So, What Are You Reading?

Discussion in 'Off-Topic Discussions' started by Ted Heiks, Jul 27, 2013.

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  1. cookderosa

    cookderosa Resident Chef

  2. cookderosa

    cookderosa Resident Chef

    I had a hard time finishing Uncle Tom's Cabin. Not just psychologically, but the dialect was challenging. Really profound though.
     
  3. Ted Heiks

    Ted Heiks Moderator and Distinguished Senior Member

    Read Patricia B. Mitchell's Good Food, Good Folks, Good Times.
     
  4. japhy4529

    japhy4529 House Bassist

    Just finished reading Andy Weir's The Martian. Great book. As I was reading it, I thought "wow, this would make a great movie." Well, I looked it up online and turns out that someone in Hollywood already thought of that (movie is coming out next year starring Matt Damon with Ridley Scott Directing).
     
  5. Kizmet

    Kizmet Moderator

    Cultural Evolution by Feinman & Manzanilla (eds) I love it when I find someone who has had the same thoughts/questions as me.
     
  6. Ted Heiks

    Ted Heiks Moderator and Distinguished Senior Member

    Finished reading Roland H. Bainton's The Reformation of the Sixteenth Century.
     
  7. Maniac Craniac

    Maniac Craniac Moderator Staff Member

    I'm still working on Uncle Tom's Cabin- it's really hard to put down, but it's been a busy/tiring week which is slowing me down.

    I wanted to ask if anyone here has read Moby Dick and if anyone has actually enjoyed it? I've heard so many awful things about it that I'm not excited about it sitting on my reading list, but my curiosity and masochism are likely to get the better of me one day. What do I have to look forward to in this novel-type-thing?

    By the way, my friends. In case you haven't heard the news, Levar Burton is trying to revive Reading Rainbow http://www.forbes.com/sites/alexknapp/2014/06/06/levar-burton-on-reading-rainbows-kickstarter-and-the-love-of-reading/

    I hope it goes well- it was such a fantastic program that I used to look forward to when I was a kid. I've heard a lot of people say it inspired them to become avid readers.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Oct 15, 2014
  8. Maniac Craniac

    Maniac Craniac Moderator Staff Member

    I finally finished Uncle Tom's Cabin. Yes, I cried. :'). Uncle Tom, in my opinion, is a hero in the truest sense. It's hard for me to understand how his name has become a pejorative. This is definitely one of the best books I have ever read.

    Now, I'm on to Wuthering Heights and The Bourne Identity. I'll probably read WH first, since I expect it to be some heavy stuff, then I can follow it up with the likely less deep and more entertaining BI.

    I'm trying to decide what my next non-fiction book should be. Should I take out a text on nutrition, or should I read this book? *If you are reading this, cookderosa, I'm happy to report that I found a copy of it in the catalog of a library in a neighboring town. SCORE!!!!
     
  9. cookderosa

    cookderosa Resident Chef

    Of course I'm reading :)
    So, I finished David and Goliath. Overall, I gave the book an "A" for certain. But, for *me* I didn't care for all the long historical back-story that went with every story. Now, in fairness, that's exactly how Gladwell writes. Outliers was the same way; so I won't fault him for that. It's probably what lots of people love about his work.
    My biggest takeaway was the inverted U discussion, but my favorite chapter was chapter 3! OMG! I won't spoil it, but if there were a way to copy/paste the entire chapter here, it would be fodder for lengthy discussion. The chapter explores whether or not someone should attend the best college they can get into. Interesting stuff! I think you'd like it Maniac. :)
     
  10. Ted Heiks

    Ted Heiks Moderator and Distinguished Senior Member

    My most recent reading project is to start reading Audrey Eccles' Obstetrics and Gynecology in Tudor and Stuart England.
     
  11. cookderosa

    cookderosa Resident Chef

    Hummmm.....interesting. Most people don't read OBGYN books for fun. I have a few, but I'm not most people either lol. Next thing I know you'll be getting your doula certification. :)
     
  12. Maniac Craniac

    Maniac Craniac Moderator Staff Member

    Let me guess. You expect us to believe that this is due to your fascination with history? :nana:
     
  13. Ted Heiks

    Ted Heiks Moderator and Distinguished Senior Member

    What is a doula? (I'm guessing that a doula is a midwife, but I'm not 100% sure.)
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Oct 23, 2014
  14. Ted Heiks

    Ted Heiks Moderator and Distinguished Senior Member

    Yes, indeed. As you can see from my sig line, my undergrad was from a small liberal arts college. As you could probably guess, my undergrad school had no classes in women's history and feminist theory. As many of you probably know, my dream job would be to become an history professor. Early on, I realized that if I ever did become an history professor, likely half of my students would be female. So, in order to self-educate myself in women's history/feminist theory, when I went to the bookstores, I would hang out in the women's studies section as well as the history section.

    As some of you may know, on my days off work (I sort books at the local Goodwill) I hang out at a social club for the mentally ill. This social club often goes on outings. One of the outings that we sometimes go on is a trip to one of the two bookstores in Ottawa County. Through this social club, I have met a young lady who volunteers at the bookstore and works at the library. A couple of years ago, when the social club went on an outing to the bookstore, I found a Civil War woman's diary entitled A Northern Woman in the Plantation South, by Tryphenia Blanche Holder Fox. The lady who was working the cash register was the lady from the social club and she commented that she too likes reading nineteenth century women's diaries. So, I went home that night and inventoried my collection of Civil War women's diaries. It turns out that I own 72 published Civil War women's diaries. Since that time I have been buying Civil War women's diaries foir this young lady as my finances permit.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Oct 23, 2014
  15. Ted Heiks

    Ted Heiks Moderator and Distinguished Senior Member

    So, most people wouldn't read OBGYN books for fun? Do you think that there might be a few people who would read John Marshall Carter's Rape in Mediaeval England or Leah Lydia Otis' Prostitution in Mediaeval Society just as miscellaneous leisure reading?
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Oct 23, 2014
  16. Ted Heiks

    Ted Heiks Moderator and Distinguished Senior Member

    I just got back from Amazon.com and was surprised to find so many books on the history of obstetrics, gynecology, and midwifery in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. So, my amazon.com wishlist has grown.
     
  17. Ted Heiks

    Ted Heiks Moderator and Distinguished Senior Member

    And how is that dissertation coming along?
     
  18. cookderosa

    cookderosa Resident Chef

    :) Doula translates into servant, in the context of labor and delivery, the doula is the mother's helper/support/server. It's a non-medical role but involves having medical knowledge to advocate for the mom when she's presented with choices in labor. I spent a good deal of a decade as a doula.
     
  19. cookderosa

    cookderosa Resident Chef

    Probably, but a confession of mine is that I have a hard time getting interested in world history. (I know, I'm lame)
     
  20. Ted Heiks

    Ted Heiks Moderator and Distinguished Senior Member

    If you're not into world history, you might enjoy Martha Ballard's A Midwife's Tale(Revolutionary War era) and Harriet Eaton's This Birthplace of Souls(Civil War era).
     

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