I just finished reading A Bend in the Road by Nicholas Sparks. He is an excellent writer who touches the heart.

~~Mona Lisa Smile~~

Just started reading The Idiot by Fyodor Dostoyevsky. Just finished reading Ecce Homo by Nietzsche. I'd recommend Ecce Homo for those who want to read some philosophy and have a good laugh at the same time.



No falsehood is so fatal as that which is made an article of faith.Thomas
Paine

Between now and Thanksgiving I'll be reading: John Berryman, The Dream Songs
Paul Hoover, ed., Postmodern American Poetry
Thomas Pynchon, The Crying of Lot 49
Don DeLillo, White Noise
Donald Barthelme, Snow White
Percival Everett, Erasure
In addition, I'll be reading more than I ever wanted to know about Postmodern American Literature. And a bunch of short stories by Padgett Powell and George Saunders.

I sort of read Snow White already. I read the back, then threw it across the office. My co-worker asked if she could read it, and she ended up reading most of it out load to me. I don't recomend anyone reading this book. Sure, the words are great. But just reading the back took away part of the innocentce from childhood. No one should have read about a woman and 7 men. Bill (one of the 7) won't get undressed, he'd "odd," he reminds of me what's her name from "Brave New World" in a way. Of course she's not happy with them (the 7 men), she's waiting for Paul (prince figure). In the end, as in all classic fairy tales, Paul appears out of no where, drinks the drink the queen (or whoever she was) made for Snow White and he dies.

"I'm telling you. People come and go in this Forest, and they say, 'It's only Eeyore, so it doesn't count.' They walk to and fro saying, 'Ha ha!' But do they know anything about A? They don't. It's just three sticks to them. But to the Educated - mark this, little Piglet- to the Educated, not meaning Poohs and Piglets, it's a great and glorious A."--Eeyore, The House at Pooh Corner

[This message was edited by EeyoreLynn on 09-24-04 at 11:23 PM.]

[This message was edited by EeyoreLynn on 09-24-04 at 11:25 PM.]

I'm going to condense this one as the book I just finished is the last (so far) in a series and I read them from the 1st to the last (again - I have read this series before but just love it).

Jean Auel - Earth's Children Series

Clan of the Cave Bear
Valley of Horses
The Mammoth Hunters
The Plains of Passage
The Shelters of Stone

An absolutely fascinating series of books.

"Flatter me, and I may not believe you. Criticize me, and I may not like you. Ignore me, and I may not forgive you. Encourage me, and I will not forget you."
~William Arthur Ward

The Bean Trees, by Barbara Kingsolver.

I suggest everyone read this book. I just finished it and it is simply impeccable.

The Book Description:

Clear-eyed and spirited, Taylor Greer grew up poor in rural Kentucky with the goals of avoiding pregnancy and getting away. But when she heads west with high hopes and a barely functional car, she meets the human condition head-on. By the time Taylor arrives in Tucson, Arizona, she has acquired a completely unexpected child; a three-year-old American Indian girl named Turtle, and must somehow come to terms with both motherhood and the necessity for putting down roots. Hers is a story about love and friendship, abandonment and belonging, and the discovery of surprising resources in apparently empty places.

Honestly, simply a breathtaking novel. Poignant, humorous, inspiring, idealistic and beautiful.

________________

i believe that harmonies are colours
every time i paint it sharpens my harmony.
yesterday i tried to paint you,
but the colours weren’t beautiful enough.
~Beyonce Knowles.

________________
-LaLi

Just finished The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera. I'd recommend it to anyone who likes Umberto Eco's light philosophical novels, only Kundera is hugely more accessible and more readable.

Just started Virginia Woolf's Mrs Dalloway, the first twenty pages of which blew me away: her writing is so vivid, I could almost hear the leaves rustling in the street. I'm on page 72 now and it's starting to drag a little ... we'll see how it goes.

Peace and peas, Mo

Gulta cavat lapidem non vi sed saepe cadendo.
~ Ovid (43 BC - c. 17 AD), Epistoloe Ex Ponto.

I have just (as in, an hour or so ago) finished reading The Valley Of The Dolls by Jacqueline Susann. I really enjoyed it, and if it makes any sense to say that it seemed realistic (for those that have read it), then yes, that was one thing I enjoyed about it. It was realistic in an incrediably false world.

Also I have two books on the go right now, East of Eden by John Steinbeck and On The Road by Jack Kerouac. Both have keep me intruiged so far.



Love. Such imprecision. Sentiment, fantasy, longing, lust? Obsession, devouring need? Perhaps the only love that is accurate without qualification is the love of a very young child. Afterwords, she too becomes a person, and thus comprimised.

I just finished reading Anthem by Ayn Rand, it was a very intersting book. It is a great quick read. She definately takes a different perspective on the future world in this book.

Now that I finished that book I started A Seperate Peace by John Knowels, so far so good. I am half way through the book and can't wait to finish it. I hope I can finish tonight. I think this is going to be one of my favorite books.

I have also started reading The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath, I haven't gotten very far into the book yet though it is very interesting. I guess we will how this one goes as well.

siempre~
Leslie
-----------------------------
"The sky is like a black sieve pierced by silver drops that tremble, ready to burst through." (Ayn Rand, Anthem)

[This message was edited by martyrmoonlight on 10-12-04 at 09:26 AM.]

Playboy


"Awards International may own this place, but it belongs to the members, and we are the custodians": TN (The administrator)

I am reading several books at the moment, and in different languages.

In my native marathi I am reading Tava Chulyavar which can be translated as "Pan on the Stove" literally. It is basically a very grim non-fiction book about the social conditions of the rural woman in the state of Maharashtra, India. This book is so heavy and grim, that I simply cannot seem to read more than 10 pages at a time. Nor do I want to hurry through the book, lest I do any of these women an injustice by missing on some part of their otherwise insignificant lives.

