Syd wrote:"Hello, My name is Syd and I have an Oz problem."
Finished The Marvelous Land of Oz, so I got Ozma of Oz, which I finished and have started Dorothy and The Wizard In Oz.
Please help
As I recall, Baum wrote over a dozen Oz novels. Plus there were even more "canonical" books produced by his publisher. To say nothing of the unsanctioned books written since the copyright expired. You're in for it!
I just finished; A Crack in the Edge of the World; America and the Great California Earthquake of 1906 by Simon Winchester. The title says it all really, but he is a good author and Geologist. R
still shifting wrote:I just finished; A Crack in the Edge of the World; America and the Great California Earthquake of 1906 by Simon Winchester. The title says it all really, but he is a good author and Geologist. R
Is it an interesting read? like RPG type thing? Mystical/fiction or fantasy/fiction?
I might get it on my tablet.
While on vacation I did a reread of a book I originally read years ago. Helter Skelter, which details the Manson clan and the Tate/LaBianca murders, was on some levels fascinating but was also the most disturbing book I've ever read. That holds true even on the reread.
Rob
"Sponges grow in the ocean. That just kills me. I wonder how much deeper the ocean would be if that didn't happen."
- Steven Wright
I am stalled in the middle of two book now. World War Z which half way through is not as exciting as the movie, but even more interesting. And the first book by Iain Banks, Consider Phlebas. Good, but I have been sidetracked by my BV350 lately
Actually, this is a really good book. I thought it was going to be a dry read, but it has some really commonsense info, and gives lots of real world examples of how do deal with anger.
Apparently others agree, as it has 4 1/2 out of 5 stars, with over 50 reviews.
Rob wrote:While on vacation I did a reread of a book I originally read years ago. Helter Skelter, which details the Manson clan and the Tate/LaBianca murders, was on some levels fascinating but was also the most disturbing book I've ever read. That holds true even on the reread.
Rob
Boy, that's a blast from the past!
Vacation reading, huh? I wonder what you read when you DON'T want to entertain yourself.
Along those lines, though not a book, and not non-fiction, I watched Hannibal Rising: In RED DRAGON we learned who he was. In SILENCE OF THE LAMBS we learned how he did it. Now comes the most chilling chapter in the life of Hannibal Lecter - the one that answers the most elusive question of all - why?
Past bikes: 08' Genuine Buddy 125, '07 Yamaha Majesty 400, '07 Piaggio MP3 250, '08 Piaggio MP3 500, '08 Aprilia Scarabeo 500
Current bikes: Two '09 Genuine Buddy 125's
Books they are a good friend indeed! This week it is; Rattlesnakes by J. Frank Dobie he always amuses me, a folk lore oriented historian. I am also perusing Zen Radicals, Rebels. and Reformers by Perle Besserman and ManfredB. Steger a rather quick historical synopsis. R
michelle_7728 wrote:Boy, that's a blast from the past!
Vacation reading, huh? I wonder what you read when you DON'T want to entertain yourself.
Along those lines, though not a book, and not non-fiction, I watched Hannibal Rising: In RED DRAGON we learned who he was. In SILENCE OF THE LAMBS we learned how he did it. Now comes the most chilling chapter in the life of Hannibal Lecter - the one that answers the most elusive question of all - why?
We might not want to go there.
Half of this vacation was a fishing trip with some buddies ... or to clarify several guys that I've known forever .... I didn't go fishing with 5 other scooters. Anyway, not much to do in the northwoods except fish, eat, drink, sleep and BS. While that is ideal for me .... a book/Kindle is a nice diversion every now and then.
Thanks for the reminder on Red Dragon. I read Silence of the Lambs years ago, so RD is now on my To Read list.
Since I'm in the reminiscing mood, I may add Ball Four by Jim Bouton to my reread list. The first time someone outed professional baseball players from iconic heroes to normal, everyday people. As a huge baseball fan when I was young, this was an earth shattering revelation.
Rob
"Sponges grow in the ocean. That just kills me. I wonder how much deeper the ocean would be if that didn't happen."
- Steven Wright
I just finished [/i]Beginnigs by David Weber and others. It is five short stories based on his Honor Harrington Sci-fi series. I have also read Six Frigates the story about the beginnings of the US Navy and how the early US government and presidents dealt with the barbary pirates and the War of 1812. These early years usually get glossed over in American History [/b]
Reading The Cuckoo's Calling - the J.K Rowling book that has attracted so much attention because it was written under a pseudonym. It is actually quite good. A detective story in the genre of Chinatown.
michelle_7728 wrote:.....I wonder what you read when you DON'T want to entertain yourself.
We might not want to go there......
LOL! Too funny.
Hannibal Rising is the one I was referring to. It goes into why he became the way he was. THEN Red Dragon, then Silence of the Lambs.
