Sociobiology and the Human Dimension
It’s an old book. I picked it up at the library because it had some weird references to sheep and geese.

Absolutely nothing fun. :-/ Currently reading “Gods and the One God” about early Christianity and the pagan religions, for my thesis which I’m hoping will just write itself one day…
One the plus side I am done with all my Greek! (until my advisor returns my translations and informs me that I suck and I shouldn’t be in graduate school…)

I only have one book left to go in the Earlene Fowler Benni Harper mystery series. I call that my light reading.
Been reading books by Linda Fairsteiin, who was the originator and consultant for Law & Order Special Victims Unit years ago. She’d retired and started writing mysteries, so I’ve backtracked to the older ones to catch up to the present with those, too.

Mum put me onto a new-to-me older series mystery writer: Diane Mott Davidson. Seems she was the very first to write food related mysteries, with her main character, Goldie, being a caterer in Colorado. She inspired copycat food mystery writers, but hers are the first and the best. She has her recipes in her books, so if you love cook books, Sarita, and I know you love mysteries, you need to check her out! The first one is “Catering to Nobody”.

And, anyone who likes Jane Austin will enjoy P. D. James’ new book, “Death Comes to Pemberly.” Her voice really mimics Austin’s, and her conclusions about what happens to the family etc. make sense, even with a mystery woven through it. Highly recommend it for a summer reading book.

P. S. I enjoyed The Murder Room, though I like the one at the lighthouse (name?) even better. Dagliesh is great, though the first actor to play him on PBS (R. Marsden) was much better, ie. tall and cuter, than the one that replaced him. Just saying…..

it’s been nearly 1/4 century since i voluntarily read a book…

Library has it.

You bragging Mike?

You know, you can dl library books for free to you computer, Kindle or Nook. They let you borrow them the same way you do hardcover from the library. You just return it electronically. A bit fussy to get it started, but if you don’t visit there, but are attached to a gizmo, you can still enjoy reading books.

I find reading a welcome, head clearing distraction. Though I have a family tradition of reading mysteries that is so pervasive now that if I read a regular fiction book I start to wonder when the dead body is going to show up.

I’ve been reading this summer since I finally have time to (hurrah!). In the past couple of months, I’ve gone through:

The Sun Also Rises – Ernest Hemingway
The Satanic Verses – Salman Rushdie
Love in the Time of Cholera – Gabriel Garcia Marquez

I also marathoned the Game of Thrones TV series a couple of weeks ago, and now I really want to pick up A Song of Ice and Fire as well! (The fantasy series that inspired Game of Thrones).

Last time this thread was going around BB, we mentioned Song of Ice and Fire…read it. The end. The TV show is phenomenal, but has nothing on the books.

Haha yes yes, I am definitely planning to! For the longest time I refused to read anything that wasn’t fantasy…I’ve branched out a bit more since those days, but still enjoy a good tale .

Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand.

Posted By RabbitPam on 07/11/2012 08:13 AM

Library has it.

You bragging Mike?

unless you include these two,, then its only been a mere 18 years…

PeppoPoo, I’m totally not a fantasy person at all. Actually despise and pretty much hate all fantasy books/tv shows/movies. But the Game of Thrones series is the absolute best! The first book was a bit boring in the beginning I thought but the 2nd and 3rd ones I could NOT PUT DOWN. So awesome. I love the TV show to but it really does have absolutely nothing on the books. I may have thought the first book was boring though because I didn’t start reading until after I had watched the first season of the show.

And so no one judge me to much — but I forgot the book I was reading when I went to the airport for my vacation last week (was reading the 4th book in the Game of Thrones series) and so I had to get a book at the airport to hold me over until I came back…. I decided to try the book that is the new rav among the females — Fifty Shades of Grey. Don’t judge me to much! I never go for these types of books and I haven’t decided if I like it yet. It’s captivating for sure and it’s totally an adult version of Twilight in my opinion (not like Twilight but the same overratedness in the media). Way easy to read and you can easily finish it within a week (or a couple days depending on how much you read). It’s kind of cute though — in a weird way. Haven’t decided if I’m going to get the 2nd and 3rd ones yet though.

