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Author Message
25 new of 58 responses total.
jep
response 4 of 58: Mark Unseen   Jan 30 16:17 UTC 2007

I've just started Bill Cosby's "Fatherhood".  I'm only 50-60 pages into
it.  I was reading it in bed last night, and thought I was going to have
to go outside or something because I was having trouble controlling my
mirth.  I think Cosby is the funniest man alive, and this book leaps
right into being hilarious.  I have high expectations for the rest of it.
mynxcat
response 5 of 58: Mark Unseen   Jan 30 16:24 UTC 2007

Fatherhood is a great book! It kept me in splits. Especially the story of when
his mom told him to put his brains back in his head.
rcurl
response 6 of 58: Mark Unseen   Jan 30 16:26 UTC 2007

Join books. Help keep other conferences active. There are a couple of items
for recent reading. 
twenex
response 7 of 58: Mark Unseen   Jan 30 16:46 UTC 2007

Perhaps we could link this item?

I am currently working my way through "The Winter War," by William Trotter,
a history of the 1939-40 Finnish-Soviet war. It sounds quite dry, but it's
actually rather amusing in most places - so far, anyway - mostly due to the
utter incompetence of the Soviet forces. You seriously wonder whether some
of the things in this book are just anti-Soviet propaganda, but it's funny
all the same.

I can't agree with Trotter's assessment of the Finnish language, though: I
think it's lovely.

Also took a sneak peak at ON THE EDGE: THE SPECTACULAR RISE AND FALL OF
COMMODORE, a birthday purchase.
keesan
response 8 of 58: Mark Unseen   Jan 30 16:58 UTC 2007

Running Linux 3rd Edition.
nharmon
response 9 of 58: Mark Unseen   Jan 30 17:18 UTC 2007

Trolling for Trouble, by Jim Daloonik
mcnally
response 10 of 58: Mark Unseen   Jan 30 17:42 UTC 2007

This response has been erased.

rcurl
response 11 of 58: Mark Unseen   Jan 30 17:46 UTC 2007

Agora Winter 2006/7, "reading material", has been liked to books 114.
Also in the books cf are several other "what I'm reading" type items,
including a general one, which has been all for fiction, and one specifically
for nonfiction. Come and browse in books.
vivekm1234
response 12 of 58: Mark Unseen   Jan 30 17:46 UTC 2007

The SFWA (Science Fiction Writers of America) Grand Masters - Vol 1/2. 

I especially liked: All Cats are Gray, Serpent's Tooth, Fondly Farenheit
and well almost all of them (short stories).
mcnally
response 13 of 58: Mark Unseen   Jan 30 17:46 UTC 2007

  I'm currently reading an interesting book by one of my favorite
  authors, Tim Powers.  Powers' books in recent years mostly tell
  the stories of people who discover that a secret world of mystical
  forces is operating behind the scenes of the modern-day world
  they thought they knew.

  His newest one, "Three Days to Never" improbably mixes a college
  professor and his teenage daughter with secret agents, a malign
  occult organization, a strange device with unrevealed powers over
  the flow of time, and the legacies of Albert Einstein and Charlie
  Chaplin.  I think Powers is a fascinating storyteller and the
  thing I love about his books is watching the progress, as the
  book moves along, from "how is he ever going to tie all this
  together, and what the heck is the deal with [X]" to "aha!" Not
  all of his books manage to tie things up neatly at the end but
  they're still usually a pleasure to read.

  I also highly recommend his novel "Last Call", where a middle-aged
  poker player finds out that a strange card game he played in a
  dozen years ago had more significance than he ever suspected.
twenex
response 14 of 58: Mark Unseen   Jan 30 18:15 UTC 2007

Re: #8. What a koinkidink! I have that edition of that book. It's dog-eared
pages usually lie abandoned (but much-loved, all the same) on my Computing
Bookshelf.
twenex
response 15 of 58: Mark Unseen   Jan 30 18:16 UTC 2007

Re: #3. My mum got that book for Xmas.
slynne
response 16 of 58: Mark Unseen   Jan 30 19:47 UTC 2007

resp:3 I enjoyed that book a lot. If you want to know what they did 
wrong with the dog, get Cesar's Way (also a good read). 

bru
response 17 of 58: Mark Unseen   Jan 30 19:48 UTC 2007

I am curently reading "Beka Cooper, Terrier" by Tamora Pierce.  It is an 
interesting novel about a young girl who decides to become a member of the
watch in an alternate medeviel setting.  They call the law enforcement "dogs"
and she earns the appelation of terrier because of her persistence.

