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Re: Read Any Great Books Lately?
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Home away from home
 
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I think many of us including me are working 7-day weeks. Not sure that it earns us the right to anything. If you are going to use quotation marks to reference somebody's words, please use them accurately. What motivates me is irritation at the implied notion that there is something more noble about reading than other pastimes ( I say this because of your digs at television and Xbox). To me, reading is not automatically more worthy than a computer game or television and can be just as hedonistic. I don't have an Xbox or Wii, or want one. I do own a television but then, reading between the lines, so do you. I don't agree that we all have similar amounts of spare time but choose to use it in different ways. The fact is that some people just have more spare time than others. To me, an example of smugness would be somebody with a lot of spare time telling someone who doesn't how they spend it all.
Posted on: 2008/2/21 6:50
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Just can't stay away
 
Joined:
2007/8/1 16:17 Last Login : 2011/5/18 20:12 From Harsimus Cove
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Actually, I think my 7 day workweek earns me the right to guiltlessly choose how I spend my free time, whether it be spent reading or not. Anybody who just "sits around" waiting for clients is bound to fail at any career in which the payrate is commission based. I'm not sure what motivtes you to comment so smugly about my indulgence in literature, but it is certainly a whole lot more enjoyable for me than buying an X Box. Methinks you enjoy confrontation a bit too much.
Posted on: 2008/2/21 3:17
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We are what we pretend to be. So we must be careful what we pretend to be - Vonnegut
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Re: Read Any Great Books Lately?
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Home away from home
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Ender's Game is one of my favorite books! I read it the summer before my freshman year in High School (yes, I was one of those dorky sci fi girls). Speaker for the Dead is also very good. I read most of the series, except for the last one, which was pretty bad. His parallel series, which focuses on Bean is also readable, although I did not like it as much as the original.
Posted on: 2008/2/21 3:11
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Quite a regular
 
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The Shipping News by E. Annie Proulx is one of my all-time favorites. Won Pulitzer. Stinky movie with Kevin Spacey tho.
Absolute all time - Annals of the Former World - John McPhee. Plain english geology for those of us not trained in it on how this country got here. Amazing book -
Posted on: 2008/2/21 2:32
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Re: Read Any Great Books Lately?
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Home away from home
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and all that time that you admitted you are just waiting around for clients. Must be nice.
Posted on: 2008/2/21 1:17
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Re: Read Any Great Books Lately?
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Just can't stay away
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If you like Freakonomics, you should check out Gang Leader For a Day by Sudhir Venkatesh. I'd also recommend it for any fans of the Wire.
His U of C research study was covered in the Freakonomics chapter on why drug dealers still live with their mothers. The book expands on his work at U of C and elaborates on gang life in the 90s in Chicago. It was a really quick read for me.
Posted on: 2008/2/21 0:04
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Quite a regular
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Thanks for reminding me, I finished Ender's Game but didn't get to finish the rest of the books in the series, I think I'm going to pick up where I left off at on "Speaker for the Dead" but first I want to start Stephen King's "The Cell"
Posted on: 2008/2/20 23:29
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Home away from home
Joined:
2007/2/3 21:36 Last Login : 2020/4/18 19:17 From Way Downtown
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Jonathan Strange does start off a little slow, but once it gets hold of you, it doesn't let go.
will def. give the Irving Stone a gander.
Posted on: 2008/2/20 19:56
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Not too shy to talk
 
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I've always wanted to read Jonathan strange but the 900 pages has always frightened me off... Considering how many artists and creative types there are in JC, I'd sugguest The Agony and Ecstasy by Irving Stone
Posted on: 2008/2/20 15:08
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Home away from home
Joined:
2007/2/3 21:36 Last Login : 2020/4/18 19:17 From Way Downtown
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+1 for Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell, a 900-page epic that flew by way too quickly. I've been calling it the Harry Potter for grownups, but it's way more sly and clever and gripping than that shorthand description would suggest. plus, there's a whole other story going on in the footnotes.
