# What are you reading?



## tenman (Aug 1, 2010)

I'll start: right now I'm reading 'Exploring the World of Lucid Dreaming' (a semi-credible treatment), 'Same-Sex Unions in Pre-Modern Europe' (a scholarly work), and 'Son of Man' (1971 scifi). Also Orchids and Orchid Digest.


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## Bolero (Aug 1, 2010)

I am reading a magnificent book called Wolf Hall by Hillary Mantel.

It won the Man Booker Prize in 2009 and I am really enjoying the writing style, it's a joy to read.


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## Hera (Aug 1, 2010)

The Girl Who Played With Fire, by Stieg Larsson. I read the Girl With the Dragon Tattoo last year and really enjoyed it, and so far this one has been equally as good.


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## Shiva (Aug 1, 2010)

Mostly scientific stuff. Anything on astronomy and astrophysics, archeology and anything else ending in ''gy''. Mostly on my computer or my book reader. I also love detective, spy and mystery stories. And of course orchids. Much less book reading as I used to as my eyes tire quickly reading books. At least I can make letters a bit bigger on screen. I admire Dan Brown for his talent in tying all sorts of things together to make a story. What a great story teller he is!


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## Sirius (Aug 1, 2010)

Hera said:


> The Girl Who Played With Fire, by Stieg Larsson. I read the Girl With the Dragon Tattoo last year and really enjoyed it, and so far this one has been equally as good.



I am just finishing The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets Nest.


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## TADD (Aug 1, 2010)

World War Z - Max Brooks


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## PaphMadMan (Aug 1, 2010)

Well...

Recently finished: 'The Lost City of Z - A Tale of Deadly Obsession in the Amazon' by David Graham. A mix of biography, autobiography, anthropology and archaeology.

Just into: 'Winter's Heart' Book 9 of The Wheel of Time by Robert Jordan.

Next: 'Unscientific America: How Scientific Illiteracy Threatens Our Future' by Chris Mooney and Sheril Kirshenbaum.


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## KyushuCalanthe (Aug 1, 2010)

Not much of a novel reader these days (which is a shame). Recently read a slew of books on lucid dreaming/astral travel. Interesting, but far better to practice this than read about it! A related work recently finished was The Holographic Universe by Michael Talbot. Been poking around the Holy Bible too.


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## Lanmark (Aug 1, 2010)

I'm reading _Les Heures souterraines_ written by novelist Delphine de Vigan. This is a book written in French. I will try to explain its meaning as I understand it so far. I find this book has quite captivated my interest yet it feels disturbing to me as well. I've been reading only a few pages each night before I go to bed. I chose to savor this book in this manner, resisting the strong temptation to devour it all within one weekend.

This is a story about two individuals living out their lives within the dehumanizing impersonal rat race of big city life in Paris. Life is short and often cruel, rarely sweet. Conformity to the social norms of urban living can be destructive to the individual. Such changes may be so gradual that they go unnoticed or seem only subtle or somehow less than important. One day circumstances conspire such that this man and this woman meet. Will anything come of it? I have said enough.  oke:


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## Eric Muehlbauer (Aug 1, 2010)

Just started The Last Stand by Nathanial Philbrick. Just finished Last Night in Twisted River, by John Irving.


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## tenman (Aug 1, 2010)

PaphMadMan said:


> Well...
> 
> Recently finished: 'The Lost City of Z - A Tale of Deadly Obsession in the Amazon' by David Graham. A mix of biography, autobiography, anthropology and archaeology.
> 
> ...



So tell me how was The Lost City of Z? I've heard of it and wondered if I should read it.


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## PaphMadMan (Aug 1, 2010)

tenman said:


> So tell me how was The Lost City of Z? I've heard of it and wondered if I should read it.



The balance between the story of the obsessed English explorer, the actual history of the Amazon peoples, and the author's experiences researching it all seemed a bit awkward. It made for a reasonably compelling read but I would have liked more of the Amazon, less of the Englishman (who I just didn't like), and much less of the author.


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## jewel (Aug 1, 2010)

lately i have been reading the collective works of Edgar Allen Poe.


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## tenman (Aug 1, 2010)

jewel said:


> lately i have been reading the collective works of Edgar Allen Poe.



I LOVE Poe!!!


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## jewel (Aug 1, 2010)

me too! i got this book from Costco of all places as an early Christmas gift last year. Poe is timeless.


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## Eric Muehlbauer (Aug 2, 2010)

Lost City of Z is a fantastic book.


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## mormodes (Aug 2, 2010)

Eric Muehlbauer said:


> Lost City of Z is a fantastic book.


 I agree. 

Next non-fiction book I'm considering is 'The Lost Bicyclist' about a fellow who decides to ride his 'safety' bicycle around the world. Of course he disappears somewhere in Turkey. Set in the 1890s (iirc) Some of the cycling pictures look very interesting.

Usually I read mysteries and thrillers. I've been re-reading the Logan McCrea series set in Aberdeen by Stuart MacBride.


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## Clark (Aug 5, 2010)

August issue of Orchids.
The article on Phals.


