit when a parent is dying... the hospital, doctors and nurses, family and strangers, the funeral, the empty house, old books, photos, what to do with the furniture, opening drawers and finding old letters...

*sigh*

I've started reading the great women writers of the American South from the mid-20th century - Carson McCullers, Harper Lee, Eudora Welty.

Don't forget Flannery O'Connor!

I love Flannery O'Connor. I took a lit class in Uni that focused on her writing. We read and studied all of her works. An amazing writer with a profound message that is still relevant today.

My favs...A Good Man is Hard to Find...and...Wise Blood