CuriousGeorgette

Aah yes people skills - still working on mine, now where is my hammer :D My lists ... well I don't know if I am a particularly diverse reader or what but I'm yet to bump into some one with similar lists. Lots have as many or more books on their lists, just not quite the same variety. I haven't even listed all my sci-fi fantasy yet, and I've read more of those than I can remember. Maybe I will do that list next.

Don't listen to the reviewers. If you are enjoying - then enjoy. Who cares if it isn't the 'best' book of his to start with or whatever. If you are enjoying the book, then enjoy it.

No! Not for interest, not for 'historical value', not to understand, not because it might have any half valid points. Don't care, not interested. The man was evil, responsible for some of the worst atrocities of this century and I must read what he wrote? Have you realised yet that a person puts who they are into the books they write? A mass murdering raving lunatic scum bag will put some of that into the books they write. I choose not pollute myself with that. I'm not an advocate of trying everything once, whatever it is, some discernment and judgement is required otherwise you end up having done a bunch a stuff that isn't good for you at all and no its not a 'learning' experience unless you are particularly slow witted. The problem with having an open mind is that any one can put anything they like in it.

I read this series in fits and starts and out of sequence depending on what books the library had in at the time. I finally read most of it except the last book, which had not been written at that stage. I finally decided to get the entire series including the last book and finally read them in sequence from beginning to end including the last one. I have discovered to my mild horror that somewhere my reading interests have grown / changed / something and I can't read them. It's a bit because I really loved them, but coming back to them ... wow ... so something .... and I stlil haven't read the end! Aah well this is how the cookie crumbles sometimes.

that's because they are appallingly badly written - like unreadably, and espouse questionable values, maybe as you read more good writing you will come to see this. I think we may well see these books as the nadir of children's literature, or at least I hope so, because please don't let there be worse. That's why I don't read them. They are pessimistic, they assume mankind has some kind of built in death wish and can not do anything to stop our inevitable headlong rush to self-destruction. Sure they show some survival skills - but at what cost? They all focus on and around the strong preying on the weak and that 'might is right'. They fail entirely take into any kind of account our ability as a race to learn, something we have done consistently throughout recorded history, and to change our behaviour, another thing we have done at regular intervals throughout history. Yes you can read them as some kind of warning about what will happen if, but I personally am just not into reading a pessimistic, depressing, hopeless, point of view of the future. Because I don't like them. Nabokov - closet potential pedophile - it's suspected and debated enough for me to not want to read a word - don't care how brilliant he is, ethically I will not! Russians - long winded and depressing and never come to a point, Steinbeck and Hemingway both needed some serious therapy and industrial strength anti-depressants and thanks but no thanks, life is not pointless and meaningless and then we all die - yay! David Mitchell - bleh - saw the movie of Cloud Atlas and had such hopes of the book, got to the end and it was like WHAT? it was so unremittingly depressing! And apparently his other books are in the same vein so yeah no thanks.

Nope have not heard of Kushwant Singh sorry. Yes am interested in more of Murakami's books, but haven't gotten around to getting any yet. Have more than enough on TBR list at the moment Hmm not sure about similarities, certainly not particularly to anything I read anyway - or I just didn't notice. Wild Sheep chase was delightfully off-beat. Deepak Chopra - well the less said about the man himself the better - HOWEVER ... his books are interesting. I don't necessarily agree with him, its more like I cherry pick ideas / concepts that add depth to other concepts I do agree with. The book on Spirituality vs Science however was totally fascinating. Put into words many things I feel but haven't got around to expressing yet so that saved me the time and effort - now I can just say - read that.

or should be - but that is a whole other discussion and way off-topic. I'm not sure where you got the idea that opinions are discounted? It is just that ultimately one or a small group of people make the decisions. Think of a doctor in an operating room - I sure wouldn't want him getting opinions from the nurses on what he should be doing, or even having a discussion, debate, team meeting. He needs to know what he is doing, have the knowledge and experience and willingness to take the lead in decision making. I think I'm coming at it from an authority point of view rather than a strictly business one. Ultimately one person carries the can, sorry but that is the reality. Even if the team messes up - watch how fast they find one person to point a finger at as being the weakest link that brought the team down. That might be the team leader or the guy who failed to do his research properly, but sure as God made little apples, one person will take the blame. So yeah teams work for some things but not for all, and sure as sure can be, the reality of the power lines, authority, hierarchy will become highly apparent when the proverbial hits the fan.