The setting is well constructed, and the story line interesting even if you
do have to get past the archaic words she uses all you mots, coves, and 
gixies need to read this novel.

Also I am about to start on "Good Omens" by Pratchett and Gaiman.
mcnally
response 18 of 58: Mark Unseen   Jan 30 19:57 UTC 2007

 I recently re-read "Good Omens"..  I had it in a stack of paperbacks I'd
 bought from the library for $0.50 and set aside for when I ran out of 
 other books and the weekend before this last one I was too sick to go to
 the library and pick out some new reading material so I dipped into the
 paperback pile.  It didn't seem as funny as the first time I read it,
 years ago, but it's still quite entertaining.
edina
response 19 of 58: Mark Unseen   Jan 30 20:02 UTC 2007

There was talk of making it into a movie, with Terry Gilliam at the 
helm, but I think it's been pushed to the back of the shelf.  Pity. 
That's a combination (Pratchett/Gaiman/Gilliam) that would be a lot of 
fun to watch.
tod
response 20 of 58: Mark Unseen   Jan 30 20:06 UTC 2007

I'm 1/4 of the way through "My Life" by Prez Clinton.  I recently read:
"The evil that men do: FBI profiler Roy Hazelwood's journey into the minds
of sexual predators" by Stephen G. Michaud with Roy Hazelwood
and "Made in Detroit: a south of 8 Mile memoir" by Paul Clemens
twenex
response 21 of 58: Mark Unseen   Jan 30 21:06 UTC 2007

Re: #20. How would Gaiman (I presume of the Neil variety) fit in?
jadecat
response 22 of 58: Mark Unseen   Jan 30 21:47 UTC 2007

resp:7 Sounds interesting. I'll have to see about getting it from the
library.
mcnally
response 23 of 58: Mark Unseen   Jan 30 21:47 UTC 2007

 re #21:  he probably wouldn't fit in with the Clinton biography,
 the Detroit memoir, or the sexual predator profiles.  Assuming
 that you meant to refer to #19, Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett
 wrote "Good Omens" together, relatively early in both their 
 careers.
jep
response 24 of 58: Mark Unseen   Jan 30 21:56 UTC 2007

re resp:13: I liked "The Drawing Of The Dark" pretty well but haven't
read a lot of other books by Powers.
twenex
response 25 of 58: Mark Unseen   Jan 30 22:02 UTC 2007

Re: #23. Hahah, yes quite right. I must have been thinking of some other
Pratchett book, then, because (a) I thought he was sole author and (b) I have
not read any co-authored by him.
tod
response 26 of 58: Mark Unseen   Jan 30 22:48 UTC 2007

re #23
LOL
mary
response 27 of 58: Mark Unseen   Jan 30 22:58 UTC 2007

_Mountains Beyond Mountains_, by Tracy Kidder is my current read.  It's 
this month's book club choice.  It's also the 2007 Ann Arbor Reads 
selection.  The author was in town last week and gave a talk about writing 
this book and his relationship with Dr. Paul Farmer, the person behind the 
highly successful world-wide Partners in Health medical outreach program, 
and the subject of _M B M_.  It's fascinating look at a brilliant man and 
the global problem of providing health care for all.  

mcnally
response 28 of 58: Mark Unseen   Jan 30 23:24 UTC 2007

 re #24:  Try "The Anubis Gates" if you can find a copy.  Or, if you like
 pirates, "On Stranger Tides" is really good, too, though hard to find.
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