Also, my boyfriend just got me into True Blood. I’ve been revolting against it for years but he finally convinced me to start the first season of the show and I’m actually kind of enjoying it! So I was thinking about reading the books to go along with that.

Sarita, My Sisters Keeper — loved that book! Not sure if you can go wrong with one of Picoult’s books though! I usually really enjoy them!

RabbitPam — Law and Order: SVU was one of my favorite shows EVER! Until they took away Stabler and Benson….. anyways, books! I’m totally interested in checking those out now! And Kindles and Nooks – BLAH. Call me old-school but I LOVE the feel of a book in my hand. To me it’s half the relaxing nature of it, could never do a kindle… but then again, I said I’d never do Game of Thrones or True Blood either, hahah.

I totally agree with you about holding books vs. the Kindle, but that was a suggestion primarily for Mike. Who, btw, has an error in the illustration he posted. The evolution time line has Beavis & Butthead in the front, when we all know they belong in second to last (or first? Earliest) place.

@ equalsign: try “The Fountainhead” next.

The Fountainhead! I Had to read that my freshman year of college — it was our introduction book! LOL.

I’m undeniably a child of the tech era and am glued to my computer screen all day…but I think there’s still something to be said about being able to physically hold a book. I’ve read a few ebooks and it’s just not the same!

Haha I definitely had an interesting Rand/objectivist phase in high school, when I stumbled upon The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged my sophomore year. I think I enjoyed The Fountainhead more though.

RP- Thank you! When I have time you just gave me a new author to look up! (the one from Law and order svu)

A couple weeks ago I had time for the first time in seriously a year to read a book for fun. And I read two! I read the 17th &18th books of the Janet Evanovich series based around Stephanie Plum. Its murder mystery but also comedy.

I’m super behind on Harlan Coben. I read all of his books but I have 5 at least in my bookcase that have not been read. :/

Just started the first Fifty Shades book. I wasn’t going to read them, but it’s literally ALL I’VE HEARD ABOUT for weeks now… so I thought what the heck… We’ll see. I don’t think the writing is very good, but I read many talented writers all the time so maybe I’m just a literary snob… lol. (For the record, I’ve never read any of the Twilight or Harry Potter books, I pretty much never read “popular books”. So maybe bad writing is the style now…)

Just read Faraway Horses by Buck Brannaman, now I’m onto Falling for Eli by Nancy Shulins

Both of those are non-fiction but I also enjoy an occasional love story, I just haven’t been able to find a good one lately 

I’m not reading much at the moment but Beka you’re right, I’ve read reviews of Fifty Shades and found a website “Fifty Shades of Suck” which pretty much has the worst quotes in the whole series, seriously how did such poorly written novels get published and why is it a hit!?

I refuse to read it and now I know I’m not missing much, I do know it was originally a Twilight ‘alternative universe’ fan fiction but had names changed etc, unfortunately it also gives all other fan fictions out there a really bad name… which isn’t true cause there’s good authors out there.

I have 3 books on the go right now. I’m a book nerd.

The first is an autobiography of Mary, Queen of Scots by Antiona Fraser. Im a history nut and love reading stuff that most people would find dreary as homework. I am crazy for anything middle ages/ renaissance era. Second is “Kiss of the Rose-The Tudor Vampire Chronicles” which is a cheesy romance that I just couldn’t pass up. And last night I just bought and started “A Song of Fire and Ice” Book One. I love the show so expect the books to be even better.

I can confidently say I will never own an E- Reader. I love real books too much. For me reading is a pleasure of the senses. I love the feel of the book. I even love the smell. Yeah, I’m weird. And it rocks. 

@FF I think you’ll like her, but want to add that the main characters in the book were not lifted directly to the show. Even the DA is not supposed to be her in the TV series, so I don’t want you to be confused and disappointed. On a good note, the 3 main characters in the books are great, so you’ll probably enjoy them, too.

And thanks for the reminder of Evanovich. She’s one of the authors I have eyeballed for when I am ready for a new series to try. She just published a new non-Stephanie book that I took out, but couldn’t read in the next 14 days so will get again later: “Wicked Business”.