Teams only work to a certain point, at which point there needs to be some one to make the final decision, carry the can, etc. Now a team might thrash out ideas, or whatever but ultimately the team will report to someone. As for groups of friends starting a business - yeah sure - there is always one who is more the leader than the others, who drives things and ends up the CEO / major shareholder down the line. I'm anti-teams except in limited circumstances because ultimately teams don't make decisions, individuals do. It's somewhat ra-ra kind of stuff which leaves me stone cold. All this company team building BS is truly a load of codswallop. Which would you prefer? Some one who is competent or some one who can play nice with others?

My Asian books - now don't argue with me - these are books that are about Asia, an Asian experience, by Asians, fiction and non-fiction - anything I deem to be 'Asian' in some way ie its broad, broad, broad. Red = Read - get it?? LOL A Diana Abu-Jaber Birds of Paradise Crescent Origin Alcock, Rutherford & Tamenaga, Shunsui & Murdoch, James & Mitford, A. B. & Titsingh, Isaac 47 Ronin Anita Amirrezvani Blood Of Flowers Tash Aw Five Star Billionaire: A Novel The Harmony Silk Factory Map of the Invisible World: A Novel B Steve Berry Cotton Malone 6 - The Emperor's Tomb Johan Bjorksten Learn To Write Chinese Characters Jeff Bridges & Bernie Glassman The Dude and the Zen Master Ole Bruun Precious Steppe Pearl S. Buck The Big Wave: A Novel A Bridge for Passing Come, My Beloved The Eternal Wonder God's Men The Goddess Abides Imperial Woman Kinfolk Letter From Peking The Mother: A Novel The Patriot Peony: A Novel of China The Promise: A Novel of China and Burma A. S. Byatt Possession: A Romance C Jung Chang Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China Wu Cheng-en Journey to the West Mantak Chia Simple Chi Kung Chi Nei Tsang Deepak Chopra Cosmology of Consciousness War of the Worldviews: Science vs. Spirituality Wayson Choy The Jade Peony James Clavell Shogun Tai-Pan Gai-Jin King Rat Noble House Li Cunxin Mao's Last Dancer D Kiran Desai The Inheritance of Loss Anita Diamant The Red Tent Edwin Dingle Across China on Foot Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni The Mistress of Spices One Amazing Thing The Palace of Illusions E Tan Twan Eng The Garden of Evening Mists The Gift of Rain F Pai Kit Fai The Concubine's Daughter J. G. Farrell The Empire Trilogy (Singapore Sling) Daniel Fox Books of Stone and Water 1 - Dragon in Chains Books of Stone and Water 2 - Jade Man's Skin Books of Stone and Water 3 - Hidden Cities G Bernie Glassman & Jeff Bridges The Dude and the Zen Master Alison Goodman Eon - The Rise of the Dragon Eye Eona - The Last Dragon Eye H Matthew Harrigan Body Energy - Discover The Secrets Of The Chinese Body Energy Clock Chanrithy Him When Broken Glass Floats Khaled Hosseini The Kite Runner A thousand splendid suns Hsia, R. Po-chia A Jesuit in The Forbidden City Hu Wenzhong Encountering the Chinese I Kazuo Ishiguro Never Let Me Go The Remains of the Day ‎When We Were Orphans J Ha Jin The Bridegroom A Free Life A Good Fall Nanjing Requiem Waiting War Trash The Writer as Migrant K Mitsuyo Kakuta Women On the Other Shore Eugenia Kim The Calligrapher's Daughter Jean Kwok Girl in Translation L Chang-rae Lee A Gesture Life Native Speaker On Such a Full Sea: A Novel William Lee 5-Minute Chi Boost - Five Pressure Points for Reviving Life Energy and Healing Fast (Chi Powers for Modern Age) Yiyun Li Gold Boy, Emerald Girl The Vagrants Princess Der Ling Two Years in The Forbidden City Michael David Lukas The Oracle of Stamboul Eric Van Lustbader Dai-San The Miko White Ninja The Kaisho Floating City The Ninja Second Skin M Amit Majmudar The Abundance Rani Manicka The Rice Mother Yann Martel Life of Pi Chang Fu Mei Speak Mandarin in 500 Words (and my vocab still can't be more than 100 words SIGH) Ric Meyers Films of Fury: The Kung Fu Movie Book Anchee Min Becoming Madame Mao Empress Orchid Red Azalea Wild Ginger Deborah Moggach The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel Dora Levy Mossanen Scent of Butterflies Haruki Murakami The Elephant Vanishes A Wild Sheep Chase O Tea Obreht The Tiger's Wife Julie Orringer The Invisible Bridge Julie Otsuka The Buddha in the Attic When the Emperor Was Divine P Yip Po-Ching & Don Rimmington Basic Chinese: A Grammar and Workbook, 2nd Edition R Francesca Rhydderch The Rice Paper Diaries Rojas, Carlos. Great Wall Salman Rushdie The Enchantress of Florence Fury Imaginary Homelands The Jaguar Smile Midnight's children Moor's Last Sigh The Satanic Verses Shalimar the Clown S Elizabeth Ann Scatborough The Harem of Aman Akbar Lisa See On Gold Mountain Peony in Love Snow Flower and the Secret Fan Shanghai Girls Nevil Shute A Town Like Alice Dai Sijie Balzac and the little Chinese Seamstress Neal Stephenson The Mongoliad: Book One The Mongoliad: Book Two Indu Sundaresan Splendor Of Silence Szeto, Kin-Yan The Martial Arts Cinema of the Chinese Diaspora T Amy Tan The Bonesetter's Daughter The Hundred Secret Senses The Joy Luck Club The Kitchen God's Wife The Opposite of Fate Rules for Virgins Saving Fish From Drowning Trevanian Shibumi W Simon Winchester Korea The Man Who Loved China The River at the Centre of the World David Wingrove Chung Kuo 01 - Son of Heaven Chung Kuo 02 - Daylight on Iron Mountain Chung Kuo 03 - The Middle Kingdom Chung Kuo 04 - Ice and Fire X Qiu Xiaolong Death of a Red Heroine A Loyal Character Dancer When Red is Black A Case of Two Red Mandarin Dress The Mao Case Don't Cry Tai Lake Gao Xingjian Buying a Fishing Rod for My Grandfather One Man’s Bible Soul Mountain Xinran Xue China Witness Sky Burial, An Epic Love Story of Tibet Y Mo Yan Big Breasts & Wipe Hips: A Novel The Garlic Ballads Life and Death are Wearing Me Out Red Sorghum The Republic of Wine Shifu, You'll Do Anything For a Laugh Chan Ling Yap Bitter Sweet Harvest Mingmei Yip Petals from the Sky Jin Yong The Book and The Sword Smiling Proud Wanderer Sword Of The Yueh Maiden Banana Yoshimoto The Lake

