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| Author | Topic: Books |
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 PA Fan
Registered User
Registered:
11/6/2003 | posted: 8/4/2005 at 8:45:01 PM ET
Like Jenn, I also read "Assassination Vacation" by Sarah Vowell. Loved it. She references Stephen Sondheim's Assassins. Last week I finished "1776" by David McCullough which was very enjoyable. Now reading two books .... "Dark Voyage" by Alan Furst -- an espionage thriller set in WWII and "Freedom Rising: Washington During the Civil War" by Ernest Furguson.
| jmslsu01
Registered User
Registered:
6/9/2003
From:
northern VA | posted: 6/11/2006 at 8:39:00 AM ET
Time to revive this thread! What's on your plate this summer?
I recently finished Anderson Cooper's Dispatches From the Edges. Very engrossing and engaging, yet difficult (emotionally) to read at times.
I have The Vanishing Point (historical novel set in colonial Maryland) by Mary Sharratt and Triangle (basis is the Triangle factory tragedy,but not a historical fiction novel of the trsgedy per se) by Katharine Weber up next. Both writers are regulars at Readerville (I'm CallMeJenn over there), and I've been anticipating these novels for months.
The Vanishing Point
Triangle
If you haven't read anything by these two authors, you are missing out on some fine fiction.
Jenn
|  Jean
Registered User
Registered:
6/7/2003 | posted: 6/11/2006 at 9:34:15 AM ET
fiction--I'm too embarrased to admit to reading it, but at least I have the excuse that a friend gave it to me. Let's just say romance-suspense-one of the world's most popular authors. 
non-fiction--I plan on getting something from the library about the Plains Indians, also about Lewis and Clark. I will also follow my custom of reading, some just travelogue/sightseeing, some history, for my next trip.
Jenn, I may try that book you mentioned, Vanishing Point.
| Karen
Registered User
Registered:
5/3/2002 | posted: 6/11/2006 at 1:18:46 PM ET
For some reason, as I get older my interest in fiction seems to be waning almost to the point of nonexistence. I'm not sure why exactly. I used to read dozens of novels a year and now I'm lucky if I read two or three new ones. On the rare occasions when I pick one up, I usually seem to lose interest and stop reading after a few chapters. I still reread old favorites though.
I did read a couple in the last few months that I actually enjoyed and was able to finish--Cooking With Fernet Branca by James Hamilton-Paterson (very, very funny) and The House Of Paper by Carlos Maria Dominguez. House of Paper is so short it's almost a novella (maybe that's partly why I was able to finish it).
I still read a fair amount of nonfiction but less than before and I've noticed that I tend to skim much more than I used to. The obvious reason: the internet. I spend (waste?) so much time on it that I don't have much left to read books. Also I think my attention span is being slowly destroyed. Pathetic really.
Right now I'm reading the Italian writer, Aldo Buzzi. The Perfect Egg, Journey To The Land Of The Flies, A Weakness For Almost Everything. Short(there's that word again!), idiosyncratic literary essays that usually start with food or travel but go off on all kinds of tangents. I highly recommend him.
| PA Fan
Registered User
Registered:
11/6/2003 | posted: 6/11/2006 at 1:28:33 PM ET
I just finished "The Defining Moment" by Jonathan Alter. It's an account of Franklin D. Roosevelt's first 100 days in office. My "home" book that I'm starting is a new bio of William Jennings Bryan, "A Godly Hero" by Michael Kazim and the book I'm now carrying around in my work pouch is Sarah Vowell's "The Party Cloudy Patriot" which is a collection of amusing stories about places the author has visited.
As the saying goes .... So many books ... Too little time! 
| Karen
Registered User
Registered:
5/3/2002 | posted: 6/11/2006 at 1:35:20 PM ET
Here's hoping this post will allow the previous one to appear. I know the threads are supposed to be unlimited in length but somehow it doesn't always work that way.
| jmslsu01
Registered User
Registered:
6/9/2003
From:
northern VA | posted: 6/11/2006 at 3:42:36 PM ET
quote:
The obvious reason: the internet. I spend (waste?) so much time on it that I don't have much left to read books. Also I think my attention span is being slowly destroyed. Pathetic really.
You're not the only one-this has been discussed on Readerville several times, and people there are more frequent readers than the average population. I think there was a study not too long ago (a year, perhaps) showing that more people said that they would rather use their computer than watch television.
The majority of my reading is not adult fiction. I read children's and YA novels (and nonfiction) for my job, of course, and I read more adult nonfiction than adult fiction. The exception is literary historical fiction (Sarah Dunant, Philippa Gregory, Mary Sharrat, etc)-that's my main genre. I'm very picky about what adult fiction I read because I have to keep up with children's and YA literature as much as I can. Most of the adult fiction I read is because someone else on RV read it and recommended it.
Since I will no longer do adult readers' advisory and reference, this will change even more so.
Jenn
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