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Author Topic: Rate the last book you read.  (Read 194276 times)

Clovis8

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Re: Rate the last book you read.
« Reply #310 on: December 08, 2009, 08:43:13 PM »
Yes they are amazing. Both great people and great free thinkers.

P.S. This is getting a little creepy. I am also a non-believer in a family of Mormons. Have you read Under the Banner of Heaven?

Definitely.  The list of books I've read in this category... Well... I have done my time.  I believed with all my heart for 30 years, and when it started to crumble I read everything I could to try to put it back together.  It's a fairly hideous experience.

So let's see.  You aren't my brother, are you?  Crap, if you're really a Mo we're related somehow.  I need to check your profile...  :D

I was lucky as it were, I was only tangentially raised in the church. My mother is the only sibling of 13 who left the church in her 20's. I only attended church sporadically with my grandparents.

I have counselled several people in my capacity as president of the Humanist Society as they began to leave various religions. I know it is probably one of the hardest things a person can do and one of the bravest. It takes intellectual curiosity and honesty that is very rare.

OmNom

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Re: Rate the last book you read.
« Reply #311 on: December 08, 2009, 09:29:17 PM »
Yes they are amazing. Both great people and great free thinkers.

P.S. This is getting a little creepy. I am also a non-believer in a family of Mormons. Have you read Under the Banner of Heaven?

Definitely.  The list of books I've read in this category... Well... I have done my time.  I believed with all my heart for 30 years, and when it started to crumble I read everything I could to try to put it back together.  It's a fairly hideous experience.

So let's see.  You aren't my brother, are you?  Crap, if you're really a Mo we're related somehow.  I need to check your profile...  :D

I was lucky as it were, I was only tangentially raised in the church. My mother is the only sibling of 13 who left the church in her 20's. I only attended church sporadically with my grandparents.

I have counselled several people in my capacity as president of the Humanist Society as they began to leave various religions. I know it is probably one of the hardest things a person can do and one of the bravest. It takes intellectual curiosity and honesty that is very rare.


You were lucky!  I love your mom... At least I'm sure I would.  :)  Many of my relationships were lost or damaged when I left.  I imagine we have similar stories.

Good on ya for counseling people who leave.  If you ever need any help there, let me know.  I used to do some moderating at a very good recovery site.    
The answers you seek are in Norway.

FifthCityMuse

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Re: Rate the last book you read.
« Reply #312 on: December 10, 2009, 12:33:00 AM »
Norwegian Wood - H. Murakami
Pretty great. Not as good as after the quake maybe, but better than Hard-Boiled Wonderland. There's a lot of symbolism and beauty and wonderful characters, and it all comes together really well. Really looking forward to The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle some time soon.

Junior

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Re: Rate the last book you read.
« Reply #313 on: December 14, 2009, 09:22:54 PM »
A quick wrap up of the past couple of weeks...

Macbeth - William Shakespeare.

Shakespeare is the greatest. Such a smart and fun (well, fun to read) play. Jostles for my favorite Shakes play with the next entry on this list.

Asuperplus.


Hamlet: Prince of Denmark - William Shakespeare.

Shakespeare is the greatest. Such a smart and fun play. Hamlet is the ultimate sarcastic college student. Words words words indeed.

Asuperplus.


Walk Two Moons - Sharon Creech.

A really interesting story about a young girl going to find her "missing" mother. There are a bunch of layers of storytelling which works well with the Native American aspect to the story. This is the book that brought up the authenticity question, in case you were interested.

B+.


The Birchbark House - Louise Erdrich.

Not my cup of tea. Doesn't do anything new with the Native American aspect or any other aspect, really. It just seems like all the other Native American stories that take place in the past. Boring.

D.

Dubliners - James Joyce.

Is The Dead the best short story ever written? Perhaps. I haven't read all of them, but I know that it was damned good. When you add in all the other great stories you get one of my favorite books of the year/ever. The prose is fantastic, of course, and Joyce creates Dublin so clearly.

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roujin

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Re: Rate the last book you read.
« Reply #314 on: December 14, 2009, 09:24:40 PM »
Yes, Dubliners is fantastic.

Ronan

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Re: Rate the last book you read.
« Reply #315 on: December 18, 2009, 02:37:36 PM »
Check out John Huston's film of it. Worth a look, also his last.

Steven O. Selsnik

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Re: Rate the last book you read.
« Reply #316 on: December 18, 2009, 02:47:51 PM »
The Steel Wave - Jeff Sharra

Typical Sharra book that covers a six month period in history with about 700 pages. this one covers D-Day from the point of view of Eisenhower, Patton, Churchill, and Rommell. interesting and well written but a tad slow.

I liked the Civil War trilogy much better.

I have been in a reading rut lately, reading books i end up laboring through. I just got an Elmore Leanord book out of the library. He always pops the clutch for me.

smirnoff

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Re: Rate the last book you read.
« Reply #317 on: December 19, 2009, 10:16:56 PM »
2010: Odyssey Two (Arthur C Clarke)

What it lacks in adventure and detail it almost makes up for with big, bold ideas. And while I didn't like it enough to want to continue the series, I'm glad to have read it. I'll be happy to read more Clarke at some point.

St. Martin the Bald

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Re: Rate the last book you read.
« Reply #318 on: December 19, 2009, 10:38:05 PM »
Neuromancer by William Gibson (yes...again)

I try to read this at least once a year. For all of its dystopian bleakness - I find Gibson's prose (and these characters) comforting. Just as his writing seems to touch on unspoken, lost memories - decaying photographs, aging LP's in box, yellow paged books piled high in a room - his book will become one for me. A part of my DNA...I know it's strange and I can't really say why it resonates so well.

5/5
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saltine

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Re: Rate the last book you read.
« Reply #319 on: December 19, 2009, 10:40:58 PM »
Marty, you're looping.  Must. break. cycle.
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