I'm sure I will thanks. Enjoy your reading too

I used to read them, still have a few, but generally have found myself going completely off them. If I pick up one these days and read the blurb I find myself disinterested. Yes ditto on books with animals being harmed - that is so intrinsic to me that I didn't even think of it. Kids being harmed - that very much depends - its hard to read, but when there is a social message or is an autobiography then I will read it, albeit reluctantly. It isn't high on my list of choices though. I generally won't pick up a romance - mass produced or otherwise - out of choice, but if stuck on holiday without anything else I have been known to read one or three. They are junk, but when desperate .... so I can't say I won't EVER read them. Its like eating junk food, you know its not good for you, but once in while when there is nothing else readily available you will. It tastes awful, hurts the stomach, but it is food - kind of. Um no - the authors I mentioned I won't read anything by them, at all, ever. Don't even try persuade me. The other categories I thought I was fairly specific. Dracula, which I have read is not in the same category as the YA books I mentioned.

Ok without criticising those who do like these books / authors - this is my 'don't like/won't read' list: Nabokov, Tolstoy, Dostoevsky, Hemingway, Steinbeck, David Mitchell, Angry Feminists, YA stuff involving boy wizards, vampires, werewolves, undead, zombies, supernatural beings, angels, demons, 'hot' faerie or dying teens, Post-Apocalyptic dystopian visions of the future where all is bleak and awful and without any hope, ghosts, gory slasher horror with googly monsters although I have and do read Poe (but that is a whole different kind of horror), anything with too much blood and gory bits, pretty much anything that has a depressed hopeless everything is awful view of the world.

