NVR - What are you reading right now? (Fiction or non-fiction)
Posted by Beans and Greens on May 12, 2007 · Member since Apr 2007 · 169 posts
I'm reading 'Raising Vegan Children in a Non-vegan World' by Erin Pavlina.
I'm curious what everyone else has their nose in at the moment! :)
i'm actually one of the chumps reading At the Center of the Storm by Tenet. (i never learn.) just started a few nights ago, but i can already feel the exasperation and frustration at the cellular level in my body. accounts for the shorter temper, and a lot of deep sighs and head shaking this week.
it has this odd and distinct tone that i see in a lot of political books- like a cross between a court testimony and an oscar acceptance speech. very grandiose and enamored with the drama of himself, while at the same time meticulously setting up a defense. probably a whole book of him not saying anything at all.
on a more positive note, just got done reading Speak, Memory~ Nabokov's autobiography. it was a little more descriptive/ less introspective than i would have preferred, but on the whole, offered a great background and some interesting insights if you're a fan of his work.
Yesterday I picked up Alice In Wonderland & The Looking Glass and Gulliver's Travels and read about half of each- I guess I was in a sort of adventurous fairy tale spirit. I am also in the midst of reading A Tale of Two Cities, Some of the Dharma by Jack Kerouac ( ;D< me giddy because i love him so much!), Human Destiny by Lecomte du Nouy, Beyond Good and Evil by Friedrich Nietzsche, On Bullshit by Harry Frankfurt, The Portable Sixties Reader, an anthology by Ann Charters, and Naked Lunch by William Burroughs (I am having with this last, the most difficult time- I need a junkie to translate!), not to mention a stack of cookbooks i never put down. The thought of not being able to read every book i want to in my lifetime makes me restless and sad. :'(
I'm reading Night by Elie Wiesel on the recommendation of a friend. I just started it, it's pretty heavy.
I'm reading Night by Elie Wiesel on the recommendation of a friend. I just started it, it's pretty heavy.
I want to read this also, I haen't picked it up yet, but it's on my list.
One copy for the almost 1.5 million citizens of Dallas...yet there are over thirty copies of the new Ann Coulter rubbish!
(no offense to conservatives vegwebbers, just to Ann Coulter ;))
Missed Real Time last night and forgot to TiVo it....but I'll watch it later in the week....
Well...they do have Tom Delay's book in my local library, actually several copies....Do they have a whole row of them available down there in Texas?! Just wondering. :D
sorry...just an ultra liberal and can't help it....in this day and age....kinda proud of it.....
One copy for the almost 1.5 million citizens of Dallas...yet there are over thirty copies of the new Ann Coulter rubbish!
(no offense to conservatives vegwebbers, just to Ann Coulter ;))
Missed Real Time last night and forgot to TiVo it....but I'll watch it later in the week....
Well...they do have Tom Delay's book in my local library, actually several copies....Do they have a whole row of them available down there in Texas?! Just wondering. :D
sorry...just an ultra liberal and can't help it....in this day and age....kinda proud of it.....
Next time I go to the library, I'll look for it and if they have more than one copy, I'll let you know. If I were a bettin' woman, I'd put my money on their having at least three copies. >:( What they are sorely lacking is good vegan cookbooks. There are none! If I had the cash to spare, I'd buy a couple of good ones to donate. But with the upcoming move and subsquent unemployment for me, I can't spare it and they'd probably end up in the "take a free book" bin. :'(
I'm going through books I've bought over the years, but haven't read. Right now I'm on The Re-Enchantment of Everyday Life by Thomas Moore. I also rotate through my old college texts and am currently going through organic chemistry. I'm waiting anxiously for July to find out what happen to Wizard Potter.
