What are you guys reading lately? Care to share?

[DDD]

I just finished Five Days at Memorial by Shen Fink. Memorial (formerly Baptist hospital) in New Orleans had five days of operation before post Katrina help arrived. The book is fascinating and the author continues post Katrina with factual recounting of euthanasia legal issues straight up to 2013 as more States enact Death With Dignity laws. Really interesting and very well written.

My primary MD and I exchange book ideas and he is going to read that book...and he recommended an unusual book by John Irving. The novel is entitled A Prayer For Owen Meany. It was written in the 80's and he tells me he recently read it and considers it one of the best novels he has every read. So far I have completed two chapters and I've got to say it is different and has my attention, lol.

Anything interesting next to your bedside or reading chair?? DDD

 

[SuZir]

I just read Rosamund Lupton's Afterwards and loved it so much. Interesting concept, bit of mystery and very touching book about a mother and her relationship to her daughter in her late teens, younger son and her husband. And letting go and sacrifice. Planning to get her older book Sister next.

 

[CrazyinVA]

One of the best books I've read recently is "I'm Proud of You: My Friendship With Fred Rogers" by Tim Madigan. What an incredible man "Mister" Rogers was - it was a truly inspiring read for me.

Right now I'm reading "Just Kids" by Patti Smith. It's about her relationship with Robert Mapplethorpe. She's a great writer, and it's a fascinating glimpse into the world of NYC artists in the 60s/70s.

 

[Lothlorien]

I tore through The Awakened series in about a week or so and haven't read anything since. That was a couple of months ago. I have about a dozen books on my kindle that I have not read yet.

 

[TerryJ2]

I LOVE A PRAYER FOR OWEN MEANY!
Yes, I'm shouting. I love, love, love it.

Right now I'm reading HALF A MAN, poems by Bill Glose, WITHOUT PRETENSE, poems by Ann Shalaski, and R IS FOR RICHOCHET by Sue Grafton. Next up: ART ON TRIAL, ART THERAPY IN CAPITAL MURDER CASES by David E. Gussak.

 

[cubsgirl]

I'm reading James Patterson's latest, Cross My Heart. I am going to look into getting A Prayer for Owen Meany. Great thread idea!

 

[Kathy813]

I am reading The Death of Santini: The Story of a Father and his Son by Pat Conroy. Pat Conroy is one of my favorite authors and this is the story of his family that was the subject of The Great Santini. He had sanitized his father's brutality in the Great Santini and presents it in full force in this book. Yet, it is a story of love between a father and son despite a truly dysfunctional family relationship.

I also just finished Fannie Flagg's novel, The All-Girl Filling Station's Last Reunion. If you enjoyed her book, Fried Green Tomatoes, you would enjoy this one. It was a fun read and I really came to care about the characters.

DDD, I loved John Irving's novel, The Cider House Rules, so I looked up the book you recommended and was delighted to see that the Kindle edition only cost $4.00. It is on my Kindle now.

~Kathy

 

[helpangel]

George Martins Game of Thrones series I'm reading Dance with Dragons right now ( he needs to hurry up with that 6th book)

My new years resolution 2 years ago was to read 4 books a year that had nothing to do with mental health, Special Education ect. and so far it has been the best resolution yet.

Thanks to everyone else for leads on what to read if the old guy takes too long coming out with that next book.

Nancy

 

[HMBgal]

Just finished Wally Lamb's We Are Water, which was amazing, as all his books are. And just started The Goldfinch. Wow. Loving it so far. My Facebook feed just had New York Times Book Review's top ten. I've read three of them (The Goldfinch is on the list), and I will be picking something next from that list. I love to read. I can't imagine not having a book going. I always have, since I was a little girl. I was one of those kids that was walking around with books like Hawaii, Gone with the Wind, etc., when I was in the fifth grade. I was in a foster home and reading saved my sanity. I've always been so grateful that I was always a strong reader. Math, on the other hand...