I think that perhaps certain issues you have with authority are colouring your picture, not to mention a rather modern 'we are all a team' nonsense. It isn't about aloofness as you are so insistent on calling it. There is simply a natural divide that occurs when a person has the authority and responsibility. A divide I will maintain is necessary. Let's call it a line of respect. See if that flies a bit better with you. FYI I would assume that a leader chosen for their skills and abilities has a wee bit more than just 'bias' going for them when making a decision and a decision made by a quorum of boobs with no experience will always be a decision made by boobs. FYI (b) a 'leader' of a team chosen because they have knowledge is not ipso facto a leader. They are simply the one with experience and not necessarily authority. FYI © I would not consider experience working as a team as any kind of experience with leadership. Have you seen some one like say Donald Trump on any one of the many TV shows? He listens to his staff, has an easy manner with them, but when he says 'Right' they shut up and listen - THAT is leadership at work. Not the "we are all equal team players". No team ever built a multi-million $ company from nothing because who is ever going to follow a team?

However I think if you analyse it a bit more you will discover that you want a leader to be a leader, not just another one of the guys. If he/she was then why are they leading? Why should you respect their opinion and/or authority? There is always that small gap created by authority that can not and should not be closed. Ultimately the buck stops with the leader. They can be great, they can joke along with the best of them, they can and should be approachable and relateable but at the end, there is that small small gap that means if the smile comes off their face and they say 'ahem, come to order' you all listen, while if 'one of the guys' said it you'd all just carry on.

Hmm after echoing the sentiments about burning books in general ... I think that I would save, as some one already said, a book that can bear tons and tons of rereading without getting dreary - how about a good encyclopedia? Save the world's knowledge kind of thing? Gosh I really don't know. I have lots of books I enjoy rereading, but to choose one to be my ONLY book to read? That is hard. Even the best book gets a bit boring after a few repetitions. If I have to go on others' experiences - The Bible might be a good choice. It has certainly been the sole reading material for many a person.