"The Miracle of Mindfulness," by Thich Nhat Hanh
I hope you like it. :) Thay is probably the most influential person for me - not so much with all of the mindful breathing, but with the awareness. He was going to speak about a hour from my house a couple of years ago. I bought a ticket and then that was the only day in the last twenty years that I was too sick to leave the house. :(
I am so happy to hear that. I am enjoying this book, after reading and rereading "Peace is Every Step," a gift from Thay himself to me when he came to Los Angeles a couple of years ago. He writes with a poetic, graceful voice that has deeply influenced my life, everything from how I eat, how I communicate, how I walk and breathe. He returns to MacArthur Park in Los Angeles this year on Sept. 29. I hope you and others on Vegweb can participate in his morning peace walk at the park.
Pilgrim at tinker Creek - Annie Dillard (very good and profound look at the mirrical of nature...very beautiful)
Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas
Also a friend gave me a compilation of works by Kurt Vonnegut that I want to tackle soon.
ALRIGHT! Finally a topic I know I won't digress on!!
VeganFaith, these are two wonderful books. I aspire to write like Annie Dillard. And the Count of Monte Cristo is a great story--I love it. I hope you enjoy both books.
As for me, I usually have two, three, or more books in progress (and sadly many, many books checked out of the library--I always have library overdue fines, too). Here are the ones I'm mainly in the midst of reading:
One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Travels with Charley in Search of America by John Steinbeck (I finished East of Eden not too long ago--I thought it was fantastic and the best he's written that I've read--better than Grapes of Wrath, which I thought was a bit tedious (though I appreciated the message, even if it was sort of forced).
The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins (I have to read this with long intervals in between, because I get too pissed off, depressed, and confused if I read too much of it at once. I'm agnostic bordering on atheist, but Dawkins cuts right through the crap. And man it disturbs me.)
Yabbit, I love that you tutor Brit Lit. That is very cool.
Sometime someone should start a thread on people's favorite books (mine would be a long list, but whatever).
I'm reading Charlie and the Chocolate Factory with my kids and I picked up a copy of The Dresden Files Book 1: Storm Front, which I plan on starting tonight.
Travels with Charley in Search of America by John Steinbeck (I finished East of Eden not too long ago--I thought it was fantastic and the best he's written that I've read--better than Grapes of Wrath, which I thought was a bit tedious (though I appreciated the message, even if it was sort of forced).
Travels with Charley has been on my "to read" list for a long time. How do you like it?
I'm about thirty pages into it right now. Anything Steinbeck writes is good--timeless--kind of like Mark Twain's writing (different styles, but both timeless). So far he's started out on his trip across America, and he is sort of just chronicling what he sees and the conversations he has with local people. It's fun because he talks a lot about his dog. One part cracks me up, because he talks about how his dog makes a funny noise--Pfffth--or something like that. It's very humorous so far. When I finish it, I'll give you a whole review. ;)
-------------
Okay, now for a little digression...I promise, it's a small digression...
For anyone that is interested, here is a link to a site that sells Edward Gorey stuff. I like the sayings on the t-shirts, bags, etc. because they are very "bookish." My favorite is "So Many Books, Too Little Time." Also, "There's No Such Thing as Too Many Books" and "Real Men Read." I'm thinking about getting one of the canvas book bags and using it in lieu of plastic bags at the store. http://www.goreydetails.net/search.php?category=2
" My favorite is "So Many Books, Too Little Time."
When I was much younger, I had a T-shirt that said, "So Many Men, So Little Time". About 20 years later I got a shirt that read, "So Many Books, So Little Time". I guess as I'm getting older I'm happier curling up with a good book instead of a good man. (Sigh!)
right now i'm reading "Regaining Your Self" by Ira Sacker MD, and passively re-reading "The Bell Jar" by Sylvia Plath (for the 9th time probably, its my favorite book ever)
and i'll recoment "Water For Elephants" to ANYONE. its an amazing book
I was going to recommend this too. I loved it!
I am so happy to hear that. I am enjoying this book, after reading and rereading "Peace is Every Step," a gift from Thay himself to me when he came to Los Angeles a couple of years ago. He writes with a poetic, graceful voice that has deeply influenced my life, everything from how I eat, how I communicate, how I walk and breathe. He returns to MacArthur Park in Los Angeles this year on Sept. 29. I hope you and others on Vegweb can participate in his morning peace walk at the park.
