Whatcha' Readin' Now??

Hi Everyone!

OK...You know what to do in this thread! Let's liven this board up a little! I miss it buzzing like it was last year at this time!!

So go ahead...whatcha' readin'??

xoxo
Star**

Elizabeth Strout, Olive Kitteridge
Octavia Butler, Kindred

Also, I just downloaded a sample of Rebecca Fraser's Charlotte Bronte: A Writer's Life. I've got it in hardcover but never got around to reading it, and it might be more convenient to read on Kindle. I'll see if I like the layout of the sample.

The Backwash of War by Ellen N. La Motte
This is a woman's account of her experiences as a nurse in WWI. Many of the of books from this era paint a very sanitized and almost jolly picture. This book pulls no punches, it is brutal in its' candor about the horror and absurdity of war. Given the way things were at that time, I'm surprised the 'powers that be' allowed it to be published.

Three Men on Wheels by Jerome K. Jerome
Jerome Jerome was a Victorian comedy writer. You might say he was the Dave Barry of his day. This is an account of a bike trip he and his buddies took in 1890. Lots of madcap zaniness. One thing's for certain, men haven't changed a bit in the last century, we love our toys, we're basically overgrown kids.

The Solitary Summer by Elizabeth von Arnim
Countess von Arnim's favorite thing to do was gardening. Unfortunately, it was 'unseemly' for a woman of her station (in the 1890's) to be seen digging in the dirt. This book is a humorous account of her efforts to establish a garden, a simple pleasure we take for granted today, but a struggle for a woman, even with her power and money, a hundred years ago. If you enjoy dry humor, I think you'll like this book.

All of these books are available for free at Gutenberg.org

The Ark (touchstone not working) by Boyd Morrison, free download from his website (http://www.boydmorrison.com/).

Jesus, Interrupted

Big History (DTB, not available yet for Kindle)

The Eden Express by Mark Vonnegut (son of Kurt) about coping with schizophrenia. I am early in the book and it is like a 70's journal at the moment. Well-written and interesting with a sense of humor that will feel familiar if you are a Kurt Vonnnegut fan.

k4k

Silent in the Grave by Deanna Raybourn which I enjoyed very much. First paragraph: "To say that I met Nicholas Brisbane over my husband's dead body is not entirely accurate. Edward, it should be noted, was still twitching upon the floor."

I've purchased Deanna's second book, Silent on the Moor but I'm going to read some other things before getting back to her stuff.

Liberty and Tyranny: A Conservative Manifesto by Mark Levin which made me feel guilty for collecting Social Security.

Right Ho, Jeeves by P. G. Wodehouse which cheered me back up again.

Killing Floor by Lee Child which was generally enjoyable.

Not long ago, I read The Years by Virginia Woolf. She really touched on generational togetherness and inner thoughts. Just finished AAron Elkins mystery Good Blood. The lead character is a forensic-anthropologist. I find this info interesting as I have no knowledge of such things. Now on to Maeve Binchey`s Heart and Soul. Easy reading--a cosy, I guess.

Just finished The Accidental Mother by Rowan Coleman, and Now You See Her by Jacquelyn Mitchard on my Kindle.

Now back to my ARC dead tree books...

Just finishing up The Steel Wave by Jeff Shaara and will read Killer Germs by Barry E. Zimmerman.

Just started reading Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale. It is excellent! k4k

CurrerBell...did you know that OLIVE KITTRIDGE just won the Pulitzer Prize? Neat! I read it as one of my first Kindle books and had no idea it was in the running for such an honor.

So good to see our Star is back!

Just finished EAT, PRAY, LOVE as part of my monthly book club.

We are now reading THE SPACE BETWEEN US by Thrity Umrigar, brilliant Indian author.

And I'm reading, on my own and completely over the top about CUTTING FOR STONE by Abraham Verghese, M.D.

>>11 Bookworm39:

In fact, it was the publicity about Strout's Pulitzer that prompted me to download Olive Kitteridge.