I agree about the Kindle comment. I LOVE my Kindle. Though the above were movies I watched, I love how I can take my Kindle everywhere and THEN choose what I want to read. There is nothing worse than picking up a book you thought you'd like, then getting 100 pages into it and deciding you really don't want to read the rest of it...and not having anything else with you to read!
....and with my Kindle Paperwhite, now I can read until I fall asleep without having to worry about turning the light off.
Past bikes: 08' Genuine Buddy 125, '07 Yamaha Majesty 400, '07 Piaggio MP3 250, '08 Piaggio MP3 500, '08 Aprilia Scarabeo 500
Current bikes: Two '09 Genuine Buddy 125's
Not entertaining but informative is "Auschwitz", the book I'm reading. Written by a survivor it not only explores the evil men do to one another but the sheep like behavior of people stuck in disbelief.
Ride what you like so you'll love to ride!
Scooterist Extraordinaire!
Hey Nikvee - I really enjoyed reading Wool. I couldn't put it down while I was in the middle of it!
I also just finished "Wild," a memoir by Cheryl Strayed. It's really about a young woman finding her center by hiking a length of the Pacific Crest Trail. Really interesting.
Currently (well, when I'm not obsessing about my scooter), I'm reading "Learning to Fly" by Steph Davis. Also a memoir but she talks mostly about her evolution from rock climbing to base jumping. I'm also reading the sci-fi classic "The Forever War" by Joe Halderman. It's a page turner, definitely.
sfchorus wrote:Hey Nikvee - I really enjoyed reading Wool. I couldn't put it down while I was in the middle of it!
That's how I was with the first book, and going into the second as well. I can't remember where it lost steam for me, but it's been sitting there neglected for a while - though seeing how praised it is makes me want to jump back in.
I really enjoyed "Wool Omnibus". Couldn't put it down either. "Shift Omnibus" started slower but was ultimately a satisfying book, which has me anxious for the third book this month, "Dust". Should be great!
Nothing new lately, except the latest Dan Brown, as The Mrs had it from the library. The five books of Song of Ice and Fire last spring, all of Daniel Silva's Gabriel Allon novels, most of Tess Gerritsen's Rizzoli & Isles novels, just because the TNT TV series is fun. 2001: A Space Odyssey, 2010, 2061 currently, 3001 next up.
I wanted to reread Len Deighton's nine-vol Bernard Samson spy series, but my revisionist commie branch library got rid of ALL his books. One flippin' copy at the central stacks. Think last-scene-of-Raiders.
Feel da rhythm! Feel da rhyme! Get on up! It's Buddy Time!
I just finished the 7 books in the Sorcerer's Ring series by Morgan Rice and the series is not finished yet. Rice keeps adding more sub plots and twists and turns. The series could have wrapped up 2 books ago. I am not sure when #8 is due out but I'm sure if I want to stick with it if that book does not end the series.
trying to read A Brief History of King Arthur but I don't recommend it because it is all about philology in England and it's nearly impossible to keep up with the where and the who because the names of both change so much. Not really much there for the general reader.
Still enjoying my Kindle Paperwhite and Amazon/Kindle in general has been surprisingly great about customer service when needed. I say this as a skeptic going in. I do heartily recommend e-ink devices for reading as opposed to tablets. Although the latter are better for magazines and anything with illustrations, as well as general browsing, e-ink is much easier on the eyes under pretty much any conditions. Plus the battery life is very much longer and they're so cheap it doesn't have to be an either/or.
Southerner wrote:I do heartily recommend e-ink devices for reading as opposed to tablets. Although the latter are better for magazines and anything with illustrations, as well as general browsing, e-ink is much easier on the eyes under pretty much any conditions. Plus the battery life is very much longer and they're so cheap it doesn't have to be an either/or.
Yeah, my $80 Nook is nice to read, and at about the same size and weight (slightly different shape) as a mass-market paperback – but thinner – it's so much more handy than a tablet. I keep mine in my gym bag to give me something to occupy my mind on the treadmill (other than the idiotainment screens at the front of the room).
I'm an avid listener of Dave Ramsey podcasts, and one of the things I've heard him say many times is "Five years from today, you will be the same person that you are today, except for the books you read and the people you meet.” He always is careful to credit others for the sayings he uses, but he's the one I've heard saying it.
Anyhow, looking back at my life, I'd have to agree with that, even though I've slacked off on my reading the last few years. Soooo, I'm trying to do the "one non-fiction book a month" bit...though I'm not always successful.
Past bikes: 08' Genuine Buddy 125, '07 Yamaha Majesty 400, '07 Piaggio MP3 250, '08 Piaggio MP3 500, '08 Aprilia Scarabeo 500
Current bikes: Two '09 Genuine Buddy 125's
Southerner wrote:Still enjoying my Kindle Paperwhite and Amazon/Kindle in general has been surprisingly great about customer service when needed. I say this as a skeptic going in. I do heartily recommend e-ink devices for reading as opposed to tablets. Although the latter are better for magazines and anything with illustrations, as well as general browsing, e-ink is much easier on the eyes under pretty much any conditions. Plus the battery life is very much longer and they're so cheap it doesn't have to be an either/or.