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## nikv (Aug 5, 2010)

_The Lord of the Flies_ by William Golding. I hadn't read it since high school over thirty years ago. What an amazing difference it is to read the same book but with a whole lot of life experience behind me now. It's like I'm reading a different book.


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## Yoyo_Jo (Aug 5, 2010)

^ Yeah, interesting how our perspective changes over time, eh? I haven't read Lord of the Flies for years either... I could read it again for sure.

My current read is "Three Cups of Tea" by Greg Morntenson and David Oliver Relin. It's a good story (true) and not what I was expecting at all.

I'm also sort of reading "The Historian" by Elisabeth Kostova, but I hate blood and guts and I'm afraid she's going to launch into too many gory details about Vlad the Impaler and I keep putting the book down. What a wuss.


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## SlipperKing (Aug 6, 2010)

This thread and that's about it!


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## JeanLux (Aug 6, 2010)

SlipperKing said:


> This thread and that's about it!





Have been reading the 2 books of John s. Cooper very recently!! 'The 5th plane' and 'Zero'! Do you know those in the US? I read the german version, because I didn't find the 'original' in english!?!? Jean


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## jewel (Aug 6, 2010)

last night i started reading orchid fever for like the ten thousandth time, i love that book


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## Eric Muehlbauer (Aug 6, 2010)

When it comes to repeat books, I must have read Naked Lunch at least 6-7 times.


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## cnycharles (Aug 7, 2010)

I started to read the odyssey by homer on my computer but just got bogged down; not so interesting when not a book. otherwise, usually reading an odd mix between the bible and discover magazine and last week the august version of adirondack life magazine

oh, and silly posts by friends on facebook (why did I ever get talked into joining...)


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## cdub (Aug 12, 2010)

_The Lost Symbol_ by Dan Brown. I wish he would write books faster! I am itching for the next one!


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## Clark (Sep 11, 2010)

Digesting information on RAW format.


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## emydura (Sep 11, 2010)

Clark said:


> Digesting information on RAW format.



Something similar. Adobe Photoshop CS5 for Photographers (Martin Evening). The photographers bible for photoshop. Currently reading the excellent chapter on processing RAW files.

David


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## TyroneGenade (Sep 11, 2010)

The Shock Doctrine by Naomi Klein (very bias writing, totally one-sided, some really bad arguments but once one cuts through all the @#$! one cannot avoid the fact that she does have a point).

Also, my Bible, various assorted scientific papers and killifish journals. I just finished "Is Jesus and Evolutionist" by Mike Anderson.


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## PaphMadMan (Sep 11, 2010)

'The Years of Rice and Salt' by Kim Stanley Robinson. An alternate history that might have been if the Black Death had killed off 99% of the European population instead of just half.


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## Darin (Sep 11, 2010)

"Atlas Shrugged" by Ayn Rand here. Actually listening to it (unabriged) during my 200mile round trip daily commute to work.


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## ehanes7612 (Sep 11, 2010)

Hitler by Ian Kershaw....yeah I know...but my background is a Masters in Holocaust and Genocide studies....if you ever want to read a proper historical accounting (without the speculation that comes with so many of the Hitler biographies), Ian Kershaw's handling of the historical documents is considered the best.


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## Eric Muehlbauer (Sep 11, 2010)

Finished Four Fish by Paul Greenberg about 2 weeks ago, now I am almost finished with Packing for Mars, by Mary Roach.....an incredibly entertaining book.


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## mormodes (Oct 17, 2011)

bump


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## cnycharles (Oct 17, 2011)

'the swords of mars' - edgar rice burroughs


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## Yoyo_Jo (Oct 17, 2011)

"The Secret of Scent: Adventures in Perfume and the Science of Smell"
by Luca Turin.


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## jtrmd (Oct 17, 2011)

Black Tail


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## mormodes (Oct 17, 2011)

cnycharles said:


> 'the swords of mars' - edgar rice burroughs



Loved those. Also the series set on Venus where John Carter's nephew builds a rocket to travel to Mars to find his uncle, however he forgets to calculate the pull of the moon, and so spins over to Venus instead


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## mormodes (Oct 17, 2011)

Re-reading Lecarre's Smiley series. Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, Honourable Schoolboy, Smiley's People.


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## mormodes (Oct 17, 2011)

jtrmd said:


> Black Tail



With a bow?


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## cnycharles (Oct 17, 2011)

mormodes said:


> Loved those. Also the series set on Venus where John Carter's nephew builds a rocket to travel to Mars to find his uncle, however he forgets to calculate the pull of the moon, and so spins over to Venus instead



what were some book names from this series? I can download the e-books
edit - I didn't find any free copies like the barsoom series, just tarzan and mars


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## Mathias (Oct 17, 2011)

Metro 2033 by Dmitry Glukhovsky


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## Hera (Oct 17, 2011)

Band of Brothers, Stephen Ambrose. I love watching the end of the miniseries where they reveal who the men being interviewed are. I have a ton of respect for those men. Recently read Inside Hitler's Bunker by Joachim Fest. Wow, those were crazy times. Its a period in history that reads more fantastical than fiction. You couldn't make it up if you tried. I like the psychological study of why people do what they do.


