Okay, time to shatter the myth that the only thing grexers read are computer 
screens.  In the long hot,hazy, lazy days of summer, surely everyone has had
the  time to lay out on the hammock with a good book.  So, what is on
everyone's  summer reading list?  What are you reading, or do you plan to read,
or have you  read these days?

"Books! Books! There are Books everywhere!!" 

131 responses total.

        Step 1, assemble the hammock.  [One the list since August '92].

Also known as the "What to do in the library when all the computers are taken
item"

Currently Im almost finished with "The Fountainhead" by Ayn Rand, which is a 
fascinating book about an architect and his struggle against conformity, and
the  strength that comes from individuality and being artistically and
spiritually  pure and true toyourself.  Supposedly based loosely on the life of
Frank Lloyd  Wright.  It is a classic.

Also, I recently read "The Chamber" by John Grisham, which is about a man on 
death row who ends up being represented by his grandson who he's never met.  A 
pretty good read but the ending was disappointing.  I'm sure when they make
this  into a movie, they are going to change the ending.  Not Grisham's best
work but a  decent diversion.

Non-fiction wise, I just got Bob Woodward's new book "the Choice" about the '96
 campaign and though I've only read a couple of chapters, its got some
interesting  stuff.  Such as that Clinton respects Dole and was glad he got the
nomination  because he didnt think any of the other GOP candidates were capable
of being  president and that his concern over what could happen to the country
if thewrong  person got the keys to the oval office was greater than any desire
to see Dole  beaten in the primaries.  Anyway, if you are into politics, you'd
probably like  this book.

I've read a few software manuals lately.  Do those count?

As soon as I get off the modem and have lunch, I'm going to *start* reading
The New Adventures of Doctor Who: Sky Pirates.

Just finished Motown by Loren Estleman (a local author, btw), 
and I picked up: Texasville by Larry McMurtry,Mr. Roberts by Thomas Heggen,
Firestarter and The Green Mile by Stephen King.

keeps me off the street ;)

I'm in the middle of two books -- _Walk in Balance_ by Sun Bear (reading it
again) and finishing "Macbeth" by Shakespeare.  It's kind of odd to go from
Indian philosophy to a play from the Middle Ages, but anyone who knows me well
will know that this is normal behavior.  ;-)

Summer agora item 27 has been linked to books 54.

"The Six Wives of Henry VIII" by Anne Weir.  Considering that I have read
on this subject *extensively* since I was twelve years old - practically
enough to write my own book - amazingly, the author has come up with a few
things I didn't know about the period. 

Mr. Roberts is a great book.  
I just started _A Brief History of Time_ by Stephen Hawking.  His other
book _Black Holes and Baby Universes_ was cool, too.

i'm reading "hit and run" by nancy griffin and kim masters - it's a hollyweird
insider book.

Ann Arbor grexers can sign up at the library for the read 10 books for 
summer program. You get a fancy chart to write the titles, maybe a 
library badge. My 4-2/3 yr old will get his choice of paperback book when 
he finishes up his list. Not sure what the 'grown-up' prizes are...

 Gee, I think I have about 10 going already. 

  I'm one of those people who will buy a book then read half and put it down
for a month, and in the process start another book, put that down half
finished, etc until I have about 10 going at once. Unless it really grabs me
I just keep reading in spurts. I am reading Texasville with more energy than
Firestarter, though. I think I'm averaging 4 chapters a night in Texasville.

I've got two books going right now.  On my own time, I'm reading the Chase
Iolan Terminal Server manual.  Most of the reading I'm doing at work is the
Purveryor web server manual.

I'm reading "The Past Through Tomorrow", by Robert Heinlein.

I've got two books going: _Pierre_ (Kraken Edition) by Herman
Melville, and _Thin Air_ by Robert Parker, the latest Spenser
novel to appear in paperback (Hawk is not in it, alas, but his
temporary substitute, an Hispanic tough guy named Chollo, isn't
too bad.).

I'm reading a book on Kansas outlaws right niw, gift of an aunt.  I've also
got a couple of Roald Dalh books waiting, some more Shakespeare, and I'm
planning to get hold of the Lord of the Rings trilogy and go thru those again.

I just bought a box of books at the Dexter Library sale, authors: Koontz,
Clancy, Grisham, Deighton, & King.

I'm just finishing up the _Return of the King_, and I am reading a book of
Tolkien's short stories about Middle Earth compiled by his son.  It's called
_Unfinished Tales_.

   hmmm. just got done rereading _skinny legs and all_ by tom robbins. i'm
also currently rereading margot adler's _drawing down the moon_, and i'm also
currently reading a book called _death to dust_, about what really happens
to bodies after they die, funeral customs and how they developed, how organs
are harvested for donation, etc. etc.

I am reading _fatal instinct_ by robert W. Walker.  Just finished a trilogy
I gave to Valerie to read...it was pretty good, but can't remember the name
of it.  I am also reading_Herbs that Heal_ by Michael Weiner, Ph.D. and Janet
Weiner.  This one is really good and tells alot of the history of the uses
of the herbs and then what has actually been proven in scientific
studies...cool!