New acquisitions - First History - The Stone Golem and The Lion's Eye - Mary Gentle Set in the same alternate medieval world as Gentle's Ash: A Secret History sequence, Ilario, A Story of the First History is more limited in scope. The protagonist, Ilario, is an intersex person seeking to serve as apprentice to a master painter, a path that takes Ilario from Iberia to Carthage, Rome, Venice and Constantinople. Described as "part picaresque, part travelogue, part prose chanson de geste", the story serves to examine issues of gender, sexuality, and power. Ash - A Secret History - Mary Gentle Ash: A Secret History is a fantasy novel by author Mary Gentle. Set in the 15th century, the novel blends elements of fantasy, alternate history, and secret history A Sundial In A Grave - 1610 - Mary Gentle "It's about sex, and cruelty, and forgiveness." Thus begins a sweeping historical adventure about two dueling swordsmen and the plot to kill a king in the grand tradition of Dorothy Dunnett and Alexander Dumas. The Palace of Illusions and One Amazing Thing - Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni The Palace of Illusions: A reimagining of the world-famous Indian epic, the Mahabharat—told from the point of view of an amazing woman. Relevant to today’s war-torn world, The Palace of Illusions takes us back to a time that is half history, half myth, and wholly magical. Narrated by Panchaali, the wife of the legendary Pandavas brothers in the Mahabharat, the novel gives us a new interpretation of this ancient tale. One Amazing Thing: Late afternoon sun sneaks through the windows of a passport and visa office in an unnamed American city. Most customers and even most office workers have come and gone, but nine people remain. A punky teenager with an unexpected gift. An upper-class Caucasian couple whose relationship is disintegrating. A young Muslim-American man struggling with the fallout of 9/11. A graduate student haunted by a question about love. An African-American ex-soldier searching for redemption. A Chinese grandmother with a secret past. And two visa office workers on the verge of an adulterous affair. When an earthquake rips through the afternoon lull, trapping these nine characters together, their focus first jolts to their collective struggle to survive. There's little food. The office begins to flood. Then, at a moment when the psychological and emotional stress seems nearly too much for them to bear, the young graduate student suggests that each tell a personal tale, "one amazing thing" from their lives, which they have never told anyone before. And as their surprising stories of romance, marriage, family, political upheaval, and self-discovery unfold against the urgency of their life-or-death circumstances, the novel proves the transcendent power of stories and the meaningfulness of human expression itself. From Chitra Divakaruni, author of such finely wrought, bestselling novels as Sister of My Heart, The Palace of Illusions, and The Mistress of Spices, comes her most compelling and transporting story to date. One Amazing Thing is a passionate creation about survival--and about the reasons to survive. Origin, Crescent, and Birds of Paradise - Diana Abu-Jaber Origin: Lena is a fingerprint expert at a crime lab in the small city of Syracuse, New York, where winters are cold and deep. Suddenly, a series of crib deaths—indistinguishable from SIDS except for the fevered testimony of one distraught mother with connections in high places—draws the attention of the police and the national media and raises the possibility of the inconceivable: could there be a serial infant murderer on the loose? Orphaned as a child, out of place as an adult, gifted with delicate and terrifying powers of intuition, Lena finds herself playing a critical role in the case. But then there is the mystery of her own childhood to solve....Could the improbable deaths of a half-dozen babies be somehow connected to her own improbable survival? The beauty and originality of Diana Abu-Jaber's writing are here accompanied by deft, page-turning narrative tension and atmosphere, tugging the reader to an unforgettable conclusion. Crescent: Sirine is thirty-nine and a breathtaking golden-haired beauty. Half-Iraqi and half-American, she was raised in Los Angeles by her Iraqi-born uncle -- a professor at the local university and an endless source of fabulous tales of jinns, sheiks and Bedouins -- after her aid-worker parents were killed in Africa. An exquisitely gifted cook at Cafe Nadia, where homesick Middle Eastern ex-pats collect to drink coffee and savour her perfectly spiced food, Sirine is loved by all. She has, however, never been in love herself, and it is her uncle's dearest wish that she will fall for dashing new college professor, Hanif Al Eyad, a political exile from Baghdad. The two meet at Cafe Nadia and from the start their relationship is steeped in the scents, flavours and textures of Sirine's cooking. But Sirine is not convinced that they have the right ingredients for a life of happy-ever-after; in particular, she worries that she is too American for Hanif. In this rich, poignant and tender novel, Diana Abu-Jaber has created unforgettable characters and a compelling story of what it means to be an Iraqi living -- and loving -- in America. Birds of Paradise: A multilayered, beautifully textured novel about family and self, self-indulgence and generosity, against the vivid backdrop of contemporary Miami. In the tropical paradise that is Miami, Avis and Brian Muir are still haunted by the disappearance of their ineffably beautiful daughter, Felice, who ran away when she was thirteen. Now, after five years of modeling tattoos, skateboarding, clubbing, and sleeping in a squat house or on the beach, Felice is about to turn eighteen. Her family—Avis, an exquisitely talented pastry chef; Brian, a corporate real estate attorney; and her brother, Stanley, the proprietor of Freshly Grown, a trendy food market—will each be forced to confront their anguish, loss, and sense of betrayal. Meanwhile, Felice must reckon with the guilty secret that drove her away, and must face her fear of losing her family and her sense of self forever. This multilayered novel about a family that comes apart at the seams—and finds its way together again—is totally involving and deeply satisfying, a glorious feast of a book. On the 'want to get' list - Alan Dean Foster.

Don't forget Cut-Me-Own-Throat Dibbler!

LOL Scarlett gets right under my nose. I have an almost overwhelming urge to shake some sense into her stupid brain. Hmm I did say 'one of' so I must have others right? Let me think .. Count Hasimir Fenring from Dune - his 'hmm' 'hmm' 'hmm' would drive me insane in about 2 seconds flat. Whilst in the Dune universe - Princess Irulan is also annoying, Chani is just too accepting of Paul's decision not to marry her, "come on girl fight for him!" His sister Alia needed a hefty kick up the rear end. I know a lot of people don't much like Paul, but I like him. The burden of knowledge can be heavy at times and following a path only you can see, against all conventional wisdom is so astonishingly hard, and yet he has the inner strength to follow his vision, through all the hard horrible stuff right to the end, for the sake of all humanity over and above his own life. Thomas Covenant (Stephen R. Donaldson) is also super-annoying at times. It's like "OK fine you are sick - sympathy, but do you have to be so unremittingly stupid?" Princess Ce'Nedra from The Belgarion was a spoilt brat for most of the series, she only got a bit better towards the end. I'm sure there are more ... I will have to think a bit.

