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Post by Kina, Grovyle Fangirl on Apr 10, 2010 19:03:50 GMT -5
Currently reading Inkheart. ^^
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Post by Chao on Apr 11, 2010 16:12:00 GMT -5
I just finished a most amazing book I happened to come across by chance at Singapore Changi Airport on my way back home on Thursday night. The topic is recent history and quite controversial, even in my own head, so usually I would not have considered reading a book centered around that topic, but the title simply had me take a closer look at the book. The topic would be the current situation in Iraq and the title "Talking about Jane Austen in Baghdad" by Bee Rowlatt and May Witwit. (Since "Pride & Prejudice" is my favourite book, I of course had to see how Austen and Baghdad go together.) It was rather light reading, despite the serious contents, but this is what made this book so great. While reading it, I went through the whole set of emotions: joy, happiness, laughing at silly remarks and jokes, crying, feeling desperate (and having to fight the urge to flip forward in the book and read the last pages first), annoyed, etc. I never once regretted having bought this book, nor could I leave it alone for long until I finished it. (Which is rare for me to happen with a book. Not even my beloved computer could lure me away, despite the fact that I had a story with a deadline pending.) For anyone interested, I added the text from the back of the book in the spoiler below: Would you brave gun-toting militias for a cut and blow dry?
May is a tough-talking, hard-smoking lecturer in English. She's also an Iraqi living in Baghdad: dodging bullets before breakfast, bargaining for high heels in bombed-out bazaars and battling through blockades to teach her class of Jane Austen-studying girls.
Bee, on the other hand, is a London mum of three, busy fighting off PTA meetings and chicken pox, dealing with dead cats and generally juggling work and family while squabbling with her globe-trotting husband over the socks he leaves lying around the house.
They should have nothing in common.
But when a simple email brings them together, they discover a friendship that overcomes all their differences of culture, religion and age. And, between the grenades, the gossip, the jokes and the secrets, they hatch an ingenious plan to help May escape Baghdad... Will have to update my list tomorrow, but somehow had to share this first ^^
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Post by M is for Morphine on Apr 21, 2010 7:57:01 GMT -5
Finished Labyrinths by Jorge Luis Borges, as well as Catch 22 by Joseph Heller.
Catch 22 was a very bleak and cruel book. It had funny moments, but even the humor was dark. Yet, I would still recommend it. I think the rapidly increasing evil around the main characters, while vaguely oppressive to read, makes their small and personal acts of heroism all the more powerful and meaningful.
Edit: Finished Slaughterhouse Five as well. I must be on a 'Man's inhumanity toward man' spree.
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Post by insanepurpleone on Apr 21, 2010 9:31:04 GMT -5
Currently about halfway through The Phantom Tollbooth. One of my friends discovered semi-recently that I'd never read it and decided that this was basically a crime against humanity, especially because he said it is exactly the sort of book I would have loved as a kid. And he's completely right. I think it's incredibly clever and it's a shame I haven't finished it yet, but I want the chance to sit down with it for an hour or two and not just read it in little chunks, which is sadly all I've had time for as of late.
After this I want to finish Neuromancer, and then I don't know what.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 24, 2010 11:48:54 GMT -5
AWIGHT.
so I just finished the Stranger by Albert Camus. xD it took me like eight months to read because of school and having no time to read and having other books to read and completely forgetting that I had it BUT I FINISHED IT JUST NOW.
definitely worth it. haha. it took a little bit to get into it, because I didn't really get it at first, and all this stuff that was happening didn't make much sense. however, later in the book, when the plot finally develops, it all made sense, so it got better. haha.
alright now. what to read next? I've got tons of books laying around here, so I'll go hunting for something. xD
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Post by M is for Morphine on Apr 28, 2010 3:54:07 GMT -5
I changed up the pace with "Parasite Eve" by Hideaki Sena. It's a very technical science fiction story. I actually learned a lot about kidney transplants and mitochondria. The writing is a little stilted, which I want to blame on a sort of sloppy translation (though I don't know for sure if that's the case). Still, it's an interesting idea and I enjoyed it.
