So, What Are You Reading?

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

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  1. TeacherBelgium

    TeacherBelgium Well-Known Member

    Watched an interview with Rose Fitzgerald, dating back from 1974.
    I knew about the tragic losses of the Kennedy family but I didn't know too much about Rose Fitzgerald.
    Very remarkable woman: lived to 104, outlived 4 children and 1 grandchild, yet when the interviewer asked her if she felt sold short by God, she answered: "The Lord never gives someone a cross that's too heavy to carry".
    What a stoic, strong woman.
     
  2. Johann

    Johann Well-Known Member

    A Mind of Her Own - The Evolutionary Psychology of Women, 2nd ed. Anne Campbell.
     
  3. SteveFoerster

    SteveFoerster Resident Gadfly Staff Member

    It's a witty title, at least!
     
  4. Johann

    Johann Well-Known Member

    And packed. And well-researched. And informative. This book is gonna take a while. Evolutionary psych. is a real thing. Not just a one-off catchy title.
     
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  5. Johann

    Johann Well-Known Member

    Evolutionary psych. is not where I intended to start my study of women's psychology - but a used copy fell into my hands for almost nothing, so... looks so far like 535 pages of useful study to me anyway. I have a reasonably good general grounding in psych, for a lay person - on my way through college I took every psych. course available in night school.

    I intend to work my way through the several lenses of women's psychology - Feminine, Feminist and Female psychology are three separate aspects of study One of the principal motivations is to be able to "think like" recurring women characters in the stories I write. Two of them are in the fashion business -- so that's how I got started on that track, late last year. That study definitely added to my life - hopefully this will, too.
     
    Last edited: Sep 19, 2022
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  6. Tireman 44444

    Tireman 44444 Well-Known Member

    American Guides: The Federal Writers' Project and the Casting of American Culture- Wendy Griswold
     
  7. SteveFoerster

    SteveFoerster Resident Gadfly Staff Member

    As the designated person here to engage in not-so-serious reading, I've realized this year I've read an amazing eleven books by the same author. The fellow is Peter Rhodan, an Aussie who writes sci-fi and fantasy stories. The first was his eight book series on a starship captain from 3000 years in our future who through a spacetime anomaly ends up crashing in England during the waning years of the Western Roman Empire. (Let's just say he makes a lot of changes.) The second is a series so far of three books set in a fantasy milieu. All are breezy, fun reads.
     
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  8. Johann

    Johann Well-Known Member

    "Fashion Designers' Sketchbooks -2." Hywel Davies. Great, cheap find at HomeSense. 40-odd designers, right from their sketchbooks - VERY well-illustrated. Good commentary on who the designers are and how each does their thing. If you like fashion, this is a great one about where it all starts. I'm hunting for Book 1.
     
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  9. Rachel83az

    Rachel83az Well-Known Member

    I think I've heard of Rhodan. What is this series?

    I'm currently (re)reading Discworld, in between doing other things.
     
  10. SteveFoerster

    SteveFoerster Resident Gadfly Staff Member

    The longer one is the Arturo Sandos series. The shorter one is the Ithria series. He also has a third series of three books, and I'm sure I'll get around to those also.

    Hmm. I've heard they're good, but I never read any of those and he ended up writing like forty of them, which is a little intimidating....
     
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  11. Rachel83az

    Rachel83az Well-Known Member

    They're really good, though they do unfortunately start to go downhill around the time of his Alzheimer's diagnosis. I favor reading them in publication order, but some people like to read them by sub-series. That is, perhaps, more manageable than looking at the entire grand list. https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/12/Discworld_Reading_Order_Guide_3.0_%28cropped%29.jpg

    If you do start, bear in mind that the first 2 books aren't like the rest. Hence, why Pratchett (and others) recommend starting at Sourcery. Personally, I like the first two books. But some people hate them for some reason.
     
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  12. Johann

    Johann Well-Known Member

    "The Feminism Book." Written and edited by 9 women, mostly PhDs. Very good historical and thematic order. The blurb says "Big ideas simply explained," and so far, it lives up to that. Okay, okay, the names... :) Hannah McCann (Consultant Editor), Georgie Carroll, Beverly Duguid, Kathryn Gehred, Liana Kirillova, Ann Kramer, Marian Smith Holmes, Shannon Weber, Lucy Mangan.

    I'm just a beginner, in this interesting territory. "The journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step." (Lao-Tzu).
     
  13. Tireman 44444

    Tireman 44444 Well-Known Member

    Portrait of America: A Cultural History of the Federal Writers Project by Jerrold Hirsch
     
  14. Johann

    Johann Well-Known Member

    "Modern Fashion Illustration" - Holly Nichols. I've been sketching since the day I took up studying fashion - because that's where it all starts. I was untrained and the results were a bit haphazard - still usable, though. But Holly tied everything together SO well - and hard things became easier with this book.

    Not only is her drawing style brilliant, she's a really engaging writer, too. I've been continually surprised at how much high-quality writing comes from people in the fashion field - those who have "been there" and "done that." In Holly's career, she has created illustrations and campaigns for Saks Fifth Avenue, Barney's NY, Neiman Marcus, Disney and many more.
     
    Dustin likes this.
  15. Charles Fout

    Charles Fout Active Member

    My 2023 Reading list

    Saint Augustine - The Confessions (Continued from 2022);

    The Arts and Sciences of Judo – A Journal of the International Judo Federation regarding my avocation;

    James Price and Kenneth R. Melchin - Spiritualizing Politics – Without Politicizing Religion: The Example of Sargent Shriver;

    Hunter S. Thompson – Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail ‘72 Recommended by my dear friend, and Smyrna High School Class of 1982 Valedictorian, Mr. Scott E. Riffe;

    Mary E. Sarotte – Not One Inch: America, Russia, and the Making of Post-Cold War Stalemate – I keep asking - how did we arrive n this precipice?

    Daniel Kahneman – Thinking Fast and Slow

    I will soon finish my current reading for pleasure- R. A. H. - The Cat Who Walks Through Walls.



    Should Ann Coulter come out with a new book, I will immediately stop whatever I’m reading, and become fully engaged with her new tome.
     
  16. SteveFoerster

    SteveFoerster Resident Gadfly Staff Member

    Not as good as Time Enough for Love, but still good. His Lazarus Long series only gets weirder from where you are now, imho.
     
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  17. Tireman 44444

    Tireman 44444 Well-Known Member

    A Hoosier Self Portrait- Georege Blakey
     
  18. Charles Fout

    Charles Fout Active Member

    I'm at least half-Hoosier. My father bwas born and raised in Shelbyville, Indiana. After high school I went off to school to Saint Joseph's College in Rensselaer, Indiana.I dropped out to join the Navy. I think St.Joe' is pretty much not a college anymore Sometimes, I think - if I just would have stuck it out, they'd still be in business. When I hear someone call themselves a Hoosier I quiz them about the card game they play and basketball.,
     
  19. Johann

    Johann Well-Known Member

    Would that card game be .... "clabber?" :)
     
  20. Charles Fout

    Charles Fout Active Member

    I was thinking Euchre.

    My basketball question is - Who is the Hick from French Lick?

    I have a different shibboleth for people who say they are from my mother's hometown, Derry, Ireland. I ask how is your Uncle Colm? Very rare for someone from Derry not to have an Uncle Colm. Could be a Protestant but that person would say they are from Londonderry. If so, then the question would be how is your Uncle Billy? Their father might be called
    Colm. Finally - their Uncle Colm might just be on the run.
     

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