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## jtrmd (Oct 17, 2011)

mormodes said:


> With a bow?



I like to mix it up a bit between the sisters and Hustler


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## JeanLux (Oct 18, 2011)

Just finished Hothouse Flower by Lucinda Riley!!! Jean


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## Roth (Oct 18, 2011)

TyroneGenade said:


> Also, my Bible, various assorted scientific papers and killifish journals. I just finished "Is Jesus and Evolutionist" by Mike Anderson.



You must read Maimonides then. I read pretty all that was translated, that's substantial, but you can choose one of his medical work, or the famous more accessible Guide for the perplexed. Fascinating work from the XIIth-XIIIth Century.

He does not speak anything about Jesus, being a Jewish Rabbi, but his way of thinking about the religion is highly interesting, and could be applied to Christianism as well and modern science. He was a medical medieval doctor as well, widely acclaimed including by the Muslims and many Christians for his philosophy.

( as an aside, I am not Jewish...)


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## nikv (Oct 18, 2011)

I'm currently rereading the Aubrey-Maturn novels by Patrick O'Brian. Right now I'm on _H.M.S. Surprise._


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## Eric Muehlbauer (Oct 18, 2011)

Demon Fish, by Juliet Eilperin...about the shark fishing industry.


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## mormodes (Oct 19, 2011)

cnycharles said:


> what were some book names from this series? I can download the e-books
> edit - I didn't find any free copies like the barsoom series, just tarzan and mars



There's a wikipedia entry for the series: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venus_series

Maybe they are for free, maybe @ Guttenberg?


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## cnycharles (Oct 19, 2011)

I checked a few gutenberg sites, but no sites had copies of this series. I wondered if maybe they weren't old enough but then again maybe because they aren't as well-known nobody had bothered to transcribe them yet?

actually I just found four of the five at project gutenberg australia; the fifth is still under copyright thanks!


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## Clark (Jan 26, 2012)

emydura said:


> Something similar. Adobe Photoshop CS5 for Photographers (Martin Evening). The photographers bible for photoshop. Currently reading the excellent chapter on processing RAW files.
> 
> David



Would you recommend to a friend? I have not photoshop'd much, just spot healing, for some dandruff-like particles. 

Right now-
Business and Legal Forms for Photographers by Tad Crawford


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## Shiva (Jan 26, 2012)

I read mostly science stuff from the electronic version of the magazine NewScientist. I'm interested in everything from space an cosmology to philosophy, environment, technology etc. Lots of interesting articles like the curent title: *The grand delusion: Why nothing is as it seems. *


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## Wendy (Jan 26, 2012)

I got a Kobo eReader for Christmas and am thoroughly enjoying it.

I will read most anything....I just love reading. Right now I am into golf books. My current book is _Golf Is Not a Game of Perfect _by Dr. Bob Rotella. Great book on the mental aspect of the game....for those of you who also play golf.


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## Eric Muehlbauer (Jan 26, 2012)

Reading The Wild Coast by John Gimlette, about the Guiana's...Guyana, Suriname, and French Guiana. Very interesting!


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## Heather (Jan 26, 2012)

Ferran by Coleman Andrews. And lots of cooking magazines and new book I got for Xmas. ..on my iPad.


Oh, and Steve's bio.


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## JeanLux (Jan 27, 2012)

Our man in Havana, Graham Greene!!!! Jean


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## Marc (Jan 27, 2012)

I'm currently reading the 2nd book in the series "A song of Fire and Ice" by George R. R. Martin. The books name is "A clash of Kings." I bought a boxed set containing the first 4 books so that's still more then 2000 pages to read till I've completed the box. 5th book is allready published and the 6th is written as we speak. 

I'm a big fantasy fan myself and I actually enjoy the low fantasy setting of this one. It's a change to the standard fantasy setting were the whole world is overrun with elfs, dwarfs, gnomes and faeries.


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## TyroneGenade (Jan 27, 2012)

Foucault's Pendulum by Umberto Eco. Its more funny than Name of the Rose and more enjoyable than The Mysterious Flame of Queen loana. I think, in the end, I will have enjoyed the Name of the Rose more.

The previous books I read: Bad Ideas?: An Arresting History of Our Inventions by Sir Robert Winston. It is incredibly well written for a "science" book.

Not sure whats next. I have several unread books on my bookshelf.


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## Eric Muehlbauer (Jan 27, 2012)

Loved both books. Foucault's Pendulum is more challenging and intellectual, Name of the Rose is simply so much more fun.


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## SlipperFan (Jan 28, 2012)

Just got Paphiopedilum Species, The Essential Guide by Oakeley & Braem, so I'm reading that. Sam Tsui is selling them at the Grand Rapids show this weekend.


