What are you reading now?

[GolightlyGrrl]

I just started reading Susan Jacoby's "The Great Agnostic: Robert Ingersoll and American Freethought." I saw Bill Moyers' (my favorite journalist) interview Ms. Jacoby about this book and I got very intrigued. So far I'm liking the book.

[EyeQueue]

I just finished Primo Levi's Survival in Auschwitz, which is really, really good, but heart-wrenching to read. I was right in the middle of reading this when my 14-year-old daughter was laughing at a Hitler meme that was going around on Facebook, which really pissed me off. I sat her down and made her watch The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, so she'd see just how unfunny Hitler really was.

They haven't really covered the Holocaust (or other instances of genocide, like Cambodia or Rwanda or Nanking) in school, so to her WWII is almost as remote in time as the Civil War is to people of my generation (which would be Gen X), so I think it's good for kids her age to know exactly what has gone down to make sure nothing like that happens again. Some of the hyped-up rhetoric surrounding immigration from Mexico and the scapegoating that's going on makes me -really- nervous.

Hopefully, I can get her to read the Levi book as a summer project, but it may be a bit too advanced for her (there's a lot of abstract commentary about survival and how humans treat each other).

After finishing that, I needed something light, so I just recently started an indie book called

Extinction Point

by an author named Paul Jones. It's a post-apocalyptic story that so far reads like a female protagonist version of I Am Legend (and was available free via the Kindle lending library). So far, it's good--not great literature, but a serviceable piece for its genre.

[ETA more content]

[louisa05]

EyeQueue--Elie Wiesel's Night might be more accessible for your daughter than Levi. Also perhaps look for We Are Witnesses: Five Diaries of Teenagers Who Died in the Holocaust by Jacob Boas. I Never Saw Another Butterfly edited by Hannah Volavkova is a collection of poems and drawings by children in the Terezin ghetto that a lot of teens relate to very well also. Lois Lowry's Number the Stars is perhaps a bit below her level but is a well written novel. The Devil's Arithmetic, on the other hand, not so much.

(I worked in Holocaust education for a little while)

[EyeQueue]

EyeQueue--Elie Wiesel's Night might be more accessible for your daughter than Levi. Also perhaps look for We Are Witnesses: Five Diaries of Teenagers Who Died in the Holocaust by Jacob Boas. I Never Saw Another Butterfly edited by Hannah Volavkova is a collection of poems and drawings by children in the Terezin ghetto that a lot of teens relate to very well also. Lois Lowry's Number the Stars is perhaps a bit below her level but is a well written novel. The Devil's Arithmetic, on the other hand, not so much.

(I worked in Holocaust education for a little while)

Thanks, Louisa! I've read the Wiesel book, along with the two Lowry ones, but it's been awhile so they weren't on my radar. Thanks for the suggestions! I'll also look for the Boas and Volavkova books, which are new to me. This is very helpful.

[France Nolan]

Thanks, Louisa! I've read the Wiesel book, along with the two Lowry ones, but it's been awhile so they weren't on my radar. Thanks for the suggestions! I'll also look for the Boas and Volavkova books, which are new to me. This is very helpful.

I highly recommend The Book Thief.

I'm currently reading The Orphan Master's Son by Adam Johson. Loving it so far.

[Mary C Doates]

Just finished re-reading Daughters and Rebels (or, originally, Hons and Rebels) by Jessica Mitford. She may have exaggerated her childhood a bit, but it's still entertaining. Also just finished the new Carl Hiaasen book, Bad Monkey, which was...OK. Liked his earlier books better though.

Next up: The Yonahlossee Riding Camp for Girls, by Anton DiSclafani.

[lilith]

Just finished re-reading Daughters and Rebels (or, originally, Hons and Rebels) by Jessica Mitford. She may have exaggerated her childhood a bit, but it's still entertaining. Also just finished the new Carl Hiaasen book, Bad Monkey, which was...OK. Liked his earlier books better though.

Next up: The Yonahlossee Riding Camp for Girls, by Anton DiSclafani.

When did they change the title? I love the original title.

[terranova]

Just finished "The City" by Stella Gemmell, a great fantasy read. Now onto "The Son" by Philipp Mayer which has started off pretty violent but I've been assured it gets better.

[daisyfern]

Just finished re-reading Daughters and Rebels (or, originally, Hons and Rebels) by Jessica Mitford. She may have exaggerated her childhood a bit, but it's still entertaining. Also just finished the new Carl Hiaasen book, Bad Monkey, which was...OK. Liked his earlier books better though.