I liked this book because it helps me to ground myself as an individual and as a woman to see the beauty of life, as it exists within the confines of my four walls.

***

Another Non-fiction book I am reading in English is, "A comparitive Survey of HINDU, CHRISTIAN & JEWISH Mysticism by the father of one of my very dear Reiki friend, Dr. E. Abrahams. Dr. Abrahams was one of the few practicing Jews left in the city of Mumbai, whose study of both the Kabbalah and the Upanishads is enormous.

My interest in the book's subject was awakened last year, when I read a discoursive book on Kabbalah and found a lot of overlapping ideas from hindu vedic texts portrayed in the former book. The book I mention above is difficult reading, but interesting nonetheless to anybody who is a Jew and is learning Sanskrit too. For the Sanskrit learner knows that, there is no Sanskrit as great as it was written in the Vedas and the Upanishads.

***

As far as lighter reading is concerned, I am reading The Active Side of Infinity by Carlos Castaneda and ISHMAEL by Daniel Quinn.

************************************************************************

"In the case of good books, the point is not to see how many of them you can get through, but how many can get through to you."
-- Mortimer Adler.

************************************************************************

-

much love, light and laughter,
ananya.

*~Come play with my children feel the peace and Scatter some joy.~*
~*Blowing out someone else's candle doesn't make your's burn any brighter.*~
*** Satyameva Jayate aamuche bridvaakya aahe. ***

Currently checked out of the library :

The Myth of Sisyphus by Albert Camus

A Man of the People by Chinua Achebe

Collected Works of William Butler Yeats

I also just finished reading The Body Artist by Don DeLilo - I loved the book and the way all his broken thoughts and incomplete sentences seem to fuse together to make so much sense! It's the first I've read from DeLilo but I'll make sure it's not the last.

I really wanted to read Mrs.Dolloway but someone's checked it out. Do let me know how you like it FlamingMo - I'll pick it up on my next trip to the library.


--------Sanya--------
Stella Splendens
December 22, 1985-March 27, 2003
Rest In Peace
..lost time is gone forever

Meh I read such a jumble of books at a time that I don't even remember the authors or exact titles of mosta the books I'm reading!

Let's see… I should be remembering one or two at least ; I'm reading "Journey to the stone country" by Alex Miller,. It is the 2003 winner of the Miles Franklin award. An Australian novel about a betrayed wife that goes back to her childhood home for solace, and finds that and probably (haven't finished the novel!) love there. It's full of Australian dialect... Trishy! (EmeraldEyes) and Mo and D_W, you might enjoy it… what with the 'they was going there', "them old people" and stuff. That's good for a change, I've read British and American and Indian literature (and non-literature ) but scarcely any Australian. I find the descriptions of the locales in it exotic. The book is "real", no melodrama up till now. A fine read, so far.

----
"The statue of a naked woman. (…)you understand what the figure must be. The human spirit. The heroic in man. The aspiration and the fulfillment, both. Uplifted in its quest – and uplifting by its own essence. Seeking God – and finding itself. Showing that there is no higher reach beyond its own form. …" ~ Ayn Rand, The Fountainhead

[This message was edited by LetswriteNshare on 10-20-04 at 07:34 AM.]

Pigs in Heaven by Barbara Kingsolver.

This is the sequel to The Bean Trees.

Another simply amazing book. Two books about the importance of families; families that are not blood.

________________

i believe that harmonies are colours
every time i paint it sharpens my harmony.
yesterday i tried to paint you,
but the colours weren’t beautiful enough.
~Beyonce Knowles.

________________
-LaLi

Currently reading Cannibals and kings by Marvin Harris and The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman author of Puss in Boots and Count Karlstein. I'll tell you more about them in the near future..

I am reading The secret Life of Bees which is about a 14 year old girl living in SC in 1964 and she runs away from her abusive father to find something out about her mother, who died in a tragic accident when she was 4. The other book I am reading is Life Among the Walnuts which is a very strange but good book. If you want to read it you'll have to find out for yourself what it's about because I don't think I could explain it.

I recently finished The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros and The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison. In both, the girls who are the protagonists of the novels live in the city, and glimpses into hardship, city-life, and local custom are included. Both were very good, though somewhat sad.

*Any recommendations for stories about African-American, Latino-American, or urban life would be greatly appreciated.

I am reading The Merchant of Venice by Shakespeare for english. It is an okay book, not too interesting, but I don't think any shakespeare is very interesting. I am also reading Stormcatcher which is really boring and if I have to tell you the plotline I'll fall asleep. I just finished reading I am not esther which was a really good book about a religious cult.

to katelyn:
I read a book awhile ago called Forged by Fired by Sharon Draper. It was about a young african american man growing up in chicago with his crazy mother and abusive stepfather and his half sister. It's very sad but really good.

[This message was edited by lheartherbert on 02-23-05 at 10:54 PM.]

I am reading To Hell and Back, an autobiography of Audie Murphy during his time in World War 2. Very Good book, I have been talking about war all week. I even finished more than half of it in two days. (Mostly because I only have another few days to read it and write a report on it.

"When the tyrant has disposed of foreign enemies by conquest or treaty, and there is nothing more to fear from them, then he is always stirring up some war or other, in order that the people may require a leader."
-Plato(Reminds me of Bush)

I am reading Lucky by Alice Sebold. It's a memoir of her rape when she was a college freshman. It is very sad and very vivid and kind of disturbing. I would also recommend her other book, The lovely bones. It is also terribly sad but very good.