What are you reading right now?

I just remembered the author. Strike Asian-American...It's Tami Hoag. LOL Her books all seem to center around a brilliant/beautiful woman with tremendous emotional baggage. The woman is somehow involved with or solves a crime, and usually beds a man in the process. Heaving busoms abound. I got tired of her books after three because they all seemed the same formula.

That's why I like Mary Higgins Clark. While there may be a little romance envolved, her books don't really focus on that as much as they do the mystery.

I gave up sappy a long time ago. I mean, come on....even the most in love people never talk to eachother that way. lol

jdee, I don't buy books either..... I LOVE to go to the library.... most of mine end up books on tape which are great because I can strap a tape player to my belt and enjoy two of my favorite things at the same time Gardening and Books...... pulling weeds is always more enjoyable with a good book to listen to.....

You might want to try some of the Iris Johannsen if you like Mary Higgins.... Catherine Coulter, The Nelson DeMille's are great to listen to ...... The Charm School was my most recent book on tape from him, Greg ILes - I just finished Dead Sleep, Elizabeth Lowell...... Wow I could go on and on....... Did I mention that I love books....

Thanks for the info. Now I have more authors to choose from.

Wow, I would never have thought of listening to books while gardening. What a great idea.

I bought "Exodus" and "Kon Tiki" as my 1st two selections in a school sponsored book club way back when. No doubt Uris' novel gives an, at the time, accurate portrayal of the birthing of modern Israel.

right now I'm reading "Skeleton Man" by Tony Hillerman in the Reader's Digest Selected Editions latest volume.

Kon Tiki -& Ra. Wonderful reads. Did you know that today is the anniversary of the beginning of that amazing Kon Tiki voyage. 50 years ago. One of the saddest things is that many lumps of solidified oil pollution were found while crossing the Pacific.

When I was living in Victoria BC went to a conference at Lester B. Pearson College. We all piled into a bus to go visit Race Rocks. I was sitting next to Thor Heyerdahl. We talked about the Norwegian winter olympics and how difficult it had been to keep the Ra from sinking.

Thought about him a lot during the Iraq war because he sailed the Euphrates and Tigris down the rivers, right cross to africa.
And now it is a war zone again.
Inanda

WOW! thats interesting inanda, I had not known that it was the anniversary and it seems almost impossible that a half century has slipped away in the interim. It must have been neat to meet Heyerdahl. I was in my early teens then and sailing a raft across the mightiest ocean seemed like the epitomy of adventure. You know what? It still does...

vs7....I'm with you on those books on tape/CD! I've listened to many as a way to pass time on a long commute to and from work. I've even been known to pass the exit because the book is getting so good!!! But oddly enough, it's not always the book itself, but the narrator that makes the book. I actually LISTENED to Nora Roberts' Birthright. Very exciting. I don't like romance novels, but I think she makes a good crossover to mystery.

I have also enjoyed Larry McMurtrey (sp?) books on tape, read by a fantastic reader, now if I can just remember his name!! He was actually the "bad guy" on White Fang 2 - black hair, sinister looking. Anyway, McMurtrey wrote Terms of Endearment and Lonesome Dove. The books I "read" were the 3 books of the Berrybender series. Good western stories with everything from adventure, sex, murder, history and everything. Good story line, and the narrator does a great job with all the accents - from British, German and Italian to Mexican and Indian. Pretty cool!

"The Lovely Bones" was so wonderful. I especially liked the vision of heaven it presented. The narrator was in heaven with other girls her age and was surrounded by all of the things she liked. If she missed something (her dog, for instance), it would be introduced into her heaven a short time later.

"Lucky" was terribly depressing because she seemed to have worked through all of her feelings, but then it turned out that she was a drug addict and really hadn't healed at all.

If you like books on grammar, "Woe Is I," by Patricia T. O'Conner, is good and very funny.

Stephen King may not be a writer of literature with a capital "L," but he is a great storyteller. "The Stand" is a great read, especially the second, longer version. He also wrote some good essays on film.

I remember reading Kon Tiki in school. And for anyone who's REALLY interested, the Kon Tiki and Ra are displayed in a museum in Olso, Norway. It sure makes the story real and unforgetable!

I like to read Patricia Cornwell and J.D. Robb. I can't get into the books that are true stories.

Then I did read everyone of the "Left Behind Series", I couldn't wait for a new one to come out. When I first got into them everyone at work was reading them then I decided to start and I was about 4 books behind everyone. Didn't take me long to catch up.

I have 1 book each of Patricia and J.D. Robb to read but for some reason I can't seem to quit reading here at Dave's Garden.

Zuzu, If you liked "The Stand" you might want to try "Swan Song" by Robert McCammon

lantanalover, YES - I agree sometimes the reader makes all the difference in the world.... I like Scott Brick reading and if you get one that can read with a slight accent - WOW ...... .... I've actually read some Larry McMurtry (before I got hooked on books on tape).......

My library will ship them to me so... It's fun to pick up the books on tape at the PO too......

