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Post by Shake on Feb 27, 2013 3:43:01 GMT
Recently found the Goodreads site via some postings on Facebook. Am in the process of adding in books I've read, and marking ones I'd like to read. I should note that this site is not associated with Facebook. I reached out to a friend who lives down the street because she had a book that I own marked as 'to-read' and offered to loan it to her.
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Post by whollygoats on Mar 1, 2013 5:46:03 GMT
I just finished one of Terry Pratchett's more recent efforts, a ripping good Sam Vimes tale of righteous indignation and retribution for heinous crimes committed against indigenous peoples, Snuff.
After basking in the glow of a good adventure novel like that, I was a bit apprehensive about starting in to Pratchett's Wee Free Men, the first of the Tiffany Aching stories. I understand that the Tiffany Aching stories are supposed to be "young adult" reading, otherwise known as adolescent pulp. However, so far as I can tell, it really doesn't read much different than the other Discworld novels, it's just that the protagonist is a young teenaged girl learning to become a witch. It's a good storyline that introduces the Nac Mac Feegle, a tiny ginger haired clan of 'pictsies' who wear small kilts and speak in a broad burr.
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Post by raspberrybullets on Mar 1, 2013 19:38:13 GMT
Ah the Nac Mac Feegle's are hilarious. I couldn't imagine them being so funny but somehow they are.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 2, 2013 23:02:24 GMT
I'm in the middle of Here, There, Elsewhere by William Least Heat Moon. Anyone who likes travel writing and hasn't read him yet might consider giving him a try. I'm also reading Witpunk, a collection of short stories edited by somebody named Claude Lalumière, who is apparently trying to start his own sub-genre.
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Post by Kye on Mar 2, 2013 23:12:44 GMT
Claude Lalumiere is the SF and Fantasy critic with the Montreal Gazette, our local paper.
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Post by Miisa on Mar 8, 2013 7:59:43 GMT
Steven Pinker's The Angels of Our Better Nature: Why Violence Has Declined (in the US, UK title: The Angels of Our Better Nature: A History of Violence and Humanity)
Fascinating, although I already know many of the major points from interviews with Pinker.
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Post by Moose on Mar 9, 2013 21:38:32 GMT
rereading all my Karen Maitland's
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Post by Deleted on Mar 9, 2013 23:20:07 GMT
I'm rereading The Eighth Champion of Christendom by Edith Pargeter (who is probably better known for writing the 'Brother Cadfael' mysteries under the pen name of Ellis Peters). I'll follow that with a reread of the other two books in the trilogy, Reluctant Odyssey and Warfare Accomplished.
I'm also reading Fernand Braudel's Civilization and Capitalism 15th-18th Century volume 1: The Structure of Everyday Life.
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Post by Shake on Mar 13, 2013 2:07:43 GMT
Downloaded a free copy of Nietzche's The Antichrist onto the Kindle app on my phone. Have been going through that when I get time.
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Post by ceptimus on Mar 14, 2013 22:25:54 GMT
(Sven the TV series should be available on DVD and is well worth a watch) Yes The Ascent of Man is available on DVD - I have the set. I also bought some of the other early BBC documentary sets - Civilization, and Alistair Cooke's America. All interesting viewing, but Bronowski's series is my favorite of the three.
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Post by ceptimus on Mar 14, 2013 22:29:44 GMT
I'm rereading The Good Doctor by Damon Galgut. It's a strange tail about two doctors in a ghost town in southern Africa. Very well written. One of the interesting things about it is trying to decide which of the doctors is the good one.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 24, 2013 23:26:33 GMT
Just finishing up The Last Town on Earth, by Thomas Mullen. It's a novel set during the Great War in a small town in Washington state. It's about life on the home front, especially the effects of the Spanish influenza pandemic.
I'm also about half way through The Map of the Sky by Felix Palma.
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Post by Mari on Mar 26, 2013 9:16:06 GMT
I'm reading Het Diner by Herman Koch. I went to a literary evening last Thursday and he was the presenting writer. It was... interesting. I'd never heard of him before, but apparently his book is number 9 in the New York Times list or something like that?
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Post by Deleted on Mar 27, 2013 15:03:30 GMT
I'm reading "Loking Good - Being Bad" by Adrian Plass.
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Post by charliebrown on Apr 2, 2013 14:29:21 GMT
I just finished House of Silk (a new Sherlock Holmes novel). I am re-reading Father Brown stories and The Man Who Knew Too Much.
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Post by Miisa on Apr 2, 2013 17:57:39 GMT
The second book in the Game of Thrones series.
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Post by Shake on Apr 4, 2013 2:38:08 GMT
Decided I should go ahead and probably read The Hobbit and the LotR series on my own at some point.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 6, 2013 17:22:22 GMT
I looked at the reviews for The House of Silk, Genie, it's sounds interesting. I put it on reserve at the library.
Almost done with volume 2 of Brudel's Civilization and Capitalism 15th-18th Century, The Wheels of Commerce. Between Brudel and his English translator, Sian Reynolds, this series is one of the most enjoyable historical analysis I've ever read.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 7, 2013 12:55:08 GMT
I just finished "Looking Good, Being Bad" by Adrian Plass.
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Post by charliebrown on Apr 7, 2013 13:51:53 GMT
I looked at the reviews for The House of Silk, Genie, it's sounds interesting. I think it's very well written and successfully captures the atmosphere of the original Holmes stories. I am not an ardent Holmes fan, I find the style of Conan Doyle a bit archaic and wordy to my taste. But I enjoy detective stories in general, and the House of Silk is a good read too.
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Post by whollygoats on Apr 7, 2013 17:50:00 GMT
I'm still flailing my way through Terry Pratchett's corpus. Presently, I'm in the midst of both The Last Continent and Wintersmith.
"Nae king! Nae quin! Nae laird! Nae master! We willnae be fooled agin!"
The most terrifying threat uttered by a Nac Mac Feegle:
"We've got a cheap lawyer an' we're not afraid to use him!"
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Post by Deleted on Apr 10, 2013 22:08:12 GMT
Jared Diamond's The World Until Yesterday, a study about traditional cultures. Most of the discussion is about New Guinea highlanders, with some on Inuit, !Kung, Andaman islanders, and more.
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Post by madmadeline on Apr 12, 2013 17:30:47 GMT
Ach! Crivvens! I now need to read the Tiffany Aching books again!
(my niece went as a Feegle last Halloween. It was adorable. Took days to wash the blue off her though)
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Post by Deleted on Apr 14, 2013 8:55:01 GMT
I have started reading a book by Terry Pratchett again, but I'd actually like another one by Adrian Plass.
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Post by madmadeline on Apr 15, 2013 16:55:03 GMT
I just finished reading Good Omens again last night. Gosh I like that book.
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Post by JoeP on Apr 15, 2013 18:13:40 GMT
Currently: The Girl Who Played with Fire
Most recently finished: Stonemouth, by the not yet late Iain Banks.
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Post by madmadeline on Apr 15, 2013 18:37:55 GMT
I loved those books (the Larson ones). Maybe I should read *them* again, too!
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Post by JoeP on Apr 15, 2013 19:58:42 GMT
Larsson .. Larson is this:
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Post by madmadeline on Apr 15, 2013 20:09:57 GMT
hee hee... I like him, too!
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Post by Deleted on Apr 15, 2013 20:48:15 GMT
Finished House of Silk, now starting on The Vikings: A History by Robert Ferguson.
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