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## cnycharles (Jan 28, 2012)

was reading the latest issue of the Native Orchid Conference journal at the laundromat, which has an article that I wrote in it


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## FlowerFaerie (Jan 29, 2012)

I've just started "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo". Previously, I was reading "Kolymsky Heights" (Lionel Davidson) which was essentially a thriller/spy type novel with a hint of scientific research thrown in for interest.


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## mormodes (Jan 29, 2012)

Read Zoe Sharp's first in the Charlie Fox series 'Killer Instinct' a plausible hard-as-nails female lead. 

Listened to 'Keeper of Lost Causes' by a Scandanavian author whose name I can't pronounce. The protagonist survives a police shoot-out however he becomes a morose embarrassment to have around the station, making all the other cops uneasy. Since he's a hero the Department can't fire the guy so his superiors think up a clever solution to the problem: they'll open Department Q a cold case division and put our hero in charge of it. They isolate him in the basement, give him a budget, a secretary and an unsolvable case to keep him out of their hair until he can retire in peace. They think that's the end of him. oops.

May have to break down and buy Michael Stanley's third Detective Kubu novel set in Botswana because it doesn't seem to be coming to Audible any time soon. Michael Stanley is a writing team of two guys who were in the parks department in Botswana, IIRC. One's Michael and the other's Stanley. Completely different from the First Ladies Detective Agency books although in the first book Detective Kubu does stop by a gas station that looks suspiciously like Speedy Motors. Kubu is the Botswanan name for Hippopotamus and is our overweight hero's nickname. These are police procedurals kinda in the same vein as Tony Hillerman's Jim Chee/Joe Leaphorn books and bring Botswana and the environs to life. Well, at least for me.

Absolutely horribly written are Mark Greason's Gray Man series of which I have only listened to one. Ex-military Seal Team 6 type becomes a lone wolf fixer for hire. The author writes cliche after cliche, changing the cliche just enough that you want to scream at him that changing up a cliche isn't evidence of good writing. It just grates. Nevertheless I'm going to listen to more in the series because the stories are exciting. And if you believe as I do that the story's the thing then you hold your nose at the writing and go with the story. Vince Flynn's first book (the one about the Congressman) was similarly horribly written. But it was self-published. Later he got a book contract and an editor and his writing improved. Flynn's books are filled with BS politics and happily Greason's are not. I think the Gray Man novels have been optioned. Lotsa bang-bang shoot 'em up.

Of the four books the Keeper of Lost causes is the best. The Michael Stanleys are second.


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## ohio-guy (Jan 29, 2012)

I picked up a couple books by Sue Hubbell, and have been reading them. She has a very relaxed expository style of writing, and I think she would be an interesting person to know. 
The first was a quick read called "Shrinking the Cat" and addresses the modern concern of genetic modification by examining how we as humans have already markedly modified the plants and animals we use before we ever knew about genes. She doesn't mention orchids, but talk about gene modification!)
Now I have also started "A Book of Bees" which is a very readable book that tells about her life as beekeeper and what the profession entails thru out the year.


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## cnycharles (Mar 18, 2012)

Rocket Men, about the apollo moon trip and things leading up to and after landing on the moon


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## Eric Muehlbauer (Mar 18, 2012)

Just started Death in the City of Light, by David King. Nonfiction, about a serial killer in Nazi occupied Paris.


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## Wendy (Mar 18, 2012)

Just finished the Chaos Walking Trilogy by Patrick Ness, and the Frankenstein Series by Dean Koontz. Currently reading the third book in The Dark Tower series but Stephen King.


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## Clark (Mar 20, 2012)

Just read that I am prohibited from entering National Geographic's Photo Contest.
New Jersey, Arizona, Vermont residents can just forget about it.
Quebec residents have an issue also, amongst a couple of other countries.


Next up-
Business Networking AND SEX
(not what you think)


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## cnycharles (Mar 20, 2012)

Clark said:


> Just read that I am prohibited from entering National Geographic's Photo Contest.
> New Jersey, Arizona, Vermont residents can just forget about it.
> Quebec residents have an issue also, amongst a couple of other countries.


well that stinks....



Wendy said:


> Currently reading the third book in The Dark Tower series but Stephen King.


stay away from those lobsters (or is that book two?)


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## Yoyo_Jo (Mar 21, 2012)

I just finished Stephen King's 11/22/63. I liked it; kind of thought provoking.


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## Wendy (Mar 23, 2012)

cnycharles said:


> well that stinks....
> 
> 
> stay away from those lobsters (or is that book two?)



The _Lobstrosities_ were in book two. I'm finished book three and well into book four now. LOVE, LOVE, LOVE Stephen King's stuff. :clap:

I'll be downloading the Hunger Games trilogy next....after I finish the Dark Tower series. Read the first HG book awhile back and enjoyed it.


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## cnycharles (Apr 8, 2012)

I just heard a synopsis about what hunger games is about, and wonders how stories about kids killing each other and laughing about it can be entertaining, and sell so much. It seems like it would just encourage kids (who have very little sense of 'future consequences of present actions') to think about hunting and killing other kids. We have enough school shootings now (no offense, wendy, these stories seem to be popular with many people)


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## TDT (Apr 8, 2012)

Just finished "Cutting For Stone" by Abraham Verghese. Beautiful story.
Now reading "Three Day Road" by Joseph Boyden.