@Sarita: Jeez. I finally made a shelf for books I own but still haven’t read. It’s my go to if I can’t get to the library or am off the computer. *rolls eyes*

Beka — I’m TOTALLY with you! Everyone who has seen me read it is like REALLLYY?? And I’m like okay, leave me alone… The writing definitely sucks. And I hated Twilight and Harry Potter (Twilight was more bearable than Harry Potter). I read the Lord of the Rings too. Hated them all really. I always seem to hate the popular books too! But I have this bad thing — whenever I start a series or book I HAVE to finish it just to make sure that I really do hate it. Or maybe I’m just OCD about not finishing it but whatever it is. I hate it. And those books. I’d never recommend Fifty Shades as a book to anyone — but it’s SUCH an easy read and so quick. i swear it only takes a day or two who loves to read to read it. So at least it’s not a crappy huge book. I guess I didn’t HATE Lord of the Rings… but I wasn’t much about the plot. It just flustered me. And having to read the lineage every 5 pages that lasted 2 pages in itself was annoying. LOL. But anyways, yeah… I totally agree about it.

TLotR is the only series I will say with overwhelming confidence where the movies are better than the books. Now, I admire Tolkien for what he did and the world he created, but I wanted to stab myself in the eye reading the books. He takes these long tangents into song and legend and lineage and diverts from the main plot over and over again that I found myself speed reading through some chapters. The movies however are spectacular and I can’t wait for The Hobbit to come out!!

Twilight is the downfall of Western Civilization. No one will convince me otherwise.

However, I will fight for Harry Potter. Always. That series was the definition of my childhood, and when the final movie came out, I knew I officially was a grown up. Harry Potter is an epic almost in the classic sense. And you can tell how much JK Rowling grew herself as a writer; her writing in book one is cringe worthy in places but by book 7, she’s managed to craft a story that leaves me in tears anytime I read them. But to each their own, I guess.

I probably sound like a broken record when it comes to ASoIaF but I’ve been reading them since Martin started publishing them. Up until the TV show, no one I knew had ever heard of them let alone read them (except us ultra nerds who haunt the fantasy section of bookstores…). It’s been about a year since I read book one, and I’ve contemplated going through them all again this summer.

I can’t believe so many people don’t like Harry Potter 😐 I’m literally having a mental breakdown about that at work right now. I’ll give you 50 Shades and Twlight… even though I read them and enjoyed them for what they are. Harry Potter is written for children/teens so I think you should expect it to be an easy read, but the entire world she created was amazing! Those books literally defined my childhood, The first book was the first novel I ever read, by myself, at 8 years old. And I grew with the series! I will be giving my children (if I ever have any ) the first book on their 11th birthday and so on. Now I look like a crazy Harry Potter fan, but lets face it… I am

LOTR, is my ALL TIME favourite series. I do understand where you are coming from though CinnabunMom. I think Tolkien is the most amazing men ever, to create an entire history spaning thousands of years and not to mention how many languages he CREATED just for the books! I’ve read all the extra books surrounding the series too, similarion, unforgotten tales, etc. I may also re-read the entire series once a year too… haha, And I’m going to end this here because I can go a bit crazy on the LOTR front

All in all I haven’t met many books that I didn’t like, but I think that is because I take them for what they are. I go between 19th century authors, teen books, fantasy, mystery, science fiction, haha

oh i could join you Malp, im a total LOTR nut, i read it first when i was 10 and its been my favourite book since, i really have never found another fantasy book that lives up to it, and i worked in a bookstore for 7 years so i’ve plenty of books to read (free books woo). i mainly read just general fiction at the moment, im going to read norwegian wood next by Haruki Murakami as ive been meaning to read something by him for ages!

I am working on the Outlander series which is really good. Also have gotten into a new author recently (though I don’t think she is actually new), Lisa Scottoline. I love almost all things Jodi Piccoult. I also read the House of Night novels which are actually written for a younger age group but they were addictive, quick and easy reads. I am quite the book worm!

Finished Falling for Eli haha, for anyone who likes horses it’s a really good read!

Does anyone have any good suggestions for a romantic novel? (Not the kind of romantic novel that has a half-naked guy on the cover that my grandma likes to read though )

Lol, Bunnyfriend. Some of those romance covers have hot, shirtless, longhaired guys on horses! Sounds good to me! 

The only romance books I read are historical novel types and the only author I like is Shannon Drake. My gramma reads the harlequin types and they seem very lame.