That's when I missed him! I missed the peace walk and my tickets were for his talk in Pasadena. I wanted to go to the retreat at Deer Park Monestary but I didn't have the money at the time. Thanks for the info - I'm definitely going to the retreat, walk, and talk this year. Since he's over 80 now you never know how long he'll continue to travel.
How did it happen that he personally gave you Peace Is Every Step? (I'm trying to not be envious.) :)
" My favorite is "So Many Books, Too Little Time."
When I was much younger, I had a T-shirt that said, "So Many Men, So Little Time". About 20 years later I got a shirt that read, "So Many Books, So Little Time". I guess as I'm getting older I'm happier curling up with a good book instead of a good man. (Sigh!)
;D ;D
Actually, that's what it says on the Gorey stuff---"So Many Books, So Little Time"--I guess I was writing fast and I screwed it up and wrote "Too Little Time." Whoops. I should do a little more editing when before I post. Edit: I meant--I should do a little more editing before I post. See what I mean.
I am so happy to hear that. I am enjoying this book, after reading and rereading "Peace is Every Step," a gift from Thay himself to me when he came to Los Angeles a couple of years ago. He writes with a poetic, graceful voice that has deeply influenced my life, everything from how I eat, how I communicate, how I walk and breathe. He returns to MacArthur Park in Los Angeles this year on Sept. 29. I hope you and others on Vegweb can participate in his morning peace walk at the park.
That's when I missed him! I missed the peace walk and my tickets were for his talk in Pasadena. I wanted to go to the retreat at Deer Park Monestary but I didn't have the money at the time. Thanks for the info - I'm definitely going to the retreat, walk, and talk this year. Since he's over 80 now you never know how long he'll continue to travel.
How did it happen that he personally gave you Peace Is Every Step? (I'm trying to not be envious.) :)
Yes, I think he will be giving a talk again in Pasadena after his MacArthur Park walk. I met Thay because I had a small role in organizing his visit to Los Angeles as part of my job, and will likely be working on his visit this year. Thay is a still man who speaks in a low, calming voice. Everything about mindful walking and breathing was captured at that peace walk he led around MacArthur Park. He told everyone to walk very, very slowly. So thousands circled the park in slow motion. Thay and the monks with him were in long dark robes. You couldn't see their feet when they walked so it looked like they were floating. It was very surreal.
Fiction: The Wilde Women by Paula Wall
Nonfiction: Breaking the Spell: Religion as a Natural Phenomena by Daniel Dennett (You might appreciate that one, Dave, if you haven't yet read it)
In preparation for our South Africa trip, I'm reading Kaffir Boy by Mark Mathabane. It's an autobiography of a black young man growing up in South Africa under apartheid.
("Kaffir" is South African for "the "n" word" - a title the author presumably chose because the attitudes he was surrounded with growing up).
It is very informative, very touching, and very sad.
I am especially pleased that the author doesn't have one-dimensional people in his book - he depicts people with the complexity that real humans have.
I will confess: My name is Wendy and I'm a bookaholic!
Oh yes! I don't have access to many books in English since the British Institute closed their library (waaahhh!) but a friend sent me a box of Harlequins (which I did NOT read!) and hopefully sometime this summer or fall we will make it to the coast and I can trade them at the 2nd hand store for decent books. English books cost boocoos here, even 2nd hand. But $5 is preferable to 15-30 which they cost new, at least decent literature.
So I buy books I know will wear well, and wear them out. But every year or two I start going mad for something to read! I know it's time when I lay my hand on the spine of a book and in my mind I can hear passages from it...
Have you tried www.gutenberg.org or www.thefreelibrary.com? Great sources for free online classics! Also www.ccel.org is great for free Christian classics!
I'm reading The Swallows of Kabul. it's by Yasmin Khadra the author of The Kite Runner. It's absolutely amazing and beautifully crafted.
I'm also reading an Italian cookbook to find good recipes to veganize. And soon I'll be starting Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes for my AP spanish lit class next year and that will be followed by A Hundred years of Solitude.
slaughterhouse five by vonnegut
Pages