I just read the first 3 stories in Olive Kitteridge. Way too depressing for me. All these characters whose parents commited suicide should do me a favor and follow in their parents' footsteps. And not take so long to do it. Oy! Such a headache this book gives me! And for this Strout gets a Pulitzer??

Maybe I'll return to Olive later, but for now I'm going to read about something light and pleasant...like maybe detective Lucas Davenport tracking down the serial murderer in Rules of Prey by John Sandford.

I am thinking of reading The Year of Living Biblically next. It sounds hilarious. k4k

I've read TYoLB, it's a hoot, but it's done respectfully. I think you'll enjoy it.

Right now I'm reading Waiter Rant. It's kind of like Kitchen Confidential, only about waiters. Free word of advice, never piss off your waiter!

The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire by Edward Gibbon. It's ideally suited for Kindle because Kindle makes it so easy to read just a page or two when I feel like it and not get overwhelmed. At my current rate, I figure I'll finish it in a couple of years.

Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen. I read it about 30 years ago and didn't like it because it was silly. Now I'm rereading it and liking it because it's silly.

The Butler Did It by PG Wodehouse. The first PG Wodehouse I ever read, all those many years ago. Still great.

>17 LydiaHD:
LOL, Lydia....I've been reading A History of Histories for a year now. I'm about 1/2 way done, and that's exactly what I do: read a few pages every now and then. It was the first book I bought for the Kindle.

At the moment I'm reading The White Lady Murders ($.99 at Amazon). I've been finding quite a few really good free and bargain books for Kindle lately, which is very satisfying in this economy. It's an eye-opener as to what a small percentage of decent books must get picked up by mainstream presses. (Edit: I finished this, and have posted my review. Not for the faint-hearted - horror with lots of graphic sex.)

I'm also plodding through Jesus, Interrupted and recently read two free downloads from Boyd Morrison (The Ark and The Adamas Blueprint) and an interesting Ancient Egypt/ modern archaeology thriller called Secret of the Sands.

Hi, new to the group and relatively new to Kindle ownership. It's too darn easy to be reading half a dozen books on the Kindle, IMO. But I just finished Barbara Kingsolver's Animal, Vegetable, Miracle which is remarkable. As a homeowner, I've become more interested in the possibility of raising some of my own food, and Kingsolver's book, though it deals with a much larger piece of land than I have, has been both useful and inspirational.

I'm in the middle of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies right now, and while it's amusing, it's not quite as funny as I'd have hoped. I've just downloaded some books listed in 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die and the three new SF/Fantasy freebies Amazon is offering this month which titles I don't recall just now. One is Elric, Stealer of Souls I think.

It's all dizzying!

Hi Dargie,

I've always been one to have a couple of books going simultaneously, but it's true that with the Kindle it's so much easier. And I've got a pile of DTBs I'm trying to get through, too. Less TV, more reading.

On my Kindle, I just finished Everlost (Neal Shusterman) and I've just started Child 44 (Tom Rob Smith).

In treeware, I'm re-reading (after many years) Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man.

CurrerBell...forgive if I'm being redundant but I recently learned that CHILD 44 is being made into a movie. No cast announcements yet but Ridley Scott is the director so I suspect Russell Crowe will be involved. Release for 2010.

>21 CurrerBell:, 22

Well, now you've got me interested in Child 44 and I've downloaded a sample.....

!! Good to be back with my friends!!

I've just read quite a few...I don't remember which ones I've listed though...

Let's see Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie, Afraid, Lucifer's Calling, Darling Jim, Dirty Little Angels, Fatal Encryption, and Dave Dances...the last book is the wrong touch stone...The one I read is a gorgeous limited edition book and it wasn't on the Kindle. It's great though if you like or (LOVE) the Dave Matthew's Band. (Like me)...

I'm also happy to say that I do love both my K1 and k2 and I don't see myself getting the new larger model. It's just not anything I need right now. Did anyone here get in line for the new version.

Any of my old friends here with the k1's get a k2 as well...I read a little about this in the other post. Just curious!

I miss and love you all!