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## TyroneGenade (Apr 9, 2012)

Just finished _Belief_ by Francis Collins. Its a collection of essays and extracts. Some are very good. The sermon by Martin Luther King was excellent. Mother Teresa's piece was beautiful and Anthony Flew's piece was quite profound but I suspect his point would be missed by those not looking for it. I have just started Koopowitz and Hasegawa's _Novelty Slipper Orchids_. So far so bad for my bank account... I have a new desire to acquire maudiae vinicolors!

Oo! I see there is a new Umberto Eco out: _The Prague Cemetery_. I really enjoyed _Foucault's Pendulum_.


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## Yoyo_Jo (Apr 9, 2012)

cnycharles said:


> I just heard a synopsis about what hunger games is about, and wonders how stories about kids killing each other and laughing about it can be entertaining, and sell so much. It seems like it would just encourage kids (who have very little sense of 'future consequences of present actions') to think about hunting and killing other kids. We have enough school shootings now (no offense, wendy, these stories seem to be popular with many people)



Oh man, I hope it's not that grim. I just bought the triology to read...


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## Wendy (Apr 9, 2012)

cnycharles said:


> I just heard a synopsis about what hunger games is about, and wonders how stories about kids killing each other and laughing about it can be entertaining, and sell so much. It seems like it would just encourage kids (who have very little sense of 'future consequences of present actions') to think about hunting and killing other kids. We have enough school shootings now (no offense, wendy, these stories seem to be popular with many people)



No offense taken. I have no idea why this is touted as a childrens' book. It is VERY violent. Being an adult however I find that I did enjoy it. There is no way that I would let my young child read it...or watch the movie though. Good thing my 'child' is 23. He went to see the movie and was disgusted by the adults who took their kids. It is way too much for young minds to comprehend.


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## mormodes (Apr 11, 2012)

Just started Craig Pittman's 'The Scent of Scandal, Greed, Betrayal and the World's Most Beautiful Orchid' about the Phrag kovachii afffair.

There are extensive appendices which I hope will filli in some of the blanks. For example he only mentions a former Selby Gardens executive who Meg Lowman replaced and mentions some orchid society newsletters without naming them by name... But generally the writing is decent and he moves the story along well enough. Personally I think Eric Hansen is a better writer, but probably Pittman is too used to writing in exposatory style for a newspaper. No matter. 
I'm going to have to delve into the appendices, flip back and forth to see if some of my questions and mis-rememberances are answered there.
Kinda funny to see the juxtaposition of the terms "true crime/gardening" on the back cover. Who'd a thunk those two words would ever be linked?


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## Eric Muehlbauer (Apr 11, 2012)

I'm looking forward to that book. It's already in my Amazon cart.


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## Yoyo_Jo (Apr 12, 2012)

Oooo, I must get that one too....


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## quietaustralian (Apr 12, 2012)

*Brown, Dee A; Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee*

Just finished reading, Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee: An Indian History of the American West by Dee Brown, *again*.

Brown has been accused of bias towards the indigenous people of the United States but his historic accuracy is seldom questioned. I find it hard to believe that some reviewers use the words accurate and bias in the same sentence when discussing this book.

Similar atrocious treatment was dished out to the Australian indigenous people but I'm yet to read an account as griping, sad and well written as Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee.

This book has been firmly positioned at number one of my non fiction canon for many years and would take a extraordinarily good book to move it. 

For detailed reviews. http://www.amazon.com/Bury-My-Heart-Wounded-Knee/dp/0805066349


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## mormodes (Apr 12, 2012)

Eric Muehlbauer said:


> I'm looking forward to that book. It's already in my Amazon cart.


I just finished the part when Kovach brings the plant to Selby. Very interesting stuff. There were more people at Selby that day than I realized and the rush to publish was more of a rush than I thought too. I guess I didn't realize what a feather in a cap this really was. To me as a hobbyist - while I have the orchid bug - I guess I just don't have that fever pitch and so can't relate to the intensity. Eye-opening.

It'll be interesting to see what you and Yo-yo think


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## mormodes (Apr 12, 2012)

quietaustralian said:


> Just finished reading, Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee: An Indian History of the American West by Dee Brown, *again*.
> 
> Brown has been accused of bias towards the indigenous people of the United States but his historic accuracy is seldom questioned. I find it hard to believe that some reviewers use the words accurate and bias in the same sentence when discussing this book.
> 
> ...


Just the picture on the cover (of the edition I read years ago) says it all. If you ever get a chance to go to the Custer battlefield you should take the opportunity. Another eye-opener. 

I have intended to read the book about building the railway that was the subject of 'Bridge over the River Kwai' written by an Australian couple who walked what remains of the line. Again man's inhumanity to man. But so many times these accounts are just so painful. My heart can't take it. I feel it too deeply. Like the book 'Unbroken' about the WII sailor that's out now. So much pain. How can people survive?