There are authors I have read but won't read again, some authors I just flat out refuse to read regardless of how wonderful their writing is supposed to be and more than a few books that are supposed to be wonderful, that like you, I just plain don't like BUT having said that - that is just my personal likes and dislikes and it is one of those universal laws that you can't please all the people all the time, same goes for books. Some people like 'em, some people hate 'em.

Yup starring Christian Bale - not a bad movie - just not entirely quite like the book (as usual)

I think it must be judged against the time in which it was written. The entire concept of having anything other than a very authoritarian approach in the 1950's was revolutionary, so if you view it in that context you can understand why it was so impactful. I think though, that apart from anything else, there has been a great deal more awareness, education, training etc particularly in sales (which is primarily who he was writing about and for) on how to be engaging, believable and convincing.

I think I understand what skprojekt is getting at - accepted as a leader yes - one of the guys no and that is right and good. There must always be that small divide that can not be crossed between a leader and those they lead. If you attempt to remove this divide you lose authority.

Thanks for the welcome. LOL ok I will look out for the discussion. Just having reread it, the timing couldn't be more perfect. Get thee to those books immediately LOL - I love his writing. If you like his books can I suggest Ha Jin, in particular A Free Life, which is also about the immigrant experience. His other books are all set in China, although equally excellent. Waiting in particular is a good read. Nanjing Requiem was just recently made into a movie The Flowers of War which was almost, but not quite, entirely unlike the book.

To be honest with you I zapped through it in about an hour - deep it is not. I think there were some things that he said that were valid to any personality type, namely there is a right way and a wrong way to approach people with your ideas. I think it is more aimed at people who truly have no clue at how to get along with others rather than some one who has some understanding of how to interact successfully. You can sum up his thoughts quite simply - find common ground, talk to people with respect, listen more than you speak, and convince people gently rather than with a hammer, which is where the listening comes in. Present what you are selling (yourself, thoughts or item) as being the solution to what they want / need, but you have to listen to them to know what that is.

PLEASE don't judge Robert Heinlein by Starship Troopers. IMO it is the worst of his books. Anne McCaffrey is definitely not fantasy and her 'Ship Who' books are totally sci-fi. The premise is that humans who have superior intellects, but who have, for various reasons, severe physical limitations get merged into the computer systems of space ships called 'brain ships'. The ships are therefore sentient human beings forever part of the ship. The physical aspect of the job is done by a partner who is the 'brawn'. Choosing the right partner is of utmost importance given the long distance of space travel. The series are all independent of each other with some cross-over continuity but not so much that they can't be read entirely on their own. The books generally focus on some crisis that ship 'brain' and their mobile partner 'brawn' have to solve together. There is one book that is different which is the 'The City Who Won'. Other suggestions - - Alan Dean Foster - in particular Pip and Flinx - if you liked Avatar there are aspects that are similarish. http://www.goodreads.com/series/51810-pip-flinx Actually he is a prolific writer and you may find something you like in some of his other books: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Dean_Foster I'm not sure how you feel about feminist sci-fi but the author to read is Sherri S. Tepper. Grass, Jinian Footseer, The Gate to the Woman's Country particularly come to mind. It certainly is different from the usual sci-fi space opera, alien wars, dystopian universe, cyber-punk stuff. A.A. Attanasio writes a good post-apocalyptic earth. There are a bunch of authors but the line between sci-fi and fantasy is a bit blurred. Roger Zelazny's Princes in Amber series is absolutely brilliant and is probably technically sci-fi rather than fantasy. Oberon King Of Amber is missing, Prince Corwin is suffering from amnesia and stuck on earth. His brother is ruling Amber but is he the rightful King? And what did happen to Oberon anyway? Can Corwin save Amber? Parallel worlds with a fair bit of magic. Another one is Robert Silverberg's Majipoor series. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Majipoor