XOXO
Star*

Hi Star, good to hear from you again. I've still got my K1. I don't see myself with a KDX. If I were in college, it would be different.

Do you have a preference between the K1 and the K2?

>> 24, 25

I've got K1 & K2. I primarily use K2, because it's thinner and lighter and thus fits more easily into my pocketbook, even with a mEdge Executive cover (imitation leather, I'm softie for the cows). Also, K2 has a more efficient search system and a more convenient dictionary. I don't at all use the text-to-speech function, though.

When I got K2, I'd been planning on selling K1 on Amazon or eBay, but I felt sorry for her and decided I just couldn't part with her. Seriously, though, I keep K1 as back-up. It's really a much better piece of hardware, and the one thing I especially dislike about K2 is the elimination of the user-replaceable battery (though I recognize that this made K2 slimmer, which is why I actually use K2 as my primary machine, for pocketbook portability). I don't really care that much about the loss of the SD card slot in K2, since I never use Kindle as an MP3 player anyway and the additional internal memory in K2 is plenty for books.

Since I'm a little concerned about that K2 battery issue, I continue to use K1 for my magazine subscriptions. I really just subscribe to two anyway, Analog sci-fi and Asimov sci-fi.

One nice little feature in K2 is the ability to change line spacing (although this doesn't work on AZW1 Topaz files). It's not in the user manual, but all you have to do is hold down ALT + SHIFT simultaneously with pressing an appropriate number key. I don't remember where I found about this hack, but it was on one of the message boards.

As a pretty proficient thumb-typist, I personally very much prefer the K1 keyboard. The K2 keys are too flush with the machine, so thumb-typing is difficult. On the other hand, I don't do that much keyboarding on Kindle anyway, so it's something I can live with.

I've also found myself accidentally hitting the K2 Home key rather than the Next Page key a good bit (since I use my right thumb), and this is a nuisance although easily escaped by using the Back key. I never had a problem with the positioning of the Home button on K1.

I hated the slipperiness of K2, but now that I've got my mEdge cover it's not an issue. Because of the slipperiness, though, I was extremely careful with K2 until my mEdge came.