Middlesex is another good epic read, as is The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay. now I'm getting my nonfiction fill with Omnivore's Dilemma.
Posted on: 2008/2/20 5:42
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Re: Read Any Great Books Lately?
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Newbie
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Trying to read 'Enders Game'. Pretty good so far.
Posted on: 2008/2/20 5:02
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Quite a regular
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"All the King's Men."
also "The Missing World" by Margo Livesey.
Posted on: 2008/2/20 4:51
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Newbie
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If you're looking for a good laugh try I Hope They Serve Beer In Hell by Tucker Max. It's a pretty disgusting book, but it's hilarious.
Posted on: 2008/2/20 1:39
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Re: Read Any Great Books Lately?
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Just can't stay away
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i used to be a voracious reader (and writer) but it seems like as time goes on, my attention span gets turned to other things. i read a good portion of House of Leaves, and i stopped somewhere in the middle because i sort of get obsessive when looking for patterns and coincidences in books, so where i didn't creep myself out, i totally have a tendency to do so. Bowl of Cherries is by millard kaufmann who is one of the creators of mr. magoo. he decided by chance to write a novel, its very funny and i love his use of language. it sort of reminds me alot of a lost vonnegut book, but i figure its because the two are contemporaries that make the similarities so striking. i started listening to haunted as an audio book, but the readers were annoying, i suppose i will just have to attempt to read it. i love susanna clarke too. i hope she can manage another novel from world she has created.
Posted on: 2008/2/19 1:36
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Re: Read Any Great Books Lately?
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Just can't stay away
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the road is bleak but gripping. recently read his no country for old men, which is bleak in its own way but also can't put down.
finished saturday by ian mcewan, which is also good. though most highly recommend mcewan's enduring love.
Posted on: 2008/2/19 1:19
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Home away from home
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I guess we do like the same books! I haven't heard of Bowl of Cherries, who is the author? Did you like House of Leaves as well? I could go on and on about that book but I haven't met anyone who has read it. I read Never Let Me Go this summer and liked it as well. I also read Haunted by Chuck Palahniuk this past fall and that book was pretty good and F'ed up. Just like I like them! :)
Posted on: 2008/2/18 22:11
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Quite a regular
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Five people you meet in heaven : Mitch Abrom
Quick read
Posted on: 2008/2/18 21:57
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Home away from home
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The Toyota Way
by Jeffrey Liker
Posted on: 2008/2/18 21:52
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Home away from home
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I've read an eclectic mix the last few months:
Our Band Could Be Your Life: Scenes from the American Indie Underground, 1981-1991 by Michael Azerrad All But My Life by Gerda Weissman Klein The Girl in The Red Coat by Roma Ligocka Nothing's Sacred by Lewis Black Night by Elie Wiesel Fair Game: My Life as a Spy, My Betrayal by the White House by Valerie Plame Wilson The Replacements All over But The Shouting by Jim Walsh
Posted on: 2008/2/18 20:03
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Just can't stay away
Joined:
2004/12/12 23:31 Last Login : 2015/12/3 0:37 From Paulus Hook
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McCarthy is America's best living writer of fiction, if you thought The Road was scary, give Blood Meridian a look. I also love Suttree; for those new to McCarthy I recommend All the Pretty Horses, which is very accessible.
Posted on: 2008/2/18 19:05
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Home away from home
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AG -
The World Without Us came out I think within the last year. It's very good, as I said. He's a really beautiful writer, particularly in the beginning when he's talking about the forest primeval. I'd be interested to hear what other people think of it - although I enjoyed it, there were some things that were dissatisfying. The History Channel did a show called Life After People, (watched last night) which seemed like a bit of a rip off of the book, and suffered from gratuitous computer animation.
Posted on: 2008/2/18 18:34
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Just can't stay away
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ooh we like similar books. we should start a little book club :D i am still plowing thru Bowl of Cherries. interesting debut novel from a nonagenarian. it reads in the vein of vonnegut. knitting seems to win out over reading these days. listening to Never Let Me Go by ishiguro on mp3 in my car while commuting.
