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54 Responses to “Open Thread: What Are You Reading?”

1. Jeanne Says:
   May 8th, 2007 at 6:43 pm

   I do a lot of my ‘reading’ sitting in my car via audio books. I am currently deeply enjoying Neil Gaiman’s ‘Stardust’ - read by Neil Gaiman. A great and fabulous fairytale and read very well - I highly recommend it.

   I just finished reading Scott Rosenberg’s ‘Dreaming in code : two dozen programmers, three years, 4,732 bugs, and one quest for transcendent software’. I found it quite fun - but perhaps mostly because I have spent a lot of time struggling with precisely the issues he discusses. I think those who are not programmers might enjoy the glimpse behind the curtain into the chaotic world of writing software.

2. Nancy Says:
   May 8th, 2007 at 6:50 pm

   “Religious literacy: what every American needs to know — and doesn’t” by Stephen Prothero. He maintains that by historically emphasizing “heart” religion over “head” religion, evangelicalism itself is responsible for Americans’ lack of religious knowledge today. I found that assertion amazingly ironic but believable, along the lines of Richard Hofstadter’s “Anti-intellectualism in American life.”

3. Moultrie Creek Says:
   May 8th, 2007 at 7:47 pm

   I have recently enjoyed reading Glenn Reynolds’ “An Army of Davids” and Matthew Burden’s “The Blog of War”. Both discuss the power of blogs - from different perspectives. The military blogs - or milblogs - spotlighted in Matt’s book are just the beginning. They continue to report in a very personal way and are some of the best sources of information on the war.

4. magpie (larah) Says:
   May 8th, 2007 at 8:20 pm

   Just finished: Ambient Findability

   In progress: Web Dragons (Witten et al.), Extreme Search (Hock), Dancing in the Streets (Ehrenriech), Short Stories by Latin American Women (Correas de Zapata, ed)

   On deck: The Long Tail (Anderson), Everything is Miscellaneous (Weinberger), whatever junky sci-fi/fantasy comes to hand later this evening

5. Justin Thorp Says:
   May 8th, 2007 at 8:21 pm

   I just finished up Chris Anderson’s book “The Long Tail.” It has totally reshaped the way that I look at commerce and economics in today’s information age.

6. Jennifer Duncan Says:
   May 8th, 2007 at 8:49 pm

   The Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears by Dinaw Mengestu–if you live in the DC metro area, the insights on gentrification and immigration ring quite true.

7. BC Barnes Says:
   May 8th, 2007 at 10:08 pm

   Started A Farewell to Arms this weekend, just finished Arrowsmith by Sinclair Lewis. I’m trying to cover some classics that I missed coming through school.

8. Tom Murphy Says:
   May 8th, 2007 at 10:12 pm

   Have just begun a re-reading of Italo Calvino’s “Invisible Cities” (for school) and that has pulled me back to bits of Kevin Lynch’s “Good City Form” … otherwise it’s Diane Jacobs’ “Christmas in July: The Life and Art of Preston Sturges” and David Shapiro’s “New and Selected Poems 1965-2006″ … and a mountain of student papers!

9. jgodsey Says:
   May 8th, 2007 at 10:16 pm

   Treasurer’s Report - Robert Benchley. Sometimes you gotta go with the classics.

10. Genevieve Tucker Says:
    May 9th, 2007 at 2:48 am

    Paul Auster’s Brooklyn Follies, and Australian poet Richard Adamson’s latest book, The Goldfinches of Baghdad (it’s beautiful).

11. Ashley Cake Says:
    May 9th, 2007 at 3:24 am

    I’m re-reading Mikhail Bulgakov’s “Master and Margarita” translated by Michael Glenny

12. Neil Says:
    May 9th, 2007 at 5:15 am

    Just finished Steve Aylett’s “Lint”, which was very funny. Have started Michael Chabon’s “The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay”, which promises to be epic at the very least.

13. JBD Says:
    May 9th, 2007 at 7:06 am

    Having recently finished A.S. Byatt’s “Possession” and Hugh Brogan’s “Alexis de Tocqueville: A Life,” I’m now reading Stephan Talty’s “Empire of Blue Water” about the Caribbean pirates. Next up for biography Robert Allison’s “Stephen Decatur.”

14. James Says:
    May 9th, 2007 at 7:31 am

    Am currently reading Caragounis, “The Development of Greek and the New Testament” a 700+ page tome (tomb?) on his take on the development of Classical Greek through to modern Greek. Problematic thesis, complicated arguments. He’s wrong

    “The Long Tail” is a good book; more people should read it.