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## Gcroz (Apr 12, 2012)

I've recently finished, "The Guns of August" which I thought was excellent and very gripping. If anyone is interested in reading a narrative of the opening of the Great War, I can't recommend this book highly enough!

Currently starting "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo." I know, I'm a little late in starting it now that the movie is out, but I'm enjoying it! 

I also just purchased "Scent of a Scandal" and will look forward to reading that! I remember when the whole Kovach issue began, just graduated from law school, and it really captivated me. I remember hearing about the flower, and not seeing it, and not really able to grasp how huge the flower is.


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## NYEric (Apr 12, 2012)

mormodes said:


> Just started Craig Pittman's 'The Scent of Scandal, Greed, Betrayal and the World's Most Beautiful Orchid' about the Phrag kovachii afffair.



I generally don't have time to read, it's faster to watch the DVD :evil:, but I will look into getting this, thanks.


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## mormodes (Apr 19, 2012)

'Scent of Scandal' winds up with very recent events, such as Christensen's death last year. And Slippertalk features with the late Dr. Isaias Rolando's posts here. The appendices flesh out the narrative and so are a must read.


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## tenman (Apr 21, 2012)

Just now reading very little I'm so busy, but I _am_ reading The Bippolo Seed (new old Dr.Seuss stories), one story a day til I finish it (just to stretch out the enjoyment), and Mother Night, a Vonnegut novel I somehow missed reading before. And I am always reading The Unabridged Mark Twain, a bit at a time here and there. I am contemplating re-reading all three volumes of The Rise of the Dutch Republic, by John Lothrop Motley, this summer. It would be a good one to drag along for the flight delays and airport waits on my Redlands trip. I'm curious to see how I view it now. I did my senior thesis on it at Ohio Wesleyan in 1978. I love old books and I still have the same 1899 edition I used at OWU. I may just take an old sci-fi paperback instead on the trip if I'm tight for space.

If you like history, the Motley book is an incredible read, reads like a novel. It's actually a fun read. I compare it to the "Memoirs of Catherine the Great of Russia" for sheer readability.

I keep promising myself someday I'll get around to organizing and re-reading all the Robot stories and novels of Isaac Asimov in order.

Someday...sigh...


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## TyroneGenade (Jun 1, 2012)

I'm busy with both *The World at War* (Richard Holmes) and *The hidden structure* by Paolo Mazzarello. 

The former is a history of World War II as told by the people who lived through it. Its a collection of interviews. Very interesting reading. 

The latter is a bio of Camillo Golgi who invented/discovered Golgi staining and many valuable contributions to biology and medicine. At this very moment I'm actually preparing specimens for Golgi staining.

I'm thinking of reading Lord of the Rings again after these too. I feel like some good fiction. Or I may get myself an old classic instead. I was thinking of maybe 1984 or Brave New World.


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## NYEric (Jun 1, 2012)

Finally got a book. 'Against all enemies', Tom Clancy.


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## Pete (Jun 1, 2012)

Genetics and conservation of Rare Plants (holsinger) &
Garcia 'an american life' (jackson)


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## Kavanaru (Jun 1, 2012)

1Q84 by Murakami (to disconnect in the train while permuting) & Physiology of inflammation for my new job...


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## Eric Muehlbauer (Jun 1, 2012)

Fug You.....by Ed Sanders, about his days in NYC during the 60's, hanging out with Ginsburg and creating the Fugs.


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## abax (Jun 2, 2012)

*I'm currently reading THE END OF IRAQ which is one*

of two in a series. The second is UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES. Both by the same author, Peter W.
Galbraith. I'm still trying to understand just how the govt.
managed to involve us in such a continuing mess starting
with the administration of H.W. Bush. Incredible.


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## Yoyo_Jo (Jun 2, 2012)

"At Home" by Bill Bryson. Interesting read about the evolution of the home and all the domestic items we use in daily life. It's more entertaining than I expected and I'll be looking for more of his books.


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## abax (Jun 3, 2012)

Joanne, I think I've read all Bryson's books and all are wonderful and very funny. Your next might be A WALK IN THE WOODS which is laugh out loud funny. Bryson has a
wicked sense of humor.


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## Yoyo_Jo (Jun 3, 2012)

Hey Abax, thanks for the recommendation. I will look for it as my next read.


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## Eric Muehlbauer (Jun 3, 2012)

I love Bill Bryson. I have a copy of "At Home", but I haven't gotten around to reading it yet. I always keep a load of books on hand, so that I'll always have a new book as soon as I finish one.


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## abax (Jun 4, 2012)

Me too, Eric. I'm a readin' fool. Can you remember the
title of the first sort of travel book Bryson wrote about
his ill-fated tour of Europe? With Stephen Katz as companion? He can write slap stick so well! Maybe HERE AND THERE? Damnit, I have the book, but can't find it at the moment. It's hilarious Joanne.


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## KyushuCalanthe (Jun 4, 2012)

The Supreme Identity by Alan Watts. His writings can be rather dense, not a causal read, but his lectures were fun and informative. Too bad he's gone.


