What are you reading?

[pjpick]

It seems I've really been attracted to Mideastern fiction lately (especially since there is so much of it around). I have been reading In the Walled Gardens (about 150 pps. in) and I think I am just going to have to abandon it. It's sort of choppy and I have a hard time figuring out which character is speaking. I also find that I am skimming through a third to half of it. Not sure which book I will pick up next--have been having a hard time trying to stick with one.

[thewanderingjew]

garden spells is a quick read. it is light and delightful. try it and you can join the rcbc discussion beginning 8/11.

g

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pjpick wrote:
It seems I've really been attracted to Mideastern fiction lately (especially since there is so much of it around). I have been reading In the Walled Gardens (about 150 pps. in) and I think I am just going to have to abandon it. It's sort of choppy and I have a hard time figuring out which character is speaking. I also find that I am skimming through a third to half of it. Not sure which book I will pick up next--have been having a hard time trying to stick with one.

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[pjpick]

Hello TWJ!

I did look for Garden Spells in my used book stores and the library but no luck. I've forbidden myself to buy brand new books for a while since I have 150+ books I haven't read sitting at home. I have a bad habit of looking at my book shelves and saying, "I just have nothing to read." I guess the same can apply to clothes too. Maybe I can get GS by discussion time. It seems like response has been positive. I'll be able to borrow the next one from a friend though so I'm pretty sure I can catch September's discussion at least. I will be going back to my shelves shortly and sighing again pondering over what to try next. Will catch Mongol today at my art house theatre and let you know how it is.

[thewanderingjew]

my library was able to order garden spells for me and i got it in 2 days. won't your library order it for you?

twj

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pjpick wrote:

Hello TWJ!

I did look for Garden Spells in my used book stores and the library but no luck. I

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[therapist]

Right now I'm reading "Stolen Innocence" a non-fiction book about a young girl's life in the FLDS religious group. Very informative and interesting.

Next, I have "The Debt" to read, written by Angela Hunt. My husband is reading it now and says it's excellent. 

[ande]

The books on the FLDS -- there's a couple out now, I believe -- look very intriguing to me. And the issues presented in the book certainly have been in the news.

Re: Reading books with your husband. Do you have good conversations with him about books you both have read? I ask because sometimes couples are very compatible but not as an in-home book group.

Ande

[therapist]

We occasionally have good conversations about books we've both read, but not always. He reads a book, enjoys the story, and moves on. I tend to get so entrenched in the story that whether I'm putting it down for a bit (due to life interrupting my reading time) or putting it down b/c I've finished reading it, I have to spend some time removing myself from the "book reality" and reminding myself that it's time to return to "actual reality". ---Does this happen to others, or am I the only strange person here??? So, hubby and I do have good conversations, but they don't go as deeply as I would like them too.

[Linda10]

Dear Therapist,

Wow, can I ever relate to you!  When I'm reading a book, I am right there with all the characters!  They become my "family" for a while.

There's even a certain crossover period moving from one book to the next, which can be a little tricky if the two books are very different types.  I don't know if you've read "A Thousand Splendid Suns" or not.  But that book moved me so much that I actually went through a mourning period after I had finished it.  I refused to start my next book for three days out of respect for what happened in that story.  I don't think a book has ever moved me as much as that one did.  So -- if you're "strange," so am I!  And I don't care!  I love my books!

[ande]

Dear Linda10 and Therapist:

Well, that's what Book Explorers is all about! You can almost always find someone here who feels the same way you do about a book and is happy to discuss in depth.g.

Happy reading,

Ande

[ande]

From Therapist:

We occasionally have good conversations about books we've both read, but not always. He reads a book, enjoys the story, and moves on. I tend to get so entrenched in the story that whether I'm putting it down for a bit (due to life interrupting my reading time) or putting it down b/c I've finished reading it, I have to spend some time removing myself from the "book reality" and reminding myself that it's time to return to "actual reality". ---Does this happen to others, or am I the only strange person here??? So, hubby and I do have good conversations, but they don't go as deeply as I would like them too.

Interesting topic. The way people read: Is it a gender thing? Or is it just a general difference in the way people read that has nothing to do with gender?

Ande

[pjpick]

I have just finished Barefoot by Elin Hilderbrand and have moved on to Crescent by Diana Abu-Jaber. Barefoot was a very good light read and so far so good with Crescent (but I'm only on Chapter 3--haven't found myself skimming yet!).