    James

15. jen Says:
    May 9th, 2007 at 7:48 am

    i’m reading “a prayer for owen meany” by john irving. i was just reading it on the metro, and right as i got to a crucial part (he just found the baseball, for those who have read it), i had to get off at my stop!

    i love how a good book makes you wish your commute was longer.

16. Kelley Says:
    May 9th, 2007 at 8:29 am

    I’ve just recently finished “Infidel” by Ayaan Hirsi Ali. I don’t normally read biographies but this was an amazing book.

    Now I’m reading “Invitation to a Beheading” by Nabokov. Not exactly new, but great nonetheless.

17. Brigid Burke Says:
    May 9th, 2007 at 8:49 am

    Hmm–well, I’m reading a number of things, as always. Yesterday I was working my way through a collection of H.P. Lovecraft stories (I have several of them, so I’m not going to remember the collective title of this one). I’ve also started “Drift” by Jim Miller, though I’m not far enough into it to comment on it. I mostly read short stories, so there are a few other compilations that I picked up at Borders, just waiting to be read.

18. Elisabeth Grant Says:
    May 9th, 2007 at 9:16 am

    I recently finished reading “The God of Small Things” by Arundhati Roy. While I enjoyed the story, it was Roy’s writing style that took my breath away. I tend to be more impressed by the way a story is written than by what it is about. I really recommend this book.

19. lentigogirl Says:
    May 9th, 2007 at 9:41 am

    As a counterbalance to all you intellectuals: I’m reading CJ Cherryh’s high fantasy Fortress series. One of the extraordinary benefits of working at the Library of Congress is that employees can check out books — including out of print books long ago remaindered by our local libraries even though the authors keep writing related books.

20. Paul Puglisi Says:
    May 9th, 2007 at 9:45 am

    Right now I have a few books open and reading. you can see them here http://gentlymadpress.com/blog/currently-reading/ and I’ll list them.

    King Rat by China Mieville, The Prestige by Christopher Priest, Robert Sawyer’s Calculating God, Parasite Rex by Carl Zimmer.

    I have coming up The Dragon Pool By Christopher Golden and American Morons by Glen Hirshberg

21. Tim Lacy Says:
    May 9th, 2007 at 10:37 am

    I’m currently reading:

    1. David J. Blacker’s ‘Democratic Education Stretched Thin’;
    2. J.R.R. Tolkien’s ‘Silmarillion’ (for about the 10th time);
    3. George Weigel’s ‘Witness to Hope’; and
    4. Various articles in ‘The American Historical Review’ (v.112, no. 2).

    Soon I hope to begin William Chace’s ‘100 Semesters’ and the next installment (11 or 12, I believe) in Patrick O’Brian’s Aubrey/Maturin series.

22. Jason Hybner Says:
    May 9th, 2007 at 10:43 am

    I always read Time, National Review, The Weekly Standard, The New Republic, and Foreign Affairs.

    Also, I just finished “Crime and Punishment” by Dostoevsky, and hope to begin “The Sound and the Fury” by Faulkner sometime this week.

23. Sue Says:
    May 9th, 2007 at 10:44 am

    Since I work with kids, I read a lot of children’s literature - just finished the “Charlie Bone” series; but am also working on David McCullough’s “1776.” Next up is probably Tolkien’s “Children of Hurin”!

24. Linda Nelson Says:
    May 9th, 2007 at 11:11 am

    The Professor and the Madman. I have read this in the past and am enjoying it a second time. most of my reading is professional or non-fiction and biography. earlier I finished Conscience of a Conservative by Barry Goldwater.

25. Joseph J. Finn Says:
    May 9th, 2007 at 11:19 am

    I’m reading James Carroll’s A Requiem For My Father, which is 100% fantastic. A bittersweet memoir of growing up with an FBI agent turned Air Force general for a father, with themes of Catholicism, nuclear aggression and the Pentagon culture in general. Really, really good.

26. John Klima Says:
    May 9th, 2007 at 11:45 am

    I’m reading A GREY MOON OVER CHINA by Thomas A. Day. It’s really good, but really long (well, about 450 pages, but I’ve been reading a lot of YA lately so it FEELS long). While nominally a science fiction book–it’s about a group of scientists and military people who decide to build super spaceships and leave the Earth–it’s more about the social interaction (both personal and global) of people. Very cool.