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Post by Sq on Apr 28, 2010 13:49:20 GMT -5
I've recently finished Cat's Cradle and Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close. I enjoyed both a lot. ^_^ Cat's Cradle was crazy good, and I've decided to read more Vonnegut. Borrowed The Sirens of Titan from my boyfirend, and started that yesterday morning.
Right now I'm juggling reading...four books. Why can't I just finish one at a time? Curse my attention span. XD
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Post by M is for Morphine on Apr 28, 2010 14:42:30 GMT -5
Wow, that's funny! I'm reading Cat's Cradle right now! Sadly that's where my Vonnegut supply runs out.
I haven't read Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, but Everything Is Illuminated (same author) was sooooo very good.
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Post by Jewels of Neopia on Apr 28, 2010 22:01:06 GMT -5
Wow, that's funny! I'm reading Cat's Cradle right now! Sadly that's where my Vonnegut supply runs out. I haven't read Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, but Everything Is Illuminated (same author) was sooooo very good. I just had to mention that, while I haven't read it, I watched Everything Is Illuminated the movie (with Elijah Wood!) and I enjoyed it quite a lot too! I'd say a book but everything I've read are textbooks for school ;_; Well, I did finish Material Cultures, 1740-1920: the Meanings and Pleasures of Collecting ... but that's not a book I'd recommend
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Post by Deleted on Apr 29, 2010 18:43:20 GMT -5
Forgive me my absence, guys. I've been incredibly busy with school and life in general, but that's no reason to have abandoned this for the past four months. So I thank you all, too, for not complaining and for bearing with me. (: I have, however, added everyone's new lists to the tally, and with great glee, I'm glad to finally add mine to it, too. 1: Bee Season by Myla Goldberg 2: Othello by William Shakespeare 3: The Art of Public Speaking by Stephen Lucas 4: Partners with God Teacher's Edition 5: A Child's Bible: Lessons from the Torah Teacher's Guide 6: Ivrit Alpan (Hebrew Primer) by Lois Rothblum, Bella Bergman, and Ora Band 7: Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll 8: Boy Meets Boy by David Levithan 9: The Tolkien Reader by J.R.R. Tolkien 10: The 2010-2011 Phi Theta Kappa Honors Study Guide, with related material 11: Computer Science I from the REA Essentials series 12: The Teacher Training Manual by Lisa Bob Howard 13: The Beth David Synagogue monthly bulletins and weekly newsletters 14: On the Elements of Math by Steven Strogatz 15: Through the Looking Glass and Alice's Adventures There by Lewis Carroll 16: University Physics and Schaum's Physics for Engineering and Science 17: Prelude to Programming by Steward Venit and Elizabeth Drake 18: The Writer's Handbook 2005 19: how's your romance? by Ethan Mordden 20: The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan 21: The Thief of Always by Clive Barker 22: Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen 23: An Underground Life by Gad Beck 24: The Sea of Monsters by Rick Riordan 25: Ghoul Catchers #1: The Creeping Danger by Vivian Larue 26: The Grey Faerie Chronicles #1: Nomi's Quest by Vivian Larue 27: Prince Caspian by C. S. Lewis 28: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader by C. S. Lewis 29: 30: "Bee Season" by Myla Goldberg is an exceptional book. It's witty and unusual in absolutely every way, but the way it follows the atypical family of young Eliza Nauman, an overnight spelling bee champion interested in studying the Kabbalah--Jewish mysticism--and the strange events that follow will leave you twisting your head at the hilarity and simultaneous seriousness which imbues the entirety of story. As for Othello, I had never read Shakespeare before, and when I was assigned to read it for my English class, I thought it was a good place to start. I was baffled by his language at first, but by the time I reached the tragic end, I was hooked. Mostly, this was due to my professor, who was absolutely excellent in inspiring me to read Shakespeare and making me interested in all the reasons why I should, but nonetheless, classic literature is always amazing.