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## newbud (Jun 4, 2012)

The Biography of John Adams: A great biography based on letters of the period which these people constantly wrote. They didn't have computers to waste time on. When they weren't working, eating, talking with family and friends...they wrote letters. Thank you B. Franklin. His Bio and Auto-Bio were great too. Thank God someone saved all the Adam's letters. Wonderful history of the revolution and how our country was formed. Also, got a copy of Orchid Digest Oct.Nov.Dec. 2003 all about the kovachii experience and a great Paph. checklist.


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## Eric Muehlbauer (Jul 17, 2012)

People Who Eat Darkness, by Richard Lloyd Parry. I'm almost finished, and really sorry to see it end....andamazing book, with a fascinating (true) story. Not just a great crime story, but a fascinating look at the police and criminal justice system in Japan.


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## Rick (Jul 18, 2012)

Just got done with this one by Martin Prechtel. But I've enjoyed all his other books too.

http://www.floweringmountain.com/peace.html


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## mormodes (Jul 19, 2012)

Reading 'Green Grows the City' by Beverly Nichols. Published in 1939 about how he found a house with a garden and redesigned said garden. Just charming. Nichols was somewhat of a renaissance man http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beverley_Nichols

The way he writes about discovering ferns at Kew is so very like our orchid addition.


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## Ruth (Aug 4, 2012)

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lack by Rebecca Skloot
She was a poor black tobacco farmer whose cells—taken without her knowledge in 1951—became one of the most important tools in medicine, vital for developing the polio vaccine, cloning, gene mapping, in vitro fertilization, and more. It is an amazing book!!


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## Hien (Aug 19, 2012)

I just finish the book "Hot Cripple" by Hogan Gorman in one reading .
It is a very good book to read for many reasons , you will laugh , cry, be angry ..and be moved by what the author went thru .


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## Paul Mc (Aug 19, 2012)

The Tao of Poo, and now I'm going to read The Tao of Pooh (Winnie the Pooh) and the Te of Piglet. Positive reads! Though the Tao of Poo is about exactly that, poo, and it had me rolling with laughter, yet inspired some positive thinking as well...


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## keithrs (Aug 20, 2012)

I'm alittle weird.... I like(kinda have too) to read auto service manuals.... Right now I'm reading up on Mini Coopers.


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## Ray (Aug 21, 2012)

Just started Broken Harbor - the third book by Tana French. She's good.


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## KyushuCalanthe (Aug 21, 2012)

Eric Muehlbauer said:


> People Who Eat Darkness, by Richard Lloyd Parry. I'm almost finished, and really sorry to see it end....andamazing book, with a fascinating (true) story. Not just a great crime story, but a fascinating look at the police and criminal justice system in Japan.



I'll have to check that one out Eric, thanks for the tip.

Haphazardly rereading The Holographic Universe by Michael Talbot. Interesting stuff in there, mostly unbelievable, but the funny part is much of it is either based on research or scientific theory.


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## Wendy (Aug 24, 2012)

The Fifty Shades trilogy....wow....just, wow.  Not going to be a 'classic' by any means but I just couldn't resist. :rollhappy:


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## newbud (Aug 26, 2012)

The Bretheren by John Grisham. Don't bother. Big disappointment.
Just started " Botany of Desire " The apple, potato, pot, and tulips. How they manipulate people.


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## Yoyo_Jo (Aug 30, 2012)

Wendy said:


> The Fifty Shades trilogy....wow....just, wow.  Not going to be a 'classic' by any means but I just couldn't resist. :rollhappy:



I thought from the title it would be about some mid-life crisis or something. Not so much, LOL.


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## mormodes (May 15, 2013)

Dear God in heaven I couldn't resist the latest Dan Brown. Inferno. Despite not knowing a thing about Dante's Divine Comedy. Which may or may not help with backstory/allusions. But what am I thinking? Its Dan Brown, fercryin'outloud.


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## Secundino (May 15, 2013)

Asa Larsson. Good.


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## JeanLux (May 15, 2013)

mormodes said:


> Dear God in heaven I couldn't resist the latest Dan Brown. Inferno. Despite not knowing a thing about Dante's Divine Comedy. Which may or may not help with backstory/allusions. But what am I thinking? Its Dan Brown, fercryin'outloud.



I read the former Browns, but not being english tongue, I cannot spot by your comment if to buy this one or not ..?? Jean


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## Eric Muehlbauer (May 15, 2013)

Believe it or not, in a remarkable coincidence with my condition, I'm reading Gulp. by Mary Roach....absolutely hysterical science book about the digestive tract.


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## cnycharles (May 15, 2013)

just don't laugh too hard; you never know where things might end up going


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## mormodes (May 16, 2013)

JeanLux said:


> I read the former Browns, but not being english tongue, I cannot spot by your comment if to buy this one or not ..?? Jean



I'm a few chapters in. So far its not holding my interest, but I expect that's becasue I usually don't like books that start out in the middle of a situation and you have to wait for it to unfurl to understand what's going on and how "our hero" got into trouble in the first place. I expect it to get thrilling. If you like Brown then try it. Maybe go to Amazon and see if you can read the first few pages online there to see if its to your taste.