    And since I never read one book at a time, I’m also reading Jay Lake’s clock-punk novel MAINSPRING. I’m going to pick up the first DRESDEN FILES book from Jim Butcher and a Karen Joy Fowler short-story collection the next time I’m at my local public.

27. eliz. Says:
    May 9th, 2007 at 11:48 am

    I’m currently re-reading Susan Elizabeth Phillips’ “Match Me if You Can” before I start on Ian McEwan’s “Atonement” or “Left to tell : discovering God amidst the Rwandan holocaust” by Immaculée Ilibagiza. I figured I deserved a light read before I made my way through those works.

28. Fred Simonton Says:
    May 9th, 2007 at 11:59 am

    Just finishing up Sakyong Mipham’s “Ruling Your World” and plan on rereading it very regularly. He offers terrific examples and insights into sharpening your awareness to best live in these crazy modern times.

29. Tim Says:
    May 9th, 2007 at 1:15 pm

    Having just finished my American Studies graduate class, I’m going for something a little lighter:

    The American Story: 100 True Tales from American History by Jennifer Armstrong and wonderfully illustrated by Roger Roth.

    I actually picked it up for my son, but at age 2, he’s not quite ready for it (although he does like to look for animals in the pictures).

30. ninophile Says:
    May 9th, 2007 at 1:23 pm

    Just finished Chuck Palahniuk’s new novel, “Rant.” Starting Elmore Leonard’s “Up in Honey’s Room.” Also reading “Gotham: A History of New York City to 1898.”

31. Jennifer Schultz Says:
    May 9th, 2007 at 1:41 pm

    I’m reading Cracker: The Best Dog in Vietnam by Cynthia Kadohata (winner of the Newbery for Kira Kira). I reluctantly started the book, because I’m convinced that either the dog or the 17 year old kid is going to get it. But I have a fascination with war dogs, and Kadohata is a fantastic writer. It’s an awesome look at a little known aspect of the Vietnam War.

32. D1 Guy Says:
    May 9th, 2007 at 2:04 pm

    I’m currently reading The Last Alchemist, which is a biography of Count Caligiostro.

33. Carrie Ansell Says:
    May 9th, 2007 at 2:18 pm

    I am currently reading “Grand Avenues: The Story of the French Visionary Who Designed Washington, D.C.” by Scott Berg and “My Name is Red” by Orhan Pamuk.

34. Anna Belle Leiserson Says:
    May 9th, 2007 at 2:38 pm

    Outwitting History by Aaron Lansky (Algonquin Books, 2004) — a rollicking good read on rescuing Yiddish literature when it was on the verge of extinction.

35. Emily Lloyd Says:
    May 9th, 2007 at 2:39 pm

    I’m reading “Guests of Space,” the most recent volume of poetry by the far-too-underrated Anselm Hollo, and China Mieville’s new novel (his first for children), “Un Lun Dun.”

36. Matt Raymond Says:
    May 9th, 2007 at 4:17 pm

    What a well-read bunch you all are!

37. Mary Russell Says:
    May 9th, 2007 at 4:31 pm

    I just finished rereading The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri which I loved — the details really bring the story to life and the search for identity is such a universal issue and beautifully handled here. I am currently in the middle of Arlington Park by Rachel Cusk.

38. Robynne Says:
    May 9th, 2007 at 6:37 pm

    Four books I have read in the last week -
    Old Books Rare Friends
    A Pound of Paper,
    The Know It All
    The Bookwoman’s Last Fling

    Currently reading - Casanova was a Book Lover.

39. Argomento aperto: cosa state leggendo? « biblioragazzi Says:
    May 10th, 2007 at 3:21 am

    [...] scia di quanto proposto dalla Library of Congress nel suo blog ci avventuriamo anche noi in un argomento aperto: cosa state leggendo? Intendiamo proprio di carta, [...]

40. Agapetospaidiske Says:
    May 10th, 2007 at 2:08 pm

    I started The book of air and shadows by Michael Gruber but its due back to the library tomorrow so I’m not sure if I’ll be able to finish it by then.

41. Bill Collins Says:
    May 10th, 2007 at 4:05 pm

    I tend to read a lot in my recommending area of expertise - the Baha’i religion. I just finished The Baha’i World, 2005-2006, which has an interesting essay on whether contemporary “western liberal democracy” is really the “end of history” in political evolution, or whether there isn’t a further advance that will rise above the the current assumptions of competing interests and adversarial partisanship. In effect, the logical outcome of current party- and adversary-based democratic practice is increasing focus on winning elections and decreasing focus on solving problems, with attendant problems of corruption and public disillusionment (e.g. declining election participation). I’m also reading a book by Rhett Diessner about spiritual psychology entitled “Psyche and Eros” (Oxford: George Ronald, 2007), with fascinating comparisons of Baha’i-based psychology and traditional psychological approaches.