[thewanderingjew]

i finished tallgrass and i am now reading septembers of shiraz. i am waiting for feather man to arrive.

twj 

[therapist]

I had a whole response typed, then moved my hand and it disappeared.

Linda10 --I can so relate to what you're talking about. My husband lovingly refers to it as my "book mode", when I'm so enthralled with the story that I can't be nudged back into reality. 

I finished the FLDS book yesterday. It was an interesting read, but I was able to move onto another book rather quickly. I started The Debt by Angela Hunt last night and finished it this evening. About an hour ago, I read the prologue to The Baby Thief and it has already piqued my interest. I plan on spending some time reading it and Girl Interrupted next week when I have some time off work. I'm waiting for Feather Man to arrive as well.

[therapist]

From Ande

Interesting topic. The way people read: Is it a gender thing? Or is it just a general difference in the way people read that has nothing to do with gender?

That is an interesting topic. Is the way people read linked to how people communicate? Studies show men use some 30,000 words less than women do in a day (or some such figure), so perhaps reading a book doesn't spark their vocal chords into action..... 

[thewanderingjew]

feather man arrived. thank you very much. i will begin it in a few days.

my husband can say the same thing as i say in about half the words! i usually ask him to preview my comments but sometimes i feel he leaves all the emotion out and i want my comments to be filled with feeling, if possible. he is sooo much more logical than i am and he cuts right to the point. he is never confrontational and sometimes i am, unfortunately, although it is not my intention.

twj

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therapist wrote:

From Ande

Interesting topic. The way people read: Is it a gender thing? Or is it just a general difference in the way people read that has nothing to do with gender?

That is an interesting topic. Is the way people read linked to how people communicate? Studies show men use some 30,000 words less than women do in a day (or some such figure), so perhaps reading a book doesn't spark their vocal chords into action.....

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[ande]

Further proof that one's mate -- or family -- can't supply everything! That's why we have friends, right?

Ande

[IBIS]

Here is the link to a wonderful review of a book by Ammon Shea from yesterday's Sunday New York Times Book Review. Mr. Shea wrote an oddly inspiring book about reading the whole Oxford English Dictionary in one go.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/03/books/review/Baker-t.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=book%20review,%20sunday%20...

READING THE OED
One Man, One Year, 21,730 Pages.
By Ammon Shea.

It’s a hilarious take on one man’s response to the English language. It's only 21,730 pages long (!)

“I feel as though I am eating the alphabet,” he writes halfway through…

Did reading the OED help him in any way? Did it make him a better or smarter person, or improve his test scores. No. In fact, it seems to have hindered his capacity for self-expression. “My head was so full of words that I often had trouble forming simple sentences out loud,” he writes, “and my speech became a curious jumble of obscure words and improper syntax.”

Slogging through the 20 volumes of 3-columns type, squirming with abbreviations, small caps, foreign deivations, archaic spellings... he read, in one year's time 59 million consecutive words.

“Some days I feel as if I do not actually speak the English language,” he writes,... “It is like trying to remember all the trees one sees through the window of a train.”

Wonderful review. it sounds like an even more wonderful book. It’s next on my TO BE READ pile. After I finish FEATHER MAN.

IBIS

[ande]

I saw that yesterday and thought I must have it! My family kept the World Book Encyclopedia in my bedroom and, well, I was one of those kids that read reference books for fun!

Ande

[Silk]

For each one of us there is a few books which will invoke a respense so vivid it leaves a mark. Which books these are will be different for everyone. Even the best books can leave another dry.

A book acts as a catalyst to the feelings one has to the story and the feelings one retains long after the book has been put down. Maybe it a personality thing. The events and feelings an individual goes through and develops in a lifetime influence how they will react to any story.

For me the choice of reading matter can be anything but the real effect, the true essence of a story can only be measured when I have finished. I want no outside influence or interrupt the 'reality' of being in the story until it is complete.

The largest 'Wow factor' in recent years has been to James Hollands', Blue Skies and his non-fiction, Malta. Thinking about his work makes me gulp and blink still. It may have a very different effect on others but 'reality' of his writing found my individual sensitive, emotive spot!

[Silk]

An unopened book oozes anticipation of another world and contains virgin pages to explore.

When the story is finished your imagination will continue to think about the story you have absorbed, where your mind has gone since you opened the book, the bits that made an impact, the people you related to or loathed and the scenes you envisiged.

The bits of a book that affect you are the bits that really matter. It is interesting a group of people may find very different bits of a book more significant.

What am I reading this evening? A medical journal. This is my little piece of light relief for sure.