Awrrr, overall I definitely prefer the K1 hardware, except that K2's thinness makes it the more easily pocketbook-portable so it's really the machine that I primarily use and K2's got some more convenient software features.

~~~~~~~~~~

EDIT: Oh, yeah, I forgot the discussion on K-DX. For me, absolutely no way! It's too big to fit conveniently in my purse, and I don't see any need for the larger screen. I'd personally find the whole thing cumbersome.

I'm not in the market for more Amazon electronics right now. (I just found a great used bookstore across the street from a local Borders, and I dropped about $150 there today, including a really nice multi-volume edition of Burton's complete translation of 1001 Arabian Nights. Plus, for $450 they've got in really nice condition a six-volume set of the 1855-1856 edition of the complete Byron.)

Maybe K-DX is going to be of some use for textbooks, where you might need a larger screen for some diagram lay-outs, but someone's going to have to develop a color eInk first, because an awful lot of textbook diagrams (graphs, charts, etc) rely on color for illustrative purposes.

My father, who bought me a Kindle for Christmas and who was jealous to discover it was the 2.0 when it arrived months later, recently sent me his set of Harvard Classics.

Now the Kindle is buried in my bedside drawer, and old, smoky books (my dad's a cigarette fiend) are my companion.

No matter how far technology seems to take me, it's always back to an old book.

Wattsian

New read is Vagabonding: An Uncommon Guide to the Art of Long-Term World Travel. I was looking forward to this book, but so far I'm up to chapter 3 (I think) and mostly the author has just been gushing about how easy it is to do if you're just willing to commit to it. No tips or advice so far, just cheerleading.

Also rereading Guards! Guards!.

As a member of the early reviewers' group I was recently sent a copy of Assegai by Wilbur Smith. I had never heard of Wilbur Smith, who has written tons of books, translated into many languages, and at first I couldn't get into the story, but now I'm quite enjoying it. I'm not sure if it will be released in Kindle format. St.Martin's Press has a free e-book of one of Smith's earlier works, Triumph of the Sun available at http://us.macmillan.com/assegai. I tried to download it, but it's in PDF format. I've heard that there is some way to download PDF onto kindles. If anyone knows how to do this maybe they can direct me to a post or whatever, explaining how to do it. BTW, Assegai is an adventure story that takes place in Africa around 1906. Teddy Roosevelt eventually shows up hunting big game, but I haven't got that far yet. Warning: it's a bit bloody.

IronMike,

If the pdf does not have complex formatting and is not drm-protected, it can be emailed to amazon by the kindle owner. Amazon will return it reformatted for the kindle for free (or 10 cents if emailed directly to the kindle).

ETA: The kindle version of Triumph of the Sun is available from Amazon for the kindle for $7.99. Assegai is available for $15.37, but often those high prices go down to $9.99 if you wait a couple of weeks.

k4k

k4k: Thanks. I have the soft cover version of Assegai, through Early Reviewers for free, so I don't need the Kindle version. I'm a little less than half-way through it. If you love big cats as much as small cats this is not the book for you.

There are numerous hunting scenes where the killing of elephants, rhinos, lions, etc., is described in detail. In one scene, even the hunter/guide gets upset by the unsportsmanly manner in which Kermit Roosevelt (TR's son) kills a rhino.

Despite all the gore, these hunters do put their lives on the line, and the author puts you right in the hunter's shoes: the elephant unexpectedly turns and charges at you, and you aim your gun, but you have to let him get within 30 yards to be sure of a killing shot, and the outcome is not at all assured. Your nerves are jumping, but you have to hold the gun steady. A gnat may fly into your eye, but you must ignore it, etc.

And then, there are many beautifully written nature scenes, for instance, the story of a kind of bird which leads humans to honey. In return, the humans leave the bird the wax and grubs found in the beehive.

And there's the usual love story and spy story.

When I finish Assegai, I'll download Triumph of the Sun to my Kindle; but I'll probably want to read something else inbetween, to let the overall effect of Assegai settle.

Dewey -- the book about the cat in the library. light reading...

I also just read Neverwhere again for about the third time. I do love Gaiman. : ) His prose is beautiful!

xoxo Star*

I'm finishing up The Day of the Triffids on my K, and I've also downloaded Wyndham's The Midwich Cuckoos.

In treeware, I've just started The Lost Traveller, the second book in Antonia White's "Frost in May Quartet," in the Virago reprint.

CurrerBell: "treeware" ... I love it. Is this your own neologism, or am I just behind the times?
The Day of the Triffids is one of my favorite sci-fi movies.

I used to call it "dead tree" version, but I saw someone (I'm pretty sure here on LT) use the phrase "treeware" and I adopted it.

I think I'll adopt it too.