Next up: The Yonahlossee Riding Camp for Girls, by Anton DiSclafani.

I just finished The Yonahlossee Riding Camp for Girls. Wasn't at all what I expected.

[keen23]

I just finished Family Pictures by Jane Green, and it was much better than the last 3 or 4 she had written. Still a beach read, and predictable, but much better (I don't know why I stick with authors like her, but I do).

Next up is The Long War by Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter. Its the second book in a planned trilogy, where people have figured out how to "step" into different dimensions of earth. People aren't alone in these dimensions, and I think that this book is about those interactions.

I'm also working on Nancy Atherton's Aunt Dimity's mysteries. They're rarely over 225 pages, so they're just easy books between other books.

[JesusFightClub]

I just finished Primo Levi's Survival in Auschwitz, which is really, really good, but heart-wrenching to read. I was right in the middle of reading this when my 14-year-old daughter was laughing at a Hitler meme that was going around on Facebook, which really pissed me off. I sat her down and made her watch The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, so she'd see just how unfunny Hitler really was.

They haven't really covered the Holocaust (or other instances of genocide, like Cambodia or Rwanda or Nanking) in school, so to her WWII is almost as remote in time as the Civil War is to people of my generation (which would be Gen X), so I think it's good for kids her age to know exactly what has gone down to make sure nothing like that happens again. Some of the hyped-up rhetoric surrounding immigration from Mexico and the scapegoating that's going on makes me -really- nervous.

Hopefully, I can get her to read the Levi book as a summer project, but it may be a bit too advanced for her (there's a lot of abstract commentary about survival and how humans treat each other).

After finishing that, I needed something light, so I just recently started an indie book called

by an author named Paul Jones. It's a post-apocalyptic story that so far reads like a female protagonist version of I Am Legend (and was available free via the Kindle lending library). So far, it's good--not great literature, but a serviceable piece for its genre.

[ETA more content]

EyeQueue, thanks for the recommendation! I will so look for that!

I disagree a wee bit with your thoughts about Hitler. I don't know what the meme was, but I think laughing at fash is actually an effective tool against them. I understand that wasn't what your daughter meant, but giving her a respect for them may be a bit of an error.

For example, when people face off against fascists they often laugh them and mock them. The fascist mental image is that they (balding, beer-bellied, ex-casual, so drunk that hatred is the only thing that's keeping them standing up) are actually some kind of noble, brave army standing against the multiracial, multicultural rabble. Therefore, burst their balloon.

Tell them they ain't. Laugh at their pretensions. Point out they're pissed (drunk). If they pretend to aim guns at you, point out they're too pissed to aim straight.

We sing "Master race? You're having a laugh!" etc. They HATE it. Laughter is what upsets fascists most.

[RachelB]

I've just started two separate books with the same title-- The Psychology of Humor. (One is a very accessible overview by Rod Martin, the other an annotated bibliography.) Next in the stack: Freud's Jokes and their Relation to the Unconscious, since Freud is still one of the best-known proponents of one particular model of jokes and humor, then anthropologist Alexander Kozintsev's The Mirror of Laughter.

I'm designing a composition course (topic: comedy) that I'll teach in the fall, and I'm trying to figure out both what scholarly essays I want to schedule on the syllabus and whether there are any resources-- like the annotated bibliography-- that I should put on library reserve for when students are writing their research papers later in the term.

[AnywhereButHere]

I just read that Ron Howard is making a movie of this. I love his movies; I bet he'll do a great job with it.

http://insidemovies.ew.com/2013/06/19/c ... y-bullock/

I loved this book! I got completely drawn in to the story from the start and couldn't put it down. It will be interesting to see a movie version.

[EyeQueue]

EyeQueue, thanks for the recommendation! I will so look for that!

I disagree a wee bit with your thoughts about Hitler. I don't know what the meme was, but I think laughing at fash is actually an effective tool against them. I understand that wasn't what your daughter meant, but giving her a respect for them may be a bit of an error.

For example, when people face off against fascists they often laugh them and mock them. The fascist mental image is that they (balding, beer-bellied, ex-casual, so drunk that hatred is the only thing that's keeping them standing up) are actually some kind of noble, brave army standing against the multiracial, multicultural rabble. Therefore, burst their balloon.

Tell them they ain't. Laugh at their pretensions. Point out they're pissed (drunk). If they pretend to aim guns at you, point out they're too pissed to aim straight.

We sing "Master race? You're having a laugh!" etc. They HATE it. Laughter is what upsets fascists most.