42. Sue Says:
    May 10th, 2007 at 4:55 pm

    I am in the middle of several books. Everything from “Guests of the Sheik” to Mercedes Lackey’s By the Sword to “Shelf Life, a year in the life of a bookstore” I am in charge of reading/discussion series in my library picking a theme, getting university scholars and getting grants to help fund them. Mercedes Lackey is for fun the others are for our current book discussion series and the mid-east book is for a series I plan on doing in 2008-2009.

    Sue

43. Robert Teeter Says:
    May 11th, 2007 at 7:51 pm

    “Ishi’s Brain.” It deals with, among other things, that other federal cultural agency, the one on the Mall.

44. Ryan W Says:
    May 14th, 2007 at 10:57 am

    ’You Can Win’ by Shiv Khera is a wonderful experience. It can change one’s perspective towards life. This book can be helpful for the person who wants to grow as a leader. Action plan at the end of each chapter keeps the track of progress

45. Dustin Brewer Says:
    May 19th, 2007 at 5:18 pm

    I am currently reading Clowngirl by Monica Drake. Which is an awesome book. I am also thumbing through A best Practice Guide to CSS/XHTML by Patrick Griffith.

    However, I have Chuck Palahniuk’s new book Rant sitting on my desk begging me to start reading it before I finish Clowngirl.

46. Sophie Salmon Says:
    July 10th, 2007 at 2:38 am

    I always love talking about books. I’m right in the middle of reading “The Kitchen God’s Wife” by Amy Tan. For some reason, even though I am not of Chinese descent, I love reading books written by her. I have just recently finished “Dream Country” by Luanne Rice too, and it’s a really nice novel about family, love, and magic. I basically read just about any book that catches my fancy, and my Terry Goodkind “Sword of Truth” series is just sitting at home on my bookshelf waiting for me to get back there and start flipping through their pages…

47. Bachmann Says:
    July 30th, 2007 at 3:20 pm

    I am reading The Swarm from Frank Schätzling which is an about an apocalyptic catastrophy caused by an intelligent strange sea live.

48. dave Says:
    September 10th, 2007 at 2:42 pm

    Peace Like a River, by Leif Enger and “The Terror” by Dan Simmons both are nice book..

49. Tech Says:
    September 20th, 2007 at 2:30 pm

    I have read “Peace Like a River” and i really think everyone should read it. It’s a great book..

50. CarFix...Daily Says:
    September 22nd, 2007 at 11:28 am

    Seems redundant, but I have been reading a few books about cars: ‘The World’s Worst Cars’ and ‘Mighty Muscle Cars’.

    Been largely reading non-fiction but have had a desire to pick up some literature again. Lately I have had a desire to read some of Hermann Hesse’s works.

51. Sunshine7 Says:
    September 28th, 2007 at 1:26 pm

    Usually only have time for short things these days (essays, match book covers, etc), but was given WALDEN by Michael Dolan, and it is was a wonderful and quick read. Dark and hilarious at the same time.

52. Adam Dionne Says:
    January 10th, 2008 at 3:47 pm

    I am reading ‘you shall know our velocity’ by Dave Eggers… what a great book!

53. Mark Wilkins Says:
    September 19th, 2008 at 12:10 am

    I read a couple on the go. I recommend ‘Shantaram” by Gregory David Roberts - it’s a true story that’s a thriller.

    And “A Short History Of Nearly Everything” by Bill Bryson. Which is a ‘rough’ guide to science.

    Both are Australian Authors.

    I’ve also got the “4 Hour Work Week” by Tim Ferriss - harder to get into, as I work a lot more than 4 hours a week.

54. W. Paul Rayner Says:
    November 3rd, 2008 at 2:50 am

    I usually have several books on the go at once, but list here only those I’ve recently read by my choice as opposed to those I read as part of my degree requirements. I just finished rereading Bill Bryson’s “Neither Here nor There” (btw Mark, he was born in Des Moines and currently lives in the UK) - always a lot of fun to read. I recommend “The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid” to anyone who grew up in the 1950s.

    I’m presently working my way through Richard Dawkin’s “The God Delusion” and when I tire of that effort, Raymond Chandler’s “The Long Goodbye.” It seems I go through a binge of rereading Chandler every three years or so - never seem to tire of his imagery.

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