Reads

geolarson2 · 11-27-2008, 01:15 AM

I figured I'd throw out a couple more general discussion threads here, and as Ms D reads, what better thread to create than one about reading, huh? So what do you read? What books, magazines? What did you read that was great, what are you reading you want to share with us, what do you have lined up to read? This can include magazines, too.

For myself, I read Smithsonian and NatGeo every month, pretty much cover to cover. At the moment I'm reading an article in Smithsonian about the Sufi which, considering the events in Mumbai today seems salient.

Among my favourite authors are Douglas Adams (The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Dirk Gentley's Holistic Detective Agency, The Long, Dark Tea-Time of the Soul, &c.), as well as the Aubrey-Maturin novels of Patrick O'Brien and the Scottish historical fiction of Nigel Tranter. When I was younger I read and re-read The 13th Vally by John DelVecchio which is a tough novel to read, and by that I mean painfully emotional. I was put onto it by a couple Vietnam Vets I used to talk with regularly--it was among the closest works they'd come across to their own experiences which is hardly surprising since the author drew from his own experiences. I liked Moby Dick, too, and for a few years running read Hamlet every fall (ultimately I could almost recite the entire play, every part). I used to be a big fan of Clive Cussler's NUMA adventures with Dirk Pitt (Raise the Titanic was exceptionally good). And for all of 4th grade I read and re-read Robinson Crusoe--I'm not sure if I actually ever checked the book back in that whole year. Another good read is Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse. On the non-fiction side I found Robert Eisenman's James, the Brother of Jesus to be a really well written & exceptionally well researched book about early Christianiry, or Judeo-Christianity, and John Dominic Crossan's The Historical Jesus was an eye-opener--not specifically about Jesus but rather the Hebrew peasant living in occupied Judea in that first century CE. I actually spend a lot of my time reading and thinking about spirituality & ethics (not morality, per se, which is more contrived, I think), so I have copies of the Tao Te Ching, Upanishads, Baghavad Gita and Dhammapada at hand. A good, fun read is The Tao of Pooh by Benjamin Hoff, Right now though I'm intrigued by Zoroastrianism, Wicca and the Bahai so I'm just beginning to look into solid reads about each of them. And out of the kids books to read, The Jungle Book is a perennial favourite (I love Riki Tiki Tavi), Green Eggs & Ham (well anything by Ted Geisel, aka Dr. Seuss, including The Lorax, and Oh, The Places You'll Go!) or Shel Silverstein (Where the Sidewalk Ends, The Giving Tree), and I love reading the Little House books by Laura Ingalls Wilder with the young ones.

11-27-2008, 01:15 AM	#1
geolarson2 Danielle's Imaginary Boyfriend Join Date: Sep 2008 Posts: 512	Reads I figured I'd throw out a couple more general discussion threads here, and as Ms D reads, what better thread to create than one about reading, huh? So what do you read? What books, magazines? What did you read that was great, what are you reading you want to share with us, what do you have lined up to read? This can include magazines, too. For myself, I read Smithsonian and NatGeo every month, pretty much cover to cover. At the moment I'm reading an article in Smithsonian about the Sufi which, considering the events in Mumbai today seems salient. Among my favourite authors are Douglas Adams (The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Dirk Gentley's Holistic Detective Agency, The Long, Dark Tea-Time of the Soul, &c.), as well as the Aubrey-Maturin novels of Patrick O'Brien and the Scottish historical fiction of Nigel Tranter. When I was younger I read and re-read The 13th Vally by John DelVecchio which is a tough novel to read, and by that I mean painfully emotional. I was put onto it by a couple Vietnam Vets I used to talk with regularly--it was among the closest works they'd come across to their own experiences which is hardly surprising since the author drew from his own experiences. I liked Moby Dick, too, and for a few years running read Hamlet every fall (ultimately I could almost recite the entire play, every part). I used to be a big fan of Clive Cussler's NUMA adventures with Dirk Pitt (Raise the Titanic was exceptionally good). And for all of 4th grade I read and re-read Robinson Crusoe--I'm not sure if I actually ever checked the book back in that whole year. Another good read is Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse. On the non-fiction side I found Robert Eisenman's James, the Brother of Jesus to be a really well written & exceptionally well researched book about early Christianiry, or Judeo-Christianity, and John Dominic Crossan's The Historical Jesus was an eye-opener--not specifically about Jesus but rather the Hebrew peasant living in occupied Judea in that first century CE. I actually spend a lot of my time reading and thinking about spirituality & ethics (not morality, per se, which is more contrived, I think), so I have copies of the Tao Te Ching, Upanishads, Baghavad Gita and Dhammapada at hand. A good, fun read is The Tao of Pooh by Benjamin Hoff, Right now though I'm intrigued by Zoroastrianism, Wicca and the Bahai so I'm just beginning to look into solid reads about each of them. And out of the kids books to read, The Jungle Book is a perennial favourite (I love Riki Tiki Tavi), Green Eggs & Ham (well anything by Ted Geisel, aka Dr. Seuss, including The Lorax, and Oh, The Places You'll Go!) or Shel Silverstein (Where the Sidewalk Ends, The Giving Tree), and I love reading the Little House books by Laura Ingalls Wilder with the young ones.