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| What are you reading? | |
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| Topic Started: Apr 20 2010, 06:02:51 PM (1,568 Views) | |
| Lisa66 | Jun 10 2010, 10:54:33 PM Post #41 |
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True Blue Mate
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Lionel Shriver is amazing. I recently read The Post Birthday World and We Need to Talk About Kevin. Eagerly awaiting So Much for That from the library. She was interviewed about it recently on ABC - podcast available here: http://www.abc.net.au/local/stories/2010/05/18/2902715.htm (ITA about being thankful to have Aus Medicare!!)  Lisa |
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| KimInMellie | Jun 11 2010, 10:25:04 AM Post #42 |
True Blue Mate
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I heard that interview, Lisa, and I saw Shriver on Q&A as well. Interesting woman. I listened to We Need to Talk About Kevin on BBC7. It was fascinating. I'll definitely be checking out her other books. |
 Go that way really, really fast. If something gets in your way, turn. -- Charles De Mar | |
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| phoenixgs | Jun 26 2010, 08:45:33 AM Post #43 |
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Anklebiter
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One of the best books i have read this year is Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. I read it in two days, i couldn't put it down. Its a must read, if you love fiction like i do. Here is a link to the book online. You can read the first few pages to see if you like it. http://software.libredigital.com/bookrdr/dp-live/BookBrowse.html?a=YUnEsA1MHiuqOFXoog3w1KTeQpPTCc5lRpgnFQnHrkEWSuNtOFwCPSNfYLQkDljLtuHf6x763Y5XF9i3r1792%2FgH36rbt0PtTYxAwZXGCeI7TVOtxvsdUMQX0YrFB0VZ&z=sch |
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| SanDiablo | Jun 26 2010, 09:18:18 AM Post #44 |
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True Blue Mate
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A list of titles and authors that you are reading, accompanied by the informative "I liked it." doesn't provide much guidance when it comes to making a new selection. Could y'all maybe post a short synapse of what the book is about as well as WHY you liked or disliked it. HHOW a book touches you is far more interesting than your subjective assessment of it as a whole. That said, I am reading the PCR Handbook, an exhaustive summary of current technologies for studying gene expression. I don't recomment it. |
| "I'll try anything twice." | |
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| shylady | Jun 26 2010, 10:09:37 AM Post #45 |
oldYank
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oooo Audra, I read that, and I LOVED it!  
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"I could’ve turned a different corner, I could’ve gone another place... " ku,'09 | |
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| Albie's Girl | Jun 26 2010, 12:18:44 PM Post #46 |
Piker
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I just started The Light Ages by Ian R. MacLeod: http://www.amazon.com/Light-Ages-Ian-R-MacLeod/dp/0441011497 Sort of an alternate-history / fantasy novel. I'm only a couple of chapters in, but so far so good!  For those who enjoy books about Australia, here are a couple from my bookshelf: The Heart of the Continent by Nancy Cato (fiction): A nurse in the outback during WWI has a daughter who grows up to fly for the Royal Flying Doctor Service during its early years. Provides some vivid glimpses of life in the outback. http://www.amazon.com/Heart-Continent-Nancy-Cato/dp/0312029276 One for the Road by Tony Horwitz (nonfiction): Tony shares events from his hitchhiking trip across Australia. Hilarious and also very moving in parts. http://www.amazon.com/One-Road-Revised-Tony-Horwitz/dp/0375706135 Enjoy |
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| bdmerriam | Jun 26 2010, 02:37:51 PM Post #47 |
True Blue Mate
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I just finished reading Journal which is the diary of Helene Berr. Helene was a young Jewish woman in occupied Paris. She was a student at the Sorbonne studying English literature. Her diary describes the ever-tightening restrictions the Jews in France were enduring under Nazi power and the Vichy regime. Many of us have read the Diary of Anne Frank, but Helene Berr's diary provides a more adult perspective of the Holocaust and the French Resistance. There are two historical sections in the back of the book and if your European history is as rusty as mine I would recommend reading the section called "France and the Jews" before reading the diary section. I wish I had read the historical section first because I would have understood more of the political situations Helene alluded to in her diary (I went back and reread some sections). Quite a moving book and I strongly recommend it. On Monday we hit the road for two months and I've got a stack of books to read along the way. Will let you know if there are any winners in the stack when I get home! |
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Bethann Life's an adventure . . . live it! | |
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| shylady | Aug 11 2010, 09:51:09 PM Post #48 |
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oldYank
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 Wow, thanks, y'all, So Much for That was an excellent read! (maxed-out my US insurance, and THOROUGHLY thankful for Medicare in Oz!  ) t'other Lisa |
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"I could’ve turned a different corner, I could’ve gone another place... " ku,'09 | |
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| mamkai | Aug 17 2010, 01:11:34 PM Post #49 |