Speaking of treeware, I was watching C-Span2, and this author David Bollier was pushing his non-fiction book: Viral Spiral: How the Commoners Built a Digital Republic of Their Own, and it sounds very interesting.

He has released it free as an ebook. You can look up ViralSpiral.cc and download it from the website. Unfortunately, it's in PDF, so you may have to email the file to Amazon and have them convert it to Kindle format for 10c.

David Bollier mentioned that Cory Doctorow's Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom is also available for free in PDF. I guess you have to go to Cory Doctorow's website. p.s. Doctorow wrote I Robot. (at least I THOUGHT he did, but the touchstone says Isaac Asimov?)

I checked the books on Amazon, and the treeware versions are available for $16.17, and $11.16; but the books are not available in kindle format. I downloaded the Viral Spiral ebook, and I'll send it to Amazon when I figure out how to do it.

I hope someone finds this helpful. Good weekend all!

Someone ask "whatcha reading?"
Just finished one of the finest Victorian mystery/suspense/thrillers in ages. Michael Cox's second book, THE GLASS OF TIME. His first, and equally excellent book, was THE MEANING OF NIGHT.
One word: Brilliant!

In treeware, I'm finishing up Nature's Engraver, Jenny Uglow's biography of Thomas Bewick (whose History of British Birds was the book the 10-year-old Jane Eyre was reading sitting on the windowseat behind the curtain).

On K, I've just started Carla Negger's The Widow. It's not the kind of book I'd buy, but when I downloaded it, it was a freebie (though the freebie is now over).

I'd been trying to read Meredith's The Egoist on my K, but I just can't seem to get into it. Maybe I'll try it in treeware and see if that can catch my interest. My reason for reading it (actually, re-reading it, because I did read it some 40 or so years ago), is that it was important in Antonia White's Frost in May Quartet.

A few years ago I was watching an interview of Carl Rove,(Did I hear a "Yikes!!"?) and he said that he and Pres Bush were reading the works of John D. MacDonald. I had never heard of MacDonald, so I decided to see for myself what these guys were reading. (After all, I had come across Ian Fleming because Fleming was a favorite of JFK.)

Long story short, I fell in love with MacDonald's books. I've read pretty much everything he's written, and for the past year I've been searching for someone who writes mysteries as enjoyable as MacDonald. I've come close, but so far no one measures up. James Lee Burke has probably come closest, but I've only read one of his books, and I'd need to read some more.

Now I've come across Harlen Coben and he seems closest of them all. I'm almost finished Coben's Gone For Good which has been quite good but seems to be weakening toward the end.

I just finished Match Day by Brian Eule, it's a Kindle Store ebook.

It's about the process doctors go through when they graduate from med school and get 'matched' to a teaching hospital for their internship and residency. It's very interesting, I recommend it to anyone interested in medicine, particularly if they are considering it as a career.

I downloaded 100 free classics and now I always have something good to read on the kindle.

Currently, reading A Tale of Two Cities, Bleak House and Devil's Dictionary on the kindle.

Also reading harry potter and the half-blood prince in hard copy before the movie comes out.

I just finished Cruise Confidential by Brian Bruns. It's a tell-all about the cruise ship industry, the author was a waiter aboard ship. It's a funny book, rather like Kitchen Confidential. It's available in the Kindle bookstore.

Right now I'm reading Secret Memoirs The Story of Louise Crown Princess by Henry W. Fischer. It's the diary of an Austrian Imperial Crown Princess. All I can say is wow, I'm glad I'm not royalty. What a bunch of thugs, scoundrels and nut-balls. The fairytale fantasy we're sold about being a princess is really a nightmare. Very interesting reading. It's a free Gutenberg.org ebook.

Hello Garry! I've missed your posts! How's your summer going??

xox Star*

Hi Star,

I've been doing a lot of reading. The latest is The Memoirs of Comtesse du Barry. She was the favorite mistress of Louis XV.

Other than that, I've been doing Pilates and making things of fused glass.

Sounds like a great summer so far to me Garry!

xoxo
I'm thinking of you! (Bill too...where is he?)
Star**

I just read The 86 Biggest Lies on Wall Street by John R. Talbott. A very interesting book whether you're an investor or not. It gave me a better understanding of what caused the recent economic crisis; and of what happens behind the scenes at the big investment houses, and with Corporate Lobbyists swaying our Congress. The author provides his email address. I sent him an email commenting on parts of his book and he responded right away. The author previously wrote books predicting the housing collapse etc. Highly recommended.

Just read my first John Hart book: THE LAST CHILD. Outstanding...hope to read more of his.
Also THE PIANO TEACHER by Janice Y. K. Lee...not what I expected but very good.
Now reading my first Sarah Waters THE NIGHT WATCH...it's been a bookish summer for me. The best kind!