Everything Cynthia Ozick ever wrote.  I've finished the collection
of stories called _The Pagan Rabbi_ and am now reading _Levitation_.

I'm in the middle of several books right now... including _The Invisible
Woman_ and A Woman's Tale _  [or something similar to that...
its about/includes lots of short stories about women who have travelled to
various places around the world... very interesting stuff!]

While driving up to MI yesterday, I listened to a couple books on tape
Including _Acceptable Risk_ by Robin Cook and_The Celestine Prophecy_.

i just read that trashy book called "im with the band" by pamela des bares...i
kinda liked it, but its mindless reading..id like to read the new john
grisham...and im reading a migrane self help book
/

Just finished to collected works of Jan Harold Brunvald on urban legends. I'm
re-reading the 'Guerilla Marketing' series and Guy Kawasaki's 'How To 
Drive Your Competition Crazy.' I need to do some recreational reading SOON!

I just purchased _The Art of the Personal Essay_ and _The Birds of Michigan_.
The latter, oddly enough, was actually published by the University of Indiana.

I just finished rereading Stephen King's Dark Tower series (so far 
consisting of _The Gunslinger_, _The Drawing of Three_ and _The Wastelands_
with _Wizard and Glass_ due out next summer). I HIGHLY recommend these
books to anyone who's looking for some dark, surrealistic fantasy. They
bear some resemblance to King's other works, but mostly they're very
different.

I also just finished _The Hobbit_ and am finally going to read The
Lord of the Rings trilogy. That's my summer goal. I'm almost 24, it's high
time I read these books! :)

As I drove past the Dexter Library tonight (about 7:30 pm) I saw a bunch of
boxes of books marked "FREE".  They probably will still be there tomorrow.
I believe they must be pretty well picked over, but there were perhaps 6-8
boxes of books.  (The Dexter Library is moving & getting rid of stuff).
 

Omni, are you a Gemini?  The way you describe your reading habits, you remind
me of myself when I was a kid.  I'd get 10 books from the library, the maximum
allowed as a kid, and stop halfway up the stairs at home with open books
speread all around me and stay there for the rest of the day!

I loved Skinny Legs and All, but I got so tired of Tom Robbins pretending to
understand and write from a woman's viewpoint that I didn't finish his last
book, soething about frogs?  I was disappointed because I really liked him!

 I don't believe in astrology because it's drivel. It's about as scientific
as my left toe. I'd much rather study planets, and thier composition rather
than concentrate on what some idiot wrote as "traits" of my "sign".

 sorry Marisa.

I was born on Nov 27.

Omni, I am puzzled by why your left toe is less scientific than your right
toe...

  He has only one toe on each side?  'Tis a pity.  The toes probably
exerted their independence developmentally around the second trimester,
which means Omni's left toe may be a Gemini, even though as a whole
he's a Sagittarius.

   re #28: i haven;t read anything tom robbins has written since _skinny legs
and all_. but i did enjoy the other books of his i've read, most notably
_jitterbug perfume_ and _still life with woodpecker_.

i love tolkien and david eddings and dragonlance....but ive read it all...so
now im into mary higgans clark and john grisham....
actually i started a book yesterday called women in the olympics

I just finished "Ill Wind" by Kevin J. Anderson and Doug Beason.  It a science
fiction novel about a plague that destroys all oil and plastic.  It's a nice
notion, but it turns into a standard postapocolyse novel, very reminescent
of Niven and Pournelle's "Lucifer's Hammer" but lacking any very interesting
characters.

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Having consumed SF&F for most of my life, I decided to branch out a little, an
d read something different (oops, hope that word wrapped, I havenet BBS'ed in a
l-o-n-g time, <grin>) On the recommendation by grexers in party at the moment,
I read' Ethan Frome' and '16 Pleasures' both fiction, both great reads. I'm
sure you guys have read them, I'm just catching up.... : ) For the record, I'm
no gemini either, but man, I sed to do the same thing as a kid just spoend all
summer, consuming books. The couch molded  to me, I was on it so much.....
<laugh> Interesting to  see that the Gunslinger had some followups, I loed the
1st one, I'll have to go and check the shelves for the other. Been out of the
reading loop way too long...

I apologize for the ugly typesetting of this, its been a while, 

I'm also reading "Cosmos" by Dr Sagan, and it is teaching me that the universe
is a very diverse place and that we'd be better off studying the universe
around us to uncover the mystery that is life, rather than some quack science
that some idiot dreamed up.

 IF astrology was a valid science, wouldn't the horoscopes be more specificly
written? Did you realize that astrology probably dates back to the time when
there were court astronomers that interpreted dreams and falling stars,
usually to thier own personal agendae? What a load of crap!

Valerie, _The Mists of Avalon_ is WELL worth wading through. Ooh, just 
thinking about it makes me want to go read it again. MZB really has some
fascinating ideas, and I love the way she presents all the women 
characters, especially Morgaine (er, was it Morgaine, ack its been too
long...)

- Backtalk version 1.3.30 - Copyright 1996-2006, Jan Wolter and Steve Weiss