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Post by Rikku on Apr 30, 2010 0:08:32 GMT -5
Ooh, Othello! ^__^ I forgot to add that one. *adds to list* I read it over the holidays, for Drama. I happened to buy a lovely $10 hardcover of The Book Thief while I was there, and I read the first page or two of The Book Thief, then decided, Okay, Rikku, if you read this you'll never put it down again, just read it as a reward for after you've finished Othello, which I did. There's something nice about snuggling up with a good Shakespeare tragedy for a few hours. <3 I so adore his words. Though sometimes he's a little more cumbersome than he needs to be.
And The Book Thief was glorious as well. =D The description was beautiful. So yeah, if any of you were considering readin' either of those, I recommend 'em.
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Post by Deleted on May 6, 2010 0:20:16 GMT -5
I bought the Book Thief for my brother last Hanukkah. He hasn't read it yet, but I can't wait until he does so I can borrow it!
Right now I'm reading Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. It's absolutely delightful. I love Charles Dodgson.
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Post by Sq on May 6, 2010 11:02:04 GMT -5
I finished Into the Wild and Tuesdays with Morrie the other day... both were good quick reads. Tuesdays is a book I think everyone should read sometime in their life, especially considering how short it is. Now I'm struggling through The Fountainhead again. I swear, it will take me five years to finish that book.
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Post by Kina, Grovyle Fangirl on May 6, 2010 17:28:18 GMT -5
I finished Into the Wild and Tuesdays with Morrie the other day... both were good quick reads. Tuesdays is a book I think everyone should read sometime in their life, especially considering how short it is. Now I'm struggling through The Fountainhead again. I swear, it will take me five years to finish that book. Into the Wild is amazing. =3 You should read the rest of the series. xD
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Post by Deleted on May 16, 2010 1:44:30 GMT -5
Twenty-percent! That means I'm one-fifth there, which means I have some minimal chance left of completing the challenge this year! I may be able to earn my badge again, so let's keep our fingers crossed!
Most of my books this update are of no special consequence, and all things considered rather boring, so feel free to just skip this post entirely. xD In any case, I'll take the time to ramble on for the sake of feeling like I've actually read anything substantial this year. ><
3: The Art of Public Speaking by Stephen Lucas
This was the textbook for my public speaking class this semester, and of all my textbooks since I started school, this was by far the easiest to read of all of them. Which is a good thing, since I had a horrible teacher and ninety percent of what I learned in this class (which I got an A in ^_^) was from this book, not her lectures (the other ten percent was various things I learned in my classmates' speeches, lol). If you ever think you might need to speak in public, this is a good book to grab used someplace. Highly recommended.
4: Partners with God Teacher's Edition
This was the guide book for the textbook Partners with God, which I used in my Hebrew school's third grade class this year. Of course, I read this and the actual text, but considering the grade level, I figured I'd be fair and count them both together as one book. In any case, it was nice to revisit these concepts after so many years. Sometimes, you get so complacent, so mundane, in beliefs, that you just need to get back to a third-grade understanding of things to really reassess where you stand now. It was a nice escape from the the deep, problem-riddled philosophies of twenty-year-olds. I appreciated that.
5: A Child's Bible: Lessons from the Torah Teacher's Guide
Ditto of the above, with appropriate changes.
6: Ivrit Alpan (Hebrew Primer) by Lois Rothblum, Bella Bergman, and Ora Band
This was a Hebrew Primer I borrowed from a fellow teacher at the religious school who also teaches Hebrew at a local high school. A lot of the words therein I already knew, but it was nice to be able to work with this book and actually feel I've learned some Hebrew, which is saying something of my other Hebrew texts, which are so large I've yet to get through, and since I've not yet completed, have not yet given me the satisfaction of feeling I've completed a course. It's all in my head, I know, but the mental significance is mandated to truly feel accomplished. In any case, if you ever want to learn Hebrew, this is a good place to start. Very simple and straightforward, more focused on learning to speak as opposed to learning the actual language (meaning it emphasizes vocabulary over things like the names of the letters, for example), but overall a great text. Also highly recommended.
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