+1 While I'd admit I sometimes miss my paperbacks, I almost exclusively use the Kindle Paperwhite these days. Great for traveling, convenient for downloading when you want something to read quickly, and the back light is nice, especially when reading in bed and trying not to disturb the other half. And at least they have some page referencing on most e-books these days.
Rob
"Sponges grow in the ocean. That just kills me. I wonder how much deeper the ocean would be if that didn't happen."
- Steven Wright
I just finished Timeline from Michael Crichton. As I've mentioned before, I'm a huge Crichton fan, but this book wasn't quite as enjoyable as the others I've read. Good, but not as good as the rest. I give it a 3.5 out of 5.
Now, a few of the other comments in this thread convinced me to try Wool. So I just downloaded the Omnibus thing to the Kindle.
Rob
"Sponges grow in the ocean. That just kills me. I wonder how much deeper the ocean would be if that didn't happen."
- Steven Wright
It took me awhile, but I just got around to reading the Wool Omibus series.
While I'm not generally a big sci-fi fan, I did enjoy this set. A good and unique story line, although the author did get a bit too detailed and repetitive at times for my tastes. I really think he could benefit from having a professional set of editing eyes to do a final review of his works.
But all that being said, again very interesting and I'd give this a 4 out of 5 stars. I think he did another short series based on this concept, so I'll likely read that somewhere in the near future.
Rob
"Sponges grow in the ocean. That just kills me. I wonder how much deeper the ocean would be if that didn't happen."
- Steven Wright
On the way back from Hawaii, wanting something to occupy myself other than the six hour flight, I grabbed a Tom Clancy book: Ghost Recon - Choke Point. Immediately disappointing, but so easy to read I finished three quarters of it on the flight. Turns out Mr Clancy wrote a book titled Ghost Recon. Some outfit created a game based on the book, and this gem was based on the game. :Sheesh:
It's annoying now that many of the big names in modern popular fiction (Patterson Le Carre and Clancy, to name a few) are now little more than franchises, releasing book after book under their names, but written by some other bum.
On the other hand I got back to reading Consider Phlebas!
Yes, avoid the 'with' books at all cost (big writer 'with' ghost writer) and the 'apostrophe' books (Tom Clancy's OpCenter, NetForce, etc.). Re: Clancy - all caca after Bear and the Dragon. Go back to the beginning, start with Red October, and particularly good is Red Storm Rising - at least you'll have several thousand pages of decent books before the crap comes.
One exception to the 'with' books are W.E.B. Griffin's books 'with' his son. I've found them to be pretty good.
Feel da rhythm! Feel da rhyme! Get on up! It's Buddy Time!
"Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail '72" by Hunter S. Thompson
I read it at least once a year, along with "The Great Gatsby" shortly thereafter.
“With the truth so dull and depressing, the only working alternative is wild bursts of madness and filigree.”
― Hunter S. Thompson, Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail '72
Call me elitist but this sort of thing I have not seen once, not once, on any Honda Shadow/cruiser forums....a good discussion of books. Maybe I am not looking at the right forums.
Nevertheless, when folk ask about mah motobike, the subject of mah previous moto scoots always comes up. I will always be a scooter jockey.
P.s. Am re reading "Palm Sunday", a good collection of Kurt. Vonnegut. He is always good to re read every couple of years, especially " Cat's Cradle".
"When you're racing, that's when you're really alive. Everything else...everything...just becomes waiting to race." - Steve McQueen
Try the Jack Lennon series by Stuart Neville. Dark and intriguing Irish mystery stories with
a real ring of authenticity. Ghosts of Belfast, Collusion, Stolen Souls. They are great stuff!
ScooterDave wrote:Does Penthouse Letters count as a book?
It did for John Candy in 'Splash' ( where he was passing out copies to celebrate being published at last! - a letter to the Penthouse Forum- but he was finally in print!)
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"When you're racing, that's when you're really alive. Everything else...everything...just becomes waiting to race." - Steve McQueen
man cant believe this thread is still going. we scooter folk are a well read group.i am currently reading 'the power of now". trying to get my zen on.i get the feeling scooter people have a leg up on the whole enlightened thing anyway but it doesn't hurt to try something new.keep riding keep reading and stay alert.happy new year to all.
Just for fun I re-read "The Hobbit" over Christmas and am now in the middle of Cormac McCarthy's "Blood Meridian". It's kinda weird, the way it's written.
We might not want to go there.
) books, I started The End of War by John Horgan which is turning out to be an interesting read.