Posted on: 2008/2/18 18:11
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Just can't stay away
Joined:
2007/8/1 16:17 Last Login : 2011/5/18 20:12 From Harsimus Cove
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103
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Meowmix - That one caught my attention just a few days ago. Is it a recent publication? I read about it on the internet, now I'll have to pick it up on my next trip to B&N.
Posted on: 2008/2/18 17:31
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We are what we pretend to be. So we must be careful what we pretend to be - Vonnegut
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Re: Read Any Great Books Lately?
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Home away from home
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One of my favorite books is "House of Leaves" by Mark Danielewski. The book itself is very interesting...there are actually 2 stories in the book. One is a story about a family who moves into a house in North Carolina, and the other is a man who is piecing together the story. Anyway, the book scared the crap out of me. It is very strange and surreal. His second book, "Only Revolutions" was pretty awful though, so I won't recommend that. It is pretty dark, so if you like stories in the vein of The Road, you might like this one.
I also really liked Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell. It's a pretty long book, and it did plod on for a little while, but it's worth a read.
Posted on: 2008/2/18 17:03
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Home away from home
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I just read The World Without Us, which was really interesting. I suggest skipping the chapters on plastic and nuclear waste, however, since those made me want to join up with those voluntary human extinction people.
Months ago I read Under the Net by Iris Murdoch, and I'm still telling people about it. It was the first book in years that once I finished it I wanted to read it over again immediately. Wonderful.
Posted on: 2008/2/18 15:47
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Just can't stay away
Joined:
2007/8/1 16:17 Last Login : 2011/5/18 20:12 From Harsimus Cove
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Quote:
I appreciate your concern. "Business hours" in my industry are not the same as in many other lines of work. Most of my showings occur on the weekends and after the end of the business day. With how busy I've been, the "poorhouse" is certainly a far cry from where I'm heading. Also, this site isn't an outlet for drumming up new clients. I gladly give free advice with no mention of obligations to call or contact me directly. If someone does so, well so be it. Regulars here generally look down on Realtors, anyway, and I simply enjoy yapping with bloggers from my hometown. For all of its faults, my fondest childhood memories are firmly entrenched in this city. Ahem.....sorry, back to the topic of this thread..........
Posted on: 2008/2/18 15:19
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We are what we pretend to be. So we must be careful what we pretend to be - Vonnegut
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Re: Read Any Great Books Lately?
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I was moved to read Noogie's Time to Shine by Jim Knipfel because I thought it was gonna be centered around Jersey City ala 5 Finger Discount (Helene Stapinski). The bad part is that there aren't all that many references to JC, where the main character, Noogie Krapczack, aka Crap Sack, resides. HOWEVER, it was tons of fun and I found myself wanting it never to end. It's truly an oddball comical story about a total loser who rips off ATM machines. Never a dull moment.
Posted on: 2008/2/18 13:05
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Re: Read Any Great Books Lately?
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Home away from home
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Just started reading it too..................so far it's good.
Posted on: 2008/2/18 12:30
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Home away from home
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Mein Kampf.
In this day and age, it's a book many people can learn from. It also teaches you to never look at any one person in one single way, and exposes the various connections you or other people have to one another. In the end, Mein Kampf expresses ideas and ways of thinking not new to this world, but emphasizes how something small can become something so big if done a certain way. Long book, his thoughts are absolutely all over the place and lack in many cases any scientific reasoning or even rationality, routinely exposing a classic megalomaniac, but nonetheless, because of who he was when he wrote it, and who he became thereafter......you can't help but be intrigued by this read.
Posted on: 2008/2/18 11:34
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Quite a regular
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A Friend sent me "Three Cups of Tea" by Greg Mortenson. It is an amazing book about a man who promised to build a school in Pakistan....but did so much more. Really a great book on the human spirit.
Posted on: 2008/2/18 5:57
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