 

[svengandhi]

I read heavy, complicated things for work so I like to relax on my free time. I just finished a book called Divergent, which is a teen book about a future, dysfunctional America and is the first of a trilogy. I need to get to the library to get the other two. I loved the first one. I read a Prayer for Owen Meany years ago and enjoyed it. I absolutely hated The World According to Garp, though, and detested the movie. I haven't been able to adapt to a Kindle or any kind of e-reader. My daughter gave me an Ipod and I gave it to my son because I couldn't figure out how to use I it. This means that I need to wait for paperbacks because I walk to and from the train station with my books. I've always loved to read and would often take a book to a party before I married. Ironically, I married a man who hated reading due to dyslexia. Gradually, he has come to love it and prefers Tom Clancy type books.

 

[KTMom91]

I just finished Doctor Sleep by Stephen King, the sequel to The Shining. I absolutely love The Shining, and had to know what happened to Danny Torrance after the hotel burned. It wasn't as good as The Shining, in my opinion, but was a good read.

 

[trinityroyal]

I'm in the process of re-reading the Macdonald Hall series of books, by Gordon Korman. They're written for mid-grade readers (10 yrs old or so), and I read them back in the late 70s and early 80s when they were first written. Gordon Korman wrote the first one when he was 12 years old as part of a school assignment. He's gone on to write 70-odd teen and "tween" fiction books. easy child just got the Macdonald Hall series, so I'm reading them along with him. Great fun, and they're every bit as funny as I remembered them from my childhood.

 

[1905]

I just read Dr. Sleep as well. Ladies, sign up for daily e-mails from Bookbub. They offer really good books for your e-readers at a deep discount each day. They are are all only a dollar or 2. You'll find some good ones.

 

[recoveringenabler]

I love Alice Hoffman, all of her books. Her newest book, Survival Lessons is a book she wrote many years after she survived a cancer issue, as she wrote "In many ways I wrote Survival Lessons to remind myself of the beauty of life, something that's all to easy to overlook during the crisis of loss or illness. I forgot that our lives our made up of equal parts of joy and sorrow and that it is impossible to have one without the other. I wrote to remind myself that despite everything that was happening to me, there were still choices I could make."

I liked the book so much I bought a copy for all of my women friends.

 

[DDD]

My love of reading includes the feel of the book cover, the weight of the publication in my lap, the vivid memories of the hours spent in our old libraries where I felt empowered by my choices and the aromas that were as comforting to me as the smell of a wonderful Christmas tree. I no longer "linger" in the library due to my schedule and age but just like the past visits in an empty church...there is such peace knowing that you are alone with your thoughts. DDD

 

[compassion]

I am in several book groups. Fro Jan. it is Canada by Richard Ford and Devil in the Grove by Gilbert King. Sallie

 

[TerryJ2]

Kathy, is Conroy's book based on his own life? I thought it was totally fiction. I liked the first one a lot (and the movie) but am afraid to read the new one.

 

[Californiablonde]

I am addicted to mystery novels, and I am currently in the middle of a book called "Evidence" by Jonathan Kellerman. I bought a bunch of novels at the used book store over the summer and did a lot of reading. I started Evidence in early September, right before I was due to go back to work. I haven't touched it since. I really don't have the opportunity to read as much during the school/work year. Every weekend I keep saying I am going to read some more of the book, but I always seem to find other things to do instead. Sooner or later, I will eventually finish the book! Perhaps during my two week Christmas vacation. I also have two more books waiting in the wings. One is by Faye Kellerman, one of my all time favorite authors, and the other is by Tess Gerritsen. I miss my lazy days of summer reading. I am going to try and read more during the school year, but it isn't always easy.

 

[Kathy813]

The original book, The Great Santini, was a fictional story loosely based on his own family. His editor at the time told him he had to humanize the father character or no one would see any redeeming value in him.

The new book, The Death of Santini: The Story of a Father and his Son, is the true story of his dysfunctional family. In the end, Pat forgives his father for the abusive childhood and they develop a deep love for each other over time.

~Kathy