wordsgood

I've got several on the go at the moment. Some are re-reads, others are ones I bought and never got around to until now. Nervous System: Losing my Mind in Literature, but Lars Jensen (memoir) Natual Order Mage and Mage Guard of Hamor, both part of the Recluce series by L.E. Modesitt Jr. (fantasy) The Last Chronicles of Thomas Covenent, by Stephen Donaldson (fantasy). It's a trilogy that picks up the initial story 10 yeas after the first one ended. What's odd is that the author picked this story up again 20 years after his last book in the original series. These ones are a bit darker than the first ones, but so far I'm enjoying them.

caustic

Lot's of books make me cry, fiction and non-fiction. Ones that detail humans right's abuses, such as bios and historical ones about people in wars will really get the tears pouring. Doesn't stop me from reading them though.

Well, I did eventually forgive her. And she certainly taught me that what not to leave anywhere near growing puppies!

I used to have this near mint condition, beautiful little copy of Ben Hur published on rice paper from late 1890s and was so proud of it. But then, about 20ish years ago I got a new puppy and had made up one of the rooms into a puppy room for when we were at work. I was smart enough to put the book on the very top shelf and keep anything she could theoretically grab out of reach. However, I didn't take into account that a fast growing, large breed dog would soon get big enough to body slam a heavy bookshelf, knocking down all those tasty hunks of paper. Dozens of books came down that day, but being a dog of exceptionally good taste, she only ate poor Ben. Gnawed on a few really cheap novels, but apparently only Ben Hur was yummy enough to consume. She did leave a couple small chunks of the cover so I could identify the remains.

It's probably me wrong here. I am soooo tired. I have this cat, who for no discernible reason goes through these "must scream every tens minutes for hours on end" sprees, and this last week she's been on a particularly chatty streak. She's done this all her life and even though I know her kidneys are going, she is not in any distress. She just likes to be demanding, and she's a siamese so she's got that nails on the chalk board screech thing going on. I saw something that said 2:00 and probably just connected your name with the post (for not good reason), and interpreted it as AM instead of PM! Wanna a cat? p.s. It's Wordsgood.

So sorry to hear this news. As others have said though, even if you don't realize it right now, you are better off without someone who would do that to you. Way better. I don't know you, but I do know that nobody deserves to be treated that way.

Western Canada. I see we Canucks make up a whole not quite 3 percent of all the membership that has thus far voted. Two more people and we'll start our country! Oh wait...

Goodness Vinvay, you are one busy bee. Do you sleep...at all? Seriously, congrats on getting published!

Devi, don't think we've met before but I just had to post and say congrats on getting the grant! Things like that are few and far between in life so it's very nice to hear about! Talisman, hope it was a good cake! Sounds like you really needed it...saw your post about working to 2:00 a.m. that one day. (Can't remember exactly which one. Was fishing through posts still playing catch up.) And to everyone else, hello and wishes for a great day! Hope everyone's reading for month is going well. (Really love this little dude!)

Ohhh, that makes so much more sense now. If I'd had half brain I would have looked it up before replying but the title just gave me an instant case of the giggles, which apparently killed one of my few remaining brain cells.

Richard Dawkins or Carl Sagan perhaps?

Like many folks, I got hooked on reading from the day I got past "Watch spot run..." because I realized books could take me places and let me do things I couldn't in boring old reality. And Karen it certainly has helped me cope with pain over the years. Probably would be living in a little rubber room if I hadn't had reading to help. It's also way cheaper than actual travel. Don't need to get vaccines or worry about water either.

Okay, I mean this with the utmost respect...but a history about tractors? And here I'd thought I'd read some off wall books! Don't think I'd ever want to try one about the history of a farm vehcle...are the Ukraine ones especially interesting?

I'm not sure what you classify as high fantasy either, but if you like long sagas, you can't go wrong with two below. They both have some very strong female protagonists. Some books in each series are better than other, but I still found them all satisfying. The Wheel of Time series, by the late Robert Jordan and the last two of three by Brandon Sanderson (he was commissioned to take over Jordan's work final book due in 2013. The Sword of Truth series, by Terry Goodkind

I've read many biographies and autobiographies. I love the genre but rarely read any by or about celebrities as I find them boring. I tend to focus more on biographies about historical and/or political figures, as well as personal memoirs from people not in the entertainment business. I've been a bit obsessed lately with ones about some of history's more infamous figures, such as Chian Kai-Shek, Mao Zedong and Hitler, etc. A couple I've particularly enjoyed are: Infidel, by Ayaan Hirsi Ali Chiang Kai-Shek: China's Generalissimo and the Natiopn He Lost, by Jonathan Fenby I've been fishing through this thread and have found a few that have piqued my interest so much that they have now landed on my Wish List. I've listed them below. My thanks to Frankie the Moderator, Jo-Bridge, Sammisnana, BrainFreeze and Ausonius for posting about them. The Life and Death of Sylvia Plath, by Ronald Hayman Jane Austen, by Carol Shields The Hacienda, by Lisa St Aubin De Teran Dry: A Memoir, by Augesten Burroughs The Damage Done: Twelve Years of Hell in a Bangkok Prison, by Warren Fellows Dostoyevsky: A Writer in His Time, by Joseph Frank Also, Knitnat, you mentioned Wild Swans, by Jung Chang. I've read this one a couple times and agree that it is definitely a great read! I've got some of her other stuff and think she is a very gifted writer.