Thanks for this perspective, JFC! This totally makes sense. I get the humor thing, and it is a great tool for pointing out how utterly idiotic these types are. My concern with the daughter doing it was I felt she was uncritically laughing at something that she didn't yet have a context for--if that makes sense.

That's so funny that these fascist types have the same balding, beer bellied build whether there' here in the US or the UK! :lol: :lol:

As for the book recommendation: Extinction Point is not great literature by any stretch of the imagination, but it's a good read so far (I'm almost finished with it), and for an indie author it seems one of the better ones I've read. One thing I didn't know, though, is it's part of a trilogy, and the first two parts are already out, but the third is on its way.

[hagia sophia]

Just finished Son by Lois Lowry. I had read The Giver about 5 years ago. I didn't read the two intervening books but had heard a reviewer state that it stands on it' own. However, now I want to go back and read them also.

I love me a good distopian novel. Doesn't even matter that it's YA, it's so good.

Supposedly The Giver is being made into a movie by Jeff Bridges, staring Jeff Bridges. I can see him as that character.

[EyeQueue]

Just finished Son by Lois Lowry. I had read The Giver about 5 years ago. I didn't read the two intervening books but had heard a reviewer state that it stands on it' own. However, now I want to go back and read them also.

I love me a good distopian novel. Doesn't even matter that it's YA, it's so good.

Supposedly The Giver is being made into a movie by Jeff Bridges, staring Jeff Bridges. I can see him as that character.

Speaking of dystopian: I just finished Divergent and am getting ready to start on Insurgent. The first one was pretty good, if slightly derivative of The Hunger Games. I think the movie is coming out later this year or next year.

[AtroposHeart]

Just finished Son by Lois Lowry. I had read The Giver about 5 years ago. I didn't read the two intervening books but had heard a reviewer state that it stands on it' own. However, now I want to go back and read them also.

I love me a good distopian novel. Doesn't even matter that it's YA, it's so good.

Supposedly The Giver is being made into a movie by Jeff Bridges, staring Jeff Bridges. I can see him as that character.

I am curious to how the movie would handle the ending, knowing Hollywood probably change it completely. You don't want to leave it open to the possibly a toddler died in the snow, might bring the audience down

[hagia sophia]

I hear you, but I'm not sure. I was very excited waiting for The Golden Compass, then the movie ending was very frustrating. I think that's why no sequels were made. If they had the balls to kill off Roger like the book and show Asriel using that power to walk off into the next world (followed by Lyra,) I think the sequel would have been more likely.

Or maybe not. Maybe that would have only been satisfying to me as it would have been consistent with the book.

Hmm.

[crazyforkate]

Just finished Son by Lois Lowry. I had read The Giver about 5 years ago. I didn't read the two intervening books but had heard a reviewer state that it stands on it' own. However, now I want to go back and read them also.

I love me a good distopian novel. Doesn't even matter that it's YA, it's so good.

Supposedly The Giver is being made into a movie by Jeff Bridges, staring Jeff Bridges. I can see him as that character.

Just read the full series this past spring, and would rank them like this:

1. Giver

2. Gathering Blue

3. Son

4. Messenger

They're all worth a look, though, so I would definitely recommend reading them all. It goes by pretty fast. Love Lois Lowry's work.

[AtroposHeart]

I am reading the Eon duology. It's intersting to read non-Western based fantasy and the story is very well told.

I will rec it to anyone who is a fan of fantasy and female warriors.

[AtroposHeart]

I'm reading Mercedes Lackey's the Last Herald Mage trilogy now.

It's intersting since it involves one of the first gay protagonists of the fantasy genre. However, I know like most early gay fiction it ends in tradegy, or it may not. I've tried not to spoil myself too much with this series.

[keen23]

I'm reading Mercedes Lackey's the Last Herald Mage trilogy now.

It's intersting since it involves one of the first gay protagonists of the fantasy genre. However, I know like most early gay fiction it ends in tradegy, or it may not. I've tried not to spoil myself too much with this series.

I loved Mercedes Lackey's 500 Kingdoms series. Re-worked familiar fairy tales. Delightful as stand alone books.

[JesusFightClub]

Dystopian fans ;)

We by Yevgeny Zamyatin.

[crazyforkate]

Just finished Moloka'i by Alan Brennert. A fascinating portrayal of a young girl taken from her family to live in a leper colony in 1890's Hawaii, and her life thereafter. Quite well-written.

[Stephanie66]

I'm reading a book that I heard about on a thread here: "The Child Catchers". Fascinating.