ZuZu - Never thought I'd see the day where someone else enjoyed the works of Patricia D. O'Conner. She used to be a guest on a radio show once a month and I miss hearing her explain why it's not good English useage to use words like badly (because there is no "goodly") and yet we hear it often.
Lovely Bones was too upsetting having a daughter who was also raped. I quit the library book club for the same reason: too many rape stories and disfunctional families. Need a rainy week to start on James Patterson's The Honeymoon. A friend named Paterson just read it and loved it. Hubby reads Da Vinci Codes and anything printed - at least 2 books a week. My big job is to read my Fuji E550 manual: 120 pages!

vs71099, I loved "Swan Song" and I agree with you. Anyone who enjoyed "The Stand" would love McCammon's book. He's written some other really good books too.

Pirl, I can sympathize with your reasons for avoiding "Lovely Bones." I had a similar experience and the book appealed to me because the narrator told the story in such a positive tone, but we all deal with these things in different ways. I still cannot read books or watch movies about battered wives even though my own experience with that phenomenon ended 35 years ago.

I do love O'Conner's style and I wish I had heard the radio spots. So few people care about grammar and syntax. When my son was in grammar school, his teachers would send me notes that were full of grammatical errors. I would correct them in red pen and send them back. I'm sure they despised me--and my poor son, who was positively pedantic in his zeal to correct their errors in class: "Don't say 'lay down,' Miss French. You're supposed to be a teacher!"

Zuzu (my maiden name was Zuegel - wish I had thought of ZuZu but you have it) It's so difficult to try and get people to see the light - ala "Woe is I". O'Conner is one smart woman but confident enough not to be abrasive. The fewer versus less problem just leads me to sighing. People won't absorb, "The pains are less intense and I have fewer of them". They argue back that the supermarket sign says, "10 items or less" and of course, the supermarket is wrong. Woe is I.

My current pet peeve is people's ignorance of the differences between "further" and "farther" and "whether" and "if." The supermarket sign is a constant irritant, but what can we expect when every television host and teacher uses improper grammar. The only anchorman with a firm grasp of the English language is Peter Jennings, and he was a high-school dropout. That's eloquent testimony to the value of higher education. Walter Cronkite once admitted that he knew "Febuary" was wrong, but it was just too much trouble to say "February."

My nickname has always been Zuzu. It suits me more than Elena, my real name.

Zuzu: my 40 year old son is irritated when someone says, "All I know is....", leading anyone to believe that what follows is the sum of his or her knowledge. A simple phrase, which too many people use, "To tell you the truth...", bothers me. Am I to believe that if the phrase isn't used I will hear a lie? I like Peter Jennings, not his politics, and we share the same birthday but he is a few years older. Have you ever had the pleasure of reading any books by Willard R. Espy? "Have a Word on me" is just one. One book had me laughing so hard the kids came in from their rooms to see if I was okay.

My two peeves:

Do you see what I'm saying? No, I don't see what you're saying, but I hear what you are saying.

I'm here to tell you.... Like that's the only reason you are here, and knew in advance you were going to have to come just to tell me.

Sorry, I couldn't resist.

Back on topic, I'm reading John Grisham's newest. "The Broker" I also have a 3 book series waiting. Lauraine Snelling's Dakotah Treasures series. "Ruby", "Opal", and "Pearl".

JoanJ - good points. I agree with each of them. Back on topic, my husband is reading Skinny Dipping and wants me to read it. He says it's very funny. Generally he's into more serious books or Tom Clancy books. What do you expect of a man who's named Jack Ryan?

I'm going to start a new thread--"What Are You Reading? Part 2." This one is getting too long and takes too long to download.

Come, follow me!!!

Here's the new thread: http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/506893/

Follow me, up and down, all the way and all around. Take my hand and I will follow you.....

Don't ya just miss John Denver.

Off to find the new thread.

I'm reading Jean Auel's Shelters of Stone. I cracked it open about 4 months ago and haven't read it since. Its a read in progress. lol

Hey Judy, we've moved. See the link a few posts up.

Come on over and tell me if that Jean Auel book is one of the Clan of the Cave Bear series?

Two books. One, "My experiments with truth" by Mahatma Gandhi in two volumes. Have finished the first and now into the second about 30 pages. In fact, this book was published in 1930 and my great grandfather had bought it around the same year. It's an excellent read. Excerpts from this work has often been included in English text books in schools and colleges.

Two, "Farewell to Cricket" by Don Bradman. This was a long time dream for me to go through it. I pounced upon an opportunity at my old man friend's bookshelf on one of my visits a couple of months ago. He was kind to allow me to borrow his late brother's collection that he cherishes. He is of the type that wont easily do that to others. Since he knows my reputation of sincerety and carefulness in handling old books, he did so. This book is all about Sir Don Bradman's cricket life. Beautifully written autobiography. You learn so many things from reading old books.

Glad to see this thread. With the advent of the TV and the Internet, it's so nice to see so many people still resort to reading as a hobby. Not for nothing they said that the book is the best companion!

Dinu

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