My comment was that I was being silly, thinking a fuller understanding of Dante's Divine Comedy would be necessary in order to more completely appreciate 'Inferno'. However Dan Brown is an author of popular fiction so I doubt he'd allude to much that wouldn't be easy for the general public (like me) to understand. As opposed to authors like Umberto Eco or Iain Pears for example.


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## JeanLux (May 16, 2013)

mormodes said:


> ... If you like Brown then try it. * Maybe go to Amazon and see if you can read the first few pages online there to see if its to your taste.
> *
> ...



ok, thanks, good idea !! Jean


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## TyroneGenade (May 17, 2013)

Recent reading:
Storm Warning by Billy Graham (excellent writing style)
The Silmarillion (a work of beauty)
The Wisdom of Psychopaths (suddenly I understand politics and why the world is in such a mess)
The Black Cloud (this the "The Old Man and the Sea" of science fiction: not a word out of place)
In Search of Memory by Eric Kandel. I finished last night. Very good read and it has inspired me in my scientific work.
Next up: Plato's Republic


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## Shiva (May 17, 2013)

Wish I could see the title of my book somewhere in this thread.


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## TyroneGenade (May 19, 2013)

Shiva, I will get there... but there is a lot of classic SciFi to wade through. I forgot to include Day of the Triffids in the above list... The movies and miniseries SUCK. The book is so much richer.

I mostly buy 2nd hand books off ebay etc... as its cheaper. Its nice to give a book a 2nd chance to live. My The Republic looks like it has been through hell---oddly in its 50 year life in the "Hostel of the Resurrection" library it was only taken out once. What a shame.


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## Trithor (May 19, 2013)

sorry to say, but I am reading a better book than all of the rest of you! It was the all time best score on the auction. Frederick Sander, The orchid king. Incredible read, so much info on a subject close to my heart, it will take a number of reads to absorb it all. Wow!


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## SlipperFan (Aug 26, 2013)

Speaking of Sci-Fi, I just finished reading a book by Jonathan Stars, called N-hanced. I've heard several things on the news lately that make his scenario not too far a-field. He has a website about it: http://www.n-hanced.com/ If you like Sci-Fi, you won't be able to put this book down either.


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## Eric Muehlbauer (Oct 10, 2013)

I rarely read novels these days, but I'm reading a good one now- The Signature of All Things, by Elizabeth Gilbert. Its about a 19th century woman who's a botanist. While her specialty is mosses, there is a lot of stuff about orchids. Very entertaining.


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## TyroneGenade (Jan 13, 2014)

Started "Down to Earth: Nature's role in American History" by Ted Steinberg (http://www.amazon.com/Down-Earth-Natures-American-History/dp/0199797390) a week ago. A very interesting read!


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## abax (Jan 13, 2014)

THE VALLEY OF AMAZEMENT by Amy Tan. Not her best, but definitely
worth the time to read.


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## Eric Muehlbauer (Jan 14, 2014)

Finished One Summer, by Bill Bryson, now about to finish The Neanderthals Rediscovered, by Dimitra Papagianni and Michael Morse.


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## abax (Jan 15, 2014)

Love Bill Bryson. Haven't gotten to ONE SUMMER yet, but it's on the
pile.


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## Ruth (Jan 15, 2014)

Empire of the Summer Moon by SC Gwynne
Details Quanah Parker and the Rise and Fall of the Comanches, the Most Powerful Indian Tribe in American History. 
Quite an eye opener.


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## The Mutant (Jan 15, 2014)

Re-reading Lord of the Rings, and I'm in the first book now. I decided to read it again, since I read it when I was about 16-17, and I really didn't like it that much (I thought it was an okay trilogy, but not amazing in any way). Now, I'm reading it in English for the first time, and since it has been so long since I read it, it feels like reading it for the first time again.

So far, I feel that the beginning is quite unfocused. Mr. Tolkien had a bad habit of including a whole lot of unnecessary information that slows the story down. I do like it so far though, better than last time, and I love the fact that the English language has changed so much since this book was written. Tolkien uses words that have completely other uses nowadays, and it's quite charming to read.

We'll see if I like the LotR trilogy better this time around (btw, those ring wraiths should be fired, due to being the most failed evil lackeys in the history of evil henchmen... Sauron needs to find some better baddies).


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## chris20 (Jan 16, 2014)

I need to re-read Tolkien. Now I'm slugging through Winston Churchill's 3-volume work about British involvement in WWII. Lots of letters and memos reproduced verbatim makes it slow going.


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## TyroneGenade (Jan 16, 2014)

The Mutant said:


> So far, I feel that the beginning is quite unfocused. Mr. Tolkien had a bad habit of including a whole lot of unnecessary information that slows the story down.



I have read it three times. The beginning is the best part but you don't notice until you read it the second time.


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## JeanLux (Jan 17, 2014)

As I ran out of english language thrillers, I just started 'F. Sander, The Orchid King'!!!! Jean


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