Not really reading right now because I'm traveling through upper New England, but I've got my K1 with me. I'm doing daytime photography outdoors, so after nightfall I'm going to read some of my Asimov and Analog sci-fi mag subscriptions that I keep on my K1. (I left K2 at home.)

I don't have a whole lot else unread on K1 right now and may have trouble downloading because Sprint reception isn't at all good up here in northern Vermont (and Maine may be worse). I keep a full tank of gas because I don't know how good my Verizon reception is to call AAA.

In the middle of People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks on my K1. Love it so far. Interesting how the writing style changes when she switches between the present and the past. Beautiful prose in the past. "Rough diamond" type language in the present. This is the first book of hers that I have read.

k4k

Just finished The girl with the dragon tattoo which was nothing like I expected, I enjoyed reading it and then ended it unsure of how I felt about it. arg!

Anyway, I just got my kindle this week (been reading on my ipod touch kindle application before that) and I was wondering how people download books from other sources and get it onto the kindle? Is it just downloading the file and emailing it to your kindle email address or do I have to do something else?

Hi dancingstarfish,

Congratulations on your new kindle! You can download files from http://www.mobileread.com and http://www.feedbooks.com to your computer and transfer them. However, both these sites also have catalogs. If you download the catalogs to your computer and transfer them to your kindle, you can then download ebooks directly to your kindle using the catalogs. You can also update the catalogs directly from your kindle. This is my favorite way to download the free books.

You can also download books directly from http://www.manybooks.net from their mobile site (mnybks.net) using the Experimental browser on the kindle. I stopped doing this because it was a nuisance, but it still works for books you can't find on the other 2 sites.

Have fun,

k4k

Reading Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives: An All-American Roadtrip...with Recipes! by Guy Fieri (a compilation from the tv show, we're going on a road trip soon) and Arabian Nights.

Just finished re reading the original sword of shannara books by Terry Brooks as I want to read the more recent ones but couldn't remember a lot of the old stories. Also recently read Infected and Contagious by Scott Sigler, both good reads, could definitely see them making a movie out of the two books.

I'm reading Guardian of Lies - first I've read by him, everything is a bit convenient in terms of the resolution. On the other hand he has great control of his writing.

Michael F Stewart
Author of 24 Bones

I've been reading my way thru the Uglies series by Scott Westerfeld on my new K2. Loving the Kindle, and loving the wide variety of books I can find for it!

I just started Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton. I got it free from Gutenberg.org. I enjoyed the movie years ago, and I'm finally getting around to reading the book.

I'm reading the first three crime novels by Michael Connelly. The guy is a teriffic writer, and his first 3 books are available for the price of one on kindle. His second 3 books likewise. His first book is The Black Echo which won the Edgar award. (named after Edgar Allen Poe.)

Reading one of the finalists in the Mann-Booker Prize Contest for this year: The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters. Spooky good!
Still reliving memories of reading Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese...unforgettable!
Also read, with mixed feelings A Happy Marriage...too much flashback.

#61> I just finished Affinity by Sarah Waters, and I've also got Tipping the Velvet on my Kindle.

Just finished up Peculiar, MO. Really enjoyed it and well worth the $1.29 for the Kindle version. Now reading Advantage Disadvantage and wondering if it's an accurate portrayal of prep basketball in the Chicago area. If so, wow.

Night Camp by L.C. Evans. Hope it's as good as the reviews indicate!!

The Devil In the White City for the second time, since my Library Book Club chose it. I got so much more out of it this time...fabulous research by Erik Larson. So many "firsts" came out of the Chicago World's Fair of 1893, including our Pledge Allegiance to the Flag...and our first Serial Killer in the U.S.
Unforgettable book.

Finished up Night Camp. What a wonderful book. I look forward to reading it to my boys. Picked up the feathery as I turn back to adult books. I've heard great things, so I'm excited to start it over the weekend.

Reading Jailed for Freedom by Doris Stevens. A fascinating first-hand look at the suffrage movement from 1917-1920, or so. Incredible! I honestly did not know very much about how women were arrested and went to jail, how Woodrow Wilson used the "states rights" argument to block a constitutional amendment etc. Well worth the read. There are several copies available for the kindle at Amazon. GoogleBooks has a copy that has a number of typos, but has the original photographs, which are missing from the Amazon versions.

k4k

Days' End. Enjoying it so far. Check it out. Quick read, but interesting.