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True Blue Mate
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I'm finding many fun threads today... I guess I need to look around a bit more. I am just finishing Unaccustomed Earth by Jhumpa Lahiri and have enjoyed it. It is a collection of short stories written by a woman who was born in London of Bengali parents and grew up in Rhode Island. The stories mostly center around Bengali immigrants to the US (Boston & northeast) and focuses much on their lives and loss -- death, break-ups, alcholism, etc. It is a bit depressing, which I tend to avoid, but I can't put it down. The accounts are touching and extremely real and I've been thinking much about my move over here to AU as I read. How was that San Diablo?? I am TERRIBLE at marketing books, but I promise this one is good, lol. I also have A Shorter History of Australia sitting on my nightstand (oh wait, my FLOOR) but am interested in a substitute as AmbroseChicks says there are better ones out there. I just finished... The Diving Bell and the Butterfly by Jean Dominique Bauby. This is written by a French man who is suffering from locked-in syndrome and he dictates the book by blinking. Every. Last. Letter. That alone piqued my interest and it was an interesting quick read that really starts you thinking about what life would be about if you could do nothing but observe. Eva Luna by Isabel Allende. I have brought home several Allende books over the years and never finished one until now. I was a bit disappointed what with my 10 year goal to finish one of her books . It was a good quality book, but I just wasn't as sucked in like I had hoped. Maybe one of her others???Off to request more books, but not online because I am protesting the fees for online requests  |
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| AmbroseChick | Aug 19 2010, 11:30:35 PM Post #50 |
True Blue Mate
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I have re-discovered a web site that I used to be very active in... I'm not sure if there's an active Bookcrossing community in Australia but I thought I'd update my profile, release some books into the wild and see what happens! http://www.bookcrossing.com/ |
| Check it out! Facebook page: Americans Living in Queensland | |
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| AmbroseChick | Aug 24 2010, 05:18:56 PM Post #51 |
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True Blue Mate
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In the middle of "The Secret River" by Kate Grenville - she's an Australian author. Excellent read so far - very interesting as it chronicles one convict's journey to Australia. |
| Check it out! Facebook page: Americans Living in Queensland | |
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| shylady | Aug 28 2010, 01:15:07 PM Post #52 |
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oldYank
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Outback Heart, (non-fiction) by Joanne van Os. She is the ex-wife of Rod Ansell, the real-life guy who inspired the story of Crocodile Dundee, lost in the NT for 2 months in 1977, and star of the book and documentary To Fight the Wild. A great personal account of life in the Outback, and living with a crazy dude who died in a shoot-out.
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"I could’ve turned a different corner, I could’ve gone another place... " ku,'09 | |
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| Bindie | Aug 29 2010, 07:05:28 PM Post #53 |
True Blue Mate
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Since I've finished the course I was taking, I'm reading FLUFF. FLUFF and MORE FLUFF. Stuff I"m too embarassed to admit. BUT I LOVE IT. Fluff. |
 The future is no place/to place your better days, DMB Canberra, ACT since 2004 | |
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| shylady | Aug 29 2010, 07:57:56 PM Post #54 |
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oldYank
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Fluff is good! I inherited a boxfull of fluff and "chick-lit" when Rhianna moved back to Houston, and it's great for mindless escape.
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"I could’ve turned a different corner, I could’ve gone another place... " ku,'09 | |
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| (provocateur) | Aug 29 2010, 08:50:17 PM Post #55 |
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I'm just finishing "Blood Meridian" by Cormac McCarthy. Prior to that "The Road", "The Beautiful Cigar Girl", "Blood's A Rover" (last in a trilogy by James Ellroy). I have Vanity Fair at the ready. Thackeray's brilliant and hysterically funny in an absurdist way. Kubrick put his "Barry Lyndon" to the screen. Great film. Edited by (provocateur), Aug 29 2010, 09:17:27 PM.
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| AmbroseChick | Aug 29 2010, 08:54:57 PM Post #56 |
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True Blue Mate
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What did you think of Blood Meridian? |
| Check it out! Facebook page: Americans Living in Queensland | |
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| (provocateur) | Aug 29 2010, 09:16:56 PM Post #57 |
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It's extremely violent to the point where it dulls you to violence. It's open to interpretation in terms of the overall meaning of the text - the Judge is a character lifted straight out of Conrad or Nietzsche. It's a beautifully written book about some very ugly subjects. I've heard the review that McCarthy is a genius - and probably a little bit insane. It didn't get great acclaim when it initially came out, but now it's considered one of the best American books in the last 25 years. |
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