I know I'm reviving old topics as I dive back into things so I hope nobody minds. I just checked out the link for this book (The Well Educated Mind) and it looks very interesting. I've been reading more non-fiction than fiction of late and books about "how" to get the most our of your reading have been catching my attention, so I think I will add this one to my list of books that need to be viewed at the store before deciding. But so far it's looking good.

I recently purchased some book database cataloging software you can use offline to not only keep track of what you own, but all the book's stats - ISBNs, cover type,etc. - that you can link to the web to automatically pull off certain details for individual entries. It's kind of like a fancy version of Access or similar database software. You can use set templates, or modify them to suit your needs. It's been years since I've had to use any kind of database but with frequent use of it's help menu, most of the basic uses for them are coming back to me. The one I've purchased is called bookCAT by FNProgramvare. They also have other database software for various different types of collections (even stamps!), and one to catalogue all your possession, with the latter being marketed for use with personal insurance coverage. I was wondering if anyone here is also using bookCAT or a similar program to catalogue their books? No particular reason I'm asking, just curious! If you're interested, here's a link to the bookCAT page of FNProgramvare's site. It lists all the things bookCAT can do. (And yes, that is a "v" in their company name. ) http://www.fnprg.com/index.html

I know I'm a bit late to be jumping into this thread, but thought I would put in my two cents anyway. Here's two series that I highly recommend, having read and re-read them multiple times. I looked and didn't see them named in the replies thus far. Hope you don't mind lots of details because I can't help myself sometimes! The Belgariad, by David and Leigh Eddings Note: This series was co-written with his wife but when it was first published in the 70's, they would not allow his wife's name to appear alongside his. Also, Eddings, who passed away in 2009, published several other very successful books and series. The Begariad series itself is 5 books long (none of which are more than average size in terms of number of pages). They are not terribly deep reads, but I’ve always found them most entertaining! There are also two large prequel books, with each one focussing on the history of one the main Belgariad characters, Belgarath and Polgara. The Rivan Codex (series companion book), which, to quote from their official site, is "a summary of the Events that have occurred and additional information on the history, gods, people of the Belgariad/Mallorean world." This is a link to the Wikipedia entry about the series premise: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Belgariad And the next link is to the Eddings’ official site, which has detail about all the books by the Eddings. http://www.eddingschronicles.com/index.html The Sword of Truth series, by Terry Goodkind This is a huge series with book sizes averaging around 1000 pages each. This series has it all, politics, violence, sexual content, multi-faceted characters and a huge world it all plays out in. The series was concluded with the 12th book, but there is also prequel novella about one of the main characters. In addition, there is a series related book with an offshoot story about the two lead characters that came out last year, and another recently released ebook prequel that helps to establish the setting for everything that came later. I haven’t read the latest ebook prequel because Goodkind broke with his publisher and self-published this one, only putting out 300 paper copies which ran for a whopping $300US each! (The odd part is I believe all 300 sold out pretty much instantly. Who has that kind of money for one book? ) He is selling the ebook version directly from his official website. Personally speaking, I’m more than a bit annoyed about this release because I had faithfully purchased paper copies of every single book in or related to the series, and do not like that I can’t keep the set complete! Anyway, Goodkind’s politics and life philosophies are very evident throughout the whole series, and many people have found that to be quite polarizing. Despite that, they are still hugely popular and have an immense following worldwide. And personally speaking, I think that any decent fantasy saga will have political and sociologic slants. That’s what makes them so interesting! I didn’t find the later books as good as the first 7 or 8, but still enjoyed all of them. Here’s a link to the Wikipedia entry about the series, which it provides an extensive plot premise, as well as tons of additional info and links: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sword_of_Truth Next is the link to Goodkind’s official website: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sword_of_Truth And finally a link to the official fan forum, which by the way is not running at the moment but states it will come back online at some point: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sword_of_Truth

Hi everyone. I've been away for some time dealing with several life crisis. I have, of course, acquired a number of new books since last I posted, but haven't got time to list them all right now. Just wanted to pop in to let folks know I've not abandoned the forum and will be back as soon as I can. Cheers!

If a book evokes a strong emotion of any kind, even a negative one, I call it a good read! I love getting emotionally involved in what I'm reading - even when it makes me cry.

Doesn't bother me to move from one book to the next without a break. In fact, when I'm stressed to my limits (like I've been the last several months) and my reading mojo isn't kaput, I generally have several books on the go at one time.

Personally speaking, I wouldn't say there is any particular book, author or genre I will go out of my way to avoid. There certainly are some that I don't actively seek to read, but I'm usually happy to give everyone a fair shake. If it bores or upsets me, I just drop it and move on.

Um....How does every room in my house grab ya?